Power

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>  > My favored analogy is that of a dog  within an electric perimeter fence
>>  or on a retractable leash.  The dog is free to run as he pleases within
>>  the area encricled by the leash or the fence, but that area varies as
>>  the owner releases or retracts the leash.  The dog can even "negotiate"
>>  the length of the leash so some extent by interacting with the owner or
>>  may even break loose through the fence (as my friend's dog did)
>>  disregarding the negative feedback received in the form of
>>  electroshocks.  But in each of the cases, the dog's behavior is a
>>  function of constraints and freedom within those constraints, both being
>>  determined by situation and interaction in that situation.
>>
>>  In that light, the debate of free will versus determinism is that
>>  between an optimist and a pessimist about the volume of liquid in the
>>  proverbial bottle.
>
>Aargh I hate this analogy.
>But taking it as seriously as I possibly can (and you owe me for this)... why
>is the dog chained up, and what does the chain mean about either "dog" or the
>dog's experience of itself>
>
>Catherine

"The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a 
world to win."  We have yet to lose the chains, despite constant 
struggles before and after 1848.
-- 
Yoshie

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