Amir Abbas Moslemi, Of Mice and Men Gaze at Evil, ILSHS Volume 80, International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences (Volume 80)
https://www.scipress.com/ILSHS.80.22
Abstract:
Ezra Pound’s <i>S</i><i>h</i><i>i-Shu:</i><i> Rats </i>is read Foucauldianly to instantiate an interaction between Confucianism and Western schools of thought in response to the problem of evil. There is a review of Leibniz’s theodicy to clear up confusion, and also to pave the way for a succession of readings of a number of philosophers like Hume and James — foregrounding epistemic inclination of poets like Pope, Wordsworth and Burns. ‘Accidentality’ and ‘essentiality’ are key philosophic terms, without which this problem cannot hold its logical structure, especially in terms of an answer. Epistemo-political ‘docility’ and literal ‘decency’ are employed together for the first time to be reintroducing ancient relationship between cruel politicians and carceral system. Utopia is taken as a mere dream so that ‘the problem’ would tend to keep its identity. What is new in this paper is a ‘gaze’-wise trace of mice in literature supporting the problem of evil in philosophy, based on an actual political background, within a broad sociological realm.
Keywords:
Carceral Archeology, Confucian Philosophy, Episteme, Mouse, Problem of Evil, Rat