tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900163490594217865.post4029062737854020401..comments2024-03-15T16:03:38.449-04:00Comments on Three White Leopards: A Random AssortmentEmily Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16354755143064303505noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900163490594217865.post-33597330617297585522014-08-27T12:48:58.929-04:002014-08-27T12:48:58.929-04:00A couple of thoughts: I'm always intrigued by ...A couple of thoughts: I'm always intrigued by how much Tocqueville borrows from and yet doesn't completely buy Rousseau: I think at the end of the day, Tocqueville thinks that men and women could probably rule through the same methods, but that this would harm the institution of the family, which he wants to protect. So he advises that women follow custom and stay in the home, influencing mores. <br /><br />My reading of Arendt thus far (and might need to be modified by her comments here) is that she thinks that customs regarding women's role are and should be modified by women's existential practice of living and acting in the world. So there's not a particular end that she's going for, although she advocates starting by respecting custom and whatever nature can tell us about being a woman. (This isn't inconsistent with the Rousseauian insight that you note--if you're concerned with being effective, then you will take into account the best way to rule--and I think she is concerned with effectiveness in her work.) <br /><br />I wonder about her downplaying her desire to influence people. Should teachers want people to "understand in the same way I've understood"? That seems to leave out some of the conversation aspect of education and learning from your students. Emily Halehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16354755143064303505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900163490594217865.post-52855755117127338462014-08-26T16:21:11.642-04:002014-08-26T16:21:11.642-04:00That's what struck me as Rousseauian. Rousseau...That's what struck me as Rousseauian. Rousseau says women and men rule by different means - men by visible political command, and women more subtly by determining the mores of a society. Women should not try to be like men in public, b/c they won't be taken seriously as men AND they will lose their feminine authority (Rousseau also says they will ruin men if they do this). For individual women, this does seem to amount to something like what Arendt says - an instruction to do what you want, but to do it in light of an awareness of these dynamics. If you want to rule (people other than your husband) and you are a woman, you will have the least success as a military general, and the most as a writer. Literature and criticism are ways of influencing mores that do not appear as commands, but as suggestions or illuminations of the obvious ideas that we just never quite thought of that way before.Miss Self-Importanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04477849823290773026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900163490594217865.post-2188389593291795792014-08-25T17:07:53.293-04:002014-08-25T17:07:53.293-04:00Intriguing! Thanks! Esp. since she, as she notes, ...Intriguing! Thanks! Esp. since she, as she notes, she always did what she wanted to...Emily Halehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16354755143064303505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900163490594217865.post-86607351997478454512014-08-24T17:09:34.758-04:002014-08-24T17:09:34.758-04:00No, just the meager remains of high school instruc...No, just the meager remains of high school instruction. But I think the skipped line is something like "it was my view that some occupations are not for women" or maybe "not appropriate for women," something like that.Miss Self-Importanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04477849823290773026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900163490594217865.post-29743265667044870532014-08-24T14:47:06.191-04:002014-08-24T14:47:06.191-04:00Yeah--it didn't seem like there was enough tra...Yeah--it didn't seem like there was enough translating going on at that point. Do you speak German??Emily Halehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16354755143064303505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900163490594217865.post-27849287687656532862014-08-22T22:23:23.792-04:002014-08-22T22:23:23.792-04:00In the Arendt video, they actually don't trans...In the Arendt video, they actually don't translate a sentence or two after "I am old-fashioned" and before the line you quote. But I like her remarks here. They're very Rousseauian.Miss Self-Importanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04477849823290773026noreply@blogger.com