So, I didn’t really have a fruitful week in researching my artifact. I’ll be honest. I got really behind, and I worked like a dog to finish some other key assignments in a very panicked, unhealthily sleep-deprived manner. However, I DID read the Burke excerpt and take some notes, which I’m sure I will be able to use somehow in my research/presentation of my artifact.
- The perspctive within our methodology/theoretical framework is our "theory of drama."
- Parts of persuasive essays parallel the acts in a play.
- The model of human drama as means of explanation in the social sciences is the alternative to the scientific “mechanicistic” model (stimulus, response, and the conditioned reflex)
- The U.S. Constitution (and documents like it, for that matter) should not be looked at as an isolation or an end-all to law or reason in our country, but it should be seen for what it really is––a rejoinder to the issues/questions/philosophies of its day
- Dialectal terms require an opposite: "apple" is non-dialectal, but "freedom" is dialectal.
- This universal human drama arises from the unending conversation/exchange of ideas that is in turn caused by the genius of MAN...and of course WOMAN as well (I know both genders were implied when Burke wrote this but are no longer now and that is why I've corrected him)
- When I grow up, I want to be an Aristotelian trucker.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
oops. I forgot to include how I could use postmodernism as a theoretical framework in my research...okay, SO
- Twain was the first to really move away from the traditional autobiography and write not from a linear, more "objective" view of his life. His autobiography was highly original in that it was fictionalized in many parts, it was not chronological, and it was representative of the FRAGMENTED self––which is very postmodern. Twain is never really looked at as a postmodern writer, BUT HE IS. Think about it––his life's work, fictional novels, were all essentially based on parts of his own life. So, one might ask, what was true and what wasn't? Well, in postmodern thought, the truth would depend on who you ask––and even then that would not be the definitive truth, because such a thing is unattainable by humans. Why was Twain's autobiography such a colossal failure, both among readers and critics? Because it was a POSTMODERN text that came out in the height of MODERNISM.
- So was Connecticut Yankee––I finally get it!––in the novel, the panacea of the world's ills could not be solved by technology, even when a man travels back in time and thinks he can "save the world" through technological advancements from the future. Human progress is really not progress at all, because we have the same problems in the dark ages that we do now, just in different forms. THIS is so postmodern. This is what Twain was getting at. Wow. cool.
- These are some thoughts. So, moving on to the celebrity area of ideas, Twain may have been the first celebrity because he was the first major figure to deliberately fragment himself, even posthumously. Parts of Twain were in his books, in his self- corporation, in his lectures, even in his trademarked pen-name.
- Twain was the first to really move away from the traditional autobiography and write not from a linear, more "objective" view of his life. His autobiography was highly original in that it was fictionalized in many parts, it was not chronological, and it was representative of the FRAGMENTED self––which is very postmodern. Twain is never really looked at as a postmodern writer, BUT HE IS. Think about it––his life's work, fictional novels, were all essentially based on parts of his own life. So, one might ask, what was true and what wasn't? Well, in postmodern thought, the truth would depend on who you ask––and even then that would not be the definitive truth, because such a thing is unattainable by humans. Why was Twain's autobiography such a colossal failure, both among readers and critics? Because it was a POSTMODERN text that came out in the height of MODERNISM.
- So was Connecticut Yankee––I finally get it!––in the novel, the panacea of the world's ills could not be solved by technology, even when a man travels back in time and thinks he can "save the world" through technological advancements from the future. Human progress is really not progress at all, because we have the same problems in the dark ages that we do now, just in different forms. THIS is so postmodern. This is what Twain was getting at. Wow. cool.
- These are some thoughts. So, moving on to the celebrity area of ideas, Twain may have been the first celebrity because he was the first major figure to deliberately fragment himself, even posthumously. Parts of Twain were in his books, in his self- corporation, in his lectures, even in his trademarked pen-name.
Hello Blog group:)
I apologize for not blogging last week––it wasn't so much like time constraints or other commitments that kept me from writing; I just got in a weird funk and didn't feel like doing anything, let alone posting or commenting. I don't think the funk is a legitimate excuse, but I just thought you should know. It has been a hard last few days for my family and me. Anyways, for this blog I will write a bit more about postmodernism (now that I have a little better understanding of it), and then I will briefly write on some ideas about possibly using the postmodernist framework in researching my artifact.
So Pomo. Yeah, the angry stepchild of the disciplines or whatever I called it last time. It is still FREAKING HARD to define, but I have gotten my brain around some of its key characteristics thanks to a couple a handy articles my presentation group shared with me ("What is Postmodernism" by Christian Theologian Paul Copan, and "The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism" by literary critic and Marxist political theorist Fredric Jameson):
- Postmodernism is "anti-dualistic": Modernist philosophy in Western culture had the effect of creating dualisms (wrong/right, true/false, western/eastern and so on). Postmodernism stays away from these because they do exclude other options/less represented ideas or people. Pomo is about pluralism and diversity.
- Postmodernism questions texts: the historical accuracy/objectivity of a text, no matter who wrote it (individually or corporately) cannot be trusted as true or unbiased. Every writer has an agenda and is inevitably influenced by his or her culture and place in history
- Truth is a matter of perspective: At birth, we are thrown into an environment that we cannot get out of; we will never be able to see reality from an all-seeing, objective viewpoint. So what is true for one person may not be true for another.
- Language as truth: According to postmodernism, we cannot have truth without language. Language creates thought, and therefor creates truth
I apologize for not blogging last week––it wasn't so much like time constraints or other commitments that kept me from writing; I just got in a weird funk and didn't feel like doing anything, let alone posting or commenting. I don't think the funk is a legitimate excuse, but I just thought you should know. It has been a hard last few days for my family and me. Anyways, for this blog I will write a bit more about postmodernism (now that I have a little better understanding of it), and then I will briefly write on some ideas about possibly using the postmodernist framework in researching my artifact.
So Pomo. Yeah, the angry stepchild of the disciplines or whatever I called it last time. It is still FREAKING HARD to define, but I have gotten my brain around some of its key characteristics thanks to a couple a handy articles my presentation group shared with me ("What is Postmodernism" by Christian Theologian Paul Copan, and "The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism" by literary critic and Marxist political theorist Fredric Jameson):
- Postmodernism is "anti-dualistic": Modernist philosophy in Western culture had the effect of creating dualisms (wrong/right, true/false, western/eastern and so on). Postmodernism stays away from these because they do exclude other options/less represented ideas or people. Pomo is about pluralism and diversity.
- Postmodernism questions texts: the historical accuracy/objectivity of a text, no matter who wrote it (individually or corporately) cannot be trusted as true or unbiased. Every writer has an agenda and is inevitably influenced by his or her culture and place in history
- Truth is a matter of perspective: At birth, we are thrown into an environment that we cannot get out of; we will never be able to see reality from an all-seeing, objective viewpoint. So what is true for one person may not be true for another.
- Language as truth: According to postmodernism, we cannot have truth without language. Language creates thought, and therefor creates truth
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