09/12/2011

HCJ Seminar Paper (2)


Part 1 – The Pre-Socratics

Ultimately this can be said to be everything before Socrates. As stated in Russel’s History of Western Philosophy book, Thales (624-546 BC) thought that all things within the universe were made up by water. He believed that everything else apart from water(in names of substances and objects) was in fact made out of water as well. People of the time believed this to be slightly outrageous due to the fact that he didn’t relate this to God and the way the world was created by God himself. Thales was known for using scientific experiment and mathematics to gather data and he was the first recorded person to discover electricity. What can be said to be interesting and different with Thales is not his particular thought processes but it is the way he thought everything could be tested scientifically and through experiment.

Anaximander
Anaximander who comes next through time, can be said to be an apprentice of Thales. Although Anaximander agreed with Thales in some senses, he did think differently about the theory of water as the main substance. Anaximander believed that the universe is not solely from just water but it is an accumulation of all of the other elements. He argued such things as; water cannot be dry, only wet and fire cannot be cold, only hot. Ultimately, Anaximander was far more reasonable in the ways of Philosophy itself and this began from his thought process of the elements. He stated that the cold and wet condensed to form the earth. Then the heat and dryness formed the sun, moon and the stars.

Pythagoras
Now we move on to Pythagoras, whose influence in ancient and modern times is outstanding. As it can be guessed, Pythagoras attempted to figure out new knowledge with the use of mathematics and geometry. He stated that ‘all things are numbers’, , logically this is nonsense as described by Russel, however the fact that Pythagoras discovered the important of numbers in music was quite important. The connect which he established between music and arithmetic can be described in mathematical terms as ‘harmonic mean’ and ‘harmonic progression’. He thought of numbers as certain shapes, as they appear on dice for instance. As many of us think of Pythagoras as the theory we study in mathematics at school, it is not for certain that Pythagoras himself created this theory as The Egyptians had known about triangles way before him, however the theory can be related back to Pythagoras’ knowledge.

Heraclitus
Heraclitus was one who also related philosophy to the elements. He believed fire to be the primordial element out of which everything else had arisen. Not only this, but he also stated that all things of the universe are unified, such as (as stated in Russel); 'God is day and night, winter and summer’. Heraclitus also wrote ‘On Nature’, which delves into his views of life as a fighting continuous battle.


Part 2 – Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

Socrates
Socrates was a Athenian citizen who spent his time in disputation and thought philosophy to students, however for no some of money.  The story of Socrates is that he gets imprisoned and his friend Crito tries to influence him to escape from prison. Socrates dismisses Crito's statement as he describes how he has a loyalty to his friends and family, feeling the need to face his sentence rather than escaping as Crito tells him to. Socrates describes how he has lived in the city of Athens for a long time and he has benefited from it through such things as education, therefore he must abide by the laws of the city and face his sentence. Essentially, Socrates is arguing Kantain's principles - what if everyone did that? If everyone began escaping from prison, what would happen then. 
This leads us on to the Social Contract. This was 'created' although it was never wrote down, it was merely a spoken agreement which said that without it there would ultimately be a collapse in society. This 'spoken agreement' was in the Leviathan who was a 'biblical monster of unstoppable power'. The power of the Leviathan was limitless and this can then be related easily to the State of Nature.

Plato
Plato can be said to be the greatest student of Socrates and believed similar hypothesis to Socrates himself. Plato believed of a distinct perfect world/universe and his forms are represented in an imperfect way in our world. This idea is shown through Plato's cave analogy where prisoners were forced to stare at the side of the cave and the only world they ever knew was the world of shadows, one day one of the prisoners decided to turn around and saw the 'perfect world' and tried to influence the others to do so. Ultimately he believed that whatever object you saw, for instance your phone, is imperfect and there is a better phone out there in a distant world. This can be related to Heaven and Christianity.
Plato also believed that the soul is organised into three parts;
1. Reason - Knows the forms, and therefore reality
2. Spirit  - Courage, ferocity, aggression - wants honour but does not know what honour is
3. Desire - Constant craving, pushed hopelessly from one desire to another

Aristotle

One of the main points to conquer about Aristotle was that he believed knowledge comes from experience. His method of logic was one of the first available however some downfalls of this method was that it allows false premises to influence conclusions. Logic was part of the Greek science which was presented by the Western World. He -so to speak- 'stuck' by these 3 rules;
1. All men are mortal. 
2. Socrates is a man. 
3. Therefore Socrates is mortal'
This 'craze' of logic also stuck and was eventually taken on by the Catholic Church and was then what was learnt by University students.
Ultimately, this logic ruled out any possibility of new scientific knowledge, therefore changing the way people viewed the world.
Aristotle states that ethical theories can be divided into two separate classes, he takes the view that virtues are means to an end, mainly happiness itself. He believed in the word ‘pleasure’, which Plato had regarded aesthetically. Aristotle states pleasure is distinct from happiness, yet there can be no happiness without pleasure. He believes there are three views of pleasure; 1. That is never good. 2. That some pleasure is good, but most is bad. 3. That pleasure is good, but not the best.
For almost a thousand years after this, civilisation as we know it seemed to 'disappear' with us now having no record of what happened during this time period.


06/12/2011

Law Revision Notes

No matter what Chris says, I am nervous about next weeks Law exam. Since completing SATS in year 6, I manage to make a complete moron out of myself before exams, being sick, using my inhaler and now being given special spray to calm me down; brilliant. Although I am certain getting myself this worked up does me no favours and probably makes me perform far worse than if i just chilled for once in my life, I still can't help feeling slightly worried. I am now going to write up some of my revision notes made today -a week before my exam- and will hopefully help these things sink in to me a bit for next week.

- The highest court in the UK is the Supreme Court
- The DPP = Director of Public Prosecutor
- Functions of a Crown Court
  1. Indictable cases
  2. Appeals
- Criminal Offences are things that are against society and the state
- Civil Disputes are things that go on between two people such as divorces etc

- Statue Law is a law that has been inacted in parliment
- Prejudice is in simple terms, pre-judging someone and coming in to a court with pre-ideas about someone
CONTEMPT - denying people a fair trial in anyway
                       - disobeying a judge e.g. when the judge asks you to leave court and you don't
                       - laughing in a hearing etc

When does a case become legally active? We don't know - yes great answer there, but it is the right one

After an arrest has been made, what facts can be reported by us as journalists?
- Name (in most cases)
- Could say about their expression e.g. looked nervous
- Keep to neutral points

DEFAMATION - if something is said that damages their reputation
                            - they are open to hatred/ridicule/contempt
                            - they become shunned or avoided
                            - damage to their occupation occurs


Libel = Publication + Identification + Defemation
10 point test
This test was made by Judge Lord Nicholls in the appeal stage of the Albert Reynolds VS The Sunday Times case in 1999. It was made to ensure that aslong as journalists work without malice and takes responsible steps, they then may be protected from libel.
1. The seriousness of the allegation
2. The nature of the information, and the extent to which the subject matter is of public concern.
3. The source of the information. Some informants have no direct knowledge of the events. Some have their own axes to grind or are being paid for their stories.
4. The steps taken to verify the information.
5. The status of the information. The allegation may have already been the subject of an
investigation that commands respect.
6. The urgency of the matter. News is often a perishable commodity.
7. Whether comment was sought from the claimant. He may have information others do not possess or have not disclosed. An approach to the claimant will not always be necessary.
8. Whether the article contained the gist of the claimant's side of the story.
9. The tone of the article. A paper can raise queries or call for an investigation. It need not adopt allegations as statements of fact.
10. The circumstances of the publication, including the timing.


Some particular events that are protected by qualified privilege are as followed;
- Court
- Parliament
- Local Government
- Common Law

-Fair dealing is when you take someones work e.g. a picture, however you must be fair and attribute them is that's what they ask of you.

-The difference between PCC and Ofcom is that Ofcom relates to Broadcast Journalism and the PCC often deal with print journalism.

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