MDMD: 'Twas so sincere ...

[Paul Nightingale]

Learning how to behave in polite society, how to conduct oneself. Being
aware of how one is, or might be, seen by others. Reading the extracts from
Shapin - many thanks, Dave - I had to bring in Foucault's work on
governmentality. He first published "Governmentality" in Ideology &
Consciousness (Autumn, 1979). It has been republished but the I&C version is
the one I have. There is also a useful overview in "The Ethics of the
Concern for Self as a Practice of Freedom" (Foucault Live, New York:
Semiotexte, 1989).

"How to govern oneself, how to be governed, how to govern others, how to
accept him who is to govern us, how to become the best possible governor
etc. It think all these problems, in their multiplicity and intensity, are
characteristic of the 16th century, which lies, to put it schematically, at
the intersection of two processes: the process which, shattering the
structures of feudalism, is about to form the great territorial,
administrative and colonial states; and, on the other hand, a totally
different movement which, starting with the Reformation and then the
Counter-Reformation, puts in question the manner in which one is to be
spiritually ruled and led on this earth in order to achieve eternal
salvation" ("Governmentality" pp6-7).

The individual, therefore, becomes rather more aware of their - and
society's - capacity for decision-making. Sovereignty is no longer so easily
identified with the monarch who rules by divine right. This is one of the
areas where Foucault recalls Weber on authority: traditional authority (that
of the monarch) being superseded by rational-legal (ie bureaucratic)
authority. One might also think of Gramsci on hegemony: the ruling class can
only govern with the consent of the masses. I have already referred to
Captain Smith's introduction, in Ch4, to the Seahorse and its crew: Blinky
is the victim of a press-gang. At sea he will consent to the authority of
the Captain, if indeed he does, solely because his life depends on it.

"I have tried to find out how the human subject fits into certain games of
truth, whether they were truth games that take the form of a science or
refer to a scientific model, or truth games such as those one may encounter
in institutions or practices of control" (Ethics p432).

The subject knows that truth is relative to the situation they find
themselves in. Again, a personal investment has to be made. Mason, in Ch3,
accepts the authority of the "Dog reveal'd Crone". In this scene the
discourse of polite social intercourse interacts with that of desire. Dixon
("he can't keep from flirting") sees through Hepsie's disguise/performance,
whereas Mason wishes to be taken in. The text draws attention to her
performance: "she cackles, as the young fancy the old to cackle". This
prioritises Dixon as Mason continues distracted (and then deprived of his
money). Eventually, Dixon reminds Mason that "we're men of Science": he
invokes Reason to produce unity in a chapter in which Unreason has
flourished.