ACS 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Alexis De Tocqueville, The Good Life, Marshall Mcluhan

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Arts and Contemporary Studies
• Course: ACS 100
• Professor: Jamie Pelkey

Document Summary

Charles taylor interested in finding ways to enhance or retrieve things that have been. Malaises of (cid:373)oder(cid:374)it(cid:455): (cid:862)features of our (cid:272)o(cid:374)te(cid:373)porar(cid:455) (cid:272)ulture a(cid:374)d so(cid:272)iet(cid:455) that people e(cid:454)perie(cid:374)(cid:272)e as a loss or de(cid:272)li(cid:374)e, e(cid:448)e(cid:374) as our (cid:272)i(cid:448)ilizatio(cid:374) (cid:858)de(cid:448)elops(cid:859)(cid:863) (cid:894)ta(cid:455)lor1991:1) For the past century people have been working at that problem. Quest for identity is a central aspect of the electric age. (cid:863) History of malaise: how to differentiate ourselves; blending/retribalizing the digital age. No longer locked into a predetermined category! Lack of passion: eclipse of ends; instrumental reason. Partial reason why we lost passion= value = quantitative / it used to mean something (cid:455)ou (cid:272)ould(cid:374)"t (cid:395)ua(cid:374)tif(cid:455). ex. Preference for technological solutions over human understanding. Loss of depth and nuance in communication. Thinking of people as a commodity is no longer problematic bc capitalism: loss of freedom: comfort trumps politics actually getting involved. People would rather shop than get involved in democracy. Political consequences (loss of meaning and eclipsed ends): (9) ]]