PHI 1104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Soft Despotism
19 Apr 2018
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Involved in action, ran for parliament, didn"t make it he identifies 3 levels of malaise that bother us about the modern world. Individualism: everyone is out for themselves, that"s all they care about . This come from the great chain of being (the structures that used to give meaning: family and church, are no longer as strong). Instrumental reason: everything is judged in terms of its utility, its either useful or nothing. (like h. arendt): soft despotism: a dictatorship. By looking back and discovering the true sources of these malaises (rich moral backgrounds = the individualism that we complain about so much actually has a source for the desire for human freedom and authenticity that we discovered in. Descartes and rousseau. ) what has become selfish individualism, has a source that isn"t selfish (it is based on our desire to be free as individuals). The individualism that we see is a false reflection of what is truly there.
