Critical Thinking: Media, Philosophy, and Logical Fallacies
Media, Philosophy, and Logical Fallacies
Media Influence and Truth
- Media Selection and Priority
- The media selects what they report, imposing a priority based on spectacularism, the impact of information, images, and emotive, economic, and ideological interests.
- Decontextualization
- Decontextualized and rapidly presented news can cause the viewer to not understand what they see.
- Informational Silence
- Many events that do not meet the criteria for informational interest are not considered news. This is informational
Nietzsche’s Philosophical Critiques: Reason, Morality, and the Two Worlds
Friedrich Nietzsche: Key Philosophical Critiques
The Critique of Platonism: The True and Apparent Worlds
Nietzsche critiques the philosophy of Platonism. This theory states that reality is divided into two worlds: one “true” and one “apparent” (appearances). This Western philosophy maintains a metaphysical optimism toward existence, denying its tragic aspects and taking refuge in an illusory world, namely, the world of ideas. According to Nietzsche, this is a major error, as it values the “true”
Read MoreKarl Marx’s Historical Materialism: Dialectics and Social Change
Historical Materialism: Key Concepts
Marxist philosophy is Dialectical Materialism. It is materialism because it posits that the only existing reality is matter. It is dialectical because matter is not static but is always changing, governed by universal laws that apply to nature, society, and thought.
The Universal Laws of Dialectics
According to Marx, there are three universal laws:
- Law of the unity and struggle of opposites
- Law of the transformation of quantity into quality
- Law of the negation of negation
Historical
Read MoreThe Physics of Focus: Attention, Entropy, and Consciousness
The Physics of Attention
Attention is the most valuable resource we have, though it is weightless, invisible, and unmeasurable by any instrument. Like energy, it cannot be created from nothing; it must be drawn from somewhere. Every choice to focus on one thing is a quiet act of neglect toward everything else.
Modern life has made this trade-off more violent than ever. We live inside an ecosystem designed to fracture concentration into packets of dopamine. Notifications, feeds, and algorithms are
Read MoreFoundational Concepts and Theories of Ethics and Morality
Foundational Concepts: Ethics, Law, and Morality
Defining Ethics
Ethics refers to what is right or wrong. It involves conscious and voluntary actions, recognizing that not everything legal is necessarily ethical.
Defining Law
Law consists of rules that must be followed; breaking them results in punishment. Laws are often based on ethical principles, but it is crucial to remember that not everything legal is ethical.
Moral Values and Sources
Moral Values are principles or standards of behavior considered
Read MorePlato’s Theory of Forms: Foundations of Platonic Philosophy
Plato’s Theory of Ideas: The Core of His Philosophy
The Theory of Ideas (or Forms) is the core of Platonic philosophy. There are at least three primary intentions behind this theory:
Ethical Intention
Following Socrates, Plato sought to ground virtue in knowledge. Faced with the moral relativism of the Sophists, Plato asserts the existence of eternal and immutable Ideas of justice, goodness, and other virtues.
Political Intention
Plato argues that rulers must be philosophers who are guided not by political