Not too long ago, I blogged here about all the connections of philosophers on LOST. The introduction of Jeremy Bentham, the most well-known philosopher introduced this season, spurred me on to add a few names to the list. Bentham, along with John Stuart Mill, is considered the father of Utilitarianism (or really, Benthamism). Utilitarianism posits that we should do the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. With both first and last name matching, I think it’s pretty obvious. Bentham also devised the Panoptican prison, which calls for observing prisoners without them knowing they are being observed…which seems to fit well with Dharma.
One of the things I found most interesting about the choice of Bentham (I almost couldn’t contain myself when I heard of this “new” character) is that I knew that this would reveal the character in the coffin because Bentham’s body is still on display and gets pulled out for all the fun society meetings (one of the most hilarious things I remember learning in history class–thanks Mr. Wright!)
I missed the Edward Said=Sayid Jarrah connection last time around, so that has to be added to the list.
Also in that episode, Sayid kills Ishmael Bakir. Ishmael could be a reference to Islam, but Bakir is likely a reference to the Islamic philosopher, Mir Damad (Baqer).
Any thoughts?
