#foucoult

[loveinthetimeofmrsa]

Perception

“All light has past over the thin flame of the eye, which now flickers around solid objects and , in so doing, establishes their place and form. Rational discourse is based less on the geometry of light than on the insistent, impenetrable density of the object, for prior to all knowledge, the source, the domain, and the boundaries of experience can be found in its dark presence.”

[ilsimplicissimusblog]

Effetto Althusser

Louis Althusser

Anna Lombroso per il Simplicissimus

” Ecco la scena del delitto proprio come l’ ho vissuta…. Sono in piedi, in vestaglia, ai piedi del mio letto nel mio appartamento dell’ ‘ Ecole normale’ ….  Davanti a me, Hélène … Inginocchiato vicino a lei le massaggio il collo. Mi è capitato spesso di massaggiarla in silenzio, la nuca, la schiena, e i reni… Ma questa volta, è la parte…

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[murtachimode]

Systemic Stuff!

[hamishmacpherson]

Beyond Good and Evil

[hoppingaround]

Today is Leon Foucault's birthday :) I remember my visit to the London Science museum where there was a Foucault's pendulum :) the string hangs from 4 floors above.

Leon Foucault, a french scientist, noticed that the direction of swing of a pendulum appeared to move in a circle. He realized that pendulum could be used to show the earth's spinning, and set up the first Foucault pendulum  in his cellar in 1851. Later that year a very large one was set up in Paris. 

In the North Pole, the direction of the swing of the pendulum does not change in space, so the pendulum shows the earth turning beneath it in 24 hours. Here in London, it's not so simple, the direction of the pendulum's swing moved around a circle in about 30.5 hrs. As we travel towards the Equator, the direction of the swing moves more slowly and at the Equator, no movement is seen. In the southern hemisphere, the direction of swing moves in the opposite direction.

This pendulum at the museum, is 22.4 meters long. It is kept in motion against damping (air damping) by an electrical impulse system.

[quinnsomerside]

Panopticon and Religion

For those of you that know Foucault's Panopticon, you may skip this brief explanation I will give for those who have not. Picture this, a doughnut-shaped prison in which all of the cells are facing the center where there is a massive guard tower that can see into all of the cells. The tower is completely illuminated so none of the inmates can see in, but the guards (or presumed guards) can see out. This was his basic idea, that the prison could virtually have only one or two or even no guards watching over the inmates because the inmates would watch themselves. Because the inmates could never see if there were guards watching them, they would simply assume they always were. This "watchful eye" would then be supported if every-so-often a sign of a guard being there was shown, but that could also be done without anyone actually being there, such as a recorded announcement or footsteps or innumerable things. In more contemporary terms, look at the cameras on the corners of "dangerous" streets. The idea behind it is that people will see them being there and not do illegal things such as steal or murder, in case the police is watching and will find them. Maybe there is someone who holds power watching the cameras... Maybe not. Now, put this in context of religion. We are told by our preachers, or in our younger years, simply by our parents that there is a man in the sky always watching us. So, we learn not to lie, steal, cheat, or masturbate. This watchful eye stops amazing things from happening, and it doesn't even exist. But the church has gotten people to believe so fervently that he always is that people will go against their own human nature to stay on his good side. And for what? A seat next to him in heaven? So, they wont have sex with the person they actually want to, they wont kill the person they hate, they wont go after that job they dream of, all just in case that guy is watching them. Of course, a question comes up of why the church would want that? Well, why does any establishment make rules? To keep order. They don't want people to kill, so they say its a sin to murder. They don't want people to steal, so they say it is is a sin to steal. They want society to have equal duality, so they say its a sin to cheat. They want to populate the earth with more people like them so as to further these rules and traditions, so they say it is a sin to masturbate and have homosexual relations. It really is such amazingly simple concept, so why don't people think of it? Well, why didn't you? Because it IS so simple and because we live in the society that does it. Only when you look outside, read outside texts, make EVERYTHING into an issue and into something to scrutinize do you find the pervasive, sickening truths about our societies. Climbing the rabbits fur, if you will. And you always should.