Gustav Le Pen (May 1841 – December 1931) was a French social psychologist and founder of group psychology, known as the "Machiavelli of group society". He is known for his study of the psychological characteristics of groups, and his ideas have had a great influence on the social psychology of analysis, and have become indispensable in modern ideological research. His masterpiece is The Ragged Crowd: A Study of Mass Psychology.
01 Be wary of the carnival of the group and avoid the evil of not thinking
What do you think of today's so-called rabble-rousers?
In the study of Le Pen and others, in people's impressions, the basic characteristics of the so-called rabble-rousers are blind impulses, scattered sand, insufficient success and more than failure.
However, a series of events in recent years, including the recent retail vs. Wall Street incident, have raised a question for us: In the era of the Internet and self-media, are the so-called rabble-rousers undergoing a transformation? Is it reappearing on the stage of history with a new look? If so, what will happen to the world?
To this end, we have specially excerpted 30 golden sentences from the book "The Ragged Crowd" to share with you and think about the complex relationship between individuals and groups.
02 As soon as a person arrives in the group, the IQ is seriously reduced
01. Quantity is justice.
02. The superposition of groups is only the superposition of stupidity, while true wisdom is drowned by the torrent of stupidity.
03. As soon as a person enters the group, the IQ is seriously reduced, and in order to gain recognition, the individual is willing to abandon right and wrong, and exchange the IQ for the sense of belonging that makes people feel safe.
04. When a person is integrated into society, he loses himself.
05. Once an individual is integrated into a group, his personality is obliterated and the group's mind becomes absolutely dominant, while at the same time the group's behavior is characterized by exclusion, extremism, emotion, and low INTELLIGENCE. This, in turn, has a devastating impact on society.
06. Groups are always intellectually inferior to isolated individuals, but from the point of view of feelings and the actions they inspire, groups can perform better or worse than individuals, depending on the circumstances. Everything depends on the nature of the hints accepted by the group.
07. The blind obedience of consciousness of the group drowns the rationality of the individual, and once the individual classifies himself into the group, his otherwise independent rationality is drowned by the ignorant madness of the group.
08. The masses have not really longed for the truth, and they will turn a deaf ear to the undesirable evidence... Whoever can provide them with illusions can easily become their masters; those who disillusion them will become their victims.
09. The public has no discernment and is therefore unable to judge the truth or falsity of things, and many views that do not stand up to scrutiny can easily be universally agreed upon!
10. So don't be easy to be part of the group, so that it is easy to be used by people with ulterior motives, even if you think you are just following along, in fact you have become an accomplice.
03 The vast majority of everyday actions are the result of hidden motives
11. We think we are rational, we think our every move is justified. But in fact, the vast majority of our daily actions are the result of hidden motives that we simply cannot understand on our own.
12. The so-called faith, which can make a person completely enslaved by his dreams.
13. In the eternal conflict with reason, feelings never lose their hand.
14. The phenomena that can be felt can be likened to waves, the appearance of chaos in the depths of the ocean that we know nothing about.
15. Sometimes something that is not true contains more truth than something that is real.
16. We always have the illusion that our feelings come from within ourselves.
17. There can be no civilization without tradition; without the slow elimination of tradition, there can be no progress.
18. Unforgettable historical events are only the tangible consequences of invisible changes in human thought.
19. In the long run, repeated statements enter the deeper regions of our unconscious self, where our motivations for action are formed. At some point, we will forget who is the author of the claim that is constantly being repeated, and we will eventually believe in it.
20. The group may always be unconscious, but this unconscious itself may be one of the secrets of its power. In nature, creatures that obey instincts absolutely behave in such a way that we cannot believe it.
Reason is something that human beings have only recently had, and it is too imperfect to reveal to us the laws of the unconscious, let alone replace it. The unconscious is a large part of our behavior, but the proportion of reason is very small. The unconscious is still at work as an unknown force.
04 Groups are prone to evil and are easily ruled
21. Groups will make everyone's mistakes in it shrink, and at the same time let everyone's malice be infinitely magnified.
22. Once an individual is a member of a group, he is no longer responsible for what he does, and everyone reveals his or her unconstrained side. What the group pursues and believes in has never been truth and reason, but blind obedience, cruelty, paranoia and fanaticism, knowing only simple and extreme feelings.
23. As soon as the sense of responsibility that binds one's actions disappears, one will do whatever one wants.
24. The isolated individual is well aware that when he is alone, he cannot burn a palace or loot a shop, and even if he is tempted to do so, he can easily resist this temptation. But when he becomes a member of the group, he realizes that numbers give him the power that is enough to give rise to the idea of killing and plundering, and he will immediately succumb to this temptation. Unexpected obstacles are violently destroyed.
25. When the moral forces on which civilization is formed lose their effectiveness, its final disintegration is always accomplished by unconscious and barbaric groups.
26. The masses are increasingly obliterated by mass culture, which regards mediocrity and vulgarity as the most valuable thing.
27. Individuals in a group are sands in the sand, and the wind can stir them at will.
28. If you have mastered the art that influences the imagination of the masses, you have mastered the art that governs them.
29. What the group spirit needs most is not freedom but obedience. They are so willing to obey the will of others that whenever someone claims to be their master, they instinctively obey him.
30. The Five Signs of Idolatry:
First, the idol is always above the believer, in a position of supremacy, which plays a decisive role.
Second, believers always blindly obey the commands of their idols.
Third, believers are incapable and unwilling to discuss the creeds prescribed by idols.
Fourth, believers have a fanatical desire to spread the idol creed.
Fifth, believers tend to see anyone who does not accept them as an enemy.
When a group conforms to Article 1, its form is equated with religion, and this sentiment becomes religious belief. For the group, perhaps the most irrational is the most reasonable choice.
Micro-lessons are recommended
01 20 philosophers daigo-inspired life strategies
Ordinary people study philosophy, not to learn, but to get inspiration from philosophy, and then match it to their own life experience, constantly thinking, doubting, reflecting... Thus organizing into your own philosophy and finding ways to deal with various problems.
This philosophy course will focus on 20 "big problems" in life, such as loneliness, love and hate, life and death, confusion, and desire, each of which is divided into 5 lectures, telling you about the thought systems of 20 ancient and modern philosophers such as Heidegger, Aristotle, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Camus, Plato, and Sartre, and explore their own life strategies.
02 104 wisdom courses spanning the 2000 history of philosophy
This course does not pursue "efficiency", does not throw textbook introductions to philosophy directly to you, but carefully "grinds" difficult ideas into vivid stories and easy telling, and takes you a little bit to understand the long history of philosophy and the essence of philosophers' thought through 104 courses in a whole year.
The presenter will analyze the essence of 20 classic philosophical works such as "Existence and Time", "Republic", "Meditations", and "Drinking Chapters" for you. It covers ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, early modern Western European philosophy, German classical philosophy, existentialism and postmodernism.
03 Philosophies and inspirations of 100+ literary and artistic works
At the beginning of each lesson, the presenter will cut in with a movie, a novel or a piece of music, on the one hand, in order to start from vivid emotional experience and realization, and then rise to philosophical questions and reflections, so that the audience can more easily open the door to philosophical thinking.
On the other hand, in addition to the function of entertainment, good literary and artistic works also contain a life experience and a possibility of life. Deeply understand the connotation behind literary and artistic works, do not stick to the self, better understand others, and understand the external world.