Tractatus-Seminar Paper

Tractatus

Tractatus was written by Ludwig Wittgenstein whilst he was a soldier and a prisoner of during the First World War.
The central theme of Tractatus is the relationship between language, thought and reality. Wittgenstein insisted that language is the perceptible form of thought, bound to reality by a common logical form. It was also concerned with defining the limits of science.


Unlike most of the philosophical literature we have studied this year, Tractatus doesn’t really contain any arguments, rather statements which Wittgenstein deems to be self-evident. This is largely because of the ‘Verification Principle’ which it employs. The Verification Principle forwards that if a proposition cannot be verified-it is pointless, and therefore, the Tractatus doesn’t waste time on things which can’t be verified. Consequently it is a very analytical philosophy, and assumes that ‘language is everything’, and ‘everything is language’.
So while many of the literature we’ve looked at encourage us to think ‘outside the box’, Tractatus attempts to limit thinking altogether. My use of a cliché already would have angered Wittgenstein!
Wittgenstein was heavily influenced by the works of Bertrand Russell, whose ideas were largely aimed at trying to overcome philosophical scepticism which is the idea that we don’t know anything. In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein tries to create a way in which language and thoughts can be brought together flawlessly.
The Tractatus is written in numbered paragraphs which often contain one short sentence, and is mainly concerned with the relationship between the nature of language and the world as a whole.

Within the Tactatus there are seven main propositions:
1. The world is everything that is the case.
2. What is the case (a fact) is the existence of states of affairs.
3. A logical picture of facts is a thought.
4. A thought is a proposition with sense.
5. A proposition is a truth-function of elementary propositions.
6. The general form of a proposition is the general form of a truth function.
7. Whereof one cannot speak, one must pass over in silence.

The first few pages look at ontology which is effectively what the world is made up of. The Tractatus reads that reality is made up of simple objects combined to form the state of affairs. They can either be something, or not something, regardless of anything else, and the state of affairs combine together to create complex facts.
He then moves onto discuss how the world has the potential to be described accurately because of the way language works. According to Wittgenstein, language consists of propositions that are built from simpler propositions which are made up of names. Language can mirror reality by sharing its logical form, so names mirror objects, basic propositions mirror states of affairs, and propositions mirror the facts. A proposition is essentially a logical picture of reality. They are bound together in a way of which they resemble the reality. For example a painting of a landscape is arranged in a way, which resembles the landscape itself.
A picture can represent a fact by sharing its logical form, but the form cannot be depicted. It isn’t possible to say what the logical form of a proposition or fact is, but the form is visible through the way in which the fact is held together. The coinnections between names and states of affairs show themselves so there is no need for them to be held together by words such as ‘and’. Wittgenstein calls this his ‘fundamental idea’.

In the 4th proposition Wittgenstein touches on how much of philosophy is a product of peoples mis-understanding of language, and he describes many philosophical questions as nonsense, and argues that many deep philosophical problems are not actual problems. To me this seems like a rather existentialist idea, because it critisises the practice of pondering things from the past and thinking of the future. This type of thinking brings no present bodily pleasure, and is essentially pointless. The links with existentialism is also evident in proposition 5, where one of them reads ‘We cannot infer the events of the future from those of the present’. An existentialist would agree with this statement because predictions of the future are meaningless to them as well.
Truth Tables are also introduced in proposition 4. They make light of the idea that we can represent propositions and their truth-conditions without making use of connectives.
According to Wittgenstein there are 3 types of proposition. There are tautologies which are always fact. Contradictions which are always untrue, and propositions with a sense, which can be both true and false.
Wittgenstein assumed the idea that if an argument is valid, it is logically equivalent to the conclusion which can clearly be seen in the truth table.

The last line in the Tractatus, is one I found to be particularly interesting. "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." This reminds me of the saying ‘don’t speak unless you have something interesting and factual to say-something which I have struggled with throughout my life!
He concluded that the work wasn’t of philosophy to live by, but rather a ladder in place to aid in gaining an understanding of the idea that only statements of natural sciences are meaningful.

The Outsider

The Outsider


The Outsider is a cracking read, and made for an interesting seminar.
The main character in the book is called Meursault, an existentialist man who appears to only exist through sensory experience.

Existentialism cares only for the here and now, and isn’t worried about the past and feels no emotions of guilt or conscience, simply because they were solely living for the moment. The novel looks at the behaviour of a person who lives with the existentialist view that it is the decisions we make shape the characters we are.

The novel doesn’t mention time at any point, as time doesn’t matter to existentialists as they are just living for the present. The main idea’s of existentialism are shown through the novel through it being written in the ‘here and present’.

From a relatively normal person’s perspective, the behaviour of the speaker can not only be frustrating but shocking. The way he drinks coffee while in the presence of his recently deceased mother makes the reader question whether he understands social normality, but in truth it is just the typical existentialist way.

The behaviour of Meursault and the existentialism within the novel reminds me of some friends of mine who claimed to be ‘living the dream’ last summer. They would spend the entire time looking for pleasure, be it drinking tea and eating expensive food during the day, or smoking marijuana on the beach at night. They were simply living life solely for personal enjoyment, and lost their grasp of social normality, and weren’t at all bothered about it.

They could make quite wonderful company, but eventually paid for their behaviour when getting to University and having to live within (nearly) normality.
Just like my friends, Meursault eventually paid for being a free-thinking man, and was put to death-not because of the crime itself, but because of his attitude and unusual behaviour.

Winol Notes-Term 2

Winol Review Term 2
Just thought I’d blog up my notes from this week’s work on WINOl to help me with my critical analysis.

Week 1:
In the first week of the second term, myself and other senior members of the sports desk decided to go ahead with a normal ‘sportsweek’ bulletin, while the news team went ahead with a ‘dummy run’.
My job was to go and film Winchester City in two games in 3 days, and do a football highlights ‘double package’.
The camera work for the first goal in the first game was poor, but I put this down to being out of practise with the zoom.
The scripting was good and I was praised by my editor as well as the sports team for it. However my voice-over sounded very echoey, which ruined the package audibly. I was advised on where is best to do voice-overs, and I never had the same problem again this term.
I think the footage of the second game was particularly good, and the as-live commentary by Will Cooper added a bit of feel to the piece, as it was a dramatic game to be covering. I also captured the club owner running onto the pitch, which made the footage seem more exciting, and we used the clip in the opening sequence.
I also did an as-live commentary for Aimee’s Eastleigh package, which is was quite pleased with as I thought it helped capture the moment and give the package a more professional feel.


Week 2:

In week 2 I had a more behind the scenes role, helping the less experienced members of the team with their packages.
I also did an ‘as-live’ commentary for Gareth’s Basingstoke vs Eastleigh package, which I was pretty pleased with, and I was careful not to pre-empt what was going to happen.
However the snippets of as-live apparently appeared to be too pre-rehearsed, and we were told to try and make them sound more natural in future, perhaps by being unsure of exactly what was happening.
In week 2 I also chose the bedding music for Gareth’s ‘potted history’ piece. I found the rights-free on garage band and I think it complimented the piece rather well.

Week 3:

I took this advice on board in the third week, where once again I did some as-live commentary. I helped Will filming the Eastleigh double package, before helping him with the scripting, which made me easier for me to employ the as-live commentary.
During this week I also worked alongside Aimee Pickering making a new opening sequence for Sportsweek. This entailed finding pieces of footage which we felt gave the right atmosphere for the show, as well as clips of some of the most impressive footage we’ve filmed. We used slow motion to emphasise some of the shots. I chose the music off Garage Band, as it is free of copyright and I felt that it was suitable for a sports show, and worked well with the pictures.

Week 4:

Week 4 was arguably my most productive week, and it included some of my best work of the year so far. The show started with our new opening sequence, which was complimented by lecturers and peers alike.
The opening story of Sportsweek was one that I found myself, using contacts I have within sport at the University. I set up an informal interview with the captain of the University football team, and filmed him the players warming up in the background. This worked well for the piece, but Angus that it wasn’t as tightly cropped as it should have been. I also used GV’s in the piece which I filmed before the game started, which I used over the interview to make it more interesting and easier to watch.
The reason for this being news worthy was because of the size of the game, and the fact history was potentially going to be made.
I also did a tight zoom shot of one of the players to be used in the opening sequence.
I made the conscious decision to not use an as-live commentary in the package, as it is unrealistic that a University sports event would have commentary over it.
I was pleased with my scripting once again, and I was careful not to use too many cliché’s.
The camerawork wasn’t particularly good, but I think I made the best out of a bad filming venue. However I was told by Angus to try and be less clumsy with the zoom option as it looks unprofessional.
I did a rare post-match interview with a player, which was of a very informal tone, which I thought captured the moment brilliantly which is why I used it in the package.

Later on in the show I stood in the studio, and explained the league tables to the camera. I wore smart clothes as this is what would be worn in a professional studio, but I tried to not sound too formal.
I felt this was a success as it looked pretty professional, and also gave another dimension to the show. However if I was to do it again I would try and be more relaxed about it and look less serious. There should have been more banter between myself and the anchor as well, but I thought for the first time of doing the feature it was a reasonable success.

Week 5:

In week 5 I did two football highlights packages.
This involved as usual going to games, filming them, and cutting down the footage into short highlights packages. As usual I was comfortable in writing my scripts and was particularly pleased with them.
However I failed to notice a significant error which I made in the AFC Totton package. Despite knowing the name of the team in question I repeatedly got the name wrong in my voiceover calling ‘Yate Town, ‘Tate Town’.
This is potentially a fatal error as it is factually inaccurate, and if aired this would have been a major problem. However my sports editor found the error, and I came in as soon as I could to help eradicate the problem. We managed to cover up the error, thus saving the package and consequently Sportsweek for week 5.
This was a momentary lapse of concentration, and was an eye-opener, because although I am very confident in writing my scripts, it is pivotal to get other people to look over your work (particularly the editor) before considering a piece of work done.

My second package was another highlights package featuring the university football team. I made a conscious effort to be steady with the zoom, as once again the place I was filming from wasn’t ideal. I was accurate with the script, but was told to make sure I don’t over word them. At times the sentences I was using were too long, and needed to be more ‘phrase-like’.

Week six

This week saw the return of ‘Winol Woodwork’ which I did twice last term with a lot of success. This time we took the camera’s to Basingstoke Town, to film them in the entertaining sports feature. We knew that this would get us a lot of hits for the show as they have a good fan-base, which may have otherwise been lost due to the fact we weren’t covering their game that week.
I altered the Piece to Camera to try and make it more visually interesting, and included footage from previous editions of the feature. Another change was freezing the screen when the players names come up, as feedback had told us that often the straps were coming up and disappearing too quickly. For one reason or another the timings were a little out and the straps came up a little bit too early in the final product.

HCJ-Economics notes

HCJ

Economics

Economics analyses the production, distribution and consumption of goods, whilst explaining how economies work.
An economist would argue that money is the controlling force of the universe.

Adam Smith
Adam Smith believed in the utility theory, in which people make money as a means of boosting their own personal utility.-Utility being the measurement of money.
He believed that the self-interest was the main driving motive behind economics, and strongly argued that each person should be free to maximise their potential financially. And that state policies should be in order to maximise ones wealth.

Keynes

The main idea within Keynesian economics is that of ‘supply creating its own demand’.
Keynes attempted to develop a theory that would explain what determines saving, consumption, investment and production. In that theory, the interaction of aggregate demand and aggregate supply determines the level of output and employment in the economy.

Keynes was massively against over-saving and would encourage a society where people spend what they earn, similarly to that of Gordon Brown’s government. This is because, saving money cuts the demand.
He would argue that society should keep supplying, and keep demanding. He assumed that extra spending allows businesses enough money to hire more people and pay them, which in turn allows a further increase in consumer spending. This is because society can’t absorb profit.

A country where this theory appears to be strongly opposed is China, where government spending is kept at a minimum. In China spending is frowned upon, and the money is just collected and not spent. This means that there is not enough money to consume.

Student Protest Video

Friedrich Nietzsche-The original Mr Motivator?

Nietzsche was born in Germany in 1854, and froma young age was the 'man of the house' after the death of his Dad, who had lost his sanity and then his life.
Many people believe that he was heavily influenced by Kant because of this.

Nietzsche's main idea was that 'God is Dead', and he belived in the possibility of a superman. Some people reject the 'God is dead' idea because they refuse to accept that someone worshipped so widely, and who's teachings are followed so religiously by millions is not existing.
However many enjoy and brace the idea that God is dead, and that the meaning of life is to try and become 'superman' like.
Personally I think that trying to better yourself is a fairly positive philosophy to have, and as a sportsman I can relate to it. This is because in sport sucess often comes as a bi-product of hard work. For example if you look after your body, and train it for your sport you will be more sucessful when participating.

Neitzsche also exclaims 'man is omething that will be overcome' and he belives that man is merely in the middle between beast and overman. And by staying on the subject of sport you can find evidence to back this up, because sprinters are running faster than ever before, and technology has made life less dependant on man.

Communist Manifesto Seminar Paper

The Communist Manifesto


Communism is a social structure where classes are abolished, and property is commonly controlled, as well as being a philosophy and social movement which tries to create such a society through revolution. After reading the drafts of Engel, Karl Marx was able to write the Communist Manifesto.

The Communist Manifesto attempts to explain the goals of Communism, as well as the theory behind it all. It argued that because of the Capitalist society we live in, there is a constant struggle in terms of class, and that this has an effect on all historical developments.
Marx believed that capitalism was unstable, and the Manifesto cited that the elimination of social classes within society couldn’t happen through a change in government. Instead it was argued that a Revolution was needed.

The Manifesto is made up of four parts. The first section discusses the relationship between proletarians and bourgeoisie, and how this leads to an unfair and unstable society.
It begins by explaining how Communism has been ‘demonised’ within Europe, and describe how they have assembled in London, in order to write the manifesto in an attempt to change peoples mis-conceptions of Communism, which people like Marx thought was unfair and completely inaccurate.
Arguably the most alarming part of the first section is also the most fundamental part which is Marx’s’ belief that the general direction of history is inevitable. This is largely because of the emphasis on Economics that Marx has. He believes that history is shaped plainly by Economics, and doesn’t place any importance on elements such as culture, race, and religion.
Later on in the first section Marx goes onto to talk about the workers themselves, and states that the workers have almost become like part of the machinery itself, such is their treatment by their rulers who exploit them. He also mentions how this class of people known as the Proletarians is unique, as they can connect with each other because of what Marx describes as the miserable existence they each share. He also outlines how they are increasing in numbers, which is possibly done to encourage the readers that a revolution is a realistic target for them. This is further outlined by the way Proletariats are described as being people who have nothing to lose, because they do not possess much property themselves. However it is also clear to see that Marx feels it is important that the people are ready for revolution, which possibly explains the detail that the Communist Manifesto goes into.


The second part of the Manifesto describes the relationship between the working class, and the communists, with the main theme being that of overthrowing the Bourgeoisie, and taking over political power as a people.
This section also responds to the criticisms which have been aimed at Communism in the past, and Marx appears to have no fear of offending and responds to them rather harshly in the Manifesto.


The criticism which I found most interesting was the questioning of the communist idea of abolishing country and nationality. Marx answered by saying that the Proletariat have been robbed of their nationality, and thus don’t have it to lose. What I found interesting is that I have found working class people to be of a generally patriotic nature, but I can only assume that Marx would put this down to delusion, which is a bi-product of the capitalist society of which they are living in.
He also attacks the Bourgeoisie’s family and education based criticisms, as he believes the working class are robed of this because of industry.
In this section Marx also begins to mention what he wants to happen during the revolution, which is essentially the working class taking control, and the elimination of private property, which is when it becomes clear just how much Marx wouldn’t have seen eye to eye with the likes of John Locke!

The third section of the Manifesto looks at socialist and communist literature in a critical way. The three theories that he does a critique on are the Reactionaries, the Conservative Socialists, and the Critical Utopian Socialists.
I think it would be fair to say the one which is most relevant now is that of the Conservative Socialists because they employed ideas such as the minimum wage in a way to try and make a more balanced society and Marx dismisses it as being a way of making life as a proletariat more bearable, and thus helping capitalism. This is still relevant today in Britain because there is a minimum wage in place, and not all of the main political parties agree with the system in place. Marx also dismisses Welfare and Social Security as being attempts to benefit the capitalist system.

The fourth and final section of the Manifesto is that of the role of communism in relation to other political parties and movements, and also reveals their political agenda.
In this part they call on workers to unite as one, and fight against the capitalist society that they are supposedly forced to suffer in. They promise them that under Communism they would lead improved lives.
The manifesto ends with a rallying cry, not to dissimilar to lines which you might find in the Manfiesto’s of contemporary political parties. However they don’t simply say ‘vote for change’, it reads “working men of all countries, unite”.