Thinking Activity : Derrida and Deconstruction

    Hello friends,

I am Bhavna Sosa, student of English Department, MK Bhavnagar University.  This thinking Activity on Derrida and Deconstruction this  task given by Dr.Dilip Barad sir.

Derrida and Deconstruction :-

 Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) was the founder of “deconstruction,” a way of criticizing not only both literary and philosophical texts but also political institutions. Although Derrida at times expressed regret concerning the fate of the word “deconstruction,” its popularity indicates the wide-ranging influence of his thought, in philosophy, in literary criticism and theory, in art and, in particular, architectural theory, and in political theory. Indeed, Derrida’s fame nearly reached the status of a media star, with hundreds of people filling auditoriums to hear him speak, with films and televisions programs devoted to him, with countless books and articles devoted to his thinking. Beside critique, Derridean deconstruction consists in an attempt to re-conceive the difference that divides self-consciousness (the difference of the “of” in consciousness of oneself). But even more than the re-conception of difference, and perhaps more importantly, deconstruction attempts to render justice. Indeed, deconstruction is relentless in this pursuit since justice is impossible to achieve.

What is Deconstruction?

Deconstruction, a form of philosophical and literary analysis, derived mainly from work begun in the 1960s by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, that questions the fundamental conceptual distinctions, or “oppositions,” in Western philosophy through a close examination of the language and logic of philosophical and literary texts.

Derrida’s theory of deconstruction is never about breaking the foundation but it’s all about inquiring into the foundation. 

Deconstruction is a reaction against Structuralism. Structuralists strongly believed that everything has some kind of similar structure which is fixed and absolute. But Post-Structuralist neglected the idea of Structuralism and said There is nothing like Constant everything is changing.

Read a poem or an ad and TV Serial or film or any literary text as  post-structuralist critic. Be brief, precise and to the point.

We can find examples of Deconstruction in many films, texts, advertisements etc. Here I want to give one example from a one movie 3 Idiots.

Here we can see that in this movie hero is Aamir Khan but if we can try to deconstruct his role then we thought that without learnt how can possible to come in first rank position in study. When we see this movie whole focus on student career but director could not able to show learning process.

Sultana's Reality - An interactive multimedia story

 This Blog-post is a response to Sunday Reading on 'Sultana's Reality - an interactive multimedia story'. This task given by Yesha Bhatt Ma'am. 

Sultana’s Reality is an interactive multimedia story that explores the relationship between women and the colonial education movement in India using archival imagery, women’s writing and history.

Following an Alice in Wonderland style adventure the interactive multimedia installation brings to life accounts of different women – who would rather nap than read, who were stoned in the streets for wearing shoes and carrying umbrellas, who read forbidden texts in secret at night, who read and then challenged the very ideas they read… and those who went on to write books - telling their story in their own words. The books they wrote reveal a universe of women’s lives as they were actually lived – outside the confines of bad and good behavior. The women in the books and the books in the women were full of messiness, intimacy, cynicism, humor, anger, dreams, beauty and love - and all of it together makes up their history, and this story.

The imagining of feminist utopia focuses on whether a gender equal utopia can exist. A world without patriarchal oppression and gender binaries which is beyond the violence gender itself produces within the lives of people, a feminist utopia imagines a world without gender binaries and gender discrimination.

Radical feminism explains that a feminist utopia cannot exist if inequalities exist due to gender binaries and discrimination. It advocates for imagining a feminist utopia which provides a critique of gender itself.

Although Rokeya Sakhawat Begum’s work Sultana’s Dream is a feminist attempt at imagining a feminist utopia, named ‘Ladyland’, the story in itself draws a lot of inspiration from her own life experiences as a Muslim girl child born to an upper class Muslim family. The women of the family were under strict observance of Purdah system that secluded them to the domestic realm.

 He encouraged Rokeya to write in Bengali which will help her to connect with the common people and she later published Motichur in 1905 and Sultana’s Dream in 1908.

"Sultana’s Dream is based on an imagined Ladyland where women Can access public spaces unrestricted by social or religious customs."

Concept of Andermehel- the universe of women :-

" women who read were often resented by older women in the house."

From being shut away in 'andarmahals' or inner chambers, where they had limited contact with the outside world, how did Indian women get to where we are today?

At the tech-art festival 'Be Fantastic Bengaluru', visitors got to explore the relationship between women and books in India through an interactive multimedia art project titled 'Sultana's Reality'.

The project by Bengaluru artist Afrah Shafiq uses archival images to tell the fascinating stories of women who were stoned for carrying umbrellas, who secretly read forbidden texts, and those who challenged these texts.  

Unlike history lectures, the experience is immersive as the viewer gets to interact with the story which follows Sultana as she goes back in time. Wit, sarcasm, captivating animation and images keep the viewer engaged.

Observation of females and their connection with book :-

"I spent two months going through all the fascinating images they had from paintings to matchbox labels. I was interested to see how women were depicted and I started seeing patterns. There were so many pictures of women daydreaming, which was funny. The men are never shown this way," Afrah said.

Alongside, Afrah was also reading about the author of a 1905 book 'Sultana's Dream', Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain who was a pioneer of women's education. That inspired Afrah to trace the history of women and books in India, with an interactive storyboard.

Afrah plans to take the project to a few more festivals before making it accessible to the public on a website.

She also hopes to take 'Sultana's Reality' into classrooms. "I want to make it an educational project, maybe try to make it a module in college. Students could do research and then add stories to it," she said.

Compare both narrative :- 

we can see that both stories are very interesting. Sultana's Reality in the  use of music and image ,sound girl who read the book. Sultana's Dream is a very interesting and fiminist story.

Thinking Activity : Short stories by R.K. Narayan

 Hello readers!

I am Bhavna Sosa semester 3 student from Department of English. Here I am talking about blog. This blog responses to the task assigned by Yesha Bhatt ma'am.  So before giving the answer let us see  about author and the short summary of the story "An Astrologer's Day".

 About Author :-

The short story “An Astrologer’s Day” by R. K. Narayan (Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami) follows a man posing as an astrologer meeting the man he once tried to kill. Originally published in Hindi, the piece, along with twenty-nine other short stories by Narayan, was first published in English in 1947. The short story contains strong themes that are apparent through Narayan’s creative work, including deception, revenge, and the ironies of life. “An Astrologer’s Day” combines suspense, realism, and thriller genres.

An Astrologer's Day :-

The narrator gives the backstory of the young astrologer. He left his small village because he did not want to be an overworked farmer like all of his male ancestors. It is also hinted that he is running away from one of his misdeeds. To escape his fate, he travels by foot to a city more than two hundred miles away. One day, the astrologer starts to pack up at the end of the day, because the neighboring nuts stand has turned off the green light for the day; the green light was a vital part of his act. Before he leaves, a stranger accosts him, saying that he is not a real astrologer. The astrologer says he only charges pennies per question. The man pulls out the equivalent of a dollar and says he has some questions for the astrologer; if he answers correctly, he can keep the dollar. The astrologer bargains for a higher price, and the dual begins.

The stranger smokes while the astrologer begins his process. The stranger is clearly aggressive and rude. The astrologer figures it has been a long day, and the challenge is not worth the money. He tells the stranger to come back another time, but the stranger physically restrains him, and tells the astrologer to answer yes or no: should the stranger continue with his current quest? The astrologer insists on a few incantations and thinks about the man’s situation. He then asks if the man has ever been left for dead; he has. The astrologer asks if it was a knife. The stranger, with increasing amazement, reveals a scar left on his chest by a blade.

The astrologer then says that the man was left for dead after being pushed into a well. This turns out to be true. The stranger, amazed, asks when he should get his revenge on the person who assaulted him. The astrologer then calls his name—Guru Nayak—and says that the man he seeks vengeance against died four months ago. Nayak is amazed—there is no way the astrologer could have known his name. The astrologer replies, simply, that he knows many things.

The astrologer warns Nayak to never journey south of this village. If he does so, he will surely be killed. But if he goes home, which is a forty-eight-hour train ride north, then Nayak can live well into old age. Nayak says that that will not be a problem. He only journeyed south to murder this individual. The only thing he regrets is that he could not have made the man’s death more gruesome. Fortunately, the astrologer says he was crushed under a bus—it was, in fact, a terrifying death. Nayak is pleased by this news.

The astrologer picks up his things and heads home. He is late, and his wife is angry at his tardiness. But then he hands her the large bag of coins that he procured from Nayak. She is thrilled by the good fortune. After a nice dinner, the astrologer confesses to his wife that long ago, when he was a teenager, he was the one who pushed Nayak down the well and left him to die. The two had been gambling and drinking; they got into a huge fight at the end, and in a fit of rage, the astrologer stuck a knife into Nayak and threw him down a well. But now that he knows Nayak did not die, the astrology feels that he can sleep with a light heart now.

Here we can see that  An Astrologer's Day - Hindi short film.

1) How faithful is the movie to the original short story?

 If we see the film adaption, so we can easily get the what actually happened in the text.The movie adaptation is quite relevant to the story. But also some changes in story and video.There are many scene in the video that are not in the original story.If i talk about the character of the astrologer’s daughter. Then her character is missing in the original story while in film her character is very significant. 

2) After watching the movie, has your perception about the short story, characters or situations changed?

The story of the movie and original are same.Character and situations are also same except the scene of his daughter.My perception is changed towards the character of astrologer’s wife.Because in the original story she is quite silent.so This was about my perception, which I have observed from the both of the things.

3) Do you feel ‘aesthetic delight’ while watching the movie? If yes, exactly when did it happen? If not, can you explain with reasons?

While watching I'm very much aware of the relationship between the astrologer and Gurunanak.At the beginning of the film I didn’t aware about what kind of relationship between an Astrologer and Gurunanak.I also feel aesthetic delight when the scene of the argument between astrologer and his wife.At that time his daughter is listening everything but she didn’t ask her parents.So the uestion may arise that, Is the character of his daughter significant or not?

4) Does screening of movies help you in better understanding of the short story?

yes, Definitely helps a lot because there is one panel that if you can look any things that things easily captures in your mind.this video was quite appropriate to the main plot.

5) Was there any particular scene or moment in the story that you think was perfect?

Yes, the scene of Gurunayak coming to an astrologer is quite perfect and appropriate. Also I loved to watch the last seen that the while Gurunayak met to an astrologer when he realize that the The Gurunayak is still alive so this realization of that character is more important in our life that's the reason of that he is main protagonist character of the film.

6) If you are a director, what changes would you like to make in the remaking of the movie based on the short story “An Astrologer’s Day” by R.K. Narayan?

As a director of the movie I would like to change some shots of the movie there are The idea of Gurunayak can easily trust on the Astrologer if Gurunayak might have a Educated person so The might be end will different of the story.Here I am doing something and also add something. Also I will change the character of his wife. Because she is quite silent in the movie..

Thank you !!

Flipped learning task on ' Derrida and Deconstruction '

 Hello,

This Blog-post is a response to Flipped Learning task on 'Derrida and Deconstruction' given by our professor Dr.Dilip Barad Sir.

Derrida  and  Deconstruction :-

Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) was the founder of “deconstruction,” a way of criticizing not only both literary and philosophical texts but also political institutions. Although Derrida at times expressed regret concerning the fate of the word “deconstruction,” its popularity indicates the wide-ranging influence of his thought, in philosophy, in literary criticism and theory, in art and, in particular, architectural theory, and in political theory. Indeed, Derrida’s fame nearly reached the status of a media star, with hundreds of people filling auditoriums to hear him speak, with films and televisions programs devoted to him, with countless books and articles devoted to his thinking. Beside critique, Derridean deconstruction consists in an attempt to re-conceive the difference that divides self-consciousness. But even more than the re-conception of difference, and perhaps more importantly, deconstruction attempts to render justice. Indeed, deconstruction is relentless in this pursuit since justice is impossible to achieve.

 Video:1

Why it is difficult to define Deconstruction?

Is Deconstruction a negative term?

How does deconstruction happen on its own?

Dr.Sachin describe the term, Deconstruction is not a destructive activity, but an inquiry into the foundation causes of intellectual. However, Derrida himself refuses to define Deconstruction. Dr. Sachin say that it is not a negative operation. Derrida wants to transform the way people think. The entire structure of Western Philosophy or thought has to be transformed and he also wants to emphasize and takes this from Heidegger's project. Which he wants to translate from German to French. 

Video :2

The influence of Heidegger to Derrida

Derridian rethinking on the foundation of Western philosophy.

Dr. Sachin say that Derrida's acknowledgment of three famous philosophers, Martin Heidegger, Sigmund Freud, and Friedrich Nietzsche in his very famous essay 'Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences'.

Video :3

What Derrida Decounstruts the idea of arbitrariness?

Metaphysics of presence.

 Ferdinand de Saussure is 'Course in General Linguistics' that, the relation between word and meaning is not natural, it's a conventional one.  The word Sister has no natural relationship with the person but it's just a convention that connects the word sister with the person. Word can be used to talk about anything but what connects a word with its meaning or as a signal with its meaning is the convention and the convention is always Social. Derrida that the meaning of the word is nothing but the other word. Heidegger pointed out in Metaphysics of Presence that when we consider being of something we often connect with its presence. Heidegger is saying that we seem to connect presence and as proof of its existence as more of its being. Then Derrida says that Western philosophy is again built on the different binary positions. 

Video:4

Derridian concept of 'DifferAnce'

Infinite play of meaning

DifferAnce - to differ & to defer the meaning

  Dr. Sachin Ketkar  describe the Derrida is questioning is, what do you mean by understand. If meaning of word like interest is a group of another words. One word leads to another Word and that word leads to yet another and finally we never come out of the dictionary. Saussurean sign is equal to signifier which signifies something but Derridean sign is free play of signifiers. Derrida combine two term' differ' and 'defer'. Pun it means to differ is also mean differentiate. Derrida is drawing attention towards different between speech and writing. He questions privilege of speech over writing. 'DefferAnce' - difference is not an idea or a concept but a force which makes differentiate possible.

Video: 5

Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences

"Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique."

"Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique". Discussing your structure sign and play is one of the very important documents of contemporary literary theory as it inaugurates what is known as post structuralism in 1967 by post structuralism we mean not outright rejection or criticism of structuralism but going beyond by critiquing structuralism so the essay is actually a critic of and who are very famous anthropologist who made structuralism very popular. The centre is paradoxically within the structure and outside it. The totality has its centre as where the centre is not the centre. 

Thinking Activity : Wide Sargasso Sea

 Hello, I am Bhavna Sosa student of department of English MK Bhavnagar University. In this blog assigned by our ma'am  Yesha Bhatt.

Wide Sargasso Sea is a 1966 novel by Dominican-British author Jean Rhys. The novel serves as a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre (1847), describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from the point-of-view of his wife Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress. Antoinette Cosway is Rhys's version of Brontë's devilish "madwoman in the attic". Antoinette's story is told from the time of her youth in Jamaica, to her unhappy marriage to an English gentleman, Mr. Rochester, who renames her Bertha, declares her mad, takes her to England, and isolates her from the rest of the world in his mansion. Antoinette is caught in a patriarchal society in which she fully belongs neither to Europe nor to Jamaica. Wide Sargasso Sea explores the power of relationships between men and women and discusses the themes of race, Caribbean history, and assimilation.

The madwomen in the Attic: Annette - Antoinette :-

The Two extreme:-

Antoinette’s description of the two binary opposites sheds light on Antoinette’s dual thoughts and confusion. The narration of the atmosphere by Antoinette makes clear her struggles with being stuck between two things and not being able to belong to either. It felt as if the silent atmosphere is a reection of Antoinette’s mind as she could perfectly read through the gaps and ll it with her own analysis.The reader can also see Antoinette’s struggle to ll the gaps in the madness and silence of her mother in her child-hood days. By showing Annette’s madness and coldness towards her daughter Antoinette, Rhys in a way tries to ex-emplify how the absence of a mother’s love and affection contributes greatly to Antoinette’s fractured identity and how she later inherits her mother’s madness in the novel. Antoinette craves her mother’s love and care, which she is deprived of, as her brother, Pierre, gets his share of the at-tention. Despite her mother’s ignorance, Antoinette only has love and respect for her mother in every possible manner as Antoinette remarks about her mother -

“I hated this frown and once I touched her forehead try-ing to smooth it. But she pushed me away, roughly but calm-ly, coldly, without a word, as if she had decided once and for all that I was useless to her. She wanted me to sit with Pierre and walk where she pleased without being pestered, she wanted peace and quiet. I was old enough to look after myself. ‘Oh let me alone’ she would say, ‘let me alone,’ and after I knew that she talked to herself and I was a little afraid of her.” 

The  Struggle :-

Antoinette’s long-time struggle to nd her own voice takes a turn after her marriage to Rochester as she begins to doubt her whole sense of individuality and existence. In the begin-ning of their marriage, Antoinette’s beauty attracted Roch-ester as he is seldom used to seeing such kind of beauty. While riding together he remarks:

 “Looking up smiling, she might have been any pretty English girl.”

Use of Colours – Self Expression :-

Antoinette herself becomes aware of Rochester’s fascination with her physicality and for that reason Antoinette choos-es to use it as a method of expressing herself and reaching out to Rochester. Colors’ play an important part to become a medium of expression for Antoinette and she is seen to be fascinated by the color Red. Red can be linked to female sensuality, passion, and emotion and it may showcase courage,danger and a sense of power within women. Antoinette hasan obsession for the colour red as she thinks that it attracts the eyes of her husband Rochester, "I took the red dress down and put it against myself: ‘Does it make me look in-temperate and unchaste?’ I said." But un-like her misconception the red dress has an adverse effect on Rochester’s mind as to him it makes her look like a desperate woman who is apprehensive of the dangerous warning that comes with red as it is a sign of rebellion. 

On the other hand, the colour white has a desirable effect in Rochester’s mind as it makes Antoinette look chaste and pure as white is thought to symbolize virginity and chastity. The colour white arouses desire in Rochester. However, Antoinette has a different personality than that of what Rochester wants her to be and so she sticks to the colour red, which she believes makes her presence felt in a stronger way, “Antoinette changes from the virginal bride wearing a white dress into the ‘rejected scarlet woman’ in a red dress.” It can be said that colours work as metaphor for Antoinette’s identity and individuality and it also works as a form of expression for Antoinette as it exemplifies the fact that Antoinette is independent as a woman and chooses to express herself in the way that is comfortable for her and suits her.

Individuality :-

Antoinette manages to express herself in parts despite Rochester’s constant attempts to not give her a space to voice her opinions. The essence of Antoinette’s personality comes to light when she ends up voicing her story to Rochester in order to defend her troubled childhood, which turns out to bea futile attempt:

“No, I said I was always happy in the morning, not always in the afternoon and never after sunset, for after sunset, the house was haunted, some places are. Then there was that day when she saw I was growing up like a white nigger and she was ashamed of me, it was after that day that everything changed. Yes, it was my fault that she started to plan and work in frenzy, in a fever to change our lives. Then people came to see us again and though I still hated them and was afraid of their cool, teasing eyes, I learned to hide it.” 

Use of Ventriloquism :-

As Antoinette’s relationship with her husband, Rochester, deteriorates further, confusion starts to take over Antoinette’s mind. Jean Rhys makes use of ventriloquism when Antoinette chooses silence over voice, and gives her husband, Rochester, the narrative authority. The whole of the section where Antoinette was silent, Rochester spoke for her and she acted like a mere puppet in the hands of Rochester. Her feeling of a lack of control results in her starting to question her own identity - “I often wonder who I am and where is my country and where do I belong and why was I ever born at all” (Rhys, 1966:85). Antoinette wants to belong to a single place or person and her struggle for belonging continues.

Madness :-

The feeling of an absence of her own identity, her own voice, drives Antoinette to desperation. As Antoinette begins to lose touch with reality, madness overpowers her mind and body. Madness begins to feel real for her because it makes her feel alive. The attention she receives from madness makes her feel like she still exists. Madness gives her the power to make her voice heard to people who will not listen otherwise; power that she has been craving for since childhood. Madness is not a symptom of her constant feeling of a lack of voice and need to be heard; madness is a cure.

Freedom & Identity:-

Here, there is a ray of hope in Antoinette’s voice and it feels as if she can see the light to her road to freedom. “Some-one screamed and I thought, ‘Why did I scream?’ I called Antoinette’s thoughts reflect the mad state of her mind as it shows how Antoinette really feels inside on different issues such as dreams, death. Antoinette is always fascinated by dreams and reality as she can differentiate between the two and her connection with dreams can best be seen when she finally has a voice to talk about it as she states,

“That was the third time I had my dream, and it ended.I know now that the flight of steps leads to this room where I lie watching the woman asleep with her head on her arms. In my dream I waited till she began to snore, then I got up, took the eyes and let myself out with a candle in my hand. It was easier this time than ever before and I walked as though I were flying.” 

Conclusion :-

Antoinette’s life is defined by a constant struggle between voice and silence. It is a struggle to find her identity and to express it in the most effective way; in a way that can be heard by others. In Jane Eyre Bronte’s essence is just her mad silence. However, Antoinette’s essence can be defined by both voice and silence. Jean Rhys gives this Creole character a new twist by giving her character a constant attraction to the extreme sides of everything. 

Thank you for visiting!

ThAct : Cultural Study Unit- 1

Hello, I am Bhavna Sosa, student of  MK Bhavnagar University. This is blog assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. In this blog I am discuss about power and media in cultural studies  and what is  truly  educated.

Definition of Cultural Studies :- 

"The critical analysis of the texts and practices of everyday life in contemporary society. an interdisciplinary enterprise involving both the humanities and the social sciences."

                                                                      - Oxford Dictionary 

 cultural studies were originated and developed by british marxist academics in late 1950s,1960s,1970s.and later on developed by many scholars all around the world. The core idea of cultural studies is to look into social organization and to study that as well as construction of there everyday lives. Cultural studies is related to many other fields like, Marxism, Feminist theory, ethnography, Post-Structuralism,Postcolonialism,Social.

1)Your understanding of power in cultural studies 

There are six sources of power:-

1. Physical forces
2. Wealth
3. State action
4. Social norms
5. Ideas
6. Number 

Michel Foucault, the French postmodernist, has been hugely influential in shaping understandings of power, leading away from the analysis of actors who use power as an instrument of coercion, and even away from the discreet structures in which those actors operate, toward the idea that ‘power is everywhere’, diffused and embodied in discourse, knowledge and ‘regimes of truth’ (Foucault 1991; Rabinow 1991). Power for Foucault is what makes us what we are, operating on a quite different level from other theories:

‘His work marks a radical departure from previous modes of conceiving power and cannot be easily integrated with previous ideas, as power is diffuse rather than concentrated, embodied and enacted rather than possessed, discursive rather than purely coercive, and constitutes agents rather than being deployed by them’ 

Foucault challenges the idea that power is wielded by people or groups by way of ‘episodic’ or ‘sovereign’ acts of domination or coercion, seeing it instead as dispersed and pervasive. ‘Power is everywhere’ and ‘comes from everywhere’ so in this sense is neither an agency nor a structure (Foucault 1998: 63). Instead it is a kind of ‘metapower’ or ‘regime of truth’ that pervades society, and which is in constant flux and negotiation. Foucault uses the term ‘power/knowledge’ to signify that power is constituted through accepted forms of knowledge, scientific understanding and ‘truth’.

Foucault is one of the few writers on power who recognise that power is not just a negative, coercive or repressive thing that forces us to do things against our wishes, but can also be a necessary, productive and positive force in society.

‘We must cease once and for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms: it ‘excludes’, it ‘represses’, it ‘censors’, it ‘abstracts’, it ‘masks’, it ‘conceals’. In fact power produces; it produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth. The individual and the knowledge that may be gained of him belong to this production’.

Power is also a major source of social discipline and conformity. In shifting attention away from the ‘sovereign’ and ‘episodic’ exercise of power, traditionally centred in feudal states to coerce their subjects, Foucault pointed to a new kind of ‘disciplinary power’ that could be observed in the administrative systems and social services that were created in 18th century Europe, such as prisons, schools and mental hospitals. Their systems of surveillance and assessment no longer required force or violence, as people learned to discipline themselves and behave in expected ways.

Why media studies is so important in our digital culture?

"To manufacture consent, you need an enemy, a target: Communism, terrorists, immigrants… a boogeyman to fear helps corral public opinion."

Noam Chomsky gives five types of filters about mass media:

1)   

                                                 2)

                                                  3)

4)

5)

Who can be considered as 'truly educated person'?

Chomsky, whose thoughts on education we’ve featured before,  he defines what it means to be truly educated. And to do so, he reaches back to a philosopher whose views you won’t hear referenced often, Wilhelm von Humboldt, German humanist, friend of Goethe and Schiller, and “founder of the modern higher education system.” Humboldt, Chomsky says, “argued, I think, very plausibly, that the core principle and requirement of a fulfilled human being is the ability to inquire and create constructively, independently, without external controls.” A true education, Chomsky suggests, opens a door to human intellectual freedom and creative autonomy.

To clarify, Chomsky paraphrases a “leading physicist”  who would tell his students, “it’s not important what we cover in the class; it’s important what you discover.” On this point of view, to be truly educated means to be resourceful, to be able to “formulate serious questions” and “question standard doctrine, if that’s appropriate”…. It means to “find your own way.” This definition sounds similar to Nietzsche’s views on the subject, though Nietzsche had little hope in very many people attaining a true education. Chomsky, as you might expect, proceeds in a much more democratic spirit.

Thank you for visit.