Last HCJ Exam...Prep and Panic!

It's Finally here the last HCJ exam that we will have to sit. Here are the questions and my notes taken from the preparation lecture for the exam. I find that it always helps to go back over those doodles I made, to see if they made any sense..

(1).Outline the verification principles as part of the school of thought known as logical positivism. How might this principle be applied in the day to day work of a journalist?

-Claims concerning the truth, true or false and looking into the meaningless method. If the truth can’t be verified. This follows the work of Wittgenstein ‘of that we could not speak, we are silence’ this theory is central in the practical journalism. How does a journalist know if something is true? No journalist ‘believes’. Link to Freddy air- a story would not be allowed to feature on the front page of a newspaper if they could not verify it. It is seen as an objective truth. Wittgenstein believed that the use of sentences and clarifying the truth or falseness of a statement is a problem.

(2.)What is phenomenology? Can there be such a thing as subjective reality or subjective truth. What sort of standards ought a Journalist apply?

-Phenomenology is a branch of philosophy which concerns subjective experience own personal reaction and why (link)? The origin of the term- phenomena- comes from Emanuel Kant and his theory of ‘critique of pure reason’ all objects has a jewel nature (making it a stunning theory according to Horrie). Quantum theory- A nominal object which is the unseen object for example if a tree falls and dies in a forest where no one has witnessed it, who would hear it? A naïve realist believes that objects are there when they are not seen. Imperialist such as Locke and Berkeley said that there is no way to prove that objects are there when not looking at it. This idea sounds crazy but is identified by modern science, the act of perceiving an object. An object which can be linked is ‘Shar-diggers cat’ and this is linked to modern experimental science. Phenomenology is also linked to existentialism meaning the past is beyond control, the future is unknown therefore we only have the present. We live for the present. Heidegger deals with the phenomenology nature materialism for example when you walk into a room you are creating phenomenology; this can be linked to ‘The Outsider’.

(3.)Describe in broad terms JM Keynes idea on monetary policy with an indication of how the Keynesian ‘revolution’ came about. Does ‘Keynesianism’ inevitably lead to social regression, moral failures and serfdom as Hayek asserts?

-This questions links to the economics and Anglo Saxon theory (science and objective). ‘Trying to see the world in a non-phenomenal way’. The great depression of the 30’s , in the 30s it was a completely different world. Keyneism started with and after world. The 50s and 60s ‘never had it so good’ it became the new age. Getting from the 30s- 50s this is what is called Keynesianism’. The government was just printing money (this can link to the present day and the issues of the credit crunch) and this was a cause of the war. As the government just printed money it became worthless and this is where inflation came in, in return for full employment they got inflation. Keynes said ‘Just spend the money’ it’s better to have people digging a hole and filling them, than having people unemployed. Money is transparent, new industrial and gathering quantitative data. Hayek- we are all working for the state. Hannah Arendt loss of identity and this can link to the present day talk about ‘CCTV’ taking away our privacy.

(4.)‘Facts in logical space are the world?’ – Wittgenstein. Do you agree?

-What are facts? A fact is something that can be verified… (Refer to latest seminar paper) chapter one- the world consist of facts. This links back to Kant and phenomenology and the rejection of metaphysics. Plato spoke about ideal thoughts- the rejection of this. Facts in our minds and logical space- the ways of describing and proposition against each other. The world consists of relationships of logic. Link to Kant and how we experience things physically.

(5.)Looking back at the HCJ course as a whole choose one thinker we have discussed or one movement in thought that you believe to be particularly significant in terms of journalist practice. Explain why?

Now this may take some time to decide..

Final Seminar paper... The Tractatus Logico- Philosophicus

Why hello seminar paper....

Ludwig Wittgenstein book ‘The Tracatus Logico-Philosophicus’ was first published in German in 1921. The book is the only book- length piece published by the philosopher Wittgenstein. The published piece was the results of a large project where he attempted to identify the relationship between language and reality and to define the limits of science. Wittgenstein began to write the book during World War 1 while he was a soldier and prisoner of war.

The layout of the book is quite different to other books written by philosophers making his book very unique to others; the work contains no arguments but statements which are meant to be self-evident. Throughout the book each statement is numbered.
The book contains an introduction written by Bertrand Russell who discussing the work of Wittgenstein. Russell discusses that the results by Wittgenstein are various departments of philosophy and he looks at how traditional philosophy and traditional solutions arise out of lack of knowledge about the subject, from this looking into what the principles of symbolism and literature are. According to Wittgenstein there are many problems with the use of language. These problems concern psychology and there is a difference between the language we use in our minds and that of what we speak, using certain language to explain or express something. Another problem that he identified is that the relationship between words and thoughts of sentences which refer to or meaning and this is a problem called epistemology. Epistemology is a type of philosophy which refers to looking into knowledge. Wittengenstein also believed that the use of sentences and clarifying the truth or falseness of a statement is a problem. A final problem identified is that he is concerned with the conditions of accurate symbolism when referring to using sentences. This identified by Russell ‘Mr Wittengenstein is concerned with the conditions for a logically perfect language- not that any language is logically perfect, or that we believe ourselves capable, here and now, of constructing a logically perfect language, but that the whole function of language is to have meaning, and it only fulfils this function in proportion as it approaches to the ideal language which we postulate’ I agree with Russell that it would be extremely hard to have a absolute perfect language, the meaning of language and the understanding of language, specially today, has changed and will always change. Language evolves as time goes on therefore traditional or logical language is forgotten as the language we use in the present is what we understand and is by what we communicate our ideas. However could it be possible to introduce a perfectly logical language? Would we have to go back to a traditional language or start again from scratch so that everyone would have an understanding?

Gathered by Russell, Wittengenstein believes that ‘that which has to be in common between the sentence and the fact cannot, so he contends, be itself in turn said in language. It can, in his phraseology, only be shown, not said, for whatever we may say will still need to have the same structure’ There has to be a common understanding of how sentencing and structure works, however he is saying here that the understanding or common knowledge of structure cannot be identified by speech.
(After the introduction there are seven main propositions which are shown in the book and its statements. 1. The world is everything that is the case. Number 2 is that 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 proposition. 6. The general form of a proposition is the general form of a truth function. 7. Where of one cannot speak, one must pass over in silence. )

In the opening pages of the book after the introduction it begins with the theory of ontology which is what the world is fundamentally made up of. This links to the idea of structure and he talks about the structure of state. He states that the building blocks of reality are simple objects which when put all together form states of affairs. These states can then be put together to form facts.

It appears that language is basically a build up of many different factors each individually needing to be understood. Wittengenstein proposition is a logical picture of realty. The different elements of a proposition resemble the reality that they represent. This is how each proposition should be made up to show.
Signs and symbols are also important to the build up of proposition. Signs are given meaning through their use in proposition so if a sign is used in different ways you can be using two different types of signs. You can use a sign to create different meaning in a sentence.

When looking at an image or picture they represent a fact, we acknowledge this fact through sharing logical understanding. Without having a logical form it would not be understood. Wittengenstein states that we can’t say what the logical form of proposition is, but a logical form is shown in a way that a proposition is held together.

Wittengenstein identify that most of the problems of philosophy appear when people to try to talk about things that cannot be shown for example the logical structure. This shows how philosophy and science differs through understanding things such as structure. He says that philosophy should be seen as an activity of clarifying logical structure of language and thought.

In the final statements of his book he talks about the correct method in philosophy is to just keep silent about philosophical question and to let others know who try to discuss and talk about issues concerning philosophy that they don’t know what they are talking about. ‘The proposition of the tractatus themselves makes general statements about the nature of the world, and so they too are nonsense’. Therefore he says ‘what we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence’.

'Boy Bands' are they dead....NO WAY!!

Few weeks ago my friend got me some tickets to see McFly premform in the BIC in Bournemouth. Being twenty McFly was one the main boy Bands I grew up with in my Teenage years. They Recently have come back and have a brand new look and all of sudden appear grown up. In a way I feel as if I have grown up with them and now we can see how they have changed and so have I and my friends.

Going to see Mcfly was actualy a lot of fun, there was a lot of screaming young kids and I did feel very old haha.

However before I went many people commented and said that the 'boy band' faze was over and it could not return. I don't believe this for one second. The performance that McFly gave was incredible, they kept the audience hyped up and screaming right up till the very end. Even I was screaming when they got on the stage. I do believe that the old 'Boy band' faze has gone, but those that do return, return with a new attitude and still act like they are children, which makes concerts such as Mcfly just as fun and enjoyable, however old you are!!

Lecture that dissapeared....

Due to the strike that happened on the thursday of our lecture, but from the reading this is what I understood by the book and what may have been discussed in the lecture.

'LANGUAGE, TRUTH AND LOGIC' sounds like the start of an inspiring speach of influence, infact is the title of the book published by Alfred Jules Ayer in 1936.
The book brought together the ideas of the 'Vienna circle' and ideas about the English-speaking world. The 'Vienna Circle' was an association of philosphers who gathered at the University of Vienna in 1922. Those who were in the assoication had similar view points of philosophy, looking into logical positivism and the Circle had much influence on the 20th century.

The book also looks at the 'criterion of significance' or 'criterion of meaning'and looking into the the problems with philosophy. The 'Criterion of signficance' according to Paul Marhenke '..is a statement to the effect that a sentence is significant if it satisfies such and such conditions and it is meaningless if it does not satisfy the specified conditions'. In reference to the 'criterion of meaning' according to Ayer when looking at anlytic statements they are tautologies. A Tautology is a statement that is true, true by definitiona dn then true under any conditions. It is a repetition of the meaning of a statement and this is done by using different words or symbols.

By looking at statements, Ayer also talks about the synthetic statements which meaning deny something about the real world. The validity of a synthetic statement can not be established by the definition of the words or symbols. Ayer states that if a statement is expressed an empirical proposition then the validity of the proposition is established by verifiabilty.

With synthetic also need to look at propostions are statements that have conditions under which they be vertified. Statements have conditions under which their validity can be affirmed or denied.

Statements which are not meaningful are not expressed as propositions. Every verifiable proposition is meanigful even if it is either true or false. Every proposition asserts or denies something and therefore is either true or false.

According to Ayer truth is important and how it is identified. Truth as the criterion. By saying that a proposition is true is simply to assert it and to say what a proposition is...false is simple to assert contradictory proposition.

Ayer work is critical in the understanding of truth within statements. This identification helps in the discusion within understanding the english language.

Modernism and Drugs...Lets shake it up.

In the 60's and 70's drugs were a keen interest amoungst people and many artist used it. Through pop culture many pop artist were Explicitly on Herion a lot. Many artist died from too much use. At this time people used to develop screen test which were videos watching people as they took drugs and seeing the affects and usually adding music to it. If you took herion you are numb and not worried about the past or the future. It removes the pain and pleasure when on it and when they come off it everything tastes horrible or they become very cold. Therefore people become addicted becasue they have to keep taking it to take away the feeling of being in pain or being cold. Which makes it harder to come off it. LSD controls different parts of the brain, it turns off perception and short term memory. This Links to Tom Wolfe book about being on LSD. This time is most usually known as the hippy movement- magic bus and flowers etc. LSD also cause haulisinations and creating the feeling that there is a back smoke hovering around.
Gonzo journalism- Driving 100mph on a straight road in the dark.

Albert Camus

THE OUTSIDER/ THE STRANGER: (1942)
The story is divided into two parts: Before and after the murder. The main character Meursault or Mr. M as we called him. Is the first person narrative for the book. Attending his mothers funeral he shows no emotion and does not wish to see the body- but smokes and drinks milk. After he carries on with life as if nothing has happened. He has a sexual relationship with a girl maria.
He ends up helping a friend Raymond by writting a letter to his Girlfriend who is suspected of infidelity so that Raymond can sleep and beat her one last time. When this is carried out Meursault again appears to show no emotion about this incident. The main incident of the book is where he Kills an arab for no apparent reason after being at a beach house. He shows the reader no reason or emotion to why he killed him just saying that the 'sun' was too bright to see.
In the second part of the book he explains his arrest and his time in prison. Thinking is sentence will be light he is then shocked when he realises he has been sentenced to death. The universe is irrational!!

In the seminar from this we discussed that he exist via sensory and he is unaware of human existence. It is hard to gather that he has no emotional response to anything that happens around him. 'Human life has no meaning'.
The character shocks the reader with the bluntless of the character however this bluntness makes us start to believe that there is nothing wrong with this. The character clearly knows what is going on but he lives for the present day. He is someone that see's rather than feel's. He does not think of the future therefore he does not dread it and he does not regret anything because he does not think about the past.

Those in the story who did not understand the character can replicate the socety that has been and is around today. The society view is to keep everyone in line. People try to get rid of those that they don't undertsand- therefore never excepting anything different or learning to live with such people. For society keeping everyone in one straight similar line will keep the world in order. I don't think so.

living in the present day, dont think about the past or worry about the future. live for the day, live for the present

Back on it...HCJ continues...

LECTURE ONE: ECONOMICS

I must admit I am not a fan of Economics and probably never will, but this lecture was very interesting and gave me some interesting facts I did not know before. I enjoyed the idea around the I.O.Y which was used as an example and other theories we covered. I stil have no interest in it, but here is what I gathered from the lecture.

(Money can’t buy poverty) thinking back to Adam Smith people respond positive to pleasure and Smith believed that people were easy to read. Utility is something that everyone has and it goes up and down throughout the day. People have the power to maximise their utility. Link back to JL Mills he thought that it was like a temperature you could measure. We can measure it by price. Looking at how much people are willing to spend. Utilitarianism is a reaction against the Kant system (the difference between the right and wrong). There is an ethical reaction to this theory. ‘The runaway train’ all people are going to die- there is a lever- if you pull it, the train will go another way and the people won’t die. However there is deaf track worker on the line, therefore he would die. Save lots of people or save the deaf Track worker. NHS- how much money you are worth to live- How expensive depends on the situation.
J.N.K get rid of pointless things
Population grows children rates and the increasing number of people. Doubling food resources will increase number of babies which will eventually cause a economic crises ‘rapidly grow’.
Marx thinks that when wages go up there will be bigger families which is the effect of the free market. In the 19th century they predicted that there would be overconsumption therefore would not be able to absorb profit.
Marx ‘eliminate profit’ he diagnosed but did not discover the solution for the problem.
1848- Gold rush in California and the mass migration,
Money- what is the function of money and the means of exchange.
Gold is universally accepted. It was though that gold would last forever and that there was a unlimited amount. People used to be able to swap a £10 note and get £1 of gold from the bank.
World currency in other words gold coins clarified in 1928
Credit creation ratio: the bank creates the money from the money we have and then creates artificial money. For example the I.O.Y theory.