pinktwinkie t1_jbve4u4 wrote on March 12, 2023 at 12:39 AM

Reply to comment by RN118532 in Power and Technology: A Philosophical and Ethical Analysis by ADefiniteDescription

I think there was an essay, sortof relevant, on the difference in philosophy between tolkien and lewis. Tolkien believing that technology (the ring) would always fall into the hands of the powerful, and be a corrupting influence, and thus was ultimately irredeemable. Maybe if all you had to go on was human history up to but including ww1, it might be a reasonable conclusion to draw.

RN118532 t1_jbvk9w8 wrote on March 12, 2023 at 1:29 AM

It makes sense since, although Tolkien wasn't much interested in discussing politics openly, his political opinions were more related to the Whigs and would agree with Burke's "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Although he wouldn't like to associate the Ring with a real life allegory, the Ring's true purpose is to give command to its creator, Sauron, ultimately command all over Middle-Earth. In a sense, the Ring is a technology developed by Sauron to achieve that objective. From this point, maybe a critique of technology (the negative consequences of technology as a means to command nature) can be made using LotR as a frame, but that'd require a more elaborate argument.