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Literature and Philosophy (Deontological (Constructive (Groundwork for the…

- - - - Reality needs to be discovered through rational thought, not experience. “I think, therefore I am,” is the cornerstone to understanding what is and isn’t real; from this, humans can glean all other information without fear of deception. Descartes is a prominent Rationalist thinker.
    - - Ethics and morality is intrinsic; it is unconditional and necessary. All morality is a priori; duty lies at the root of good will. Practical law is universal. Imperative is felt constraint that guides moral action. The process of finding a categorical imperative is to: 1) Formulate a maxim, 2) Recast maxim as a universal law, 3) Ask if maxim is conceivable, 4) “Could you will your maxim?”
    - - The law should abide by the hierarchy of power. God > State > Individual. Creon’s authoritarian rule cannot ethically control over his people when it demands precedent over divinity; however, his individual motivations as a man of pride seeking to further his personal power put him even further beneath the rung of power. While it stands against his atheistic perspective, Antigone is in agreement with Nietzsche's understanding of hierarchical structure as the basis of power and morality.
    - - Humans are bodily creatures capable of perceiving and metacognition. Thinking occurs when ideas are perceived so the mind familiarizes the ideas. The idea is then lodged into memory where it’s given a name, abstracted and generalized and applied. In order to think, we must first observe; Locke is an Empiricist. He also disagrees with Kant, who believes that humans are born with innate traits.
  - - - Who we believe ourselves to be is less important functionally than who (or what) others perceive us to be. This is not a good thing. Modernity has transfigured humans into beings of productivity; when we cease to serve our functional purpose, we are disposable. This stands in agreement with Butler, as it depicts the possible consequence of failing to convince others of one's identity.
    - - Get Out by Jordan Peele
        
        This film concerns itself with the erasure of racial boundaries and what "color blindedness," in all its best intentions can lead to. It argues that regardless of the directness of the factor of race, minority groups such as Black Americans will still be victimized, and cultivating racial blindness will only serve as a blanket of security for oppressors. In this way, it finds itself in agreement with both Du Bois and Mills.
      - Race is based on a list of categories: i.e. cultural and biological, but cultural is a much stronger pull. This plays into Du Bois's argument that race cannot be ignored under any circumstances as a result of the cultural developments brought about by historical happenings like slavery and colonialism.
    - - There is nothing but the hierarchy and the Will to Power. Everything else is a fiction that grafts itself onto this, even reason. Humans are bound to the realities established by the hierarchy (things are either good or bad because of what people with power decide is good or bad), and all actions taken are made by individuals who must negotiate with the hierarchy. This is the only Truth; all other matters in regards to ethics are relativistic questions of values. Because Nietzsche is skeptical of objectivity--be it present in freedom, reason, and morality--he directly opposes Sartre, Descartes, and Kant.
    - - Identity is a thing of becoming, not a thing of being. Gender is a social construct that functions to establish a hierarchy of men dominating women. The Master/Slave Dialectic means that though men dominate women, they are also dependent on the women performing their gendered role in order to function themselves; neither are free.
- - - - The Act of Killing by Joshua Oppenheimer
        
        There is constant footage demonstrating both pride and shame in their actions, though which is struggling against which remains to be seen. Authority is not morality; evil is banal. However, in the end, there is a sense that the categorical directive was not as solid as they wanted to believe. Though the gangsters believed themselves to be working justly for the good of their people, they also struggle on a day-to-day basis on continuing to believe in the good of their killings. It finds itself between the banality of evil and the good of categorical directives.
      - Eichmann, a lieutenant colonel who served under Nazi Germany, believes that duty to the state is the sole categorical imperative. Arendt describes this to be the banality of evil; the greatest crimes are committed with clear consciences by sane individuals working towards a “greater end.” It is not an act out of emotional response, but rather cold logical decisions. As it directly cites the invocation of Kantian moral principles as a justification for mass genocide, it stands in conflict with Kant's model of the categorical directive.
    - - Le Guin uses the short story form to argue that Utilitarianism is bad because it could lead to one person suffering for the sake of everyone’s happiness. This would ultimately lead to a pervasive guilt amongst the people for enjoying so much at the expense of someone else, causing many to leave the city of Omelas in shame.
    - - Identity is steeped entirely in performance; particularly gender identity. Gendered expectations are historical institutions; the body is a historical situation. What makes acts masculine and feminine are rooted in the historical collective acts of individuals under the expectations of a wider society. The only way to liberate women is to destroy womanhood as a concept. Butler builds off of Beauvoir's model of womanhood in her argumentation for gender abolitionism.
  - - - All action taken should be to maximize the present happiness and minimize the present suffering in a society. While happiness and suffering cannot be numerically quantified, it is a qualitative judgement that is valid. Critiques of Utilitarianism as an excuse to practice hedonism are invalid, as pleasure derived from the suffering of others goes against the principles of Utilitarianism.
    - - Memory is locked in the physical objects we interact with. We are shaped by the traumas we experience and we are subject to how we misremember those experiences in our development. In certain terms, this aligns with Descartes's distrust of Empiricism, as what is experienced and remembered cannot fully be trusted as fact.
    - - Colonialism has caused black people to have a double-consciousness in Western civilization. Black people have to see themselves through the lens of White America on a constant basis, which impedes self-consciousness. White America cannot be understood without Black America, but they are often viewed as separate and discrete histories. “Color blind” race relations cannot be accomplished because of the history of colonialism, slavery, and racial discrimination at the foundation of America.
    - - Humans are capable of doing anything and are “condemned” by their freedom to do so. Freedom lies at the root of human success and suffering. All that exists is what can be observed. Existentialists believe that only what can be perceived and experienced can be useful in understanding reality. This line of thinking stands in opposition to Nietzsche's proposed model of "Free Will," the Will to Power and the hierarchy this model is used to navigate.