The Death of the Author

I found Roland Barthes’ ideas in “The Death of the Author” to be very interesting. Barthes introduces his argument by skillfully using the “They Say/I Say” technique to inform the reader what common belief he will be arguing against in his writing. He opens by stating the wide held belief that the author is the person who writes the text. Barthes then argues this belief by explaining his own meaning of what constitutes an author.

The common belief, as Barthes explains, is that the writer of a text gives meaning to it because it is his ideas and words that create the text.  However, Barthes argues otherwise.  Barthes’ argument is centered around who gives original meaning to a text and how the ideas of writers are not original thoughts of their own. Instead, the thoughts created are a result of the culture that surrounds the writer making them unoriginal.  This expresses how even the words of a writer is not his own work.  Every word that a writer uses in his text has a predetermined meaning by society, making the writer’s meaning of the word unoriginal.

In addition, Barthes argues that it is the reader who gives the text original meaning. It is only when the text is read and then interpreted by a reader, that it can be given any sort of original meaning. This is because, according to Barthes, a reader is not affected by the same influences that take away originality like that of a writer.  The reader can interpret the text in an infinite amount of ways original to only himself.  Since it is only the reader who has the ability to form an original meaning of the text, it is the reader who truly writes the text.

Even though I enjoyed the ideas that Barthes had, I would like to add that I believe that Barthes could have stated his argument in a simpler way. I felt that Barthes’ argument was slightly buried under complex sentence structures and wordy sentences.

Intellect vs. Intelligence

In Hofstadter’s “On the Unpopularity of Intellect”, Hofstadter focuses his writing on the qualities of our American society that contribute to the unpopular view of intellect. Before Hofstadter begins to explain these qualities, he first takes the time to explain the commonly unrecognized difference between intellect and intelligence. Even though Hofstadter only includes this explanation in order to clarify a misconception before he goes into his argument, I found this portion of the reading to be one of the more interesting.

I have always thought, like many others, that intellect and intelligence went hand and hand. I viewed people with intelligence and people with intellect alike as intellectuals. Hofstadter does a great job addressing this misconception and spends the needed time to fully clarify the difference between intelligence and intellect. In Hofstadter’s words: “intelligence is an excellence of mind that is employed within a fairly narrow, immediate and predictable range…Intellect, on the other hand, is the critical, creative, and contemplative side of the mind” (Hofstadter 25). Intelligence allows people to grasp and apply concepts while intellect allows people to theorize and develop unknowns. To better explain the differences between the two, Hofstadter uses many diverse examples that clearly support his point. One example that I found very interesting was his example of the engineer. Hofstadter explains how engineers, as well as many other professionals, have “professionally trained intelligence.” Engineers go to school in order to learn an array of various engineering concepts that allow them to be successful in their profession. Hofstadter compares these concepts to instruments that the engineer uses to accomplish his task. Engineers simply grasp concepts that are taught to them and put them to practical use. They do not develop their own concepts, but instead apply preexisting ones, which may make them intelligent people but not intellectuals.

This example, along with many others that Hofstadter includes, allows the reader to fully grasp the difference between intellect and intelligence and enables Hofstadter to lay the foundation for the remainder of his text. 

The Value of Words and Actions

I found Jerome Bruner’s, “Act of Meaning” to be disengaging and hard to follow. Bruner’s intended audience for this text was other psychologists who already have a solid understanding of the debated topic at hand. Due to the assumption that the audience is already familiar with past research in the field, Bruner references the work of many other psychologists without taking the time to fully explain their relevance. This assumption makes it difficult for readers who are not of the intended audience, like myself, to understand the Bruner’s text fully.

Of the ideas that I was able to grasp, I found Bruner’s commentary on the power of words and actions especially interesting. We have heard over and over throughout our lives the popular saying “it’s not what you say, it’s what you do.” Bruner explains in his writing that this is not only believed by society but also by many psychologists: “we have been taught to treat such ‘said’ accounts as untrustworthy” (Bruner 16). Bruner, on the other hand, disagrees with this mentality and explains why society should value what a person says, not only what the person does. He talks about how psychology is not dependent on one aspect but is the combination of several: “psychology is and must be based not only upon what people actually do, but what they say they do and what they say caused them to do what they did” (Bruner 16). Bruner highlights how without taking into account what a person says it is impossible to fully understand the thoughts and intentions of a person’s actions.

In Bruner’s text he explains how both a person’s words and actions are significant to the field of psychology because it incorporates both the mind and the body. Even though I did not fully understand all of his approaches to different psychological ideas, I was able to understand his view on the importance of both words and actions in psychology.  

Areas of Interest

1. Genetics
The topic of genetics has always interested me in the past. I very much enjoyed learning about it in high school, but I know there is still much more I can learn about the topic. I ranked this topic number one because I look forward to being able to deepen my knowledge of this interesting topic.

http://www.techinsider.io/how-deep-genomics-is-using-ai-to-solve-genetic-mysteries-2015-9

This article from "Tech Insider" explains a promising new technique that a company, Deep Genomics, is using to try to read and understand the human genome. Deep Genomics is attempting to use artificial intelligence to analyze and interrupt the human genome. I found this article interesting because it incorporates different fields of study in attempt to some one of genetics most important problems.

2. The End of the World
I found the topic of the end of the world to be a very intriguing topic. This topic is full of mystery and I would find it very interesting to research different theories about the end of the world.

https://www.inverse.com/article/6104-universe-sandbox-uses-physics-to-simulate-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it

In this article from "Inverse", a physics simulator is used to show the impact that different theories of the world's end would have on planet earth. This article is interesting because it not only informs the reader about many different theories but also shows the reader a visual representation of the theories destruction.

3. Food
I choose food for my final topic of interest not only because I love food, but because vast research opportunities that the topic of food allows for. I can do research on the cultural aspects of food, the social impacts of food, or even the affects of food on the human body.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/09/17/440951329/about-a-third-of-u-s-kids-and-teens-ate-fast-food-today

This article from "NPR" examines the huge role that fast food plays in American society. The article explains how around a third of children and teens eat fast food each day. This percentage is largely due to constant advertisements, financial convenience, and the similar example that adults set for them. I found this article interesting cause it addressed a problem that America as an entire culture faces together.

Wittgenstein’s Attempt at Explanation

The reading of Wittgenstein’s excerpts from “Philosophical Investigations” was, for the most part, a challenging one. Many of the ideas that Wittgenstein brought in were difficult to grasp, but I do applaud Wittgenstein’s attempt at explaining his complex ideas in as easy of a way as possible.

The first technique that I found that made Wittgenstein’s concepts easier to read and process was his choice of format. Wittgenstein could have written his ideas down using an essay format full of never ending paragraphs making his already tough to understand ideas even more challenging However, by breaking up his ideas into numbered sections, Wittgenstein was able to separate his ideas so that the reader does not feel overwhelmed by the information.

Secondly, Wittgenstein wrote in almost a dialogue form; constantly asking himself questions that the reader may have had about his concepts. This constant back and forth not only allowed Wittgenstein to state his ideas but also allowed him to elaborate on the more complex topics in greater detail. Without this aspect of Wittgenstein’s writing many questions that the reader may have had would most likely go unanswered and only add to the reader’s confusion.

The final device that I found helpful in Wittgenstein’s writing was his use of comparison. For example, when he compared language to games. Wittgenstein explains how games cannot be defined by one feature because not all games share one feature in common. Instead, however, all games are linked through different similarities which Wittgenstein calls a “family resemblance”. Just like a game, language also cannot be defined by one feature but is linked by family resemblances. By using this comparison Wittgenstein takes his complex concept of defining language and explains it in more familiar terms that the readers can better understand.

Even with these three helpful aspects, the topic of Wittgenstein’s writing was still not easy to fully understand. Nevertheless, if it were not previously for these explanation techniques the reading would have been unbearable. 

In Clifford Geertz's article, "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight", Geertz explores how a chance incident allows him and his wife the opportunity to study and document the complex nature of Balinese cockfighting. In the beginning of the article, Geertz and his wife were complete outsiders in the Bali village. In the article Geertz's states, "people seemed to look right through us." This expresses how Geertz and his wife were neglected by almost all the people in the village which made it practically impossible for them to learn about the culture of the Balinese people. This outsider status was removed, however, after Geertz and his wife responded in the same way as the villagers did during a police raid at an illegal cockfight. I found it astonishing that just because of his impulse decision to run, Geertz's entire relationship with the Balinese people changed drastically. After this event, Geertz and his wife were no longer treated with the cold shoulder but were instead welcomed with open arms by who were now their fellow villagers. This one event not only allowed Geertz to become part of the community, but also more importantly allowed him to discover previous unknown aspects of Balinese culture.
With his new acceptance into the community Geertz began to discover the elaborate importance of cockfighting in Bali. Geertz explains in great detail in the article how cockfighting in Balinese culture is not centered around the money that is made or lost or the cock that dies or lives, but is instead centered around the hidden social impact of each match's outcome. This impact that the cockfights have on men's social status would not have been apparent to Geertz if he was still an outsider looking in. Geertz's understanding and documentation of the social impact of cockfighting in Bali was only possible because of the unexpected event that opened the doors to a deeper knowledge of Balinese culture.