What Journalism Is All About
It is my belief that very few people actually wish to do harm to others. This is because from early childhood, it is easy to see that through and an exchange of services favors, a person is better off than being alone. However, this can sometimes be not true. Such as the case of one group of people who dislike another group. Generally, group hostilities have taken on the form of prejudices concerning civil attributes (skin color, nationality, sex, etc.). It is my belief that such prejudices disrupt group harmony and the exchange of services and favors- reciprocity.
To summarize the logic of Socrates in short: People do bad things because they don’t know what they are talking about. I may not know either, but people need to understand that they are ignorant so that we can all figure things out.
Socrates had a method of questioning a belief to examine its validity in all situations and times. “Such as, a horse is a two legged animal with a tale that eats hay.” If a person could demonstrate that some horses do not eat hay, then the belief of what is a horse is proven to be incorrect. The method was often much more rigorous than this, but the point is easily understood. Also, the Socratic Method is often too linear in its process to deal with complex issues such as reciprocity.
Socrates was indeed on to something. At the heart of journalism is the question, how do you know that something is true?
The famous grand-student of Socrates, Aristotle, helped journalism in an important way. He creating a method of questioning that could be applied to complex issues which he called the Four Causes. The causes can be found in any order, but Aristotle chose to answer them in what I call a “from the ground up” fashion. I believe that Aristotle’s method is much better suited to the issue of reciprocity.
The first is the Material Cause which asked what is something materially made of. For example: bigotry is made up of thought processes and beliefs that are intolerant of something and are often irrational. One could also say that it is made up of electric pulses that travel throughout the brain, but we assume that people already know this.
The second is the Formal Cause which asked what shape it takes. In this instance, bigotry takes on the shape of words and actions toward a person or person that are intolerant and disruptive to reciprocity.
The third is the Efficient Cause which asks what makes it so. This is often what we mean by the word “cause” in present day. In this instance, it is because people are reared to have incorrect beliefs about other people. Such as, African-American men love to rape white women.
Last is the Final Cause which asks, what is it for? In the case of bigotry, it is used as a way to express perceptions and beliefs that white are not true, are held onto. It is also used as a tool to oppress a person or certain persons.
It is fair to respond to Aristotle’s Four Causes with “but that’s just too ambiguous” or “one would have to repeat the process over and over” which would be correct. However, this is the point of being a journalist. To repeatedly questions and examine something is the exactly why I study. People continually hurt one another. They routinely make poor decisions and hold incorrect beliefs. It is my job to inform them. If I am to do this, then I must first understand that I am ignorant and must earnestly seek out the truth. Once I have found it, I will continually share it with the world.
