Abstract

Aldous Huxley’s science-fictive dystopian novel Brave New World presents us with two different world-views based on different forms of life. One of them is New World’s behaviorist way of living, which suppresses feelings, emotions and sensitivities by means of conditioning, because “everyone belongs to everyone else” in a hierarchically organized society. The other, is the imprisonment of savages in the Reservation, which is a “primitive” way of living according to the description of the New World’s inhabitants. Although minor world-view clashes between the members of the New World occur, the major clash is between the Old World’s John the Savage and the New World’s inhabitants, which ends with a tragic event. Is this unavoidable?In this article, I discuss whether it is possible for us to convince someone of a different world-view on merely rational grounds within the context of Brave New World. First, I concentrate on the New World and the conflict John the Savage lives within it. Secondly, I appeal to the views of political thinkers to understand whether rational means are enough to overcome our differences in a discussion over different forms of life. Thirdly, I discuss whether it is possible to solve the conflict by locating John the Savage in Huxley’s Island.