What is revealed about the party's philosophy by the conversation between Winston and Syme in George Orwell's 1984?

It is in
this chapter, through the articulate and intelligent Syme, that we first begin to understand the
extent of the Party's ambitions (these ambitions are, of course, completely explained byin his
interrogation oflater in the book). A key theme of is the power of
language. This is demonstrated through the use of the pithy and apparently oxymoronic Party
slogan "War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength." In his lunchtime
conversation with Winston, Syme, who is responsible for editing the dictionary of Newspeak,
outlines exactly how language can be used to subjugate people. Syme's job is, as he puts it,
"the destruction of words." He and his colleagues are paring down the English
language, simplifying it by getting rid of what they deem unnecessary adjectives, antonyms of
certain words, and other superfluities. But the Party's aims go beyond simplifying the language,
and they are not doing it for the sake of efficiency. For them, it is another exercise in mind
control. Syme explains:

Don't you see that the whole aim
of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally
impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever
be needed, will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its
subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. 

If the
Party controls language, then they control the range of ideas that can be expressed. And in this
way they can eliminate the ability to articulate opposition to the Party. Syme tells Winston
that "orthodoxy means thoughtlessness." The Party not only demands unthinking,
unquestioning loyalty, it seeks to eliminate the possibility of any other emotion. 

But Syme's conversation with Winston reveals another element to the Party's philosophy.
Winston recognizes that Syme is far too intelligent for his own good. He will be, Winston thinks
to himself, eventually "vaporized." The stupid, obsequious Parsons, who eventually
joins their conversation, on the other hand, will never be vaporized, he thinks. 

So it is in this chapter that we really learn the extent of the Party's control of the
people. Syme demonstrates how the Party uses language itself to control what people can
think.