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Week 12 - Sia

During the course, the theory that I found the most interesting was Max Weber's "Disenchantment of the World." I thought the theory mirrored some of the thoughts I already had about monotheism and polytheism and it offered a fascinating analysis of religious trends. If I could only remember one thing from the course, it would probably be Foucault's critique of "the repressive hypothesis," specifically his commentary on the eroticism of psychoanalysis. An aspect of the course which resonated with me the most was the exploration of the intersections of ecstasy and violence.

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Week 12

The materials from this course that I have most enjoyed exploring are Freud's theories on the primal father and the Oedipus Complex. Before I took this course, I only had a very vague and erroneous awareness of the Oedipus Complex as a kind of disorder whose significance was limited to the realm of psychology. It was an eye-opening experience for me to “see” Freud invoke this specialized psychoanalytic concept in a broader conversation about culture, society, and civilization.

Irene

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Week 12 - Ariana Arroyo

Freud's Totem and Taboo, Girard's Violence and the Sacred, Foucault's The History of Sexuality, and Derrida's Plato's Pharmacy, were the readings that I enjoyed the most. I enjoyed learning about the origins of human civilization, religion and . The concepts I found the most interesting were the origins of religious sacrifice, commodity fetishism, the will to knowledge and the Pharmakon. I loved this class because of the range of material that continuously provoked deep thought on concepts I thought I already knew plenty about. The way every reading built off the previous one allowed me to engage with texts past a superficial level.

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Week 12 - Adam

I really enjoyed Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud and Violence and the Sacred by Rene Girard. I have an interest in shamanism and the early development of religion. I usually do not enjoy reading Freud, but he had interesting insights into the earliest forms of religion and how hunter-gatherers grew into larger segregated tribes. Rene Girard’s reading was a great second part of learning more about sacrifice in religion. I did not know the origins of sacrificial rituals; it was a fun learning experience for me. Blood was definitely my favourite subject in this course.

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Week 11 - Sia

An example of a father and god-like figure in religion is the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The church's president is regarded as a "prophet, seer, and revelator" and is said to be the only person who can receive revelations from god. Historically, many church presidents have clearly appeared to chimerically fulfill the natural desires of humans. For example, several presidents have articulated a violent call to arms in the name of defending the church, sating both the primal desire for violence and the natural wish for justice.

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week 11 blog post: Rebekah

One god-like figure in politics would be Donald Trump. His presence as a president satisfied the people's entate desire for violence and discrimination. One example is racism toward the Asian community. Racism was already active towards Asian people due to China economically destroying foreign markets, this is seen in the housing markets where foreign investors purchase homes in other countries. The racism changed overnight after Trump stated that COVID-19 was the"chinese virus".As a high-status individual, he scapegoated the Asian community to deal with the anger and frustration of the masses. Unfortunately, the people who perform racist acts on people of ethnic origins don't realize that violence and hate don't solve the problem.

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Week 11: The Freudian Father Figure

I do not think that it is too far of a stretch to call art instructor and TV personality Bob Ross a popular culture father figure. In addition to teaching his audience how to paint nature scenery using the wet-on-wet technique, he encouraged and inspired many with his soothing words on happiness, positivity, and the beauty of the world. From a Freudian perspective, it can be argued that Ross’s audience saw in him a way to fulfill their childhood-rooted desires for paternal guidance, encouragement, and affection. However, Ross departs from Freud’s father/God figure in that he does not seem to embody the requisite fearsome or threatening aspect of this archetype; his audience’s attitude towards him generally appears to be positive rather than ambivalent or negative.

Irene

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Week 11: Ariana Arroyo

An example of a mythological father and God like figure is Socrates. Socrates was extremely esteemed by many for his wisdom and way of dialect - which would even make men fall in love with him. He engaged in many pederast relationships becoming the mentor of many young beautiful men. At the same time, Socrates was killed for 'corrupting' the youth with his teachings. It is very possible that the men ordering his killing were just jealous of his passionate relationships and wise character. It felt good for some lucky men to have Socrates there for guidance but at the same time that manifested feelings of unrest, jealousy and violence in the men that couldn't have him.

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Week 11 - Adam

A famous figure in mythology who was treated as a godlike figure was Achilles. Despite being born as a mortal in human form (mother was said to be a sea nymph), people saw him as a godlike figure because of his unmatched military and combatant prowess. Achilles satisfies the desire to have incredible strength and power; in any context, not just in combat but also in a state of mind. If he was on your side, you felt protected and believed that victory was secured. He was someone to look up to, someone to aspire to become. He could be a worthy substitute for a father.

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Week 10: Sia

A discrepancy between an "ought" and an "is" in my own life experience arises in conversations about the humanitarian intentions behind religious institutions. When discussing the negative consequences of religious empires and governments, I am often met with the claim that religion itself is not a negative thing, and its purpose is in fact benevolent. However, this assertion seems to express what religion ought to be, as opposed to what it actually is. In this example, I definitely believe the "ought" level of religion masks the material reality of religious violence since many valid critiques of religious institutions are disregarded by the claim that religion is positive in intent.

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Week 10: Ariana Arroyo

One example of a political "ought" and "is" concept is democracy. Democracy is ought to be representative of all the people. Its ought to be fair and equal in representation. However, as we learned in my TRN171 seminar Ethics and the Law, democracy is really just the voice of the majority. This is because the majority is the most active and influential. So while yes everyone does get to have their say in democratic processes, there is always one group who speaks the loudest.

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Week 10: "Ought" vs "Is"

I think that a notable example of a gulf between what "ought to be” and what "is" can be found in the disciplines of linguistics and lexicography. Whereas a prescriptive lexicographer might attempt, for example, to prescribe, impose, or establish standards for what a language ought to look like, a descriptivist generally tries to capture how language is “actually” used by real people in the real world. However, I would not say that the ideas and discourses advanced by prescriptive approaches have had the effect of masking or repressing the material reality of living language, since the act of establishing what “ought to be” by correcting what “is” necessitates understanding, describing, and highlighting what actually “is.”

Irene

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Week 10 - Angie

An example of a concept that works in theory but not always in practice is upholding “total” honesty.

We are taught from a young age that lying is bad, and honesty is good, but as we grow up we learn that not every situation is strictly black and white. If anything, being “completely honest” in certain situations can cause you and others more harm than is necessary, whether physically, emotionally or socially. At some point in everyone’s lives, we realize that honesty is an arbitrary concept and device that we should be selective with depending on the nature of the circumstance.

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Blog Post Week 10: Rebekah

During the readings, lectures, and tutorials we talked about the Proletarian Revolution and the French Revolution. Each revolution was important in history and incited power in the people that’s why in France, whenever the people are against the government, they protest. But according to Hegel's theory, they protested for the wrong thing, they were supposed to start a revolution against the church. It is the people that place power in religion. People make the religion, not the religion that makes people. During the French Revolution, it was the head of the Revolution that realized it was getting out of control. In order to steer the radicals back to why they started the revolution, they either killed the King or an important member of the revolution. I think the reasoning behind that action was because of religion, they wanted to purify the government for the state to remain holy. One question I would like to ask is, what would Marx say about the present political climate? Should Canadians revolt against religion or the government?

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Week 10 - Adam

Many people believe that the world ought to function as if everyone is equal. Equality is a value we all believe in, and it shapes political discourse and policymaking. Despite its widely shared acceptance, the world does not function on the basis of equality. Property is an essential fact of life where families pass wealth down to the next generation. There are those born with much and others with so little. And meritocracy will get in the way of affirmative action policies that try to produce equal outcomes. Individualists will prefer to protect themselves over those who benefit more from large-scale redistribution of resources. The result is constant conflict on what is fair while inequality widens over time.  

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Week 9 -Ariana Arroyo

The internet (as a technology) can be understood to be a pharmakon. It can be used in positive ways like gaining unlimited knowledge from credible sources, which can be understood to be a 'cure' for ignorance. And it can also be used in negative ways because, due to that same unlimited information, users can find themselves unknowingly trapped within ineffective and unreliable sources, and that can most certainly be a 'poison' and increase ignorance.

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Week 9 - Sia

A religious phenomenon that has pharmacological dimensions is the practice of Kavadi Aattam during the Hindu Tamil festival of Thaipusam. The practice often includes ceremonial skin piercing with needles among other sacrificial demonstrations. Kavadi Aattam can be considered harmful to the practitioners considering it involves extensive self-mutilation. However, the practice is thought to have curative properties as well, considering the ritual is an offering done in exchange for physical or spiritual healing.