A Philosophical Examination of the Strategic and Distorted Nature of Social Media through the Frameworks of Plato, Habermas, and Kierkegaard
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Authors
Bennett, Katherine E.
Issue Date
2019
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
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Abstract
This essay focuses on the dangerous nature of social media through an analysis of
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” Habermas, and Kierkegaard. Plato’s allegory represents the
imagistic nature of social media. This is an incomplete representation of the nature of reality
for the individual. The only way to complete this form of reality is to introduce conversation
and dialogues that help the individual to understand the nature of the shadows. These
dialogues can be either mutually-oriented and between two interlocutors or strategically
oriented or result in a systematic distortion of communication. Habermas theorized that
communicative action and an open dialogue was of the utmost important when engaging in a
dialogue. If communicative action was not achieved, then language would be used either
strategically (an attempt to get something from the hearer) or systematic distortion of
communication (the internalization of speech utterances being made that affects the identity
of the hearer).
Habermas did not recognize that language could be used as a form of social power.
Therefore, this essay also turns to Bordieu, in order to clarify that language can be used as a
social or symbolic power that results in oppression. Furthermore, Bourdieu believed
language to be solely reliant upon the pragmatic context (fluctuation of tone, facial
expressions, ect…); whereas, Habermas relied on the semantic rules of speech utterances
being made (what is a promise or assertion, what makes an utterance valid …). Recanati
synthesized both theories of Bourdieu and Habermas, claiming that both the pragmatic
context and the semantic aspects of a speech utterance are necessary for understanding the
speech utterance. Finally, after establishing an understanding of the innately dangerous
nature of captions attached to misleading photos, social media is analyzed in terms of Kierkegaard’s Present Age leveling. This analysis shows that social media allows the user to
remove the significance of a post being made the second they passively like the photo and
continue scrolling. Ultimately, the goal of this essay is to both alert and provide the reader
with the ability to recognize the innately strategic and misleading nature of social media.
Description
146 p.
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