Professor Shapka
Humanities 200
March 21, 2009
Two Ways of Hacking Up People
Both Alfred Hitchcock and Ian Hacking have engaged in projects that explore some idea of "personality disorder" within particular models of personhood. [note]
Ultimately, both propose some clear problems for self-knowledge. My goal is to examine what models of personhood, as well as which issues of self-knowledge, are here at stake, first in Psycho,1 and then especially in Hacking's seminal paper "Making Up People."2 [note] I will suggest how Psycho is faithful to a general Cartesian picture of mind, and what problem this implies. I will then examine what issues of personhood and self-knowledge are at stake for Hacking. My interest is to show how Psycho contributes to a particular understanding of Hacking's work. [note]
Part 1
Making It Scary: Multiple Personality according to Hitchcock
There are important and interesting reasons why Hitchcock's Psycho is a fascinating and terrifying film experience. Much to Hitchcock's credit, knowing ahead of time how the movie turns out in the end does not detract from its effective creepiness. What becomes more incredible and haunting than the horrible acts that Norman Bates commits is the explanation offered of why he did what he did. Or, more appropriately, why he didn't do what "he" did.
_______________________
1 All references to Psycho are taken from the 1960 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock (MCA Home Video, trademark 1987).
2 Ian Hacking, "Making Up People," in Reconstructing Individualism: Autonomy, Individuality, and the Self in Western Thought, ed. Thomas C. Heller, Morton Sosna, and David E. Wellbery (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1986).
Material from The Broadview Guide to Writing.
Mobile users, click here to return to the main site.
