Philosophical Literature:From Plato to Pangloss

Grab your RAW Book for Writing Workout 1:Respond to one or all of the quotations below…

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” ~ Henry Ford

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” ~ Thomas Edison

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's what matters to me.” ~ Steve Jobs

What do you think about? What opportunities will you pursue, even if it means hard work? What wonderful things are you going to do before you end up in the cemetery?

Plato’s ALLEGORY

Allegory: The rhetorical strategy of extending a metaphor through an entire narrative so that objects, persons, and actions in the text are equated with meanings that lie outside the text

As we read “The Allegory of the Cave” out loud, attempt to DRAW what you hear with your partner/group. The rules:1) You may not TALK about what you’re drawing.2) You must be drawing something the entire time.

Claymation Version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTWwY8Ok5I0&feature=related

Connections to The Matrix:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRNMZEDOBrM&feature=related

Panels illustrated by James Kurtz III: http://www.jameskurtz.com/allegory-of-the-cave/

symbols within the allegory

Cave: ignorance

Prisoners: US!

Chains: the man, our own perceptions, deceptions/what others expect of you

Shadows: what we believe to be true (the man, society, corporations, the system, ourselves)

Sun: enlightenment, knowledge, truth

Questions to ponder as we move forward…

What do each of the objects/characters in “The Allegory of the Cave” represent?

Can we apply this idea of being inside of a cave to Whale Rider? Who was inside of a cave? What was holding that character back? Are there any significant objects in Whale Rider that might have meaning?

As we read Candide, who is telling the truth? Or at least, what is their reality/what is their illusion? How is Candide an allegorical tale?

Writing WorkoutIt was a terrible, horrible,

no good, very bad day.

Reminders:Write ¾ a page or more.You may write about your own experiences, fiction, or “bad days” in general.Develop your VOICE through diction, imagery, details, etc.

Tone: If you don’t get the tone, you just don’t get it!

Consider the differences in tone:

Sincere: That was a brilliant idea.Sarcastic: That was a brilliant idea.Contemptuous: That was a brilliant idea.Effusive: That was a brilliant idea.Presumptuous: That was a brilliant idea.Curt: That was a brilliant idea.Understated: That was a brilliant idea.

A little heads up about Candide:• It’s satire.• That means it’s FUNNY.• Satire = intellectual comedy.• Through humor, we get closer to the truth.• Voltaire never really states plainly what his truth is, but

we are led to it by process of elimination (everything else is ridiculous).

• If you don’t get the TONE, you won’t “get” the joke, and you wont’ “get” the novel.

• In Candide, several bad things happen! The big question: WHY do bad things happen in this world? The novel uses humor to convey philosophical ideas.

Why do authors utilize HUMOR?• “Against the assault of laughter, nothing can

stand.” ~ Mark Twain• “A joke is a very serious thing.” ~ Winston

Churchill• “Common sense and a sense of humor are the

same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.” ~ William James

What is SATIRE?

• “Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.” ~ Jonathan Swift

• “Satire is tragedy plus time. You give it enough time, the public, the reviewers will allow you to satirize it. Which is rather ridiculous, when you think about it.” ~ Lenny Bruce

• “I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it.“ ~ Voltaire

A quick look at TECHNIQUES OF HUMOR:

• Satire = the use of wit, irony, or sarcasm to explore human vices and follies with the intent of holding them up for scrutiny and social criticism

or the short version: making fun of idiotic things in order to inspire change

What do satirists attack?

• 7 Deadly Sins: • Pride• Greed• Violence• Laziness• Lust• Jealousy• Gluttony

• Other Vices:• Stupidity • Poor decision making• Prejudice • Self-centeredness• Selfishness• Corruption • Wastefulness • Hypocrisy• Dishonesty

Types of SATIRE:

• Horatian (named after Horace) = gentle, sympathetic, light-hearted, smiling we laugh at ourselves as much as the characters or situation described (Gulliver’s Travels, A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Simpsons)

• Juvenalian (named after Juvenal) = biting, bitter, angry (A Clockwork Orange, Borat, A Modest Proposal)

A couple of clips for your viewing pleasure:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZGIn9bpALo

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bznJf6_u4w

SATIRE is often achieved through:

• Exaggeration: enlarging, increasing, or representing something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen (hyperbole, caricature, burlesque)

• Incongruity: presenting things that are out of place or absurd in relation to the surroundings (understatement, logical fallacies)

• Reversal: presenting the opposite of the normal order (irony)

• Parody: imitating the techniques or style of a well-known piece

Caricature: exaggerating features

Caricature in writing:

• Mr. Chadband is a large yellow man, with a fat smile, and a general appearance of having a good deal of train oil in his system. Mrs. Chadband is a stern, severe-looking, silent woman. Mr. Chadband moves softly and cumbrously, not unlike a bear who has been taught to walk upright. He is very much embarrassed about the arms, as if they were inconvenient to him, and he wanted to grovel; is very much in a perspiration about the head; and never speaks without first putting up his great hand, as delivering a token to his hearers that he is going to edify them.

Burlesque: a broad and grotesque distortion of a literary form

Don Quixote was a mock-heroic burlesque of medieval romance

Understatement: a contrast between what is being said and reality; understatement is funny because of what is NOT being

said

We’ve had a bit of rain today.

It’s just a flesh wound.

Everything in this room is eatable. Even I'm eatable. But that is called cannibalism, my dear children, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies.

Reversal: presenting the opposite of expected, “normal” order (chronology, heirarchies, role reversal, etc.)

What a country!

Parody: an imitation of a well-known work , person, event (it offers the comfort of recognition and the delight of subversion)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebexx89yohE&feature=related

• http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/new-claritin/1423666/

• http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/mokiki/1423635/

Understanding the backdrop of Candide

Philosophical Differences

Leibniz: Optimism (the philosophy, not the

mood): the best of all possible worlds -- how would an all-powerful God create anything different?

Principle of contradiction: if a proposition is true, then it’s negation is false

Principle of sufficient reason: There must be a sufficient reason [often known only to God] for anything to exist, for any event to occur, for any truth to obtain.

Voltaire:Skepticism: as a final and

complete philosophical stanceParty of humanity: waging war

against fanaticism and superstition

Deist: there was a creator, but no intervention from God now (God as clockmaker)

Lisbon Earthquake• Nov. 1, 1755• Seismologists say the earthquake would have been an 8.5-9.0 on current scales• Fires and tsunamis followed the quake• Death tolls are unclear: 10,000-100,000 in Lisbon alone certainly one of the most deadly earthquakes in history

But it all starts off in a lovely little place, at the beginning of what will

turn out to be a VERY. BAD. DAY.

bildungsroman = a coming-of-age story that focuses on the psychological or moral

development of a youth entering adulthood