just to clarify in case platt has confused some people.
the giant is the organising principle of the (human) social level;
the public good is an intellectual value: the idea that decisions be made by
individuals, democratically, to ensure the health of the individual - social
relationship.
the giant is goethe's mephistopheles. mephistopheles is the negative aspect of
god. he is god's shadow, to borrow from jung. it is the role of mephistopeheles
to seduce or coerce the individual into submission. submission to himself - the
ego being the interiorisation of the giant.
why is this divine ploy necessary? well its all about the fall....a universal
myth. long times past there was an edenic paradise that really rocked....then
naughty woman came along and tempted virtuous man WITH THE FRUUIT OF THE TREE
OF KNOWLEDGE...intellect/self-consciousness is born and so is separation.
now this fall or separation is lamented as a terrible ordeal, and in many ways
it is, but it is also about growing up. basically it was time for adam and eve
to leave the nest and work it out for themselves.
so it's a case of 'tough love'; in order for us to evolve past adolescence; in
order for us to become enlightened, for us to become gods oursleves, we need to
be cast out and put through a series of trials that, for want of a better term,
are 'character building'.
that is what mephistopheles does (always with a knowing and wry smile)....he is
satan, the devil, our arch-nemesis, and yet he is also the figure that
catalyses our evolution....a sheep in wolf's clothing perhaps.
so the giant is basically on our side, hey there is only one side after all!!!
in the context of the MOQ we can say that without the social level there is no
intellectual level; it is the giant that makes being an authentic individual
possible. but this is a by-product; the giant's day job is to maintain the
hegemony of the social level; he can't see/experience as an authentic
individual - all he sees are his subjects disobeying/obeying.
disobey the giant and you will get punished....but you will also be
rewarded....and eventually you will grant yourself a complete amnesty - and be
born again - born of oneself....or so the theory goes.
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