Sunday, February 21, 2010
Owning and Being Owned
can the things that we own or posses end up owning or possessing us? We have responsibility due to ownership; responsibility for the things that we own. Due to owning things, we must also behave in certain manners, I mean that they (the things) can often direct our actions. For instance one owns a car, one is responsible for that car, if it rolls down the hill and crashes into something one is responsible for that. Also, in order to continue to drive that car one must have a job, to either make payments on the car or to buy gas or repairs, and thus the car is keeping one working. So then who or what is really running the show?
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It's true that our possessions can affect our lifestyles; it can be as simple as having to water a plant each day or as complicated as maintaining an antique car. However, with these possessions we can choose whether or not we want to continue to handle the responsibility of owning them; as a result, we, ultimately, run the show because we can choose, at any time, to relieve ourselves of our possessions.
ReplyDeleteWell, certainly in principle we can unload our possessions (though that can be harder than it seems, if no-one else happens to want them at the moment we want to get rid of them, and until they do we are still responsible). However I took Tania to be speaking of a psychological trap we get into because of the way we tend to identify (as Locke observed) with what is ours.
ReplyDeletewithout a doubt, tis the cost of freedom. we voluntarily accept the responsibility to do what it takes to afford the car at the expense of having the freedom to drive it where and when we want. however, i question the worth of something that we spend more time, or money through working to have a car and to keep it running, than we actually use the car, so in a sense it could "run" us (i struggle to find a more clear way to say this). the freedom to live has an extremely expensive cost, especially the freedom to be accepted as part of a concentrated society. We must use our rationality rather than emotions to determine the worth of investing ourselves in something to see that what are are going to get out of it is worth what we give up of ourselves to be a part of it.
ReplyDeletePossessions can definitely possesses you, which you tend to notice each time you move (and it tends to get worse with age, as you accumulate stuff, sometimes without even noticing. A house is a giant thing magnet). Brendon is right that the trick is to be as mindful as possible about what you choose to acquire and why.
ReplyDeleteWhy do we own things - like a car - if they make us feel burdened? I realize that we "need" some things, like clothes, a car, computers, because that is our lifestyle. However, what I don't understand is why we accumulate things unnecessarily, or believe certain things to be necessary when in fact they're just junk. I'm reminded of hoarders, who are an exquisite example of Locke's "enough and as good" argument. How much stuff do we really need? And why the need for certain things? I suppose you could argue that we feel like owning things because it acts like a security blanket - and the more we own, the less exposed we are or the more responsibility we feel and that in turn empowers us because we think we are behaving like good citizens.
ReplyDeleteBentham has some interesting things to say about the psychology of owing and wanting.
ReplyDelete