"He [Derek Parfit] pictures his thinking self as a government minister sitting behind a large desk, who writes a question on a piece of paper and puts it in his out-tray. The minister then sits idly at the desk, twiddling his thumbs, while in some back room civil servants labor furiously, come up with the answer, and place it in his in-tray."
— MacFarquhar, Larissa
Author
Work Title
Date
September 5, 2011
Metaphor
"He [Derek Parfit] pictures his thinking self as a government minister sitting behind a large desk, who writes a question on a piece of paper and puts it in his out-tray. The minister then sits idly at the desk, twiddling his thumbs, while in some back room civil servants labor furiously, come up with the answer, and place it in his in-tray."
Metaphor in Context
There is something not-there about him, an unphysical, slightly androgynous quality. He lacks the normal anti-social emotions--envy, malice, dominance, desire for revenge. He doesn't believe that his conscious mind is responsible for the important parts of his work. He pictures his thinking self as a government minister sitting behind a large desk, who writes a question on a piece of paper and puts it in his out-tray. The minister then sits idly at the desk, twiddling his thumbs, while in some back room civil servants labor furiously, come up with the answer, and place it in his in-tray. Parfit is less aware than most of the boundaries of the self--less conscious of them and less protective. He is helplessly, sometimes unwillingly, empathetic: he will find himself overcome by the mood of the person he is with, especially if that person is unhappy.
(pp. 44-5)
(pp. 44-5)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Larissa Farquhar, "How to Be Good" The New Yorker (September 5, 2011): 42-53. <Link to newyorker.com>
Date of Entry
09/02/2011
