From the Rational to the Irrational or, Why Joss Whedon is a Prophet of Our Times HUM 2052: Civilization II Spring 2011 Dr. Perdigao March 28-31, 2011

The Old West and Evil Alliances “What is civilization?” Back to the Reavers, to Serenity’s world Place of Imperialism Civilized vs. savage

Freud and Pop Culture

Redefining Civilization “Nineteenth-century writings on civilization tended to emphasize its evolution from barbarism to the pinnacle reached by modern industrial society” (1692) Pride in technological advancement (return to Crystal Palace) but question if “the technical prowess that was the most visible sign of an advanced society could also mean its doom?” (1693) Becoming “less civilized” “Civilization is an illusion, a temporary truce for survival that always masks hostile instincts” (1693). For Freud, civilization is a “Set of constraints entered into reluctantly by instinctively hostile and competitive individuals for the survival of the community (and, therefore, the individual)” (1693). Question of “ethical and (primarily European) cultural values” (1693) Early modernity and late modernity (Perry 678); second Scientific Revolution in twentieth century; Planck’s theory of discontinuity, nature as “fundamentally elusive and unpredictable” (Perry 698); “uncertainty and disorientation” (Perry 699)

Reaving Note to The Future of an Illusion (1927)—divide between culture and civilization— with culture defined as a “complex whole,” including “knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (1694); by the twentieth century, 164 definitions of culture Civilization and Its Discontents (1929) From barbarism to “negotiated relationship between human instincts and the institutions necessary for survival” (1694); inclination to aggression, threat to civilization Science and technology—can be “used for their annihilation” (1694); “One thus gets an impression that civilization is something which was imposed on a resisting majority by a minority which understood how to obtain possession of the means to power and coercion” (Freud 1694). “The present cultural state of America would give us a good opportunity for studying the damage to civilization which is thus to be feared. But I shall avoid the temptation of entering upon a critique of American civilization: I do not wish to give an impression of wanting myself to employ American methods” (Freud 1699).

Losses Freud—shift from “Enlightenment’s view of the individual’s essential goodness and rationality” (Perry 685); irrational drives as dictating behavior but still emphasis on control for benefits of civilization Nietzsche’s superman or overman—notion that “A society that definitely and instinctively gives up war and conquest is in decline” (qtd. in Perry 682) but Nietzsche’s critique of and contempt for German nationalism and militarism Valéry and Spengler: French poet and philosopher/German philosopher Spengler’s “scientific analysis of broad sociological patterns” as a response to World War I; Valéry’s “personal identification with the continent-wide crisis,” the “crisis of the mind” (1701). Both were written in Valéry references Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, Marx Valéry’s Hamlet mocks “anthill society” (return to Dostoevsky?); order and disorder

Culture/Civilization Divide Spengler’s argument that cultures and civilizations follow cyclical patterns: rise, mature, die when “initial creative impulses were exhausted” (1706); “modern Western civilization has already begun to fall” (1693) Imperialism is “Civilization unadulterated” as “culture-man” is directed inwards and “civilization-man” outwards (1710) Spengler: “The Civilization is the inevitable destiny of the Culture” (1709)— accomplishment in transition from Culture to Civilization in the Classical world in 4 th century and for the Western in 19 th century (1710).

Revolutions of the Mind? Economic crisis: intellectual crisis Error of the mind: disorder in the mind of Europe Freud’s theory of dominant aggression in man—as a psychosocial manifestation—role in larger realm of politics The place of Freud (and psychoanalysis) in discovering the causes of World War I? Education and improved living conditions (philosophes) and abolition of private property (Marx) would not “eliminate evil” as people will “lust after power and privilege” (Perry 688). American culture in relation to world order, according to Freud? “think[ing] in continents” from Spengler’s theories?