Newspaper Article Analysis

This article talks the murder of a 9 year old boy.  The article uses emotional language to dramatize an already dramatic topic. They also only show the partners perspective and don't show all sites of the story furthermore the information is third hand and doesn't not include direct knowledge from the other characters involved.

Argumentum ad populum (‘appeal to the people’)

Argumentum ad populum (‘appeal to the people’)

The fallacy of attempting to win popular assent to a conclusion by arousing the feeling and enthusiasms of the multitude.

"Snob Appeal": 

the fallacy of attempting to prove a conclusion by appealing to what an elite or a select few (but not necessarily an authority) in a society thinks or believes. 

"Bandwagon": 

 the fallacy of attempting to prove a conclusion on the grounds that all or most people think or believe it is true. 

"appeal to emotion": 

A Coke Advert

This is an example of the ad populum because it appeals to people and has a women acting as someone who is obviously satisfied and convinced of the Product. The slogan emphasis this point by saying things like "You will the love the delicious taste of the refreshment of an ice-cold Coca-Cola." This use of provocative language, invokes use to imagine the idea of a coca cola and feel and crave something that we most likely have drunk before. The machine on the side looks quite high tech for the period and is trying to appeak to people through showing that you are getting the best possible product you can get. 

Story that evokes emotions

Special story

It evokes astonishment. 

Emotion #2

The James-Lange Theory

Suggests that our bodies and emotions have a strong connection. Furthermore that emotions are actually physical in nature and body changes are the cause of emotional changes. 

An example: 

If Physical symptoms are removed from a certain emotion, the emotion itself disappears. E.g. Anger 

If the fist clenching and other signs of anger are taken out of the equation... One is not going to be angry anymore. 

Also according to the theory one is able to emphasise... i.e. be able to relate to someone elses emotion by mimicking it. 

Emotion and Knowledge

Emotion as an obstacle to the knowledge

• Perception: Our perception can be altered or colored by strong emotions such as "love which makes blind"
• Emotional Colouring: Can make us aware of some aspects of reality whilst ignoring others. Being so strongly in love to the point of ignoring flaws etc. 
• Reason: Can be negatively affected by our emotion through believing in something too strongly. This hinders open mindedness. 
• Language: Using powerful emotion is likely to use emotive language. 

Emotion as a source of knowledge 

Emotions may be used as sources of knowledge as well... this can happen in situations when saying "he was being overly emotional". This doesn't mean he has too many emotions but simply he was expressing himself too much emotionally. Without emotions we would fall victim of being overly rational and because all decisions would look equal we would never be able to make a final decision. 

Rationalising

Emotions

Emotions

Emotions can be activated through external (being threatened) or internal causes (feeling depressed without a cause). 

What are the main types of  Emotions?

1. Primary and universal (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust)
2. Secondary or social emotions (embarrassment, jealousy, guilt, pride)

What type of Intelligences are there?

According to the Theory of Howard Gardner there are 7 officially recognised types of intelligence:

1. Verbal/ linguistic- good with words, and languages. Generally finds reading stories and writing easy.
2. Logical/ mathematic - This area has to do with logic, abstractions, reasoning and numbers and critical thinking.
3. Visual/ spacial- Good at visualising or artistic things, such as artists or architects 
4. Bodily/ kinaesthetic- Are learners through action and activity, generally good in sports or creative tasks.
5. Auditory/ musical- This area has to do with sensitivity to sounds, rhythms,tones , and music. People with a high musical intelligence normally have good pitch and may even have absolute pitch, and are able to sing, play musical instruments, and compose music. 
6. Interpersonal communication  - ability to evaluate moods and feelings of other people
7. Intrapersonal communication - capacity to understand yourself
8. "Naturalist intelligence - ability to associate yourself with nature"

What is Intuition?

Definition:  Way of getting information without relying on reasoning.

1. Core intuition- intuition about ourselves
2. Subject specific intuitions - intuition of the educated mind on specific knowledge area
3. Social intuitions - intuition about other people and how they feel.

Why are emotions difficult to classify and name? 

1. Because People may mean different things when they say or express a certain Idea such as "I like you" or "I hate you". 
2. Because emotions can experience a certain blending like colors where one thing could be classified as as a state of 2 blended. 
3. Further explanation of 2: If someone is jealous they feel love and hatred at the same time. Or a blend of the two, hence emotions are ambiguous .

Analysis of a Speech by Anthony in respect to Julies Caesar

Anthony's Julius Caesar Funeral Speech

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interrèd with their bones:
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious;
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest – For Brutus is an honourable man,
So are they all, all honourable men –
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me,
But Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill;
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff;
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And sure he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause; What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? O judgement, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason! Bear with me, My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me. 

This speech is of special kind as it is meant to be spoken with grief and anger. The way in which it is portrayed makes one consider the background. It starts of with words that are muttered by a grieving man "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him." and continues relatively monotonously when he speaks about how "the good is oft interrèd with their bones". 

However than comes a twist a play of words of a sort that makes one question Brutus's motives even though Anthony's doesn't directly speak of such he often speaks in a reoccurring pattern of "Brutus is an honourable man". At first one assumes Anthony is just trying to speak of his support to Brutus and give more meaning towards believing Brutus's speech on the justness of Caesars death. 

Yet one soon starts to soon notice that though is not the cause. '

And he pauses rhetorical questions to the public such as Brutus brought many captives to Rome... "Did this in Caesar seem ambitious"? Through the power of language and by putting the right emotion where the right emotion is due Anthony strives to connect to the public and is able to do so at such a level that he manages to convince the public of Brutus not bearing a completely white shirt, but one that is stained. 

One question I have been pondering about is if Ambition is an emotion? 

Shakespeare is famous for his use of ambition and makes emotion almost seem as if it was an emotion felt by the characters. There are many famous examples of that not limited to this play of his only, but also to other plays such as MacBeth, to some extend Romeo and Juliet whom were ambitious in getting their relationship to work and many more. 

The definition of ambition is "an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth,and the willingness to strive for its attainment". (Dictionary.com)

In theory one would assume that ambition is a good thing as the Bible, which at the time of Shakespeare was a book of importance also strives to make it as such “Do not… fear / hurry / envy / be angry / be ambitious / be competitive / lust / be greedy / be ashamed / criticize yourself / feel inadequate / feel insecure. Trust in the Lord…” (Psalm 37) 

Yet in the context of this speech ambition is the pure reason of evil. It is what drove Brutus to commit such act as well as the word that causes the public to reconsider Brutus's innocence and speech and decide upon what has really happened. Whether Anthony was driven by ambition is a different matter, but at least in the context of this speech one would assume that it was not ambition but anger and distaste of Brutus as well as the feeling of underestimation that lead to such Power and caused eventually the rise of Anthony as the Emperor of Rome. 

What is Language?

Language-   Language can be defined as a tool of communication and speech. It is used to facilitate the expression of thoughts and opinions through communication, different interpretations as well as formality and expressing different feelings and learning. Language can be made of signs such as sign language or verbal communication as well body language and within that there is are a range of underlying meanings that everyone determines themselves. 

What are the three key features of language?

3 Key features of a language:

1. Semanticity:Words must be represented symbolically i.e. they must mean the same to all speakers of that language

2. Displacement:The language must be able to communicate the past and thefuture, as well as the present.

3. Productivity:It must be possible to combine a limited number of sounds of signs into and unlimited number of messages.

What is the link between language and communication?

All language is communication BUT not all Communication is Language

What are the different types of functions of Language?

Functions of a language:

1. Informative:The function of informative language is to describe the worldby saying that something is like this, and this something happened. These type of statements can both be considered true or false depending on whether or not what reality is coincides with the description. For example: The cannonball is round. 
2. Expressive: The function of expressive language is to express feelings of emotion,or to envoke feelings of emotions. “He was crying over the loss of his mother, whilst being angry about the murder that killed her".
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Directive: The function of directive language is to use language to hint in order to cause or prevent an action on someone else's part. Rhetorical questions ie “ Would you mind being quiet” or “could you drive slower" to make someone understand that you have the need to slow down. 
   
   
4. Social/Ceremonial:  This is referring to the occasions where we simply utter noises in a ritual sense rather than actually meaning them or wanting an answer: “ How are you?” This is simply meant to ease a long social interaction.
   
   
5. Performative: The times that words transform reality by the mere fact that they have been uttered. This is especially in common in sports where the words “ you are out” can determine the outcome of the whole game. 
   
   
   
   
   The difficulties of Language?
   
   
   Ambigeous words: Ambigeous words are the ones that have multiple meanings and hence can be understood in multiple ways. Certain words like free and art have multiple definitions within the dictionary and hence it may be difficult to determine which word is used in a certain context such as an argument?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Vague Words: 
   
   
   Certain words like tall,big, long etc. Describe qualities but don't specify the quality in detail that something may have. They can also mean the different things to different  people i.e. a variation in having the same signifier and different types of signified. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Metaphors
   
   
   Metafors that we may consider natural to us, ie that the past is behind us, may in fact not be natural to other people with a different culture. For example the Aymara speakers who spend much of their life on rowboats travelling with their front to where they just came from, see the past as in front of them, while their future is right behind.
   
   
   
   
   Irony
   
   
   Irony gives language an edge of difficulty s one may not understand what we are trying to say as something might be ironical yet the speaker might perceive it as the truth... etc.
   
   
   
   
   Theories of Language 
   
   
   Definitions theory
   
   
   The definition theory stands for the fact that something can be defined or has a definition present 
   
   
   
   Denotation theory
   
   
   
   
   Image theory