HCJ PART 4 (REVISION NOTES)

1. Was Nietzche a Nazi?

- No, he was dead 30 years before the NSDAP was formed
- Christians and Jews say he was a Nazi. Neech said Judeo-Christianity is a religion of slave mentality
- "God is dead"
- Anti-semitism was the norm in the 19th Century
- Neech's big idea was individualism, so any group, religious or otherwise, is less important in his eyes
- Zarathustra: Idea of the 'superman' (Ubermensch)
- His ideas are compatible with Charles Darwin (Social Darwinism), as in 'Space Odyssey'. Darwin's ideas were used and moulded by Hitler
- 1960s: Artistic community clear Neech's name somewhat...

2. Was Mersault a bad man?

- Use Existentialism in your answer
- Mersault is bored, murders someone for no reason
[LINK TO EXI] - Life is pointless and has no meaning
- He killed a black man in a time of extreme racism towards them, even in the CJS
- White judges desperate to clear him as long as he apologises
BUT, he doesn't care about anything - whether he is convicted or not
- Reflected in cold, matter of fact writing style
- Subject verb format. Cold. Observational journalism
- "Existence proceeds essence"

3. To what extent does the 'New Journalism' reflect cultural and intellectual trends such as psychoanalysis and politics of the 'me generation'?

- Tom Wolfe's anthology of articles is called 'The New Journalism'
- He uses 19th Century realist narrative style (Dickens/Zola)
- BIG SHIFT...
News = Digetic (telling)
Features = Mimetic (seeing) - Objective role
- Everything is strange

- REFLECTED in PSYCHOANALYSIS
Stepping back and listening to people
- 'Century of the Self' looks at Freud's theories
- Wilhelm Reich: disagreements with Freud
- Psychoanalysis: Getting behind the subject (following them) = GONZO!

- 'ME' GENERATION
- Reich: the total individual [LINK BACK TO FREUD]
- Self-fulfilment = happiness
(If it feels good, do it!)
EXAMPLE: Sex - Sexual liberation
- New agenda in Journalism - the personal aspect...surrounds the individual
EXAMPLE: Agony aunts, horoscopes

4. Why might journalists find logical positivist ideas useful or appealing? What faults have been identified in the approach of logical positivists?

- Vienna Circle rejects Existentialism
- They rejects all philosophy
- They only like SCIENCE

- 'VERIFICATION PRINCIPLE'
Their epistemology (the theory about knowledge) is based on the Verification Principle
EXAMPLE: It could be true that there are people that can run three times faster than Usain Bolt on Mars, but can't be verified scientifically)
SO...Logical positivists don't bother with it as it can't be proved in this way)

- APPEALING TO JOURNALISTS because...
We are 90% into FACTS and 10% into COMMENT
Fact [Link back to Ver. Principle] CAN be checked (verified)
- Separating fact from comment is a big thing in journalism

- FALSIFICATION PRINCIPLE (Karl Popper)
Popper destroys 'Verification Principle'
Things can only be true if their opposite exists, and can be proved that it exists

- Wittgenstein - 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'
"That of which we cannot speak, we must stay silent"
- Destroyed Freud and Marx
Destroyed Id etc (asserted it is not verifiable)
- Freud = Another form of metaphysics

5. John Keynes has been hailed as both the saviour and destroyer of the capitalist system. Why?

- Adam Smith - free market
Market will go up and down continuously
Class economy is self-regulated

- Keynes: the more you cut, the more unemployment there will be
'Multiplier effect' - spend money, give money to others...then they can spend and so on

- OPPOSITION: Marx
To maintain profit, you need to pay people less than what they produce

LIMITATION OF KEYNES' 'Multiplier effect' (Marx)
1. Worker makes widget for £1
2. Sold for £2
3. Worker can't buy widget
4. Sales cut widget production
5. Worker unemployed

- Why not keep printing money?
You get inflation (Keynes)
Keynesians say: keep expanding

Click here to download Chris Horrie's HCJ Revision Webcast

HCJ PART 4 (WEEK 2)

'A Space Odyssey' Screening

'A Space Odyssey' by the magnificent Stanley Kubrick was made up of two main stages: monkeys evolving into homosapians and humans evolving into superhumans.

The opening shows the monkeys co-existing with other species; this is at the point when their brains are very small, they are not aware that they need protein for their bones, brain, development etc.

The monkey's lack of knowledge is emphasized by their encounter with the obelisk. Later, the human's lack of knowledge (relative to superhumans) is exposed.

The obelisk would only be a phenomena to humans. The strange place on the moon would only be a phenomena to the Übermensch. These things are a phenomena when we can perceive them. Meanwhile, they are 'noumenal' if we cannot perceive them (e.g - music) according to philosopher's such as Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer.

Then comes the chief ape Moon-Watcher's discovery/theory, the blissful moment when he hits another animal with his bone accompanied by joyous classical music. This enables him to have a higher social ranking and be the leader - he has essentially discovered war.

We see Moon-Watcher's dominance over the other monkeys in a 'speech.' His troop then go to war with another. The noises made in the speech and the battle are the first ever examples of speech. The noises frighten, warn off and encourage/discourage etc; George Orwell said this was the primary purpose of language rather than to merely communicate.

Now its the turn of the humans. They're living in space trying to get to Jupiter, they can't do it as they are not adapted to it (e.g. - no gravity, unable to eat, deficate etc).

All human thought is stored on the space craft in the form of computer 'Hal' as they try to get to Jupiter. 'Hal' was actually holding them back as human thought was not adapted for this mission in space.

Dave (human version of Moon-Watcher) realised 'Hal' had to be defeated, in order to bring about the next stage of development - the Übermensch. 'Hal' is representative of the human race and the fact that they are limited to life on Earth; Nietzsche said: "humanity must be overcome."

Moon-Watcher's discovery of war and protein to develop the brain (the bone scene) and Dave's dismantlement of 'Hal' were parallel and both necessary for the evolution of their respective species (the final scene). This was highlighted by the use of the same music, Strauss's 'Also Sprack Zarathustra', in both scenes.

Key Points

- We don't know what superhumans will be like any more than the apes knew what humans would be like.

- The obelisk was as noumenal to the apes as strange place on the moon was to the humans.

- The monkey's evolved into homo sapiens, enabling human activity (more or less) as we know it.

- Dave was 'the last man,' making way for the 'superhuman'.

- Moon-Watcher's discovery of the concept of war (that brought hierarchy/domination) was just as momentus as Dave's shutting down of the human race to make way for the Übermensch.

- Kubrick's use of (scaled down) real-time in the film shows how things have evolved/developed quicker and quicker as time passes.

HCJ PART 4 (WEEK 1)

Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche hates Christianity, which is hinted at in his book, the core reading, 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra.'

He calls their teachings in Christianity "preaches of death," and thinks Christians reject the natural course of life and look forward to dying.

Christians embrace death as they say you will go to a 'better place' and be with God. God is seen as their leader and the driving force behind decisions of those who believe. Nietzsche despises and rejects anybody who act in this way and sees them as'sheep' - weak individuals.

Instead, the German philosopher asserts that one should either determine others into being or others will enforce this upon yourself. He famously said: "to my goal I will go my own way."

In the same way, he praises the individual who strives to be and do their best - the 'shepherds.' Therefore, people who are teachers, priests or artists, for example, are seen as superior in the eyes of Nietzsche. He refers to them as the Übermensch.

Conversely, fellow German philosopher Immanuel Kant believes that all human beings are equal and share the same morality. He asserts that we all, in equal measure, have an in-built idea of what is wrong and what is right - this is our moral compass.

Nietzsche contests this by saying: "the best of us will make our own rules" - the 'will to power'

Personally, I can relate more with Nietzsche's point of view than Kant's. There is no way that we all have the same morals. For instance, if two people committed separate fraud and BOTH cheated the Inland Revenue to £1 million, one would most certainly have a clearer/more troubled conscience than the other.

Additionally, Nietzsche rejected Kant's idea that all humans are equal and instead advocated the 'will to power,' in that an individual will always find his/her level. He said there will always be natural-born leaders and the 'superhuman' will emerge from that ilk. This is very Darwinian - "the survival of the fittest."

I strongly agree with this theory and, if played out in the correct manner, think it is a healthy quality to have. I have been accused of having Fascist views as a result as the Nazi's believed in Darwinism, but there is a huge difference between striving to be the best you can and killing people because you think you are better than them!

I like this short and sweet blog post about Nietzsche...