Our blogspot is a clear demostration of Locke's
ideas about words and the use of
language. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding sounds like
a title for a large philosophical journal; almost parallel to the question,
"what is the meaning of life?" However, by the first page I noticed
this essay connects directly to our lives in class. This blog is a prime
example of the double use of words the Locke describes in the beginning of the
chapter.
"One for recording our own
thoughts"-Locke
"To give you a space for
thinking through and working out difficult concepts"-Graban
"Secondly, the other for the
communicating of our thoughts to others" -Locke
"To provide a space for responding
to one another’s thinking, extending discussions beyond the
classroom"-Graban
Taking directly from the blog itself,
one can see the similarities of the two-fold purpose of the blog. Using our words in order to communicate and think is a powerful idea. It has always been thought of as the power of the written word and Locke, in the very beginning, lays out the reasoning behind language and words. There is a direct connection between Dr. Graban's thoughts and Locke's ideas.
Reading through the rest of the piece, I could not focus on the aspects of words or language because I dwelled on the understanding I found within the first couple of paragraphs. I felt like I had found a "method to madness," the blog is a direct result of how Locke wants his readers to think about the use of words and the many reasons for it.
2 comments:
I like the comparison you've made here,but there's one point that i'd like to point out in terms of the first use of words that you illustrated.Although this blog is meant as a medium on which we are encouraged as a class to contribute with our own personal interpretations and reflections of the material, the blog itself is still a public forum. Due to the blog being a public forum, those of whom contribute to the blog will undoubtedly alter the content and manner of their compositions, in order to better synthesize with the reflections of the larger class.Therefore, not only are we subconsciously altering the manner in which we communicate our own thoughts upon this forum, but we are also allowing for the subjective interpretation of the words we use by others to affect their meaning.
That being said, i believe that locke might appreciate our class blog, because within this forum we are encouraged to openly communicate and reflect upon the material, and to build upon the knowledge we collectively gain as a class.
I like that you connected Locke's theory with what happens on the class blog. It made the idea a lot more concrete to me and made me realize I am not fully aware of every time I partake in such debates. I think it would be interesting to see how peoples view on meaning/symbolism or words connects to their bigger life view.
I think that people that are ok with ambiguity are probably not hung up on one truth about the world because they see it as an ever changing entity. I also think it is generational. We, as millennials, are comfortable with being proven wrong for the sake of accuracy. We realize we are imperfect beings and naturally are wrong at times.
All in all, I would like to look into this with a broader lens and see how views on meaning parallel with peoples life perspective on truth.
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.