Huxley Flashcards
“Death control”
From Brave New World Revisited.
Death control is very easily regulated, birth control is not. We can extend life but not prevent it
(Huxley is v. Concerned with overpopulation)
“Overpopulation leads to _________ insecurity and __________”
Overpopulation leads to economic insecurity and social unrest.
Which, for Huxley, lead to centralization of power and totalitarianism.
(Brave New World Revisited)
Neurotic symptoms in Huxley
Taken from Erich Fromm
Symptoms are our friends b/c they show that we are still fighting. The normal ones have already given up
Huxley calls the ones who have adjusted the abnormally normal.
For Huxley, what is the relationship between science and uniqueness?
Science reduces multiplicity to unity
It abstracts laws
“The Will to Order”
Huxley’ phrase for the theoretical reduction of multiplicity to unity in the sciences, philosophy, and arts.
Even though this is how we comprehend (and he acknowledges the good work it has done), he worries that we end in totalitarian despotism.
Does Huxley believe in total freedom?
No. He believes the best course to be in the middle, and acknowledges that human liberty needs some structure.
What organic metaphor does Huxley use for human society?
Humans started as a pack, not an ant hive. Now, we can only create organization. Any attempt to create a social organism ends in totalitarianism.
“To give organizations precedence over persons is to subordinate __________ to _________”
To give organizations precedence over persons is to subordinate ends to means”
“A fair chance”
Huxley argues that humans can govern themselves well iff given a fair chance
Overpopulation and overorganization remove that fair chance
What are Huxley’s two types of propaganda?
Rational propaganda (good) and non-rational propaganda that appeals to passion (bad)
Which American Founding Father does Huxley keep citing?
Jefferson
Man has an infinite appetite for distractions
Huxley, on the western mass communications industry
The omnipresent conditioning in Brave New World is a hyperbolic representation of what contemporary political event?
Hitler’s use of the radio made it possible to mechanize lower leadership, allowed for more complete unity. In Brave New World Revisited, Huxley argues that China and Russia are on this path
Explain “herd poison”
Huxley uses this phrase to describe the masses under Hitler, says virtue belongs to individuals but not to herds, moral idiocy is a symptom of herd poison.
What are Jekyll and Hyde doing in Brave New World Revisited?
Huxley uses them as types–Jekyll is in favor of rational propaganda, Dr. Hyde has a phd and wants to figure out human weakness so he can exploit it for his employers
