the vulnerability of civilization（undoing gender）书评-钻石棋牌
in the movie “matrix”, we could see how vulnerable the notion of modern civilization, when one choose to take the red pill and discover society is built merely in cyber-world. unfortunately, the vulnerability of modern civilization is not only seen in movies. some post-modern intellectuals have already unveiled it in our daily life. here i will list two post-modern philosophers, judith butler and slavoj žižek. their foresight of society provides us the wisdom in contemporary world.
firstly, butler sees vulnerability in our body and physical world: "the skin and the flesh expose us to the gaze of others but also to touch and to violence."[1] therefore, the body easily confesses to social convention. one prominent example among it is gender issue. the gender recognition is vulnerable when facing the strong social conventions and restrictions. “the body has its invariably public dimension……my body is and is not mine.”[1] through these claims, butler reveals how social conventions sees gender problem, and broke the firm chain between sexual anatomy and social recognition.
besides the vulnerability of sexual confession, butler pointed out that our judgment and free will is also “vulnerable to another’s control”. our view to others is simply limited to social catalog and recognition, “the human is understood differentially depending on its race, …its morphology,... its sex,…its ethnicity……certain humans are not recognized as human at all, and that leads to yet another order of unlivable life.”[2] she realized that the civilization process marginalized the minority and diversity by regulation and prejudice.
žižek reflects butler’s idea on “vulnerability to another’s control”. he sees fragile in post-modern democracy and freedom. “our post-modern reflexive society which seems hedonistic and permissive is actually saturated with rules and regulations which are intended to serve our well-being (restrictions on smoking and eating, rules against sexual harassment).”[3] however, those protective factors (rules, laws and conventions) are rooted so deeply in our mind that we barely notice them. he warms us that “the unconscious is not secret resistance to the law, but is the law itself.”[3] norms and limitations are mixed with subconscious and become our superego. “the trick performed by the superego is to seem to offer the child a free choice, when, as every child knows, he is not being given any choice at all. worse than that, he is being an order and told to smile at the same time….the superego orders you to enjoy doing what you have to do.”[3] pleasure becomes a duty, and regulation becomes a desire. this kind of totalitarian is trickier than its father.
žižek even goes further beyond social control into the vulnerability of belief and religion. he points out that god is not dead, he does not exist. we are not abandoned orphan, we are creatures born without parents! “the lesson of modernism is that the machine revolves around an emptiness; the postmodernist reversal shows the thing itself as the incarnated, materialized emptiness.”[3] what a horrifying insight! we get so customary to modernization. we believe human reason can discover the world thoroughly, and problems can be solved by machines as long as we dig more into it. he destroys such hope. “believing there is a code to be cracked is of course much the same as believing in the existence of some big other: in every case what is wanted is an agent who will give structure to our chaotic social lives.” he points out that such “agent” is no longer omnipotent.
in conclusion, while two philosophers both detect the vulnerability of democracy and free will, their viewpoints differs when butler unveils the vulnerability in sexual recognition, žižek turns his attention to the vulnerable belief in machinery society.
[reference]
[1] judith butler, "chapter 1. beside oneself: on the limits of sexual autonomy " from undoing gender (2004)
[2] judith butler, "introduction" from undoing gender (2004)
[3] slavoj žižek , "you may!" london review of books, vol. 21 (march 1999)
firstly, butler sees vulnerability in our body and physical world: "the skin and the flesh expose us to the gaze of others but also to touch and to violence."[1] therefore, the body easily confesses to social convention. one prominent example among it is gender issue. the gender recognition is vulnerable when facing the strong social conventions and restrictions. “the body has its invariably public dimension……my body is and is not mine.”[1] through these claims, butler reveals how social conventions sees gender problem, and broke the firm chain between sexual anatomy and social recognition.
besides the vulnerability of sexual confession, butler pointed out that our judgment and free will is also “vulnerable to another’s control”. our view to others is simply limited to social catalog and recognition, “the human is understood differentially depending on its race, …its morphology,... its sex,…its ethnicity……certain humans are not recognized as human at all, and that leads to yet another order of unlivable life.”[2] she realized that the civilization process marginalized the minority and diversity by regulation and prejudice.
žižek reflects butler’s idea on “vulnerability to another’s control”. he sees fragile in post-modern democracy and freedom. “our post-modern reflexive society which seems hedonistic and permissive is actually saturated with rules and regulations which are intended to serve our well-being (restrictions on smoking and eating, rules against sexual harassment).”[3] however, those protective factors (rules, laws and conventions) are rooted so deeply in our mind that we barely notice them. he warms us that “the unconscious is not secret resistance to the law, but is the law itself.”[3] norms and limitations are mixed with subconscious and become our superego. “the trick performed by the superego is to seem to offer the child a free choice, when, as every child knows, he is not being given any choice at all. worse than that, he is being an order and told to smile at the same time….the superego orders you to enjoy doing what you have to do.”[3] pleasure becomes a duty, and regulation becomes a desire. this kind of totalitarian is trickier than its father.
žižek even goes further beyond social control into the vulnerability of belief and religion. he points out that god is not dead, he does not exist. we are not abandoned orphan, we are creatures born without parents! “the lesson of modernism is that the machine revolves around an emptiness; the postmodernist reversal shows the thing itself as the incarnated, materialized emptiness.”[3] what a horrifying insight! we get so customary to modernization. we believe human reason can discover the world thoroughly, and problems can be solved by machines as long as we dig more into it. he destroys such hope. “believing there is a code to be cracked is of course much the same as believing in the existence of some big other: in every case what is wanted is an agent who will give structure to our chaotic social lives.” he points out that such “agent” is no longer omnipotent.
in conclusion, while two philosophers both detect the vulnerability of democracy and free will, their viewpoints differs when butler unveils the vulnerability in sexual recognition, žižek turns his attention to the vulnerable belief in machinery society.
[reference]
[1] judith butler, "chapter 1. beside oneself: on the limits of sexual autonomy " from undoing gender (2004)
[2] judith butler, "introduction" from undoing gender (2004)
[3] slavoj žižek , "you may!" london review of books, vol. 21 (march 1999)
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