Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Inconstant Context
Philosophy comes in many forms. This week, spend a little time in the funny pages. Please consider these two comics from Nietzsche Family Circus, a site that randomly pairs Family Circus cartoons and Friedrich Nietzsche quotes: On Truth and On Judgments. For each, consider the implications of the scene depicted, the meanings of the quotation, and the ways each is changed by their pairing. Compose a knowledge question derived from each. Please post your thoughts by Saturday at noon local time.
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For Truth:
ReplyDeleteThis quote by Nietzsche takes us back to one of our previous class discussions concerning the existence of an objective truth. By stating that truth is illusion, Nietzsche implies that real truth does not exist; it is only the "truth" that we have deluded ourselves into believing. Since we cannot observe objective truth (if it even exists) with our senses, then everything we see is an illusion. By accepting these illusions, or these sensory perceptions as fact, we are fooling ourselves.
The combination of this quote and the depicted scene prompts us to question the truth of the image we have been presented with. Is the boy really holding a watch in his hand? Are our assumptions about the seemingly calm mood of the situation, based on our previous experiences of interaction between others, unfounded?
Or perhaps the boy is up to some mischief and is offering Nietzsche's quote as an excuse for his actions. Daddy didn't really mean it when he told me not to touch his watch. This situation serves to lighten the tone of the quote. When it comes from the mouth of a little boy, who still has not experienced many of the hardships of life, it seems light and playful, as if it doesn't hold as much weight as it would if it were not accompanied by an illustration.
My knowledge question is:
How do the qualities of a bearer of news change the way that knowledge is perceived by others?
On Judgments:
This quote does not concern all judgment; it only concerns judgments about life. Judgment made about life try to explain life. “Life is short.” “Life is a journey.” “I hate my life.” “My life is horrible.” “My life is awesome.” In the end, all of these judgments do not actually tell us what life is. Nietzsche compares this to symptoms. I like to consider them symptoms of a disease. We identify a disease as a result of the symptoms a patient exhibits. A disease can very very rarely actually be traced back to its source in the body. For example, we cannot observe virus organisms in a person’s bloodstream and then claim that the person has the flu. We can see the results of a virus on the human body and then make an educated guess based on our observations. However, in the end, they don’t actually tell us about the nature of the organism causing sickness itself. Information about a virus or bacteria can be collected in a lab through direct observation, however, that is different than attempting to gather data based on symptoms exhibited as a result.
I consider the quote and the scene to be quite a controversial pairing. The scene seems to take place in a church because the stained glass window shows an angel and the mother and daughter (I assume) are sitting on a long wooden bench. The bible is full of judgments about life; telling us the right and wrong ways to live through it. And Nietzsche is basically saying that these judgments are stupid. By pairing the quote with this scene, the quote seems to target and attack religion which also makes the scene seem as if it is doing the same.
My knowledge question:
How different are the means (words, pictures, colors, emotions, etc.) through which humans think?
Truth:
ReplyDeleteI believe that this image is depicting a young boy handing a watch to a little girl. It seems that the boy is older and more superior towards the girl, and that he may be taking advantage of her somehow. Before I began to write I looked at both the picture and the image to see how I could connect them. In the background of the image there is a picture but I do not understand its significance. The image also looks like the boy is trying to convince the girl of something to do with the watch, but the girl isn’t “buying” it.
The quote that was paired with the image can easily go with it. When I think of an illusion my mind jumps to a brain trick. It is something that it altering the way we are thinking is a “magical” sort of way. This quote is saying that the truths are actually right in front of us, where we don’t need to jump through hoops to get there. Connecting it to the image, I can say that the illusion (trick) is the boy trying to convince the girl of a truth but she does not seem convinced.
The way they are connected and influence one another is hard because they are put together on the same screen. The quote took me a while to have a solid understanding but I tackled the image first. The image alone is a very simple image but because of the actions it depicted, I was able to put things together. Adding the quote gave me an extra boost to connect the dots I had gathered. Looking at the quote alone I think of the difficulty of truths and lies. They are both difficult things depending on what situations you have been in. One may have difficulty believing in the truth if they have been lied to many times, or one may unexposed to lies and just trust everyone. I thought that these two were paired very well together.
Knowledge Question – To what extent does knowing something affect the ways you interpret new information.
Judgment:
This image is depicting a mother and her daughter sitting in church. They are admiring the stained glass on the windows and the little girl looks very excited. This pairing of the quote and image goes together because the quote is describing judgments only being “toppings” and are not actually real and are just stupid. For example, imagine a dish of chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. The chocolate ice cream is the truth while the chocolate sprinkles are only the toppings, which may have a little persuasion to the consumption of the ice cream. The ice cream is the main element. Also when someone is sick, there are many symptoms, which may occur, but one symptom doesn’t define the sickness. In church (I may be incorrect) people come together who believe in the same thing. However church and religion are high areas of judgment. People are sometimes treated unfairly due to their religion.
The pairing of these two was difficult to understand however there were some connections. Separately they are easy to understand because they both have straightforward meanings. I don’t really think that their pairing changes their meaning because we see the paired not individually.
Knowledge Question – How can the lack of knowledge help one understand a situation?
If judgments are stupid then to what extent do judgments (symptoms) influence how one may interpret a situation?
ReplyDeleteOn Truths
The scene is of a girl and a boy talking. The boy is holding a watch. They are talking in a room with a painting of a man, most likely a man of importance. The quote is talking about how truths are illusions that are often forgotten about. The cartoon and the quote are connected through the illusions of truth. The portrait of the man is an illusion of the truth. This man could have asked the artist to change certain aspects of the picture, that can alter what the man actually looks like. The other connection between the cartoon and the quote is the watch that the boy is holding. A watch tells time and time is an illusion. People control the standard of time and use the idea of time to control their lives.
Since I did not see the cartoon and quote separately, it is hard for me to look at one without imagining the other. The quote by itself can be talking about anythingin the world. Illusions can include one perspective on their life, the community, the earth, and many of the things that humans created to help them understand and discover what is going on in the place that we live. The caroon by itself seems to be a boy showing off his fathers watch to a younger girl, either to impress her or to rub it in her face that h has the cool watch and she can never have one that is as swanky or sentimental.
Knowledge Question:
To what extent do illusions hold back the truth?
On Judgement
The cartoon and the quote seem to be connected through the judgement within religion. In many religions the only one who can truly judge you is God. This quote is suggesting that judgements based on values can never be true, because they lead tothe reflection of one self and all tat is seen is what needs to be changed physically to help improve judgements.
This pair of cartoon and quote are easier to take apart and separately analyse. The quote refers to value judgements. When I think of value judgements I think of judgements based on appearance and personality. These types of judgement are only based on somebody elses opinion of what is acceptable, in that moment. These judgements “possess value only as symptoms”, meaning that the only thing taken from that judgement is ways to change and perfect one self, sometimes in an artificial manner. This leads to artificial people who only live their lives based on the judgements of others and who try to live their life to please eeryone around them. Thus entering the world of stupidities. The cartoon depicts a mother and daughter in what seems to be a church. The daughter is moving around and asking questions, the man behind them has a look on his face as though he is unsatisfied by the behavior of the child. He may be judging the woman for not having raised her child to have better manners while in a church building. This man is value judging the woman. If the woman wanted to she could easily take that judgement and consider the symptoms of it and begin to change her disciplinary ways with her daughter. However this would not be wise because he is only one person with a different set of values and beliefs in the way children should be raised.
Knowledge Question:
To what extent of judgements are beneficial?
On Truth:
ReplyDeleteThis particular Family Circus Cartoon depicts a boy and a girl (brother and sister, I'm assuming, as the comic is called FAMILY circus). The boy is holding a watch, possibly giving it to the sister, possibly taking it from her, possibly showing it to her. They are standing next to a set of drawers with a man's picture on top. The watch clearly does not belong to the boy, as he most likely would not own a large and moderately-expensive looking watch if the cartoonist is trying to accurately portray a modern-ish and relate-able American family. The picture on the drawers may be the cartoonist trying to tell us that that the drawers, and in all likelihood the watch, belongs to this older man (probably the father).
The quote itself for some reason reminded me of Shakespeare's quote "a fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool." I think the reason I was led to this is because what I THINK Nietzsche is saying ("guys trust me I know what Nietzsche meant!") is that there can be no unalterable or real truth because all we know to be truth are illusions. If this is the case, and all truths are illusions, therefore leaving no truths, then there are no truths to know, and a wise man knows he knows nothing, leaving him a fool.
The pairing of this quote with this picture is interesting and provides for several different interpretations. The first way I took it I pictured it coming from the little boy, as if he was saying it to his sister. when one approaches the pairing like this, it seems as though the brother is trying to explain or impress the sister. She may have asked him a simple question which he did not know the answer to and so he brushed it off by disqualifying all truth. While this may seem unlikely coming from a six-or-so-year-old, to me it is a familiar situation: an older sibling, when asked a question they do not know the answer to, cannot simply give up their position of power and prestige within the sibling group by answering "I don't know". No, the answer must be both high and mighty enough to confuse the siblings into thinking that you knew what you meant AND must be simple enough to serve as an answer. This quote is the best of both worlds, as it most ambitiously discredits any possible answer the hopeful little sister could have been looking for by calling everything an illusion, while simultaneously covering up for the brother's obvious lack of knowledge on the given subject of discussion. This quote, when viewed as a caption rather than a piece of dialogue, is a very different thing. Now here, when the viewer most likely thought that the little boy had taken this watch from his father's drawer, the quote tells them that his seemingly obvious truth may be an illusion, and begs the onlooker to consider different scenarios whereby this little boy acquired the watch. The quote almost serves, in this case, to ask the viewers to refrain from making judgment calls about the situation, as any and all truths gleaned from this picture may be and are illusions.
The way in which the quote was taken, either as a piece of dialogue coming from the boy or as a caption, clearly altered the way one thought of the cartoon. This made me think of the difference between first person and third person omniscient narration. This is also highlighted in one of our summer reading books, The Poisonwood Bible, in which the narrator changes each chapter to a different chapter. While it all remains first person, the reader can see how different characters express the same or similar pieces of narration. The knowledge changes based on who we receive it from, as does it when the caption is viewed as a line versus a caption. My knowledge question, therefore, is this: How is our view of a specific piece of knowledge altered based on the form in which it is given? (e.g. Directly from the party in question or by a third party commenting on the actions of the characters in the given scene).
(continued on the next post --> )
On Judgment:
ReplyDeleteThis cartoon shows a mother and child in what is presumably a church. The daughter is pointing at a stained glass window and the mother is looking at it. Clearly the mother and daughter, while looking at the window, are making some sort of value judgment as to the beauty, quality, amount of light let in, etc. by this window. The stained glass window has an angel (?) in the center, further reinforcing that they are in a holy place of some sort. The fact that the mother and child are just now noticing this window, or just now admiring it, as clearly the girl is looking at it with some new-found interest, leads one to believe that this is the first or very nearly the first time that they have been to this church. Maybe the first time to any church at all.
The quote presented with this picture is similar to the last one because it disqualifies judgments about life just as the last one disqualified truth. These two go hand-in-hand. If all truths in life are illusions then making value judgments on those false truths is nothing but a waste of time. There is no valid premise for these judgments if there is no truth. Nietzsche then goes on to say that these judgements may only be considered "symptoms". This is a very good explanation. These judgments on life maybe the outward presentation of what a certain person thinks life to be, just as a rash (a symptom)may be the outward presentation of some inner illness, but should not be relied on to truly understand the illness or to truly understand life.
The picture along with the quote is interesting, mainly because it takes place in a church. A church is where religious followers congregate to express their devotion to god. Interestingly enough, religion had many rules. Rules which determine how a follower of the faith should go about living their lives. Religion makes many judgements on life, and yet this quote seems to be saying that no such thing should ever occur. I particularly like this pairing because the two contradict each other. The little girl and the mother are admiring a symbol of religion while the quote indirectly argues that religion, concerning life judgements, may simply be a stupidity.
The pairing of these two, while they may clash with each other, made me consider both individually more intently and made me think of other ways that both authors may have viewed their work. The contradiction was helpful for me in gaining a deeper understanding of the work and quote, perhaps more so than had the quote and picture gone perfectly together. My KQ: how does juxtaposition of two pieces of knowledge change and reinforce the knowers understanding of both pieces?
Truth
ReplyDeleteI interpreted this scene as a boy and his younger sister standing in their father’s bedroom. The girl has broken her father’s watch and her brother is trying to convince her to do the right thing and tell her father.
“Truths are illusions which we have forgotten are illusions”
The paired quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche is addressing the idea that truths do not exist and that in general society has forgotten this idea. Personally, the quotation asks me to assess the ideas which I consider to be truths and ask whether I have come to these conclusions or I have simply accepted these ideas.
With my interpretation of the picture and the quotation, I think that the kids in the picture are contemplating some type of moral decision on what to do with the watch. The quotation questions whether a completely right or righteous decision actually exists. To me the quotation included a sense of judgment towards the people that have been fooled by the illusions of truths. The picture is of young kids, so for me the quotation exempts the children from the judgment because they are most likely unable to make completely rational decisions independently from what their parents have taught them is right and wrong.
KQ-
If truths do not exist, then how can actions based on these truths be justified?
Judgment
This scene is set inside a church with a stained glass window featuring a biblical image. The characters in the scene are a mother and her daughter looking at the window and the young daughter seems to be asking a question about it. Behind them is a man that is very intently listening or reading something.
“Judgments, value judgments concerning life, for or against, can in the last resort never be true: they possess value only as symptoms, they come into consideration only as symptoms - in themselves such judgments are stupidities”
This quote is a little confusing, but I interpreted it as saying that any judgments dealing with the value of life are not true, that these judgments are absurd. I concluded from this that there is no one correct meaning of life to draw these judgments of value from. I do not understand how these judgments could possess value as symptoms, because I do not know what they would be symptoms of.
The picture is set in a church which is a place of religion and in most cases religion defines how its followers should live and if they do not live within these standards they are not as “good”, or looked down on. So in most cases, churches and religion deal with judgment. The quotation is saying that these judgments are untrue and stupid.
KQ-
Is there, consciously or unconsciously, an expectation that if we understand something we must also make judgments of that knowledge? If we express that knowledge does it uncertainly have some sort of bias or judgment of the knowledge?
Tina Writes: On Truth
ReplyDeleteIn the picture, two kids are talking with each other. The boy is holding a watch in his hand, and it seems that he is trying to adjust it. In the background, there is a photo of a man. I do not know who he is, but I do not think he is Nietzsche because of the pictures of him I saw on the Internet. Nietzsche had a huge mustache, but the man in the photo doesn’t. The quotation indicates that truths are truths only because people forget that they are illusions. This sentence denies the existence of pure truths, and “truths” only exist in people’s mind. Because I do not know the significance of the man in the photo, I connect this quotation with the watch. The watch indicates time, and people usually consider time as a truth because most people agree with it and use it in their daily life. However, when I thought about the meaning of time, I found out that there is no “right” time. Indeed, it is only a way people use to realize the existence of time. Just like the boy in the picture, people can easily adjust their watches, and “change” the time. In this case, time turned out to be an illusion instead of a truth. Based on what I found out, I composed a knowledge issue: To what extent do people rely on the existence of truth?
On Judgments
The image shows a mother and a daughter (and in the background there is a man looking at a piece of paper). In my opinion, they are in a church because of the benches and the colorful glasses on the wall, and I think that the image on the wall is the Virgin Mary. Although both the mother and the daughter are looking at the Virgin Mary, the mother shows more respect in her eyes while the daughter seems to be more curious. Her finger is pointing at the Virgin Mary. It looks like she is asking her mother about the image. The quotation criticizes the value of judgments. Nietzsche uses “symptoms” to describe judgments. Because symptoms are something that only appears on the surface, I think that this quotation wants to express judgments’ lack of real value. When I searched about Friedrich Nietzsche, I saw that he had the idea of the “death of God”. However, the mother and the daughter are sitting in a church and looking at the goddess, which I think is very ironic. From that, I extracted a knowledge question: To what extent does people’s uncertainty direct their judgments?
"Truths are illusions which we have forgotten are illusions"
ReplyDeleteWhat we believe to be the truth is a trick. A trick for someone to convince us to argue with them. A trick we use to comfort ourselves-- to solidify what we're wary of. We, as individuals, have to decide what truths are. Even a truth goes against the conventional thought and is "illogical", it is true to the individual that accepts it. We believe ourselves, in our certitude of what is true so much that we are convinced that there is one truth: his or her own. From religion to denial, truth proves to vary between people. So, if this is the case, there is no truth among mortals. Unless, the objective truth many search for exists beyond the living. The cartoon depicts a young (what I perceive to be) boy holding a watch facing a young (what I perceive to be) girl. He is taller, thus I presume he is older, and he is speaking to the young girl. Based on this information I'm going to conclude that the young, but older, boy is speaking Nietzsche's words to the naive, unworldly child. However, by using children to compliment the quote, it appears that Nietzsche is the naive one. If truths are illusions, and that is supposedly a truth, then that, too, is an illusion. Thus, all is relative and there is no use making statements!
KQ: What knowledge is not relative?
"Judgements, value judgements concerning life, for or against, can in the last resort never be true: they possess value only as symptoms, they come into consideration only as symptoms - in themselves such judgements are stupidities"
I was very confused by Nietzsche's use of the word symptoms. I interpreted symptoms to mean possibilities. Therefore, Nietzsche might be saying that life is so vastly different for each person who lives that there are interminable truths defending and obstructing it. Hence value judgements concerning life are stupidities. No judgement is really wrong or right, so trying to make one is dense because they are only part of the whole truth. They are symptoms. Exclusively, none of them are the truth. In the illustration, the woman and the child are looking at the angel in the church. Often if not always with religious people, there is an objective meaning to life or an outline on what one's life should resemble. This depiction might've been chosen out of rejection of the constant judgement humans accept because of religion. The artist has the pair looking up at the angel sitting in the house of God. They've shown their faith. They are gullible. They come to pray for what they believe to be valuable in life and for forgiveness for disobeying the guidelines of how life should be lived to find its true value. Or, less likely, it shows that we as humans cannot know the true value of life as only the higher being can.
KQ: How does knowing one is being judged affect one's choices?