Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Ch. 6
The biggest and most important concept that I took from this chapter is the integration of the public and private space and their dynamics together. The chapter states that they support and enhance one another by maintaining separate identities. I think this is really applicable to every day life because ourselves and our opinions are constantly being shaped, altered, strengthened or weakened by the opinions and ideas of those around us, and those of our peers. Thus, our private opinions in our private space not only affect what public spaces we involve ourselves in, but vise versa, our public spaces affect our private space. Although, during the reading I found myself wondering if our public space that we choose to involve ourselves in is reflective of our private opinions and private space. I wonder this because there is a certain bias that occurs when looking for information regarding our opinions. It is natural human instinct to look for and more easily accept information that supports and strengthens your personal opinions, even though the information may not be completely factual. Thus, this could be quite a large critique of how the dynamics of these public and private spaces may be controlled, subconsciously. I am curious to find out if any other classmates could come up with any other critiques or factors that could affect these spaces and the perceptions of both.
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I would agree that the connection between our private and public spheres could potentially be more direct than the chapter may initially present. Which comes first: the formation of our private sphere or the formation of our public sphere? I would assume the private sphere forms first (based off of childhood influence and dependency), but you are right in saying that this private sphere could heavily influence the choices we make in the public sphere, much like the chapter said. It's quite common for people to seek out information that jives well with what they already know or believe, so does our private sphere limit our public sphere? Maybe, but I would argue that the availability of such a wide range of information in the public sphere in the current era could lend itself to widening the gaze of many individuals through simple chance.
ReplyDeleteDanielle, I wrote about something similar in my blog post. Being that the public space and private space are constantly overlapping, I find it difficult to differentiate the two. One point that you brought up that I really liked was that on identities. Being that we live in such a diverse world, I agree with you when you said our opinions are constantly being shaped and altered. This sort of ties in with the last chapter on dialogic ethics, and how if there wasn't any difference between people there wouldn't be any dialogue, and in turn no learning as well.
ReplyDeleteI also think you are right when you said our public spaces we choose to be involved in are a reflection of our private opinions. For example, being that we are in Minnesota (which is a largely Democratic state) if someone is a Republican and doesn't want to tell others for fear of scrutiny, one will not partake in the Democratic events happening around election time, but rather they will partake in Republican events and rallies. Again, private space is something that one chooses not to share with the general public. However, I think you had a very valid point in your blog post and it was something I hadn't thought of until now.