TOK

What's the real life situation?

The real life situation which we will be looking into is the Vietnam war, and we will be focusing particularly on Chemical weapons.

Area of knowledge and ways of knowledge

A.o.k. :

ethics

W.o.k. : Emotion, memory

Reason

Knowledge Question

To what extent does ethics play a role in decision making?

VIETNAM WAR

-It started in 1955 and ends in 1975

-The war was between North and South Vietnam

- It also known as second Indochina war

- China and Soviet Union supported North Vietnam

- America, south Korea supported South Vietnam and there was one county changed their side(Cambodia)

- At least 21 countries were involved in this war

-Americans drop Agent orange and napalm

Information

chemical weapon

chemical weapon

• Agent Orange ( herbicide and defoliant chemical )
• Napalm (mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile chemical)

Chemical Weapons

Health Impacts

Diseases

• non-Hodgkin lymphoma
• prostate cancer
• multiple myeloma to Parkinson's disease
• ischemic heart disease.

Health Effects

our thoughts

While emotion played a role in providing some insights of what it was like at the time, memory (testimonies, primary sources) also provided insights.

Our Thoughts

Claim 1

Claim 1

Emotion

American soldiers wanted to save lives of own soldiers - so they used harmful weapons on the opponent (patriotism, bias to friend)

Supporting the claim

Many American soldiers died from boobytraps, their weapons got jammed often because of the mud - therefore Americans used napalm to clear the forest and to identify viet cong soldiers and traps easily

Counter - Claim 1

Emotion

US military killed innocent vietnamese civilians - most non - psychopathic people will feel remorse to these innocent people

Supporting the claim:

War photographers took images of children burnt by napalm running away from U.S. soldiers, and images of dead bodies - these images got on headlines of American newspapers - U.S. civilians were outraged

Conclusion 1

Although patriotism plays the role for support, Utilitarianism plays the main role of counter - arguments related to emotion.

While emotion plays a role in helping a country achieve victory, it also plays a role in trying to save people's lives - emotion greatly supports ethics.

Claim 2

Claim 2

Reason: America was against communism at the time - thought it was alright to use chemical weapons to stop communism spreading to other countries ( egoism and utilitarianism of NATO )

Supporting the clam:

The United States and the Soviet union were splitting themselves with their own allies as NATO and the Warsaw pact - south Vietnam was protected by NATO, so The U.S.A. and its allies fought.

Counter - Claim 2

Reason:

images of the vietnamese citizens being injured by chemical weapons were released - American citizens saw the horrors of these weapons caused + the war was not benefiting the USA) - started demonstrations to go against the war.

(utalitarianism of u.s. citizens)

supporting the claim :

u.s. citizens were furious of the amount of money spent to the war, while few were spent to the people who were financially in trouble

War photographers brought shocking photographs of burning and dead children back to the united states - the photographs spread worldwide and caused outrage.

Conclusion 2

While Egoism and utilitarianism both played a key role on the Positive points, Utilitarianism played a role on the counter claims

this leads to utilitarianism being a key role in reason, as the world mostly thinks that communism is not good, but democracy is alright, but at the same time the world is unitedly against inhumane actions.

Claim 3

Double click to edit

Claim 3

Memory- if a similar war happens in the future the us military can use the same strategy as the Vietnam war (burning down the trees using chemical weapons) - saves costs - egoism of the u.s. army

Supporting the claim:

Previous U.S. involving battles were in the mud / rocks / plains while this was the first battle where the u.s. soldiers fought in a jungle - many soldiers died from booby traps hidden in the greens and ambushes

Counter - Claim 3

Memory- most people who lived in the era of the war / former protesters of the vietnam war will object - knows what the aftereffects and the emotional harm it can cause to victims - utilitarianism and egoism of protestors / victims, egoism of U.S. soldiers.

Supporting the claim:

Many Vietnam war veterans / Vietnamese civilians suffers from ptsd due to the bombardments and people dying.

People who protested + vietnamese victims may not want to relive this part of their memory again - homicidal nature, knows that the war will only cause little good.

Conclusion 3

Egoism played a key role on both the Positive points and the counter claim, while utilitarianism played a partial role in the counter claims.

When it comes to memory, people often think about their own experiences, so depending on how much people suffered, they will have biased views towards situations.

Conclusion

Ethics play a major role in the counter claims of weapons, egoism played a major role for claims.

However, if a country only considers ethics, it will cost them the outcome of the war.

Thus, it will be essential for a country to balance ethics and to aim for their benefits at the same time

What is ethical or unethical in wars must be internationally agreed.

weakness

While balancing ethics and egoism was mentioned in the conclusion, some, especially religious people and human rights activists, may argue that killing another person is already unethical.

Therefore, people might also agree to find an ethical way to end another's life.

Weaknesses

Link Back to R. L. S.

Our conclusion applies to the R.L.S. as even if the American Forces lost the war itself, they did manage to contain communism by showing the terror and unethical degree of chemical weapons.

Relating to the knowledge question, I personally have heard that many senior students use force to make juniors listen.

Also sometimes the authorities use fear mongering to make someone do something.