In the story “The Most Dangerous Game”, A hunter named rainsford arrives on an island where a general lives named Zaroff. At dinner, Rainsford finds out that he and Zaroff are both big-game hunters. However, Zaroff then starts to talk about how hunting animals isn’t fun for him anymore as they survive by instinct and that he wants to hunt something bigger, something with reason and courage. Rainsford then realizes that the general is hunting him.
The article has two different people sharing their thoughts on the topic stating that having reason is “dead” which means that “we see emotions over-riding fact-based argument.”
Connections
The article by Conor Frieserdorf reflects on the debate between reason and instinct. The story and the article both share explanations on how instinct is a natural thing as there is a quote in the article that states, “So much of the structure and animating ideals of Western democracy are based on the idea of reason and rationality––the enlightenment ideal that man is rational and thus capable of self-governance.” this says that reasoning is something that has to be done by thinking, not something that has comes naturally. In the story, Rainsford and his friend have a conversation about whether or not animals feel fear and the article has the questions, ” Is emotion the enemy of reason? Can emotion be reason’s handmaiden? Are some emotions more conducive to reason than others?” These both connect to each other as they both bring up the idea of the difference between reason and instinct.