PUTTING THE CULT BACK INTO COMMUNITY

Jackie Mcmillan

Jump to Content

PUTTING THE CULT BACK INTO COMMUNITY

于Returning (to) Communities

著者：

Jackie Mcmillan

Jackie Mcmillan
Search for other papers by Jackie Mcmillan in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

类型:: 章节

Page Range:: 241–253

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004325623_015

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

€42.00€35.00 excl. VAT

Add to Cart

找回访问令牌

Abstract

Due to our contemporary commitment to the humanist notion of the subject, when we say community what we mean is characterized by Alphonso Lingis’ notion of the rational community in The Community of Those Who Have Nothing in Common. This notion overlaps with the idea of a social contract, summed up by Linnell Secomb as the model of community where “we understand ourselves to be rational, coherent, autonomous subjects who freely come together to pursue common interests including pursuing legal and civil recognition, [and] constructing a common culture.” I wish to examine the validity of this notion of community by looking at the difference between cults and communities.

Raphael Aron, author of Cults: Too Good to be True clearly believes in our ability to make independent, rational, coherent and informed choices to join communities. According to Aron, cults are types of communities which “are destructive because of the level of control they wield over their following. Whereas most social systems and families involve various degrees of control and subservience to authority, cults cross a critical line, creating an unnatural community which ultimately involves the loss of members’ freedom and independence.” This essay shows that while we expect cults to be selftransparent, unambiguous and knowable, we do not necessarily presume the same when we discuss society more generally. The implications of blurring of the line between “bad” communities and “good” communities for the humanist idea of community are farreaching, and point to the need for a new understanding of community, cults, and the relation between them.

引用信息

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share Link

Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789004325623/B9789004325623-s015.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

折叠
展开
回到页面顶端

Returning (to) Communities

Theory, Culture and Political Practice of the Communal

丛编： Critical Studies, 卷： 28and Critical Studies, 卷： 28

ISBN:: 9789004325623

出版社:: Brill

印刷出版日期:: 01 Jan 2006

Subjects
- Social Sciences
  - Cultural Studies

统计数据

	全部期间	过去一年	过去30天
摘要浏览次数	101	47	10
全文浏览次数	5	0	0
PDF下载次数	6	0	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

AppBar-Authors 2025

AppBar-Open Access 2025

AppBar-Product Information 2025

AppBar-Company 2025

AppBar-Contact 2025

PUTTING THE CULT BACK INTO COMMUNITY

Abstract

引用信息

Share Link

Returning (to) Communities

Theory, Culture and Political Practice of the Communal

目录

统计数据

统计数据