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Philosophy The Other Side of Daily Life
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The Other Side of Daily Life By Kim Hyong-eok
``A man is a rope joining a beast and Ubermensch (ideal man) together,'' said Friedrich W. Nietzsche, a German philosopher. Most people do not allow themselves to degenerate into being like beasts. Even so, they cannot easily improve into ideal men.
We easily conclude that what we want is unattainable under a given condition. What Nietzsche called ``Ubermensch'' is a man who does what he or she wants. ``Ubermensch'' is not a superman.
Why do we easily give up the idea of doing what we want? This is because we are forced to play ``gender roles.''
The area where we play these roles is that of daily life. We are colonized by our daily life. The reality of daily life is only a ritual and obsession. It seems that we are trying to be fulfilled through self-repression. We are religious. Thus, ``Ubermensch'' means a superman to us. We are willing to face the prospect of learning how to efface ourselves.
Daily life is propelled by religious dogma. We are like tops, a round-shaped object spinning by external force. We are ``simulacres,'' pseudo-entities.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Swiss philosopher, said, ``A sword damages its sheath.'' Gender discourse not only provokes deep damage inside our subjectivity but also injures our health. Owing to gender discourse, we are willing to risk our life. This looks like a ``cultivated risk.''
We need to consider Foucault's notion of ``self-care.'' ``Self-care'' means becoming a subjective man, not one of the people forced to be thrown into daily life. In other words, Foucault's term ``technologies of the self'' are needed to pass the limits of daily life. There is a way of personal happiness beyond daily life.
Each of us is composed of multiple selves. The multiple personalities are what Deleuze and Guattari call ``bodies without organs.'' The ``bodies without organs'' means our psyche amounts to a crowd that is mechanically quilted by heterogeneous people. There is a ``body without organs'' called self-oppression that should be eliminated from us.
Genuine freedom does not lie in a high standard of living. The pursuit of a high living standard rids us of genuine freedom. The culture of consumption equalizes our life, creating ``pseudo-individuality.'' It also causes a reification (thingification) of ourselves. ``Commodity itself'' is becoming part of our identity.
We should reconsider all of the things that we believe are right. We need to wage a revolution against ourselves. As Albert Camus put it, ``We are men of revolt.'' Let us worship ourselves.
The writer lives in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province. He can be reached at globalleader@hanmail.net.
Question
1. Presider will question someone randomly on the important points of the reference.
2. What is your image of ideal person(happiness)? And what kind of things does he have?
3. Think about carefully the reason why you have thought those things are good.
Is it because of religion? or mass media? your parents?
4. Does your 'ideal image' work well in your daily life?
5. What do we have to do to make one's own culture, view of life?
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