endsthegame (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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fandomhigh2021-07-23 03:15 pm
endsthegame) wrote in fandomhigh2021-07-23 03:15 pm
Entry tags:
Practical Philosophy, Friday
"We'll talk about the reading I gave you next week," Ender said, meeting everyone on the lawn, under the blue skies. "Today, I'd like to discuss what happened to you these past few weeks."
He sat down, picking up a book. "All those eyes intent on me. Devouring me. What? Only two of you? I thought there were more; many more. So this is hell. I’d never have believed it. You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the 'burning marl.' Old wives’ tales! There’s no need for red-hot pokers. Hell is other people!"
He closed the book. "That quote from the play No Exit by the philosopher Jean Paul Sartre has been long-misunderstood," he said. "He's not making some edgy comment about how terrible other people are. Rather, Sartre was reflecting on what it means to be looked at by other people; how as your self, you can be many things, but when you are surrounded by others, trapped by their gaze, they lock you into some version of yourself. You are seen. You are judged. And you are no longer free, because you behave according to that knowledge."
The book found its way onto a blanket, and Ender reached for a bottle of water. "I'm Andrew Skywalker, for those of you I haven't met yet," he said. "This last while, you might have found yourself trapped with others physically underground, or trapped with others in worry above. What was it like?"
He sat down, picking up a book. "All those eyes intent on me. Devouring me. What? Only two of you? I thought there were more; many more. So this is hell. I’d never have believed it. You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the 'burning marl.' Old wives’ tales! There’s no need for red-hot pokers. Hell is other people!"
He closed the book. "That quote from the play No Exit by the philosopher Jean Paul Sartre has been long-misunderstood," he said. "He's not making some edgy comment about how terrible other people are. Rather, Sartre was reflecting on what it means to be looked at by other people; how as your self, you can be many things, but when you are surrounded by others, trapped by their gaze, they lock you into some version of yourself. You are seen. You are judged. And you are no longer free, because you behave according to that knowledge."
The book found its way onto a blanket, and Ender reached for a bottle of water. "I'm Andrew Skywalker, for those of you I haven't met yet," he said. "This last while, you might have found yourself trapped with others physically underground, or trapped with others in worry above. What was it like?"
Talk to Ender