Dangerous Truths Research Articles

Lying To Our Children

Most parents lie to their children. They do it for fun, as a method of behaviour control, and to protect children from what they consider to be dangerous truths. At the same time, most parents bring their children up with the message that honesty is a virtue and that lying is usually wrong. How should our practice and our preaching be reconciled? In this paper, I examine the ethics of parental lies. Most philosophers who have written on the ethics of deception have focused on deception of and by autonomous adults. I therefore begin by surveying this literature. Contemporary philosophers have given three types of reason to explain what makes lying wrong (when it is wrong): negative consequences, breaches of trust, and interference with autonomy. I briefly analyze what constitutes a breach of trust and identify four factors that affect how bad a breach is. I then explicate how lying can constitute a wrongful interference with autonomy. A long-running debate concerns whether lying is ethically different than other forms of deception. I argue—briefly—that we do not need to resolve this debate in order to evaluate parental deception. Armed with a framework for what makes lying to autonomous adults wrongful, I turn to the special case of parental lying. Since the parent-child relationship is typically very close, lying to one’s child is a relatively serious breach of trust. This is exacerbated in the case of serious lies that implicate the parent-child relationship or the child’s identity. On the other hand, at least for young children, concerns about autonomy are less significant than for autonomous adults. I close by applying my analysis, along with data on the consequences of parental deception, to different types of parental lie. I argue that lying to one’s child is more rarely justified than is commonly thought, and delineate the circumstances in which it can be justified.

Universalism and Historicism: A Conflicting Inheritance of the Enlightenment

ABSTRACT Enlightenment thought and its contemporary followers usually support two contradictory principles simultaneously. The first is universality. Truth is universal because it is truth for all. Claims to universality are made in logic and science, but also in areas that are culturally or politically controversial. Recently, universalism has become a key term to express a fundamental critique of identity politics. For much of European history, Christianity provided such a universal truth. But with the decline of its cultural hegemony and the rise of particular nation-states, conflicting truth claims became weapons in violent conflicts, leading Hobbes to argue that dangerous truth claims must be neutralized by robust political power. In the eighteenth century, rationalism became more optimistic, interpreting universalism as cosmopolitanism based on universal reason and progress through history. The second principle is historicism, which is the self-reflexive look at the historical origins of universal claims and theories. Historicism emerged in the nineteenth century as a response to the application of rationalism to history. It challenged the universal claims of the French Revolution, emphasizing instead the unique value of each historical entity. This revealed a fundamental paradox: when universalism becomes self-reflexive, it recognizes that it has non-universal historical origins, thereby undermining itself. After the devastation of World War II and the Holocaust, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) represented a significant effort toward a new universalism. It sought to establish human rights as universal principles for the emerging world order. But history repeated itself: Historicism once again weakened confidence in human rights. The enemies of human rights take advantage of this weakness. We therefore have to live with the paradox that universalism is necessary because humanity shares a single world, but that historical self-reflection is also unavoidable. In other words, the Enlightenment principle of universalism must accept historicism as an integral part of itself.

Foucault and Weber on Leadership and the Modern Subject

I propose in this paper that Foucault’s interest in parrhesia as a “technique of the self,” particularly in his reading of Cynic parrhesia, can be fruitfully taken as an exemplar for new political thought on leadership. I make my case by comparing parrhesia with Weber’s charisma, which is the only force Weber allows for inserting new valuations into traditional and rational-legal legitimate dominations. I propose that charisma and parrhesia not only share several key characteristics, but express an overabundance of identities. Although it is rarely acknowledged, I propose that this should hardly be surprising given Foucault’s longstanding interest in Weber’s work. Foucault’s governmentality can be productively set next to Weber’s psycho-sociology of modern man, Menschentum, to reveal the parallel courses taken by these two thinkers on the modern predicament. Both share a critical curiosity – one that revolves around Kant’s presentation in “What is Enlightenment?” – about life, and about seeing how we have come to be how we are as a philosophical problem. Yet, even with all of their parallels, particularly on the subject of leadership, the staggering difference between Foucault and Weber is that while Weber approached charisma as a possible therapy to the problem of the Menschentum being unable to derive new valuations from his rational-legal calculations, Foucault approached parrhesia by looking for techniques for confronting disciplined and biopolitical subjects within society with dangerous truths. Whereas conventional wisdom may presume that it is at such points as Weber’s charismatic leadership that Weber and Foucault would part ways, careful study shows that leadership is a point of connection between these two thinkers.

Talking about Torture: How Political Discourse Shapes the Debate. By Jared Del Rosso. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. Pp. xviii+276. $50.00.

Talking about Torture: How Political Discourse Shapes the Debate. By Jared Del Rosso. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. Pp. xviii+276. $50.00.

Pixelated Flesh

The pixel and the technique of pixelating faces belong to a politics of fear and a digital aesthetics of truth that shapes public perceptions of criminality and the threat of otherness. This article draws on Paul Virilio’s account of the pixel in The Lost Dimension to analyze its specific role and operation in relation to contemporary representations of incarceration. In particular, the article considers the figure of the incarcerated informant. The incarcerated criminal or informant plays a complex role as both subversive other and purveyor of truth and as such constitutes an important example of the ways pixelation functions as a visible signifier of a dangerous truth while blurring, erasing, and ultimately dehumanizing those “speaking” this truth. The discussion forms part of a larger analysis of the production, framing, and circulation of images of otherness, identifying Virilio as key to debates around the violence of the screen.

The Haven by Carol Lynch Williams (review)

Reviewed by: The Haven by Carol Lynch Williams Alaine Martaus Williams, Carol Lynch. The Haven. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2014. [240p]. Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-312-69871-3 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-250-02253-0 $9.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 9-12. The Haven is a hospital and school where Shiloh and her friends are protected from the hostile forces outside and from the Disease that occasionally infects them, forcing doctors to remove an infected lung or leg or skin graft—or at least that’s [End Page 339] what the residents, young children and teens called Terminals, have been told. The rebellious Gideon, however, tells Shiloh the truth—they are actually clones, manufactured in a lab and kept healthy until their Receivers need a transplant—and urges her to join his escape plot. Meanwhile, the girl from whom Shiloh is cloned has died, and her family wants Shiloh freed to replace her. Now Shiloh must decide if she can stay at the Haven, knowing the terrifying and dangerous truth, or if she dares to risk her life for freedom, her friends, and the possibility of family. Readers familiar with Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go will find this novel a pale imitation, and fans of clone-centered science fiction will likely deduce its primary reveal from its very premise. Still, Shiloh emerges as a compelling character, as she fights a deeply entrenched desire to obey authority for the sake of her freedom and the lives of those she cares about. Even readers who guess the truth early on will get caught up in her emotional journey: her sense of betrayal, her fears of getting caught, and her hesitation to risk any connection with the reckless Gideon. The moral compass of the story points unwaveringly toward life and liberty for the clones, making this a solid recommendation for those who like their science fiction with clear heroes and villains as well as fans of clone-perspective stories like Farmer’s The House of the Scorpion (BCCB 2/02) and Pearson’s The Adoration of Jenna Fox (BCCB 4/08). Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Collective trauma processing: Dissociation as a way of processing postwar traumatic stress in Guinea Bissau

Guidelines on psychosocial interventions in postconflict areas commonly mention that interventions should be based on local needs and be built on culture-specific expertise. This paper is based on a dissociative cult, the Kiyang-yang (KYY), in Guinea Bissau. In a previous article, we used a refined definition of the concept of idiom of distress to analyze the dissociative behavior displayed in KYY as a symbolic language addressing politically dangerous truths. This paper uses the concept of "collective trauma processing" to analyze how the idiom offered the local population a pathway to mitigate the consequences of protracted and widespread political violence. The paper first argues that the field of psychotraumatology lacks a comprehensive ecological theory on trauma. Moreover, within clinical psychology and psychiatry, little attention is paid to local cultural healing mechanisms addressing traumatic stress. This paper is an effort to study such mechanisms in their own right. To compare trauma processing mechanisms across the globe, we propose to analyze trauma processing mechanisms with the help of a comprehensive model discerning five ontological dimensions that are considered to be involved in suffering and are addressed in healing approaches. Our paper describes similarities and differences between psychological healing traditions and collective trauma processing within the West African context of Guinea Bissau. We will illustrate how the KYY movement uses the idiom of dissociation as both a collective expression of distress and as a vehicle to process social suffering and traumatic stress as a circular phenomenon.

Splintered by A. G. Howard (review)

Reviewed by: Splintered by A. G. Howard Alaine Martaus Howard, A. G. Splintered. Amulet/Abrams, 2013. 371p. ISBN 978-1-4197-0428-4 $17.95 R* Gr. 10–12. As Alice traveled through Wonderland, she left chaos in her wake, and generations of her female descendants have been cursed with madness until the damage is repaired. Desperate to save her mother and eventually herself from the asylum, sixteen-year-old Alyssa Gardner takes up the family quest, returning to Wonder-land to clean up Alice’s mess. Along for the ride is her long-time crush Jeb, who gamely takes up the role of knight-defender as he fights to get Alyssa home safely. Complicating everything from her mission to her feelings, though, is Morpheus, a gorgeous moth-winged netherling from Alyssa’s childhood dreams, who acts as a guide but whose ulterior motives and deceitful nature undermine her efforts. As Alyssa journeys through Wonderland, encountering creatures both terrifying and familiar, she takes on the tasks that will repair Wonderland, including saving clams from a hideous walrus-like monster and rescuing the Cheshire Cat’s headless body from the belly of the Bandersnatch. At the same time, she unlocks the secrets of [End Page 337] her own past and discovers that the curse, her quest, and even the story of Alice might mask a far more dangerous truth. Wonderfully dark, weird, and twisted, this richly drawn refashioning of Carroll’s classic fantasy provides readers with more than just an alternative vision of Wonderland. The book is equal parts thrilling fantasy adventure, poignant family drama, and journey of self-discovery, offering a distinctive and original story that remains faithful to the spirit of its source. Strong-willed but emotionally fragile, Alyssa is an engaging heroine who fears looming madness but learns to revel in her gradually emerging magical powers. Jeb and Morpheus are both intriguing matches for Alyssa, attractive in opposite ways that are sure to have readers taking sides as the young men fight for her affection. Fans of dark fantasy, as well as of Carroll’s Alice in all her revisionings (especially Tim Burton’s), will find a lot to love in this compelling and imaginative novel. Copyright © 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Cut! Could the dragon do that again, please?

Cut! Could the dragon do that again, please?

Nietzsche's Last Laugh: Ecce Homo as Satire

Against the many who claim that Nietzsche's Ecce Homo is useless, madness, or merely inscrutable, my close analysis of the philosopher's last original composition reveals that his so-called autobiography actually inhabits an ancient literary form: satire. After establishing how to read this much-maligned book, I argue that Ecce Homo gives us the best example of Nietzsche interpreting his own philosophy, and constitutes a rhetorical and therapeutic strategy for him to engage and survive his "dangerous truths" through humor. Finally, I outline the import of reading Nietzsche as a satirist-not only in his final work, but across his corpus.

A conversation on practices of the self within relations of power: for scholars who speak dangerous truths

Through the voices of scholars and metalogues, this paper merges the experiences of five professors of education who disrupt the status quo with Foucault’s scholarship on practices of the self and parrhesia (the speaking of dangerous truths). The scholars challenge hegemony in education and its effects on students of color and students with limited economic resources. Their voices, presented as narratives in the text, are based on interviews with the professors. Metalogues, imagined conversations with Foucault, are used to illustrate the ways this paper draws on Foucault’s scholarship. Attention is paid to how the scholars practice technologies of the self within relations of power through three lenses (1) self‐knowledge: resisting repression, seduction and desire, (2) political activity and tactics, and (3) the self within systems of subjugation. A metalogue for scholars interested in advocating for social justice that supports the interests of local communities in urban environments ends the article.

Modern Metaphysics, Dangerous Truth, Post-Moral Ethics

So, what is the final word on the celebrated analytic philosopher Bernard William's final work, Truth and Truthfulness'} Is it, as The Economist contended in an otherwise admiring obituary, so obviously the swan-song of sick man that reviewers forbore draw attention its faults?1 Was Thomas Nagel right-despite his warm observation that virtuoso blend of analytic philosophy, classical scholarship, historical consciousness, and uninhibited curiosity marks Truth and Truthfulness unmistakably as work by Bernard Williams-that Truth and Truthfulness constitutes a very strange project, for it attempts bizarre, impossible twist on Nietzsche, trying derive intrinsic moral values from wholly materialist, wholly historicist genealogy of morals?2 Is it the case, as an Ethics review concluded, tiiat Truth and Truthfulness is disappointing in its treatment of truth as opposed myth, or perhaps interpretation?3 And is this not tragic if it is true, as the review also contends, that for ingenuity, provocativeness, breadth of knowledge, and sharp, elegant, highly memorable writing, there is no one touch Williams? And, given that the explicit ambition of Truth and Truthfulness was defeat dangerous deniers like Richard Rorty-Williams' prime named nemesis - is it not tragic when Barry Allen, in an otherwise highly respectful essay in History and Theory, is nonetheless forced devastating conclusion: Williams think that being serious about trudifulness requires being serious about truth, in sense that goes beyond due concern for accuracy and sincerity, neither of which presuppose anything beyond contingent discursive practice. He think that being serious about truth requires acknowledging standard transcending the contingent consensus of cultural politics. That is why Rorty 's pragmatism is so wickedly wrong. Yet there is no argument for either assumption in this book, which on this point must look Rorty as fifty percent missing the point (no pragmatist denies the value of truthfulness), and fifty percent begging the question.4 Is it not tragic when Allen's conclusion is echoed in Theological Studies review which, though it applauds Williams' care and honesty, calls for sharper positions and takes Williams task for sophomoric oversight, namely, of attempting to consider truth and truthfulness without ever entering the debates about the notion of truth itself'?5 In sum, does, swan-song of sick man constitute our most generous response Truth and Truthfulness! Or, is something more subtle and far more significant going on? This essay argues that Truth and Truthfulness makes clear that Williams, moving rigorously within analytic philosophical parameters, has long, though not without ambiguity, been traveling along Nietzschean trajectory. The reading advanced here is slightly strong, insofar as it moves beyond any orienting framework ever explicitly and unambiguously suggested by Williams. But the extensive use of Williams' own words should make clear that the conclusions are not unduly forced-and in their light it becomes clear that Williams' final work is no faltering swan-song, but brilliant strategic effort designed, for socio-political reasons, confound straightforward reading. More significantly, this essay attempts delineate profound but largely unarticulated philosophical consensus among Western philosophers typically considered be in almost wholesale opposition. For instance, it will become clear that the often fierce feud between Williams and Rorty is spate between close philosophical siblings. Indeed, contrary common misperception, it should become clear that the sole remaining disagreement Williams has with Rorty concerns what Williams takes be Rorty's naive faith in truth. Williams: Ethical Realist Williams is frequently read as an ethical realist. It is in this vein that Allen in History and Theory concluded that Williams seems think that being serious about truth requires acknowledging standard transcending the contingent consensus of cultural politics. …

PAUL'S APPROPRIATION OF THE ROLE OF THE FOOL IN 1 CORINTHIANS 1–4

AbstractThis essay suggests that Paul's acceptance of the role of the "fool," and, arising out of this, his evaluation of the message of the cross as "folly," are best understood against the background of the popular theater and the fool's role in mime. The interpretation is, therefore, a corrective to the traditional view that the proclamation of the crucified Christ was an absurdity to the people of the ancient world. The essay also offers an alternative to the attempt, in some recent monographs and commentaries, to subsume Paul's "foolishness" under the category of the anti-rhetorical. The essay argues that the term "folly" was generally understood as a designation of the attitude and behavior of a particular social type, the lower class buffoon. As a source of amusement, these lower class types were widely represented on the stage in the vulgar and realistic comedy known as the mime. The essay suggests that Paul's Corinthian detractors labeled him as a "fool," in contrast to the eloquent and sophisticated Apollos. Paul's acceptance of the role of the fool mirrors the strategy of a number of intellectuals in the early Empire, who exploited the paradoxical freedom which the role permitted for the utterance of a dangerous truth.

Teaching beyond Once Upon a Time

Argues that the purpose of teaching students to read includes challenging children to take up books that contain “dangerous truths.” Discusses two such books: “Forged by Fire” by Sharon Draper and “The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963” by Christopher Paul Curtis. Includes children’s statements regarding why they insist on being able to read good books about tough issues.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:The Behaviour of Cattle, JL Albright and CW Arave.Equine Practice 3, edited by M Melling and M Alder, WB Saunders Co.Clinical Veterinary Toxicology, G Lorgue, J Lechenet, A Riviere.Spoiled. The Dangerous Truth About a Food Chain Gone Haywire.Farm Animal Behaviour and Welfare, AF Fraser and DM Broom.My Friend Bronty, David Ellsworth Production.Books and audiotapes received.'The Shetland Pony by Anna Hodson.

Spoiled: the dangerous truth about a food chain gone haywire

Spoiled: the dangerous truth about a food chain gone haywire

Dangerous Truths & Criminal Passions: The Evolution of the French Novel, 1569–1791 by Thomas DiPiero

Bo o k R ev iew s More that is new is available in the section on poetry. Gérard Defaux relates Clément M arot’s moi to the 16th-century’s general pulsion autobiographique, and to problems of genre and sincerity. Robert D. Cottrell discusses Pernette du Guillet’s “ logic of aggressivity ” with his usual sharp eye for sexual implications. Robert Griffin sets the concept of wisdom which he sees as dominating Du Bellay’s Regrets against a fascinating general back­ ground on sophia. Glyn P. Norton, in the most stimulating piece of this section (with wellchosen illustrations), shows the importance of the interrelated concepts of kairos, occasio and metanoia for Du Bellay’s “ emblematics of regret.” And Gregory de Rocher deals in detail with Ronsard’s dildo sonnet, and its revision by François Rasse des Nœux in order to satirize the nuns of Poissy. The Montaigne articles are varied and thought-provoking. Richard L. Regosin demon­ strates that Montaigne’s “ child of the mind” image illuminates his paradoxical attitude to rhetoric. Lawrence D. Kritzman analyzes Montaigne’s “ fantastic monsters and the con­ struction of gender.” François Rigolot provides a charmingly neat connection between La Boétie (whose verse quoted in III. 13 has a different meaning in its original context) and “ Béotie” (Boeotia, home of Plutarch). Gisèle Mathieu-Castellani meditates on “ crise dans les Essais,” crises of representation, and the dialectic of presence and absence. And André Tournon ends the book with a convincing claim for the importance of Montaigne’s revi­ sions, specifically his changes in punctuation and addition of capital letters; yet more evi­ dence that modern editions seriously misrepresent him. The volume also contains a preface by the editor, a photo of the dedicatee, and a list of his publications. Different readers will have different preferences among these 15 contribu­ tions, but I think all will conclude that Floyd Gray’s discipline, in part thanks to him, is alive and flourishing. B a r b a r a C . B o w e n Vanderbilt University Thomas DiPiero. D a n g e r o u s T r u t h s & C r im in a l P a s s io n s : T h e E v o l u t i o n o f t h e F r e n c h N o v e l, 1569-1791. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992. Pp. vii + 401. S35. Thomas DiPiero’s Dangerous Truths & Criminal Passions challenges received notions of the novel as a bourgeois art form. Whatever may be true of later French novels, or English novels studied in W att’s classic The Rise o f the Novel, DiPiero finds that the earli­ est French prose fictions “ articulated the French aristocracy’s hegemonic claims to natural ascendancy” (v). Confronted with social and economic challenges from an increasingly absolutist monarchy and the encroachments of a rising middle class, the “ ancient aristoc­ racy’’ responded by ‘‘claiming . . . an abstract and essentialistic notion of virtue and merit” (14). Intended for and the expression of an embattled class, “ the seventeenth century novel engaged in a continual polemic with the discursive configurations of power” (3). DiPiero examines an impressive array of late sixteenth- and seventeenth-century texts, ranging from the well-known (La Princesse de Clèves) to the obscure and nearly forgotten. For his essays on eighteenth-century novels, he has selected fewer but still illuminating texts. While DiPiero’s focus, as the subtitle indicates, is “ The Evolution o f the French Novel, 1569-1791,” his thesis has important ramifications for students of the European novel in general, for novels such as Scudèry’s Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus enjoyed a tremendous vogue outside France. Scholars of other national literatures and comparatists alike will want to examine the relevance, not simply of DiPiero’s thesis, but also of the specific works he examines (both in translation and in imported or pirated originals) for their own fields. Vol. XXXV, No. 2 103 L ’E spr it C r éa te u r DiPiero’s argument will need to be tested and refined in other ways as well...

Dangerous Truths and Criminal Passions: The Evolution of the French Novel, 1569-1791

Dangerous Truths and Criminal Passions: The Evolution of the French Novel, 1569-1791

<i>Dangerous Truths and Criminal Passions: The Evolution of the French Novel 1569-1791</i> (review)

<i>Dangerous Truths and Criminal Passions: The Evolution of the French Novel 1569-1791</i> (review)

Dangerous Truths and Criminal Passions: The Evolution of the French Novel, 1569-1791.

Introduction Part I. The Construction of a Genre: 1. The rise of aristocratic fiction 2. The ideology of realism in the early seventeenth century 3. Polexandre and the politics of heroic fiction 4. The alienation and commodification of the novel Part II. The Development of the Modern Novel: 5. Le Roman bourgeois and the modern novel 6. A discourse of one's own: La Princesse de Cleves 7. Mastery and seduction in eighteenth-century fiction 8. 'Burn the letter!': La Religieuse 9. Justine and the discourse of the (Other) master Afterword Index.