H21 - Politics of Ignorance and Gullibility
Date: Jun 4 | Time: 03:15pm to 04:45pm | Location:
Chair/Président/Présidente : Daniel Sherwin (University of Toronto)
Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Tina Rupcic (Concordia University)
To See, Understand, Twist Things Around: Cultivating Judgment in the Theatre of Dionysus: Ella Street (University of Toronto)
Abstract: This paper critically interrogates a view many scholars and theorists hold dear: that tragic drama teaches its audience members to judge well and prepares them to judge in other institutional settings. In particular, the aporetic, unruly, and often paradoxical presentation of matters of justice in attic drama is often regarded as better (i.e. more democratic, more just, or truer) than the kind of (simplified) stories on offer in the courts, and therefore better suited to educate citizen-judges. This chapter turns to Euripides' Hecuba to show why we should be cautious about embracing this view, and why the so-called “teachings” of attic drama do not translate neatly into the practice of democratic judgment elsewhere. The chapter therefore challenges assumptions about the unity of the Athenian public sphere. At the same time, I suggest that attic drama encouraged citizens to have a keener awareness of the presence and risks of duplicitous speech, which is integral to democratic judgment elsewhere.
Isegoria in Herodotus: It's Stupid Good: Lindsay Mahon Rathnam (Duke Kunshan University)
Abstract: In this paper, I will explore the defence of isegoria (equal right of speech, a concept that in some ways overlaps with freedom of speech) offered by the ancient Greek thinker Herodotus. Herodotus vigorously defends isegoria, declaring that “it is not only in respect of one thing but of everything that equal right of speech is clearly a good.” Yet despite his resounding endorsement, his nuanced account is alert to the dangers and difficulties that are concomitant with free speech.The complex picture of equal right of speech on display in Herodotus’ multidimensional, cross-cultural narrative suggests that the right to speech is not just incidentally but essentially bound up with some undesirable outcomes, and yet remains politically worthwhile. In that, Herodotus’ defence of isegoria runs counter to the classical liberal defence of free speech espoused by John Stuart Mill in On Liberty, in which free speech improves public debate. For Herodotus, equal speech is good not because it leads to good ideas — in fact, his narrative shows that it usually leads to bad ones. Instead, his account suggests that what makes equal speech a good thing is how it engenders inclusion and energy. For Herodotus, this democratic vitality is so important to that the stupidities that equal speech encourages are worth it. Because of this, his nuanced treatment of equal speech can help clarify some of the stakes involved in the free speech debates raging today.
Thomas More on Political Corruption: Robert Sparling (University of Ottawa)
Abstract: This paper will read Thomas More’s Utopia as a reflection on the problem of political corruption, understood both in the mundane sense of the abuse of political power for private gain and in the more profound sense of decay and moral depravity. A persistent theme in the secondary literature on Utopia concerns the question of whether this state represents an ideal or whether it is an indictment of political idealism, but this either/or is misplaced: the core of the text’s message is precisely the dialogue between purity and disease, immortality and decay, insular perfection and the evil exported to the mainland. Utopia suggests that though corruption can be forestalled by institutional design, its fundamental sources—pride and envy—cannot be extirpated by such means. More indicates subtly the manner in which corruption suppressed within emerges without in more virulent forms. But his is not a counsel of despair—on the contrary, he invites us to admire Utopia’s institutional cures even as he diagnoses the Utopians’ persistent, unrecognized—and externalized—corruption. In contrast to ideal theory, which brackets the core pathologies of the political in devising its notions of well-ordered societies, More’s Utopia is a thoroughgoing reflection on the difficulties of human weakness and institutional design. If the term ‘utopia’ has come to be widely employed as a synonym for dreamy idealism, More’s text is an exercise in political realism of the first order.
Interrupting the Play: Theatricality and Performance in Renaissance Political Theory: Peter Galambos (Sheridan College)
Abstract: Dating back to classical Greece, the theatrum mundi - the world as stage - metaphor is one of the oldest found in writing. For much of its early history, the metaphor enjoyed a relatively stable meaning. The Stoics might have emphasized the futility and fatedness of life and Christians divine providence and the temptations of earthly pleasures, but almost universally, the theatrum mundi metaphor used to remind people of the vanity of human achievements. However, beginning in the sixteenth century in England, the metaphor gained both a new popularity and a new meaning. In a sense, the focus of the metaphor shifted from the stage onto the actor. Instead of a reminder of human frailty and futility - the world is only a stage - it began to signify the possibilities (and indeed dangers) inherent in our ability, as actors, to assume new and different identifies. This paper explores the use of the metaphor in Renaissance political theory. Focusing on the work of authors like Thomas More and Erasmus, it reveals how the metaphor was used to underscore the important roles of theatricality and performance in political, and indeed everyday, life. Together, such thinkers crafted a compelling case for the poignant (and controversial) political position that on the stage of life, it is always wise to play along with the drama, even if one’s ultimate aim is to subvert it. Through historical and contemporary examples, this paper reveals the novelty and significance of this new Renaissance interpretation of the theatrum mundi metaphor.