- What does Becker suggest about human reality when he claims that “he must at all times defend the utter fragility of his delicately constituted fiction, deny its artificiality” (34)?
Becker has taken a critical study of human reality and came to a conclusion that that is not only fragile but also unpredictable. In as much as man needs to plan for his future, he should not do it at the expense of today. The fact remains that some of the plans that a man makes may turn out to be vanity especially when death strikes or his hard work is not appreciated by other people. For instance, a man may dedicate his energy and time to build an empire for his future generation to benefit from it. However, all this may be in vain if the children choose a very different path or fail to recognize the sacrifices involved and hence mismanaging it.
- What is reification and how does it lead to a dehumanized world, according to Berger and Lickmann?
Reification, which has been described as a process through which humans actualize issues through interaction has been considered a source of inhumanity. This is simply because people value things as well as human beings only if they benefit them. Once they find no benefit in human relations, they do away with them. This according to Berger and Lickmann, is a drawback to humanity as it has transformed essential human beings to objects that can be picked and dropped anytime. This implies that there is no humanity in reification, they are all objects of self gratification.
- What does it mean to say that the reification of social roles “bestows an ontological and total status on a typification” (39)?
Realising how in the world today people value material resources more than human relationship, it implies that even social roles have changed. For instance some of the work that was done by humans is now done by machines. The complexity of human beings that makes it difficult to manage has made people to resort to machines, which are easier to handle and manage. Most people are now acquainted with machines and how they operate, they are shifting the same technique and applying it to humans. This means that a person must be willing to work and be programmed like a machine to be significant
- What does Foucault mean by the term power? (This is not an obvious use of the term!)
Power is considered a natural occurrence that is generated from knowledge and scientific experiments. Foucault believes that power is not just a phenomenon that is centred but rather diversified. Contrary to what many have believed that power originates from specific people and angle, everybody has the ability to generate and exercise power. Each person has a sphere of influence where they can exercise the power. This does not have to be organizational or political but rather where one feels they have a role to cause a difference. The most frequent term he has used ‘power everywhere’ implies that every person at their level has the ability to cause and influence change.
- Why is truth a form of power, and how does the fact that “truth has been given this value, place[] us absolutely under its thrall?
Truth is a form of power in that it liberates a person from myth, fiction and assumption. There is a confidence that is birthed within a person once they have the facts to prove something. Where there is no truth and a person has to believe in a thing, they tend to rely on myths, which do not bring total satisfaction. Many a times, when such myths do not bring about the solution that a person wants, they are held in between giving up on them or simply holding unto them. However, once there is truth, a person gets the confidence to stick to a particular solution with the confidence that it will ultimately yield the needed results.
