r maybe weshould just give up entirely on optimism or pessimism—we have to do this work no matter how wefeel about it.
So in this case, the best way to create a utopia is to accept that utopias must start somewhere, it's not productive to debate endlessly
The otherlens presents a metaphorical vision of our current moment,
So science fiction/dystopias represent the future and present? Perhaps they're a clairvoyant glance at what we're leading to.
there are forces keeping the collective from seeing this
I think this is the major problem here, difficulties in transmission of message, antagonists to that message, or maybe some are indifferent to it.
fashionable, perhaps lazy, maybe even complacent,because one pleasure of reading them is cozying into the feeling that however bad our presentmoment is
I think some of the young adult fictions recently fall prey to this, like a dystopian setting for the sake of including a dystopia element literature-wise.
portray the feeling of the present for young people today, heightened byexaggeration to a kind of dream or nightmare
Kind of like fables and children's stories, which are often told by parents to teach their children a message via precautionary tale.
And, in order to be exercised, this power had to be given the instrument of permanent, exhaustive, omnipresent surveillance, capable of making all visible, as long as it could itself remain invisible.
The third point of panoptic appeal is that it fulfills the need for a universal policing, something that is always there, no downtime or lapses.
The panoptic arrangement provides the formula for this generalization. It programmes, at the level of an elementary and easily transferable mechanism, the basic functioning of a society penetrated through and through with disciplinary mechanisms
Keeps mentioning how universal panoptic arrangements are, but I really don't see how this design can apply to all aspects of society outside of imprisonment. How can education improve through this method? A smaller classroom in general works better for teaching.
In fact, any panoptic institution, even if it is as rigorously closed as a penitentiary, may without difficulty be subjected to such irregular and constant inspections: and not only by the appointed inspectors, but also by the public; any member of society will have the right to come and see with his own eyes how the schools, hospitals, factories, prisons function.
Who's to say this can't possibly change and become limited to a select few?
produces homogeneous effects of power.
Its effectiveness is universal, less training put into producing the typical wardens/guards
a power situation of which they are themselves the bearers
Inmates mentally submitting and shackling themselves of their own accord.
imposes on him an axial visibility; but the divisions of the ring, those separated cells, imply a lateral invisibility.
Isolated from others, yet equally experience the paranoia regarding observation.
Visibility
Rather than physical walls, a constant gaze emotionally suffocates the trapped person.
In short, it reverses the principle of the dungeon; or rather of its three functions — to enclose, to deprive of light and to hide
Psychologically, is this worse than a dungeon?
It is a segmented, immobile, frozen space.
One example I found similar to this punishment is the 9th circle in Dante's inferno, which is a frozen place devoid of life/interaction. This sort of punishment via isolation was regarded as one of the worst, so maybe the qualities of the Panopticon concept stems from a primal emotion seen for example in how this plague town operated
Justiceand injustice are none of the faculties neither of the body nor mind
Justice is not natural to man?
But because they uphold thereby the industry of their subjects,there does not follow from it that misery which accompanies the liberty ofparticular men
Even rulers/governments are in states of war, but the individual subjects are free of this.
For the savage people in many placesof America, except the government of small families the concord whereofdependeth on natural lust, have no government at all, and live at this day in thatbrutish manner as I said before
Can really see the British/royalist sentiment here.
Does he not there as much accuse mankind by his actions as I do by mywords? But neither of us accuse man’s nature in it. The desires and otherpassions of man are in themselves no sin
Taking caution is just simply expected, as one instinctively knows the nature of humans.
In such condition there is no place for industry, because thefruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigationnor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodiousbuilding, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require muchforce, no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time, no arts, noletters, no society, and, which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violentdeath, and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and shor
The state of war is not good for cultivation and progress of humanity
will to contend by battle issufficiently
Describing conflict overall rather than actual war/fighting
condition which is called war
Natural state of humans is to war with others?
the third, forreputation.
Isn't this just another form of gain?
no power able to overawe them all
Hobbes is saying there should be an overarching authority to tone down this competitive state of humanity, at least to safer levels
by standing only on their defence
Does he mean people have to be on the offence to keep them going, else they get taken over by others?
here be some that, taking pleasure incontemplating their own power in the acts of conquest, which they pursuefarther than their security requires,
Some wish to acquire more than what is required, maybe because what they desire is power over others.
From this equality of ability ariseth equality of hope in the attaining of our ends.And therefore, if any two men desire the same thing which nevertheless theycannot both enjoy, they become enemies; and, in the way to their end, which isprincipally their own conservation and sometimes their delectation only,endeavour to destroy or subdue one another.
So because all humans have this equal ability to want and take, fighting occurs when people want the same thing.
For such is the nature of men that, howsoever theymay acknowledge many others to be more witty or more eloquent or morelearned, yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves, forthey see their own wit at hand and other men’s at a distance. But this provethrather that men are in that point equal than unequal. For there is not ordinarily agreater sign of the equal distribution of anything than that every man iscontented with his share.2
I think Hobbes is telling us that the wisdom we know the best is our own compared to others, and this notion that what we personally experience is the truth is what's equal among people.
confederacy with others that are inthe same danger with himself
Hobbes also points out the human tendency to congregate, gathering strength in numbers.
My love is something valuable to me which I ought not to throw away withoutreflection.
Other comments are also mentioning how Freud is limiting love and making it out to be a resource that should be sparingly shared. I think love is something that can grow and expand.
in whichit does not renounce direct sexual satisfaction, and in its modified form as aim-inhibited affection
I feel that Freud's interpretation that the aim-inhibited affection stemming from genital/sexual love is deeply rooted in the idea that humans and their nature are based on physical matters/needs. Base desires/instincts may not be the beginning of being human.
A love that does notdiscriminate seems to me to forfeit a part of its own value, by doing an injustice to its object; andsecondly, not all men are worthy of love.
I disagree, I imagine a universal love to put whatever unquantifiable value equally to all objects. I think that love is always there waiting with open arms, but people that Freud refers to as "unworthy" are simply tuned out or facing away from this love.
The totemic culture is based on the restrictionswhich the sons had to impose on one another in order to keep this new state of affairs m being.
Law is defined as a way to keep this hypothetical primitive civilization running
But it may also spring from theremains of their original personality, which is still untamed by civilization and may thus become thebasis in them of hostility to civilization.
John Locke also refers to this, called it "state of nature," a time of man before civilization/law.
hisreplacement of the power of the individual by the power of a community
It seems in order to create a society/civilization, the individual must relinquish their own power.
will increase man's likeness to God still more
The saying that man was born in the image of God implies man was great to begin with. Somewhere down the line it seems man has fallen from this greatness, and the efforts to go back to this status might be a reason for the advances/creations of mankind.
the dwelling-house was a substitute for the mother's womb, the first lodging, for which in all likelihoodman still longs, and in which he was safe and felt at ease.
I was just thinking about how when a person comes into being, they are content and safe inside the womb. When babies are born, they always cry, because their new environment is one full of burden.
And yet, when we consider howunsuccessful we have been in precisely this field of prevention of suffering, a suspicion dawns on us thathere, too, a piece of unconquerable nature may lie behind -this time a piece of our own psychicalconstitution.
Freud introduces the first two sources of suffering as something physical and uncontrollable. I think here he is also saying human nature and behavior is also something that can't easily be controlled.
Members of each gender have a· certain affinitywith others in their group because of what they do or experience, and differentiate themselves from the other gender, even when members of each gender consider that they have much in common with members of the other,and consider that they belong to the same society.
Although this seems dated compared to the progress and push toward wider gender expression/identities, I think Young's explanation of groupings can still apply, as newer groups can constantly form.
Rape is a temble caricature of love from which consent is absent. After rape, oppression is the second horror of human existence. It is a temble caricature of obedience
This quote seems to connect the cruel qualities of humanity to their respective virtues. They are like distorted versions of them, lacking something that makes them inherently good.