Talk:MSTU5606 9

From Studyplace

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Contents 1 Study Group Discussion

Study Group Discussion

 Thanks to Kate for coming to the study group and discussing the texts this past Monday. Our conversation circled around the concept of cult value, the distinction between a world informed by a teleological form of thought and a one informed by a scientific form of thought, as well as the ideas presented in "The Genesis of the Self and Social Control." In our attempt to understand aspects of this essay we wondered if the second definition of "consciousness" on p. 255 might relate to the concept of cult value:

"The other use of consciousness to which I refer is in the sense of certain contents, to wit, the sense qualities of things, more especially the so-called secondary qualities, the affections of the body of the sentient organism, especially those that are pleasurable and painful, the contents of images of memory and imagination, and of the activities of the organism, so far as they appear in its experience."

My feeling is that when we found this question, we were struggling to understand Mead's very conceptual venture in and out of the individual to describe the way in which an individual becomes a self (by organizing "his own response by the tendencies on the part of others to respond to his act" p267) and the way selves create self consciousness by "taking the attitudes of others who are involved in his conduct" and becoming "an object for himself" (p268). We were relating the above passage to cult value perhaps because of our interest in cult value's conservative nature. We made the link between a centralized, teleological view outlined by Mead and power structures in communities like Toennies gemeinschaft, which springs from organic will, which takes root in actions similar to what was outlined in the above passage. It's a tenuous link but gave us pause for thought in our early stages of reading.

These are only cursory thoughts, I am interested in the full discussion to come this afternoon.

Dzula 15:11, 28 October 2009 (UTC)