What I find most interesting about this chapter and dialogic ethics is the emphasis on learning. It was so interesting to me the way that the reading displayed them as going hand in hand and how you need one in order to have the other. Because dialogic ethics assumes that learning transforms us it is important to surround yourself with things, people, subjects, etc. that will build you to be who you want to be, not what everyone else wants to be.
The example that stood out to me most was Arendt's warning regarding the "popular culture" view and stating that "Dialogic ethics rejects belonging as a communication ethics first principle." I found this so interesting because it is human nature to have a sense or feel the need to belong to something, whether it's good, bad, constructive, or destructive. Arendt says that wanting to belong to something too badly can be dangerous. She uses the term "pervenu" to describe someone who is willing to give up everything just to belong to something such as a social group etc. The problem with this is that someone can come off as being desperate or trying to hard to fit in amongst the other members and in turn become rejected for their over the top efforts.
This example was my favorite because it brought me back to my teenage girl years where everything was always about fitting in, those are always some of the hardest years for girls as they're growing up. It always makes me sad to reflect on them because those years had little influence on who I am today and it's something you wish you could go back in time and tell your younger self so it didn't consume you then. Like Arendt says, we usually want to join the groups for the wrong reasons and looking back that's exactly it. It's not that the reasons are necessarily wrong per-say, it's that the reasons are usually superficial or don't exactly align with you and what you want or what is good for you that is 'wrong'.
Zoe, I agree with what you say about our innate nature as humans to want to belong to something, not regarding whether it's good or bad, and whether it will matter to us in the future or not. I feel that Arendt identified a perspective that goes swept under the rug, and also makes a person reflect on their past. I too thought about her "pervenu" term when pertaining back to our middle school years. I'm embarrassed sometimes thinking back about how I acted just to be accepted within my desired social group. Arendt hit the nose with a hammer when she said that this term is dangerous, because I believe that the "pervenu" can allow a person to lose sense of their true self.
ReplyDeleteThe term made me reflect on my middle school years, pertaining to a particular situation. I had a friend named Brady, and our families were pretty close. Brady wasn't the most popular kid, and I guess I thought I was, along with the rest of my friends because we played sports. Some of my "friends" started to pick on Brady right in front of me, and I did nothing to stop it. I just remember Brady's dad ridiculing me for not standing up for him... at the time it didn't matter because I wanted to maintain my acceptance within my social group. Now, looking back, I feel awful, because I'm no longer that person, and not very close to any of those friends now. About a year or so ago, I apologized to Brady, and professed how bad I felt. Luckily, he forgave me. But, like Arendt says, this is very dangerous. This reminded me that the "popular culture" view is very harmful, and can cause a loss of true self identity. I'm looking forward to what others have to say about these terms and chapter tomorrow in class.