Trading Pain for Knowledge, or, How the West Was Won

• Autores: Geoffrey Galt Harpham
• Localización: Social research: An international quarterly of the social sciences, ISSN 0037-783X, Nº. 2, 2008 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Martyrdom, Self-Sacrifice, and Self-Denial), págs. 485-510
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • A generation ago, the subject was knowledge and power, today the subject is knowledge and pain. Ultimately, they may turn out to be the same subject, because nothing secures, augments, or confirms power like the free assumption of pain. But for the purposes of this essay, and in keeping with its argument, I will focus on pain, although it would be more pleasant to talk about power. In doing so, I will confine myself to rigorous inferences based on disinterested observation, bracketing my personal prejudices, biases, or desires. My conclusions will follow directly from the evidence. In undertaking this essay, I agree to sit very still for many hours of reading, meditation, and composition, during which time I will forego all immediate pleasures, including excessive food and drink. In the service of truth, the volume on the television will be turned down to the very point of inaudibility, until the last two minutes of the game.