SpaceweaverSun, Nov 16, 2008 Very interesting short exchange. Yet, regretfully both Chomsky and Foucault fail to address what, in my eyes, is the crux of the issue they both try to elaborate. The issue is of course the intimate interrelation between the state of society as reflected by the operation of its institutions, and the mental/emotional state of the individuals participating in society. It is easy to criticize social institutions, it is much more difficult to address the state of mind of the individual humans who are the organs of society. It seems to me (and Foucault makes a better point here) that social institutions, especially those that are meant to operate according to criteria which is not a derivative of one or other political disposition, are merely abstractions or collective realizations of the much more fundamental characteristics of human mental states and what we believe we know about such states. What should be addressed is how we can manifestly upgrade our individual mental/emotional states, and how can society become an instrument of such activity.
Very interesting short exchange. Yet, regretfully both Chomsky and Foucault fail to address what, in my eyes, is the crux of the issue they both try to elaborate. The issue is of course the intimate interrelation between the state of society as reflected by the operation of its institutions, and the mental/emotional state of the individuals participating in society. It is easy to criticize social institutions, it is much more difficult to address the state of mind of the individual humans who are the organs of society. It seems to me (and Foucault makes a better point here) that social institutions, especially those that are meant to operate according to criteria which is not a derivative of one or other political disposition, are merely abstractions or collective realizations of the much more fundamental characteristics of human mental states and what we believe we know about such states. What should be addressed is how we can manifestly upgrade our individual mental/emotional states, and how can society become an instrument of such activity.