LE3 .A278 2011

2011

Whitehall, Geoffrey

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

Political Science

Politics

This thesis analyzes the idea that there is a problem of choice that is a unique phenomenon in modern Western culture. Choice is celebrated in relation to freedom, moral and ethical progress; yet, the proliferation of choice in mainstream society has led to individual confusion and anxiety. Literature has expanded to address these issues. However, choice is predominately explored in terms of psychology and economics. The emphasis is on human shortcomings and new decision-making strategies. My objective is to explore how the problem of choice emerges. There is a common assumption of being able to know one’s self—preferences, identity and morality—in order to be able to choose rationally and to make meaningful choices. Therefore, I argue that the problem of choice in modern life is made possible by the self. In order to explore the self in relation to the problem of choice, I analyze three treatments of the self. I first explore Charles Taylor’s account of the self in Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. For a second treatment of the self, I analyze Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Finally, I analyze Jane Bennett’s Enchantment of Modern Life: A ttachments, Crossings, and Ethics for a third treatment of the self. Bennett argues that the self is infinitely connected to human and nonhuman bodies. I conclude that if Foucault’s analysis of the self and the disciplinary society are brought forward, then Bennett’s problematization of the modern sense of self and expectations of control are helpful in analyzing the problem of choice. Though individuals are expected to be rational and responsible, they cannot fully predict or control the world or their choices. Thus, adopting Bennett’s idea of the contingent, rational self as well as the ethical stance she suggests provide one way to move forward with choice in modern life.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:840