Desire is plastic and teaching depends on that plasticity
Evidence
But it is only possible in some kind of model of paternalism — of thinking the best of people and thinking they deserve the best, not of serving up whatever people want, or whatever is held that people want. Part of the notion behind this for me would be the plasticity of desire. Neoliberalism wants to trap people in where they already are. This model of paternalism is about saying people are capable of being stranger, of liking things which they don’t know at the moment that they would like. That’s the side that we should be on — is in inculcating this. Of course, for me, as a teacher, there’s a kind of flatness, I think, between this concept of paternalism and teaching. Surely teaching must involve this kind of wager — that the student can enjoy things which are alien to them. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2171
Categorization
- DEEPTHINKING: Reframes paternalism as a wager on the plasticity of desire rather than deciding for people—a genuinely paradigm-shifting definition distinguishing institutional care from consumer servitude.
- XREF: Parallels the ADDENDUM pieces’ concern with how authority structures shape taste; also resonates with craft essays about assuming audience intelligence. — connects to: Plasticity names the unity of spontaneity and receptivity in giving and receiving form