Core Collection 2021

Godolphin&Latymer

Core Collection 2021 CASEEToK

CASEEToK Welcome to our seventh edition of Core Collection!

During another year of Covid disruption, our Class of 2021 undoubtedly impressed us with their resilience, good humour and how they embraced the challenges of their last year of IB studies and the late cancellation of examinations. It was also very heartwarming to see how they carried on relishing opportunities in the Core during their DP2 despite all these setbacks.

The Core is made up of three elements: CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service), the EE (Extended Essay) and ToK (Theory of knowledge). All three elements allow us to consolidate the holistic approach the IBDP offers our students. The IB team wanted to give the school community the opportunity to witness what amazing achievements the IB girls have completed in the Core of the IBDP. Looking at our current IBDP cohorts it has been wonderful to come back to a more normal school routine this term and both year groups have made a productive start to the term as they embark on or carry on with their Core journey.

The Lower Sixth students enjoyed the start of their IB programme during their Induction morning back in September. They were deeply engaged in conversation about the learner profile attributes and reflected about time management and course enjoyment.

In CAS, the Lower Sixth girls have already started writing some of their reflections in their CAS log whilst the Upper Sixth continue to reflect on their CAS experiences, looking at bringing their CAS programme to a close.

In the Extended Essay it was such a great pleasure to be able to host our EE Celebration evening in the building and parents were wowed by the range of topics and by the level of expertise all Upper Sixth students have developed on their EE journey.

In Theory of Knowledge we have enjoyed getting to stuck into the new syllabus. Our Upper Sixth students have produced some stunning work for the ToK exhibition (http://godolph.in/tok/exhibition) last Summer Term and are currently working on completing their essay this term. The Lower Sixth students have been superbly engaged in discussions ranging from the impact of technology on the production of knowledge to and the ethical considerations of scientific funding, amongst other themes!

It is again with great pleasure and pride that I can share some of the Core work from our IB students and I hope you enjoy reading these exceptional essays and CAS achievements.

Bonne lecture!

Audrey Dubois - IB Coordinator December 2021

CAS

Creativity, Activity, Service

CAS Class of 2021 CAS sometimes appears as the odd-one out alongside ToK and the EE. It is not immediately obvious why CAS is at the heart (or the Core) of the IB, alongside an academic research project and a course which probes our understanding and assumptions about knowledge. However, CAS, just like the EE and ToK provides our IB students with a multitude of opportunities to develop characteristics we can all admire: determination, curiosity, compassion, and ultimately a deep rooted concern for the world around us.

In pursuing experiences classed as Creativity, Activity or Service (CAS), our IB students are shown the value of experiential learning and the skills they can develop through interaction with their world. Students at Godolphin and Latymer are known to be eager and involved as they explore diverse extra-curricular activities; the CAS programme celebrates and rewards the remarkable ways in which IB students not only contribute to this school ethos, but seek to help the wider community. A CAS experience can range from coaching hockey to the younger year groups, to playing in an ensemble music group, all the way through to volunteering at a refugee camp school. In all they do, our students nurture their interests and passions, and recognise their responsibility towards others.

Every student must complete at least one project as part of their programme, where they show initiative and leadership, often opting to work together on a project of their choosing. This year presented new challenges. How do you undertake a CAS project in the time of Corona? It was a tough challenge for the students of the 2021 cohort to undertake the wide range of experiences that make up a CAS programme, while at home and at times having government restrictions on time spent outdoors. But, unsurprisingly, all of our IB students rose to the challenge and completed some fantastic projects, making the most of Zoom and our one outdoor physical activity per day in the early ages of Lockdown 1.

Lavinia Moro, Jessica Mayer and Inés Almansa demonstrated unquestionable determination and stamina in organising their hockey team, and coaches, to run 3000km in 30 days to raise money for NHS Charities. They completed their target, and raised a staggering £9377.63 for NHS Charities Together. Meanwhile, Phoebe Pascoe, Bona Fowler and Isabelle Dodd, developed a brand new school magazine, Unpublished. They wrote about a number of issues close to their hearts including, careful consumption, the anti-psychiatry movement, and Black Lives Matter.

Please do read on to find out why these projects were so special and how our students pulled them off!

Lucy Graham - CAS Coordinator

CAS

Creativity, Activity, Service

CAS Projects for 2021

Run 3000km in 30 days to raise money for NHS Charities Together Inés Almansa, Lavinia Moro and Jessica Mayer For our CAS project three of us, who are all on the school hockey team, have decided to work together.

We decided we wanted to involve the whole hockey team in some sort of charitable event with the aim of raising money for a good cause while getting closer as a team. As we were about to start working on our project, we were all sent home from school into a lockdown. We figured that we would have to adapt any fundraising plans to the current situation.

The CAS Project provides the opportunity to reflect on what issues are important to you and how you can make a difference in those areas. Therefore, the very first step of our project was to discuss fundraising options with all members of the hockey team. We decided to come together to raise money collaboratively for NHS Charities Together to support the NHS for their amazing work during this pandemic. The next step was to decide what we were actually going to do to fundraise. We wanted to do something that was a challenge and decided we would aim to run 3000km in 30 days. Deciding what distance wasn’t easy as we wanted to make it a challenge while still being achievable, eventually we decided that the 3000km goal was a suitable one. We started running on Monday 6th of April and we all decided to start with 5km each. A prospect which was somewhat daunting.

The biggest challenge here was actually doing the running. Our target was to raise £3000.This meant that each of our 20 team members, 17 players and 3 coaches, had to run 5km on average, every day for 30 days! This was very challenging as we don’t usually go on runs, normally we maintain our fitness through hockey training and matches, so running on so many consecutive days was a big strain on our muscles. However, despite the fact that this wasn’t easy, we saw positive results in the early days, meeting our target of £3000 within the first ten days of the challenge. As a result we upped the target to £7500.

Our last day of running was the 4th of May. It was extremely rewarding to finally finish and complete the 3000km challenge. As a team we have definitely come closer, the collective challenge of running every day to raise money for the NHS, especially during the unprecedented times of Lockdown 1, has improved our teamwork and has made us all stronger. As well as coming out stronger as a team, we have also strengthened our individual sporting strength. Through this challenge, members of our team, including us, surprised ourselves, many of us had never run more than 5km before this challenge and we are proud of the team for taking the risk and challenging themselves. Overall, we were able to raise over £9,000 which is definitely way about our target. This shows that as a team we are able to accomplish great things through the consistent effort of every single teammate and coach, and provide much needed funds for the fantastic NHS.

CAS

Creativity, Activity, Service

Unpublished Magazine Phoebe Pascoe, Bona Fowler and Isabelle Dodd When we were brainstorming at the beginning of the CAS process we decided we would like to create a magazine that encapsulated the lunch time discussions that a typical Godolphin student has day to day. We wanted to focus on the students’ passions and voices, showcasing the kind of people that we are outside of just the grades that we get. For example, we wanted to include political features and opinion pieces from different years, and fashion pieces celebrating the amazing outfits people put together on Mufti days.

We had to work closely with the school to ensure that any content we were planning to include was appropriate for a school magazine. In the first month we also clarified each of our roles and responsibilities in regards to the magazine. Phoebe acted as overall editor, with Bona focusing on creating eye-catching graphics for the magazine cover and each article, and Isabelle advertising for contributors.

The greatest challenge we faced in the first few months of the magazine was deciding the form we were going to publish it in. Ideally, we wanted it to be a physical magazine. However, we understood that this would be incredibly expensive, the use of paper would not be environmentally friendly and curating a substantial magazine every month would be a lot of work alongside our IB schedule. After considering a number of options, we decided to create a website with a blog template. This meant we were able to publish articles as soon as we received them from student contributors and that the articles would always be available online.

When we first published the blog there was a wave of excitement across the school and we were receiving some emails from students who wanted to become contributors. Unfortunately, after a while this initial excitement died down and we realised that we weren’t getting a large enough quantity of articles. Phoebe had been writing some articles to put in the blog but we wanted to present a range of opinions from across the school, not just our own.

To encourage more submissions we focused more on advertising, such as putting up different posters, speaking to other year groups, and asking friends to write for us (a slight guilt trip!). After about a week we began to receive more features and ideas and then realised once we had one student writing for us this would create a snowball effect of more submissions as their friends engage with the magazine more and are therefore more keen to get involved. While it was hard to continue this momentum over the half term, we had three regular features which involved students from all years and we also had a few school events coming up that we could write about, such as the Challenge Your Limits week focusing on sustainability.

Overall the blog has been extremely successful, and is still running even though we have left school! We have managed to achieve all of our goals in creating a space where people can write freely and read a range of articles on topics which are interesting to a wide audience. Collaboration has been incredible within the team and whenever challenges have been faced we have all worked together to fix them. We are excited to see how Unpublished develops in the future, now that it has been passed down to the next year group of editors.

CAS

Creativity, Activity, Service

EE

Extented Essay

Extended Essay 2021 Once again there was a wonderful range of essay topics selected by the IB year group, with very successful outcomes. The high order study skills of academic research, judicious selection of material and the creation of a truly cogent argument are amazing preparation for university, and all the cohort were proud of the intellectual maturity and autonomy that they had gained through their 4,000 word Extended Essays.

To give you an idea of the achievement across the various IB disciplines, here are three top scoring Extended Essays which make very impressive reading and which come from: Katie Peachey: Can any form of Utilitarianism be regarded as sufficient justification for the phenomenon of volunteer tourism to orphanages?

Sophie Price: How far does the built environment impact levels of air pollution in the contrasting locations of Oxford Street and Cavendish Square, London?

Susanna Freudenheim To what extent is Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon presented as justified in Aeschylus’ Oresteia?

Sarah Vantini - EE Coordinator

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Title: ​Volunteer Tourism: A Utilitarian Perspective RQ: ​Can any form of Utilitarianism be regarded as sufficient justification for the phenomenon of volunteer tourism to orphanages?

Subject:​ ​Philosophy Word Count: 3968

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Contents Page Section

Page Number

Introduction

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1. Contextualising Volunteer Tourism

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2. Hedonistic Utilitarianism

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a) Act Utilitarianism i) Evaluating Act Utilitarianism’s ability to

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justify volunteer tourism b) Rule Utilitarianism i) Evaluating Rule Utilitarianism’s Ability to

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Justify Volunteer Tourism 3. Negative Utilitarianism a) Evaluating Negative Utilitarianism’s Ability

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to Justify Volunteer Tourism 4. Preference Utilitarianism a) Evaluating Preference Utilitarianism’s

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Ability to Justify Volunteer Tourism 5. Conclusions Bibliography

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Can any form of Utilitarianism be regarded as sufficient justification for the phenomenon of volunteer tourism to orphanages?

Introduction The practice of volunteer tourism, dubbed ‘voluntourism’, has seen a dramatic increase in recent years, due to an influx of foreign volunteers travelling to countries in the developing world to offer their voluntary assistance. These volunteers are usually well-intentioned and are optimistic in their potential ability to promote happiness in developing areas and thus diminish suffering. In turn, it can be seen that the entire practice of ‘voluntourism’ is underpinned by the principle of promoting good with (supposedly) no personal benefit, thus seeking the common good. This is broadly aligned with the general principle of Utilitarianism, a consequentialist ethical theory based upon the notion that an action is right insofar as it promotes happiness, and wrong in as much as it causes suffering (Mill, 1861). In fact, it can be said that ‘voluntourism’ and utilitarianism are based on ‘the premise that both are doctrines that emphasise social reform’ (Davies & Olivier, 2014). In turn, this essay will seek to examine the extent to which any form of Utilitarianism is, then, sufficient justification for a practice that faces significant and mounting criticism, considering the fact that volunteering abroad is perhaps the product of ‘unconsciously utilitarian’ (Sidgwick, 1874) thinking. The link between the two must be examined in order to avoid misconceptions and to place ‘voluntourism’ into the philosophical context that presupposes it. As well as this, I will demonstrate the importance of judging the morality of our actions based on the ​actual ​consequences of an act, rather than the expected consequences.

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By examining the phenomenon of volunteer tourism through the lens of hedonistic utilitarianism, proposed by thinkers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, Karl Popper’s negative utilitarianism, and the preference utilitarianism developed by R. M. Hare and Peter Singer, I would seek to prove that no single form of utilitarianism can serve as ​sufficient justification for the arguably harmful practice of volunteer tourism, owing to the fact that all forms of utilitarianism deny the intrinsic value of human life, and do not account for human rights. Furthermore, I would aim to demonstrate that while hedonistic and preference utilitarianism may provide justification for the practice, this justification is certainly not ​sufficient​.

1. Contextualising Volunteer Tourism In order to accurately evaluate whether any form of utilitarian theory can provide sufficient justification for volunteer tourism, the practice itself must first be defined.

Essentially, volunteer tourism can be defined as ‘those tourists who, for various reasons, volunteer in an organised way to undertake holidays that might involve aiding or alleviating the material poverty of some groups in society’ (Wearing, 2001; as cited by Wright, 2013). For illustrative means, this essay will focus specifically on the growing phenomenon of volunteer tourism to orphanages, namely to Cambodia.

In Cambodia, the number of orphanages jumped by around 60% between 2005 and 2015, and the number of children in them by 80% (Batha, 2018)- this increase being due to a large surge in demand for orphanage tourism from foreign volunteers.

Harrowingly, around 75% of the children inhabiting Cambodia’s orphanages have been shown to have one or more living parents (Varnham O’Regan, 2015), proving that foreign demand for orphanage tourism has increased the unnecessary institutionalization of children in Cambodia.

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As volunteer tourism can be seen as a perpetuation of utilitarian principles, it is vital that the link between the two be examined, as while volunteering appears to be a noble activity, the unintended consequences of it can be hugely damaging to developing communities, thus signalling it as the antithesis of utilitarian principles.

2. Hedonistic Utilitarianism a) Act Utilitarianism I will firstly examine whether one of the most prominent forms of utilitarianism- act utilitarianism- can be regarded as sufficient justification for orphanage tourism. First proposed by Bentham in his 1789 book ​The Principles of Morals and Legislation, Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that maintains that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by its ‘utility’, and furthermore this can be defined as ‘the tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question’ (Bentham, 1789), meaning its ability to generate good or its capacity to cause harm. Bentham felt that humans are motivated solely by pleasure and pain- a position known as hedonism, and developed the ​Hedonic Calculus ​as a means of calculating the pain and pleasure generated by available moral actions (1789)- taking into account factors such as the intensity of the happiness and its duration.

Bentham is associated with Act Utilitarianism, which dictates that the principle of utility must be directly applied wherever possible for each individual situation (Nathanson), and with this comes the benefit of flexibility, as individual situations can be considered in their contexts, and blanket ethical rules do not need to be upheld.

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In regards to volunteer tourism, each instance should be considered on a case by case basis, using Bentham’s ​Hedonic Calculus ​to quantify the pleasure generated by both parties. Bentham was a proponent of quantitative pleasure, maintaining that the volume of pleasure generated by an action outweighs the quality of the pleasure.

i)

Evaluating Act Utilitarianism’s Ability to Justify Volunteer Tourism

However, an important criticism of Bentham’s utilitarianism maintains that it is infeasible to suggest that we are always able to accurately predict the consequences of our acts, and utilitarianism being a consequentialist theory, this is certainly important. Utilitarians such as Bentham have refuted this criticism, saying ‘it is not expected that this process [his hedonic calculus] should be strictly pursued previously to every moral judgement’ (1789; as cited by Sinnott-Armstrong, 2003), and that instead one should act in a way that they expect promotes the general utility, thus implying that we can judge the morality of actions based on their expected consequences. However, I feel that this ​laissez-faire ​approach to ethical decision theory undermines the intentions of utilitarianism. How can operating on the basis of expected consequences be sufficient justification for any act? After all, it is convenient to claim that you ​expected ​you would be promoting the general good, but how can the ​actual ​consequences of our actions be dismissed, when actual consequences equate to lived realities?

In the case of volunteer tourism, specifically to Cambodian orphanages, the actual consequences of this practice may not be visible to the volunteers until years down the line (another critique of utilitarianism), but this is not to say that the actual consequences of their acts are any less damaging. Sinet Chan, who grew up in a

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Cambodian orphanage, powerfully states that ‘the support of orphanages has created a thriving industry in which children are separated from their families and subjected to terrible abuse and neglect, as I was -- being used as a commodity to generate funding’ (Yaxley, 2017), and this idea has been echoed by numerous studies on the effects of orphanage tourism. As well as this, the institutionalisation of young children has been shown to have a similar effect on brain development to severe malnutrition or maternal drug use during pregnancy (Batha, 2018), and volunteer tourism to orphanages serves to increase the level of childhood institutionalisation in Cambodia. Here, we see that the actual consequences of orphanage tourism are wildly different to what the volunteer tourists ​expected they would be (having assumed they would be helping impoverished children), exemplifying an inalienable flaw to act utilitarianism.

Furthermore, an even more relevant criticism of utilitarianism asserts that according to Bentham’s utility principle, any act could potentially be justified if it could be proven that it generates the most happiness, regardless of the suffering that ensues as a consequence. Alasdair MacIntyre emphasises this criticism, questioning ‘how great the price is that is being paid for the happiness’ (1998). Again, this criticism comes to life when examined through the lens of orphanage tourism in Cambodia.

Following Bentham’s Utilitarian principles, it seems that justification can be found, despite the readily apparent harm done to Cambodian orphans. On the basis of the greatest good for the greatest number, it can surely be argued that orphanage tourism generates more good than it does harm. For example, orphanage tourism has increased general tourism into Cambodia, which accounted for gross revenues of 4.35 billion US Dollars in Cambodia in 2018, increasing from 3.63 billion in 2017

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(Xuxin, 2019). An increase in tourism leads to a boost of the Cambodian economy, in turn increasing economic prosperity in Cambodia, a country of 16.25 million citizens (Google, 2018). Whether money can bring happiness is an entirely separate debate altogether, but it cannot be ignored that economic improvements can lead to the improvement of living conditions, and thus the boost to tourism given by orphanage tourism can be seen to generate good in Cambodia. This certainly is in keeping with Bentham’s theory, and the ​Hedonic Calculus can be used to demonstrate this. For example, there is ‘certainty’ that increased tourism into Cambodia will boost its economy- and this is regarded as a good thing. Equally, the positive effects of a prospering economy reach a great ‘extent’, and stand to improve the lives of all Cambodian citizens.

However, this justification seems perverse, as any ‘good’ generated from orphanage tourism comes at the expense of a generation of Cambodian children living in orphanages. This cannot be considered truly ethical, as here we see that act utilitarianism does not account for the human rights of those who stand to suffer from orphanage tourism, and actually favours those who perpetuate the unjust institutionalisation of vulnerable children. In this sense, just because act utilitarianism is able to justify orphanage tourism, this is certainly not ​sufficient ​justification, as it comes at a huge and inalienable price.

b) Rule Utilitarianism Having established that the act utilitarianism associated with Bentham does not sufficiently justify the practice of orphanage tourism, I will now explore the rule utilitarianism more closely linked to Betham’s contemporary, John Stuart Mill.

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Rule utilitarianism holds that ‘​the rightness or wrongness of a particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule of which it is an instance’ (Garner & Rosen, 1967),

meaning

that

instead

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making moral judgements case-by-case,

conventional moral rules should instead be followed in order to bring about the greatest utility in general. For example, while murder may be justified under the law as, perhaps, self-defence, rule utilitarianism holds that it is ​always wrong to commit murder, and that this is in the general interest.

Furthermore, while proponents of act utilitarianism avidly deny the idea of rights in favour of utility, Mill defends rights in his book ​Utilitarianism​, saying ​‘to have a right then, is… to have something which society ought to defend me in the possession of’.

When asked why we should have these inalienable rights, Mill answered: ‘no other reason than general utility’ (1863). In turn, this form of utilitarianism seems more robust as a moral theory, as consideration is given to certain inalienable rights, which act utilitarianism denies.

While Mill also proposed the ‘greatest happiness principle’, which states that ‘actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness’ (1863), Mill made distinctions between pleasures that Bentham did not. He believed in maximizing qualitative pleasure, and valued pleasure of the mind over pleasure of the body, famously stating that ‘it is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied’ (1863). This shows that to Mill, the mere quantity of pleasure generated by an act is not as important as the quality of the pleasure, allowing for a more nuanced calculation of utility than with act

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utilitarianism, which operates strictly on the (subjective) quantification of happiness and utility.

i)

Evaluating Rule Utilitarianism’s Ability to Justify Volunteer Tourism

However, despite the strengths of rule utilitarianism, I still encounter flaws in Mill’s thinking which are not conducive to justifying volunteer orphanage tourism. Firstly, a common critique of rule utilitarianism is that in acting in accordance with general rules which bring about the general utility, minority groups risk threat as acts that benefit the majority are deemed justifiable. Here, I see the same issues with rule utilitarianism as with act- again the suffering of the minority (the orphans) is justified on the basis of prosperity and utility for the majority (large cohorts of volunteer tourists as well as the beneficiaries of improved Cambodian infrastructure). As volunteering is typically something deemed morally right, it becomes clear that rule utilitarianism does not allow for nuanced decision making, as the deeper implications of prioritising the happiness of the majority are not considered, leading to the morally reprehensible suffering of vulnerable groups, such as children.

As well as this, because Mill is preoccupied with the quality of pleasure generated by an act rather than the quantity of it, this again leaves room for justification of the acts of volunteer tourists, disregarding the suffering they cause to the orphans. It can be seen that considerable ‘good’ can be generated for the volunteers themselves, who may experience ‘broadened horizons and increased self-confidence’ (Guiney & Mostafanezhad, 2015) as a result of volunteer tourism to orphanages. As I have outlined, Mill valued pleasures of the mind over bodily pleasure, and thus to Mill,

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increased ‘self-confidence’ would be a desirable aim. Thus rule utilitarianism succumbs to the same pitfalls as act, in that the suffering of the orphans is justified by the happiness of the volunteers. To me, this serves as proof that hedonistic utilitarianism cannot possibly be a reasonable system of ethics, as in prioritising the maximisation of happiness over the diminishment of pain, considerable harm can be done.

Lastly, while Mill outlined a theory of rights that he felt should be maintained in order to advance the general utility, children and ‘barbarian’ nations (1859) are excluded from these rights. Mill supposedly denied children the right to liberty and autonomy so that they may be protected by the adults around them, but I see no more illuminating example of the danger of this denial than that of orphanage tourism. The orphanage sector in Cambodia denies children their basic human rights, violating Articles 3 (‘liberty and security of person’) and 5 (‘inhuman or degrading treatment’) of the International Bill of Human Rights 1948, and thus I do not see how hedonistic utilitarianism, which largely denies the existence or importance of human rights, can provide sufficient justification for the practice of volunteer orphanage tourism.

3. Negative Utilitarianism I have aimed to demonstrate that while hedonistic, classical utilitarianism may provide twisted justification for the practice of volunteer tourism to orphanages, it is not sufficient. In turn, I would seek to examine whether or not the inverse approach to classical utilitarianism, that is, negative utilitarianism, can justify volunteer tourism to orphanages.

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Negative utilitarianism, first proposed by Karl Popper, maintains that reducing suffering is a more ethical goal than increasing happiness. Indeed, it is extremely hard to quantify happiness, and while Bentham’s ​Hedonic Calculus intends to weigh up relative happiness, the criteria themselves are invariably hard to measure.

Furthermore, suffering presents itself in more overt ways, and the alleviation of suffering is a more conscientious goal that actively sets out to remedy existent problems, rather than seek the arbitrary end of augmenting happiness. In regards to orphanage tourism, when considering whether visiting orphans actually ​relieves their suffering, a more clear cut moral framework emerges. The ​actual consequences of orphanage tourism on the orphans speak for themselves in demonstrating the level of damage that is done to the children, and negative utilitarianism does not excuse this suffering on the basis of greater happiness for the group that are causing the pain. Popper asserts that ‘from the moral point of view, pain cannot be outweighed by pleasure and especially not one man’s pain by another man’s pleasure’ (1945), and this certainly holds true in regards to ‘voluntourism’ to orphanages.

Equally, negative utilitarianism disregards the ‘continuous pleasure-pain scale’ (Acton & Watkins, 1963) that classical utilitarianism assumes, maintaining that the augmentation of pleasure certainly does not equate to the diminishment of pain. This is a deeply relevant distinction, as in the case of volunteer tourism, volunteer tourists themselves make the ill-founded assumption that in attempting to increase the orphans’ happiness, they will reduce the suffering of the host community. This assumption is not only wrong, but dangerous. Popper asserts that there is no ‘symmetry between suffering and happiness’ (1945), and this holds exceptionally true in the case of volunteer tourism.

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a) Evaluating Negative Utilitarianism’s Ability to Justify Volunteer Tourism Overall, I feel that negative utilitarianism is a more robust ethical theory than its classical counterpart, and thus the fact that negative utilitarianism clearly condemns the practice of orphanage tourism is, in my eyes, justified.

Critics of negative

utilitarianism have questioned the feasibility of negative utilitarianism as a theory by arguing that if our ultimate moral aim is to relieve suffering, then the complete extinction of the human race (eliminating our collective sufferings with it) would be the ultimate moral act. While it cannot be denied that death is inevitably the ultimate end to suffering, negative utilitarianism clearly operates on the basis of relieving suffering for those who want to be ​alive. ​This is echoed by Professor Ninian Smart, who asserts that negative utilitarianism is about cultivating ‘the least amount of avoidable suffering for all’ (1958; as cited by Acton & Watkins, 1963), rather than eliminating all suffering.

Furthermore, it can be argued that merely seeking to reduce suffering is a bleak aim, and in turn negative utilitarianism a bleak way to make moral decisions, but I would argue that seeking to reduce suffering does more to augment happiness than purely aiming to promote the greatest happiness. It is far easier to ascertain what path of action will lead you to reduce the suffering of others or at least act in a way that causes the least suffering, than it is to calculate what will bring about the greatest happiness. Equally, I would argue that while the absence of suffering does not necessarily equate to happiness, this is a far more continuous scale than its inverse counterpart. In turn, I would argue that reducing suffering allows the possibility of happiness, whereas increasing happiness creates considerable possibility for

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suffering. Thus, I feel that negative utilitarianism holds weight as a convincing moral framework, and thus it appears that in keeping with negative utilitarian theory, volunteer tourism to orphanages cannot be sufficiently justified as the actions of the volunteer tourists do not relieve the suffering of the orphans they encounter.

4. Preference Utilitarianism Having demonstrated that act, rule, and negative utilitarianism are all incapable of being regarded as sufficient justification for volunteer tourism to orphanages, I will lastly evaluate the ability of preference utilitarianism, as proposed by R. M. Hare and later developed by Peter Singer, to provide justification for the practice. According to Hare’s opinion, ‘actions are right if they maximize the satisfaction of preferences or desires, no matter what the preferences may be for’ (Duignan, 2009). Furthermore, Hare distinguished between two levels of moral thinking, intuitive and critical (1981; as cited by ​Cardoso Simões, 2013)​, meaning that we should aim to act intuitively until a situation requires more critical moral thinking. This two-level utilitarianism, he felt, reconciled issues with both act and rule utilitarianism in that neither allowed for the merit of the other.

Singer echoes the theory proposed by Hare, stating in his book ​Practical Ethics​, ‘an action contrary to the preferences of any being is, unless outweighed by contrary preferences, wrong’ (1979). This, of course, means that utility is the deciding principle of the morality of any act, and not rights. Singer valued utility over rights on the basis that there are no objective moral truths, and thus to make any universal judgment we must universalize our preferences, irrespective of rights. In turn, we

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must commit to ‘equal consideration of interests’ of all parties (1979), satisfying the strongest preference.

a) Evaluating Preference Utilitarianism’s Ability to Justify Volunteer Tourism A critical flaw that I see in the theories of both Hare and Singer is that again, utility trumps rights. While it is understandable that accounting for preferences allows moral decisions to gain an element of universalisation, neither Hare nor Singer account for the innate human rights of those who are not able to state their preferences. In the case of volunteer tourism, the Cambodian orphans are not given a platform to state their preferences, and while volunteer tourists may use Hare’s ‘critical thinking’ to consider the preferences of the orphans, the sheer volume of volunteer tourists that continue to flock to countries such as Cambodia, seems to indicate that most do not.

Furthermore, another criticism I find in preference utilitarianism is that much like its classical counterpart, it relies upon the notion that humans are able to make informed, empathetic moral decisions. Hare, for example, imagined it possible that humans would consider the preferences of those involved in a moral decision, by ‘imagining ourselves in his shoes’, and furthermore ‘empathize and know to some extent other people’s inner experiences’. I have already demonstrated that in many cases, volunteer tourists are ill-informed and unaware of the damage caused by their presence in orphanages, and thus have no reason to consider the preferences of the orphans, let alone be understanding of their ‘inner experiences’. Furthermore, I feel

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that preference utilitarianism requires an unrealistic level of understanding and empathy from its participants, making it impractical as an ethical theory.

In turn, I do not believe that preference utilitarianism justifies the practice of volunteer tourism to orphanages. Firstly, engaging in tourism to visit children in institutional settings certainly does not satisfy the preferences of the orphans, who may prefer to lead a life in which they are not exploited and treated like animals in a zoo. Singer specifies that going against the preferences of ‘any being’ is wrong, thus not allowing for the same perverse justification that hedonistic utilitarianism does. Secondly, however, I do not believe that preference utilitarianism is a robust enough theory to be taken seriously as a means of moral thinking, and to be used as moral justification. In the case of volunteer tourism, the orphans are not given a platform to state their preferences, nor does the theory allow for those who are perhaps not able to verbalise or even mentally process their preferences and their circumstances.

Indeed, the mental damage done to institutionalised children is often not seen until years down the line, with a study showing that children who grew up in institutional settings were 500 times more likely to take their own lives than their peers (Batha, 2018). Here we can clearly see that a theory which does not allow for the inherent human rights of those not able to state their preferences, such as children, is not a theory that is compatible with the intrinsic value of human life that I believe exists.

5. Conclusions In conclusion, I believe that no single form of utilitarianism can be regarded as sufficient justification for the practice of volunteer tourism, owing to the fact that no single theory of utilitarianism gives any credit to individual rights, and expects that

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humans are able to ignore the intrinsic value of human life in favour of utility. A theory which, at best, ascribes limited rights to some, but certainly not all, cannot possibly be deemed sufficient justification for the practice of volunteer tourism to orphanages, nor should it be regarded as an adequate ethical system. In turn, I feel that the link between utilitarianism and volunteering, based on their shared principles, is at best, a tenuous one.

The failings of the hedonistic utilitarianism proposed by Bentham and Mill reveal themselves significantly when seen through the lens of volunteer tourism. Not only is it nearly impossible to predict the actual consequences of our actions, exemplified through the volunteer tourists who do not realise that their actions perpetuate a system of child exploitation until perhaps years down the line, but classical utilitarianism also excuses hideous levels of suffering, in the name of a greater good.

In turn, hedonistic utilitarianism certainly cannot be regarded as sufficient justification for volunteer tourism to orphanages.

Furthermore, while preference utilitarianism does not provide justification for volunteer tourism to orphanages, I feel that again, its failure to account for individual rights as well as those whose preferences are ignored negates its ability to function as a moral framework. In turn, I am led to believe that only negative utilitarianism provides an adequate ethical theory of which to examine a phenomenon such as volunteer tourism, and thus in my eyes, negative utlitarianism’s condemnation of volunteer tourism to orphanages is a justified conclusion.

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Bibliography Acton, H.B. & Watkins, J.W.N. (1963) Symposium: Negative Utilitarianism.

Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes ​. [Online] Vol. 37 (1963), pp. 83–114. Available from: doi:​10.2307/4106709​ [Accessed: 11 June 2020].

Batha, E. (2018) ​Most Children In Orphanages Are Not Orphans - World​. [Online]. 14 November

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https://reliefweb.int/report/world/most-children-orphanages-are-not-orphans [Accessed: 5 June 2020].

Bentham, J. (1789) Of the Principle of Utility. In: ​The Principles of Morals and Legislation​.

[Online].

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Cardoso Simões, M. (2013) ​Hare’s Preference Utilitarianism: An Overview And Critique​.

[Online].

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https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0101-31732013000200008 [Accessed: 31 August 2020].

Davies, S.E.H. & Olivier, C. (2014) A utilitarian perspective of volunteer tourism in Africa. from:

African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure ​. [Online] 5. Available ​http://www.ajhtl.com/uploads/7/1/6/3/7163688/article_22_vol_5__4_.pdf

[Accessed: 5 June 2020].

Duignan, B. (2009) ​Preference Utilitarianism​. [Online]. 3 March 2009. Encyclopedia Britannica. Available from: ​https://www.britannica.com/topic/preference-Utilitarianism [Accessed: 31 August 2020].

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Garner, R. & Rosen, B. (1967) ​Moral Philosophy: A Systematic Introduction to Normative Ethics and Meta-Ethics​. New York, Macmillan.

Guiney, T. & Mostafanezhad, M. (2015) The political economy of orphanage tourism in

Cambodia. ​Tourist Studies​. [Online] 15 (2), 132–155. Available from:

doi:​10.1177/1468797614563387​ [Accessed: 6 June 2020].

MacIntyre, A.C. (1998) ​A short history of ethics​. London, Psychology Press.

Mill, J.S. (1998a) Introductory. In: ​On liberty and other essays​. Oxford, Oxford University Press, USA. p. 13.

Mill, J.S. (1998b) On the Connection Between Justice and Utility. In: ​On liberty and other essays​. Oxford, Oxford University Press, USA. p. 189.

Nathanson, S. (n.d.) ​Utilitarianism, Act And Rule | Internet Encyclopedia Of Philosophy​.

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of Philosophy. Available from:

https://iep.utm.edu/util-a-r/​ [Accessed: 31 August 2020].

Popper, K. (2012) ​The Open Society and Its Enemies​. Routledge.

Sidgwick, H. (1981) ​The methods of ethics​. [Online]. Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing. Available from:​ ​https://read.amazon.ca/​.

Singer, P. (1993) ​Practical ethics​. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2003) ​Consequentialism​. [Online]. 20 May 2003. Stanford Encyclopedia

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https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/​ [Accessed: 12 June 2020].

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Sprigge, T.L.S. (1985) Utilitarianism and Idealism: A Rapprochement. ​Philosophy​.

[Online] Vol. 60, No. 234 (Oct., 1985), pp. 447–463, 447–463. Available from: doi:​10.2307/3750433​ [Accessed: 6 June 2020].

Varnham O’Regan, S. (2015) ​Orphanage Tourism: Who Are Foreign Volunteers Actually Helping? [Online]. 18 June 2015. SBS News . Available from: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/orphanage-tourism-who-are-foreign-volunteers-actuall y-helping​ [Accessed: 6 June 2020].

Wright, H. (2013) Volunteer tourism and its (mis)perceptions: A comparative analysis of tourist/host perceptions. ​Tourism and Hospitality Research ​. [Online] Vol. 13, No. 4 (October 2013), pp. 239–250. Available from: doi:​10.2307/43575077​.

Yaxley, L. (2017) ​‘A Form Of Slavery’: Child Exploitation Fears Spark Push To Outlaw Orphanage Tourism​. [Online]. 2 July 2017. ABC News. Available from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-02/exploited-cambodian-children-orphanage-t ourism-trade/8668506​ [Accessed: 6 June 2020].

(1948) ​The International Bill of Human Rights​. [Online]. 10 December 1948. United Nations.

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https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Compilation1.1en.pdf [Accessed: 2 September 2020]. (n.d.) ​What are the effects of Institutionalization? [Online]. Orphanages: not the solution. Available from: ​http://www.orphanages.no/Facts.html [Accessed: 6 June 2020].

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Geography Extended Essay:

Impact of the Built Environment on Pollution Levels How far does the built environment impact levels of air pollution in the contrasting locations of Oxford Street and Cavendish Square, London?

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Contents 1. List of Figures…………………………………………..……………...……….…..…2 2. Introduction…………………………………………………………….…….……….3 2.1. Pollution: The Scale of the Problem………………………………..……………..4 2.2. Area of Investigation ……………………………………………………………..6 3. Aims and Methodology ……………………………………………………..……...…9 4. Results and Analysis…………………………………………………………………12 4.1. Pollution Levels……………………………..……………………….…..………12 4.2. Motor Traffic Count……………………………………………….........……….14 4.3. Aspect Ratio and the Canyon Effect………………………………………...…..17 4.4. Percentage Area of Greenery………………………………………………...….20 5. Evaluation and Conclusion..………………………………………………...……..…24 6. Bibliography……………….....…………………………..……………………..……26 7. Appendix……………………………………………………………………...…...…29

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1. List of Figures

Figure 1: Annual mean NO2 concentration in 2019 in Greater London …………………..….4 Figure 2: Maps of Greater London and City of Westminster …………………...…...………..6 Figure 3: Annotated Map of Transects along Oxford Street and Cavendish Square……...…..8 Figure 4: Oxford Street & Cavendish Square Observed Nitrogen Dioxide in 2019……....…12 Figure 5: Percentage Difference of Nitrogen Dioxide levels between Oxford Street and Cavendish Square…………………………………………………………………...……..…12 Figure 6: Average Vehicular Motor Traffic at Oxford Street and Cavendish Square (20002018)…………….……………………………………….…..………………………….....…14 Figure 7: Equation: Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient……..……….…….15 Figure 8: Oxford Street – Correlation between Nitrogen Dioxide Pollution vs Motor Traffic .……………………………………………………………………………………….16 Figure 9: Substitution of Traffic Count at Cavendish Square into Equation.………….…… 17 Figure 10: Aspect Ratio at Oxford Street and Cavendish Square……………………..…..…18 Figure 11: Canyon Classification Table……………..…….……….……………...….……...19 Figure 12: Calculated Aspect Ratios……………..……………………...………...….……...19 Figure 13: Percentage Area of Greenery in Oxford Street………………………...…………20 Figure 14: Percentage Area of Greenery in Cavendish Square………………..…………......20

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2. Introduction Pollution is almost omnipresent in the air of global cities and thus presents a substantial urban stress and global health challenge to the 2.5 billion more people predicted to be living in cities by 2050, (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2019, p.1). The growth and construction of cities and megacities has inevitably led to changes in the built environment, and the resultant interactions between the natural and built environments. This essay will focus on the interactions between pollution and the built environment, posing the research question “How far does the built environment impact levels of air pollution in the contrasting locations of Oxford Street and Cavendish Square, London?”

The built environment refers to “the modified structures that provide people with living, working and recreational spaces” (US EPA, OLEM, 2017). The built environment consists of height of buildings, widths of streets, greenery and transportation systems. Interactions between the built environment and natural environment have led to the creation of microclimates, which in turn influence pollution levels. In particular, tall buildings which line narrow roads can lead to the formation of urban street canyons. Urban street canyons can modify temperature and wind, and consequently can have a large impact on air quality. When the mean wind direction is perpendicular to an urban street canyon, the concentration of pollutants inside the canyon increases and dispersion of pollutants decreases due to the vortex flow from inside the canyon which confines the air flow inside the canyon (Vardoulakis et al., 2003).

The ability of the built environment to impact air quality, means it is essential that the microclimates created by the built environment minimises the build-up of pollutants. One of the reasons I focused my research in this field was its prominence in the UN Sustainable

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Development Goals launched in 2015. In particular, Goal 11: Sustainable Cities use air pollution as a key indicator of sustainability. Governments, city planners and local councils are increasingly shifting their focus to sustainability and the impact reducing pollution has on social, economic and environmental sustainability. The books Choked: the age of air pollution and the fight for a cleaner future (Gardiner, 2019) and Clearing the Air: the beginning and end of air pollution (Smedley, 2019) drew my attention to this.

2.1. Pollution: The Scale of the Problem The World Health Organisation (WHO) accredited 4.2 million premature deaths in 2016 to air pollution related conditions (World Health Organization, 2016). Air pollution has serious direct and indirect implications on health, including high rates of cancer, lung, heart and respiratory diseases. In addition, air pollution contributes to other environmental issues such as acid rain and global warming.

Figure 1 Annual mean NO2 concentration in 2019 in Greater London

In London, pollution has been referred to as a “hidden killer” by Professor Malcolm Green (Carrington, 2018) due to levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) which breach limits imposed by the WHO of 40ug/m3 as shown in

Source: LAEI from Air Quality Action Plan (City of Westminster, 2019a)

figure 1.

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Whilst air pollution levels in the UK have been declared a “national scandal” by the

opposition party Labour (Laville, 2017)., the problem is at a crisis point in London where the concentration of buildings and traffic is greatest. Research by the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (LAEI), shows that 7.9 million Londoners (approximately 95% of London’s population), live in areas that exceed the WHO limit for particulate matter 2.5, by 50% or more. In 2016, Oxford Street, Westminster broke the NO2 WHO limit for 168 hours (Mayor of London, 2020, pp.18-20; Carslaw, 2014).

Although pollution can be both natural and manmade, this essay will focus primarily on anthropogenic pollution; since the 20th century pollution from anthropogenic sources has been most prominent.

In HICs/post-industrial countries, such as the United Kingdom, where the most prominent sector is tertiary, as reflected in the Clark-Fisher Model of Development, the main cause of pollution is from automobiles rather than industry or domestic air pollution. Consequently, this essay will focus on pollutants directly emitted by vehicles into the ambient air and indirectly produced through photochemical reactions, rather than domestic pollution.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has deemed six major air pollutants as criteria air pollutants, useful as indicators of overall air quality. These six pollutants include carbon monoxide, particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and lead (US EPA,OAR, 2019). The key air pollutant I will focus on for the purpose of this essay is the gaseous pollutant nitrogen dioxide as this is a focus of the London’s Air Quality Network (LAQN) and the Mayor of London’s Environmental Strategy addressed as “Pollutants of concern in London” (Greater London Authority, 2018, p.8).

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2): In London, the predominant source of NO2 is from road traffic, produced by combustion engines. By focusing on NO2 it is most likely the detectors are measuring anthropogenic rather than natural NO2. The principle sources of natural NO2 are 5

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2.2. Area of Investigation I have chosen to investigate the impact of the built environment in the two contrasting locations of Oxford Street and Cavendish Square, both located within the London borough of the City of Westminster, which occupies much of central Greater London as shown in figure 2.

Figure 2 Maps of Greater London and City of Westminster

Source: own drawing

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Oxford Street is a major shopping street in London and reputed for being the busiest shopping street in Europe (City of Westminster, 2019b, pp.1-4). Historically, in the 18th century the most prominent land use was residential however over time agglomeration has led to a clustering of retail, that in turn has led to the formation of a large retail street fuelled by the opening of the department store John Lewis in 1864.

Cavendish Square is a historic public garden square; most of the buildings date back to the 18th century. However, the south side is a modern redevelopment and home to office blocks and retail. The primary function of the buildings in the square is office and retail, housing several institutes such as the Royal College of Nursing.

These two locations were chosen due to their contrasting built environments. Cavendish Square is a quintessential ‘communal garden square’, a unique and defining feature of London, with wider streets, greener spaces and mostly shorter buildings. Oxford Street, a busier shopping street, is narrower, contains less greenery and has taller buildings for the most part than Cavendish Square. These locations were chosen based on preliminary research and investigations of the built environment in London, comparing location with data available from LAQN monitoring sites. Figure 3 details the specific transects and location of LAQN pollution monitors from which I have sourced data.

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Source: ArcGIS base-map with my annotations

While both Cavendish Square and Oxford Street are in central London and are expected to have high levels of air pollution, there have been attempts by the Borough of Westminster to implement policy to address pollution levels. Examples of these include the creation of an Ultra-Low Emission Zone, Congestion Charge Zone and restricting private vehicles along Oxford Street between 7:00-19:00, Monday to Saturday.

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3. Aims and Methodology Aim: To investigate to what extent the built environment impacts levels of air pollution in the contrasting locations of Oxford Street and Cavendish Square, London.

From my aim I have extracted four hypotheses in order to further focus and refine my research: Hypotheses: 1. The higher the level of traffic, the higher the pollution levels 2. Streets with higher buildings will have higher pollution levels 3. The narrower the street, the higher the pollution levels 4. The larger the percentage of greenery, the lower the pollution levels These hypotheses were chosen as all are contributing factors impacting pollution levels in urban areas. Whilst Hypothesis 1 is not directly linked to the built environment, it was chosen as traffic is an obvious source of pollution from motor vehicles’ combustion engines.

Instead, Hypothesis 1 acts a control, allowing me to determine if differences in pollution levels can be attributed to the built environment or are due to differing traffic levels.

Hypotheses 2 and 3 were chosen as these contribute to the formation of urban canyons, as a result of relatively narrow streets lined by tall buildings which can lead to a build up of pollutants due to the impact on temperature and wind (Wang and Ho, 2013; Fu et al., 2017).

Hypothesis 4 was chosen to examine the role of ‘greenery’ in the built environment influencing pollution levels through both dispersion and deposition. (Rogers et al., 2015; The Nature Conservancy, 2016; DEFRA and AQEG, 2018). ‘Greenery’ refers to trees, shrubs, grass and bushes.

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Primary and secondary methods of data collection: Please note, many of the methods initially planned to collect data had to be adapted as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications on travel restrictions. Initial methods were decided after a preliminary trip to the sites in late February before lockdown was imposed.

1) Primary method: Use of Geographic Information System (GIS) Using ArcGIS1 software I measured the width of the roads (from building to building) at points along a transect on both Oxford Street and Cavendish Square. I used systematic sampling to take measurements every 100m along Oxford Street and 50m along Cavendish square. The use of systematic sampling ensured a good coverage of the streets was achieved.

A similar method was used to determine the percentage of greenery in each location, with the area measurement tool on ArcGIS used to measure the total area of each location and total area of greenery such as trees, grass, bushes and shrubs. These were used to calculate the percentage greenery in each location.

2) Primary method: Use of Google Earth software Google Earth was used to count the number of storeys of buildings in order to determine the heights of the buildings along the transects in Oxford Street and Cavendish Square. Using printed maps of the area I overlaid data that I collected onto the maps (see Appendix A).

Initially, I had planned to use a clinometer to measure the angle to the top of the building and use trigonometry to determine the height of the buildings however during COVID-19 and the impact of the pandemic, in-situ fieldwork was unfortunately not possible.

1

ArcGIS. Accessed from: http://www.arcgis.com/home/index.html

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3) Secondary data for Traffic Count

I used the Department for Transport ‘Road Traffic Statistics’ website, and averaged annual data from 2000-2018 at 4 traffic counters along Oxford Street and 2 by Cavendish Square. I focused on the cumulative annual total of motor vehicles, including buses and taxis, disregarding data for bicycles, as only motor vehicles use a combustion engine and create pollution. Traffic count data does not identify the type of vehicle i.e. hybrid, electric, petrol or diesel and the associated pollutant emissions, therefore this was ignored in the investigation.

Initially, I had planned to undertake a series of physical traffic counts over different times of the day and different days of the week in both locations, calculating averages.

4) Secondary data from London Air Quality Network (LAQN) run by King’s College London I used NO2 data from pollution monitors: Westminster - Oxford Street and Westminster Cavendish Square (these have been marked on figure 3). The data I used here was daily means of pollution from March 2019-2020, to avoid discrepancies in pollution levels over the course of the day due to temperature inversion, causing pollution levels to be highest. Whilst data for Oxford Street was available for 2013-2020, data for Cavendish Square was only available for May 2018-2020; this limited the size of the data availability.

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4. Results and Analysis 4.1. Pollution Levels Figure 4 Oxford Street & Cavendish Square Observed Nitrogen Dioxide (ppb) in 2019

Source: own presentation using LAQN KCL data

Figure 5 Percentage Difference of Nitrogen Dioxide levels between Oxford Street and Cavendish Square in 2019 On average Oxford Square has higher pollution levels

Oxford Street – more pollution

Cavendish Square – more pollution

Source: own calculation using LAQN KCL data

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From figure 4, it is evident that pollution levels in Oxford Street are higher than that in Cavendish Square. Overall, pollution levels appear to increase in both Cavendish Square and Oxford Street in the winter months and decrease slightly in the spring months. The maximum value for observed NO2 was 57ppb on Oxford Street in August, whilst the minimum value for observed NO2 was 7ppb in Cavendish Square.

I have used data from figure 4, illustrating NO2 levels in Cavendish Square and Oxford Street, to calculate the percentage difference between the two sites to form figure 5. From figure 5 it can be seen that whilst the majority of the time the percentage difference between the two sites is between 15-20% percentage difference. There is, however, a noticeable outlier in June when Cavendish Square had higher pollution levels than Oxford Street. I used figure 5 to determine the median percentage difference between the two locations, to gain an understanding of how significant the difference between the two locations is. The median percentage difference between the two locations was found to be 11% higher in Oxford Street - a significant difference, particularly considering their close proximity to one another.

The next part of the essay will examine the different factors that the differences in pollution can be attributed to: traffic levels and the built environment (differing levels of greenery and creation of urban street canyons). This will allow me to examine to what extent the built environment has influenced the differing pollution levels.

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4.2. Motor Traffic Count It is important for me to establish whether it is the difference in quantity of motor traffic, or differences in the built environment that account for the differing pollution levels.

Consequently, the following section examines the relationship between pollution levels and motor traffic count in Oxford Street and Cavendish Square.

Figure 6

Source: own presentation using Department for Transport data

Contrary to expectation, Cavendish Square had a higher traffic count than Oxford Street. The average annual motor traffic count over the 18 years for Cavendish Square is 17,602 motor vehicles a year whilst at Oxford Street it is 10,128 motor vehicles a year. The large difference in motor vehicles is perhaps testament to successful management strategies in Oxford Street which reduced flows of vehicles by prohibiting private vehicles travelling down the road from 7:00-19:00, Monday to Saturday.

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Using the data from figure 6 above, it can be seen that whilst Cavendish Square has higher annual motor traffic count than Oxford Street, it has a materially lower mean pollution level as shown in figure 5.

In order to further understand the relationship between mean traffic levels and mean NO2 pollution levels, I used Pearson’s Product-Moment correlation coefficient. I chose this statistical test (refer to figure 7) as it quantifies the strength of a linear relationship between two variables: traffic levels from 2013-2018 (independent variable), and average annual NO2 pollution levels in Oxford Street (dependent variable). The coefficient value I obtained was r=0.9595, greater than the critical value of 0.834 for 0.01 probability levels. I obtained this result using the Pearson’s statistics function on Excel (Appendix B). This is a statistically significant correlation and illustrates that the higher the annual traffic on Oxford Street, the higher the mean pollution of nitrogen dioxide (ppb), as illustrated by.

Figure 7 Equation: Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient

Source: Haese Mathematics: analysis and approaches HL 2: for use with the IB diploma programme (Hease et al., 2019, p.713)

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Equation of line: 𝑦𝑦 = 0.0164𝑥𝑥 − 54.637

Source: own calculation of data

Substituting values of the mean annual motor traffic in Cavendish Square into the equation of the line from figure 8, models the predicted levels of NO2 pollution levels for Cavendish Square.

The equation assumes that other variables which impact pollution levels (such as greenery and the built environment) are identical to those found at Oxford Street. This indicates whether it is mostly traffic or other variables such as the built environment account for differences in NO2 levels. Both through empirical evidence based on figure 5 and substituting Cavendish Square traffic count into the equation (obtained from figure 8) the results show that despite much higher traffic volumes in Cavendish Square there are lower levels of NO2.

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Extented Essay Figure 9 Substitution of Traffic Count at Cavendish Square into Equation

Source: own calculation

The large difference of 208.5 ppb between the modelled NO2 levels (238.5ppb) and actual levels (30ppb), as shown in figure 9, indicates the likelihood that other factors in Cavendish Square are in fact responsible for the low NO2 pollution levels versus the levels that would be predicted by the high traffic count.

The next part of the essay explores some elements of the built environment that may be responsible for the significantly lower pollution levels in Cavendish Square starting with the aspect ratio and the canyon effect.

4.3. Aspect Ratio and the Canyon Effect Using data collected through my primary methods, I have examined the extent to which an urban canyon exists in the sites of Oxford Street and Cavendish Square. I have used my primary data collection to determine the dimensions for the streets below:

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Figure 10 Aspect Ratio at Oxford Street and Cavendish Square Oxford Street

Cavendish Square

Transect along Oxford Street

Transect around Cavendish Square

Site visit to Oxford Street

Site visit to Cavendish Square

Source: own photo

Source: own photo

Dimensions for Aspect Ratio Calculation

Dimensions for Aspect Ratio Calculation

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The dimensions of a street canyon, or canyon geometry, strongly influence dispersion of pollution and therefore pedestrian exposure to traffic pollutants. Previous studies indicate that an increase in building height leads to a higher concentration of pollution inside canyons and lower concentration outside canyons (Mead, 2008; Fu et al., 2017). In addition, both studies also show that wider streets have lower pollutant concentrations through enhanced ventilation.

Urban street canyons can be classified based on aspect ratio (Vardoulakis et al., 2003). To calculate the aspect of the buildings I have used data collected for the average number of storeys in buildings along the transect for each location, refer to Appendix A. I multiplied this by a value for the ‘average height of a storey. This value for the average height of a storey that I used was 3.2m (OPDC, 2018, p.5).

Figure 11: Canyon Classification Table

Source: Vardoulakis et al., 2003

Figure 12: Calculated Aspect Ratios

Source: own calculations

Using the classification in figure 11 and the calculated aspect ratio in figure 12, Oxford Street can be classified as a slightly deep canyon, whilst Cavendish Square, however, cannot be classified as an urban canyon. Previous literature suggests that for a street canyon with an aspect ratio greater than 0.7, it can be assumed there is a risk of pollution accumulation (Wang and Ho, 2013). This is due to the base of air at the canyon being relatively stagnant, with little circulation. In addition, this is made more significant if the prevailing wind direction is perpendicular to the street canyon, restricting flow of pollutants.

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The presence of an urban street canyon and a significantly higher aspect ratio in Oxford Street correlates with an increase in pollution levels, this supports my initial hypotheses 2 and 3. Whilst correlation does not demonstrate a causal relationship it does emphasise the significant link between the built environment and level of pollution.

4.4. Percentage Area of Greenery The use of greenery within the built environment can reduce pollution through the processes of dispersion and deposition. Dispersion changes the speed and distance pollutants travel before they reach people which dilutes pollution with cleaner air, this has the greatest effect at street level. Deposition removes a few percent of emissions through removal of pollutants by plant surfaces and stomatal uptake on the underside of leaves, as well as filtering of air by bark and foliage, this in turn has the largest effect in parks. Trees, in particular, have a significant impact in reducing levels of pollution, having the ability to reduce the levels of particulate matter by 7-24% (The Nature Conservancy, 2016).

Figure 13

Source: own calculation

Figure 14

Source: own calculation

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The results shown in figure 14 demonstrate that in Cavendish Square a significant amount of the total area (47%) is devoted to ‘greenery’ being a public garden square. In contrast, in Oxford Street greenery only contributes to 5% of the total area of the street (figure 13) with a few small young trees. This is made even more significant by the fact that the predominant species of tree in Cavendish Square is the London Plane tree (Platanus x hispanica), a species well regarded for its ability to reduce pollution levels. According to the i-Eco Tree Project report 561 tonnes of pollution are removed per annum by trees in inner London (Rogers et al., 2015, pp.33-35).

The correlation between the higher percentage of greenery and lower NO2 pollution levels in Cavendish Square indicate that to a large extent the percentage of greenery and tree cover plays an important role in influencing the levels of pollutants from the air. This aligns with what I predicted in hypothesis 4.

Overall, the use of green infrastructure is generally seen as extremely effective in reducing pollution through both improving the walkability of the city, thereby reducing pollution levels at the source and through deposition. Moreover, the implementation of green infrastructure has the co-benefits of potentially reducing the urban heat island effect and energy consumption, climate change mitigation, improved stormwater management and noise pollution.

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5. Evaluation and Conclusion

Overall, the data I obtained from primary and secondary sources was reliable, allowing for easier analysis and more accurate conclusions. The statistics used in the investigation from LAQN run by King’s College London are extensive and accurate. In addition, the statistics from the Department for Transport are also reliable being a reputable government department. However, Cavendish Square only had pollution data available from May 2018, whilst the Department of Transport only had traffic data available up to the end of 2018, this made correlating data much harder. As noted in my methodology, this study has ignored the type of vehicle i.e. electric, hybrid and their associated emissions. A future study could consider this.

When investigating pollution, it is important to bear in mind that pollutants disperse; high pollutant readings at data sites can be carried from other areas. London’s pollution levels are influenced by not only microclimates but global weather systems, such as the movement of Saharan dust across Western Europe. Meteorology is a factor that plays a large role in influencing dispersion of pollution and London’s air quality.

My data collection was also limited by a number of factors. Firstly, the low resolution of the graphics on the ArcGIS software meant that during data collection it was often difficult to tell the exact point at which to measure from (where buildings stopped and pavement began). The measurements for ‘width of the streets’ and the aspect ratio I calculated from this data is therefore subject to a small measurement error. But based on site visits, I don’t think that this is a significant margin of error.

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In addition, counting the storeys of buildings was subject to error. I could not account for variations in floor heights or the presence of an attic floor which were often barely visible from Google Earth. Moreover, some of the more modern buildings had unusual structures and shapes, making it challenging to count storeys in these buildings. This method could be improved by using a clinometer and calculating the height of buildings using trigonometry, as I had initially planned.

Furthermore, I used Google Earth software to calculate the percentage of greenery at the sites. This used satellite imagery taken in a summer season, therefore my essay disregards the impact of seasonal variation in greenery on pollution levels. To further improve my study, it would have been useful to compare how the percentage of greenery in the area changed seasonally and the impact this had on pollution levels.

Having compared and contrasted traffic levels, aspect ratios and the presence of an urban street canyon and percentage area of greenery with pollution levels using a variety of primary and secondary methods, I have reached the conclusion that the built environment and microclimates created by the built environment play an important role in impacting levels of NO2 pollution in Oxford Street and Cavendish Square.

Rather surprisingly, I have rejected hypothesis 1. In spite of lower traffic levels in Oxford Street, NO2 levels were materially higher. However, the large difference between annual average motor traffic in Cavendish Square and Oxford Street, and converse relationship of pollution to traffic suggest the discrepancy in pollution levels can largely be attributed to the built environment. Hypothesis 1, was therefore instrumental in highlighting the significance of other factors external to motor traffic levels, focusing my analysis on the impact of the contrasting built environments. Despite effective traffic management strategies and lower 23

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mean annual motor traffic in Oxford Street, the higher levels of NO2 pollution suggest to a

large extent that a low percentage of greenery and an urban canyon can have a significant impact on NO2 pollution levels.

I have decided to accept my hypotheses 2 and 3, however I believe the combination of these factors (higher buildings and narrower streets) as expressed in the aspect ratio is overall more important in contributing to a build-up of pollutants in street canyons. The average number of storeys did not differ significantly between the two sites, however there was a significant difference in the width of the two sites. The combination of building height with road width produced vastly different aspect ratios for the two sites which contributes to the urban canyon effect. The wider area of Cavendish Square more likely enables pollution to disperse more easily.

In addition, I have decided to accept hypothesis 4 as there is a significant inverse correlation between the percentage of greenery and level of pollution, primarily due to the processes of dispersion and deposition.

However, in common with many academic studies on pollution, it is difficult to be definitive as many other external meteorological factors influence pollution levels on a daily basis. For future studies undertaken, it would be useful to take these into account and also investigate the impact of the built environment on a range of other pollutants such as PM10, as due to time restraints the focus of my extended essay was NO2.

The results of my investigation suggest it is essential for urban planners and councils to consider the built environment, rather than emission control strategies alone when tackling urban air pollution. Focusing on the built environment, including urban canyons and greenery will help create smarter, more resilient and sustainable cities which reduce exposure to harmful pollutants.

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6. Bibliography

Carrington, D. (2018). The truth about London’s air pollution. [online] the Guardian.

Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/05/the-truth-aboutlondons-air-pollution [Accessed 2 Apr. 2020].

Carslaw, D. (2014). Oxford Street - highest NO2 concentrations in the World? [online] www.londonair.org.uk. Available at: http://www.londonair.org.uk/london/asp/news.asp?NewsId=OxfordStHighNO2&StartIndex= 31 [Accessed 16 May 2020].

City of Westminster (2019a). Air Quality Action Plan. [online] pp.10–12. Available at: https://www.westminster.gov.uk/sites/default/files/air_quality_consultation_policy.pdf [Accessed 4 Jun. 2020].

City of Westminster (2019b). Oxford Street District - Business Case. Westminster City Council, pp.1–4.

DEFRA and AQEG (2018). Impacts of Vegetation for Urban Air Pollution. [online] pp.9–12.

Available at: https://ukair.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/cat09/1807251306_180509_Effects_of_vegetation _on_urban_air_pollution_v12_final.pdf [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].

Fu, X., Liu, J., Ban-Weiss, G.A., Zhang, J., Huang, X., Ouyang, B., Popoola, O. and Tao, S. (2017). Effects of canyon geometry on the distribution of traffic-related air pollution in a large urban area: Implications of a multi-canyon air pollution dispersion model. Atmospheric Environment, 165, pp.111–121.

Gardiner, B. (2019). CHOKED : the age of air pollution and the fight for a cleaner future. S.L.: Granta Books.

Greater London Authority (2018). London Environmental Strategy. [online] p.8. Available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/les_appendix_2_-_evidence_base_0.pdf [Accessed 3 Jun. 2020].

Hease, M., Humphries, M., Sangwin, C.J., Vo, N. and Al, E. (2019). Mathematics : analysis and approaches HL. 2: for use with IB diploma programme. Marleston: Hease Mathematics, p.713.

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Laville, S. (2017). Nearly 40 million people live in UK areas with illegal air pollution. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/22/nearly-40-million-people-live-in-ukareas-with-illegal-air-pollution [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020].

Mayor of London (2020). Air pollution monitoring data in London: 2016 to 2020. Greater London Authority, pp.18–20.

Mead, M.N. (2008). Urban Issues: Canyons Up the Pollution Ante. Environmental Health Perspectives, 116(7), p.2.

OPDC (2018). Tall Buildings Statement. Mayor of London, p.5.

Rogers, K., Sacre, K., Goodenough, J. and Doick, K. (2015). Valuing London’s Urban Forest. [online] Treeconomics London, pp.10, 33–35. Available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/valuing_londons_urban_forest_itree_report_final.pdf [Accessed 3 Jun. 2020].

Smedley, T. (2019). Clearing the air : the beginning and the end of air pollution. London: Bloomsbury Sigma.

The Nature Conservancy (2016). Planting Healthy Air. [online] p.33,45. Available at: https://thought-leadership-production.s3.amazonaws.com/2016/10/28/17/17/50/0615788b8eaf-4b4f-a02a-8819c68278ef/20160825_PHA_Report_FINAL.pdf [Accessed 28 May 2020].

UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2019). World Urbanization Prospects. [online] UN, p.1. Available at: https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018Highlights.pdf [Accessed May 2020].

US EPA, OLEM (2017). Basic Information about the Built Environment | US EPA. [online] US EPA. Available at: https://www.epa.gov/smm/basic-information-about-built-environment [Accessed 28 May 2020].

US EPA, OAR (2019). Criteria Air Pollutants | US EPA. [online] US EPA. Available at: https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants [Accessed 27 May 2020].

Vardoulakis, S., Fisher, B.E.., Pericleous, K. and Gonzalez-Flesca, N. (2003). Modelling air quality in street canyons: a review. Atmospheric Environment, 37(2), pp.155–182.

Wang, A. and Ho, B. (2013). Urban Street Canyons. [online] ibis.geog.ubc.ca. Available at: https://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/courses/geob370/students/class13/bho/ [Accessed 5 Jun. 2020].

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World Health Organization, WHO (2016). Global Health Observatory (GHO) data. [online] WHO. Available at: https://www.who.int/gho/phe/en/ [Accessed 20 Aug. 2020].

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7. Appendix Appendix A: ArcGIS base-maps with the number of storeys in buildings annotated on them

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Appendix B: Inputs for Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient

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An examination of whether Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon is presented as justified in Aeschylus’ Oresteia.

To what extent is Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon presented as justified in Aeschylus’ Oresteia?

Classical Greek

Word Count: 3,929.

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Contents:

I: Introduction

3

II: Iphigenia as justification

4

III: The influence of Divine Will upon Clytemnestra

8

IV: The judgement of Athena in Eumenides

15

V: Conclusion

19

VI: Bibliography

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Section I: Introduction

“Sexually faithless, deceitful, murderous: Clytemnestra is the incarnation of ancient anxieties about women and power” writes Madeline Miller.1 Yet Clytemnestra is not simply a villain; she is a wronged wife, devastated mother and avenger of evil. In his Oresteia Aeschylus embraces these complexities; he depicts a woman who at times repulses and at times invites sympathy but always defies categorisation. Aeschylus’ refusal to give the audience any easy answers is what makes my research question so worthy of investigation as he keeps the audience guessing on what Clytemnestra’s motives for killing Agamemnon truly are. The problem of Clytemnestra and her murder of Agamemnon is a fundamental issue within Classical Greek because its scope is not limited to her character alone; the problem of Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon is also about women versus men, about marital relationships versus parent-child relationships, and about humans versus the gods.

Since the Oresteia begins with a murder and ends in a court of law, judgement and the characteristics of justice are a fundamental theme throughout the trilogy. Having read and analysed a wide variety of academic journal articles, many of which presented contrasting perspectives, in this essay I will explore whether Aeschylus presents Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon and her motives for doing so as justified according to the moral standards of the time, justified by the gods, justified by the laws and customs of the time, or by none of the above.

Miller, Madeline. “Myth of the Week: Clytemnestra.” madelinemiller.com. madelinemiller.com/myth-of-theweek-clytemnestra/ (accessed June 4, 2020).

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Section II: Iphigenia as justification

The most crucial argument in favour of Clytemnestra’s act as justified, and the cornerstone of her own defence, is Agamemnon’s sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis. It is also, as Gerard J.P. O’Daly highlights, “undoubtedly the event which provoked most sympathy for Clytemnestra in the Athenian theatre”.2 However, scholarly opinion is divided over whether Aeschylus meant to present Clytemnestra’s distress over Iphigenia’s death as genuine, or whether he meant for it to be perceived as merely a ploy used by Clytemnestra to convince the Elders that her killing of Agamemnon was justified. One of the most memorable moments in the trilogy is Clytemnestra’s ecstatic exultation over the bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra:

οὕτω τὸν αὑτοῦ θυμὸν ὁρμαίνει πεσών,

1388

κἀκϕυσιῶν ὀξεῖαν αἵματος σϕαγὴν βάλλει μ ' ἐρεμνῇ ψακάδι ϕοινίας δρόσου,

1390

χαίρουσαν οὐδὲν ἧσσον ἢ διοσδότῳ γάνει σπόρητος κάλυκος ἐν λοχεύμασιν.3

The verb “λοχεύμασιν” 4, emphatically positioned at the end of the line, suggests that the joy Clytemnestra experiences upon killing Agamemnon is akin to the joy of childbirth, thus

O'Daly, Gerard J. P. "Clytemnestra and the Elders: Dramatic Technique in Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1372– 1576." Museum Helveticum 42, no. 1 (1985): 8.

3 “Thus, having fallen, he forced out his own soul, and he coughed up a sharp spurt of blood and hit me with a black shower of gory dew – at which I rejoiced no less than the growing corn rejoices in the liquid blessing granted by Zeus when the sheathed ears swell to birth.” Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 169-171, lines 1388-1392.

4 “swell to birth”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp 169171, line 1392.

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reminding the audience of Iphigenia, her first born, as she exults over her first kill.5 In this way, Aeschylus inserts a lex talionis idea here in support of Clytemnestra; there seems to be

a balance between the fate of Iphigenia and that of Agamemnon. However, the killing of Cassandra upsets this balance as Clytemnestra too has committed adultery so there is no need for a second murder. It seems that the act of killing itself aside from it being an act of vengeance is pleasurable for Clytemnestra. Despite this, the death of Agamemnon seems to fail to relieve the pain of Iphigenia’s death. In one of her subsequent speeches to the chorus Clytemnestra expresses her ongoing bitterness over Iphigenia’s death:

οὐδὲν τότ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' ἐναντίον ϕέρων,

1414

ὃς οὐ προτιμῶν, ὡσπερεὶ βοτοῦ μόρον

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μήλων ϕλεόντων εὐπόκοις νομεύμασιν, ἔθυσεν αὑτοῦ παῖδα, ϕιλτάτην ἐμοὶ ὠδῖν', ἐπῳδὸν Θρῃκίων ἀημάτων.6

The superlative “ϕιλτάτην”7 highlights her love for Iphigenia and the positioning of the personal pronouns “αὑτοῦ”8 and “ἐμοὶ”9 in the centre of each of the phrases emphasises that part of the horror of this crime for Clytemnestra comes from the way that “it strike(s)

O'Daly, "Clytemnestra and the Elders: Dramatic Technique in Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1372–1576," 10.

“But you didn’t show any opposition at all to this man at that former time, when, setting no special value on her - treating her death as if it were the death of one beast out of large flocks of well-fleeced sheep - he sacrificed his own child, the darling offspring of my pangs, as a spell to soothe the Thracian winds.” Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp 172-173, lines 1414-1418.

7 “dearest/darling”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp.

172-173, line 1417.

8 “his”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 172-173, line 1417.

9 “my”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 172-173, line 1417.

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at the status of the woman in marriage” since Agamemnon’s unilateral decision to sacrifice a child is an emphatic demonstration of the husband’s superiority within marriage.10 The

pathos evoked by Clytemnestra recalls vividly the Chorus’ own description of Iphigenia’s death:

λιτὰς δὲ καὶ κληδόνας πατρῴους

228

παρʹ οὐδὲν αἰῶ τε παρθένειον ἔθεντο ϕιλόμαχοι βραβῆς·

230

ϕράσεν δʹ ἀόζοις πατὴρ μετʹ εὐχὰν δίκαν χιμαίρας ὕπερθε βωμοῦ πέπλοισι περιπετῆ παντὶ θυμῷ προνωπῆ λαβεῖν ἀέρδην 11

The Chorus, as evident, see Agamemnon’s actions as heinous and therefore, in order to avoid siding with Clytemnestra, they accuse her of madness. It is worth noting that they also accuse Clytemnestra of madness when she announces the sacking of Troy. Yet, as the Chorus are forced to admit, she is correct about Troy, and therefore it can reasonably be assumed that she is correct here as well in justifying the murder of Agamemnon with the sacrifice of Iphigenia. Nevertheless, the argument of Iphigenia is not without flaws although Winnington-Ingram, “Clytemnestra and the Vote of Athena,” 136.

“Her pleas, her cries of “father!”, and her maiden years, were set at naught by the war-loving chieftains. after a prayer, her father told his attendants to lift her right up over the altar with all their strength, like a yearling goat, face down, so that her robes fell around her” Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp 26-27, lines 228-234.

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the Chorus appears not to identify them. O’Daly states that Clytemnestra’s narration of Iphigenia’s sacrifice “is a deliberate falsification of the motives and mood of those making the sacrifice.”12 She does omit to mention that the sacrifice was demanded by Artemis, and that Agamemnon did struggle greatly with his decision, as the Chorus illustrate in their

narration of the event, when they state that Agamemnon “δʹ ἀνάγκας ἔδυ λέπαδνον”.13 On the other hand, the supposed “ἔδυ λέπαδνον”14 is in fact a denial of the truth, since, as Alan H. Sommerstein states, it was “neither cowardly nor criminal for a commander to abandon or discontinue a military enterprise when its aims clearly cannot be fulfilled except at ruinous material or moral cost”.15 It is clear that Agamemnon’s sacrifice of Iphigenia was a deliberate choice that he was not compelled to make: he placed his own glory as a military commander at a higher value than his daughter’s life. Thus, avenging Iphigenia is a legitimate motive for Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon according to the moral standards of the time. However, Aeschylus suggests that there are other forces driving Clytemnestra to kill Agamemnon; she clearly derives pleasure from killing, and, as I will go on to explore, accessing power is another reason for her action and as a result, the foundations of this justification are very shaky indeed.

O'Daly, "Clytemnestra and the Elders: Dramatic Technique in Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1372–1576," 8. “put on the yokestrap of necessity”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 26-27, line 218.

14 “yokestrap of necessity”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 26-27, line 218.

15 Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, 24-25, Footnote 46.

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Section III: The influence of divine will on Clytemnestra

Another major argument concerning the justifiability of Agamemnon’s murder revolves around the question of divine will. Divine will and its influence on human action was a common feature of all Greek drama and literature at the time, but it is particularly pertinent in this case because of the curse on the house of Atreus. This curse was originally brought about by Tantalus feeding the gods his own son Pelops in an impious attempt to test their wisdom, and Pelops’ subsequent failure to honour his side of a deal with a servant.16 The question here therefore is: does the curse on the House of Atreus remove or at least alleviate some of Clytemnestra’s guilt? Matt Neuberg argues that even to ask this is to risk an anachronistic reading of the text and that these issues “to the Greeks, or more strictly to the characters of the drama, may simply be the common background of action and discourse”.17 This is certainly a useful reminder to make sure that no more is extrapolated about divine will than what is plausible in terms of the text itself. However, the idea of the gods being the “common background” and therefore unworthy of attention only holds up if Aeschylus’ Agamemnon is looked at on its own, and not in the context of his subsequent two plays in the trilogy: Libation Bearers and Eumenides. Ultimately, it is the gods who drive the action in Eumenides, and it is the gods who have the final word on Orestes’ crime. To consider whether Orestes’ matricide was righteous necessarily demands an evaluation of Clytemnestra’s deed. Although Orestes is arguably compelled to kill Clytemnestra whether or not her murder of Agamemnon is justified (since it is the murder of his father), the gods’

Struck, Peter T. “House of Atreus”. classics.upenn.edu. http://www.classics.upenn.edu/myth/php/tragedy/index.php?page=atreus.

17 Neuburg, Matt. "Clytemnestra and the Alastor (Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1497ff)." Quaderni Urbinati Di Cultura Classica 38, no. 2 (1991): 50.

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judgement on whether his deed is deserving of punishment is simultaneously a judgement on Clytemnestra’s deed. Athena decides not to punish Orestes, thereby condemning

Clytemnestra, since the implication is that Clytemnestra’s deed is so terrible that Orestes need not be punished despite the fact that he has killed his own mother.

Given the crucial role that divinity plays in Eumenides I would argue it is important to consider its roots in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon. One of the most memorable scenes within Agamemnon concerning this is the so called ‘carpet scene’ when Clytemnestra persuades Agamemnon to trample purple tapestries as he enters the house. P. E. Easterling notes that the audience is “not forced to see them (the tapestries) as intrinsically sacred objects” but argues that this does not mean Clytemnestra’s proposition is devoid of religious offence. 18 I agree that it is evident within this scene that trampling the tapestries is presented as having the potential to incur divine wrath. Aeschylus clearly presents Agamemnon as uncomfortable with the act; he refuses initially and when he acquiesces fourteen lines of stichomythia later, he removes his shoes before doing so, which as Easterling says, “is a sign of god-fearing αἰδώϛ (shame)” that “illustrates his knowledge that he is doing the wrong thing”.19 It could be argued that this makes the act of impiety worse since it shows Agamemnon is aware that he will be acting in a way that is distasteful to the gods. However, Clytemnestra’s very decision to welcome Agamemnon in such an excessive manner is also a sign of “god-fearing ‘αἰδώϛ’(shame)” designed to diminish his status in the eyes of the gods and thereby make his death more palatable. Placed alongside each other it seems that Aeschylus presents Agamemnon’s impiety as on a much lesser scale than Clytemnestra’s 18 19

Easterling, P. E. "Presentation of Character in Aeschylus." Greece & Rome 20, no. 1 (1973): 11.

Easterling, “Presentation of Character in Aeschylus”, 14-15.

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since after all he is returning home after leading the Greek army to victory and he does attempt to appease the gods beforehand, whereas Clytemnestra is attempting to deliberately manipulate the gods, which is suggestive of far greater hubris and even reminiscent of Tantalus’ trickery. Thus, although the ‘carpet scene’ illustrates Agamemnon’s weakness of character, it is also a way of condemning Clytemnestra and showing that the murder of Agamemnon is not justifiable in the eyes of the gods.

Another notable allusion to divine power comes when Clytemnestra attributes her deed to the spirit of the House of Atreus:

αὐχεῖς εἶναί τόδε τοὔργον ἐμόν; <μὴ

1497

> μηδʹ ἐπιλεχθῃς

'Αγαμεμνονίαν εἶναί μʹ ἄλοχον· ϕανταζόμενος δὲ γυναικὶ νεκροῦ

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τοῦδ' ὁ παλαιὸς δριμὺς ἀλάστωρ ʹΑτρέως χαλεποῦ θοινατῆρος τόνδʹ ἀπέτεισεν, τέλεον νεαροῖς ἐπιθύσας.20

“You think this deed is mine? Do not suppose so, nor reckon that I am the spouse of Agamemnon: no, the ancient, bitter avenging spirit of Atreus, the furnisher of the cruel banquet, has taken the likeness of this corpse’s wife and paid him out, adding a full-grown sacrificial victim to the young ones.” Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 182-183, lines 1497-1504.

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This passage has been the subject of many scholarly debates. Until this point in the play Clytemnestra has explicitly asserted her responsibility for Agamemnon’s murder and her pride in it. Why does she suddenly change tack here and apparently renounce her guilt?

Perhaps Aeschylus includes this in order to make the audience think that she is guilty;

Kenneth Dover says that “an explicit claim of divine interference would likely work against the plaintiff!”.21 Neuberg argues that this passage explores the double nature of Clytemnestra’s deed; she is both an avenger of Iphigenia and a husband-murderer and this line is an attempt to persuade the chorus to perceive the deed as an act of vengeance rather than as husband-murder.22 All the killings − of Iphigenia, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra − have this paradox embedded in them: the purpose of the deed may be noble but the deed itself is horrifyingly ignoble and worthy of punishment. 23 However, again this conclusion is only upheld when the passage is looked at in isolation. Before this, Clytemnestra has not only owned the deed, but also owned her relationship to Agamemnon. She states:

οὗτός ἐστιν Ἀγαμέμνων, ἐμὸς

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πόσις, νεκρὸς δέ, τῆσδε δεξιᾶς χερὸς

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ἔργον, δικαίας τέκτονος. τάδʹ ὧδʹ ἔχει.24

Dover, K. J., Greek Popular Morality in the Time of Plato and Aristotle, (USA: Basil Blackwell and University of California Press, 1974), quoted in Neuburg, Matt. "Clytemnestra and the Alastor (Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1497ff)." Quaderni Urbinati Di Cultura Classica 38, no. 2 (1991): 50.

22 Neuberg, Matt. "Clytemnestra and the Alastor (Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1497ff), " 53-54.

23 Ibid., 54.

24 “This is Agamemnon, my husband, a corpse, the work of this right hand of mine, an artificer of justice. That’s how it is.” Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 170-171, lines 1404-1406.

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The noun “πόσις”25 in her declaration of her own guilt is emphatically positioned at the

beginning of the line and the enjambment between “ἐμὸς”26 and “πόσις” highlights that she is fully aware of this ineluctable truth. The most obvious argument, that she is trying to deny her responsibility, could be upheld on the basis that she has a sudden epiphany that this attribution of guilt to the spirit of the House of Atreus could be the simplest way for her to win over the chorus.

This begs the question of why she wants to persuade the chorus of Elders at all; after all, she has successfully taken revenge on her husband for his murder of Iphigenia and his infidelity, why can’t she just revel in the fulfilment of her aim? Florence Mary Bennett Anderson argues that Clytemnestra must convince the elders that she acted righteously, as if they were to place her under a religious ban she would be excommunicated from the state sacrifices and libations and hence rendered incapable of ruling.27 Implicit in this argument is the idea that at least in part Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon to gain power. If this can be seen to be the case in the text, then it certainly undermines Clytemnestra’s claim that her killing of Agamemnon was justified. On the one hand, it could be argued that if she did truly have megalomaniac tendencies then it would be necessary to kill Aegisthus and Orestes too in order to remove all competition for power. She does not do either of these things. However, she does exile Orestes, and Aegisthus, although male, is not actually a threat. Notoriously, Cassandra describes Clytemnestra as “αὕτη δίπους λέαινα,

“husband”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 170-171, line 1405.

26 “my”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 170-171, line 1404.

27 Anderson, Florence Mary Bennett. "The Character of Clytemnestra in the Agamemnon of Aeschylus." Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 60 (1929): 145.

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συγκοιμωμένη/λύκῳ λέοντος εὐγενοῦς ἀπουσίᾳ”.28 This metaphor demonstrates the role reversal of the societal norm present in their relationship; Clytemnestra is dominant whilst Aegisthus is submissive. It is notable that Aeschylus diverges from other versions of the myth in which Aegisthus plays a much more active role in the killing of Agamemnon, such as in Homer’s version in Book 11 of the Odyssey.29 Despite the fact that Aegisthus does not kill

Agamemnon nor appear onstage until after his death has occurred, he claims that:

τραϕέντα δ' αὖθις ἡ Δίκη κατήγαγεν,

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καὶ τοῦδε τἀνδρὸς ἡψάμην θυραῖος ὤν, πᾶσαν ξυνάψας μηχανὴν δυσβουλίας.30

He also angrily describes the murder of his brothers by Atreus (Agamemnon’s father).

However, the chorus is unconvinced and questions him on why he did not have the courage to kill Agamemnon himself and he appears unable to answer them directly. All he can say is that “τὸ γὰρ δολῶσαι πρὸς γυναικὸς ἦν σαφῶς”.31 This is incoherent since the implication is that the man’s role is to kill him and yet Aegisthus did not. Aeschylus’ decision to include Aegisthus’ reasons for hating Agamemnon further highlights Aegisthus’ exclusion from the murder scene. The killing of Cassandra functions also to emphasise this visually; Clytemnestra stands above two bodies and the absence of Aegisthus is therefore made

28“The

two-footed lioness sleeping with the wolf while the noble lion is away”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 152-153, lines 1258-1259.

29 Homer, The Odyssey, trans. Emily Wilson, (New York: Norton, 2018), p. 292, Book 11, lines 408-412.

30“When I grew up, Justice brought me back again, and I laid hands on this man though I was not present, fitting together every device to plan his harm.” Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 194-197, lines 1607-1609.

31“Well, the entrapment was obviously a job for a woman”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 198-199, line 1636.

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more noticeable. Symbolically, this represents how little Aegisthus factors into the murder

of Agamemnon; his motives are not the same as Clytemnestra’s and she is not killing Agamemnon or Cassandra for love of him otherwise he too would be involved. Ultimately, it is Clytemnestra’s own motives that drive her to kill Agamemnon, despite Aegisthus’ attempts to take ownership of the deed ex post facto.

Aeschylus’ version makes it possible for Clytemnestra to be seeking power without killing Aegisthus or Orestes. In fact, R.P. Winnington-Ingram suggests that Aegisthus is crucial to Clytemnestra’s acquisition of power as he “is a necessary tool for her masculine will.” 32 Once he has been killed, Clytemnestra is left only with the weapon of πειθώ (persuasion).

Although she calls for an axe in Libation Bearers, it is evident that it is impossible for Clytemnestra to defeat Orestes in a battle of βία (force).33 Unlike with Agamemnon where her weakness was her strength (since Agamemnon did not believe her to pose a threat), here her weakness is nothing but weakness. However, her call for an axe is nevertheless important. Sommerstein states that she is “recognising (temporarily) that she must now either kill, or be killed by, her son”34, which thereby falsifies her claim to Iphigenia as justification since if she were to love her child enough to kill her husband, then it seems incoherent that she could consider killing another of her children in what would evidently be a brutal murder requiring formidable willpower. Furthermore, she declares immediately after this, “εἰδῶμεν εἰ νικῶμεν ἢ νικώμεθα·”35 Yet what is to be won? Not revenge, since not even Clytemnestra can argue that Orestes has committed a crime in killing Aegisthus.

Winnington-Ingram, “Clytemnestra and the Vote of Athena,” 135.

Ibid., 134-140.

34 Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, p. 324, Footnote 175.

35 “Let us find out whether we’re to be the winners or the losers”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 324-325, line 890.

32 33

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Not glory, since there is no glory to be gained in killing one’s son. Not life, because if she

loves her son the way she claims to love her daughter then how could she live with the guilt.

Only power. And if she killed her husband for power then that murder was unjustified by the laws and customs of the time since no mortal woman had a legitimate claim to power in Ancient Greece.

Section IV: The judgement of Athena in Eumenides

A fundamental point in favour of the argument that Aeschylus presents Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon as unjustified is the ultimate decree of Athena in Eumenides acquitting Orestes of his crime, and thereby condemning Clytemnestra for hers. However, the tie vote and fierce rhetorical battle between the Furies and Apollo is indicative of the complexity of both Orestes’ and Clytemnestra’s crimes. Arguably, Aeschylus’ portrayal of the Furies exacerbates the impression that Clytemnestra is somewhat of a sadist, as the Furies are initially depicted as bloodthirsty and vengeful in a way that reeks of barbarism rather than justice. The Furies describe themselves and their chase of Orestes as “τετραυματισμένον γὰρ ὡς κύων νεβρὸν/ πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σταλαγμὸν ἐκμαστεύομεν.”36 The word positioning in the Greek acts as a foreshadowing of what is to come as the “τετραυματισμένον.. νεβρὸν”37, frames the line and surrounds the “κύων”38, reflecting that

“Like a hound on the trail of a wounded fawn, we are tracking him down by the drip of blood.” Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 386-387, lines 246-247.

37 “wounded fawn”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp.

386-387, line 246.

38 “dog”. Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 386-387, line 246.

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ultimately Orestes will come out on top. The vulnerable depiction of Orestes is pathetic,

particularly in comparison with the voracious Furies whom Clytemnestra has urged on. This leads to a lack of sympathy for the Furies and Clytemnestra, which suggests that Aeschylus is trying to portray Clytemnestra as a wicked character, and not as a torchbearer of justice in the plays.

Furthermore, the idea that the Furies’ hunger for blood mirrors this trait of Clytemnestra’s is highlighted again with the Furies’ call to Orestes, “ἀλλʹ ἀντιδοῦναι δεῖ σ' ἀπὸ ζῶντος ῥοϕεῖν/ ἐρυθρὸν ἐκ μελέων πελανόν”.39 The word “ῥοϕεῖν” (to slurp), although used in tragedy in conjunction with the Furies, is ordinarily used to describe “the drinking of thick liquids such as soup and broth”. 40 This explicit reference to eating in the context of death recalls Clytemnestra’s exultation over the bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra when she states “ἐμοὶ δʹ ἐπήγαγεν/εὐνῆς παροψώνημα τῆς ἐμῆς χλιδῆς.”41 Simon Pulleyn argues that in these lines food, sex, and death are inextricably linked.42 The link between food and death is an established one since “sacrificial animals were usually killed with the expectation that they would provide a pleasurable meal”. 43 Thus, it could be assumed that Clytemnestra perceives Agamemnon as a necessary sacrifice to end the miasma enveloping the House of Atreus. However, it is evident that Agamemnon’s death does not count as a purifying sacrifice, although Clytemnestra may attempt to portray it as such. Clytemnestra refers to a

“No, you must give in return a thick red liquid from your limbs for us to slurp from your living body.”

Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 388-389, lines 264265.

40 Ibid., 389, Footnote 70.

41 “To me she (Cassandra) has brought a choice side-dish to the pleasure in which I luxuriate." Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 176-177, lines 1446-1447.

42 Pulleyn, Simon. "Erotic Undertones in the Language of Clytemnestra." The Classical Quarterly 47, no. 2 (1997): 565-67.

43 Ibid., 565-567.

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libation over his body, but she refrains from actually pouring one, implying that she does not fully believe her own claims to sacrifice.44 Furthermore, as O’Daly highlights, the fact that she even thinks of a libation is horrifying, as such an act would have necessitated the dismemberment and burning of Agamemnon’s body.45 By having Clytemnestra suggest the

possibility of Agamemnon acting as a sacrifice, Aeschylus casts aspersions on her character and on whether her motives for killing Agamemnon are justifiable.

It is notable that the argument between the Furies and Apollo revolves around the relationships rather than the characters themselves; the Furies promote the relationship between mother and child and disparage the importance of the marriage tie whilst Apollo does the opposite.46 Both sides have flawed arguments; the Furies refuse to recognise the violation of the marriage bond as a crime and Apollo’s famous physiological argument highlights that “πατὴρ μὲν ἂν γείναιτʹ ἄνευ μητρός·”47 but omits to mention that it is also often the case in myth that a mother procreates without a father.48 Nevertheless, Athena ultimately casts her deciding vote in favour of Orestes, declaring that:

μήτηρ γὰρ οὔτις ἐστὶν ἥ μʹ ἐγείνατο,

736

τὸ δʹ ἄρσεν αἰνῶ πάντα, πλὴν γάμου τυχεῖν, ἅπαντι θυμῷ, κάρτα δʹ εἰμὶ τοῦ πατρός· οὕτω γυναικὸς οὐ προτιμήσω μόρον

O'Daly, "Clytemnestra and the Elders: Dramatic Technique in Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1372–1576," 12.

Ibid., 12.

46 Winnington-Ingram, “Clytemnestra and the Vote of Athena,” 141-144.

47 “a father can procreate without a mother.” Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 438-439, line 663.

48 Ibid., p. 439, Footnote 141.

44 45

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ἄνδρα κτανούσης δωμάτων ἐπίσκοπον.49

740

The authority of her action is conveyed through her speech as she declares “εἰμὶ τοῦ πατρός·” 50, thereby emphasising that not only is the acquittal of Orestes her will, but also the will of Zeus. Hence, Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon seems assuredly unjustified in the eyes of the gods as they support Orestes’ murder of her. Nevertheless, Athena’s judgement seems unconvincing; it appears that Athena makes the decision to acquit Orestes (and condemn Clytemnestra) based on her own personal experience and opinions regarding gender rather than on the facts laid out before her. Despite arguments that “Clytemnestra is judged as any murderer would be, rather than as a ‘man’ or a ‘woman’” 51, Athena’s words emphatically declaim otherwise. There is also, as Winnington-Ingram argues, “a bitter irony when the goddess, who in all things commends the male and is free to exercise her preference in action, condemns the woman of manly counsel for seeking the domination which her nature demanded”.52 Thus, the very nature of Athena’s judgement may in fact warrant the opposite judgement of Clytemnestra by the audience. However, it is arguable that Aeschylus is criticising the judicial system and not the judgement itself.

Certainly, Aeschylus has Athena describe the next epoch in the Athenian judicial system, where the Areopagus council will be the ones to uphold law and order, in a highly positive

“There is no mother who gave birth to me, and I commend the male in all respects (except for joining in marriage) with all my heart: in the fullest sense, I am my Father’s child. Therefore, I shall not set a higher value on the death of a woman, when she had killed her husband, the guardian of her house.” Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 446-449, lines 736-740.

50 “I am my father’s child.” Aeschylus, Oresteia, ed. and trans. Alan H. Sommerstein, Loeb Classical Library 146, pp. 448-449, line 737.

51 Kittelä, Sanna-Ilaria. “The Queen Ancient and Modern: Aeschylus’ Clytemnestra.” New Voices in Classical Reception Studies 4 (2009): 130.

52 Winnington-Ingram, “Clytemnestra and the Vote of Athena,” 145.

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light. Aeschylus may be criticising the basis upon which Athena’s judgement lies, yet the judgement itself is depicted as acceptable because it ends the cycle of bloodletting in the House of Atreus, it maintains order and prevents miasma, and it favours Orestes, who is a sympathetic character throughout Libation Bearers and Eumenides but especially when pitted against the bestial and vicious Furies. The acquittal of Orestes is acceptable to Aeschylus and therefore so is the implicit condemnation of Clytemnestra.

SECTION V: Conclusion

In conclusion, Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon is ultimately presented as a violation of justice in Aeschylus’ Oresteia. Despite her claims to be an agent of justice because of Iphigenia’s death, Aeschylus shows that Clytemnestra is ambitious and power-hungry, and willing to kill those in her way in order to access power. In fact, Aeschylus demonstrates that she is more than willing to do so, as the gratuitous murder of Cassandra reveals. The Furies’ own apparent bloodlust reflects that of Clytemnestra, but they are ultimately placated whereas Clytemnestra is not. Clytemnestra endlessly rages against the boundaries imposed on her by virtue of her sex. Although she can to some extent use her female body to her advantage by appearing more vulnerable than she really is, she cannot penetrate the male world of power. Her attempt to enter it by means of killing Agamemnon disrupts the social order around her and makes her death inevitable as an antidote to the chaos that ensues in Mycenae when she takes power. Athena’s speech acquitting Orestes may be questionable, but she is an extension of the will of Zeus, and she clearly eliminates the possibility of Clytemnestra’s act being ratified by divine will. Although I have found that overall Aeschylus

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portrays Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon as unjustified by the moral standards and

customs of the time, and by the gods, the tie vote in Eumenides illustrates that the question of Clytemnestra and whether she abides by justice was a question that Aeschylus and ancient audiences struggled with, and one that continues to perplex and challenge audiences today.

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Aeschylus, Oresteia. Edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. Loeb Classical Library 146. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.

Anderson, Florence Mary Bennett. Florence Mary Bennett Anderson. "The Character of Clytemnestra in the Agamemnon of Aeschylus." Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 60 (1929): 136-54. Accessed September 24, 2020. doi:10.2307/282814.

Dover, K. J., Greek Popular Morality in the Time of Plato and Aristotle, USA: Basil Blackwell and University of California Press, 1974, quoted in Neuburg, Matt. "Clytemnestra and the Alastor (Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1497ff)." Quaderni Urbinati Di Cultura Classica 38, no. 2 (1991): 37-68. Accessed May 1, 2020. doi:10.2307/20547093.

Easterling, P. E. "Presentation of Character in Aeschylus." Greece & Rome 20, no. 1 (1973): 3-19. Accessed August 10, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/642873.

Homer, The Odyssey. Translated by Emily Wilson. New York: Norton, 2018.

Kittelä, Sanna-Ilaria. “The Queen Ancient and Modern: Aeschylus’ Clytemnestra.” New Voices in Classical Reception Studies 4 (2009): 123-143. Accessed May 29, 2020. https://www.academia.edu/download/30846289/7Kittella.pdf.

Miller, Madeline. “Myth of the Week: Clytemnestra.” madelinemiller.com. Accessed June 4, 2020. madelinemiller.com/myth-of-the-week-clytemnestra/.

Neuburg, Matt. "Clytemnestra and the Alastor (Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1497ff)." Quaderni Urbinati Di Cultura Classica 38, no. 2 (1991): 37-68. Accessed May 1, 2020. doi:10.2307/20547093.

O'Daly, Gerard J. P. "Clytemnestra and the Elders: Dramatic Technique in Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1372 –1576." Museum Helveticum 42, no. 1 (1985): 1-19. Accessed May 11, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24816701.

Pulleyn, Simon. "Erotic Undertones in the Language of Clytemnestra." The Classical Quarterly 47, no. 2 (1997): 565-67. Accessed May 9, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/639691.

Struck, Peter T. “House of Atreus”. classics.upenn.edu. Accessed May 20, 2020. http://www.classics.upenn.edu/myth/php/tragedy/index.php?page=atreus.

Winnington-Ingram, R. P. "Clytemnestra and the Vote of Athena." The Journal of Hellenic Studies 68 (1948): 130-47. Accessed May 9, 2020. doi:10.2307/626303.

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ToK

Theory of Knowledge

Theory of Knowledge - The Spine of the IB Theory of Knowledge, or ToK, lies at the heart of the IB Diploma programme: it provides students with an opportunity to explore and reflect on the nature of knowledge and the process of knowing. By exploring different types of knowledge and the different means by which they are acquired, ToK seeks to answer the fundamental question: how do we know anything? It does this by looking at a range of subjects students will study as part of their IB Diploma. Consequently, it is stimulatingly cross-curricular, linking ideas across several disciplines and comparing one discipline’s methods of obtaining knowledge with another’s. It is an invigorating challenge for all IB students, particularly following the clear demarcation of GCSE subjects.

The assessment is divided between an exhibition and an essay. Towards the end of the Lower Sixth year students are asked to select a prompt question from 35 available titles and to identify three objects that they deem useful real life manifestations of their chosen prompt; each object is accompanied by a short written explanation. In the Autumn Term of the Upper Sixth year, students are presented with six ToK essay questions from which they select one title; their completed 1600 word essay is a culmination of their ToK study and approaches an intriguing knowledge question by looking at two contrasting academic fields. The following exemplar essays (from Aurellia Elliot, Amelia Rees and Katherine Peachey) give a flavour of the impressive extent of knowledge students themselves acquire!

Ms Butterworth - ToK Coordinator

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Title 5: ‘Areas of Knowledge are most useful in combination with each other’Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge

In order to establish whether areas of knowledge are most useful in combination with each other, what is meant by ‘useful’ must first be defined, as well as in regards to what aspect of knowledge. For the purposes of my essay, I will define useful as aiding in the ​acquisition of accurate and valuable knowledge. In this sense, I will evaluate the usefulness of using the Areas of Knowledge of History and the Human Sciences in combination with each other, as both have a scope concerned with the study of humans. I will explore the perspective that areas of knowledge ​are most useful in combination, as well as the perspective that they are most useful when applied separately.

The first perspective that I will explore is that Areas of Knowledge are, in fact, most useful in combination. Specifically, I will argue that in terms of acquiring accurate and valuable knowledge, History and the Human Sciences as AoKs are optimised when working in conjunction with one another. History, for example, is an AoK that is impossible to study without context, and it can be seen that history is inextricably linked with the Human Sciences, in that historical fact is underpinned by economic, political and philosophical theory. These theories aid the methodology of History in that they allow understanding of contemporary documents and the subsequent development of historical theory. For example, an RLS which demonstrates the utility of using AoKs in combination is the influence that Adam Smith’s 1776 work of philosophy and economics ​...The Wealth of Nations ​had on the Scottish

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enlightenment. Smith’s concept of ‘the invisible hand of the market’​1​, in Book 1, became the foundational text of British, liberal politics as it advocated for laissez-faire ​economics, and was the basis for the controversies surrounding free trade in Britain in the 1840s. Thus, in order to understand this period of History and to gain valuable information about periods such as the Enlightenment era, one must have an understanding of the economic and philosophical theories from the Human Sciences that existed at the time. Using the human sciences supports the methodology of History, as the theories allow historians to further their historical explanations, and create plausible theories of the past. As well as this, as History is a fairly personal discipline, in which Historians gather their own theories rather than working collaboratively, combining this with the more peer-based methodology of the Human Sciences adds a universal element to History, making the knowledge acquired more valuable.

Furthermore, another RLS that can demonstrate the fact that Areas of Knowledge are most useful in combination with each other is using Marx’s Communist Manifesto, a work of political philosophy and thus from the Human Sciences, as the basis for gaining useful, valuable knowledge of Leninist Russia. Lenin led the Bolsheviks in Russia in the early 20th Century using Marx’s theories as the model for his communist revolution. Marx hypothesised that the ruling classes would ‘tremble at a communist revolution’​2 led by the proletariat, and in its early stages, the revolution in Russia followed the theory outlined by Marx. Thus, we can see that without adequate knowledge of Marx’s philosophical work, valuable knowledge of the historical period that it influenced cannot be gained, as the context to the event is not 1 2

Adam Smith, ​The Wealth of Nations ​(London: Penguin, 1986) Karl Marx, ​Communist Manifesto​ (London: Penguin, 2015)

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known. Here, using the AoK of Human Sciences in tandem with History makes the historical knowledge more valuable and more accurate, thus making it more useful knowledge, implying that Areas of Knowledge are most useful in combination.

Studying ​Communist Manifesto ​is made more useful by examining the way in which it affected the world in practise, and studying the Russian Revolution without also studying Marx significantly negates the value of the knowledge gained. The inverse can also be applied here, in that historical context can increase the utility of Philosophical knowledge. An RLS showing this is that of philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes lived through the English Civil War in the 1700s and was deeply coloured by his dire experiences, and this historical knowledge is extremely important in understanding why Hobbes’ philosophical view on human nature is that it is innately ‘brutish’​3​. Here, History as an AoK enriches the knowledge gained in the Human Sciences, making the knowledge more holistic and more valuable. In turn, it can be seen that these two AoKs, when used in combination, are at their most useful in aiding the acquisition of valuable and accurate knowledge.

However, another perspective is that Areas of Knowledge are not most useful in combination, in that they can cause knowledge to be misconstrued, decreasing the value of the knowledge. In the case of my two AoKs, there is a danger that we may use modern theories in the human sciences such as political or anthropological theories, and project these onto the past, which could result in incorrect conclusions about the past. Making judgements about historical events or figures against a modern context can distort the historical knowledge gained, thus proving that using these AoKs in combination is not useful. While context is useful in the acquisition of

3

Thomas Hobbes, ​Leviathan ​(Indiana: Hackett Publishing, 1994)

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knowledge, combining these two AoKs can cause the ​wrong context to be used, negating the value of the knowledge. An RLS demonstrating this is the new revisionist view of the Cold War, which proves that examining history using contemporary political and moral theories from the Human Sciences led historians to make inaccurate conclusions about the Cold War. The revisionist view recognises the nuances of the Cold War, and that the USA had in part forced the hand of the USSR, contrary to the previously held opinion by most Western Historians that the USSR were the sole aggressors. As historians were viewing the events of the cold war through a contemporary political backdrop, following an era of McCarthyism, the historical knowledge was skewed in favour of the West. As communism was viewed as a threat, historians studying the period could be in danger of projecting that view onto the historical fact, and assigning false blame to the USSR. In turn, the knowledge gained of the era was not valuable or accurate, proven by the fact that a revisionist view had to be obtained. This ties in with the historical development of History as an AoK, in that present views can affect the study of past events, and this is made more pertinent when the Human Sciences are used in combination, as there is a tendency to apply modern theories to the past.

Furthermore, AoKs are not always most useful in combination due to the way that both the Human Sciences and History can vary greatly in different areas of the world.

For example, knowledge in the Human Sciences, such as within politics or philosophy, is different depending on the social context of a place. As I have explored, this may affect the acquisition of valuable and accurate Historical knowledge. An RLS demonstrating this is the way that the Cultural Revolution is taught in China. Due to political structures that currently exist in China, Chinese

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Theory of Knowledge

students are not taught about the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution in China, which had an estimated death toll of around 2.95 million​4​, at the hands of the government. In turn, History is manipulated in order to uphold the communist government, and thus the knowledge of history gained by Chinese citizens is neither valuable nor accurate.

Here we can see that using these AoKs in combination can lead to censorship and eradication, proving that they are not most useful in combination. Again, we can also see that History as an AoK can negatively affect the value and accuracy of knowledge in the Human Sciences. For example, apartheid in South Africa was justified by the leader of the National Party, by saying that whites in South Africa were entitled to the land as it had ‘​developed into a modern industrial state from denuded grassland and empty valleys and mountains’​5 under their leadership. This alludes to the misguided knowledge held by the NP that Africa had been ‘uncivilised’ before colonialism, and thus owed its colonisers a debt of gratitude for bringing civilisation and industry to Africa. In fact, countries such as Zimbabwe had impressive and advanced empires before colonialism, and thus this historical knowledge was entirely inaccurate, and manipulated in order to justify racism. In turn, this inaccurate historical knowledge led to unjust political and social sanctions for the black and coloured communities in South Africa. Furthermore, this led to biased and inaccurate knowledge in the Social Sciences, again negating the value of the knowledge, as well as having dire real life consequences. Again, this proves that AoKs are not always most useful in combination, as they can be misconstrued and thus decrease the value of knowledge in both AoKs.

SciencesPo, ​Chronology of Mass Killings During the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) (2011) https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/chronology-mass-kill ings-during-chinese-cultural-revolution-1966-1976.html 5 BBC News, ​The Birth and Death of Apartheid ​(2002) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/575204.stm 4

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Overall, while it can be seen that context can easily be distorted, it can be argued that knowledge is nevertheless more valuable when context is given. In this sense, I feel that AoKs are most useful in combination, as to study them in isolation is to fail to see the whole picture, and thus the value and accuracy of the knowledge is reduced. AoKs such as History and the Human Sciences are by nature inextricably linked, and thus to separate them would negatively affect the acquisition of knowledge. While it is certainly necessary to be cautious of projecting social theories onto the past, as well as letting history dictate present theories, this is not to say that the two AoKs are not useful in conjunction. In fact, I feel that they are most useful in combination with each other.

(1591 words)

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Bibliography BBC NEWS | Africa | The Birth And Death Of Apartheid​. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/575204.stm​. Accessed 25 Oct. 2020.

Hobbes, Thomas. ​Leviathan​. Hackett Publishing, 1994.

Marx, Karl. ​Communist Manifesto​. Penguin Classics, 2015.

Smith, Adam. ​The Wealth of Nations​. Penguin, 1986.

Song, Yongyi. “Chronology Of Mass Killings During The Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) | Sciences Po Mass Violence And Resistance - Research Network.”

SciencesPo​, https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/chr onology-mass-killings-during-chinese-cultural-revolution-1966-1976.html​. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.

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Theory of Knowledge

Title 3: “Labels are a necessity in the organization of knowledge, but they also constrain our understanding.” Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge.

In this essay, I will explore how labels are used in the organisation of knowledge, and their role in our understanding. Labels are descriptive terms used to help understand knowledge and enable its reliability. I will define the word “necessity” as being essential in structuring and sharing knowledge, and “constrain” as a limit in acquiring knowledge. Through the knowledge framework, I will explore the role of methodology and historical development to determine whether labels are essential, and whether they aid or limit understanding. The AOKs I will use to examine the purpose of labels are Mathematics and Natural Sciences. In Mathematics, labels are a way of denoting a concept and allow knowledge production, whereas in Natural Sciences, they are used as a common framework, to enable sharing of knowledge.

Firstly, I will consider the perspective that labels are a necessity, but also a constraint. Within Mathematics, knowledge produced is ensured to be reliable through methodology. This involves axioms​1​, as a set of accepted ideas, or statements that cannot be proved, but are universal. These axioms are used with proofs, to deduce a statement using reasoning, which results in a theorem being produced. The use of deductive proofs, either proof by contradiction, or by induction​2​, uses reason, to ensure knowledge in Mathematics is reliable and robust.

“​ Definition of AXIOM,” Merriam-webster.com, 2019, ​https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/axiom​. Accessed October 18, 2020.

2 N ​ issim Lavy, “Types of Mathematical Proofs,” Medium (Medium, January 3, 2017), https://medium.com/@nissim.lavy/types-of-proofs-c43ffacc8ada​. Accessed October 18, 2020.

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Similarly, labels can be considered as a method used to share knowledge, and provide an understanding of common concepts. They can be considered reliable in this respect because they are consistent, and verified through the use of deductive reasoning. An example showing that labels are a necessity, but constrain acquisition of knowledge, is the use of z . Z is used as a label in Statistics, and also in Pure Mathematics, but for two very different concepts. In Statistics, this label denotes a calculation used to work out the mean or standard deviation of a normal distribution, or bell shaped curve, when there is a lack of data. However, within Pure Mathematics, z is used as a way to represent complex numbers, as z can equal a + bi , showing that this label has different purposes within a single AOK. This use of labels as a method helps produce reliable knowledge, as everyone can appreciate the precise definition. They are a necessity to help understanding of key concepts, in statistics and pure maths. However, this use with different meanings can constrain our acquisition of knowledge, as using labels with the same appearance ( z ) can confuse peoples’ understanding. Therefore, it is important to use labels in the appropriate context to ensure understanding of the label. The implications within this AOK are that to improve acquisition of knowledge, it could be easier to show that within Mathematics, topics overlap, and common terms could be denoted with different labels to reduce confusion. This would increase understanding and accuracy, as topics can interlink within Mathematics. A further aid for improving accuracy of knowledge would be using labels in an unambiguous way. This RLS of z illustrates the limits of understanding knowledge through the use of labels, despite their necessity to denote concepts.

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As a second AOK, I will explore the necessity and constraint of labels within Natural Sciences. The hypothetico-deductive model is one method commonly used to produce reliable knowledge, through observation of an experiment, and use of sense perception to verify hypotheses. The hypothetico-deductive model uses labels, which are therefore part of the method to produce reliable knowledge about a concept.

Another highly regarded method is the use of peer review, to examine hypotheses, using reason to independently verify the findings of research or experiment. After peer review, labels may need to be revised, showing their use as a reliable method of defining concepts. Two examples within Natural Sciences are the simplification of knowledge within the UK school syllabus. In Chemistry, knowledge is initially acquired that electrons exist in shells. However, in higher study (e.g IB), this is refined informing that the positioning of electrons are labelled as the probability of finding an electron in space. This is an example of simplifying assumptions being made, which become a constraint, as one's understanding and acquisition of knowledge is limited by labels. In practice, knowledge acquired will be less accurate, because of simplification. While labels are necessary to gain reliable knowledge about electrons, the view provided by them is not wholly accurate. Similarly in photosynthesis, labelling the reaction as involving glucose and oxygen which produces carbon dioxide and water, represents a simplifying assumption. The reaction is more complex, as photosynthesis is actually multiple reactions. This simplification of knowledge becomes a constraint, because there is less in depth understanding and means gaining additional knowledge such as how cells function is more difficult. Overall, within Natural Sciences, labels are necessary to acquire reliable knowledge, through the use of peer review, but they limit the range of acquisition possible by simplifying knowledge acquired. However, this constraining

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nature of labels may not be wholly negative within Natural Sciences, as without labels, it may be more difficult to acquire complex concepts. This limitation of acquisition helps to provide a general comprehension of knowledge. Without labels, there would be a breadth of new knowledge, potentially limiting the accuracy of knowledge produced, or duplication of concepts. In context of the initial RLS, electrons in shells, this means there is a risk of oversimplification of knowledge without labels. So in practice, there will be a poorer understanding of the concept of electrons and an inability to connect topics together, leading to less shared knowledge. Therefore they can be considered a necessity in Natural Sciences.

I will now consider the second perspective, that labels are a necessity, but do not constrain our understanding. This idea can be illustrated by exploring historical development in Mathematics. The role of proof within this AOK has been central, but not consistent, showing that knowledge can change but may not be as reliable. The two views of mathematics, constructivism and platonism​3​, suggest that mathematics can be a human invention, or that it is already intrinsic to the world, and humans have discovered it. Using these two views, we can see that labels can be used as a way to denote a concept, but that they do not constrain our understanding, because if Mathematics already exists, we have just understood it, and labels are a way of showing this explanation. An example within Mathematics is the concept of zero​4​.

This label provides the idea of a concept that has a value as a placeholder, to explain the absence of a value, or as a number between positive and negative 1.

From the label 0, the concept of infinity developed, showing that labels helped

S ​ ue Bastian, Julian Kitching, and Ric Sims, ​Theory of Knowledge : Supporting Every Learner across the IB Continuum (Harlow: Pearson Education, 2014), 197–202.

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R ​ ichard Addis, “Zero: The Idea That Changed the World,” The Day, August 13, 2020, https://theday.co.uk/stories/zero-the-idea-that-changed-the-world​. Accessed October 18, 2020.

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progress the acquisition of knowledge. Furthermore, this concept of 0, thought to be invented by the ancient Indians, shown by the Bakhshali manuscript​5​ was crucial in trade, advancing progress in understanding the absence of values. From the use of the label, the field of calculus developed​6​, which explored systems that approach 0, but never reach it, as well as computing, using binary 0 and 1s. The label was a necessity for the invention of algebra and calculus, and gave greater understanding of knowledge, rather than constraining it. Overall, within the AOK of Mathematics, certain labels do not constrain, as they help to share knowledge, and provide progress in acquisition of knowledge, whilst allowing us to understand new concepts.

Secondly, within the Natural Sciences, historical development has allowed paradigm shifts, where knowledge was challenged and its reliability questioned. Together with acquisition of new ideas, this meant that theories were adapted, and built upon.

Labels, similarly, can change over time, as new knowledge is developed and proved to be reliable through rigorous methodology. An example of this within Biology, is the creation of the binomial naming system.​7​ Its creation by Carl Linnaeus in the 18th century provided a universal naming system, allowing scientists to name the same organism without confusion. Before this naming system, different organisms had different local names across different countries, often not in the same language.

Therefore, the binomial naming system provided labels that aided understanding, and provided clarity to allow accurate knowledge to be produced and shared.

Without the use of labels, knowledge would have remained limited. Allowing a globally agreed function of labels, shows the range of acquisition they can provide.

U ​ niversity of Oxford, “A Big Zero: Research Uncovers the Date of the Bakhshali Manuscript,” YouTube Video, ​YouTube​, September 14, 2017, ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV_gXGTuWxY​. Accessed October 18, 2020.

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T ​ he Royal Institution, “What Is Zero? Getting Something from Nothing - with Hannah Fry,” YouTube Video, ​YouTube​, April 13, 2016, ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y7gAzTMdMA​. Accessed October 18, 2020.

7 A ​ ndrew Allott and David Mindorff, ​Biology : Oxford IB Diploma Programme. Course Companion​ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 260.

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This example about the impact of labels on knowledge shows that they can be used to describe complex concepts, similar to the first perspective. However, labels allowed accurate acquisition of knowledge, through using shared knowledge, instead of personal knowledge. As a result, we can consider that without labels, society perhaps would not be as developed, because of the confusion and lack of acquisition of accurate knowledge.

Overall, in the context of my chosen AoKs, labels are always a necessity for organising knowledge, because of the risks of oversimplification and lack of understanding without them. In Mathematics, labels can constrain our understanding of concepts, as similarities between labels limit our ability to acquire knowledge.

However, a lack of labels would risk losing our ability to produce, and develop more knowledge, because they can be considered a necessity, shown through my example of 0. Similarly, in Natural Sciences, labels are a necessity to ensure accurate, reliable knowledge. However, they mostly do not constrain our understanding, as without labels we lose the accuracy of knowledge. An implication for knowledge without labels would significantly limit the ability for sharing and increasing production of knowledge in Natural Sciences. In conclusion, I believe that labels are a necessity and do not constrain within Mathematics and Natural Sciences, for our acquisition of accurate knowledge.

Word count: 1598

Bibliography:

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1. Addis, Richard. “Zero: The Idea That Changed the World.” The Day, August 13, 2020. https://theday.co.uk/stories/zero-the-idea-that-changed-the-world.

2. Allott, Andrew, and David Mindorff. ​Biology : Oxford IB Diploma Programme.

Course Companion​. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

3. Bastian, Sue, Julian Kitching, and Ric Sims. ​Theory of Knowledge : Supporting Every Learner across the IB Continuum​. Harlow: Pearson Education, 2014.

4. “Definition of AXIOM.” Merriam-webster.com, 2019. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/axiom.

5. Lavy, Nissim. “Types of Mathematical Proofs.” Medium. Medium, January 3, 2017. ​https://medium.com/@nissim.lavy/types-of-proofs-c43ffacc8ada​.

6. The Royal Institution. “What Is Zero? Getting Something from Nothing - with Hannah Fry.” YouTube Video. ​YouTube​, April 13, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y7gAzTMdMA. 7. University of Oxford. “A Big Zero: Research Uncovers the Date of the Bakhshali Manuscript.” YouTube Video. ​YouTube​, September 14, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV_gXGTuWxY. ​

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Title 5: ‘Areas of Knowledge are most useful in combination with each other’Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge

In order to establish whether areas of knowledge are most useful in combination with each other, what is meant by ‘useful’ must first be defined, as well as in regards to what aspect of knowledge. For the purposes of my essay, I will define useful as aiding in the ​acquisition of accurate and valuable knowledge. In this sense, I will evaluate the usefulness of using the Areas of Knowledge of History and the Human Sciences in combination with each other, as both have a scope concerned with the study of humans. I will explore the perspective that areas of knowledge ​are most useful in combination, as well as the perspective that they are most useful when applied separately.

The first perspective that I will explore is that Areas of Knowledge are, in fact, most useful in combination. Specifically, I will argue that in terms of acquiring accurate and valuable knowledge, History and the Human Sciences as AoKs are optimised when working in conjunction with one another. History, for example, is an AoK that is impossible to study without context, and it can be seen that history is inextricably linked with the Human Sciences, in that historical fact is underpinned by economic, political and philosophical theory. These theories aid the methodology of History in that they allow understanding of contemporary documents and the subsequent development of historical theory. For example, an RLS which demonstrates the utility of using AoKs in combination is the influence that Adam Smith’s 1776 work of philosophy and economics ​...The Wealth of Nations ​had on the Scottish

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enlightenment. Smith’s concept of ‘the invisible hand of the market’​1​, in Book 1, became the foundational text of British, liberal politics as it advocated for laissez-faire ​economics, and was the basis for the controversies surrounding free trade in Britain in the 1840s. Thus, in order to understand this period of History and to gain valuable information about periods such as the Enlightenment era, one must have an understanding of the economic and philosophical theories from the Human Sciences that existed at the time. Using the human sciences supports the methodology of History, as the theories allow historians to further their historical explanations, and create plausible theories of the past. As well as this, as History is a fairly personal discipline, in which Historians gather their own theories rather than working collaboratively, combining this with the more peer-based methodology of the Human Sciences adds a universal element to History, making the knowledge acquired more valuable.

Furthermore, another RLS that can demonstrate the fact that Areas of Knowledge are most useful in combination with each other is using Marx’s Communist Manifesto, a work of political philosophy and thus from the Human Sciences, as the basis for gaining useful, valuable knowledge of Leninist Russia. Lenin led the Bolsheviks in Russia in the early 20th Century using Marx’s theories as the model for his communist revolution. Marx hypothesised that the ruling classes would ‘tremble at a communist revolution’​2 led by the proletariat, and in its early stages, the revolution in Russia followed the theory outlined by Marx. Thus, we can see that without adequate knowledge of Marx’s philosophical work, valuable knowledge of the historical period that it influenced cannot be gained, as the context to the event is not 1 2

Adam Smith, ​The Wealth of Nations ​(London: Penguin, 1986) Karl Marx, ​Communist Manifesto​ (London: Penguin, 2015)

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known. Here, using the AoK of Human Sciences in tandem with History makes the historical knowledge more valuable and more accurate, thus making it more useful knowledge, implying that Areas of Knowledge are most useful in combination.

Studying ​Communist Manifesto ​is made more useful by examining the way in which it affected the world in practise, and studying the Russian Revolution without also studying Marx significantly negates the value of the knowledge gained. The inverse can also be applied here, in that historical context can increase the utility of Philosophical knowledge. An RLS showing this is that of philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes lived through the English Civil War in the 1700s and was deeply coloured by his dire experiences, and this historical knowledge is extremely important in understanding why Hobbes’ philosophical view on human nature is that it is innately ‘brutish’​3​. Here, History as an AoK enriches the knowledge gained in the Human Sciences, making the knowledge more holistic and more valuable. In turn, it can be seen that these two AoKs, when used in combination, are at their most useful in aiding the acquisition of valuable and accurate knowledge.

However, another perspective is that Areas of Knowledge are not most useful in combination, in that they can cause knowledge to be misconstrued, decreasing the value of the knowledge. In the case of my two AoKs, there is a danger that we may use modern theories in the human sciences such as political or anthropological theories, and project these onto the past, which could result in incorrect conclusions about the past. Making judgements about historical events or figures against a modern context can distort the historical knowledge gained, thus proving that using these AoKs in combination is not useful. While context is useful in the acquisition of

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Thomas Hobbes, ​Leviathan ​(Indiana: Hackett Publishing, 1994)

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knowledge, combining these two AoKs can cause the ​wrong context to be used, negating the value of the knowledge. An RLS demonstrating this is the new revisionist view of the Cold War, which proves that examining history using contemporary political and moral theories from the Human Sciences led historians to make inaccurate conclusions about the Cold War. The revisionist view recognises the nuances of the Cold War, and that the USA had in part forced the hand of the USSR, contrary to the previously held opinion by most Western Historians that the USSR were the sole aggressors. As historians were viewing the events of the cold war through a contemporary political backdrop, following an era of McCarthyism, the historical knowledge was skewed in favour of the West. As communism was viewed as a threat, historians studying the period could be in danger of projecting that view onto the historical fact, and assigning false blame to the USSR. In turn, the knowledge gained of the era was not valuable or accurate, proven by the fact that a revisionist view had to be obtained. This ties in with the historical development of History as an AoK, in that present views can affect the study of past events, and this is made more pertinent when the Human Sciences are used in combination, as there is a tendency to apply modern theories to the past.

Furthermore, AoKs are not always most useful in combination due to the way that both the Human Sciences and History can vary greatly in different areas of the world.

For example, knowledge in the Human Sciences, such as within politics or philosophy, is different depending on the social context of a place. As I have explored, this may affect the acquisition of valuable and accurate Historical knowledge. An RLS demonstrating this is the way that the Cultural Revolution is taught in China. Due to political structures that currently exist in China, Chinese

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students are not taught about the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution in China, which had an estimated death toll of around 2.95 million​4​, at the hands of the government. In turn, History is manipulated in order to uphold the communist government, and thus the knowledge of history gained by Chinese citizens is neither valuable nor accurate.

Here we can see that using these AoKs in combination can lead to censorship and eradication, proving that they are not most useful in combination. Again, we can also see that History as an AoK can negatively affect the value and accuracy of knowledge in the Human Sciences. For example, apartheid in South Africa was justified by the leader of the National Party, by saying that whites in South Africa were entitled to the land as it had ‘​developed into a modern industrial state from denuded grassland and empty valleys and mountains’​5 under their leadership. This alludes to the misguided knowledge held by the NP that Africa had been ‘uncivilised’ before colonialism, and thus owed its colonisers a debt of gratitude for bringing civilisation and industry to Africa. In fact, countries such as Zimbabwe had impressive and advanced empires before colonialism, and thus this historical knowledge was entirely inaccurate, and manipulated in order to justify racism. In turn, this inaccurate historical knowledge led to unjust political and social sanctions for the black and coloured communities in South Africa. Furthermore, this led to biased and inaccurate knowledge in the Social Sciences, again negating the value of the knowledge, as well as having dire real life consequences. Again, this proves that AoKs are not always most useful in combination, as they can be misconstrued and thus decrease the value of knowledge in both AoKs.

SciencesPo, ​Chronology of Mass Killings During the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) (2011) https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/chronology-mass-kill ings-during-chinese-cultural-revolution-1966-1976.html 5 BBC News, ​The Birth and Death of Apartheid ​(2002) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/575204.stm 4

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Overall, while it can be seen that context can easily be distorted, it can be argued that knowledge is nevertheless more valuable when context is given. In this sense, I feel that AoKs are most useful in combination, as to study them in isolation is to fail to see the whole picture, and thus the value and accuracy of the knowledge is reduced. AoKs such as History and the Human Sciences are by nature inextricably linked, and thus to separate them would negatively affect the acquisition of knowledge. While it is certainly necessary to be cautious of projecting social theories onto the past, as well as letting history dictate present theories, this is not to say that the two AoKs are not useful in conjunction. In fact, I feel that they are most useful in combination with each other.

(1591 words)

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Bibliography BBC NEWS | Africa | The Birth And Death Of Apartheid​. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/575204.stm​. Accessed 25 Oct. 2020.

Hobbes, Thomas. ​Leviathan​. Hackett Publishing, 1994.

Marx, Karl. ​Communist Manifesto​. Penguin Classics, 2015.

Smith, Adam. ​The Wealth of Nations​. Penguin, 1986.

Song, Yongyi. “Chronology Of Mass Killings During The Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) | Sciences Po Mass Violence And Resistance - Research Network.”

SciencesPo​, https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/chr onology-mass-killings-during-chinese-cultural-revolution-1966-1976.html​. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.

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