Lost and Political Philosophy
So it's no surprise to the casual Lost fan by now that a handful of the series's key characters are named after famous political philosophers. After reading the stuff below, try to think about how each of these political philosophers' ideas releate to the characters named after them in Lost. It's quite a trip!
John Locke, the English philosopher, is most well-known for the social contract, tabula rasa (yes, also the title of one of the Lost episodes), theory of consciousness and personal identity, and a number of economic theories. (I think his concept of the Social Contract is particularly compelling in light of the series--the idea that, if all people were left to their natural state, every individual would be in a state of war and confilct over their own ideals. This is why everyone submits to a "social contract"--I promise to not hurt you if you promise to not hurt me-- or in other words submits to a government, so that all individuals can work together to find an optimal solution.) Locke was the core political and social philosopher that influenced many others after the 16th century.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a French philosopher influenced by Locke's theories, but his theories were fundamentally different. While Locke believed that humans were naturally savage alone but refined by society, Rousseau believed that the nature of humans were good but corrupted by society and government. He felt that Locke's Social Contract was a "fraudulent form of association."
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher who has a number of theories based on cause and effect. To be honest with you, I'm not entirely familiar with Hume's philosophies and I'm still wrapping my head around them. Based on what I've read on Wikipedia so far, it seems that he is a follower of determinism, that personal identity is constantly changing along a spacetime continuum (you are not who you were five seconds ago nor five years ago)--that you are a product of a series of events that have come before you. From what I've gathered, he does not believe in fate nor a divine force. The closest to what he believes is a "divine force" is miracles, but there is even problems with the idea of miracles (see Hume's Wikipedia link). (That really hits close to home after the season finale of Lost this week!) Also~~~Desmond's full name is "Desmond David Hume". :3
And also something I learned from Desmond Hume's Wikipedia article...
Russian political philosopher Mikhail Bakunin believed that 'liberty' was not an abstract individual ideal, but the ideal of every member of a society being equal in power, education, economic prosperity, and so on. He felt that liberty can only be recognized in terms of the society. Bakunin was a promoter of "collectivist anarchism", whereby the individual would produce for society using their own means of production, so that every person in society produces and equal amount according to their means and every person has equal benefit from it.
Jeremy Bentham was a name that popped up in the season finale this week, as an alias for someone visiting the "Oceanic Six" and relaying information to them. I sat bolt upright and said to Kevin, "He's a political philosopher! I remember him from my Political Philosophy class!" I was sure that it was this was a clue to who was behind the pseudonym.
I couldn't remember exactly what Bentham was known for, so I did some research to jog my memory. How could I forget! He was my favorite of all of the political philosophers! Bentham was an English philosopher who was known for his staunch belief in utilitarianism, animal rights, abolishment of slavery, decriminalization of homosexuality, equal rights for women, the separation of church and state, freedom of expression, etc. He was heavily influenced by and in agreement with John Locke. (But I gotta say... Bentham's "Auto-Icon" is very creepy.)
So who could "Jeremy Bentham" be?
Of course, it would only make sense!
Oh yeah, remember an interview a few years ago with J.J. Abrams? He said that Lost is not about alternate dimensions and time travel. (I wish I could find the interview on YouTube.) Now Kev and I are irritated because it looks like it's EXACTLY about time travel and alternate dimensions. Grr.
Here's a thread of links I followed around Wikipedia:
Desmond Hume-->David Hume-->Determinism-->Growing Block Universe-->Spacetime
Don't tell ME that Lost isn't about time travel and alternate dimensions. ;P I have a sudden urge to delve back into political philosophy and quantum theory, two of my favorite geek topics.
EDIT: I found an article that eloquently sums up the political references in Lost up through last January.
"Lost in Political Philosophy" by Brian Doherty
He uncovered a few more political philosophers that I didn't notice before as well! After reading his article, it's really becoming apparent that the Island is like a mini version of Earth's socio-political confilcts. We have the Russian anarchist, the French individualist, the All-American faith-keeper, etc. What a neat experiment.