diderot

Question 1

when did Bougainvilles journey take place abd how long did he stay in Tahiti?

Answer 1

1766-9

he stayed for 10 days

Question 2

what is the book that supplement based on called?

Answer 2

voyage au tour du monde

Question 3

What text could be a precursor to some themes explored in supplement?

Answer 3

Des Cannibales- Montaigne, who described cannibalistic Brazilian rituals as having equivalent rituals in Christian societies in Europe
this can linked to the idea that ‘New world’ people were not necessarily inferior to those in Europe

Question 4

how were the people of the so called New World seen by 18th European century travellers ?

Answer 4

• less shackled by religion
• more ‘morally’ free
• happier
• less constrained by the highly technological/ industrial world

Question 5

what does Supplement warn against?

Answer 5

• the total condamnation of an unknown culture

- the unreserved praise of an alien culture

Question 6

What does our response to culture different tell us?

Answer 6

• tells us more about the limits of our own perspectives rather than about the cultures we observe
• we should reflect critically on our OWN culture before we attack another

Question 7

what is the subtitle?

Answer 7

Dialouges entre A et B sur l’inconvenient d’attacher des idees morales a certaines actions physiques qui n’en comportment pas
(dialouge between A and B on the inconvience of attaching moral ideas to physical actions that dont match)

Question 8

what is in conflict for Diderot?

Answer 8

religion and sexuality, as religion subjects the free expression of natural impulses to duty and rigid rules

Question 9

what does Orou think of religion/ property?

Answer 9

• sees it as repressive as couples are forced to remain faithful once desire is spent
• this places an artifical chain on the natural flux of physical desire

Question 10

impact of dialouge on A and B’s opinion

Answer 10

• dialogue abolishes any EXPLICT trace of authorial comment/ power
• creates a space where ideas can be discusses freely
• incites debate

Question 11

fictional vs real characters in supplement?

Answer 11

• the text bridges the gap between ficitonal and real dimentions, the fictional characters/ their comments and ideas are no less important than the real

Question 12

what does the dialouge between A and B demonstrate?

Answer 12

• serves as a figure of metaphorical dialouge that the text performs between two cultural milieus, Tahiti and Europe
• dialouge suggest taht interaction should be two sided, questions and answers RATHER than observation

Question 13

Imcomprehension in the text

Answer 13

• A cannot understand how Bougainville went from a sedantary life as a mathematician to an active life of travelling
• This introduces the theme of incomprehensibility
• this incomprehensibility exposes the limits of perspective, OFTEN shaped by prejudices/ preconceptions
• A’s confusion lies in the fact that he sees travelling as beign purelphysical, rather than mental

Question 14

what does the issue of translation mean?

Answer 14

• we are often alerted to the impossibility of translation
• these gaps prevent us from gaining TOTAL mastery over another culture
• this means that we develop a critical attotude about our information/ observationx

Question 15

what does the structure of a supplement in a supplement do?

Answer 15

it pushes us to create our own suppliment

Question 16

what textual evidence is that our persective is meditated through a european persepctive?

Answer 16

• rhetoric of the both the old man and Orou which are full of european idiomatic structures, phrases etc.
• this has the effect of preventing the reader from passively accepting the old man’s/ orou’s speech as being a factual documentation

Question 17

effect of cultural distancing

Answer 17

causes the reader to reflect upon their own culture through the lense of an alien culture

Question 18

what is the impact of placing les adieux du vieillard at the beginning of the text?

Answer 18

• inverts the temporal sequence of the text
• inverts the meaning of Bougainville’s ‘discovery’ of Tahiti
• creates a sense of reciprocity as contrast the opinions of A and B (european) with the vieillard (tahitian)

Question 19

what levels of meaning can you observe within les adieux du vieillard? (4)

Answer 19

1. europeans are neither greater nor lesser than tahitains therefore they are all humans
2. how can you assert yourself over someone to whom you are equal.
3. If all humans are equal then your right to declare Tahiti yours
4. you see the absurdity of the latter, so you must see the former as being equally injust and absruv

Question 20

style of the speech of le vieillard?

Answer 20

his logical argument and use of syllogism appeal to the enlightenment philosophy whereby reason, almost above all, was valued.
Reason (especially in the enlightenment) was seen as being able to transcend cultural barriers and apply to all humans

Question 21

what does the old mans speech do for the tahitians

Answer 21

it establishes them as a thinking subject, rather than as a passive object
Having said that, this is through the imagination of Diderot, having not ever gone to Tahiti himself

Question 22

How is Tahitian sexual morality stricter than some (europeans) initally view it as?

Answer 22

• Tahitian’s dont have a model of free love, as non procreative sex is forbidden
• It is enforced through a veil system, where the colour shows you are off limits
• sex for procreation is important as children are a form of wealth for the Tahitians (this hence dispells the idea of there being NO property in Tahiti)

Question 23

what is the veil system in Tahiti

Answer 23

-prepubescent girls: white
-menstruating women; grey
- post menopausal women: black
Boys until their early 20s wear a long tunic and chain

Question 24

what happens if someone who is not allowed to have sex has it

Answer 24

• if women have sex (whilst menstruating/ sterile) they are kept as slaves on as distant part of the island
• if children/ teenagers have sex before they are allowed, their parents are reprimanded

Question 25

what do the strcit/ complex sexual codes of Tahiti suggest

Answer 25

• Tahiti is NOT, like Orou suggest a complete sexual utopia

- Sexual impulses are punished as much in Tahiti as they are in Europe (infertile women turning into slaves if they

Question 26

why must we be careful when reading the text?

Answer 26

• we cant either view tahiti as an exoticised sexual/ natural utopia nor as a place that was perfect at then destroyed by Europeans
• this is because of inconsistancies/ inacuracies in the text, e.g that teh Europeans brought disease/ war, when Orou justifies procreation as a result of past wars/ diseases. Also the veil system dispells the sexual utopic vision

Question 27

what is the problem with the aumoniers actions

Answer 27

-NOT that he embraced Tahitian sexual mores, but that he remplaces one set of flawed mores with another, instead of applying what he learnt to his own cultural context

Question 28

main message of the text

Answer 28

• there is no one correct moral code which we should follow
• instead of trying to find one, we need to be aware of the limitations of all moral codes, and constant relfect critically upon our own