Is there a reason that the creators of Lost picked the names Locke and Rousseau? Is this some kind of foreshadowing? Does this tell us something about their personalities, or about their philosophical relavence to the show?
Those who do not believe that every thing in abc’s LOST (with the possible exception of that nonsense episode about Paulo and Nikki being buried alive) happens for a reason designed to give us all braingasms at the show’s ultimate conclusion… need not answer.
(Furthermore, if you are one of those people who reads Lost cheats, please don’t answer. I’m looking for creative, thoughtful answers and conversations here!)
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Well, on the Locke part, it could have roots in ancient politics. In the book, Ender’s Game, Locke is a pivotal character, and if memory serves me correctly, it’s derived from something from history. I don’t watch lost at all, so I have no idea as to the relevance.
I can’t summarize either philosopher succinctly either. But “Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau” are the three often floated in political science courses as the fodder for the intellectual climate that produced the American Revolution. Each had a different take on a popular thought experiment at the time: What is “man’s” condition in the “state of nature”? i.e., if you could abstract people from specific civilizations, what is human nature, and, following your answer to that, what is the best political system that can be designed to accommodate and build off that nature.
The connections are clear. One of many thought experiments in the Lost narratives is what is human nature when you through a bunch of us into the jungle together. Can we function without law? Is life nasty, brutish and short (I think that quote is from Hobbes)? Are humans naturally cooperative? Is power and dominance necessary in a society?
(I don’t think I’d get many points from my undergrad poli-sci profs for this post, but we’ll just hope they’re not reading.)
right—i understand the implications broadly, and yes, i agree that they are clear. but i’m talking about, i suppose, a more detailed analysis of the individuals. afterall, they’ve left out hobbes, presumably for a reason!
and now they’ve added jeremy bentham!!!
Hobbes did say, memorably, that life was (among other things) nasty, brutal, and short.
And the three of them believed in versions of the social contract. Rousseau wrote EMILE, about a fantasy experiment of isolating a boy and educating him w. only one teacher. Read the book.
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