Philosophers in Lost, and their relation to the story

thebigcheese22

Right, as ye are all aware, a lot of Lost characters are named after prominent philosophers - John Locke, Rousseau, Jeremy Bentham, David Hume.

My question is what main ideas of these geniuses do you think have relevance to Lost, and might contain answers to the overall nature of the series?

I know John Locke was one of the founders of liberalism and David Hume wrote about free will and determinism but I'm no philosopher!

Biggins

A lot of the original philosophers given mention in Lost character names centre around what's good and evil within the realm of humans and their natural existence, their ability to control their evil urges and if indeed man as such in just naturally born into the world primordially good or just evil to begin with.

Its a heavy topic area indeed. Lost I suspect is just opening the door on this topic for further discussion as one of its underlying threads and using these theories as to help explain the actions of those maybe, on the island.

...but I could be wrong (darn good chance I am! LOL)

cooker3

I don't think there is any huge importance to them. I suppose they can hint at where the character arc will head but I think the writers use them just like they use books and so on. As a little nod to what has inspired them for the story.

Mellor

cooker3 wrote: »

I don't think there is any huge importance to them. I suppose they can hint at where the character arc will head but I think the writers use them just like they use books and so on. As a little nod to what has inspired them for the story.

this for me too

MeTV

I think Widmore's line from "The Life & Death of Jeremy Bentham" may me significant to this discussion; when Locke asks him about the name "Jeremy Bentham" Widmore responds:

He was a British philosopher. Your parents had a sense of humor when they named you, so why can't I?

This may be an indication that they're nothing more than in-jokes/easter eggs for us keen-eyed fans.

me-skywalker

Jack Shepard is the least religious one and John Locke(the philospher) is the least scientific of them two... Its jsut irony and small hints into their ideals and beliefs.