Post-War British Literature: Exploring Social Change and the Novel
Kingsley Amis (1922-1995): The University as Microcosm
The Post-War Shift
The Second World War disrupted the modernist tradition of writers like D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. A new era demanded a different literary approach. Realism and the social novel, reminiscent of Dickens and Fielding, resurfaced. This resurgence aimed to document and interpret the societal transformations brought about by the welfare state. The novel became a lens through which to examine the experiences of the working-
Read MoreThe Cartesian Project: A Framework for Unifying Knowledge
Introduction
Despite having been a student at one of the most celebrated schools in Europe, Descartes recognizes the profound uncertainty that marked the end of his studies. “I found myself lost among so many mistakes and doubts, which I found trying to teach me that there was managed to have discovered another benefit to growing my ignorance.” He held a critical view of the philosophy he had learned, precisely because, as he writes in Discourse on Method, “It would be hard to imagine anything so
Read MoreNietzsche’s Philosophy: A Critique of Western Thought
The Dionysian and Apollonian
Nietzsche’s philosophy challenges the traditional Western philosophical view, which he believes has denied and suppressed the Dionysian and Apollonian aspects of life. He argues that this tradition, which devalues life, stems from a specific moral perspective.
Master Morality vs. Slave Morality
Nietzsche identifies two fundamental types of morality:
- Master Morality: Values pride, strength, and affirmation of life. It views what is “bad” as that which is low, mean, and life-
Aristotle’s Philosophy: Logic, Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, and Politics
Aristotle’s Philosophy
Item 3: Aristotle
1. Logic and Ontology
In Aristotle’s logic, it is not a science but a set of observations “about the logos.” This means that logos is not an arbitrary action subject that makes up words, but the way things are in their truth and being. For Aristotle, there’s no separation between the organization of our thinking and the order of things, as logos relates to both areas. It should make a distinction between logic and ontology, since the logic is ontology.
1.1 The
Read MoreHume’s Critique of Causation, Substance, and Metaphysics
The Problem of Causation and Necessity
No to Causation
Hume denies the principle of causality, which states, “Everything that begins to exist has a cause.” He argues that this principle cannot be proven as necessarily true because:
- It is not a relationship between ideas, which we can know intuitively.
- It is not knowledge of facts based on our current impressions or memories. Knowledge of the future, including cause and effect, is merely a result of habit and custom, not a necessary connection.
Hume contends
Read MorePlato’s Philosophy: Key Concepts and Ideas
Conditions
They are the four activities of the soul or levels of knowledge: two below conjecture or imagination (eikasÃa) and belief (pistis). Neither leads to truth, but rather to opinion, because their level of reality is the visible and physical. The two superior activities are intelligence (nous) and discursive thought (dianoia). These lead to truth itself.
Soul
Man is a dual creature, who participates in both the world of the senses (the perishable) and the world of Ideas (the eternal and immutable)
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