Rousseau-HCJ

Rousseau, born in 1712, lived in the time of Transition. This was a time two years before the death  of the famous Sun King, Louis XIV. He later died ten years before the French Revolution.

He was part of the Circle of French Intellectuals, most notably of all was Voltaire who created the 'Encyclopedie' This was aimed to bring together all human knowledge and also to be a reference for all future generations.

In the 1750s occurred the progress of the arts and science which raised the question as to whether art and science had a beneficial effect on morality? Rousseau believed the answer to this question is no, we progress through testing and challenging what happened before so that therefore humanity is able to progress. This view is similar to Francis Bacon.

Rousseau's other famous books were involved with the Romantic Movement. There is a body of facts to which we must submit, science is submission. The opposite of this is the Notion of the Will. Creating values is what men do in the same way that man makes a work of art and therefore until we create these values they don't exist. The heart of this progress is invention out of nothing, the most central idea being that we create our own universe.

In Rousseau's book: 'Discourse on the Origin and Foundation of Inequality Among Men' humanity are labelled as naturally good but has been corrupted by society throughout time. He compares the effects of history on humanity to be like a statue which is damaged by the elements. The 'Noble Savage' was someone that Rousseau described as living outside of society and is close to nature, free from being distorted by society. Rousseau was extremely interested in tribes discovered during the age of the European Exploration, he believed them to be the peak of humanity since they haven't been corrupted by other influences.

The Social Contract: ''Man is born free, and is everywhere in chains.''  This is the most famous line from Rousseau's most famous book. This caused so much uproar that he was forced to flee and copies of his book were burnt.

Hobbes believed that we needed a supreme Leviathan to control and preserve society or else we will live short, brutish lives filled with war. However, Rousseau said that war and violence only come into being once we are in society. The state of war is really the state of society. ''War all against.''

Locke on the other hand, believed that we need a sovereign to protect society and our property. He was greatly concerned with property. However, Rousseau believed that property only complicated things and caused more problems to do with inequality: ''You are lost if you forget that the fruits of the Earth belong to all and the Earth to no one.''

Natural Man was virtuous according to Rousseau and he considered the Golden Age to be a reaction against the corruption of 18th century society. Society corrupts us and makes us obsess about possessions and social standing-how we are viewed by others. We are trapped in a competition of self-esteem. He doesn't believed however that we have natural rights, unlike Locke and more similar to Bentham. Law is expression of the General Will.

General Will allows us to ''find a form of association which depends and protects with all the common force, the person and gods of each associate, and by means of which each one while writing with all obeys only himself and remains as free as before.'' Because we all agree and contribute to the shaping of this General Will, when we obey its laws we do no more than obey ourselves. Anyone who refuses to obey the General Law: ''Will be forced to be free.'' Our freedom starts where the law begins. Kant called Rousseau the 'Newton of Morality'.

The French Revolution

Everyone believed this to be the fantastic start of a new age where people would be given the opportunity to come back to being their true natural beings. However, this revolution collapsed into terror. The government deliberately used violence and the king was even executed in 1793. Thousands of people were killed during this 'Reign of Terror'. Therefore, it wasn't a glorious revolution and went against Rousseau's beliefs.

HCJ-Hume and Addison

Sextus Epircius believed that all ideas were of equal value. For Sextus thinking was a waste of time and interpreted human life as avoiding as much pain as possible and enjoying pleasure. Most empiricists (the belief that knowledge is derived from the senses) believe this as it is a harsh, non-sentimental view.

Addison was the first journalist who was a feature writer and specialised in travel journalism whilst he worked for 'The Spectator'. He believed that normally people are only motivated by pleasure and actions/devices which cause you the most pleasure- the physical side of pleasure.

You cannot derive an 'ought' from an 'is' = HUME'S LAW (Hume's Fork) as stated in his book ''Treatise of Human Nature'' is the idea that we cannot say something "ought" to be. It either is or it isn't. This therefore reinforces Hume's belief that nothing is for certain.

Process of thinking is called induction, all science is based on induction philosophy synthetic knowledge. Statements are indicative since they only last to a certain point.

There are two types of logic:

•  Analytic/Deductive Logic  - logic which is true by definition.
•   Synthetic/Induction Logic- this is the opposite to analysis, it is true by observation and verification.

'odd' isn't equal to 'is' which therefore implies that probability is important to science and law since in science it is stated that the sun will probably rise everyday. Hume is sceptical when it comes to religion and believes more in inference- we don't know for definite that the sun will rise just because it has everyday before.

Codes of Conduct

The most crucial element to Codes of Conduct is ethics. Ethics is self preservation. If journalists break the Codes of Conduct they are consequently acting in an unethical manner. To be unethical is anything which short-changes a reader or a viewer. Anything such as spelling mistakes, bad language and a poor layout are all considered to be unethical.

There are four Codes of Conduct which are:

1. NUJ Code of Conduct
2. PCC Editor's Code of Practise
3. BBC Producer Guidelines ('standards and values')
4. OFCOM Broadcasting Code (sections 5,6,7,8)

The PCC could take action if you're an unethical journalist and act unethically by making up facts etc. This can then be taken as evidence against you in a libel case. There is the possibility that this could be mentioned in court if there is press complaints.

The BBC is similar to the PCC.

If you work for Rupert Murdoch's papers such as 'The Sun' and 'The Times' and you break the PCC Code you will be fired immediately with no compensation. This is because it is written in a Murdoch employee's contract that they must abide by the PCC Code even though you will be asked and expected to report in an unethical manner. They just don't wnat you to be caught.

The NUJ is the journalists own Code of Conduct. Murdoch banned his employees from joining the NUJ. A membership is priced around £25 a year and enables you to report with ethical guidelines. The majority of the BBC are members of the NUJ. It is illegal for any trade union to force you to join the NUJ.

As stated on the NUJ website (http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=174):

Members of the National Union of Journalists are expected to abide by the following professional principles:

A journalist:


1. At all times upholds and defends the principle of media freedom, the right of freedom of expression and the right of the public to be informed

2. Strives to ensure that information disseminated is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair

3. Does her/his utmost to correct harmful inaccuracies

4. Differentiates between fact and opinion

5. Obtains material by honest, straightforward and open means, with the exception of investigations that are both overwhelmingly in the public interest and which involve evidence that cannot be obtained by straightforward means

6. Does nothing to intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest

7. Protects the identity of sources who supply information in confidence and material gathered in the course of her/his work

8. Resists threats or any other inducements to influence, distort or suppress information and takes no unfair personal advantage of information gained in the course of her/his duties before the information is public knowledge

9. Produces no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation


10. Does not by way of statement, voice or appearance endorse by advertisement any commercial product or service save for the promotion of her/his own work or of the medium by which she/he is employed

11. A journalist shall normally seek the consent of an appropriate adult when interviewing or photographing a child for a story about her/his welfare.


12. Avoid plagiarism.

Valerie Nazareth-Law essentials that need to be learnt

In this weeks lecture we watched a video which was of Valerie Nazareth, the head of the BBC's legal advice department, who explained what is is that young journalists are required to know about media law when applying for a job at the BBC standard.

She explained that it is vital for all candidates to understand what the terms:Defamation, Privacy(Section 8 Human Rights Act) and Contempt of Court (when a case is active you need to ensure that you know whether you're being prejudice or not) means. A good example of this is the Chris Jefferies case. The Sun and the Daily Mirror were fined for committing contempt of court against Chris Jefferies during the Joanna Yates case in July earlier this year. An article in the Guardian explains this case further: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/29/sun-daily-mirror-guilty-contempt

Therefore, while a a trial is running you cannot publish or broadcast anything specific about the case that could risk influencing the jury's decision and therefore making it an unfair trial.

With Qualified Privilege, however, you are allowed to produce a TV clip based on the trial that is small and compact with facts. Once the verdict has been announced you are free to publish with comment etc.

Valerie also put emphasis on the importance of consent when collecting footage to be broadcast. For example:

• Explicit Consent- Must sign a release form.
• Implied Consent-It is made obvious that your are on television, E.g talk to the camera.

The way to avoid Copyright is to use your own work as far as possible and state where you got a quote or some information from if it is not your own work. Permission is compulsory.

This week's WINOL review

I really liked this week's Winol, there was very few mistakes and the news coverage was of a professional standard. For example, I was extremely impressed with the local paedophile story and how any potential legal problems were avoided.

Secondly, I also really liked this week's presenter. I thought he had a voice that was really easy to listen to and could easily have been mistaken for a professional newsreader. It seemed effortless to him and he was really relaxed.

The Guardian's Layout and Design

‘The Guardian’, originally known as the ‘Manchester Guardian’, was founded in 1821 by John Edward Taylor who was a member of a non-conformist group.  However, it wasn’t until 1872 when C.P Scott became edition of ‘the Guardian’ that he transformed the paper into being nationally recognised. This remains consistent to the present day. ‘The Guardian’ is traditionally Left-Wing which means that the paper is anti-conservative and supports Liberalism views.

‘The Guardian’ has a target audience of both men and women and the average ages of readers are between the ages 45-54 which shows that a more mature audience is drawn to the paper. Despite appealing to both sexes, statistics show that the male audience prefer to read ‘the Guardian’. Stereotypically people who have professions such as: businessmen, bankers, teachers etc. are attracted to ‘the Guardian’ and therefore are people of Upper and Middle class (ABC1C2). This is repeatedly shown through the paper’s choice of advertisements, language and content.

Newspapers are gradually becoming more renowned for being able to express a person’s social class and even aspects of their personality through the layout and style of a newspaper.  For example, ‘The Sun’ deliberately conveys itself as a cheap, affordable tabloid with a garish colour scheme and tacky puns because this is what meets the sun’s audience who are placed between ABC1 and C2DE social class. Since ‘the Guardian’ is targeted at people of a higher social class, the layout must reflect this also.

‘The Guardian’ is distinct from other newspapers available to the public because of its complex, organisational layout. Unlike tabloid newspapers, ‘the Guardian’ refrains from using garish, striking colours which are usually used to attract a reader’s attention. Instead, the paper uses a well thought out colour scheme of blue and green.  ‘The Guardian’ invested in three new printing facilities which were able to produce this colour scheme whereas usually newspapers are only able to print in block colours in certain sections. 

‘The Guardian’ also decided to change the style of the paper which meant converting the current broadsheet to a Berliner or ‘midi’ format. A Berliner format is roughly 18.5 × 12.4 inches and is slightly taller and marginally wider than the typical tabloid format; and is also narrower and shorter than the usual broadsheet.

Priced at £1.20, ‘the Guardian’ is one of the more expensive papers that are available to the public. Therefore, the readers want ‘the Guardian’ to convey the fact that the paper is more expensive through its new design. ‘The Guardian’ therefore, also uses the design of the paper as a way of justifying charging £1.20 because the paper looks upper class which immediately gives the impression that the content within the paper is going to be of an upper class standard. This new design not only satisfies current readers of ‘the Guardian’, but can also allure new readers into deciding to purchase this paper. A recent readership figure of 1,198,000 people per day indicates that the design has achieved this purpose to attract people globally.

 

Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act which was created in the year 2000 (great, now I have Busted's year 3000 in my head) to enable information which should be brought to the public's attention, to be found out. For example, it is a journalist's right to write to the police in order to ask them how many of their officer's have a criminal record. This all comes down to public interest once more.

However, you can't ask anything personal for example how much money a person earns, instead you need to ask, how many people earn over £100,000 a year? You also cannot use the Freedom of Information Act for spying purposes. E.g. Ask questions about war etc.

It is a criminal offence to refuse to give out information when asked. It is a necessary part of the Freedom of Information Act to publish a schedule or table on a company's Freedom of Information website page, stating how much money is spent in each department. Every citizen has the right to ask an FOI officer for information, they then must reply within 20 days with the requested information. The officer can say that finding out the requested information would cost too much money and therefore refuse to do the research. This is a legitimate excuse to refuse to hand over the information. Therefore, it is suggested that you should keep all questions simple, easily attainable and brief.

''I think therefore I am''

Western Philosophy in the 17th and 18th century was divided between British Empiricism and Continental Rationalism.

Locke was an Empiricist. An Empiricist was someone who believed that knowledge is only gained through the power of our senses therefore knowledge is gained through experience and not from innate knowledge.

Bacon was also an Empiricist who supported the Scientific Method which means that he avoids the ideas of the mind.

Rationalists, such as: Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza believed in pure reason, the mind alone, or at least the pre- eminence of the mind.

Both of these theories are ways of attempting to know the truth, neither of these theories are better than the other.

Metaphysics
Materialists believe that material only exists whereas idealism denies existence of matter and that everything is made up of ideas. It is a theory of physics about physics.

Rene Descartes
The first half of the 17th century was contemporary of Galileo which therefore means that it held views similar to Galileo and Bacon etc. in comparison to Aristotelianism and the traditional education available in Universities today.

''I had gained nothing but an increasing recognition of my ignorance.'' (A Socratic idea)

Descartes hoped that a life of action would give him insight but he was disappointed because he embarked on an ambitious plan to search for True Knowledge. He thought that by going back to a point at which no doubt was even possible and then rebuilding human knowledge by unmistakable steps using knowledge that had been tested and was unquestionable.

Descartes was a Christian and therefore uses God and the theory of necessity because your senses can sometimes be deceived which means that it is no more than a status than a dream or a hallucination. E.g 'The Evil Demon'. Descartes' thought of God therefore proves the existence of God since God is perfect which means that his senses are too.

''I exist; I find in my mind the idea of God, who must exist, God being God won't deceive me and hence my belief in an external world is true idea.''

George Berkeley believed that there are just ideas, you can't doubt that you exist or cease to think as to doubt you are thinking.

The Ontological Argument
This argument comes from Kant who believed that existence is a necessary condition for thought, not a result of thought. Does this highlight problems with Dualism? Dualism is the belief that the mind/soul is separate from the body. Descartes believed that they communicated at a specific part of the brain. Materialists rejected this idea because they see matter as fundamental.

Spinoza rejected the Dualism theory since he believed that everything is part of the same substance. Spinoza also didn't believe in Free Will either because humans are not a separate reality, humans are simply aspects of God.

Investigative Journalism

Investigative journalism is regarded as 'off diary' this means that its journalism which is not known to everyone. This is similar to Gonzo Journalism. An example of this is  Michael Moore who has created films which mostly highlight America's flaws such as there being no national health care. Therefore it is something that someone doesn't want you to report or publish. An Investigative Journalism story is usually unique unlike everyday news reports which is a report based on everyday events that many people will publish or broadcast.

The classic investigations are on serious (public interest) issues. An example of this is when Harry Evans, editor of the Sunday Times, revealed that a new drug that had been created to prevent morning sickness, actually caused babies to be born deformed.

When publishing Investigative Journalism stories you must be careful to avoid:

• Malice. For instance if you report a story that is personally linked to you it could be viewed as you reporting with malice.
• Conflict of Interest. When two interests overlap.

Miscarriage of Justice
Although the legal system may pronounce a person guilty or innocent this doesn't necessarily mean that this conviction is just. For example, the legal system can be corrupt which means that innocent people are punished and therefore imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.

The Criminal Cases Review Comission (CCRC) was created in order to prevent corruption from occurring, however, this system isn't always effective.

The INUK believes that society is damaged by wrongful convictions. As Brian told us, unfortunately there are cases such as that of Warren Slaney who has already carried out a 20 year imprisonment but remains in prison since he still believes that he is innocent. Slaney remains in prison because he shows now sign of rehabilitation since he hasn't 'come to terms with his crime'.

This week's WINOL review!

Just like last week's WINOL I was really impressed with the professional looking opening credits of the bulletin and the shots of Winchester which gives a clear indication that the news is local and comes from Winchester.
I was also impressed with the content of this week's WINOL, for example the range of interviews that were included to be were very professional and were worthy of being shown on television. I especially thought that the interview with the MP of Winchester, Steve Brine and the good shots that were captured of London. For instance I liked the idea of interviewing Steve Brine in front of the House of Parliament. A few of the shots were however, slightly shakey but i assume that's due to the handheld camera or even the cold weather.
Unfortunately I did find the interview with UKIP leader Nigel Farage to be difficult to listen to. I'm not sure whether it was due to a muffled microphone but I found it to be pretty unlcear at the start but then it became clear once more.
The report of the protests against Capitalism in Bournemouth shows the diversity of stories that WINOL is able to cover having got footage of the protest as well as interviews from the protesters.
I always think that WINOL excel when it comes to their sports report, it goes on for a little bit too long but then again is having lots of reports and footage or a range of sports a bad thing? The non league round up screen looked very professional to me and was a good way of rounding off that section.
The only criticism I did have was the sound during the WINOL woodwork challenge was really hard to understand, the music seemed to be too loud so it was impossible to hear what the footballers were saying.
On the whole I found this week's WINOL to be of an extremely high standard and still exceeds the expectations that most people would have of a student produced bulletin.

Copyright Laws

Any work that you do belongs to you, therefore no one else has the right to claim that this work is theirs unless they pay in order to have this privilege. For example,you can do this by either:

1. Selling your copyright which is called a 'Buy Out' which means that you no longer have ownership over your work anymore. 
2. Or License your work out so that people can use it but you still have to be credited and receive recognition because you still own the right to your work. For instance, when you download a song you are purchasing the license to listen to that song however, you don't have the right to to resell it or use it in any other way. For example, it would be forbidden to use this song on a website without a 'Buy Out'.

There are ways of avoiding breaking any copyright Laws. 'Fair Dealing' or 'Lifting' means that there is no copyright if you just use the facts of a story, therefore you can reuse them. There is also no copyright in ideas. However, an interview is copyright. For example, both quotes and pictures etc. come under the protection of copyright. For purposes of comment, criticism or review you are allowed to use someone's work (must be brief). You MUST include credit of where the work came from and ensure that all sources are acknowledged in your work, in order for it to be packaged within 'Fair Dealing'. This basically means that you need to state if you are reviewing/ criticising a film if you're using the film's footage.

This week's WINOL Review

First of all I'll start on a positive note.. I was impressed with the show's content. There was a wide range of stories and evidently a lot of effort had been put into getting interviews for various stories. However, not everything was worth praising. For example, I thought the presenter of the show was really hard to understand and often she mispronounced and stumbled over her words by often getting tongue tied. I was under the impression that she felt uncomfortable and awkward which therefore made me feel uncomfortable and awkward watching her.
All of the clips didn't seem to me as though they blended together smoothly and most often came to an abrupt end.
I also found it unprofessional that one reporter was reading her report off of a crumpled piece of paper. This gave me the impression that she was unprepared and didn't know much about her story.
I did however, think that things picked up when it came onto the sports section and clips ran more smoothly and in general wasn't as awkward.

The Clockwork Universe

• Astronomy is the study of the heavens. Its the belief that beyond the heavens, the moon, lies the celestial heavens which are close to God where things are perfect and unchanging. Compared to below the heavens where things are cursed and changing. Therefore far away from God. We should strive to be fixed and constant.
• People believed that all knowledge derived either from the Bible or Aristotle's work.
•  Ptolemy's system fitted with the view that the Earth is at the centre of the universe. The moon, sun, planets and a fixed orb of the stars revolved around the Earth in a perfect, unchanging circular motion.
• Aristotelians and scholastics viewed the world in terms of its perfections and purposes. Everything moved to express its qualities and purposes- base things like Earth and Flesh fell to Earth while things like fire that could purge, rose up towards the heavens. This idea inspired Gaileo's theory of the leaning tower.

Francis Bacon 1561-1626
He entered a university system that had essentially been unchanged for hundreds of years. This was a system that was created mainly to train clergy. Bacon was violently against this scholastic/ Aristotelian approach to barren and circular ideas going nowhere. He also condemned the European philosophical movement for the great mistake of mixing religion and natural philosophy or in other words, science. This resulted in confusion and obsession with word play but not action. Marx criticised Bacon for this and said that you shouldn't interpret the word but change it. The purpose of knowledge is to reduce suffering and improve the well-being of humanity.

The new organon is a direct attack against Aristotle. There were four themes:

1. Knowledge is human power- it is the ability to harness power, navigate and grow crops etc.
2. There must be clear separation between science and religion.
3. Method for the acquisition of new knowledge is the introduction from the particular to general theories that are then tested through experiment.
4. Science is dynamic (always correcting itself), cooperatie (must be shared) and cumlative (always adding to it).

Bacon's scientific method protected us from the ideas of the mind (bias ideas in the individual/ society which may hinder true perception.
Overall he was a martyr of science since he died whilst carrying out an experiment involving keeping meat cold.

Locke- on human understanding
Our understanding comes from our experience which is worked on by our powers of reason to produce 'real' knowledge. He was also against the idea of innate knowledge since he believed that our minds are a 'black slate' because he thought that God had given reason to discover knowledge and morality. Innate ideas weren't needed.
Therefore he was guided by private revelation because these should never be imposed by the church or the state.

Heliocentric model ( The sun is the centre of the universe)
In the 16th century the astronomer Copernicus attempts to reform the calendar so that therefore the sun is the centre of the universe.
An astronomer of astonishing dedication was Johannes Kepler who was drawn to Copernicus' unproven Heliocentric hypothesis. He spent decades on data and calculations to prove Heliocentric model and improve Copernicus' theory.

Galileo

• Believed that bodies will move unless a force acts upon them- contrary to Aristotle.
• Kepler influenced the Italian mathematician and Galileo perfected the telescope (Bacon) and therefore realised the true make up of the universe. This was considered a true revelation.
• The distinction between Primary and Secondary qualities prove Aristotle wrong:

Primary Qualities were all quantitative- dimension, shape, mass, the measurable. A world to be understood in mathematical law.

Secondary Qualities ( all Aristotelian) are not real in objects themselves but depended on human perception of them.


''For the first time the human mind was looking at God's works with comprehension.'' (Kelper)

Newton 1642-1727

'Principia' was published in 1687, it was a mathematical demonstration of the Copernican hypothesis proposed by Kelper. This meant that Newton could convince people that the world was ordered and knowable. Therefore this caused the Clockwork Universe.
After Newton, Aristotle's physics were discredited and the rest of Aristotle's system of thought was undermined.
Was it the beginning of the Enlightenment?

Law lecture on Confidentiality

The three major areas of concern involving confidentiality are:

• State Secrets which mainly affect certain types of investigative journalism and reporting communities which have links to the armed force that is also known as the Official Secrets Act.
• Commercial Secrets which involve solid news reporting, investigative reporting and specialist reporting covering topics such as Health. This is classified as a type of Common Law.
• Privacy involves mainly tabloid and celebrity journalism. In section 8 of the Human Rights Act it states that it is illegal to reveal someone's private life with the public unless consent is given. A good example of this is the Ryan Giggs case where he was accused of having an affair with his brother's wife. Since this allegation wasn't libel he decided to sue based on the fact that his privacy rights were violated.

Therefore the Official Secrets Act was introduced in order to stop spying on certain types of Public Information such as Military information.

People have the right to keep secrets as long as it doesn't go against the Public's best interest. Also a right to pass on these secrets to others with the expectation that they won't pass them on to others.

Confidentiality partly depends on the type of secret information at stake and also partly on the expectation of the person imparting the information that it will be kept secret.
A person is in breach of confidence if the pass on information which:

1) Has the necessary quality of confidence Eg. is important and is not already known, not just 'tittle-tattle'.

2) Was provided in 'circumstances imposing an obligation' Eg. when a reasonable person would think it would be kept secret, such as a Doctor or a Boss etc.

3) There was no permission to pass on the information.

4) Detriment- Likely to be caused to the person who gave in the information. They must show how they'll be hurt Eg. loss of sales and therefore money.

Ordinary Secret Information (both personal, private and commercial) must have:

• Quality of Confidence
• Circumstances
• no permission to reveal
• and cause actual detriment.

Princess Caroline's case was the creation of Defacto Privacy Law. This was started after the paparazzi interrupted a private meal in a restaurant. Princess Caroline had deliberately at at the back of the restaurant in order to prevent drawing attention to themselves, however, the paparazzi still managed to invade their privacy and get their shot. The princess then went to court to report this intrusion which caused the legislation to be passed that stated you can now only justify the publication of pictures of people only if they are engaged in a clear public duty, such as accepting an award. Therefore, there are new dangers for taking 'Wallpaper' type images of identifiable people without permission.

HCJ Seminar paper on Machiavelli, Hobbes and Locke

·         1)  Machiavelli was concerned mainly with Political Philosophy inspired by his scientific and empirical knowledge. This means that he used his knowledge which he derived from his experience of affairs. 

·         The public often criticised him for his frank acknowledgement of evil doing in the world. Machiavelli was very honest about political dishonesty and felt that it was important to tell others of this dishonesty.

·         Machiavelli was a Florentine which meant that while he was in his twenties Savonarola dominated Florence: ‘’all armed prophets have conquered and unarmed ones failed.’’  After Savonarola’s execution Machiavelli was given a post in the government in 1498 and worked on very important diplomatic missions until the Medici gained power and arrested him in 1512 for having always opposed them but was later acquitted where he lived in retirement in the country where he became an author.  During his retirement he wrote ‘The Prince’ which had the key theme ‘Man is the measure of all things’ this comments on history and contemporary events of how principalities were held and lost. The principalities were a sovereign state ruled by a Monarch.

·         Few rulers were legitimate during this time; even religious figures such as the pope were corrupt.  '' This lead Machiavelli to give advice to future rulers:

• Always support the weaker side in conflict as this then means that the more powerful side is destroyed.
• Centralised regimes are difficult to conquer but easy to hold.
• ''Armed prophets succeed, unarmed ones always fail.''
• Importance is that all of this is observed evidence empirical evidence.

·         Caesar Borgia who was the son of Alexander VI was a man of high praise but he had a few problems:

1)      The death of his brother meant that he became the sole beneficiary of his father’s dynastic ambition.

2)      To conquer by force of arms territories which after his father’s death should belong to him and not the Papal  States

3)      To manipulate the College of Cardinals so that the next Pope should be his friend.

·         Machiavelli was intimately acquainted with his evil deeds and stated that a new Prince should derive precepts (orders).

·         Another novel which Machiavelli wrote was ‘Discourses’ which was written in order to please the Medici.  In regard to the Sovereign State relating to the Church ‘The Prince’ is defended by religious customs who keep their Princes (leaders) in power despite their actions, good or bad: ‘They are upheld by higher causes which the human mind cannot attain to.’’

·         Within his novel he begins to list different types of men in a sort of hierarchy based on their morality. For instance the best he said were the founders of religion and the founders of monarchies or republics and then literary men.  Destroyers of religions, republics, kingdoms and enemies of virtue are considered bad. Machiavelli believed that religion should have the most prominent place in the State since he thought that religion was the ‘social cement’ of the state.  When I speak of virtue it is crucial to understand that Machiavelli means virtue here in the context that it means to have pride, principle and aggression. To be ruling and controlling.

·         The Perfect character for being a leader, according to Machiavelli is clever and unscrupulous (having moral principles) He states that a ruler will perish, however, if he is always kind, must be cunning as a fox and fierce as a lion.

·         Princes should keep faith when it pays to do so but not otherwise. Alexander VI always deceived men and therefore always succeeded in his deceptions. This indicates that although it isn’t necessary for a leader to have all mentioned qualities but it is important that the leader must ‘appear’ to have them all. Most importantly they should be religious.

·         He never based any political argument on Christian grounds. Northern writers such as Locke argue as to what happened in the Garden of Eden, they believe that there is proof that certain power is legitimate.

·         Three certain Political goods are national independence, security and well ordered constitution. To achieve a political end power is necessary: ‘Right will prevail.’ Power often depends upon opinion and therefore upon propaganda. The advantage in propaganda is that it seems more virtuous than your opponent and that is therefore to be more virtuous. Sometimes victory goes to the side with more of what the public considers to be virtue. For example power such as injunctions control propaganda which equals virtue.  Machiavelli took the men of the city to be corrupt and is guaranteed to be dishonest and have self-love.  It is proven by Machiavelli that Politicians will behave better when they depend upon a virtuous population than when they depend upon one which is indifferent to moral considerations.

·         Overall his political thinking is shallow however the evolutionary view of society is no longer applicable and must be replaced by a more mechanistic( theories that explain phenomena in physical or deterministic terms) view.

2) Hobbes’ Leviathan

·         Hobbes was an empiricist (the view that experience of the sense is the only source of knowledge) Like Locke and Hume and also an admirer of mathematical method and its applications inspired by Galileo.

·         Continental philosophy derived much of its conception of nature of human knowledge from maths and is known independently from experience.

·         His theory of the State deserves to be carefully considered because it is the most modern of any of the previous theories.

·         Hobbes brought up his uncle and acquired a good knowledge of Classical Civilisation such as ‘The Medea’ by Euripides which he translated into Latin iambics at the age of 14 and attended Oxford the next year where he was taught scholastic logic and a philosophy of Aristotle.

·         Hobbes believed that there must be an all powerful leader in charge of a State to keep order within the State. He constructed the idea of a 'Leviathan' who was a Biblical monster of unstoppable power. Hobbes used this idea of a Leviathan in order to expresses his idea that order can only be restored on the current state of constant war: ''Every man against every man'' is to have a powerful leader like Leviathan. Hobbes then expanded this idea by introducing a contract or covenant which states that all citizens must give up their power to him so that he can become all powerful. However, it was also stated that if the leader failed to protect his State then he must be replaced.

·         The opinions expressed in the Leviathan are Royalist. This means that he supported a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom.

·         In 1628 he drew up a ‘petition of Right’ by the Government which he published to show the evils of democracy.  The leviathan pleased no one due to rationalism that uses reason as the supreme authority in matters of opinion, belief or conduct.  It offended most of the refugees and its bitter attacks on the Catholic Church offended the French government and so Hobbes was forced to flee to London. Here he made an acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the power of a superior. Hobbes abstained from political activity for the time being.

·         Life he said was nothing but a motion of the limbs and automata (study of abstract machines) is artificial. The commonwealth which he calls the Leviathan is a creation of Art. The sovereignty (power, dominion and authority over an area) is also an artificial soul. The covenants by which leviathan is first created take the place of God’s fiat( to command something to be done without material) when he said ‘Let us make man’

·         The succession of our thoughts is not arbitrary which means to be based on random choice, but governed by laws. Hobbes was a Nominalist which is a philosophy which adopted the doctrine of Dominalism, a doctrine holding that abstract concepts have no independent existence but exist only as names.

·         ‘Incorporeal Substance’ he reckons is nonsense when it is objected that God is an incorporeal substance  since God is not an object of Philosophy and many philosophers have thought of God as corporeal.

·         Unlike Plato, Hobbes believes that reason is not innate but is developed by industry.

·         All men are naturally equal in a State of Nature, before the Government, every man desires to preserve his own liberty but to acquire dominion over others. Both are dictated by impulse of self- preservation. In a state of nature there is no property, justice or injustice, only war and force which are two cardinal virtues.

·         He believed that all men are naturally equal; therefore they all have a right to self-defence since we cannot trust our senses.  

·         Hobbes considered why men can’t just be like Bees and Ants since Bees live in the same hive and don’t compete since there’s no desire for honour and don’t use reason to criticise the government. The covenant must confer power on one man since the covenant made by citizens is to obey a ruling power which the majority choose.

·         Hobbes prefers a monarchy government; he can tolerate Parliament but not a system where power is shared between King and Parliament.

·         In the state of nature there is no property therefore it is created by the government which controls its creation as it pleases.  A sovereign may be despotic which is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power, much better than anarchy. A monarch will follow his private interest when it conflicts with the public and an assembly. A monarch can hear advice from anybody secretly whereas an assembly can only hear advice from its members publicly. Therefore if assembly is divided the civil war is inevitable.

·         Leviathan raises debate over the best form of the state and the other as to its powers, powers of the state should be absolute. Hobbes obsessed with the fear of anarchy since every community risks anarchy or despotism ( a gov where one person has absolute power)

·         Against Hobbes- always considers the national interest as a whole and assumes that all citizens’ interests are the same.

3)                        Locke

·         Locke was an apostle of the revolution of 1688. His work ‘The essay concerning Human understanding’ made him most famous in 1690.

·         Similar to Hobbes, Locke also went to Oxford where he learnt that he disliked both scholasticism (method of critical thought dominated by teaching academics) and the fanaticism (belief or behaviour which is wildly excessive) of the independents.

·         He was influenced by Descartes and spent his life dedicated to literacy. Should be treated as founder of philosophical liberalism and also the founder of empiricism in theory of knowledge. The first book of the ‘essay’ is focused on arguing against Plato and Descartes that there is no innate ideas or principles. Hobbes believes our ideas come from our experience such as sensation and perception of the operation of the mind.

·         The first treatise of Locke's attacks the concept of the ''Divine Right of the Kings'' with the idea that God had given Adam the right to rule: ''Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air...'' (Genesis) Locke unlike Hobbes believed that everyone enjoys the State of Nature such as natural freedom and equality but people must also obey Natural Laws and Moral Laws that everyone knows intuitively: ''Interwoven in the constitution of the human mind.'' Locke said that there must be laws in order to prevent mayhem in the State but none of these laws should be too personal, therefore he proposed a concept of government by consent. He insisted that taxes couldn't be levied without the people's (parliament) consent. Citizens could rebel if their government ceased to respect the law. This means that Locke suggested that the right of revolution was one of the natural rights of man. Locke dominated the Political Philosophy of the American Revolution. However, Locke agreed with Hobbes that if your political leaders don't obey the law then it is your right to replace them.

·         He was very fortunate that when he completed his work, it was at the time when his government shared the same political opinions as him in both practise and theory. He therefore made an impression on future politicians and philosophers and his political doctrines remained embedded in American Constitution and were also used in a dispute between the president and the congress.

·         He also had an immense following in France due to Volitaire since the French also believed in an intimate connection between his theory of knowledge and his politics.

·         ‘Revelation must be judged of by reason.’

·         ‘Right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ which he envisioned to be property.

·         The state of nature was very important to him; he believed that it consists of divine commandments which are not reinforced by a human legislator. Men prosper from the state of nature by the social contract which instituted civil government.

·         Locke promotes the idea of a state of equality but however says that captives in a just war are slaves by the law of nature since every man has a right to punish attacks on himself or his property. Even by death. Inconsistency as we are encouraged to be virtuous by natural law but then in some circumstances are permitted to kill.

·         Property is very important to him since it’s the reason why the institution of civil government exists.

·         Locke had the idea that the mind is like a ‘blank slate’ when you are born and we learn what is right and wrong etc. through our experiences and reason which is already in our brains. He was against innate knowledge unlike Plato.

What Makes a Good Journalist?

I believe that a journalist needs to be outspoken and not afraid to take a risk. For example, it is expected of a journalist to be confrontational in order to find out vital facts and information about the story that they’re working on. Therefore, a good journalist should be confident and able to approach people, not necessarily always in a comfortable environment.

Secondly, I believe a good journalist shouldn’t appear to be biased in their reports. For instance, all writing or broadcasts shouldn’t contain any personal opinions, especially in a court report. It is unfair to produce an article which only contains one side of an argument.

A good journalist should also be willing to work extremely hard and be able to cope with working in a pressured environment. Journalists are expected to work under immense pressure of deadlines and therefore must be organised and have a good work ethic.

More lecture notes on Defamation and Qualified Privilege

Just like every start to a Law lecture we discussed this morning's headlines, today's choice was an article featuring in the 'Sun' that quoted Adele for calling herself: ''common as muck'' We all agreed that since Adele is quoted to have said this, therefore the 'Sun' aren't at risk of being sued, even if technically the story they posted is LIBEL . This is because Adele is identified in the article and the story and her picture have both been  published in the newspaper and is therefore also an example of defamation since the fact that Adele is 'common' could cause her to be shunned and discredited in her profession as a singer. However, the article's headline states that Adele has called herself 'common as muck' so therefore she is technically committing defamation against herself. Therefore Malice is transferred since the 'Sun' has quoted Adele as defaming herself.

We then moved on to discuss the two different types of Privilege:

• Statuary Qualified Privilege
• Common Law Qualified Privilege

Qualified Privilege is when it is made up by judges and not a statue and is based on the idea of 'the Common Convenience and welfare of Society.'' which in simpler terms is Public Interest. This Privilege is shown through the story of Toogood vs Spyring in 1834. A man accused his butler of stealing silver so he fired him and wrote him a terrible reference stating that he is  a thief. The butler felt that it was his right to sue his previous employer since there was no justification or proof that the Butler stole the silver. However, the butler lost his case since the Judge believed that if this man is a thief that it is in the Public's best interest that people are warned that the Butler is a 'thief. ' This decision was apparently made for the greater good.

There was a similar story which involved Albert Reynolds vs the Sunday Times. The Sunday Times newspaper got itself into a spot of trouble when they said that the Irish Prime Minister lied to the Irish Government in order to cover up a child abuse scandal within the Catholic Church. The paper believed this to be true whereas Reynolds was outraged and challenged the allegations since he believed them to be untrue and without any witnesses, forensic evidence.
When it came to court the Judge disagreed with Reynolds and said that he believed that it wasn't only the paper's right to publish the allegations but also their duty to publish it since according to the Judge they seemed to be reasonable and very much in the Public Interest.

The only person who has Absolute Privilege is the Queen therefore a journalist must include both sides of a story and make sure it has a fair balance otherwise you lose the Privilege.

Some more Philosophy!

I'm going to start off by sharing some background information!

First of all Socrates was imprisoned for a crime which he did commit. Crito, Socrates' friend tried to persuade him to escape, just like any good friend would. However, Socrates was having none of it and was adamant that he should remain in prison since he committed the crime and therefore there is a contract or a covenant between himself as a citizen and the state. He believed that because he chose to stay in the city he must abide by the law of the city and if the law is broken he must remain in prison keeping to his covenant with the city. Socrates believed that by breaking the law he also was attempting to destroy the city which is a punishable offence.

Socrates' ideas then caused Philosophers such as Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau and Machiavelli to preach about their own ideas about the issue of the 'State'.

Hobbes
Hobbes believed that there must be an all powerful leader in charge of a State to keep order within the State. He constructed the idea of a 'Leviathan' who was a Biblical monster of unstoppable power. Hobbes used this idea of a Leviathan in order to expresses his idea that order can only be restored on the current state of constant war: ''Every man against every man'' is to have a powerful leader like Leviathan. Hobbes then expanded this idea by introducing a contract or covenant which states that all citizens must give up their power to him so that he can become all powerful. However, it was also stated that if the leader failed to protect his State then he must be replaced.

Locke's treatise of government
The first treatise of Locke's attacks the concept of the ''Divine Right of the Kings'' with the idea that God had given Adam the right to rule: ''Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air...'' (Genesis) Locke unlike Hobbes believed that everyone enjoys the State of Nature such as natural freedom and equality but people must also obey Natural Laws and Moral Laws that everyone knows intuitively: ''Interwoven in the constitution of the human mind.'' Locke said that there must be laws in order to prevent mayhem in the State but none of these laws should be too personal, therefore he proposed a concept of government by consent. He insisted that taxes couldn't be levied without the people's (parliament) consent. Citizens could rebel if their government ceased to respect the law. This means that Locke suggested that the right of revolution was one of the natural rights of man. Locke dominated the Political Philosophy of the American Revolution. However, Locke agreed with Hobbes that if your political leaders don't obey the law then it is your right to replace them.

Rousseau
Rousseau stated that there is a conflict between obedience to the state and your freedom. Our freedom is to be guided by our own free will and he demanded Civil Freedom. He believed that if everyone is involved in making the law then the citizens will only be following their own will; which consequently is the general will. By following the law you become free by following yourself since it is the people's right to be part of the Legislature.

Machiavelli
Machiavelli started the beginning of Political Science who wrote the book: ''The Prince'' written for Medici Rulers of Florence which included the key theme: ''Man is the measure of all things.'' This lead Machiavelli to give advice to future rulers:

• Always support the weaker side in conflict as this then means that the more powerful side is destroyed.
• Centralised regimes are difficult to conquer but easy to hold.
• ''Armed prophets succeed, unarmed ones always fail.''
• Importance is that all of this is observed evidence empirical evidence.

Today I learnt all about..Defamation!

Simply Defamation is a dispute between two parties with a bit of reputation thrown in. For example if you damage someone's reputation its like damaging their property since it reflects badly on them and you also damage something personal to them. People have the reputation that they are entitled to, not what you believe yourself to have. For instance your own reputation is derived from what other people think of you due to your behaviour etc. This is why it is so important to not act in a way that can be perceived as negative. Foe example we used Gary Glitter as an example to show that his misconduct of Paedophilia has 'defamed' him and torn his reputation to pieces. When using the word  'defamed' it means to have what people think of you (that is good) taken away from you.

Every regular joe like you and I have no valuable reputation to ruin, its is the celebrities that spend their time suing various newspapers and TV channels for thousands of pounds in order to restore their reputation since they tend to believe that what was either written or spoken about them to be untrue and therefore threatening to their reputation. Katie Price is a celebrity is infamous for suing various tabloids for 'untrue' stories. You just have to type Katie Price and suing into Google and you get a never ending list of cases where she has sued a magazine for their supposed lies and defaming. The most recent story involves Katie threatening Channel 4 with a lawsuit because they broadcasted a show which included comedian Frankie Boyle making a disgusting joke about her son. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/10/katie-price-frankie-boyle-joke)
More generally if you say something about a person which may tend to diminish their reputation then you have indeed defamed them.

Slander is defamation in a spoken form by writing it down it down it therefore becomes Libel
and Libel is a defamatory statement that is published in a permanent form which therefore identifies a particular person. No one can be Libel unless they are identified such as by in photos in a newspaper. This is done so that no confusion can be caused, E.g. no one else who has the same name as the killer can be confused with the killer. Therefore no legal action will be taken.

Publication + Defamation + Identification = Libel

Defamatory can display any four of these:

1) Exposes them to hatred, ridicule or contempt.
2) Causes them to be shunned or avoided.
3) Discredits them in their trade, business or profession.
4) Generally lowers them in the eyes of right- thinking members of Society.

Libel is the only type of Civil Case that is normally tried with a Jury, it is up to a jury to decide whether the words were actually spoken ( Slander) or published or broadcasted ( Libel) are defamatory or not.

There are Big three Defences:

• Justification that the defamatory statement is true and you can prove it (in front of a Jury) You can win any libel case if you have proof.
• Fair Comment You must make it clear that it is a fact and your honest own opinion. E.g. if you think someone is ugly.
• Privilege This means that you are exempt from the Law, can disobey it. E.g. A soldier shooting someone in war.

Qualified Privilege is exclusively for journalists who are exempt from Law of Libel within certain limitations. You must be Fast, Accurate and Fair. You therefore cannot make spelling mistakes or you lose the privilege and you must include the not guilty plea in your report.

HCJ Seminar 1

I wasn't sure what quite to expect from our first seminar but is apparent that listening to your lecturer and frantically making notes isn't going to quite cut it here. During our HCJ seminars we are required to speak up and discuss with each other our various thoughts of Bertrand Russell's 'History of Western Philosophy'.

The main focus of our discussion this week was to state which philosopher include in Russell's book that you found most interesting and the one which you found most bizarre. I chose Russell's chapter on Plato as the most interesting philosopher because having studied Plato as part of my Philosophy and Ethics A-Level we looked in depth at Plato's ideas. Therefore I have the best understanding of Plato and can also relate to his ideas. The main idea of Plato's thoughts was that we should not be content with what we see but rather strive to discover more such as his idea of a World of Perfect Forms. This I find is still relevant today in the way that the majority of society become too accustomed to the world we live in and don't seem to question why things are the way they are. Instead we reply on scientists to provide us with the answer.

On the other hand I explained that I found Thales' beliefs to be rather extreme and most definitely unrealistic. For instance Thales believed that everything in the world around us is mater of the Elements which consists of water, air, wind and fire. When I read this alone I thought the man was crazy to think that everything is made of fire and water etc. when a desk or a book is clearly not made of the elements. However, after discussing this in class I realised that Thales wasn't literally meaning that all objects are made of fire but rather all things that objects are made of such as paper are made of trees which are linked to the earth. All of the Forms of Matter are subject to continual change. This shows how the elements are constantly transformed into one another, however, without one element ever gaining dominance over the others because of a Natural Balance. This shows that in fact I was the stupid one not Thales to have doubted him.