Collective Solipsism In 1984 Research Paper
The Party in 1984, led by the figurehead of Big Brother, exercised the use of doublethink as a means to control its society. Doublethink is essentially mind control, and in the Party’s situation, it was mass, or collective, mind control. This mind control was achieved through collective solipsism. Throughout history, as we presently see in North Korea, governments have strived to control their populations as much as possible, but none have achieved near complete control like the Party did. Certain characteristics of this fictional society are undeniably alive in North Korea, but it can be argued that they exist even in our own country.
How can a society possibly achieve complete mind control over its population like the Party has? There hasn’t been much research done …show more content…
In that room, he truly betrayed Julia and loved instead the Party and Big Brother. The love for O’Brien and Big Brother made it possible for all of the Party members to be susceptible to mind control. The specific type of mind control can be termed as, collective solipsism. On businessinsider.com, it states, “Collective Solipsism is the voluntary abdication of empirical and independent thought by a large group of humans. It is the opposite of solipsism in its usual definition – a pathological egocentrism where reality is defined by an individual’s mental perceptions and conceptions – as Collective Solipsism annihilates the individual’s perception of reality in favor of some group perception of reality.” This is where the individual, as seen in the novel, sees reality as only what their mind perceives, rather than what is clearly real and not real. The individuals collectively believed whatever the Party said. The ability to discount what is right in front of you, evident in everyday life, and believe something totally different to be true is nothing short of insanity. The Party was made up of many many insane people, and that is how they maintained their
How can a society possibly achieve complete mind control over its population like the Party has? There hasn’t been much research done …show more content…
In that room, he truly betrayed Julia and loved instead the Party and Big Brother. The love for O’Brien and Big Brother made it possible for all of the Party members to be susceptible to mind control. The specific type of mind control can be termed as, collective solipsism. On businessinsider.com, it states, “Collective Solipsism is the voluntary abdication of empirical and independent thought by a large group of humans. It is the opposite of solipsism in its usual definition – a pathological egocentrism where reality is defined by an individual’s mental perceptions and conceptions – as Collective Solipsism annihilates the individual’s perception of reality in favor of some group perception of reality.” This is where the individual, as seen in the novel, sees reality as only what their mind perceives, rather than what is clearly real and not real. The individuals collectively believed whatever the Party said. The ability to discount what is right in front of you, evident in everyday life, and believe something totally different to be true is nothing short of insanity. The Party was made up of many many insane people, and that is how they maintained their