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ENGL 177: Literature and Philosophy (Themes (The Individual vs. Society…

- - - - John Locke
        
        An Essay Concerning Human Understanding: Locke states in this work that the mind is an empty cabinet that gets furnished, acquiring notions from either sensation (external world) or reflexion (internal operation of the mind). He also argued about the insufficiency of the soul alone in the way we are to be perceived–he exemplifies that by saying that a pig with the soul of a man, is still a pig.
        
        John Locke (1632–1704) was a British philosopher and medical researcher. It is considered one of the most influencial Empiricists .
        
        Key concepts: Tabula-rasa; Consciousness; Personal Identity; Memory, "Person" (as a forensic term) vs. man/human.
  - - - Descartes
        
        Key concepts: Cogito; Formal/Actual Reality vs. Objective Reality; God is infinite ; mind-body dualism.
        
        Meditations on First Philosophy: possess a personal/confessional tone; a discourse with himself–however, it is clear that Descartes believes that the discourse can bear a universal quality. He uses the metaphor of a house to explain his method, making clear the importance of a foundation as a first principle, as well as a hierarchical organization
        
        René Descartes (1596–1650) was a French philosopher and mathematician, Descartes is considered the father of modern philosophy. A contemporary of Galileo and Copernicus, he was highly influential to the Scientific Revolution due to his method of systematized reasoning. A rationalist, he also argued for the existence of God–as well as for the mind-body dualism (the belief in two distinct realities, the physical/material and spiritual/immaterial).
      - Kant
        
        In Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant opposes to the consequentialist ethics by proposing a method of "a priori truths"–which we could access through reason. He also stated that our reason is either governed by the hypothetical imperative (conditional upon some end) or a categorical imperative (the end in itself, or doing good by itself. The latter would require one to universile the maxim of its will (as is it were a universal law). There would be, according to him, ony one virtue wanted by humans: happiness–but in order to want the end, I have to want the means.
        
        Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) was a German philosopher, perhaps the most influential name in modern philosophy, known for his doctrine of transcendental idealism. His contribution to moral philosophy includes the concept of The Categorical Imperative.
        
        Key concepts: duty; a priori truths; inclinations; deontological ethics; good as equal to duty; Categorical Imperative;
      - Hannah Arendt
        
        Eichmann in Jerusalem: the report on the trial of the nazi responsible for the "final solution" generated a lot of controversy, especially in the Jewish community. Arendt, herself a Jewish refugee, argued that Eichmann should not have been tried in the Israeli court because his crimes were not only against the jewish people, but against the entirety of humanity.
        
        Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) was a German-American philosopher, one of the most important political theorists of the 20th century; her work explores the roots of totalitarian regimes.
        
        Key concepts: banality of evil, duty, thoughtlessness; blind obedience; law-abiding citizen; coercion vs. temptation; judgements vs. responsibility; administrative massacre.
    - - Utilitarianism
        
        John Stuart Mill
        
        In his book Utilitarianism, Mill contended for a qualitative approach to the "greatest happiness principle" (greatest amount all together), stating that something is right in the proportion that it tends to promote happiness and wrong as it produces the reverse of happiness. Advocated for "the greater good", meaning the social utility of actions.
        
        John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) was a British philosopher and economist, one of the most cited names regarding the classical liberalism; known for his contribution to the doctrine of Utilitarianism.
        
        Key concepts: happiness; motive vs. morality; social utility; pleasure; pain; expediency.
- - - - Ursula K. Le Guin
        
        The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas: the utopian town that lives in perfect harmony t the expense of a suffering child raises issues over Mill's Utilitarianism–is happiness of any importance given the pain of others?
        
        Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) was an American author, prolific in the genre of science fiction; her works often have a philosophical approach to fiction.
      - Sophocles
        
        Antigone: the famous play stages a moral conflict between the divine law and the law of the men, bringing questions of authoritarianism and civil disobedience. The character naming the play represents the right of an individual to question the prevalent jurisdiction, stating the schism between law and morality–she points out the fact that there might be unjust laws, regardless of their acceptance by the government and society.
        
        Sophocles (497/496 BCE–497/496 BCE) was a Greek playwright, author of Oedipus and Antigone. Explored the themes of divine law vs.man's law, fate and self-determination.
        
        Key concepts: State vs. collective; human law vs. divine law; claims of the State vs. claims of kinship; acting expediently or in self-preservation vs. on principle;
    - - Kafka
        
        The Metamorphosis: the novel brings the story of a hard-working man that awakes as an unidentified bug. The appearance of free indirect discourse–using 3rd person to render a 1st person/closer perspective–evokes an anticipatory tone, of anxiety and helpless passivity. The question of personal identity is usually analyzed through either a materialistic view (in which his identity ids determined by his body, stressing the animal instinct arising in Greg), a dualistic view (centered in the continuity of his identity as a man since it is bound to his mind/consciousness), or the social view (regarding how the relations to his family and his manager hange after the transformation).
        
        Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was born in Prague and it is considered one of the most praised novelists of all time. Some of his most notable works deal with the bureaucratic oppressive forces over people–the term "Kafkaesque" alludes to the surreal, absurd, alienation forgoing personal fulfillment.
      - Sartre
  - - - W. E. B. Du Bois
        
        In The Souls of Black Folk (1903) Du Bois stated that the problem of the 20th century was "the problem of the color line", and focuses on the idea of the aspects of the dissonance between the internal/material and the spiritual world–from that, he derived the idea of the two souls (or double consciousness) inhabiting the body of a black person in the United States.
        
        Key terms: Double Consciousness; doubling; twoness; "within the veil" (the life of the black person is inaccessible to the white person); "souls" (in a philosophical context, as reason and spirit)
        
        W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) was an American historian and author, regarded as one of the first and most important leaders on the fight for civil rights of black people in the U.S.–was the founder of the Niagara Movement.
      - Charles W. Mills
        
        But What Are You Really? The Metaphysics of Race: In this Essay, Mills proposes a division of social metaphysics and advocates for the theory of objectivism-constructivist. He also explains the 7 categories defining the racial identity (bodily appearance, ancestry, self and public awareness of ancestry, culture, experience and self-identification), as well as
        
        Key Terms: Racial Constructivism; social ontology vs. social metaphysics; racial identity.
        
        Charles W. Mills (1951–) is a Jamaican philosopher and professor, known for his contribution to social philosophy focused on class, gender, and race. His book The Racial Contract, in which he points out the racial prejudices observed in the canons of Western Philosophy, became a is an important account in current studies of political theory.
      - Jordan Peele
        
        Get Out (2017): the movie literalizes the slipt of consciousness–in this case, with the attempt of racial transgression (two races in one body), evoking the idea of eforced co-presence (the white in the black consciousness) that bears parallels with the dynamics of American society.
        
        Jordan Peele (1979–) - American actor, director, writer and producer, won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the movie Get Out. His movies depict terrifying situations of horror arising from a racist culture.
    - - Simone de Beauvoir
        
        The Second Sex: in this work, de Beauvoir explores how the category of femininity was constructed through a heterosexual framework. She questions the distinction of the female as "the other" (or the object/dependent/relative) as opposed to "the self" (or the subject/autonomous/absolute). Takes the Hegelian idea that our notion of "I" comes from the recognition of others and applied it to the gender question.
        
        Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) was a French philosopher, regarded as one of the main voices of feminist theory–although never actively participated in the movement, she articulated the first ideas regarding the division between biological and social/historical construction of gender.
        
        Key concepts: bad faith; facticity; transcendence; eternal femininity; freedom; duality; subject; "the other"; alterity; recognition; intersubjectivity;
      - Judith Butler
        
        In Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: an Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory Butler makes an Ontological criticism of gender (derived from her questioning on the substance-based model, or the metaphysics of substance)–she contends that there is no preexisting substance and therefore, no preexisting gender
        
        Judith Butler (1956–) is an American philosopher and author, most known for the gender performative theory. Butler is the Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature of UC Berkeley and a major influence on the third wave of feminism.
        
        Key concepts: "act" as an action and also as performance; performative gender; gender as an idea socially shared and historically constituted.