Philographer's Screed

screed. /skrēd/

noun

1.

a long speech or piece of writing, typically one regarded as tedious.

"her criticism appeared in the form of screeds in a local film magazine."
2.

a leveled layer of material (e.g., cement) applied to a floor or other surface.

verb

level (a floor or layer of concrete) with a straight edge using a back-and-forth motion while moving across the surface.

My Words

What is the epistemology of my written words? How do I form them as a screed for my thinking? Long thoughts turned into long-winded screeds in my mind's eye, and yet I must ask if I am lying to my soul. Is the premise in which I touch pen to paper true, or is it another distraction of the ego in a world of unguided and undisciplined egos? Returning to the time of exposition, I am inspired by those who looked forward to the truth to take them where it ultimately leads.

Reflections

Gratefulness is the ability to admire and respect the works of those who impact your thoughts, words, and deeds. It is in this admiration that I have learned to identify thinkers who have impacted my life and writing. It is in this discovery in which I have been able to synthesize their words and find reflections that reverberate in my own creative process. Four specific works have created a backstop for my logic and creativity. In these four works of brilliance a framework for analysis and assessment anchors my thoughts. It is through this lens that I learn to enjoy the creative works of others, and thier works allow me to appreciate the journey in which my written words take me.

Plato's Lie In The Soul

The Greek philosopher Plato (l. c. 428-348 BCE), in Book II of his Republic, addresses the problem of how one knows that one's beliefs are true. His line of thought raises questions such as, 'How do you know whether your most deeply-held beliefs are valid or simply the result of your upbringing, culture, environment, and religion?' Plato attempts to answer such questions by noting a major stumbling block - the lie in the soul, a falsehood one accepts as truth at a fundamental level, which then distorts one's interpretation of reality, of other people's behaviors and motivations, and of one's own vision of self and truth.

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/210/platos-lie-in-the-soul/

Stuart Hall's Encoding Decoding Model of Communication: In-Depth Explanation

Stuart Hall’s Encoding / Decoding Model of Communication is a theory of Communication that suggests how audiences derive meaning from media texts (artifacts). These meanings can be dominant, negotiated or oppositional. Contrary to other theoretical models, the audience is active, not passive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encoding/decoding_model_of_communication#:~:text=The%20Encoding%2FDecoding%20model%20of,produced%2C%20disseminated%2C%20and%20interpreted.

W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

"After the Egyptian and the Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,— a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder."

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/double-consciousness/

The Soul of Democracy
The Philosophy of the World War in Relation to Human Liberty

The Soul of Democracy by Edward Howard Griggs is an inspired study of World War One's effect upon our social philosophy and democracy.

“Man for the State means autocracy and imperialism;
MAN FOR MANKIND is the soul of democracy.”

Excerpt From
The Soul of Democracy
Edward Howard Griggs
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-soul-of-democracy/id505927161