Do you remember that episode where Widmore says to Locke “your parents had a sense of humour when naming you and so have I” after giving him the pseudo name Jeremy Bentham. Well this bugged me. Why is John Locke a humorous name for him? Is it Ironic in some way? And why is Jeremy Bentham also funny? I decided to consult Wiki.
John Locke was the first philosopher to define the self through a continuity of "consciousness". This may be ironic in LOST terms considering Locke would become anything but himself. Did Widmore know this was going to happen though in order for him to see the irony?
If not here’s another weird coincidence. John Locke was known for his extensive studies in medicine, so much so that an Earl named ANTHONY COOPER came to him for aid when suffering from Liver damage and Locke healed him! Ring any bells!? Lockes dad (Anthony Cooper) came to him when suffering for Kidney failure and Locke, in a round about way, healed him.
This is a twisted Irony. Especially as Earl ANTHONY COOPER is in history best now as the patron of John Locke! The complete opposite of Johns relationship with Cooper in lost.
So you can see there are a few things there that Widmore could have been referring to regarding John Locke but was so amusing about Jeremy Bentham?
Well Jeremy Bentham (another English Philosopher) was an outspoken Liberal who, among other things, was famous for his arguments for individual and economic freedom and arguments against Slavery. Maybe the irony here is that our John Locke was himself, in effect, always a slave/pawn to Ben, Widmore, Cooper and finally Esau.
Whether these are things that will be explained in the show at some point who knows, maybe they are just easter eggs for people sad enough to search Wiki for answers! Lol But interestingly enough just from a starting point of John Locke I came across other Lost related names, all of which were Philosophers! Here they are….
John AUSTIN (1790 - 1859) was a noted British jurist and published extensively concerning the philosophy of law and jurisprudence. John Austin is best known for his work developing the theory of legal positivism. He attempted to clearly separate moral rules from "positive law." – Interesting connections to Kate seeings as her primory theme is being on the other side of the law. Plus that last line about seperating “moral laws” form “positive laws” seems to fit well as Kate is one of those “baddies” that morally is really bad at all.
Jean Jacques ROUSSEAU During the period of the French Revolution, Rousseau was the most popular of the philosophes among members of the Jacobin Club. He was interred as a national hero in the Panthéon in Paris, in 1794, sixteen years after his death. – I’ll come back to the JACOBIN Club later.
David HUME (7 May 1711 – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, economist, historian and a key figure in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment. Hume is often grouped with John Locke, George Berkeley, and a handful of others as a British Empiricist. In the twentieth century, Hume has increasingly become a source of inspiration for those in political philosophy and economics as an early and subtle thinker in the liberal tradition, as well as an early innovator in the genre of the essay in his Essays Moral, Political, and Literary. – Links here between Locke and Hume. Obviously our Desmond Hume is Scottish too. Does this hint at the influence he is about to have over the other lost characters……maybe event he mysterious Economist?
AND FINALLY
The Jacobin Club was the largest and most powerful political club of the French Revolution. It originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles as a group of Breton deputies to the Estates General of 1789. At the height of its influence, there were thousands of chapters throughout France, with a membership estimated at 420,000. After the fall of Robespierre the club was closed.
Initially moderate, after the death of Mirabeau the club became notorious for its implementation of the Reign of Terror and for tacitly condoning the September Massacres. To this day, the terms Jacobin and Jacobinism are used as pejoratives for left-wing revolutionary politics and more recently for extremist centralist views. – The Jacobin Club doesn’t sound very good at all! Parallels I drew here were between the "September Massacres" and "The Purge". Did Jacob order the Purge?? Is this an indication that Jacob isn’t really the good guy we assume him to be? Whats also interesting is that the Jacobin club was originally called the Benthorn club, a stretch I know but very similar to Bentham don’t you think!
Anyway I haven’t really got any solid theories from all this but its very interesting how all these names are linked in history and that 90% of them were philosophers. Wouldn’t it be cool if our losties were chosen because they were the descendants of these historic Philosophers!
Cheers
Mark
John Locke was the first philosopher to define the self through a continuity of "consciousness". This may be ironic in LOST terms considering Locke would become anything but himself. Did Widmore know this was going to happen though in order for him to see the irony?
If not here’s another weird coincidence. John Locke was known for his extensive studies in medicine, so much so that an Earl named ANTHONY COOPER came to him for aid when suffering from Liver damage and Locke healed him! Ring any bells!? Lockes dad (Anthony Cooper) came to him when suffering for Kidney failure and Locke, in a round about way, healed him.
This is a twisted Irony. Especially as Earl ANTHONY COOPER is in history best now as the patron of John Locke! The complete opposite of Johns relationship with Cooper in lost.
So you can see there are a few things there that Widmore could have been referring to regarding John Locke but was so amusing about Jeremy Bentham?
Well Jeremy Bentham (another English Philosopher) was an outspoken Liberal who, among other things, was famous for his arguments for individual and economic freedom and arguments against Slavery. Maybe the irony here is that our John Locke was himself, in effect, always a slave/pawn to Ben, Widmore, Cooper and finally Esau.
Whether these are things that will be explained in the show at some point who knows, maybe they are just easter eggs for people sad enough to search Wiki for answers! Lol But interestingly enough just from a starting point of John Locke I came across other Lost related names, all of which were Philosophers! Here they are….
John AUSTIN (1790 - 1859) was a noted British jurist and published extensively concerning the philosophy of law and jurisprudence. John Austin is best known for his work developing the theory of legal positivism. He attempted to clearly separate moral rules from "positive law." – Interesting connections to Kate seeings as her primory theme is being on the other side of the law. Plus that last line about seperating “moral laws” form “positive laws” seems to fit well as Kate is one of those “baddies” that morally is really bad at all.
Jean Jacques ROUSSEAU During the period of the French Revolution, Rousseau was the most popular of the philosophes among members of the Jacobin Club. He was interred as a national hero in the Panthéon in Paris, in 1794, sixteen years after his death. – I’ll come back to the JACOBIN Club later.
David HUME (7 May 1711 – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, economist, historian and a key figure in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment. Hume is often grouped with John Locke, George Berkeley, and a handful of others as a British Empiricist. In the twentieth century, Hume has increasingly become a source of inspiration for those in political philosophy and economics as an early and subtle thinker in the liberal tradition, as well as an early innovator in the genre of the essay in his Essays Moral, Political, and Literary. – Links here between Locke and Hume. Obviously our Desmond Hume is Scottish too. Does this hint at the influence he is about to have over the other lost characters……maybe event he mysterious Economist?
AND FINALLY
The Jacobin Club was the largest and most powerful political club of the French Revolution. It originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles as a group of Breton deputies to the Estates General of 1789. At the height of its influence, there were thousands of chapters throughout France, with a membership estimated at 420,000. After the fall of Robespierre the club was closed.
Initially moderate, after the death of Mirabeau the club became notorious for its implementation of the Reign of Terror and for tacitly condoning the September Massacres. To this day, the terms Jacobin and Jacobinism are used as pejoratives for left-wing revolutionary politics and more recently for extremist centralist views. – The Jacobin Club doesn’t sound very good at all! Parallels I drew here were between the "September Massacres" and "The Purge". Did Jacob order the Purge?? Is this an indication that Jacob isn’t really the good guy we assume him to be? Whats also interesting is that the Jacobin club was originally called the Benthorn club, a stretch I know but very similar to Bentham don’t you think!
Anyway I haven’t really got any solid theories from all this but its very interesting how all these names are linked in history and that 90% of them were philosophers. Wouldn’t it be cool if our losties were chosen because they were the descendants of these historic Philosophers!
Cheers
Mark
