"It’s just a reflection of a reflection / Of a reflection of a reflection / Will I see you on the other side? / We all got things to hide"
Fairly common philosophical ideas that go down a crazy rabbit hole. There's no true self, despite what we tell ourselves - we're only reflections of how we perceive ourselves, how others perceive us, how we perceive others, etc. Truth is relative, and therefore arbitrary.
"The signals we send / Are deflected again / We're still connected / But are we even friends? / We fell in love when I was nineteen / And I was staring at a screen"
Thus it complicates what love is. Who are we loving - the true self (if such a thing exists) or a perception (the reflection) of what we want to love?
"Thought you would bring me to the resurrector / Turns out it was just a reflektor (It's just a reflektor)"
This seems to say that God (the resurrector) is a sham, too. He's just a reflektor. Plays into the French bit sang by Régine, about being in a state between night and day, life and death.
It's a song about Relativism, I think. (And that's Relativism with a capital "R".) Maybe a post-Nietzsche view of Relativism. It's because of this bit:
"Our song escapes / On neon silver discs / Our love is plastic / We'll break it to bits / I want to break free / But will they break me? / Down, down, down / Don't mess around"
One of Nietzsche's big ideas was that of the "übermensch" - the "overman" that could break free of the conventions of society and humanity to be his true self. Arcade Fire has been big on eschewing technology whenever possible and taking part in human connection (a big theme in The Suburbs), so this ties in with that pretty nicely, I think.
And, of course, the chorus:
"I thought I found a way to enter / It’s just a reflektor (It's just a reflektor) / I thought I found the connector / It’s just a reflektor (It's just a reflektor)"
Win thought he found the key to understanding it all, but, welp, it's just a reflektor. You can't win! All hope is lost!
"We often know directly that we are in a certain mental state. Typical cases would be where we are in serious pain, are itching, are smelling a rose, seeing a sunflower, are depressed, believe that today is Tuesday, and so forth. We do not always know directly that we are in the mental state we are in but what is striking is that we never have direct knowledge that other human beings are in whatever mental state they are in. It is this stark asymmetry that generates the epistemological problem of other minds.
"We often know directly that we are in a certain mental state. Typical cases would be where we are in serious pain, are itching, are smelling a rose, seeing a sunflower, are depressed, believe that today is Tuesday, and so forth. We do not always know directly that we are in the mental state we are in but what is striking is that we never have direct knowledge that other human beings are in whatever mental state they are in. It is this stark asymmetry that generates the epistemological problem of other minds.
The asymmetry is a matter of...
The asymmetry is a matter of what is known directly and not known directly, and the specific kind of knowledge. It is not a matter of what can be observed, perceived, felt, as opposed to what cannot be observed, perceived, felt. Were I able to observe the mental states of another human being that would not mean that I did not have a problem of other minds. I would still lack what I needed. What I need is the capacity to observe those mental states as mental states belonging to that other human being. They would have to be experienced by me as someone else's mental state. My experience of the other would have to come accompanied by that guarantee, attached as it were to an epistemological label. The situation would only then be as it is in my own case. I would only then be in possession of the direct knowledge that I and all of us forever lack." (SEP "Other Minds")
"It’s just a reflection of a reflection / Of a reflection of a reflection / Will I see you on the other side? / We all got things to hide"
Fairly common philosophical ideas that go down a crazy rabbit hole. There's no true self, despite what we tell ourselves - we're only reflections of how we perceive ourselves, how others perceive us, how we perceive others, etc. Truth is relative, and therefore arbitrary.
"The signals we send / Are deflected again / We're still connected / But are we even friends? / We fell in love when I was nineteen / And I was staring at a screen"
Thus it complicates what love is. Who are we loving - the true self (if such a thing exists) or a perception (the reflection) of what we want to love?
"Thought you would bring me to the resurrector / Turns out it was just a reflektor (It's just a reflektor)"
This seems to say that God (the resurrector) is a sham, too. He's just a reflektor. Plays into the French bit sang by Régine, about being in a state between night and day, life and death.
It's a song about Relativism, I think. (And that's Relativism with a capital "R".) Maybe a post-Nietzsche view of Relativism. It's because of this bit:
"Our song escapes / On neon silver discs / Our love is plastic / We'll break it to bits / I want to break free / But will they break me? / Down, down, down / Don't mess around"
One of Nietzsche's big ideas was that of the "übermensch" - the "overman" that could break free of the conventions of society and humanity to be his true self. Arcade Fire has been big on eschewing technology whenever possible and taking part in human connection (a big theme in The Suburbs), so this ties in with that pretty nicely, I think.
And, of course, the chorus:
"I thought I found a way to enter / It’s just a reflektor (It's just a reflektor) / I thought I found the connector / It’s just a reflektor (It's just a reflektor)"
Win thought he found the key to understanding it all, but, welp, it's just a reflektor. You can't win! All hope is lost!
"We often know directly that we are in a certain mental state. Typical cases would be where we are in serious pain, are itching, are smelling a rose, seeing a sunflower, are depressed, believe that today is Tuesday, and so forth. We do not always know directly that we are in the mental state we are in but what is striking is that we never have direct knowledge that other human beings are in whatever mental state they are in. It is this stark asymmetry that generates the epistemological problem of other minds.
"We often know directly that we are in a certain mental state. Typical cases would be where we are in serious pain, are itching, are smelling a rose, seeing a sunflower, are depressed, believe that today is Tuesday, and so forth. We do not always know directly that we are in the mental state we are in but what is striking is that we never have direct knowledge that other human beings are in whatever mental state they are in. It is this stark asymmetry that generates the epistemological problem of other minds.
The asymmetry is a matter of...
The asymmetry is a matter of what is known directly and not known directly, and the specific kind of knowledge. It is not a matter of what can be observed, perceived, felt, as opposed to what cannot be observed, perceived, felt. Were I able to observe the mental states of another human being that would not mean that I did not have a problem of other minds. I would still lack what I needed. What I need is the capacity to observe those mental states as mental states belonging to that other human being. They would have to be experienced by me as someone else's mental state. My experience of the other would have to come accompanied by that guarantee, attached as it were to an epistemological label. The situation would only then be as it is in my own case. I would only then be in possession of the direct knowledge that I and all of us forever lack." (SEP "Other Minds")
Can put a damper on a relationship, I guess...