Reading Notes from the Underground by Dostoevsky. If you ever wondered what this book is about, the following pretty much sums it up. Predictors of human behavior, as the underground man says, generally assume we will act in our own best interests. But do we? The same question might be asked today, when “rational-choice theory” is still a predictive model for economists and sociologists and many others. When working-class whites vote for Republican policies that will further reduce their economic power—are they voting in their best interests? What about wealthy liberals in favor of higher taxes on the rich? Do people making terrible life choices—say, poor women having children with unreliable men—act in their best interests? Do they calculate at all? What if our own interest, as we construe it, consists of refusing what others want of us? That motive can’t be measured. It can’t even be known, except by novelists like Dostoevsky. Reason is only one part of our temperament, the underground man says. Individualism as a value includes the right to screw yourself up. This explains to me why you can beat your own brains out trying to convince someone (your loved one or others you care about) that you know when something is not in their best interest and they do it anyway! Its because they can and because they have the right to screw themselves up!
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 11:01:06 +0000