In his book, "Black Skin, White Masks", Frantz Fanon argues that language, far from just a tool for conveying information, expresses a world implied by it. In other words, words matter in shaping who I am in your eyes, as does my tone of voice, accent, dialect, and so on. If I am a foreigner speaking your … Continue reading To Speak A Language Is To Participate In A World
What Is A Good Book? Philosophical Response
What do we mean when we evaluate a book as good or bad? Let's take a philosophical look at it.
Spreading the Word: No Such Thing as Absolute Clarity
Many of us are taught at school that we should know the right answers, that that is a sign of knowledge. As children grow, they learn that society expects certain things of them and that those are the right things. Right answers, right behaviour, right thoughts. And the opposite is, of course, wrong. This approach … Continue reading Spreading the Word: No Such Thing as Absolute Clarity
Disrupting and Creating Meaning
We, humans, are remarkably flexible beings. Sometimes, we surprise even ourselves if we pay attention. For example, take Jacques Derrida's idea of deconstruction. As a way of thinking, it takes a settled meaning we accept as true and dismantles it to show how inherently arbitrary any one such interpretation is. In other words, its opposite … Continue reading Disrupting and Creating Meaning
Spreading the Word: What is Deconstruction?
What do philosophers mean when they talk about deconstruction? This concept is rather simpler than it might sound. It is associated with the 20th-century philosopher Jacques Derrida who introduced it as a notion describing a way of thinking. What sort of thinking? Have a listen to this interesting short video and find out about some … Continue reading Spreading the Word: What is Deconstruction?
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