Will Smith, Chris Rock, and the Episteme
The controversy over Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Academy Awards a few evenings ago hasn’t ceased as I write these words. Most commentators have said that Smith went over the line in striking the comedian who had just made a rather tame joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hairstyle. But at least one, Roxane Gay, said in a New York Times op-ed that celebrities should not have to accept constant badgering by comedians, that being famous shouldn’t signify that one has surrendered all hope of maintaining one’s public dignity. And some pundits have shown sympathy not for Smith’s action but for the sentiment that compelled it.
What I’ve noticed about the reaction to Smith’s slap is that it’s a perfect example of what French philosopher Michel Foucault would have called a change in “episteme.” By “episteme,” Foucault meant a whole complex of things that can be known, said, or done at any given point in history. So an 18th century Londoner would simply “know” that pickpockets deserved capital punishment – just as a 21st century Londoner would “know” that such a penalty was insanely disproportionate. Or an intelligent woman in 1850 America would “know” that women weren’t sensible enough to vote in political elections – just as a woman in 2022 would “know” that female suffrage is the most logical thing in the world. Again and again, Foucault noted, what’s thinkable is the result of a particular age’s episteme. And when you share in the episteme, everyone else “knows” the same things you do.
So where did Will Smith go wrong? He took the position that a man had to defend his wife’s honor with a physical assault – just as men throughout the 18th century and part of the 19th did in fighting duels The episteme of the late 18th and early 19th century in Europe and the U.S. left one “knowing” that physical combat was called for where one’s (or one’s wife’s) honor was impugned. But this episteme began to change in the nineteenth century, and dueling was outlawed in the U.S. in 1839, after the death of a congressman. Though there were a few notable duels into even the 20th century, the episteme has changed so completely that one simply “knows” now that such activity is “obviously” unacceptable.
But Will Smith didn’t get the email. And even his defenders, participating in the episteme of of our time, don’t defend the outdated idea that only violence can restore one’s honor. We are all shocked by Smith’s slap. Such things “aren’t done” – according to the current episteme.
A last thought: a hundred years from now, when the episteme has changed again, and people look back on 2022 – what will they find unthinkable about our behavior?