The second chapter of Amusing
Ourselves to Death, opens with explaining epistemology and how it relates
to media. Epistemology is the observation of the differences between opinion
and justified beliefs. Neil Postman goes further into explaining that every
medium has resonance, because it can create conclusions expectedly and
unexpectedly. To reinforce the idea of knowledge, he explained three
situations; a tribe in Western Africa where oral tradition is heavy has no
written rules, so the chief must listen to individual grievances and remember a
proverb that is suitable to all parties; the candidate of a doctoral oral
presented his paper with a footnote documenting a quotation who had his actions
questioned by the examiners, but his print sources would most likely never be
questioned of their accuracy; lastly, Socrates who apologized in advanced for
his lack of preparation for a speech, and begged not to be interrupted or
disregarding on account for it. Truth is represented differently from culture
to culture. Furthermore, the truth must be expressed in the right manner for
the subject. Our culture of truth revolves primarily around the printed word.
Therefore, we must hold a certain “print-intelligence” to understand the basic
concepts that will be presented further into the book. The eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries were print-heavy, as compared to our modern day media
which replaced this (but not entirely). Postman wishes not to argue that the
change in media brought forth the change in cognitive processes or mind structure,
the epistemology discussed in this book has not yet included everyone and
everything (and may never), and that television-based epistemology affects
public communications and its surroundings, not everything.
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