Philosophical Analogy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Philosophical Analogy - Essay Example While Plato was Aristotle's mentor, Foucault was once Derrida's teacher. Derrida and Foucault are both French philosophers who are part of 20th-Century-Western Philosophy. As would be expected, the latter philosophers would have a considerable amount of study on the works or references of the earlier theorists. Derrida's work Plato's Pharmacy is an attack to Plato's famous work Phaedrus. While Foucault counters Aristotle's "enduring substances" with his claim that everything is "historically contingent". Plato's Phaedrus "is a rich and enigmatic text that treats a range of important philosophical issues, including metaphysics, the philosophy of love, and the relation of language to reality, especially in regard to the practices of rhetoric and writing" (Zuern par. 1). In this particular dialogue, Plato through the character Socrates (with his conversation with Phaedrus) shows explicit criticisms on the art of rhetoric and writing. He argues that rhetoric is not based on truth but that rhetoric practitioners can and will "make small things appear great and great things small", and adds that these people "have discovered how to argue concisely and at infinite length about any subject" and use "words' magic spell" (267). His stance is that, rhetoric is misleading and only aims to be persuasive to achieve its goal in whatever means, without being truthful. It is, as far as he is concerned, only dependent on language and words and not on truth. What Plato favors and promotes is the use of his dialectical method, the method which is "capable of helping itself as well as the (person) who planted it" and "produces a seed from which more discourse grows in the character of others" (277). The idea is that, compared to rhetoric (writing), the dialectical method (speech), can construe clearer definitions by means of producing further discussions, which would validate or not the claim of truth, and thus, would achieve value, with the truth it is affirming and not merely by the rhetoric of writing. This argument is deconstructed by Derrida in his work Plato's Pharmacy, where he centralizes his analogy on Plato's use of the term pharmakon in his works. With that analogy, Derrida highlights the ambiguity of Plato's distinction of the sophist's rhetoric from the philosopher's dialectical method. Derrida questions Plato's preference of "living" speech over "dead" writing. To understand the way Derrida deconstructed Plato's Phaedrus, it is important to go back to the latter's work and analyze the way pharmakon was used. First off though, we have to establish what the term means prior to Plato's context. Pharmakon is "from a Greek word meaning both poison and cure" (Maslin par. 8). Thus, it has a neutral stance, it does not have a negative or a positive connotation attached to it. It can either be a harmful poison or a helpful medicine, making the word ambiguous and would only take its meaning depending on the context of its use. The term is first encountered on Phaedrus, taking on a different form pharmacia. On their way to leave Athens, Phaedrus and Socrates came across the place where it was said that the mythic Oreithuia was taken away by Boreas. Socrates then goes to assume that perhaps "a gust of the North Wind blew (Oreithuia) over the rocks where she was playing with Pharmacia; and once she was killed that way people

Engaging Communication Technologies of the 1950s Assignment - 2

Engaging Communication Technologies of the 1950s - Assignment Example The history of Communication Technology counts back to the revolution era, when scholars and scientist discovered the utilization of various materials and minerals. They started engaging these materials to develop communication media, which then peaked in the 1950s. In the 1950s, communication technology made several notable communication establishments, which revolved the way of communication in many industries, ages, races and government work. The industry brought with it several positive developments as well as negative influences on the diverse areas of application by its users. Among the developments established by the 1950s in communication technology is the establishment of the first telephone communication, which came into play in late 1876 (Solway 27). Thereafter, as the 1900s came, technology continued to evolve bringing with it several discoveries. These discoveries include the making of first transcontinental phone call in 1915, and establishment of the first Air-to-Ground and Ground-to-Air Radio Communication. These developments created the basis for the more discoveries in the industry, making communication a key sector of interest to many stakeholders and governments. It is between the 1920s and 1950s that communication sector re volution then was at peak, with several developments coming into the action, and communication getting easy and comprehendible. The highlights made in communication technology at the period from 1900s to 1950s affected the use of communication technology in the 1950s remarkably. For instance, for the people who worked in the offices, both private and government sectors, several communication technologies affected their work and daily schedule. The communication within the office premises for the professionals entailed the use of several communication media (Krummenacher & Robert 67). The office manager needed to communicate with customers, clients and employees.