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Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

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James C. Scott
James C. Scott

James C. Scott is a renowned political scientist, born on December 2, 1936. His research focuses on political power, social theory, and historical analysis, particularly known for his work on peasants, marginalized groups, and informal economies. more

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“Where the utopian vision goes wrong is when it is held by ruling elites with no commitment to democracy or civil rights and who are therefore likely to use unbridled state power for its achievement. Where it goes brutally wrong is when the society subjected to such utopian experiments lacks the capacity to mount a determined resistance.”

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Book:Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
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“Грубо кажучи, я виріс у культурі допиту, практики поводження на допиті. Мусиш відповісти хоч щось, коли дійде до тебе. Усе, що ти скажеш, може обернутися проти тебе. Уникни брехні, в якій заплутаєшся. І правди, яка потягне за собою близьких. І ніколи ні у чому не переконуй ідіотів, бо ідіот своє знає наперед.”

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“In the days after my heart attack & before I began to write again, all I could think about was dying. I'd been spared again, and only after the danger had passed did I allow my thoughts to unravel to their inevitable end. I imagined all the ways I could go. Blood clot to the brain. Infarction. Thrombosis. Pneumonia. Grand mal obstruction to the vena cava. I saw myself foaming at the mouth, writhing on the floor. I'd wake up in the night, gripping my throat. And yet. No matter how often I imagined the possible failure of my organs, I found the consequence inconceivable. That it could happen to me. I forced myself to picture the last moments. The penultimate breath. A final sigh. And yet. It was always followed by another.”

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“It was a long evolutionary course which the human mind had to traverse, to pass from the belief in a physico-magical power comprised in the Word to a realization of its spiritual power. Indeed, it is the Word, it is language, that really reveals to man that world which is closer to him than any world of natural objects and touches his weal and woe more directly than physical nature. For it is language that makes his existence in a community possible; and only in society, in relation to a "Thee", can his subjectivity assert itself as a "Me.”

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“All right," she said at last, "I get it. Societies establish their own value system, and once that system is in place, it becomes that society's own cage. It exists to feed itself, in an endless cycle of reconfirming its own arbitrary worth. Still, Adam, some undeniable truths lie at the core of those value systems. Specifically, we exist in a state of scarcity and imbalance, and most if not all of our mechanisms are devoted to managing both.”

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Author:Steven Erikson (Author)
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