Within areas of knowledge, how can we differentiate between change and progress?

TOK 2021

Word Count: 1423

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While exploring the title, I think that the concepts of change and progress might be understood

the same as we can use them reciprocally, though there is a difference between them. Progress as

a concept is the advancement of knowledge within a certain area of knowledge. Progress is

essentially shifting ahead positively. An example of progress could be when you’re shifting from

using landline phones to cell phones which happens due to the development of technology. But,

change as a concept is where you convert into something different which will not always signify

transforming for the positive. It can either be both positive or negative depending on the

knowledge issues within certain areas of knowledge. For example, having objective, unbiased

perspectives influence society to better progress while the subjectivity of our ideas or

perspectives will create ambiguity leading to uncertainty in terms of knowledge. The other

difference between these two terms is that progress usually takes a long time to occur, while

change might occur faster though not always. The progress of the knowledge happens whereas

the change is involved. If there is no change, then there is no progress. As George Bernard Shaw

stated, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot

change anything.” The concepts of progress and change shape our understanding of the world. In

this essay, I will explore the difference or fine line between the concepts of change and progress

within arts and history.

Art as an area of knowledge went through the development period bringing many changes to

human society from the Late Stone Age. The humans at the time used either shell, stone, or

paint by creating symbols or pictures. Though prone to subjectivity, the arts aid us to understand

the world by creating our personal knowledge. How can we verify the objectivity of knowledge

claims within the arts? Objectivity within arts allows us to either enter the world of the artist and
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understand the authors’ intentions or messages which can be better explained by experts through

reasoning. The progress within arts occurred owing to changes happening because of new

technology which impacted the mindset of people to explain the artwork from different

perspectives. In fact, the development of the arts influenced our interpretations and beliefs

changing our society and similarly our perspectives. Considering progress and changes within

arts, we can emphasize the role in them differentiating the difference between good and bad arts.

How does the financial value of the artwork impact the quality of the pieces? How do we know

which is a good or bad artwork? Sometimes, the artists only paint something which has more

financial value. In this case, it might affect the quality of the artwork and the interpretation of

this might not lead to objectivity within arts. The value of the best artwork comes from the

audience and experts who help us create objective views within the arts. For example, the

techniques used for Palaeolithic art were either carving, painting the caves, or engraving. The

changes in style and techniques affected how the artists expressed their emotions with the brush

rather than just simply painting and sketching. In this case, we define the fine line between

change and progress as they are closely interrelated which ensured the development of the

artwork changing our mindset. The progress of the arts occurred due to the change of technology

and due to this progress, many changes happened in the process of knowledge production within

arts. Do these modern changes always lead to objective views within arts as an area lof

knowledge? How can we differentiate the progress and change considering the use of modern

technology? In fact, technology has started developing from the 17th century which brought a lot

of changes within arts though not always positive as the use of technology allowed to create

biased understanding which led to uncertainty within the arts. For example, the best art app
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named “Procreate” has all different brushes and a variety of colors rather than spending a lot of

money for those in real life.

Since technology has made way for artists to discover new opportunities coming their way and

the number of materials and skills that they could access and use to create their own art. It has

also impacted art on the way we use our creativity and how we appreciate art itself. There is a

probability that technology takes away the meaning and the creative feature of art that would be

made from the artists themselves. Within the way art is being changed, the meaning of it is

changing and becomes more meaningless which is a disadvantage. For example, forgery of

artworks such as the famous painting by Vincent Van Gogh named “The Starry Night”, whereas

the ingenuity of the art vanishes. The reason we call the artwork to be a masterpiece is that it

influences the way we understand the artwork and it shows the artist's feelings and messages,

intentions that are significant. This develops profound anticipations of the true meaning behind

the artworks and the reason behind them. This has all gone away and changed dreadfully after

the technology has progressed. I can state that there is a fine line between change and progress

within arts though not always. Sometimes, the difference might be sharp due to the radical

change within society influencing our mindset.

History as an area of knowledge studies the recorded past which allows us to understand many

changes during this period. It should be noted that those changes might happen due to the

progress of some events which might lead to radical changes. The difference between change

and progress as concepts is more clear in history as it reflects the view of the society impacted by

the changes of the ideology or governmental structures .For example, the collapse of the former
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Soviet Union brought a lot of changes to the political world because new countries appeared as a

result of the fall of the former Soviet Union. In this case, we can define the sharp distinction

between change and progress as concepts. The historical event happened due to the progress of

some political cases such as repressions, failed planned economy, restrictions of freedom which

led to a radical change of the ideology.How does the change within history impact the progress

of the human mindset? What is the role of reliability of the sources impacting change and

progress of historical events? The primary sources which were hidden in the KGB archives lead

to biased knowledge about the real face of the country in the former Soviet Union. The

revelation of archives after the collapse of the former Soviet Union in December 1991 allowed

revisionist historians to discover primary sources that allowed a better interpretation of the

historical events that happened during the former Soviet Union. How might the falsification of

real facts influence the creation certainty within history? How can we define the distinction

between change and progress within history? The discovery of reliable sources allowed the

society to create certainty about their past which led to truth affecting their future as well. The

radical changes happening due to the discovery of new facts might lead to better development of

the society as the true knowledge about the past helps make sense of the recent world around

us.On the other hand, I can state that the progress of the society or some historical events might

also lead to changes. As I mentioned above, the collapse of the former Soviet Union led to the

development of society changing our mindset about the world around us. The fall of the Iron

Curtain allowed the people to see the world from different perspectives. Despite radical changes,

we can see the fine line between change and progress which can shape people’s understanding

by using their reasoning considering historical events .

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In conclusion, the term “change” within the style of art has changed a lot over the centuries, and

the term “progress” is how the tools of art have progressed after the technology has been

introduced. For history, it could be different, history has changed due to resources allowing us to

discover the truth about the specific event. Thus, change might lead to either a positive or

negative transition and consequently, the new knowledge is created as we collect and process

new information based on our prior knowledge. On the other hand, the progress is considered to

be a positive modification of the knowledge developed by using the previous information that is

more reliable and certain.

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Bibliography

Ochs, Mary. “There’s a Difference between Change and Progress.” 19

Sept. 2014 https://dakotastudent.com/4689/opinion/4689/

Philosiblog, 14 November 2013

https://philosiblog.com/2013/11/14/progress-is-impossible-without-change-and-those-who-

cannot-change-their-minds-cannot-change-anything/