Seminar about A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

The final seminar of semester one was based around A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. Personally, I found this essay rather entertaining as it was a ridiculous solution to the very serious problem of extreme poverty in Ireland in the 19^th century. Swift stated that the way in which this could be solved is for families to eat their own children for food or sell their children to be used as food as that way people will have money on which to survive. There were mixed reactions from my seminar group with some people saying that Swift’s idea was inhumane and immoral and how could a person even think of a solution to a problem as extreme as killing your own children as it is a parent’s role to protect their children at all costs not eat them for food. Whereas other members of the group believed that Swift was mocking Ireland and his essay was meant to be taken in a light hearted manner as the title of the essay A Modest Proposal suggests that the solution presented by Swift will be a subtle but effective idea such as developing the economy but as you read on it becomes clear that Swift’s idea is cannibalistic and shocking for readers both today and in the 19^th century when it was written.

Lecture about Adam Smith

Adam Smith can be considered as the founder of economics as we know it today and wrote the very first book based solely on economic theory called “The Wealth of Nations”. He wanted to research the reasons why one country was wealthier than other countries. He concluded that the amount of control a government has over its economy determines how much trade takes place both within a country and also internationally such as the slave trade. Smith used England as an example as the English Civil War from 1641-51 had changed the economic growth of the country dramatically. After the King was defeated in 1451, the state control of the economy collapsed and the mercantile traders, who until this time governed the trade industry in England, were forced to lose their power. This fall of power enabled free trade throughout England where everyone was allowed to trade and goods from the Caribbean such as sugar, cotton and tea were important as for the first time the country had a rich and health supply of goods to trade around the world boosting its economy and showing its power.

Smith also believed that if a government left its people to trade by themselves it would create a more stable economy and governments who prevent free trade do more harm than good as the economy becomes stagnant. If a person was a skilled metal worker and another person was skilled at woodwork then naturally they would trade their skills in order to make a high quality product such as an axe.  According to Smith this can help to explain human behaviour as people will not want to buy goods if they are poor quality but if they are good quality then people will want to buy them and they will recommend the product to others.

Seminar Paper on John Locke

Bertrand Russell -  History of Western Philosophy (Chapters 10-17)

During my reading of the chapters I was able to pick up on key areas of discussion which I will highlight during my reading of the seminar paper. These will be based around chapters 13 and 14 of the book which explain John Locke’s theories in the 17^th century. Hopefully discussing these chapters in depth will produce a debate about whether John Locke’s theory of knowledge and his political philosophies can still be relevant in today’s society or whether his theories are outdated and irrelevant.

Chapter 14 of Russell’s book focuses on Locke’s ‘Two Treatises of Government’ written in 1689 after the Revolution in England. Locke can be seen as a key figure during the revolution following the English Civil War as his theories changed the way in which governments were organised, finally giving power to the people. His ‘First Treatise’ outlined how divine right was no longer needed by Kings and rulers as they should be appointed by the people of a country. This came from an idea that God gave Adam the right to rule on behalf of the people, therefore God gave the people the right to choose their leader. In addition, Locke presented the idea that every human being in society had three fundamental rights, life, liberty and property and it was the role of the government to ensure that this was the case for people in England in the 17^th Century.

Locke’s ‘Second Treatise’ was based around the idea of a state of nature where everybody had the right to freedom and equality but subconsciously obeyed what he described as ‘natural laws’. These natural laws were centred on morality where everyone has knowledge of right and wrong. For example, murder is wrong and immoral but helping an elderly person across the road is viewed as being kind and moral. Locke also presented the idea that when a human is born they are like a blank canvas and as we progress through our lives we learn knowledge through our five senses. Chapter 13 explains this theory and the quotation “ Knowledge is the perception of agreement or disagreement of two ideas” is important as it shows how as human beings, we learn from the people around us such as our parents or teachers and we learn from our own mistakes in life which enables us to try and become better people.

Locke’s theories are relevant in today’s society for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is that governments in England are controlled by the people who vote for their chosen leader through democratic elections. Whichever candidate wins the highest number of seats is named as the Prime Minister of the country for four years until another election is held. A second reason is that children today are still raised by their parents teaching them what is right and wrong from a very early age so by the time they reach adulthood they are fully aware of how they should behave.

Seminar about Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

The seminar was full of debate and really good opinions about Hume's enquiry concerning human understanding. There were three seminar papers which summarised the main points of the enquiry very well. There was one major area of debate amongst the group about Hume's idea of humans cannot be sure of anything no matter how many times they witness an event. For example, if a person stands in a forest and they see 8 trees cut down and they hear the noise of each tree falling onto the ground then they walk away then another tree falls down then they cannot be certain that it is a tree falling as there is a possibility that the sound came from another object. This debate lasted for most of the seminar and it was good to listen to the range of views from people in my group

Lecture about David Hume

David Hume can be regarded as one of the most important figures in both social philosophy and journalism as he revolutionised modernist ideas such as logical positivism. Logical positivism was the modern philosophy of science which focused on physical science such as medicine and physics and social science such as human behaviour in society. Hume presented his theories of knowledge and believed that there is no absolute truth or knowledge as everything can only be possible and not absolutely true. For example, the sun rising in the mornings is only a mental illusion in your brain as the Earth orbits around the Sun but the Sun is a stationary planet so you can’t physically see the Sun rise.

Hume presented his theories of causation and logic in his book and in his book he stated that things are only caused by human beings and the causes are solely in your brain and not from the outside world. One situation in which this theory can be applied is in a game of billiards. When the white ball hits the red ball and the red ball moves we do not know for certain that the white ball caused the red ball to move we only know that the two balls moved as a result. Anything may have happened to make the balls move and Hume believed that everything that happened was like a miracle and we should not jump to conclusions about things we do not know for sure.

According to Hume there is a specific way of analysing whether events are true or false and to do this we must use two types of logic, analytical and synthetic logic. Analytical logic is where a conclusion is made from a subject for instance “all bicycles have two wheels”. Synthetic logic adds more information to the statement if it proven to be true using analytical logic. The statement “all bicycles have two wheels therefore they are referred to as bicycles” is an example of synthetic logic as more information has been added to the statement to prove it is true.  Our brain also synthesises ideas about objects and people but Hume argues that we should stick to the facts we know and not let our brains discover new ideas about them as people and objects are what they are and as humans we just have to deal with it.

This idea of logic can be linked closely to the verification principle whereby any statement of truth must be verified in order for it to be considered 100% true. Hume argued that most statements cannot be verified as they might be either true or false and it’s impossible to prove it. In addition, you can only use the verification principle on statements that can be verified for example “ the Sun is the Sun, therefore the Sun is not the Moon” can be proven to be truth as the Sun has a different appearance and location to the Moon so the Sun cannot be the Moon.

Seminar about Joseph Addison

The Seminar was based around Joseph Addison's essay The Spectator No. 46 and The Royal Exchange. In our group there were very mixed views about the spectator with some group members saying it was easy to understand while others were confused as to the point Addison was trying to make in his essay. Personally I found the essay quite challenging but Í was able top understand the main point of the essay. Addison was trying to highlight the fact that a human being is unable to write an essay from a philosophical viewpoint without there being some form of structure in the essay otherwise it would be impossible to read.

Addison uses two examples to back up his opinions Tom Puzzle and Will Dry.Will uses a clear structure in his essays but he has very few ideas to present in his essays whereas Tom has a great range of knowledge but he is unable to structure his thoughts into a logical order. As a group we thought that it was more important to use a clear structure in an essay or idea as it makes it a lot easier for people to read as without a structure it would be very unclear and confusing to read.

The Royal Exchange was based around Addison's general observations of the trade industry that was taking place in England in the 17th century. Merchants were importing and exporting goods all around the world to countries as far away as India. His essay explained the daily activities that took place in London.

Early journalism lecture



An example of Chinese pictographic
writing dating from 6000 BC



The lecture was focused on the history of writing and how over a period of 6,000 years writing transformed from ancient Chinese pictographic script which was made up of small basic pictures that denoted a word or phrase to the Roman alphabet we use today consisting of 26 letters.  

The first step to producing journalilstic writing was the construction of the Guttenberg printing press in the 1440's. This enabled important literature such as the Bible to be printed in large quantities so it was accessible to everyone in society and it could be read at the home not just at church on a Sunday. The Guttenberg printing press paved the way for mass production of literature and today in the UK alone 206,000 books are printed every year.

The first newspaper, The Daily Courant began printing in 1702 and it encouraged the masses to buy and sell goods and informed the general public about about changes in the government. This was the first time that large numbers of people throughgout England were able to read about what was happening on a daily basis.It started a revolution for many newspapers in future years such as The Guardian which began in Manchester in 1821 before being printed across the country.
                                                                                                                      



Painting of Daniel Defoe



1703 is an important date in Early Journalism as it marks the introduction of Daniel Defoe, writer of the novel Robinson Crusoe and regarded by many as "the father of English Journalism". He bagan his career producing and selling pamphlets on the streets of London. He got arrested for his pamphlet entitled Proposals for the Establishment of the Church due to the satirical mocking of high power Tories.