Cooper’s ideas on neurophenomenology were very intriguing to me. They wrote that “order results from an ongoing process in which a multitude of agents interact frequently and in which the results of interactions feed back into the process” (Cooper, 421). In other words, individuals that have ‘agency’ don’t have nearly the same effect as a group of people whose ideas represent agency. Cooper also argues that agency isn’t an outlying concept- it is part of a complex system; whatever that system may be. Whether it is a form of government or one’s own mind, agency will always occur to better the system. And, in order for it to happen agents need to “interact” with each other.
The example that kept popping into my head while reading about the systems in which agents arise and how they function is the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. The stand out events from that era were all those powerful protests with stories and emotions that shook the world. Most people think of agency as being able to think for yourself, but things like this can bring a new perspective to that idea. It is an example of thinking for yourself, but it wouldn’t matter at all if nobody else had those morals and was willing to put their foot down and fight for what they believe. The system was broken, so agents had to interact with each other to inspire change.
Monday, October 10, 2022
Blog Post 4 - Walkup
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Agency is also very interesting to me. I was very intrigued by the way cooper explained how different groups use agency and the outcomes that came from which they used. When a whole group has agency they are much more powerful than any one individual. I enjoyed your example of the Black Lives Matter protests because that was an entire group that had one goal to accomplish. In relation to civil matters it is interesting to me how these groups react. Although there were many different things going on during the protest there remained to be a majority of the group with on common goal, equal rights. I want to introduce the question of when does agency and the actions become to much? When do we begin to question what is civil vs. uncivil when there is a major issue that is going on? It is so easy to become frustrated but there must be a line drawn when we think to ourselves will this help us or hurt us? It's a hard line to draw and it is very interesting to me.
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