Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Silence of the Lambs analysis - part 49: Aristotle: the law of the excluded middle

CATEGORY: MOVIES















"Aristotle with a bust of Homer" by Rembrandt. [Image from the Wikipedia 'Aristotle' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.]


Back in part 22 of the analysis, it was mentioned that Saint Thomas Aquinas derived much of his philosophy from the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. Below is quoted a small portion of Aristotle's Metaphysics (Ross translation) which is of importance to us:

"And it will not be possible to be and not to be the same thing...[it is impossible] that it should be at the same time true to say the same thing is a man and is not a man." [a]

The idea contained in the above is, in logic, sometimes called the law of the excluded middle.

The applicability to The Silence of the Lambs is that the law implies that Clarice cannot both be and not be a woman. As stated earlier in the analysis, she is to defeat the incomplete woman within herself by defeating Jame Gumb.












Starling reloads her gun while Jame Gumb lies bleeding on the floor, after being shot by her.


a. Ross, W.D. Aristotle's Metaphysics. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924 (reprinted 1953 with corrections). Book 4, part 4.


      





Disclaimers
1) In certain instances it has been determined that the creators of some of the productions analyzed on this blog, and/or the creators of source material(s) used in the making of these productions, may be making negative statements about certain segments of society in their productions. These statements should be taken as expressing the opinions of no one other than the creators.

2) This blog is not associated with any of the studios, creators, authors, publishers, directors, actors, musicians, writers, editors, crew, staff, agents, or any other persons or entities involved at any stage in the making of any of the media productions or source materials that are analyzed, mentioned, or referenced herein.

3) In keeping with the policies of the filmmakers, authors, studios, writers, publishers, and musicians, that have created the productions (and their source materials) that are analyzed, mentioned, or referenced on this blog, any similarity of the characters in these films or source materials to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All images on this blog are used solely for non-commercial purposes of analysis, review, and critique.

All Wikipedia content on this blog, and any edits made to it, are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Marcus Aurelius's Meditations - from Wikisource (except where otherwise noted); portions from Wikisource used on this blog are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Saint Augustine's Confessions and City of God from Wikisource (except where otherwise noted); portions from Wikisource used on this blog are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Saint Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica from the 'Logos Virtual Library' website (except where otherwise noted), compiled and edited by Darren L. Slider; believed to be in public domain.