Lecture

3 – Platonism, Modernism and Post-Modernism

Knowing how your culture’s past influences your present

• Beliefs can impact you from the distant past

• Beliefs can impact you from the recent past

Platonism

Plato (428/427 BC - 348/347)

Lived in Ancient Greece in the 5th and 4th centuries BC – when Athens was the most
important cultural city in the world.

Produces dialogues in which the central character was a guy called Socrates.

The importance of Plato for our thinking lies in the way he saw the world.

The world we see around us is an imperfect copy of a perfect spiritual world

• Given that every circle we have ever seen is imperfect, where do we get the
idea of a perfect circle?

• When we say something is beautiful, where do we get the standard from

• The physical world of change and decay is not the ultimate thing
The implications for this are that in a lot of Western thinking – both Christian and
non-Christian

The implications for art

The implications for the afterlife

Modernism

• 17th century AD onwards

• Before modernism – you believed what an external authority told you (like
the church)

• Modernism says – think rationally for yourselves

Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is

the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This
immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in
lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude!
[dare to know] "Have courage to use your own understanding!"--that is the motto of
enlightenment.

Immanuel Kant

Implications of modernism

• Modernism loves science – it can explain everything.

o The scientist as the priest of modern society.

 o There is a scientific way to read text – there is one right meaning.

• Modernism loves technology – the new is always better

• Modernism is monocultural – everybody will eventually go from primitive to

modern

Postmodernism

1960’s onwards

• modernism was all about truth

• The postmodernists question what truth is

o A convenient collection of facts designed to keep you in power

See tobacco companies and oil companies

The idea that Western culture is a story of progress is a white

man’s truth.

• All claims to absolute truth are necessarily oppressive.

Implications of postmodernism

1. multiculturalism – all cultures are equally valuable

2. Tolerance of alternative beliefs

3. There is no one way to read a text

Which of these ideas have you inherited? Have you ever questioned them?
Doing an Essay properly

1. Analyse the question and make sure you understand what it is asking

• Essays are about answering the question

• Make sure you understand every word in the essay question.

• Are there any key terms in the essay which need to be defined?

• Underline the instructional words in the essay (compare, discuss, critically

evaluate, explain). What is the essay asking you to do?

• Check with your lecturer/tutor about the marking criteria – what do they
want you to do?

• Talk with your lecturer/tutor about your understanding of the question

2. Once you have figured out the question, start researching your topic

• You should focus your research on recent works. Only favour older works if
they are acknowledged classics.

• Use suggested readings by the lecturer, but don’t rely on them solely.

• Do not cite material that you have read, but not used in your essay

• Avoid non-academic material as much as you possibly can (i.e. magazines,

newspapers, websites). If in doubt, ask your lecturer.

• Does the library keep any databases that are relevant to your discipline?

3. Planning your Essay

• As you do your reading, you should start to formulate a plan for your essay.

• As you read, create a list of common categories of information that initially

look relevant to your question.

• Is global warming true?

• Books make different points which are relevant:

o Rainfall
 o Temperature

o Geological

o Polar ice-caps

• Once you have some information categorised and into major

points, go back to your essay question to see if your material is
useful to answering your question (don’t seek to include
material that isn’t useful).

• Now, try and write a topic sentence for each major point (i.e.
“Another piece of evidence for global warming is the massive
changes that have been experienced in rainfall patterns in the
last ten years”).

• Then once you have your major points written out, try and
work out the best sequence for them to make the most
persuasive argument:

o Chronological sequence
o Least important to most important
o Most important to least important
o From simple points to complex points
o Logical sequence (the first point needs to be proved
before the second can be true)

• Take a fresh sheet of paper and write down these points in

your chosen sequence. This is your essay plan.

If you take the time to organise your thoughts, you

will end up with a much better result.

Writing the Introduction

In the introduction, you should map out for me where the argument is going to go, a
glimpse of what is to come. Most introductions include some of the following info:

1. Some background to the topic

2. Some brief definitions of key concepts
3. An outline of the body of your essay.
4. A summary of the main argument about the issue raised in the question
5. Any limitations to the essay which narrow its scope.

No set rules – the core thing – introduce your argument.

Writing the Body

You should already have your sequence of main points. Now you need to marshal
evidence which supports each of your main points. So, let’s just say you are writing
about global warming:

1. The last 20 years has witnessed a substantial change in rainfall patterns.

2. The size of glaciers has drastically reduced.
3. Global average recorded temperatures have risen for the last 10 years straight.
4. etc, etc.

For each of these points, you will then need to supply supporting evidence.

The last 20 years has witnessed a substantial change in rainfall patterns. In Peru in
1960, the mountainous regions received, on average, 1600mm of rain a year, up until
1980. In the last 30 years of recorded rainfall, that has now reduced to 800mm.
Similar fluctuations have also been recorded in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and the rest
of Latin America.....

You need to link ideas together in your essay, particularly at points where you
transition to a new point.

A second point relevant to our discussion

On the other hand (used when you want to contrast)

Writing the Conclusion

Signal your conclusion with a concluding-type transitional phrase:

o i.e. In conclusion,

o This brings us now to make the following conclusion...

o As a consequence of the previous argument

Conclusions should briefly summarise the argument made, and restate the main
answer to the question. Conclusions should also be appropriately humble
Presenting your Essay

Pay careful attention to presenting your essay well.

If you haven’t proof-read your work, it shows. Correct spelling mistakes, do your
paragraphs properly (be consistent – indented or not), and have the correct spacing.
Find out what your lecturer wants and do it.

Explain double-spacing.

Final tips and tricks

In an essay, you must make a call, but it is good to be humble.

In an essay, your arguments need to be valid. Here are some bad arguments that
people often use:

Describing and defeating an argument which no one actually holds.

(Straw man)

o Any belief worth having must not be based on blind faith

o Christians are blind in their faith.
o Therefore, Christians do not have a belief worth having.

Attacking an argument because of the person who holds it (ad

hominem)

o Lady Gaga believes in global warming.

o Lady Gaga is an idiot
o Therefore, global warming is wrong

Appeal to Force

o Christianity has 2 billion adherents around the world

o 2 billion people cannot be wrong
o Therefore Christianity is true.
Appeal to illegitimate authority

o Richard Dawkins is a brilliant scientist.

o Richard Dawkins also thinks that God does not exist.
o Therefore, God does not exist

One final note: Consider Objections to your argument

Your essay will be infinitely improved if you can show that you know alternative
arguments to your position, and can give some indication of a response. Only
reading things that support your position shows a small mind.