Appropriating the Available Constructs
This is taken from my class blog...I don't know why I want to put it here too. Maybe because it actually makes reference to real life as opposed to stuff I just make up.
I was thinking about what Mike said today in class, about how the hobbesian stance can be applied to traditionally metaphysical notions but the metaphysical stance has more difficulty accomodating the hobbesian notions.
I think this is what ultimately accounts for the success of hobbesian social structures. It makes room for the metaphysical notions of love and gives it justification in reason as opposed to delegation to the inexplicable.
Take the movie V for Vendetta as an example. The "hero" of the film, V, is an example of the appropriation of Metaphysical ideas by the Hobbesian system. He fights Leviathan and creates unity amongst the people through his love of community and justice. However, violence and war is necessary to effect unity, just as Hobbes says. As romantic and inspirational as we will always find rebellion against authority, we cease to follow through when you realise that the movie ends on the verge of true chaos. An empire is torn apart through violent means. The country will founder in chaos until another Leviathan rises up to reinstigate peace. Peace will only come through submission to the higher order....to Leviathan.
By appropriating the metaphysical authority God, because God is Love, and making God a mortal authority Hobbesianism is able to thereby usurp all the authority of that figure and the justifications for supporting that figure as a higher power.
Hobbesianism explains the world in a way that satisfies our need for rationalism. Because it is easier to imagine and believe in the negative parts of existence than to have faith in inexplicable good, Hobbesianism gives us a more accessible theory of the world, one we can really buy into. The inability of Love to incorporate Evil into its structure in a cohesive manner means that we are asked to have "faith". But this is no longer a world in which faith is strong enough to overlook such schisms in justifying a world view.
The Available Constructs
Please comment on this if you can, guys. I'm entertaining it as a possible essay topic.I was thinking about what Mike said today in class, about how the hobbesian stance can be applied to traditionally metaphysical notions but the metaphysical stance has more difficulty accomodating the hobbesian notions.
I think this is what ultimately accounts for the success of hobbesian social structures. It makes room for the metaphysical notions of love and gives it justification in reason as opposed to delegation to the inexplicable.
Take the movie V for Vendetta as an example. The "hero" of the film, V, is an example of the appropriation of Metaphysical ideas by the Hobbesian system. He fights Leviathan and creates unity amongst the people through his love of community and justice. However, violence and war is necessary to effect unity, just as Hobbes says. As romantic and inspirational as we will always find rebellion against authority, we cease to follow through when you realise that the movie ends on the verge of true chaos. An empire is torn apart through violent means. The country will founder in chaos until another Leviathan rises up to reinstigate peace. Peace will only come through submission to the higher order....to Leviathan.
By appropriating the metaphysical authority God, because God is Love, and making God a mortal authority Hobbesianism is able to thereby usurp all the authority of that figure and the justifications for supporting that figure as a higher power.
Hobbesianism explains the world in a way that satisfies our need for rationalism. Because it is easier to imagine and believe in the negative parts of existence than to have faith in inexplicable good, Hobbesianism gives us a more accessible theory of the world, one we can really buy into. The inability of Love to incorporate Evil into its structure in a cohesive manner means that we are asked to have "faith". But this is no longer a world in which faith is strong enough to overlook such schisms in justifying a world view.
posted by Vita at 1:00 a.m.
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