Term Paper on "Autonomy Metaphor: Men as Leaves John Locke"

Term Paper 15 pages (4962 words) Sources: 14 Style: MLA

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Autonomy Metaphor: Men as Leaves

John Locke's Moral Theory

Leaves of Grass & Autonomy

The concept of Autonomy in "Paradise Lost"

Aeneid and Free Will

Inferno

The idea of freedom in Nature

Autonomy and Liberty in the Literary Context

The concept of Practical Freedom in the philosophy of Kant

Equality and Freedom

The evolution of the idea of autonomy:

Within the conceptual framework of traditional philosophy, it is indeed very difficult to understand how freedom and non-sovereignty can exist together…Actually it is as unrealistic to deny freedom because of the fact of human non-sovereignty as it is dangerous to believe that once can be free…as an individual or as a group…only if he is sovereign..Under human conditions…freedom and sovereignty are so little identical that they cannot even exist simultaneously." (Hannah Arendt, 164)

Autonomy can simply be defined as the ability to act independently. Autonomous actors are free agents having a control on their fates to govern their affairs without the constraints of others or the structure and they also need to hold sufficient resources and power to make their desires effective. It means full liberty. An autonomous actor would act from its desires rather than other forces like the influence of the structure over agency. The term "autonomy" is derived from the Greek "autos" (self) and "nomos" (law or rule), and means literally "the having or making of one's own laws." (John Christ

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man, 27)

The current thesis focuses the evolution of the concept of autonomy in the metaphor of men as leaves. The author will discuss the idea of liberty and independence as discussed by Whitman, Kant, and Aristotle. The author will also discuss the John Locke's theory of the state of nature as relevant for natural moral rights. The evolution of concept of liberty; positive and negative liberty and how they are related to each other as well as moral theory followed by a discussion of the appropriate concept of human liberty.

Autonomy and Liberty in the Literary Context

The literature on freewill and determinism is one of the most extensive discussions in the history of philosophy (Kane, 23) yet, libertarians have a great difficulty in finding an explanation for the "Libertarian Dilemma," which is related to the problem of compatibility between free-will and indeterminism. Even if there are agency actions that are not determined, they must be indeterminate, which would mean that they are actually happenings of chance. If it is by chance then its explanation turns to be arbitrary. Even if we recognize the existence of chance and its incompatibility with determinism, it seems to be incompatible with indeterminism as well. "Even some of the greatest defenders of libertarianism, such as Immanuel Kant, have argued that we need to believe in libertarian freedom to make sense of morality and true responsibility, but we cannot completely understand such a freedom in theoretical and scientific terms. (Kane, 2005)

Externalism, in principle, does not reject the idea of free-will but because of its broader framework provides the ground for integrating individual properties. If an externalist theory is able to ignore individual properties at the early stage just by providing a comprehensive nature for agency, it can integrate them in a compatibility form. Compared to irreversible nature of internalist assumptions, externalist theories can refine the intentions of agents.

Within his constructivist theory, Piaget described two kinds of morality, autonomy and heteronomy. By autonomy, Piaget did not mean the independence of doing things by oneself or the right to self-governs. The autonomous person has the ability to be self-governing and to think for oneself. According to Kamii, "Autonomy is the ability to decide between right and wrong in the moral realm and between truth and untruth in the intellectual realm by taking all relevant factors into account, independently of rewards or punishments" (p. 672). Deci and Ryan defined autonomy as "action that is chosen; action for which one is responsible," (p. 1025) whereas heteronomous individuals are governed by someone other than themselves. Autonomy, mutual respect, and empowerment are the goals of the constructivist classroom (Fosnot, 38). If adults do not overuse their authority, children naturally evolve toward autonomous thinking. Although young children are not yet developmentally or emotionally capable of being autonomous, this does not invalidate supporting all children in the process of learning and developing the attitudes and abilities they will need to become self-regulating as adults (Palmer & Wehmeyer, 115).

Yet there are debates on the freedom that there is two types of liberty negative and positive. Early realists like Niebuhr were of the view that human nature is actually bad, relating that assumption to the concept of original sin.

"but thought this be a state of liberty, yet it is not a state of license; though man in the state have an uncontrollable liberty to dispose of his or possessions, yet he has not liberty to destroy himself, or so much as any creature in this possession, but where some nobler use than its bare preservation calls for it. The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges everyone; and reason which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it, that, being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions."

The principle of liberty is fundamental for liberation theories of justice. It appears to be widely assumed by many libertarians and their critics that a fundamental natural right to liberty is a fundamental right to negative liberty. As such, liberty is seen as a competing principle with human welfare. (35) there has been a debate that an adequate principle of liberty would need to incorporate aspects of the negative and positive notions. Our moral right to liberty, hence, would include some measure of positive freedom as well.

Within the confines of libertarian theory it would seem that ideal theory and the presumption of strict compliance are essential in delimiting our moral rights. However, one of the problems in saying this is that libertarians are themselves of different persuasions. Normore helps to clarify this for us:

"Libertarian capitalists and libertarian socialists have both, as their best, been motivated by the belief that persons should be free from the impediments which give others power over them. The have disagreed about what those are." (Normore, 201)

Leaves of Grass & Autonomy

Leaves of Grass is the famous collections poetry by Walt Whitman. Here we see the evolution of independences and freedom such as his poem "the song of myself" where he states;'

Swiftly arose and spread around me the peace and knowledge that pass all the argument of the earth,

And I know that the hand of God is the promise of my own,

And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own,

And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women my sisters and lovers,

In his poetry we find the evolution of idea of independence and liberty of man. He used his poetic ability in the favor of human liberty and against the slavery. It was in 1845 when he started supporting the ordinary workers and unionism. Basically he was of the view that slavery is not good economically as the broadening the trend of slavery and discovering new states for obtaining slaves will ultimately led to the less jobs for Whiteman. Later his views were completely changed about and turned to be against slavery when he heard the lecture of Henry Giles. Giles was successful to convince his that slavery was unjust "by focusing on the slave's humanity instead of the slaveholder's immorality and cruelty" (Loving 112). This change of focus can be found in Leaves of Grass. Also at this point we find that he rediscovered the Emerson as in his book Brooklyn Eagle, he quoted a paragraph (113) by Emerson stating;

When the act of reflection takes place in the mind, when we look at ourselves in the light of thought, we discover that our life is embalmed in beauty. Behind us, we go, all things assume pleasing forms, as clouds do afar off. Not only things familiar and stale, but even the tragic and the terrible, are lures of memory…Even the corpse that has lain in the chambers, has added a lose men ornament to the house. The soul will not know either deformity or pain (Loving, 113)

The echo of Emerson's philosophy can be felt in the Whitman Leaves of Grass and it seems that his ideas when comes under Whitman cover a great meaning.

Leaves of Grass was published in 1855 by Whitman. It was such a great work that immediately after its publication both supporter and opponents showed great reaction. We also find the evolution of equality in a "nature that is shared by all individuals alike" and this is the major concept that emerged in his poetry. This statement of equality is evident from "I speak the pass-primeval…I give the sign of democracy, By God!… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Autonomy Metaphor: Men as Leaves John Locke" Assignment:

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Earlier rather than later would be great! This essay should be mostly a close reading paper which articulates a clear, well-structured argument about the evolution of the idea of autonomy in Western Canon as exemplified through the transformation of the metaphor of men as leaves. It seems to me that something smart may be said about human autonomy in the face of the divine, given the primary texts I*****'ve chosen, but anything pertaining to the idea of freedom is appropriate for this paper (the class is about the idea of freedom in the humanities- very vague, I know!)

I will attach a jstor pdf that may be useful (but it may not!) and a word document with the specific passages to be analyzed (you may choose to pick a couple of extra sentences, or lose some, if necessary. For example, I may have noted X.3-5, but you may actually need to look at X.1-10)).

I*****'m pasting what I wrote on the word document here below just in case! I listed some webpages at the end (for discussions on Leaves of Grass), but they may not be useful. Please use what is natural/makes sense with the overall argument. This is a completely free paper-- I made up the topic myself and am very sad that I don*****'t have time to write most of it-- so you may play around with the topic/sources (I would stick to the primary sources though) as necessary! Just make it good! It*****'s a fun topic, I think.

Since all of these books are uber-well-known I assume you can find cope of them and discuss the specific passages in terms of their textual context, the goals of the work, etc- as well as the historical framework, personal beliefs and/or cultural traits of the authors when necessary to understand their particular view of freedom, autonomy, divine power, etc.

Thank you very much! Please email me if you have ANY questions whatsoever.

Here goes the pasted doc!

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THE METAPHOR OF LEAVES AS MEN- HUMAN AUTONOMY AND THE DIVINE, or something like this (which will hopefully sound better!)

*I used different translations for some of the works (i.e. The Iliad); you*****ll have to choose which versions are available to you. Please connect different sources; point out differences; give context in historical/political terms when relevant, and always in terms of the work itself. Develop an argument in terms of some facet of the idea of freedom. I think that something may be garnered in terms of the notion of individuality and autonomy in the face of *****fate,***** the gods/God/divinity. I think these uses of the metaphor are different modulations of this problematic in terms of the author*****s time, social environment, beliefs, etc.

* Things that I hope you might be able to introduce somehow:

A reference to Emerson when discussing Whitman

The concepts of Negative and Positive liberty (from Isaiah Berlin*****s Two Concepts of Liberty)- and more arguments from his work, if necessary

Heroism and autonomy. How does the idea of heroism change and come into play in these uses of the metaphor of men as leaves? How do these authors conceive of the relationship between autonomy and/or liberty and heroism?

THE ILIAD

Thick as autumnal leaves, or driving sand,

The moving squadrons blacken all the strand. II.458-468

As is the generation of leaves, so is that of humanity. The wind scatters the leaves on the ground, but the live timber burgeons with leaves again in the season of spring returning. So one generation of men will grow while another dies.

The generation of men is like that of leaves. The wind scatters one year*****'s leaves on the ground, but the forest burgeons and and puts out others, as the season of spring comes round. So it is with men: on generation grows on, and another is passing away.

VI.146- 150

THE AENEID

Here, waves of them spill and splash to the shore,

Mothers and men and the corpses of great-hearted heroes

without any life in their limbs, boys and unwedded girls,

youths laid on the pyre before their parents***** eyes.

They are countless as leaves that fall in the forest,

loosened by autumn*****s first frost, as birds roiled up in a flock

when the season is cold, routed by turbulent skies,

fleeing the sea for lands that are warmed by the sun.

They stand there begging to be first to cross,

they stretch their hands for love of the opposite side.

-Virgil, Aeneid VI.305-314. The dead seek to cross the river Acheron.

DIVINE COMEDY, INFERNO

(106) And demon Charon with eyes like burning coals

(107) Herds them in, and with a whistling oar

(108) Flails on the stragglers to his wake of souls.

(109) As leaves in autumn loosen and stream down

(110) Until the branch stands bare above its tatters

(111) Spread on the rustling ground, so one by one

(112) The evil seed of Adam in its Fall

(113) Cast themselves, as his signal, from the shore

(114) And streamed away like birds who hear their call.

(115) So they are gone over that shadowy water,

(116) And always before they reach the other shore

(117) A new noise stirs on this, and new throngs gather.

III.106-117

PARADISE LOST

He walkt with to support uneasie steps [ 295 ]*****¨

Over the burning Marle, not like those steps*****¨

On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime*****¨

Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with Fire;*****¨

Nathless he so endur*****'d, till on the Beach

*****¨Of that inflamed Sea, he stood and call*****'d [ 300 ]*****¨

His Legions, Angel Forms, who lay intrans*****'t*****¨

Thick as Autumnal Leaves that strow the Brooks

*****¨In Vallombrosa, where th*****' Etrurian shades*****¨

High overarch*****'t imbowr; or scatterd sedge

*****¨Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm*****'d [ 305 ]*****¨

Hath vext the Red-Sea Coast, whose waves orethrew

*****¨Busiris and his Memphian Chivalry,

*****¨While with perfidious hatred they pursu*****'d*****¨

The Sojourners of Goshen, who beheld

*****¨From the safe shore thir floating Carkases [ 310 ]*****¨

And broken Chariot Wheels, so thick bestrown*****¨

Abject and lost lay these, covering the Flood,*****¨

Under amazement of thir hideous change.

I.295-313

LEAVES OF GRASS

Look at relevant poems in Leaves of Grass (*****leaves***** are used repeatedly*****look at examples below. Not all of the uses may be relevant), and/or focus on the use of the metaphor in *****Song of Myself,***** where the word is used seven times.

Swiftly arose and spread around me the peace and knowledge that pass *****¨all the argument of the earth, *****¨

And I know that the hand of God is the promise of my own, *****¨

And I know that the ***** of God is the brother of my own, *****¨

And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women *****¨my sisters and lovers, *****¨

And that a kelson of the creation is love, *****¨

And limitless are leaves stiff or drooping in the fields, *****¨

And brown ants in the little wells beneath them,

*****¨And mossy scabs of the worm fence, heap*****'d stones, elder, mullein and *****¨poke-weed.

*****Song of Myself*****

others (some may not be relevant to the analogy of men as leaves)

*****Here the Frailest Leaves of Me*****

*****Scented Herbage of My Breast*****

*****As Toilsome I Wander*****d Virginia*****s Wood*****

*****A Song for Occupations***** ** (good to explain WW*****s theory- see below)

*****"A Song for Occupations*****" in later editions, he explains:

We consider the bibles and religions divine . . . .

I do not say they are not divine,

I say they have all grown out of you and may

grow out of you still,

It is not they who give life . . . . it is you who

give the life;

Leaves are not more shed from the trees or

trees from the earth than they are shed

out of you.

Whitman believed that both the human body and consciousness bore the inimitable impress of the Almighty. (http://www.whitmanarchive.org/about/articles/anc.00007.html)

Sites:

*****Song of Myself***** (Text)

http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/logr/log_026.html

Leaves of Grass, sources:

http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/whitman/section2.rhtml

http://www.whitmanarchive.org/about/articles/anc.00007.html

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