Desire, Reaction, Frustration: Sartre, Elster, and Tocqueville on the Politics of Sour Grapes
Posted: 22 Feb 2011
Abstract
Two philosophers, Jean-Paul Sartre and Jon Elster, have taken great interest in the famous children's fable, "The Fox and the Grapes." Despite being viewed as child's fare, some philosophers believe the fox and the grapes fable is a profound piece of psychology that has much to teach us about political theory. Elster believes the fable teaches us that opportunities shapes desires while Sartre contends it demonstrates how consciousness alleviates the frustrations associated with failure. In the essay, I will break down the cognitive and emotional processes that are involved in sour grapes. Frustrations or opportunity constraints, it will be argued, are not simply the inverse of desires. They involve a whole new set of cognitive processes and mechanisms; processes which are not random and chaotic but can be systematically and objectively analyzed. They are as amenable to scientific explanation as rational choice. Second, through Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, I will examine the political implications of "sour grapes behavior" and argue that political behavior is inspired by frustration and emotion as it is desire and rationality.
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