TOK ESSAY

For artists and natural scientists, which is more important: what can be explained

or what cannot be explained? Discuss with reference to the arts and the natural

sciences.

Number of Words: 1599

 The unexplainable has always interested the human mind. Throughout time we have tried to

explain the world around us. In the past often through gods, but as we gained more knowledge,

we did not need gods as part of our explanation. We figured out that nature obeyed laws. Natural

science is the exploration of these laws that govern the empirical world. The unexplained in

science is what drives science forwards. The arts are different. The human mind is vast. There

are so many individuals with different perspectives and experiences. Experiences that cannot be

explained through words. The arts often allow us to express ourselves to others. We become able

to explain certain feelings to others.

There exist many kinds of unexplained phenomena, which makes natural science a great

choice to include when discussing this prompt. I am going to differentiate between them by

dividing them into three levels. Level one is when we can explain it. Level two is when we

cannot explain, but we believe we can one day. Level three is when have devised a law that

prevents us from explaining it. In natural science what cannot be explained is most important.

But the unexplained does not exist in a vacuum from the explained. Instead, they exist on a

spectrum. We develop theories to explain the world and these theories have been developed and

extended for hundreds of years. The way that theories in physics extend is fascinating. Progress

can often be slow, but sometimes someone gets a brilliant idea. Big leaps happen, such as

Newton’s theory of gravity or Einstein’s theory of special relativity. Big leaps in science happen

when someone realizes that one empirical phenomenon is the same as another phenomenon. For

example, Newton realized that the force pulling the apple to the ground was the same force that

kept the moon in orbit.1 Another example would be Maxwell realizing that light and

electromagnetic waves are the same things. Today we take this as a given but both were
1
(Sagan, Cosmos 2013 p.24)
revolutionary. Newton was not immediately able to explain the orbit of the moon. He needed

something more than just this realization. Before him, gravity was level two because we could

not explain it but with the right tool, we could. Math was already used in physics in his time, but

it did not possess the ability to calculate orbits. To do this Newton had to invent new math.

Today we know this math as calculus. Newton invented new math to explain the world.2 This is

an example of how the unexplained is most important. Because of our inability to explain planet

orbits we searched for new tools. Calculus would be the tool that allowed us to explain planet

orbits.

The goal of natural science is to explain the unknown but what drives science is the

unexplainable. There are also examples where the explainable is important in science. For

example, if we investigate the Hubble Constant. Today Hubble’s Constant is estimated at

70 km/s/Mpc3. The number relates to how galaxies far from ours seem to move faster and

become redshifted. An interesting property of this number is that it also tells us the age of the

universe. Therefore, the accuracy of the constant becomes interesting. Hubble first estimated the

number to be 500 km/s/Mpc. So, though he was able to explain it, we wanted to improve the

accuracy. This shows that the explainable is also important as we can often improve the accuracy

of our explanation.

As I stated earlier the unexplainable does not exist independently from the explainable. They

exist on a spectrum. This means that though Einstein’s theory explains gravity it still has limits.

This is another important part of the unexplainable. We take our theories of the known and push

them to their limits. For example, Einstein’s work can explain most gravitational phenomena but

when we apply it to the center of a black hole it breaks down. Meaning it explains gravity but

2
(Strogatz, Infinite powers: How calculus reveals the secrets of the universe 2020)
3
(Tyson et al., Welcome to the universe: An astrophysical tour 2016)
under extreme circumstances, we become unable to explain it.4 Thus, we once again face

something unexplainable, and new theories are required.

I want to first define art. Art stems from the word artificial, meaning created by humans. Art

is often beautiful, but beauty cannot be a determining factor. Beauty is subjective and would

leave us with a vague definition. I believe art to be a creation of man with the intention of being

art. Hence the reason for its existence would not be something practical, but instead to exist as

art. To exist as a physical embodiment of feelings. Art conveys feelings, so it must be

explainable for it to have meaning. This gives art an inherent difference from science. The

explainable in art is most important. It exists to explain feelings that can be difficult to put into

words. A great example of an art piece that explains a situation that cannot be put into words is:

“Everywhere at The End of Time”5 It is a musical project that consists of 6 albums. It is 6 hours

long and each album has a distinct album cover. They were released at six-month intervals. The

project is in the author’s own words: “… a series exploring dementia, its advancement, and its

totality.” I cannot recommend this album to someone who is in a fragile state of mind. It invokes

extreme feelings. As you follow the album from one to six, we follow the six stages of a

dementia patient. Old people with dementia are not uncommon, but it is almost impossible to

imagine exactly what is going on in their mind. That is why the album is such a great piece of

art. Of course, having dementia and listening to the album cannot be compared. But after

listening to it I can say it invokes feelings of confusion and horror. My grandmother had

dementia and when listening I can almost see her face in front of me. Her face gave me the same

feeling as listening to this musical project. I think this is one of the greatest art pieces ever made.

4
(Weatherall)
5
(The caretaker - everywhere at the end of time - stages 1-6 (complete) 2019)
It is able, to some extent, to explain the horror and confusion that dementia patient goes through.

Therefore, art exists. To explain feelings that are otherwise impossible to feel.

There are also things in science that we believe are impossible to explain. These would be

level three. An example of this comes from Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.6 The principle

states that we cannot know the exact velocity and position of a particle. Or rather that as we

increase the accuracy of one factor the other becomes more uncertain. So, because of this law,

we become unable to explain a particle. Instead, we must explain these properties with a

probability wave using Schrödinger’s equation.7 Even though we cannot explain it, it still tells us

something about the universe. Einstein believed that the universe was deterministic. He famously

said: “God does not play dice.”8 He disliked the idea of probability in the universe which

quantum mechanics made possible. Einstein would have liked that we could explain electrons

with certainty. However, there exists a limit to our accuracy. Not because our tools are not good

enough. Instead, a physical law prevents us from knowing the exact velocity and position. Once

again, the unexplainable is important. Because we learned what we cannot explain we also

learned that the universe was not deterministic.

6
(Kumar, Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the great debate about the nature of reality 2014)
7
(Bill, 2004)
8
(Kumar, Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the great debate about the nature of reality 2014)
 Though I believe the explainable is most important in the arts, the unexplainable should

not be forgotten. Art exists to explain feelings, but the creation of new art is done in an attempt

to explain something new. So, in the same way, that the driving factor in science is the

unexplainable, new art is also made to explain new concepts. The Caretaker who created the

musical project did something new. I do not think music had been used before to explain

dementia to such a great extent. In this sense, the production of new art mimics the advancement

of natural science.

In conclusion, the unexplained is most important for natural science and the explained is most

important for the arts. I believe this is clear through the examples chosen. Natural science is

often wandering in the dark. A wandering in the unexplained. But as we walk in this dark forest

with a small lantern, we can map more of it. We become able to explain it. The important thing is

that we want to know more because of the unexplained. Our theories cannot explain everything,

and in our search, we often develop new tools to aid us in explaining. The arts are different. I

think my example of the musical project “Everywhere at The End of Time” shows this. The

project exists to explain the feelings of a dementia patient. Hence the explanation becomes the

important part. If the art does not make sense, then it becomes meaningless. I did argue that the

unexplained in arts was also important for the same reason as in natural science.

New art might be made to explain feelings better than previous art. I still believe that art

becomes meaningless if it does not convey meaning. It must explain something about humans or

society.
 Bibliography:

The Caretaker. (2019, March 14). The caretaker - everywhere at the end of time - stages 1-6
(complete). YouTube. Retrieved November 25, 2022, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJWksPWDKOc

Bill, D. (2004). Schrödinger's master equation of quantum mechanics notes on

quantum ... Retrieved December 9, 2022, from
https://www.bu.edu/quantum/notes/QuantumMechanics/TheSchrodingerEquation.pdf

Elieson, C. (2022, September 22). Fear of forgetting. YouTube. Retrieved November 25, 2022,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIv5Y-vql90

Kumar, M. (2014). Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the great debate about the nature of reality.
Icon Books.

Sagan, C. (2013). Cosmos. Ballantine.

Strogatz, S. (2020). Infinite powers: How calculus reveals the secrets of the universe. Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt Trade & Reference Publishers.

Tyson, N. deG., Strauss, M. A., & Gott, J. R. (2016). Welcome to the universe: An astrophysical
tour. Princeton University Press.

Weatherall, J. O. (n.d.). Where does general relativity break down? - University of Pittsburgh.
Retrieved December 7, 2022, from http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/20440/1/breakdown.pdf

zaza. (2021, May 25). Why is "everywhere at the end of Time" so unsettling ? YouTube.
Retrieved November 25, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV_1fnktD8w