Kagan
notes on Ernest Becker's Birth and Death of Meaning, second edition (New
York: The Free Press, A Division of Macmillan, Inc., 1971)
Warning: These notes are meant to function as minimal highlighting
commentary on Becker's text. Comments, additions, and corrections are welcome.
Please send them to
Michael Kagan
Le Moyne College Department of Philosophy
Syracuse, NY 13214
Email: KAGAN@lemoyne.edu
For
a fairly current and extended interpretation and evaluation of Becker's work,
see my Educating Heroes: The Implications of Ernest Becker's Depth
Psychology of Heroism for Philosophy of Education (Durango, Colorado:
Hollowbrook Publishing, 1994), available in the Le Moyne library. (It should be
on reserve.) I also recommend Sally Kenel's Mortal
Gods: Ernest Becker and Fundamental Theology (Lanham, MD: University Press
of America, 1988), also in our library's collection.
Note:
For Arija Liepkalnietis’
translation of this page into Latvian, see
http:/www.autoteileprofi.de/science/2016/11/03/gimimo-ir-mirties-prasme
For
TTH sections discuss Ernest Becker's life and work, and chapters 1-3
For MW sections review chapters 1-3, (food sharing, cooperation; primates
perpetually "in heat"; development of the ego to and the ability to
ward off anxiety and develop the I while discovering
the body.
Ch 4: Discuss how according to Becker we are the
victims of our own art, the pseudopodal self.
Ch. 5 Discuss Anxiety and socialization
Ch 6 Oedipus Complex
reconstructed as the dispossession of the internal world and restriction of
experience. Discuss the Zen circles and the broken dish on p. 60. Reminder about Becker's early work on Zen.
Ch 7.
Discuss the Inner Newsreel (p. 68) in terms of self-esteem maintenance and in
terms of constructive behavior.
Chapters. 8 and 9 the
standardization and staging of self esteem.
Discuss the issue of face (p. 89) and face saving (e.g., p. 102). The terror of
Goffman; the haunting potlatch and body counts. The
replacement of the unseen with that which neatly piles up in to measurable
stacks.
Ch. 10. The 6 problems. P. 114.
Review and Discuss. P. 199 the invisible world; p. 123 the
mission to earth. P. 125 the function of culture.
P. 125, ft., the present problem. P.
126, the BIG question. Which fictions are closer to truth and allowing
us to experience more.
Ch. 11. Abnormality as spoiling the show . P. 153
the Highest standard in terms of the real and
recognizing one's own cultural fictions (154).
Ch 12.
The Science of anthropos. p. 158, Our
own cultural system as blinders. 159, Our limits.
160-- the challenges of slavery stupidity and fear.
164-174 the ways we go wrong. 174 -Human nature as an ideal (remember Confucius
here). The bearer of tensions and supporter of
contradictions.
Ch. 13, Religion as the quest for this ideal heroism.
P. 186, 13 the 4 levels of self P. 193 a test for religious authenticity.
Authentic religion challenges persons to overcome their idolatry, recognize
their own heroic quest, and face the terror of true human heroism.
Conclusion:
Bringing Becker to bear on the problem of education.
Discuss the solution of Educating Heroes in terms of Becker's work and
the example cultures. The heroic status of true student as
bearer of contradictions, apprentice scholar, and future ruler.
back
to Kagan's homepage