Vivisection

In the late 1930’s while the United States was going through The Great Depression the Soviet Union was going through its own turbulent times. This would be known as the Moscow Show Trials, which took place under the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The book Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler takes place during this time period. The main character Nicholas Rubashov has been imprisoned even though he always has been loyal to the goals of the party (Koestler). This showed a shift that was happening in the country and an attempt by Stalin to eliminate any possible opposition even if they were heroes in the revolution. In the text two different concepts come to light vivisection morality where the party comes before the individual and anti-vivisection morality where the individual is sacred. Rubashov in the beginning does not embrace individualism however throughout the novel he begins to adopt individualism that he refers to as grammatical fiction. Vivisection morality is never a justifiable political system. Suppressing the rights of human beings is not only inhumane but also counter productive in creating an effective and wealthy society.

The ideas of vivisection and anti-vivisection morality are described in the novel Darkness at Noon. The ideas was expressed by the charterer Ivanov in the text he says “There are only two conceptions of human ethics, and they are at opposite poles. One of them is Christian and humane, declares the individual to be sacrosanct, and asserts that the rules of arithmetic are not to be applied to human units. The other starts from the basic principal that a collective aim justifies all means, and not only allows, but demands, that the individual should in every way be subordinated and sacrificed to the co...

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...ays push for their basic human rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
All in all, the greatest danger to society is this idea of collectivism and the suppression of basic human rights that go along with it. The idea that an individual should not put their priorities ahead of their parties or state is completely absurd and will harm the human race in creating the next big invention. Freedom and Capitalism drives innovation it has cured diseases and built the worlds biggest skyscrapers. When you eliminate that and take everything under state control all you do is destroy any incentive for people to work harder. This also sets the stage for a dictator to take control and keep control with brutal means. The vivisection morality is still around and until more people begin embracing the idea of individualism around the world will we finally reach a utopia.