Abstract
At the midpoint of the Republic, Plato offers a vivid depiction of the desire for spectacle, the lust for sights which Freud claims can manifest itself as a “passive” perversion linked with “the instinct for cruelty.” Leontius, Plato tells us, desired to look at the “corpses lying by the public executioner.” At first, his shame prevented him from doing so. But, “overpowered by desire, he opened his eyes wide, ran toward the corpses,” and indulged his vicious longing. In this paper, coauthored by a philosopher and a psychologist, recent developments in the psychological sciences are brought to bear on insights garnered from engagement with philosophical texts and seminal thinkers in order to consider anew how concupiscentia oculorum—the lust of the eyes, as Augustine famously calls it—manifests itself in our digital age. In what ways does the screen—which allows users to see without being seen—override shame and encourage the kind of voyeurism Plato feared? How do technologically mediated relations increase the desire for spectacle, affecting attentional processes and habituating users to addictive and self-referential behaviors? In particular, this paper is concerned with the chaotic, gorging fascination that virtual scopophilia induces. It raises ethical concerns about the impact of digital technology on human subjectivity and considers how such capacities affect mental health.
Presenters
David GoodmanAssociate Dean, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Massachusetts, United States Matthew Clemente
Postdoctoral Fellow, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Massachusetts, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Communications and Linguistic Studies
KEYWORDS
Philosophy, Psychology, Spectacle, Fascination, Technology, Human Subjectivity
