The Prison Notebook + Truth and Power Journal 4/13/17


The Prison Notebook by Antonio Gramsci speaks about philosophy. He states that philosophy is contained in three things: culture, common sense, and popular religion. At the beginning of the reading he says that you cannot have consciousness of yourself/know yourself if you don’t understand your history and that is something I agree with. History is such a crucial part of your life and when people ask you to talk about yourself, you don’t usually start with the present. You usually say things like your ethnic background, your age, or where your hometown is. One message My interpretation and takeaway from Gramsci is that we are all intellectuals, capable of philosophy. Usually philosophy is thought of as something for the elite but he argues that as long as you are able to rationalize something or offer criticism, then you have your own philosophy. My takeaway on the article Truth and Power is a question. Who has the power to decide what is true? It is a question that really makes you analyze todays societal construct. Who gets to decide what being American really stands for or what being “American” really means?

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