Thanks, guys, for keeping me on task.

During our last few discussions we have found it easy to dismiss the dystopian society described in Huxley’s work.  “Of course someone would rebel against a society that cares so little about its citizens.  Of course it is not right to determine someone’s caste from birth.  Of course a person should rebel against morally unjust laws.”  Maybe, maybe not.

Enter Plato.  Written around 360 B.C.E., Plato’s Crito is a dialogue between Socrates, who has been condemned to die by the government of Athens, and his friend Crito, who wishes to help Socrates escape before his sentence can be carried out.  Their debate centers on the question of whether it is just to disobey laws one does not find just.  This may seem like a simple question, but we’ll see just how complex it is.

To add another position to the argument (from a related situation, but not the same), we will read Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”  In this letter, Dr. King makes a moral argument for disobeying unjust laws.

With these two readings, we will return to Brave New World with perhaps a different perspective.  Each of us may or may not come to a personal conclusion to these questions, but we will have a better awareness of the intricacies of this particular aspect of the Conformity/Rebellion discussion.

I love this.  Nothing makes me happier than a cross-disciplinary insight into a piece of literature.  We were discussing the fact that “particulars”—that is, the details necessary for a person to live in a time A.F.—are considered to be the basis of “virtue and happiness” in the novel, while generalities are merely an “intellectually necessary evil” (Huxley 4).  This philosophy seems to be adapted straight from assembly-line logic: a person (read: “worker”) needs only to know about his or her specific duty.  Thinking beyond that, to generalities, might create more questions and unnecessary thought.

Then JVW mentions left brain/right brain thinking.  Fantastic.

Now I give you this:

We’ll talk more tomorrow about chapter 3.