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BLACKWELL PHILOSOPHY
ANTHOLOGIES
im
Expanded Second Edition
Edited by
Lawrence Cahoone
odernism An A^Kology Blackweir PubMshfing
^^'
k
From Modernism to Postmodernism
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5
Contents
Preface
ix
Acknowledgments
x
Introduction
1
Part
Modern
I
Civilization
Introduction to Part 1
From
and
its
Critics
1
I
17
Meditations on First Philosophy
19
RENE DESCARTES 2
3
From
A
DAVID
HUME
From
Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts
Treatise on
Human
Nature
27
32
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU 4
From The
Theory of Moral Sentiments
38
ADAM SMITH 5
"An Answer From
to the Question:
'What
is
Enlightenment?'
"
45
49
the Preface to Critique of Pure Reason
IMMANUEL KANT 6
From
54
Refections on the Revolution in France
EDMUND BURKE 7
From
Sketch for an Historical Picture of the Progress of the
Human Mind
63
MARQUIS DE CONDORCET 8
"Absolute Freedom and Terror" G.
9
W.
F.
70
HEGEL
"Bourgeois and Proletarians"
75
KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS
CZ)
Contents
Part
II
10
From
Modernity Realized
Introduction to Part 77?^ Origin
83
II
85
of Species
88
CHARLES DARWIN 11
From "The
Modern
Painter of
Life"
96
CHARLES BAUDELAIRE 12
From "How CHARLES
13
Make Our
to
Ideas Clear"
102
PEIRCE
S.
"On Truth and
Lies in a
Nonmoral Sense"
109
"The Madman"
"How
116
the 'True World' Finally
Became
a
Fable"
1
The Dionysian World
17
117
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE 14
"The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism" FILIPPO
15
From
118
TOMMASO MARINETTI
Course in General Linguistics
122
FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE 16
From "Science
Vocation"
127
New Architecture
132
as a
MAX WEBER 17
From Towards
a
LE CORBUSIER 18
"Lecture on Ethics"
139
From
143
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN 19
From
Civilization
and
its
144
Discontents
SIGMUND FREUD 20
From The
Crisis
of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology
149
EDMUND HUSSERL 21
From
Dialectic
159
of Enlightenment
MAX HORKHEIMER AND THEODOR ADORNO 22
From
169
"Existentialism"
JEAN-PAUL SARTRE 23
"Letter on
Humanism"
174
MARTIN HEIDEGGER 24
"The Mirror
Stage as Formative of the Function of the
I
as
Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience"
195
JACQUES LACAN 25
From "The Nature and THOMAS KUHN
c^
Necessity of Scientific Revolutions"
200
Contents lU
I'loin
DWIll
Part
lUl.i.
Postmodernism and the Rc-c\aIuaiioii of Modcriiit>
III
Iniioiiuclioii to P.M
27
lthlnstn(tl Stnicty
I he- (^(irninii (ij I*osl
I
IV) 221
111
I'rciich Post-St met lira! ism
224
"'DiJJtruncc''
225
r^ACQl KS DKRRIDA
28
"Nict/schc, Cicncalog)
From
,
I
listory"
241
"'IVulh and Power"
252
MICHEL FOl'CAULT 20
"The Sex Which
is
Not One"
254
LUCE IRIGARAV 30
From The
Postmodern Condition:
A
Report on Knowledge
259
JEAN-FRAN9OIS LYOTARD 31
From
''1227: Treatise
on Nomadology - The
War Machine"
278
DELEUZE and FELIX GLATTARI
Y,>.4l«>**''*-*i
Baudelaire, Charles, from
R W
I'uturism" (trans
.Straus &: (Jirouv, Inc
of Spenes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 19*^6.
ol
Selected Writings (ed. R.
3W 44
from chapter and
not
eilitor's
Toininaso, " Ihe i'ound-
lilippo
Manifesto
M\^.\
xolunu-
this
is
Mini ami Arthur W. (^ippoielli) from Mar-
("Stru;^u;le
and from
section
\larinetti,
ing
Norton \
7.^;
()7
("Recapitulation
14
Niet/sche's,
ifhtti: .>
4, 62 6;
lor lAistence"), pp. 51
fourth
jip
Conip.un,
WW
ol
4 ("Natural Selection"), pp.
sion"), pp. .>7i,
c\;
ilu-
(opxriglii
I*)7S.
from chajMer
l)ar\Nin, Charles,
chapter
edition),
Norton
Inc.
1(1
Tucker (ed),
Reader (second
New
473 S.V
Robert C.
in
lintels
.W
.
Norton
&:
Used by Company,
Inc.;
20
Husserl,
Edmund,
Part One, section 'S-S, pp.
7-14 and Part Two, section 9h-91, pp. 48-59 from The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology (trans. David
1967 by Walter
Carr).
Evanston:
Kaufmann. Used by permission of Random House, Inc. * Note that the title given to this
Press,
1970.
Northwestern
Reprinted
by
University
permission
of
Northwestern University Press;
C^
Acknowledgments 21
Max
Horkheimer,
Theodor Adorno,
and
28
ogy, History" (trans.
and Morality," pp. 81-93,
Memory,
Dialectic
in
Enlightenment (trans. John Gumming).
of
New
Ithaca:
Bernard Frechtman)
(trans.
and
Human
New
versity Press; [B]
York: Citadel 1985. Copyright
©
view by Alessandro Fontana and Pasquale
1957,
Pasquino
by
Knowledge:
Publishing
Carol
Writings
Humanism"
Heidegger, Martin, "Letter on
Frank A. Capuzzi, with
David
Farrell Krell, ed.
New
193-242.
pp.
J.
David
&
Row,
&
Row,
C
1977
29
Publishers, Inc. General
©
copyright
1977 by David Farrell
"The Mirror
Selection,
trans,
by
The
Pantheon
Books,
Random
of
division
a
Inc.;
Irigaray,
Luce,
"The Sex Which
is
Not One"
New
from
Claudia Reeder)
French
Courtivron),
New
York: Schoken, 1981, pp.
©
Editions de Minuit,
Alan
30
in
Ecrits:
Sheridan,
Lyotard,
A
Introduction
Jean-Francois,
xxiii-xxv).
Sections 9-11
(pp.
31^7), and
(pp.
Section 14 (pp. 64—7) from The Postmodern
New
Condition:
A
Report
Knowledge
on
(trans.
Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi). Min-
1977, chap-
Minnesota
neapoHs:
Kuhn, Thomas, "The Nature and Necessity
1984. Originally published in France as
of Scientific Revolutions," chapter IX, pp.
condition postmoderne:
92-110, from The Structure of Scientific Revo-
Copyright
Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1962. Copyright sity
©
1962, 1970
uit,
The Univer-
of Chicago. Reprinted by permission of
Daniel,
Bell,
New
York: Basic Books, 1976. Copyright
1976 by Daniel
Bell.
of Basic Books,
La
savoir.
and foreword
1984 by the University of Min-
by permission of the Uni-
Minnesota and by kind permission
of Manchester University Press; 31
Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari, from "1227: Treatise on Nomadology -
©
The War
Machine," chapter 12 of A Thousand Plateaus
Reprinted by permission
a division
©
le
Press,
1979 by Les Editions de Min-
nesota. Reprinted
The
Society, pp. ix-xxii.
©
rapport sur
Paris. English translation
versity of
1976" from
"Foreword:
Coming of Post-Industrial
of
University
copyright
University of Chicago Press;
27
1980 by
ter one, pp. 1-7;
lutions.
26
©
Used by permission of
Press.
99-106. Copyright
Revealed in
as
W.W. Norton & Company,
York:
25
Stage as FormaI
Experience,"
Psychoanalytic
1972, 1975, 1976, 1977 by Michel
Paris;
of the Function of the
tive
Other
Feminisms (ed. Elaine Marks and Isabelle de
Collins Publishers, Inc.;
Jacques Lacan,
and
Colin Gordon). Copy-
(ed.
Harvester
(trans.
Reprinted by permission of Harper-
Krell.
Interviews
Selected
1972-77
©
House,
introduction and introductions to each selection
Colin Gordon) in Power/
(trans.
Foucault. This collection
Farrell Krell),
1977. English translation copyright
by Harper
right
(trans.
Glenn Gray and
York: Harper
from "Truth and Power,"
pp. 131-3, answer to final question of inter-
1985 by Philosophical Library, Inc. Pubhshed with
1977 Cornell University. Used
in Existentialism
Emotions^ pp. 15-24 and 46-51.
arrangement
Cornell University Press, 1977.
©
by permission of the publisher, Cornell Uni-
from Martin Heidegger: Basic Writings
24
NY:
Inter-
F. Bouchard), pp. 139-64.
"Existentialism"
Group; 23
Donald
Copyright
from
Jean-Paul,
and
Practise: Selected Essays
views (ed.
tinuum Publishing Group; Sartre,
Donald F. Bouchard
and Sherry Simon), from Language, Counter-
The Con-
York: Seabury, 1972. Copyright C
22
Foucault, Michel: [A] "Nietzsche, Geneal-
from "The Concept of Enlightenment," pp. 23-9, and from "Juliette, or Enlightenment
of HarperCollins
(trans.
Brian Massumi), pp. 351-5, 361-2,
Publishers, Inc.;
366-7, 369-71, 380-9, 416-18, 420-3.
Derrida, Jacques, "Differance," pp. 129-60
neapolis:
University
©
Minnesota
of
MinPress,
1987 by the University
in Speech
and Phenomena and Other Essays on
1987. Copyright
HusserVs
Theory of Signs (trans. David B.
of Minnesota Press. Originally published as
Allison). Evanston:
Mille Plateaux, volume 2 of Capita Iisme
Northwestern University
et
Schizophrenic. Copyright
©
Northwestern University Press. This transla-
tions de Minuit,
and Athlone Press,
tion includes the introduction to the original
London;
Press,
1973.
Reprinted
by permission
1968 lecture by Derrida (the graphs);
(^
first five
of
para-
32
Cornel
West,
Paris
1980 by Les Edi-
"A Genealogy
Racism," chapter four of
of
Modern
his Prophesy Deli-
Acknowledgments vcrutm!
In
U>S2, pp. 47
Press,
W est.
by C.ornel
I'oster,
mils:
1WS2
(
W est-
Cultural Poltttis, pp.
115.
New
that
illustrations
New
The
York:
Press, l^S.v
1^)1
Gayatri
C'.hakravori\,
29+-313 from
4,
Marxism and
Speak.'" in Culture
Nelson
Gary
(ed.
the hiterpretatiun
cism
chapter
gies,"
Gornell
141-61
pp.
6,
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Feminism.
in
University
from
The
Ithaca,
NY:
1986 by Gornell University. Published
|:
the
Open
tion of
pp. 97-118 from
43
5
New
York
New
sity
44
of Difference.
5 in Justice
and
45
4"
1990
Giroux, Henry A., "Towards
Postmodernism, Feminism and Cultural
1991. Gopyright
University of
New
Butler,
(
1984 by the University of Ghi-
Jencks, Gharles: [A]
"The Death of Modern
9-10 from The Language
New
York:
Ri/.-
1986; [B] from chapter 2 (pp. 14-20) and
\\ iley
46
New
Reproduced by permission of John
&
Sons Limited;
Haraway, Donna, pp. 190-6, 203-7, and 21233 from "A Manifesto for Gyborgs: Science,
Technology and 1980s"
in
Socialist
Feminism
in
Feminism/ Postmodernism
Linda Nicholson). London and
New York
New
the (ed.
York:
Routledge, 1990. Reprinted by permission of
Press;
39
115-20.
of (>hicago Press;
1986.
to
York. Reprinted by per-
mission of State University of
Postmodern
from chapter 7 (pp. 57 9) of What is PostLondon: Academy Editions,
1991 State
(
A
103-7, and
Modernism?
Politics.,
pp. 45-55. Albany: State University of
Erring:
Rorty, Richard, "Solidarity or Objectivity.-"
zoli,
Postmodern
a
Pedagogy," section of the Introduction
6-13,
of Post-.Modern Architecture.
Princeton
Princeton:
pp.
.Architecture," pp.
the
permission of Princeton University Press;
Press,
mart
la
el
pp. 3-19, from Post- Analytic Philosophy (ed.
by Princeton University Press. Reprinted by
York
()riginall\
John Rajchman and Gomel \\ est). New York: Golumbia University Press, 1985;
Marion, pp. \11-A, 136-48, 152-
University Press, 1990. Gopyright
38
1993.
Editions Gallimard, Paris. Re-
Mark G, from
Taylor,
Gopyright
and the author;
of Identity," chapter
Politics
Ciane
.Mike
Sage Publi-
.S4),
aiul
humanitarian policy, whose abstract grids undercut
Mirror
n/
mechanisms by which urban neighbor-
hoods had traditionally maintained themselves
Then
viable communities.
m
ami Contrudictiim
as
in 1^)6() in his (lomplcxity
Architecture Robert
Venturi
communication requires
insisted that architectural
not simplicity but complexity and even contradiction.
.Modernism's search (or
style
had been summarized by Mies van der Rohe\s
slogan "less "less
is
more,"
is
to
a
simplified uni\ocal
which
\ cnturi replied
come both
bore." In the decade to
a
modernist style and the idea of
through uniform, technocratic, top-down solutions increasingly
fell
out of favor. Alternately, other
architectural theorists, including Peter
and Bernard Tschumi, structuralist
methods
modernism
transcend
to
Eisenman
employed post-
explicitly
while avoiding what they regarded as Venturi's capitulation
the
to
popular building trends of
mass capitalism.
Not
other radical changes almost too numerous to recount: the end of the
colonialism after
last
vestiges of
World War
II,
European
the development
of mass communications and a media culture in the
advanced industrial countries, the rapid modern-
much
ization of
of the non- Western w orld, and the
shrinking of the globe by international marketing,
telecommunications, and intercontinental missiles. In
many
\\ estern
nations there was a significant
delegitimation of authority, most prominently seen in
the
political
explosion of students
around the world, culminating
USA,
Paris, Prague,
ends, to be sure).
among
the
young
virtually
1968
in
in
the
and China (towards different
The
revolt against authority
educated,
about-to-be-
or
educated, classes was profound.
It
was
in
this
highly charged university setting, within an increasingly
ernism
complex
postmod-
social context, that
in the strictest sense
among some younger
was born
professors.
in
The
France
attack of
(lotulttmn:
Richard
Report
I
.
Philosophy and the
Rorty's
not
(l'>79).
I'he
last,
the dexelopments of post-Heideggerian (Continen-
philosophy and post-\\ ittgensteinian analytic
tal
philosophy were converging on
Rorty
anti-foundationalism.
American albeit
kind of pragmatic
a
representati\e
postmodernism,
of
pragmatic garb, giving "postmodern"
in
meaning
seemed
arms, on all
to resonate with the post-structuralist cri-
tradition.
We must
caution, of course, that
not the onl) philosophical
is
istti
postmodernism
recent l\ to rebel
against what might be considered the strains of
In the late 1970s, three books galvanized postas a
movement; Charles Jencks's
dominant
modern thought. As postmodernism de-
veloped, others responded to the problems of late
twentieth-century society and culture with
a call for
This "pre-
a return to traditional cultural forms.
modernism" can be seen in the widespread political conservatism that first emerged in the 1980s, the nity
moral regeneration, for
and
a return to
commu-
re-emergence of nationalism
religion, the
and ethnic tribalism, and religious fundamentalism (especially Islamic,
Hindu, and Christian). Alasdair
Maclntyre put the issue ideals are suspect, then
starkly: if
we
"Nietzsche or Aristotle," a
which
in the
postmodern-
a leap into
West means
either ancient
Greek
Judeo-Christian notions. In political theory, the
'spremodernist" >(.
Enlightenment w ith the choice
reincoporation of premodern principles,
ism or
,xr
are left
elements
of conservatism
-mmunitarianism echoed,
\^ji
global
in
far
and
milder tones,
resurgence of nativism, nationalism,
aitd militant
fundamentalism that began with the
Iranian Revolution of 1980 and was accelerated in
the Balkans and Central Asia after the
Sc
iet
"Nietzsche or Aristotle" reverse
order)
by
McW orld,"
is
theorist
opposition,
Jiirgen
Benjamin
"Jihad
versus
the postmodern global service econ-
omy and mass
modern
of the
thus matched (albeit in
political
Barber's geo-political
like
fall
empire. Maclntyre's philosophical choice
culture versus an anti-modern trad-
fundamentalism, and/or nationalism.
Habermas, continue
to
intellectuals,
defend the
legacy of rationalism and liberal individu-
alism by developing a non-foundational version of
tique of Reason and Authority.
modernism
a
philosophers outside the l,uro|)ean
for
At the same time, of course, other
its
Vietnam,
became an
thereby
the university that was literally one of in
7'he
KnowleJiie,
that
\iitnre
itionalism,
on the American war
1977), Jean-
on
Parisian students on the French government, on
capitalism, and
(
while
call for
mention that society was undergoing
to
Irihitciture
emploNing the term "postmodern," argued
the
reform
social
.
savnir (1979; I'nglish translation:
Pnstnnu/ertt
anti-urban, anti-human impulses of this alleged
the social
MtiJcrn
Francois Fyotard's Im CimJitwn PostmoJeme: rap-
77?^
Enlightenment thought. Their reformed "pro-
modernism" seeks
to obviate either a fearful return
CT)
Introduction to the
premodern past or an impulsive leap
postmodern
Thus ends our
how postmodernism
insist,
what
and
it
means
de-
two separate
are
understand what
first
whose decline postmodernism announces.
must gain some understanding of what
is
it
We
meant
by modernity.
makes the precise
latter
consciousness rather
Modern? derived from the Latin modo,
distinguished from earlier times.
and places
history. It
is still
used in this
current, as
is
has been used
It
to distinguish con-
temporary from traditional ways, and can refer to any sphere of
cares about
science,
is
ma-
expectancy; the rest
life
we should never
is
unimport-
lose sight of these
and material advances. But here
the American sociologist Peter Berger asks the right
simply means "of today" or what
in various periods
modern
chines, industrialization, advanced living standards
we simply
question: are
The term "modern,"
"Who
to say,
What makes modernity modern and expanded
is
definition of the
difficult.
One may be tempted
essential practical
What
dem-
certainly unpreced-
the non-technological components of modernity?
ant." Certainly
II
is
ented, the complex and interpretive nature of the
meaning of
questions. In order to examine the
postmodernism, we must is
industrial production, with capitalism, Hberal
ocracy, individualism, etc.,
brief history lesson. But, as post-
modernists would \eloped
into the
future.
life
in principle
and any period
local,
in
contextual sense,
hence "modern English" and ''modern dance" do
planes.'
That
ancient Egyptians in air-
the sole important shift in
is, is
mod-
ernity a difference in tools and material conditions,
rather than a difference in the selves, their
worldview
,
human
beings them-
their sense of self? If only
the tools matter, then the sole significant difference
betw een a corporate executive in a Boeing 747 and an astrologer in the Pharaoh's court
would imply
the 747. This
is
that the modernization of undevel-
not imply that the historical period of these tw o
oped countries
phenomena
nothing to do with culture and psychology. But,
are the same. Likewise, the invention
of writing was certainly
"modern"
in
comparison
to
pre-literate society. a fixed
reference in contemporary intellectual discussion. the new civilization that developed in
centuries, fully evident
case.
The
oger
lies
to
admits that
is
unique
in
it is
Exactly what makes this civilization some extent uncontroversial. Everyor^e Europe and North America develop }^
and applied
a
new, powerful technique
study of nature, and
new machine
for t^e
technologies
and modes of industrial production that have led to
an unprecedented
ards. It
this
is
this is not the
difference between executive and astrol-
not only in the airplane, but in the hu-
harder to understand and specify than airplanes,
that this civilization
in the non-relative sense that
is
problems arising
social
last several
rise in material living
form of modernity that
stard-
is
tO'
ay
makes the
this recognition
makes modernity modern
human history. unique
having
by the early tw entieth cen-
"Modernity" implies
modern
complex cultural and
affair,
man mind, or, in what might be the same thing, human culture. But because minds and cultures are
Europe and North America over the tury.
purely technical
from modernization have shown,
"Modernity" on the other hand, has It refers to
as the
a
is
The
debate
historical to
is
specification of
what
controversial.
complicated by the question of the
parameters of modernity.
when modernity
question of what
is
second decides the
started
is
The decision as
entangled with the
modernity; your answer to the
first.
Did modernity
in the
West
begin in the sixteenth century with the Protestant reformation, the rejection of the universal power of the
Roman
Catholic Church, and the development
described as "modernization" or simply "develop-
of a humanistic skepticism epitomized by Erasmus
ment"
and Montaigne? Or was
in the
non-Western world. In the West
arguably characterized as well by other
it is
traits: free
tury
with
the
it
scientific
in the seventeenth cen-
revolution
of Galileo,
markets, a largely secular culture, liberal democ-
Harvey, Hobbes, Descartes, Boyle, Leibniz, and
humanism, etc. Whether these traits are unique in human history is more controversial. Many historical societies
Newton?
racy, individualism, rationahsm,
have,
in
a
limited
sphere,
had
relatively
free
markets, respected individuality, engaged in rational planning
and
rational inquiry, created secular
or profane zones of culture, etc. \\ estern combination
(X)
While the modern
of science, technolos^v, and
a
\\"as
it
caused by the
first
development of
market economy in eighteenth-century England?
Or
the republican political theories and revolutions
of the United States and France in the late eight-
eenth century?
What about the industrial revolution
of the nineteenth century?
Much
can be learned
about the pieces of the puzzle from these disparate views.
There
is
no non-circular wav
to
decide
,
Introduction
among ihcm.
!'\)rluiiai(.l>, at least for
pher, there
is
also
question
not.
W hat
is
no need
When
did niodernitN beijin-
some new form
knoNN that
of
lile'
human
Kurope and North America,
Inii,
enouu;h to
is
It
societ\ eNolved
fully eviilent b>
whose \arious pieces had
1^M4,
priniar\
the inner nature, the probable destin\, and
is
the \alidit\ of this ne\N NNa\ of
in
the philoso-
Our
to ileeiile.
mto
,
sa\
positive self-image
has most often given to
Kniightenment, entific
is
of
\\
specific
ture, literal ure aiul music,
ments
thai
thrixeil
nineteenth cenlur\ iwentieth cenlurN
m Msual
where
it
art,
its
architec-
move-
refers to
from the seconil
half
of
the
ihruugh ihe
half
of
ihe
lirsi
As meniioneil abo\c,
saw unjirecetlentetl e\|>erimentalion
ihis period
the arts: in
in
expression of Jackson Pollack; in literature, the
founded on
knowledge of the world and
rational
sci-
know-
premium
and freedom, and believes
such freedom and rationality
that
is
estern culture
picture born in the
a civilization
life
use
painting, from the realism of (iustav (iourbei and
ledge of value, which places the highest
on individual human
common
the impressionism of Claude .\lonel to the abstract
modern
itself, a
mtcd other,
jn^^iction,
is
an active process of exclusion. hierarchtzation.
constructed by,
can never say what
distinct mention,
and
rather than a motivated construction. Thus, the
pendent of all saying. Fourth, what
repression.,
opposition,
medi-
texts, representations,
The worU we know
representations.
it
aiuKsis uhich
modern period; what he meant was that the modern social sciences for the first time made "man" or "humankind" an a
n«it
In another
really at issue.
is
it
form
a
hether or
own normatiNe
consisientK make their clearh unleashes
\N
themselxes cannot
ihis implies that postmotiernisls
postmodernist miiiht produce
a
how
its
political
thought, writing, negotiation, and |>o\\er which
of
produced those ntirmative claims
necessary misreadini;.
'^
be, as already noted, repressed. P^or
examining a
social
a class or ethnic division,
system characterized postmodernists w
ill
discover that the privileged group must actively
produce and maintain
its
position by representing
Beyond obvious cases of the former, like Descartes' mind-body metaphysics, dualism often
or picturing itself- in theory, in literature, in law,
functions in a philosophical system to put the
under-privileged group(s) hy nature, while repre-
means by which we know and judge things outside the things judged, e.g. by making the validity of the
senting those groups as intrinsically lacking the
rules of reason or morality independent of nature or
psyche, the self
human
itself as
odological.
immanence in connorms we use to judge pro-
convention. Normative
trast asserts that the
cesses are themselves products of the processes they judge.
There
is
no access
to an "outside."
For
in irt
-
as not
having the properties ascribed to the
human
properties of the privileged group. In a
may be compelled
to represent
excluding sexual or aggressive feelings,
which, however, cannot simply be obliterated, and so
must be ascribed
to
cratic events (e.g. "I
chance situations, to idiosyn-
was not myself today"),
etc.
In
system, the dualism of "reality" and
example, where most philosophers might use an
a philosophical
idea of justice independently derived from a philo-
"appearance" involves the construction of a kind of
phenomena
sophical argument to judge a social order, postmod-
waste-basket into w hich
ernism regards that idea
does not want to sanctify w ith the privileged term
social relations that
justice
was created
it
and
product of the
serves to judge; the idea of
at a certain
serve certain interests, intellectual
as itself the
is
time and place, to
dependent on
social context, etc.
a certain
Norms
that the
"real" can be tossed ("mere appearances"). this
way can
system
Only
in
the pristine integrity of the idealized or
privileged term be maintained.^
^
are not
independent of nature or semiosis (sign production
and interpretation) or experience or
This leads postmodernists
to
social interests.
respond to the nor-
mative claims of others by displaying the processes
'"^
This strategic mode of analysis
the dialectical
method of the
G. W. F.Hegel (177Q-1831).
great
is
partly inspired
German
by
philosopher
Introduction Metaphorically, this can be expressed by saying that
it
the margins that constitute the
is
postmodernist
text.
The
to the apparently ex-
will attend
cluded or marginalized elements of any system or text,
because therein
Just
as
lies
the key to
psychoanalysis
in
creates neurotic
symptoms
structure.
its
postmodernists
turn
will
their
tion the very distinction of inquiry (e.g. philoso-
away
seldom mentioned,
those lines are crossed or blurred, clear
ent"
meaning of
take as secondary or peripheral to the a text, are read
by postmodernists
a
tries to write in a
no longer
is
postmodern
proposition aiming at
a
way
that
its
a
effects
No one
would be "consist-
with these commitments could
become
and
Once
art.
on the reader, or an aesthetic performance.
who
may
intended to be
is
it
by
a sentence written
practical
and
truth, or a practical utterance offered for
presumably accidental marginalia.
readers
whether
writer
Linguistic tropes, such as metaphors, which other
virtually absent,
from
etc.),
like politics
attention
lying.
is
Indeed, taken far enough their method must ques-
productive disciplines,
marks of the hidden
act of constitutive repression in
writing
all
dreams, and
from the well-known, openly announced themes in a text to discover tell-tale
write while recognizing that
phy, science, history,
seemingly unimportant conversational mistakes,
They must
presence, the ubiquity of difference.
repression
excessive like jokes,
undecidability of meaning, the absence of
ilege, the
help
but
hermeneutic pretzel.
as
crucial to the constitution of the text's privileged
theme. Pulling on these threads deconstructs the text, in
Derrida's famous term. Such deconstruc-
tion
the
is
undermines
making its
is
the text
and sometimes
implicit
This volume
explicit in
unstable, and/or immoral: false in that
sooner or
later
Part
it is
I
presents the reader with a small selection
of some of the most influential statements of mod-
menda-
ernity
be admitted, forcing an accepta fee
from the seventeenth through the nineteenth
centuries, as well as
some of the most famous
most human beings
these centuries
the privileged unit (the "return of the repressed' lin
North America continued
when
it
form of socal
takes the
oppression. Social disenfranchisement, marginalization of sexual
and
and
racial groups, is the
political case of this pattern.
This
is
Some
ics.
had
for the
the world in
at che
enced by the
postmodernists wish to remove such
to live
Europe and
in
and think
thousand years preceding:
as they
in small
towns and agricultural communities, imagining
mo 'al
heart of every postmodernist intervention in polit-
criti-
cisms of that evolving civilization. Throughout
of the excluded factors into the representation«of
Freud); immoral
modern
itself.
is false,
unstable in that the repression insst
lie;
structured chronologically around
West's philosophical evaluation of
kind of analysis through constitutive repression
the claim that the process of exclusion
cious, a
is
three phases in the development of the
own meaning.
Sometimes this
way
explicit of the
Putting Postmodernism in Context
IV
in
more
or less religious terms, uninflu-
scientific
and secular ideas emerging
educated circles in the great
cities.
It
was not
market economy and the
until the beginnings of the
while others, seeing in that wish a
republican political revolutions of the eighteenth
longing for an impossible authenticity, admit that
century that modern ideas had widespread concrete
repression,
there
is
no escape from repression and hope only
render repressive forces more diverse and
to
fluid, so
none becomes monopolistic and hence exces-
that
might, as a postscript,
own up
particularly troublesome feature of
ism, namely,
No
its
(that
is,
is
due
substantive
bound
to the fashions char-
who invented
reason
as
to write in a
just
But there
well.
way
it
happened is
a
more
Postmodernists
that reflects the self-
conscious apphcation of the preceding points to their
own
daily
life
writing.
They must write
while conscious
of constructivism, the disruption of authorial priv-
for
most people
new element of modern
twentieth century. Each
and religious
leaders,
and
whom are included here. that
what we have
under Part
of the location of postmodernism's birth
the Parisians
to write in a difficult style).
are
to a last,
postmodern-
notoriously difficult writing style.
doubt some of this
acteristic
But even then,
continued relatively unchanged until almost the
thought was opposed by cultural
sively onerous.
One
effect.
art,
It is
called
inertia, political
intellectuals, several
of
crucial to understand
modernity was always
attack. II
presents the critical analysis of
society,
modern
and philosophy that came with the
triumph of modernity, the society unique in
full
human history.
establishment of a It is in this
period,
roughly from 1860 to 1950, that Western modernity
ceased to be a primarily intellectual and political
phenomenon and
dramatically remade the every-
day socio-economic world
in
which people
live. It is
Introduction ihf
also
the world. vokccl a
in
pcri()(.l
the
bccaiiH-
uioikiiiiiN
iicopolilital
This actuali/atioii
new reaction from
instigatinu; a
of"
torn-
result inii
aesthetic
and
nioiUrmtN
in
period
a
of"
unprecedented
intellectual experimentation.
modernism
that resulted
both
is
The
influential for later
four selections of Pari
it.
Of the
to the
is
postmodernism. The
II
from
I
art-
a critique of
authors in this section Friedrich Nietzsche
Kuhn, and
pn»-
the
final
leidegger, Lacan,
constitute the historical transition
Hell
postmodern.
The
II
I
kiue
fitting
nuihoilological
dodge
the\
III
are
from the
jiost-
period, and are broken into four
or
Khetoncal
on both
flourishes
standmg, postmodernism to
which philosophy
ments is
philosophical claims.
unbe-
criticism b) a subterfuge
an iiu|uirer siiles
nolwiih-
raises crucial questions
bound by
is
The
to respond.
own commit-
its
charge of self-contradiction
an important one. NeNertheless,
is
it
a
purel\
negative argument that does nothing to blunt the criticisms
quiry. of
postmodernism makes of
The sometimes
is
traditional in-
obscure rhetorical strategies
postmodernism make sense
To
critique of the latter.
ern critique
selections in Part
W orld War
explkii
intellectuals anil artists,
boury:eois modernity and an expression of
most
in
debate over bourgeois values and mass
culture,
istic
W tsltin
which
(.loiiiiii.im
if
one accepts
say then that the
invalid because the kind
produces does not meet the standards or normal inquiry
a rather
is
«)f
its
postmodtheor\
it
of traditional
weak counter-attack.
It
categories: F^rench post-structuralism; critical ap-
says in effect that whatever critique does not ad-
propriations of post-structuralism; postmodernists
vance the interests of normal or traditional inquiry
who move beyond
is
and resistances
to
critique;
and
finally alternatives
postmodernism. These
will all
further discussed in the Introduction to Part
be
III.
invalid.
The same
charge was
made
against the
very patron saint of philosophy, Socrates, whose infernal questioning,
it
was
said in Plato's .Ipo/o'^y,
may be well to conclude this Introduction with a general comment about the validity of postmodernism. Some philosophers dismiss postmodern-
socially
ism for using intentionally elusive rhetoric, in part
mission. So, while the threat of self-contradiction
It
to avoid self-contradiction.
ernists literally jectivity,
this
and
If,
explicitly
they say, postmod-
undermine
truth, ob-
and the univocal meanings of words, then
would undermine
their
own
writing as well,
undercutting their meaning or truth. Postmodernists
would then be
vaHdity of their critics
in the position
own
denials.
To
itself
important
does raise
a serious
one
would
that
regarding
problem
prevent
justify
for
postmodernism,
way
from
traditional phil-
osophies hope to be, that fact does nothing to show that
normal inquiry
is
immune
be so easily dismissed.
convoluted fashion, unwilling to make
undermined
postmodernism
itself as valid in the
avoid
the
practical,
and could not
except for his eccentric claim to a divine
modernism
this,
and
beliefs,
of denying the
continue, postmodernists write in a coy,
ironic, or
led to nothing positive
to its critique. Post-
raises serious challenges
W hether
it
which cannot is
course, another matter, and one that
reader to decide.
n^hf, is
up
is,
of
to the
L
PART Modern
I
Civilization
its Critics
and
L
Introduction to Part
It
is
impossible to recount the dramatic changes
that stimulated
European modernity. Cxrtainly the
voyages of discovery of the
century,
fifteenth
I
hence the individual's autonomous employment of reason
is
human
the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth, and
by using
the scientific revolution of the seventeenth had a
that
profound
on the European mind. By the
effect
momentum
eighteenth century
behind
new
a
new
eventually create a
began
to
gather
of the world, which would
vit'ir
world, the
modern world
of science and industry and business and
cities
and
be encouraged; and that the meaning of
to
be
fulfilled
of truth
of
human
this
all
tury.
is
this set
machines rather than by nature, where the Rights of
Man
would replace the Divine Right of Kings, where
cities
would become home
who had
pragmatic strangers
left their local
to
com-
is
it
remains
imply one another, as
Even bit
if
sour,
if
effective legacy.
with our mother's milk.
some European
intellectuals did almost
critics
from within
and the
meant the
many
fact
we have come to find the milk and demand a more varied diet,
from the printing
It
in
Reason, F'reedom, and social Progress naturally
European modernity
press, the laboratory,
not the sole meaning
most
its
start.
not parents, princes or pulpit.
-
have ever since imbibed the conviction that
munities, where beliefs were increasingly generated
street,
politically
"Enlightenments," many versions of that century's
where the merchant would displace the landed aristocrat,
of ideas
of the Enlightenment - there are
We
be increasingly dictated by
and
largely a product of the eighteenth cen-
While
contribution -
to
to
reconstruction
the
society for the better, materially
rhythm of
was
in
is
enable
will
cosmopolitanism and republicanism, where the life
some measure
this reason to grasp a larger share
existence
its
own
a
as
from the
was never without
house.
The
that a universal naive acceptance of
impression
Enlightenment
beginning of an accelerating process of change
rationalism dominated early modernity, to be upset
whereby modes of
only by the sophistication of the twentieth century,
living that
had altered
little in
thousands of years would eventually be turned
is
upside down.
plain to
Philosophically, the novelty of the age centered
on the idea of reason. that
humans more
It
signified
above
all
the belief
or less universally possess the
faculty of rational thought, less a
body of truths
than a capacity and a method for grasping them,
perhaps endowed to us by
humanity; that
this reason
is
God
as the essence
of
the ultimate and legit-
the result of historical ignorance.
It
was always
anyone with eyes and mind that modernity
meant the exchange of one kind of life for another, hence a very real loss: community, tradition, religion, familiar political authority, customs
ners -
all
were
at
and man-
the very least to be transformed,
if
not displaced. This sense of loss was reflected by
some of the
greatest thinkers of the eighteenth
and
nineteenth centuries.
imate earthly judge of truth, beauty, moral good-
In our brief selection, just as Descartes, Kant,
ness and political right independent of the dictates
Smith, and Condorcet are formulating and cele-
of tradition and authority; that
it
is
at
war with
ignorance and superstition; that, despite versality,
it is
its
uni-
individually possessed and applied,
brating the new rationality, skeptical
Hume
presses
it
to its
conclusions, and Rousseau and Burke
warn against
it.
Then
in the
nineteenth century.
OD
L
Introduction to Part Hegel's objection to
Marx
I
a
one-sided Enlightenment
most
respect, they are entangled in
it
in others.
Such
is
forever the fate of the critics of modernity,
who
of the emerging market economy. But however
oppose
ene-
much
mies must borrow
inspired
to offer the
influential critique
these thinkers criticize modernity in one
a force so
encompassing that even its
power
its
to fight against
it.
From Meditations on
Philosophy
First
Rene Descartes Frenchman Rene Descartes (1596-1650) is modern philosophy. Scientist, mathematician, and philosopher, he
opinions which
recognized the problems raised for traditional
mence
and from that time
of ten considered the father of
for
Scholastic thought - the dominant medieval syn-
I
thesis of Aristotle's logic and science with Chris-
century.
Spending much
of his productive
build
to
wanted
I
to
life in
be
anew
as this enterprise
waited until
I
theology and the
new
science. His aptly
Meditations on First Piiilosophy (1641)
is
named
to
virtually
doubt to the peace of certainty.
In
me
feel
that
for action.
my mind
the
the
all
if
appeared
had attained at
any
execute
my
to delay so long that
was doing wrong were
I
I
to
time that yet remains
in deliberation the
To-day, then, since very oppor-
tunely for the plan
a personal diary tracing his journey from the despair of
should
fitted to
me
design. This reason caused
occupy
I
could not hope that
I
should be better
tion
I
must once
from the fecundation,
But
very great one,
a
later date I
from which he could prove the existence of God. the proper method of science, and the existence of the material world, thereby harmonizing
I
any firm and permanent struc-
to establish
an age so mature that
Holland, he sought an absolutely certain founda-
that
had formerly accepted, and com-
ture in the sciences.
- by the scientific revolution of his
tian theology
was convinced
I
seriously undertake to rid myself of
all
have
I
view
in
I
have delivered
from every care [and am happily agitated
following selection, he begins his Meditations by
by no passions]' and since
I
attempting to doubt
myself an assured leisure
peaceable retirement,
all
his beliefs in order to dis-
shall at last seriously
and
cover whether any are indubitable. He famously
I
found his indubitable starting point
the general upheaval of
in
conscious-
Now
ness, the individual human mind's certainty of its own existence in absolute distinction from matter and from all other minds. The effect was to shift
I
for
this
all
perhaps never arrive
subjectivity to the center of philosophy.
'
I
things which
may
freely address
my
it
is
not necessary that
of these are
at this
myself to
former opinions.
false
-
I
shall
end. But inasmuch as
me that I ought no less mv assent from matters w hich
Passages in square brackets are from a French transla-
tion of the MvJitalioris
Of the
have procured for
reason already persuades carefulh to withhold
Meditation
all
object
should show that
in a
which Descartes himself corrected,
and which the translators from the Latin
text
have in-
he brought within the
cluded for the sake of their greater
clarity.
sphere of the doubtful.
It is
now some
were the
years since
false beliefs that I
youth admitted everything
I
as
true,
I
detected
had from
how many
my
earliest
and how doubtful was
had since constructed on
this basis;
Rene Descartes. Meditations on First Philosophy. Meditations One and Two, pp. 144-57 from The Philosophical Works of Descartes, vol. (trans. Elizabeth Haldane and G. R. T Ross). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975. I
Rene Descartes are not entirely certain
I
am
fmd
able to
and indubitable than from
me
those which appear to
manifestly to be
each one some reason to doubt,
in
this will suffice to justify
my
And
be requisite that
end
for that
examine each
will not
it
false, if
in particular,
rejecting the whole.
should
I
which would be an
endless undertaking; for owing to the fact that the
occasions
I
with
the downfall of the rest of the edifice,
it
which
first
my
all
to the present time
most true and
certain
have accepted as
I
me
to
sometimes
is
it
and
that these senses are deceptive,
it
wiser not to trust entirely to any thing by which
is
we have once been deceived. But it may be that although
the senses sometimes
many others
ceptible, or very far away, there are yet
be met with as to which we cannot reasonably
have any doubt, although we recognise them by
For example, there
their means. I
am
hands and
And how
this
body
sense,
whose
my
ness from sleep that
my
could
persuading
Now
I
deny that these not perhaps
it
and clouded they con-
bile, that
when
they are really quite poor, or that they are clothed in
pumpkins
they are mad, and
were
I
are really without covering, or
that they have an earthenware head or
are nothing but
to follow
I
sleeping,
should not be any the
must remember
in
my
I
am
things, than
moments. the night
do those who are insane
dreamt that
ticular place, that I fire,
moment
head which
deliberately
I
it
less
happened
to
found myself
I
am
am
a
it;
set
is
probable
waking
me
that in
in this par-
I
me
in bed!
that
not asleep, that
purpose that
what happens
And
almost capable of
now dream. we are asleep and that all e.g. that we open our eyes, shake
that
I
us assume that
these particulars,
hands nor our whole body are such us to be. At the same time that the things
false
been formed
at least
which are represented
least, i.e. eyes, a
in this
confess
to us in sleep
which can only have
as the counterparts
and that
true,
appear to
as they
we must
are like painted representations
of something real
way those general things at
head, hands, and a whole body, are
not imaginary things, but things really existent. For, as a matter of
fact, painters,
study with the greatest satyrs
skill to
even when they
represent sirens and
by forms the most strange and extraordinary
I
different animals; or if their imagination
it is
extend
in sleep
it
is
my
is
extrava-
gant enough to invent something so novel that
nothing similar has ever before been seen, and that then their w ork represents a thing purely
and absolutely
false,
it is
colours of which this
And
real.
for the
eral things, to
such
w it,
all
fictitious
the same that the
composed
are necessarily
[a
body], eyes, a head, hands, and
imaginary,
we
are
bound
at the
to confess that there are at least
other objects yet
which are
is
certain
same reason, although these gen-
may be
like,
same time
real
more simple and more
and
true;
and of these
just in the
as with certain real colours, all these
some
universal,
same
images of
things which dwell in our thoughts, whether true
and
real or false
To
myself
looking at this paper; that
appear so clear nor so distinct as does thinkins; over this
I
to
was lying undressed
move
I
and of
hand and perceive
that
in their
does indeed seem to
it
with eyes awake that this
insane
was dressed and seated near the
whilst in reality
this
I
astonishment.
it is
our head, extend our hands, and so on, are but
way
dreams representing
How often has I
less
in the habit of
same things or sometimes even
the
At
I
that consequently
and
made of glass. But
examples so extravagant.
At the same time man, and
or are
lost in
but merely make a certain medley of the members of
stantly assure us that they think they are kings
who imagine
me
am
I
such that
dressing
cerebella are so troubled
when they
let
is
cannot give them natures which are entirely new,
certain persons, devoid of
by the violent vapours of black
purple
astonishment
no certain indica-
clearly distinguish wakeful-
the fact that
hands and other
are mine, were
compare myself to
I
is
fire, attired in a
paper in
this
similar matters.
that
by the
here, seated
gown, having
which we may
tions by
and
deceive us concerning things which are hardly per-
to
dw elling carefully on this reflection
in
delusions; and let us reflect that possibly neither our
have learned either from the
I
senses or through the senses; but
proved
shall
upon
former opinions rested.
up
All that
I
place attack those principles
have in sleep been deceived by similar
see so manifestly that there are
destruction of the foundations of necessity brings
only in the
I
and
illusions,
such a
and
fantastic, are
formed.
of things pertains corporeal
class
nature in general, and
its
extension," the figure of
extended things, their quantity or magnitude and
number,
as also the place in
which they
are, the
time which measures their duration, and so on.
That is possibly why our reasoning is not unjust when we conclude from this that Physics, Astronomy, Medicine and their
all
other sciences which have as
end the consideration of composite things, are
very dubious and uncertain; but that Arithmetic,
Geometry and other
sciences of that kind which
does not
all this.
But in
remind mvself that on manv
" its
"Extension" means the space the thing takes up, size or
volume.
i.e.
Meditations on trc.u ol thiiiiis ih.il arc \ii\
»)nl\
siiii|>k- aiul
\i:v\
general, withoui lakmu; great (rouble lo ascertain
whether they are
some measure
and an element
am awake
1
and three together alwass form
or asleep, two
and the square
fi\e,
can never have more than four sides, and
be suspected
any
t)l
I
uncertaint\
falsit\ |or
does not
it
and apparent can
that truths so clear
Nevertheless
of the
have long had fixed
in
|.
my mind
the belief that an all-powerful Ciod existed by w horn I
have been created such as
that
He
place,
and
ceptions of
me
know
to pass that there
it
that nevertheless
no
is
themselves best,
now
I
sometimes imagine
I
possess the per-
[I
these things and that] they
all
to exist just exactly as
besides, as
know
I
no heaven, no extended body, no magnitude,
earth,
no
has not brought
am. But how do
I
seem
to
see them.' .\nd,
that others deceive
the things which they think they
in
how do
every time that
I
know
I
that
add two and
I
am
not deceived
three, or count the
sides of a square, or judge of things yet simpler,
if
anything simpler can be imagined.' But possibly
God has not desired that I should be thus deceived, for He is said to be supremely good. If, how ever, it is contrary to His goodness to have made me such that I
constantly deceive myself,
it
would
also appear to
be contrary to His goodness to permit
sometimes deceived, and nevertheless doubt that
He
does permit
me I
be
to
than believe that
But
let
a
them
us not oppose
grant that
all
that
is
have arrived
at
make out
to err
is
the state of being that
that
is
it
and deceive oneself
powerful.
To
hom
to reply, but at the that there
is
they assign
end
nothing
to be true, of
I
I
nude
my mind,
iliese
in
long and
custom having given them the
to
right
m\
mind against m> inclination and rendered them almost masters of my belief; nor
occupN
will
I
e\er lose the habit of deferring lo
placing
them
them or of
my confidence in them, so long as
as they really are,
in
time highly probable, so that there
is
ure doubtful, as
haNe
1
consider
I
some measshown, and at the same
opinions
i.e.
just
much more
reason to believe in than to deny them. That
consider that
purpose
set
be acting amiss,
shall not
I
contrary belief,
a
deceived, and for
a certain
w hy
is
allow myself to be
I
all
these
opinions are entirely false and imaginary, until last,
having thus balanced
with
my
latter fso that
I
taking of
if,
time pretend that
my
at
former prejudices
they cannot divert
my
opin-
more to one side than to the other], m> judgment will no longer be dominated by bad usage or ions
turned away from the right knowledge of the truth.
For
I
am
assured that there can be neither peril nor
error in this course, and that
too
much
to distrust, since
I
cannot
am
I
present yield
at
not considering the
question of action, but only of knowledge. I
then suppose, not that
shall
I
that
have
to fate or to
it
by
a
is
my
genius not
evil
employed I
continual
a defect,
it
is
my is
origin the less
God who
is
su-
my
credulity;
some measure
other external things are
all
and dreams of w hich
shall consider
I
idea,
I
and
if
by
this
means
it is
arrive at the
knowledge of any
do what
my power (i.e.
is
in
suspend
my power I
may
be.
But
to
at least
my judgment], to
any
being imposed upon by this arch
however powerful and deceptive he may
this task
is
a laborious one,
certain lassitude leads
And
me
life.
and insensibly
into the course of
suspect that his liberty
giving credence to these opinions than to that
not in truth,
these to this
and w ith firm purpose avoid giving credence
powerful and maturely considered so that hence-
from
all
remain obstinately attached
shall
enjoys an imaginary liberty,
less carefully to refrain
this
myself as having no
yet falsely believing myself to possess
things;
deceiver,
in
and
illusions
hands, no eyes, no flesh, no blood, nor any senses,
constrained to confess
cannot
deceiving me;
in
genius has availed himself in order to lay traps for
feel
formerly believed
powerful than deceitful, has
shall consider that the heavens, the earth, colours,
false thing, or
I
less
whole energies
his
ordinary
ought not the
.ii
and commonly held opin-
doubt, and that not merely through want of thought
I
hhm
ii>
ha\c
lo
or through levity, but for reasons which are very
forth
dt^m
I
re\ert trequentK to
still
familiar
have certainly nothing
in all that
which
ions
I
these reasons
sutllcient
I'or these ancient
figures, sound,
being so imperfect as to deceive myself ever, as the Author to w
mind.
nought but the
w ill be the probability of
clear that the greater
not
IS
it
and
some other method
succession of antecedents, or by
- since
God
way they suppose
reached - whether they attribute accident, or
But
a fable;
for the present,
here said of a
nevertheless in whatever I
to
so powerful, rather
other things are uncertain.
all
it
premely good and the fountain of truth, but some
this.
God
tal.se,
remarks, we must also be caret ul to keep them
cannot
There may indeed be those who would prefer deny the existence of
maiiitestl\
IS
an\ cerlainiN |in the sciences!
aciuall> existent or not, contain
ot cerlaintN
indubitable. I"or whether
seem possible
which
Philosophy
First
who in sleep when he begins to
just as a captive
is
but a dream, fears to
aw aken, and conspires w ith these agreeable that the deception
a
my
may be
illusions
prolonged, so insensibly
Rene Descartes of
my own
ions,
and
accord
my
back into
I fall
former opin-
dread awakening from this slumber,
I
would
the laborious wakefulness which
lest
follow the
is
them myself? But
not in daylight, but in the excessive darkness of the
body. Yet
w hich have
exist
I
w ithout
II
Human Mind; and
Nature of the
that
it is
did not exist?
I
can resolve them; and, just as
feet
on the bottom, nor can
am
which
I
I
swim and
setting aside
and
false;
I
certain.
is
might draw the it
on
as that
proceed by
shall ever follow in this
I
can do nothing is
Archimedes,
nothing in the
in order that
he
out of its place, and
terrestrial globe
elsewhere,
is
else, until
demanded only
that one
he w ill, he can never cause as I think that I
am
w ell and
reflected
must come
to
proposition:
I
time that
I
am happy enough
if I
only which I
is
certain
suppose, then, that
false;
me.
I
all
my
consider that
fallacious I
are but the fictions of
esteemed is
as true.'
see are
But
am,
different
know there
from those things
sidered, of Is
that
at all,
place
it,
certain that
careful to see that
I
I
clearly
enought what
am; and hence
some God, or some other call it, w ho puts these
being by whatever name we
I
am,
I
must be
do not imprudently take some
other object in place of myself, and thus that
I
not go astray in respect of this knowledge that
hold
be the most certain and most evident of
to I
have formerly learned. That
consider anew w hat
I
I
is
why
I
I
that
all
shall
do
now
believed myself to be before
embarked upon these
last reflections;
shall
withdraw
all
and of that
my
might
even in a small degree be invalidated by the reasons
there
have just brought forward, in order that
I
may be nothing
at all left
beyond what
is
absolutely certain and indubitable.
What
then did
Undoubtedly what
is
a
I
I
formerly believe myself to be?
believed myself to be a man. But
man?
Shall
I
Certainly not; for then
what an animal
is,
say a reasonable animal? I
should have to inquire
and what
into an infinitude of others
slightest
each
mentally conceive
I
not something
have just con-
we
things,
or that
thus from a single question
I
all
exist, is necessarily true
certain.
is
is
unless that
which one cannot have the there not
imagine
What, then, can be
Perhaps nothing
I
I
I
pronounce
do not yet know
I
who am
I
represents
movement and
my mind.
nothing in the world that
But how can
doubt.'
memory
possess no senses;
that body, figure, extension,
there
I
examined
carefully
it.
which
the things that
persuade myself that nothing has ever
I
existed of all that to
one thing
to discover
and indubitable."'
me to be nothing so long
something. So that after having
the definite conclusion that this
former opinions
hopes
and very
other, very powerful
who ever employs his ingenuity in deceiving me. Then without doubt I exist also if he deceives me, and let him deceive me as much as
same way
have the right to conceive high
myself did
I
cunning,
I
shall
of a surety
at all;
thought of something]. But there
I
point should be fixed and immoveable; in the I
not then likewise persuaded that
I
Not
some deceiver or
is
had discovered that
have learned for certain that there
transport
make an
have met with something which
I
certain, or at least, if
world that
my
the least doubt could
exist, just as if I
was absolutely
shall
I
i.e.
w hich
that in
all
be supposed to
road until
of a
so support
shall nevertheless
yesterday entered,
I
all
so discon-
and follow anew the same path
effort
I
I
can neither make certain of setting
myself on the surface.
it
had
if I
deep water,
fallen into very I
was no
persuaded myself of something [or
merely because
certed that
that there
in all the world, that there
exist since I
The Meditation of yesterday filled my mind with so many doubts that it is no longer in my power to forget them. And yet I do not see in what manner sudden
w as persuaded
I
that.^
cannot
I
heaven, no earth, that there were no minds, nor
more easily known than the Body.
I
But
these.'
any bodies: was
Of the
had senses and
I
what follows from
hesitate, for
was nothing
Meditation
myself,
I
Am I so dependent on body and senses that
been discussed.
just
I
have already denied that
I
for
am capable of producing am I not at least something.^
not possible that
it
tranquillity of this repose should have to be spent
difficulties
my mind.' That is not necessary,
reflections into
I
I
should not w ish to w aste the
remaining to
But
these.
I
me
is
reasonable; and
should insensibly
more little
difficult;
fall
and
time and leisure
in trying to unravel subtleties like
shall rather stop here to consider the
thoughts which of themselves spring up in
my
mind, and which were not inspired by anything "'
Greek mathematician
Archimedes
(287-212
bc)
boasted that with a lever long enough and the right place to stand, he could
move
the Earth.
beyond
my ow n nature alone w hen I applied myself of my being. In the first place,
to the consideration
then,
I
considered myself as having
a face,
hands,
Meditations on arms, and
that .system of
all
bones and flesh as seen nated b) 1
name
the
considered that
that
and
felt,
I
corpse which
thought, and
I
actions to the soul: but
what the soul was, or
walked,
I
referred
I
these
all
wind,
a
did stop,
I
imagined that
I
my
As
grosser parts.
body
to
had no
I
manner ofdoubt about
its
nature, but thought
knowledge
of
it;
a very clear
explain
it
formed
of
body
way
from
it;
by
all
that
and which can
By
the
given space in
a
fill
body
by hearing, or by
be excluded
will
is
of feeling or of thinking,
did not
I
I
was rather astonished
to find that facul-
them existed in some bodies. But w hat am I, now that I suppose that there is a certain genius w hich is extremely powerful, and, if ties similar to
I
may
say so, malicious,
me? Can
in deceiving
of
least
w ho employs I
affirm that
those things which
all
pertain to the nature of body? I
revolve
these things in
all
none of which
would be tedious
to stop to
I
is
in
it
have
body
it is
But
also true that
I
mind, and
thought I
I
feel
if
recognised in
my
been experienced here that thought it
it is
is
certain.
is
is
exist.
I
I
Napour,
But have
I
having I
find
I
exist,
think; for
all
do not now admit anything which
necessarily true: to speak accurately
I
am
these were nothing.
position
1
fact that
I
these
find that
I
is
not
not more
at
changing
\\ ithout
am somewhat. But
perhaps
not different from the self w hich
me.
I
whom
the
know
that
know
I
it is
true that
me, are
to
I
know
I
and
exist,
it
But
to exist.
I
am,
very certain that
is
it
not
now;
known
inquire what
I
really
am
I
.
about
shall not dispute
know ledge of my existence taken
in its precise
does not depend on things whose
significance
existence
sup-
that
can only give judgment on things that are
I
can
I
supposed were non-
I
unknown
existent because they are
1
which
all
have assumed that
1
only leave myself certain of the
same things which
sure about this,
the
not a wind, a fire, a
imagine or conceive; because
not yet
is
known
me; consequently
to
does not depend on those which
it
can feign in
I
imagination. .\nd indeed the very term Jft^n in
imagination proves to this if
I
me my
error, for
image myself a something, since
I
really
do
imagine
to
nothing else than to contemplate the figure or
is
image of
a
corporeal thing. But
certain that
I
am, and that
it
already
I
may be
images, and, speaking generally, relate to the nature of body are
have as
I
little
reason to say,
know
that
all
for
these
things that
all
nothing but dreams
[and chimeras]. For this reason
I
see clearly that
shall stimulate
'I
my
imagination in order to know more distinctly what
shall
I
I
if I
were
to say,
'I
is
do not yet perceive
am now and
real
awake, and
true:
distinctly
it
but be-
enough,
go to sleep of express purpose, so that
my
dreams may represent the perception w ith greatest truth and evidence.' .\nd, thus, that nothing of
all
that
I
know
for certain
can understand by means
I
of my imagination belongs to this knowledge which I
have of myself, and that
mind from
this
mode
necessary to recall the
it
may be
able to
know
its
nature w ith perfect distinctness.
But w hat then is
it is
of thought with the utmost
diligence in order that
own
ceased entirely to
should likewise cease altogether to
am
1
breath, nor anything
a
am
I
call
not a subtle air distributed
cause
am, I
am
I
have no
as not
I
body:
through these members,
perceive somewhat that
an attribute that belongs to me;
if I
human
imagination
members which we
collection of
a
my
not something more)
am,' than
of thinking?
But how often? Just when
am
1
I
sensation.
waking moments
What
not
if
I
things during sleep that
might possibly be the case
think, that
I
or a
which arc
thing which thinks.
a
shall exercise
I
any
is
can neither w alk nor take
many
at all.
It
mind
to say a
is
thing and really exist; but
a real
w alking
there
so that
alone cannot be separated from me.
that it
if
without body, and besides
perceived
find
I
pertains to me.
nutrition or
nourishment. Another attribute
one cannot
just said
enumerate them. Let us
me? What of
[the first mentioned]?
possess the
I
pass to the attributes of soul and see
one w hich
pow ers
his
pause to consider,
I
my
can say that
I
all
that
have answered:
I
order to see
in
I
consider to appertain to the nature of body: on the contrary,
I
by
receives
am, however,
I
.\nd what more?
foreign to it
which thinks,
iliinu
what thing?
to
power of self-move-
impressions]: for to have the as also
me.
by
it,
.1
terms whose significance was formerh unknown to
not, in truth,
touched [and from which
is
it
by smell:
taste, or
many w ays
in
but by something which
ment,
had then
I
thus:
it
to
which can be perceived either by touch, or
sight, or
which
had desired
I
which can be defined by
that every other
w hich can be moved itself,
had
I
something w hich can be confined
in a certain place, a
if
should have described
it, I
a certain figure:
such
and
according to the notions that
understand
I
like
flame, or an ether, which was spread
a
throughout
than
soul, or an understanding, or a rca.son,
did not slop to consider
1
if
that
was something extremely rare and subtle
it
ot
desig-
1
bod\. In addition to this
of
was nourished,
1
that
nu-mbcrs composcil
in a
Philosophy
First
a thing
am
I?
A
w hich thinks?
thing which thinks.
It is
a thing
W hat
w hich doubts,
understands, conceives, affirms, denies, wills refuses,
which
also imagines
and
feels.
[
Rene Descartes Certainly
who
who
certain things,
who
denies
affirms that one only
who
true,
is
know
desires to
is averse from being deceived, who imagines many things, sometimes indeed despite his will, and who perceives many likewise, as by the inter-
more,
vention of the bodily organs? this
I
easily
be regulated and controlled.
Let us begin by considering the commonest
we touch and
fused, but let us consider one
example,
has has
should always sleep and though he
who
not yet lost the sweetness of the honey which
me
being employed
I
all
his ingenuity in
all
there likewise any one of these
Is
my
which can be distinguished from
take, for
understands, and
no reason here
that there
is
explain
And
it.
so evident of itself that
it is
who
doubts,
who
it is
desires,
add anything
to
to
have certainly the power of im-
I
agining likewise; for although
may happen
it
(as
formerly supposed) that none of the things
imagine are true, nevertheless this power
of imagining does not cease to be really in use, and
forms part of my thought. Finally, that
feels,
see light,
hear noise,
I
dreaming. Let it
seems
it
to
and that
I
speaking
it is
I feel
phenomena
said that these
that
am
the
be
me
so; still
that
feel heat.
what
I
heat.
are false it is
in
me
in this precise sense that
in truth
But
will
it
and that
I
be
am
at least quite certain
see hght, that
That cannot be
is
same
perceives certain
by the organs of sense, since
things, as I
who
to say,
is
I
hear noise
I
false;
properly
called feeling;
and used
no other thing than
is
From little
this
more
time
I
begin to
know what
I
am w ith
a
clearness and distinction than before;
but nevertheless
seems
it still
prevent
myself from
things,
whose images
me, and
to
thinking, are
that
cannot
I
corporeal
framed by thought,
which are tested by the senses, are much more distinctly
known than
that obscure part of
me
which does not come under the imagination. Although
really
it is
very strange to say that
and understand more existence seems to to
me, and which do not belong
in a
to
I
me and which
am
my mind
to
me, than others
convinced, which are
pertain to
word, than myself. But
case stands:
know whose
me dubious, which are unknown
of the truth of which
known
I
distinctly these things
I
my
real nature,
see clearly
loves to wander,
how
the
and cannot
yet suffer itself to be retained within the just limits
of truth. Very good,
let
us once
more
give
it
the
it
colour,
retains
it still
figure, its size are apparent;
its
will
it
in
speak and approach the
taste
becomes
liquid,
and when one
it
hard,
it is
with the
it
the things
all
But notice
it.
that while
what remained of the
fire
destroyed, the size increases,
confess that
strikes
no sound
it,
after this
We
Does must
did
know
I
so distinctly in this
could certainly be nothing of
It
that the senses brought to
things which
emitted.
is
change?
it it,
remains, none would judge other-
it
What then
piece of wax?
one handle
heats, scarcely can
same wax remain
wise.
strike
exhaled, the smell evaporates, the colour
is
alters, the figure is
the
you
if
to cause us distinctly to recog-
met with
nise a body, are I
and
emit a sound. Finally
which are requisite
fall
under
and hearing, are found
my notice,
since
all
taste, smell, sight,
to
all
these
touch,
be changed, and yet the
same wax remains. Perhaps
it
wax was not agreeable
thinking.
this piece
somewhat of the odour of the flowers from which it has been culled; its contains;
finger,
who
in particular.
it
Is
certain that
from myself? For
it
more con-
little
body
it
it is
cold, easily handled,
I
which
not indeed bodies in general, for
see;
thought, or which might be said to be separated
which
to wit, the bodies
these general ideas are usually a
Let us
most
believe to be the
comprehended,
distinctly
of wax:
attributes
I
we
matters, those which
been taken quite freshly from the hive, and
deceiving me?
who
it
even
as true as
is
has given
I
we seize the may the more
afterwards
exist,
which
though
there nothing in
when
freest rein, so that,
proper occasion for pulling up,
nevertheless understands
the others,
all
so
who now doubts
not that being
I
nearly everything,
these things
if all
But why should they not
nature.
Am
pertain?
no small matter
it is
my
pertain to
was what
I
now
think, viz. that this
that sweetness of honey, nor that
nor that particular
of flowers,
scent
whiteness, nor that figure, nor that sound, but
simply a body which a to
me
is
now
as perceptible
little
while before appeared
under these forms, and which
perceptible under others. But what, pre-
cisely, is
it
that
I
imagine when
I
form such con-
ceptions? Let us attentively consider this, and, abstracting from
wax,
all
that does not belong to the
us see what remains. Certainly nothing
let
remains excepting a certain extended thing which is
flexible
flexible
and movable. But what
and movable?
this piece
Is
it
is
the
not that
of wax being round
is
meaning of
imagine that
I
capable of becom-
ing square and of passing from a square to a
angular figure? No, certainly I
imagine
it
changes, and
it
is
tri-
not that, since
admits of an infinitude of similar I
nevertheless do not
compass the infinitude by
my
know how
to
imagination, and
consequently this conception which
I
have of the
Meditations on First Philosophy \\.i\ is
not brought about b\ the l.uuliv ol im.iuni-
atioii
W
now
hat
unknown?
I'or
I
bcconics iircatcr
it
when
nultctl, greater
when
this cxtinsion'
is
the heat increases; anti
clearly
when
wa\
tin-
is
still
should not conceive
1
according to truth what wax
I
not also
it
boiled, anil greater
is
it
Is
we
think that even this piece that
did not
ill
is,
are considering
is
capable of receiving more variations in extension
than 1
I
We must
have ever imagined.
then grant that
coukl not even understand through the imagin-
wax
ation what this piece ol
and
is,
mind alone which perceives it. wax in particular, for as to wax Hut what
clearer.
mv
is
it
in general
yet
is
it
of wax which cannot
this piece
is
that
say this piece of
I
be understood excepting by the [understanding or] mind.'
same
certainly the
is
It
imagine, and finally
always believed
is
have
I
that
is
per-
its
neither an act of vision, nor of touch, nor
of imagination, and has never been such although
may have appeared it
formerly to be so, but only an
mind, which may be imperfect and
intuition of the
confused as
it
was formerly, or
clear
and
my attention
distinct as
perceneil
first
I
In
means
lommon tion
have
been
Hut when
judgment,
when and
consider [the great feebleness of mind]
I
proneness to
its
greatly astonished
fall
[insensibly] into error; for
although w ithout giving expression to I
consider
me
impede
all this
and
in
am
I
my own
if it is
judge that
it is
present,
the
I
we
we see the and not that we simply say that
same from
From
colour and figure.
thoughts
almost deceived by the terms
of ordinary language. For
same wax,
my
mind, words often
this
I
having the same
its
should conclude that
knew the w ax by means of vision and not simply
by the intuition of the mind; unless by chance I
remember
and saying
I
that,
see
when looking from
men who
do not see them, but just as
I
say that
I
a
window
w hat
finally
I
to perceive this piece of
know
ledge above the
And
yet
I
see
what do
I
see
common
judge these to be
by the faculty of judg-
mind,
his
I
my
I
comprehend
that
aim
to raise his
know-
should be ashamed to
of speech invented by the vulgar; I
who
1
do
distinctly,
much more
truth
and certainty, but also w ith much more distinctness and clearness?
is
judge that the wax
P'or if I
fact that
I
see
clearly that
I
am
see
I
not really wax,
it.
it
or that
For
may
exist
I
when
may be
it
also be that
see, or (for
I
of the distinction) when
who
think
exists
am
from the
fact that
it
cannot be
touch
I
see, that
I
I
myself
judge that the wax
if I
the
it,
am; and
I
see
1
do not possess
if I
same thing
my
judge that
some other cause, whatever it persuades me that the wax exists, I shall still
imagination, is,
think
nought. So
will follow, to wit, that
what
that I
much
no longer take account
I I
or exists
myself from
eyes with which to see anything; but that
is
certainly follows
it, it
or
conclude the same. of wax
may be
external to
of me].
me
And
And what I have
applied to
all
here remarked
other things which are
|and which are met with outside
further, if the [notion or] perception
me
had
a
I
many to
clearer
and more
other cau.ses have rendered
it
prefer to pass on
more evident and
distinct,
quite manifest
me, with how much more [evidence] and
dis-
now know myself, since all the reasons which contribute to the knowledge of wax, or any other body whatever, are tinctness
must
it
be said that
I
my
mind!
And
other things in the
mind
itself
yet better proofs of the nature of
eyes.
derive the occasion for doubting from the forms
and consider whether
wax so
myself, not only with
is,
do not admit
I
myself anything but mind.' What then,
not
thus
say of this mind, that
I
of myself, for up to this point
seem
my
in it
not only after the sight or the touch, but also after
saw with it
shall
its
it
certain
be found
still
can nevertheless not perceive
I
human mind.
in
is
of wax has seemed to
see wax.
makes
may
error
it
men,
my
A man who
quite naked,
it
external
had taken from
really
solely
I
I
animals'
its
I
ment which
believed
some
if
of the
wax from
is
men. And similarly
I
It
what
cover automatic machines.' Yet
w hich
can be known.
pass in the street,
infer that
from the window but hats and coats which may
rests in
consider
I
the fact that
am
I
any
bv
But
more
composed.
it
there which might not as well
without a
it,
meantime
by the
present concep-
perception which was
in this first
perceived
that although
directed to the elements which are found in it is
to say
it
the
have most carefully exam-
I
distinguish the
I
vestments,
less
the
knew
I
least b\
at
is
m\
what way
in
forms, and when, just as
from the
in
that
and
What was
or
Yet
now
is,
it
what was there distinct.'
more
and of which
that
is calleil,
it
v\hen
vsas
belRved
I
woulil certainlv be absurd to doubt as to this, I'or
at present,
is
sense as
clearer
is
wax
the
external senses or
of the
ined what
it is
according as
what
ol
ami wIkm
it.
imaginative facultv, or whether
from the beginning. But
w hat must particularly be observed ception
see, touch,
I
same which
the
is
it
to be
it
that
loiueption
perlect
there are so
many
which may contribute
to
nature, that those which
the elucidation of
depend on body such
its
as
these just mentioned, hardly merit being taken into
account.
Rene Descartes But
finally
to the point
me
that
I
here
I
am, having insensibly reverted
desired, for, since
it is
now manifest to
even bodies are not properly speaking
stood,
I
is
the senses or by the faculty of imagin-
to
ation, but
by the understanding only, and since
well that
known from
the fact that they are
seen or touched, but only because they are under-
is
nothing which
is
me to know than my mind. But because it
difficult to rid oneself so
known by
they are not
see clearly that there
easier for
promptly of an opinion
which one was accustomed I
should halt
the length of
imprint on
my
for so long,
it
w ill be
a little at this point, so that
meditation
my memory
this
I
may more
by
deeply
new knowledge.
From A Treatise on Human Nature
IL Hume
David While
and
Descartes
other
"rationalists" held that there
knowledge beyond, "innate
and
some source
taken, and which undoubtedly requires the utmost
of
or prior to, experience (e.g.
modern
ideas"),
"empiricist"
philoso-
phers, starting with John Locke (1632-1704),
mental contents, hence all knowledge, derived solely from experience. Such a insisted that
all
seem tailor made for modern science. Hume (1711-76), member of the Scot-
view might But David tish
Enlightenment and the greatest skeptic of
modern
philosophy, radicalized empiricism to the
point of undermining science is
at least
itself,
as
pressions
is
nothing but a series of im-
among which we can
tions" or correlations. There
note "conjunc-
then no reason, or
is
evidence, for claiming that these impressions "inhere"
in
"substances" that endure
not perceive them, or for belief nection"
among
in
when we do
"necessary con-
impressions. Nothing
in
experi-
ence must be as it is. Hence any prediction of the based on past experience is merely a projection of mental habit or custom, even though, as Hume recognizes, we cannot live without making such predictions. Likewise, there can be no reason or evidence for asserting the necessary existence of something altogether beyond experience, that is, God. The Conclusion to the first part of his future
greatest work,
A Treatise of Human Nature (1739),
most poignant and disturbing expression of skepticism in the history of Western philosophy. is
to
sion.
Methinks
the
which
that voyage,
and industry
art
to
be brought to
am
I
a
1
ha\c under-
happy conclu-
man, who having struck
like a
on many shoals, and having narrowly cscap'd shipwreck to
in
passing a small
put out to sea
in the
and even
vessel,
frith,
has yet the temerity
same leaky weather-beaten
carries his ambition so far as to
think of compassing the globe under these disad-
My memory
vantageous circumstances. errors and perplexities,
it
normally understood. For experience, stripped
of preconceptions,
ponder
epistemological
is
makes me
The wretched
future.
condition, weakness, and
disorder of the faculties, enquiries, encrease
impossibility of ulties,
reduces
my
my the
or correcting these fac-
almost to despair, and makes
resolve to perish on the barren rock, at present, rather
in
And
must employ
I
apprehensions.
amending
me
of past
diffident for the
on which
I
me am
than venture myself upon that
boundless ocean, which runs out into immensity.
This sudden view of melancholy; and as
above
all
feeding
danger strikes usual
others, to indulge
my
flections,
my 'tis
despair, with
itself;
all
that
for I
me
with
passion,
cannot forbear
those desponding re-
which the present subject furnishes
me
with in such abundance. I
am
first
affrighted and
forelorn solitude, in which
I
confounded with
am placM
in
my
that
phil-
osophy, and fancy myself some strange uncouth monster,
who
not being able to mingle and unite
in
David Hume, Conclusion to Book One, pp. 263-74
But before
I
launch out into those immense depths
of philosophy, which inclined to stop a
lie
before me,
moment
in
my
I
fmd myself
present station,
from A Treatise of Human Nature. Book L.
1. Part IV (ed.
A. Selby-Bigge). Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1975.
Hume
David
been expellM
society, has
I
all
human commerce, and
wouM
abandon'd and disconsolate. Fain
left utterly
run into the crowd for shelter and warmth; but
cannot prevail with myself to mix with such deform-
upon others
ity. I call
to join
me,
in order to
make
a
company apart; but no one will hearken to me. Every
immediately present to our consciousness, nor presents us, be ever receiv'd as true pictures of past
upon me from every
myself to the enmity of cians, mathematicians,
can
wonder
I
my
declared
can
I
my
All the
I
must
on
every
I
shouM
they
if
person.-*
have
suffer.' I
express a hatred of
When
look abroad,
I
When
detraction.
I
contradiction,
dispute,
side,
calumny and
eye inward,
metaphysicians, logi-
and even theologians; and
at the insults
be surpriz'd,
foresee
have exposM
I
dis-approbation of their systems; and
mine and of anger,
all
side.
turn
I
my
find nothing but doubt and ignorance.
w orld conspires to oppose and contradict me;
tho' such
is
loosen and
my weakness, that I feel all my opinions
fall
of themselves,
when unsupported by
the approbation of others. Every step hesitation,
take
I
and every new reflection makes
an error and absurdity in
my
is
with
me dread
ing are, therefore,
I
venture upon
such bold enterprizes, when beside those numberless infirmities peculiar to myself,
which are that
common leaving
in
to
I
opinions
established
all
following truth; and by what criterion shall
guish her, even
if
fortune should at
last
I
sure,
am
distin-
I
guide
me on
No wonder follow
M (as
principle,
and
effects;
assent to
it;
and
feel
I
to
me
which instructs
me. Experience
future;
me
another principle,
is
to expect the
make me form
same
for the
certain ideas in a
intense and lively manner, than others, which
are not attended with the this quality,
same advantages. Without
by which the mind enlivens some ideas
beyond others (w hich seemingly little
a principle,
and both of them conspiring to operate upon
the imagination,
more
is
under
in the several conjunctions of
objects for the past. Habit
which determines
shou'd
nothing but a strong propensity
to consider objects strongly in that view,
which they appear
is
so trivial, and so
founded on reason) we couM never assent
to
any argument, nor carry our view beyond those few objects,
which are present
to these objects
to
our senses. Nay, even
we couM never
the
'tis
attribute any exist-
be) in
all its
falla-
implicitely
variations. 'Tis this
same
which convinces
principle,
when absent from
the senses.
But
human mind,
tho' these
two
some circumstances they
yet in
directly contrary, nor
effects,
and
at
same time believe the continu'd existence of
How
matter.
we
then shall
adjust those principles
we
together.' \\ hich of them shall
we
are
possible for us to reason
and regularly from causes and
justly
the
is it
prefer?
Or in
case
prefer neither of them, but successively assent
to both, as
is
usual
title,
we
among
philosophers, with what
afterwards usurp that glorious
w hen we thus know ingly embrace
a manifest
contradiction?
This contradiction wou'd be more excusable, were
compensated by any degree of
solidity
and
satisfaction in the other parts of our reasoning.
But
it
the case
When we
quite contrary.
is
human understanding to its to lead us into all
first
trace
up the
principles,
we find
seem
to turn
such sentiments,
as
our past pains and industry, and to
discourage us from future enquiries. Nothing
more curiously enquir'd
is
by the mind of man,
after
than the causes of every phaenomenon; nor are
we
content with knowing the immediate causes, but
push on our enquiries, before
we
cause, by
quality,
we
arrive at the original
are acquainted with that energy in the
which
it
operates on
w hich connects them in all
till
We wou'd not willingly stop
and ultimate principle.
on which the
tie
depends. This
our studies and reflections:
be disappointed, when we ion, tie, or
energy
its effect;
that tie
together; and that efficacious
lies
is
our aim
And how must we
learn, that this
merely
connex-
in ourselves,
and
is
nothing but that determination of the mind, which is
acquir'd by custom, and causes us to
transition
from an object
to
its
ence, but what was dependent on the senses; and
and from the impression of one
must comprehend them
of the other? Such
entirely in that succession
when
operations be equally natural and necessary in the
into ridicule
why
inconstant and
us of the continu'd existence of external objects,
it
can give no reason
must
it
her foot-steps.^ After the most accurate and exact of I
a principle so
which makes us reason from causes and
my
reasonings,
and understand-
senses,
of them founded on the im-
cious should lead us into errors,
many
find so
human nature? Can I be
all
agination, or the vivacity of our ideas.
confidence can
reasoning.
For with what confidence can
The memory,
perceptions.
one keeps at a distance, and dreads that storm, which beats
memory
cou'd those lively images, with which the
a
hope of ever attaining
Nay farther, even with relation to that succession, we cou'd only admit of those perceptions, which are
say
satisfaction,
vents our very wishes; since desire to
know
it
a
to the lively idea
discovery not only cuts off
of perceptions, which constitutes our self or person.
we
make
usual attendant,
all
but even pre-
appears that
when we
the ultimate and operating
A Treatise on Human Nature pniKiplc, as sonuihiiiu, which
wc
nal object,
ciihci
icsiilcs in ihc c\iii-
ouischcs, or
CDiiit.uhct
i.ilk
without a mcanmu;.
common
not, iiukeil, pcr-
is
nor are we sensible, that
hfe,
in
we
the most usual conjunctions of cause and efteci
are as ignorant ot the ultimate principle, which
them
binils
if
we
This
a \er\ it.
fancy; beside that these suggestions are often contrary to each other; they lead us into
credulity.
dangerous to reason than the
Nothing
at last
of the imagin-
flights
may
whom
among
Men
philosophers.
of bright fan-
be compared to those angels,
in this respect
the scripture represents as covering their
eyes with their wings. This has already appear'd
many
in so
instances, that
we may
upon
the trouble of enlarging
But on the other hand,
any
it
and leaves but
us;
which implies
refin'd
upon ing,
us?
This opinion
The
all
return?
it
for a
influence;
my
present feeling and
manifold con-
human
whose anger must
or what.'
I,
I
and
to
fiivour shall
dread?
\\ hat
that
I
am
and can look
more probable
my existence, Whose
reason has
my brain,
or likely
From what what condiI
court,
and
beings surround
be danger-
me? and on w hom have I any influence, or w ho ha\ e any influence on me? I am confounded with all
consequences.
these questions, and begin to fancy myself in the
have already shewn, that the understanding,
most deplorable condition imaginable, inviron'd
wouM
resolution, if steadily executed,
ous, and attended
it
acts alone,
w ith the most
fatal
and according
to its
principles, entirely subverts itself,
most general
and leaves not
with the deepest darkness, and utterly deprived of the use of every
the lowest degree of evidence in any proposition, either in philosophy or
from
common
this total scepticism
that singular
and seemingly
our-
only by means of
trivial
by which we enter with
We save
life.
property of the
difficulty into
remote
views of things, and are not able to accompany them
we do
with so sensible an impression, as
which are more easy and establish
for a general
it
elaborate reasoning
is
means you cut
those,
natural. Shall we, then,
maxim,
that
no refm'd or
ever to be receiv'd.' Consider
well the consequences of such a principle.
phy:
as
Where am
derive
fancy,
ery
upon
or no influence
belief and reasoning,
I
selves
little
wrought upon me, and heated
ready to reject
\
it.
.scarce forbear retract-
tradictions and imperfections in
I
w hen
can
interne view of these
tion shall
I
I
and condemning from
experience.
it
forgot,
here said, that reflections very
I
causes do
For
quickK
is
or no influence
little
and metaphysical have
a resolution to reject
and more
and e\en where
of;
is
difficulty
manifest contradiction.
makes us take
established properties of the imagination; even this
off entirely
all
You proceed upon one
By
this
science and philoso-
must embrace
And you expresly contradict yourself; maxim must be built on the preceding
of them:
since this
reasoning,
w hich
will
be allow 'd to be sufficiently
member and
iMost fortunately
it
faculty.
happens, that since rea.son
is
incapable of dispelling these clouds, nature herself suffices to that purpose,
and cures
me of this
philo-
sophical melancholy and delirium, either by relax-
ing this bent of mind, or by lively
impression of
my
some avocation, and w hich obliterate all
senses,
these chimeras. I dine, I play a game of backgammon, I converse, and am merry w ith my friends; and when after three or four hours' amusement, I
wou'd return
to these speculations, they
so cold, and strain'd, and ridiculous, that find in
my
heart to enter into
Here then
singular quality of the
imagination, and by a parity of reason all
a
But what have
so
this
they ought not to have an\
the trivial suggestions of the fancy, and adhere to to the general
that
is,
and yet we do not, and cannot establish
rule, that
than another.
is,
not w hat ought to be
can only obser\e what
small impression behind
a
refin\l reflections ha\e
the consideration of
the understanding, that
i
has once been present to the mind,
upon no opinion even
farther.
know
1
seldom or never thought
is
have, there-
but betwixt a false reason and
part,
if
these instances all
spare ourselves
my
For
We
understanding.
left
commonly done; which
more
is
and nothing has been the occasion of more
mistakes cies
such errors,
and obscurities, that we must
become asham'd of our ation,
human
in the i^resent case,
assent to every trivial suggestion ot the
absurdities,
eniiiel\ the
at all.
to yield to these illusions.
If we we subvert
la\our ot these reasonings,
none
dangerous dilemma, whichever way we answer
For
m
done
very difficult, and reduces us to
is
into the most manitesl absurdities.
II
most unusual and
we ought
far
question
we embrace
II
retin'd reasoning,
we run
Hut this proceeds merel\ from an is,
all
relict
no choice
the imagination; and the question
illusion of
how
.
ami conilemn
his principle,
part\, then, shall
difficulties.'
fore,
toi;ether, as in the
e\traordinar\
we choose among these I
This deficiency in our uleas ceiv'd in
What
relin\l aiul meiaphvsical.
ily
I
determinM
them any
I
appear cannot
farther.
find myself absolutely and necessarto live,
and
talk,
and
act like other
common affairs of life. But notw ithstanding that my natural propensity, and the course of my animal spirits and passions reduce me to this people in the
Hume
David
maxims of the world,
indolent belief in the general
my former disposition, all my books and papers
I still
feel
such remains of
that
am
ready to throw
I
into the fire,
and resolve never more
pleasures of
life
my
humour, which governs
nay
I
me
my
senses and understanding; and in this I
shew most perfectly my sceptical But does
disposition and principles.
it
follow
,
that
I
which
strive against the current of nature,
me
may,
at present. I
yield to the current of nature, in submit-
blind submission
must
and phil-
sentiments in that splen-
etic
ting to
renounce the
for the sake of reasoning
osophy. For those are
must
to
and pleasure; that I must some measure, from the commerce and society of men, which is so agreeable; and that I must torture my brain with subtilities and leads
to indolence
seclude myself, in
sophistries, at the very time that
I
cannot satisfy
and conversation. iosity to
cannot forbear having a cur-
I
be acquainted with the principles of moral
good and
evil,
the nature and foundation of gov-
ernment, and the cause of those several passions
and
am
inclinations,
which actuate and govern me.
uneasy to think
I
disapprove of another;
I
approve of one object, and call
one thing beautiful, and
another deform'd; decide concerning truth and falshood, reason and folly, without
knowing upon
am
concern'd for
what principles
proceed.
I
I
the condition of the learned world, which
under such
deplorable ignorance in
a
ticulars. I feel
all
an ambition to arise in
lies
these par-
me
of con-
tributing to the instruction of mankind, and of
acquiring a ies.
name by my
inventions and discover-
These sentiments spring up naturally
present disposition; and should
I
my
in
endeavour
to
myself concerning the reasonableness of so painful
banish them, by attaching myself to any other
an application, nor have any tolerable prospect of
business or diversion,
arriving
by
means
its
what obligation do time.-*
And
to
at truth
I lie
If
But even suppose shou'd not transport
a fool, as all those
believe any thing certainly are,
my
my
who
inclination, I shall have a
and
resistance;
reason or
follies shall at
Where
be natural and agreeable.
least
against for
my
I
strive
good reason
no more be led
will
a
wandering into such dreary solitudes, and rough passages, as
These lence;
I
have hitherto met with.
are the sentiments of
and indeed
must
I
confess, that philosophy
I
shou'd be a loser in
this curiosity
in its
philosophy; and while the latter contents itself with assigning
new
causes and principles to the phasno-
opens a world of
in the visible world, the
its
and beings, and
scenes,
that narrow circle of objects,
reason and conviction. In
of daily conversation and action,
we ought
only because otherwise. to
warms, or water refreshes,
costs us too
it
Nay
our scepticism. If we
to preserve
still
believe, that fire
if
we
life
much
'tis
pains to think
are philosophers,
ought only
it
be upon sceptical principles, and from an inclin-
ation,
which we that
after
mixes
itself
assented
any
title
feel to the
employing ourselves
manner. Where reason
to.
with some propensity,
Where
to operate
At the time,
it
does not,
upon
it
lively,
is it
ought
tir'd
river-side,
and
am
my I
chamber, or
feel
in a solitary
my mind all
ought to prefer that which able.
all
those subjects, about which
so
many
I
my
and most agree-
philosophy, and shall not scruple to give preference to superstition of every kind or ination.
For
the
it
denom-
as superstition arises naturally
and
more strongly on the mind, and
with
Philosophy on the contrary,
and extravagant,
ments; and
are merely the objects of a cold
reading
it
often
if just,
can
present us only with mild and moderate senti-
a
itself,
is
able to disturb us in the conduct of our lives and
a
view into
my
safest
seizes
have met with
disputes in the course of
is
And in this respect I make bold to recommend
to be
walk by
collected within
naturally inclined to carry
w hich are the subject we ought only to
from the popular opinions of mankind,
amusement and company, and have indulg'd reverie in
to rest, like those of beasts, in
easily
never can have
am
al-
almost impossible
deliberate concerning the choice of our guide, and
actions.
that I
'tis
and
us.
therefore,
mind of man
which are
objects,
.
for the
former
own, and presents us with
more from the returns of a serious goodhumour'd disposition, than from the force of the incidents of
is
systems and hypotheses than
together new Since therefore
all
and ambition
into such enquiries. Tis certain, that superstition
much more bold
has nothing to oppose to them, and expects a victory
my
the origin of
is
me into speculations without the sphere of common life, it w ou'd necessarily happen, that from my very weakness I must be led
mena, which appear
my spleen and indo-
feel
philosophy.
serve either for the
it
I
point of pleasure; and this
my own private interest?
what end can
must be
I
Under
certainty.
of making such an abuse of
service of mankind, or for
No:
and
lation,
if false
and seldom go so
its
opinions
and general specu-
far as to interrupt the
course of our natural propensities.
The Cynics
are an extraordinary instance of philosophers,
w ho
from reasonings purely philosophical ran into
as
A Treatise on Human Nature
spcakinii,
was
c\ci
errors
the
coiuliut as
ot
t'\ira\.ii!;aiuic's
jircat
Denist- ihat
in
\/('///'
or
(iciurall\
aw
religion
in
am
worUI.'
ilu-
dangerous,
those in philosoph) onl\ riilieulous. 1
am
mankind, and
many employM
comprehend
all
that there are in I:n^lunJ, in particu-
domestic
their
in
common
themselves in their thoughts
who being always
gentlemen,
honest
lar,
will not
very
beyond those
which are every day expos'd indeed, of such as these
philosophers, nor do
amusing
or
affairs,
recreations, ha\e carried
little
I
objects,
And
to their senses.
pretend not to make
expect them either to be
I
associates in these researches or auditors of these
They do
discoveries.
them
well to keep themselves in
present situation; and
their
into philosophers,
of refining
instead
wish we cou'd communi-
I
some
in
particulars a diflereni turn to the
speculations o( philosoj^hers, and |>ointing out to
them more
those subjects, where alone
tlistinctly
the> can e\|>ecl assurance
sensible, that these t\No eases ot the strength
and weakness of the niind
gi\mg
b\
Nature
Human
and conxiclion
the only science of man; and vet has been
is
hitherto the most neglected. "Iwill be sufficient for
me,
can bring
iff
hope
it
a little
of this ser\es to
sjileen,
more
and invigorate
it
from
If the reader
himself in the same easy disposition, in
my
future speculations. If not,
his inclination,
and wail the returns
him
follow
let
him
follow
of application
man, who
a
studies philosophy in this careless manner,
than that of one,
himself an inclination to
who
is
more
feeling in
over-whelm'd
yet so
it, is
finds
let
and good humour. The conduct of
truly sceptical
that
which
that indolence,
sometimes prevail upon me.
me
and the
into fashion;
compose m\ temper from
with doubts and scruples, as totally to reject
it.
A
cate to our founders of systems, a share of this gross
true sceptic will be diffident of his philosophical
com-
doubts, as well as of his philosophical conviction;
earthy mixture, as an ingredient, which they
monly stand much
need
in
of,
and which wou'd
w hich they
serve to temper those fiery particles, of are
composM. While
warm
a
to enter into philosophy,
imagination
is
allow'd
and hypotheses embrac'd
and
never refuse any innocent satisfaction,
will
which
offers itself,
our inclination researches,
never have any steady principles, nor any senti-
ciples, but also that
which
will
suit
with
common
practice
sity,
in general indulge
most elaborate philosophical
in the
merely for being specious and agreeable, we can
ments,
upon account of either of them.
Nor is it only proper we shou'd
notwithstanding our sceptical
we shou'd
which inclines us
to
yield to that
be positive and certain
and experience. But were these hypotheses once
particular points, according to the light, in
remov'd, we might hope to establish
survey them
set of opinions, is
too
much
which
to
if
system or
a
not true (for that, perhaps,
be hop'd for) might
at
be
least
forbear
all
in
any particular
instant. 'Tis easier to
ourselves in so natural a propensity, and guard against that assurance,
chimerical systems, which have successively arisen
cism, but even our modesty too; and
and decay'd away among men, wou'd we consider
such terms as these,
the shortness of that period, wherein these ques-
undeniable;
tions
have
been
Two
the
subjects
and
of enquiry
thousand years with such long
in
which we
examination and enquiry, than to check
human mind, and might stand the test of the most critical examination. Nor shou'd we despair of attaining this end, because of the many satisfactory to the
prin-
propen-
exact and
occasion
full
we
w hich always
arises
from an
On
such an
survey of an object.
arc apt not only to forget our scepti-
which
a
'tis
evident,
due deference
ought, perhaps, to prevent.
I
make use of certain,
'tis
'tis
to the public
may have
fallen into
example of others; but
I
here
interruptions, and under such mighty discourage-
enter a caveat against any objections, which
may
ments are
be offered on that head; and declare that such ex-
reasoning.
a small space
of time to give any tolerable
perfection to the sciences; and perhaps
we are still
in
too early an age of the w orld to discover any principles,
which
posterity.
will bear the
For
contribute a
my
little
part,
to the
examination of the
my only
hope
is,
that
latest I
may
advancement of knowledge.
"Derise" means dervish.
The Cynics were
this fault after the
pressions were extorted from
me by
the present
view of the object, and imply no dogmatical spirit,
nor conceited idea of my sentiments that
and
I
am
a sceptic still less
own judgment, which
sensible can
arc
become no body,
than any other.
an ancient
philosophical school that advocated the violation of .social
conventions.
d^
^
From Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) was
among
alone the
great
first
faith in
virtually
eighteenth-century intellectuals,
new Enlightenment A native of his be-
the
critic of
I
men,
appropriate to an honest man
loved Geneva, he led an emotionally complex and life.
Rousseau
felt
uncomfortable
in
the
emerging cosmopolitan world, which he believed made genuine selfhood impossible. He established his reputation
in
1750 by arguing
in
the
essay excerpted here that modern learning does not improve, but on the contrary harms, human morals.
In
a later work, his 0;scourse on the Origins
of Inequality
among Men
(1754), he revealed his
that
is
nothing and
science and progress.
troubled
It will
be
take in this question?
who
thinks no less of himself for
say to the tribunal before which
most learned
societies, praise
Academy, and
respect for the truly learned?
abusing science,
I
that listens to
witty as you are
ment of the
makes one long to go on all fours. it is now some sixty years since I
gave up the practice, impossible
for
me
to
I
feel that
resume
it
it."
is
unfortunately
Voltaire's wit to
the contrary notwithstanding, Rousseau never
argued
for
Has
of right.
to fear?
is
me?
admit
I
What
to the studious.
The enlightenment it;
then
of the assembly
but this
is
owing
to the
speaker. Fair-minded sovereigns have
whose outcomes
are uncertain;
and the position most advantageous
for a just cause
selves in disputes
is
to
have to defend oneself against an upright and
enlightened opponent
To
this
who is
judge in his
motive which heartens
me
own is
case.
joined
another which determines me, namely that, having upheld, according to truth,
whatever
cannot
fail
my
my
natural light, the side of
success, there
to receive; I will find
it
is a
prize
which
within the depths
of mv heart.
the restoration of the sciences and the arts con-
tributed to the purification of mores, or to their
corruption? That
'
I am not am defending virtue
never hesitated to pass judgments against them-
I
IVe are deceived by the appearance
I
composition of the discourse and not to the senti-
an actual return to primitive existence;
rather, he sought a new egalitarian way of life that would be just as authentic in the modern context as was primitive existence in its context.
have seen these points
before virtuous men. Integrit\' is even dearer to good
culture. He was chastised by the great Voltaire, who wrote to Rousseau: "no one has ever been so
read your book
I
told myself;
views of Marx, and roundly condemned modern
Since, however,
ignorance in a famous
of conflict, and they have not daunted me.
I
trying to turn us into brutes: to
can
reconcile contempt for study with
than erudition
in
it.
have to
How
appear.
I
I
dare to blame the sciences before one of Europe's
I
have
foreshadowing the
for social equality,
adapt what
difficult, I feel, to
men
concern
The one, gentlewho knows
side should
Horace,
32^
On
the
is
what
is
to
Art of Poetry,
be examined.
v. 25.
W hich
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, pp. 3-10 from Part One of "Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts in T/ie Basic "
Political Writings of
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (trans.
Donald Cress). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Companylnc..l987.
Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts It
IS
iHauntuI sight to sec
a ur.uul aiui
somehow from nothing patc, hN
own
b\ his
the hght of his reason, the
which nature had en\eh)ped him;
means of
soar b\
self;
man timruc
ctlotts; chssi-
mind
his
shadows
rise
in
of all the sirtues
this sort of ciNilitx,
|{\
puts on fewer
guished themselves their
grander and more dilticuh, return to himsell
man and know
order to slud\
and
mar\els ha\e been re\i\ed
his end. All ot these
in the past
in
his nature, his duties,
I.urope had relapsed into the barbarism of the ages.
first
few centuries ago the peoples of that
.\
who
part of the world,
worse than ignorance.
lives, lived in a state
Some
nondescript scientific jargon, even more contemptible
than ignorance, had usurped the
knowledge, and posed to its return.
back to
.\
nearly in\incible obstacle
a
common
sense;
among
finally
it
The
us.
came from the
w ho caused them
sweet
served as our rules, able from the
to be
letters.
government and the laws see
pleasant.
to the safety
being of assembled men, the sciences, the arts, less despotic and perhaps
virtue, if
our maxims
true philosophy were insepar-
of philosopher! Hut so
many
man
too rarely found in combination,
of
taste.
'The heallh\ and robust
recognized by other signs.
is
in the rustic
gilding of the courtier that one will find bodily
-
which
a
It is
clothing of the fieldw orker and not underneath the
strength and vigor. Einery
The
no
is
less alien to virtue,
the strength and vigor of the soul. 'The
is
is
He
is
who enjoys competing
an athlete
contemptuous of
all
in the
those vile orna-
ments w hich w ould impair the use of
his strength,
most of which were invented merely
to conceal
some deformity. our passions to speak an affected language, our
mores were
rustic but natural, and, differences in
While the
behavior heralded,
at
first
glance, differences of
and well-
character. At base,
human
nature was no better,
letters
and
more powerful,
spread garlands of flowers over the iron chains with
w hich they are burdened,
if
To
foundations of society; it
Outer
Before art had fashioned our manners and taught
needs, as does the body.
make
title
all
man
elegance a
with works worthy of their mutual approval.
latter are the
if
such great pomp.
desire to please one another
the needs of the former
us,
wealthy man, and
nude.
needs of the
among
a
only too natural.
its
were
dispositions, if decency
good man
has
to live
in
may seem strange, but And the chief advantage of commerce with the Muses began to be felt, namely, that of making men more sociable by
The mind
panlomine.
Italian
in social interaction.
would be
it
from
of the taste acquired by good
fruits
appearances were always the likeness of the heart's
which perhaps
them the
times and
engaging, equally remoNcd
yet
rusticity as
schooling and perfected
sequence of events that
inspiring in
all
Expensive finery can betoken
the art of w riting w as joined the art of thinking
is
of
and virtue seldom goes forth
Greece. France in turn was enriched by these pre-
Soon the sciences followed
da>s
our ceniurs
it
least
of the throne of Con-
fall
\i\
qualities are
stantinople" brought into Italy the debris of ancient
cious spoils.
These are the
How
it
men
was the stupid Moslem, the
It
eternal scourge of letters,
reborn
name of
revolution was needed to bring
expected quarter.
manners natural
today live such enlightened
much \aunted
the
in
doubtlessU sur|>ass
ill
as
\ jihilosophic tone without pedantrN,
peoples.
from Teutonic
tew generations.
more agreeable
magnificence ami splendor
ami our nation w all
without having an>
the
all
.\thens and R(»me once distin-
airs,
regions; tra\erse, hke the sun, the \ast expanse of
even
relationships
apjHarances
the uniserse with giant steps; and, what
is
wlmh make
mores
in
so cordial and easy; in a word, (he
above him-
into the hea\enl\
uibaniiN
thai
among \ou
but
men found
w hich
their safety in the ease with
they saw through each other, and that advantage,
w hich we no longer value, spared them many
vices.
Today, when more subtle inquiries and
more
them the sense of which they seem to have
refined taste have reduced the art of pleasing to
been born, make them love their slavery, and turn
established rules, a vile and deceitful uniformity
that original liberty for
them
into
what
is
stitle in
called civilized peoples.
up thrones; the sciences and the
raised
arts
Need have
reigns in our mores, and
been cast
in the
liteness
and protect those who cultivate them!' Civilized
without ceasing,
them
that delicate
Happy
and refined
slaves,
taste
you owe
on w hich you
pride yourselves; that sweetness of character and
never one's
The
capital of the
Roman) Empire
fell
Byzantine (formerl\ the Eastern
to the
Turks
in 1453.
own
seem what one straint, the
society
do
all
minds seem
to have
ceasing, po-
makes demands, propriety gives orders;
strengthened them. Earthly powers, love talents
peoples, cultivate them!
all
same mold. Without
a
w ill,
the
common customs are followed, lights. One no longer dares to
really
is;
and
in this perpetual
men who make up if
this
herd we
concall
placed in the same circumstances,
same things unless stronger motives deter
them. Thus no one
will ever reallv
know those with
.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
whom
he
friend,
deahng. Hence
is
occasions, that
What
too
it is
for these very occasions that
it is
essential to
one's
to wait for critical
to wait until
is,
know
order to
in
would be necessary
it
it
since
late,
would have been
know him.
a retinue
No more
more unvaryingly subjected
waters have not been to the star
which provides us with
night, than has the fate of mores
of vices must attend
this incerti-
no more
Consider Egypt, that
sincere friendships,
cions, offenses, fears, coldness, reserve, hatred, be-
w ill unceasingly hide under
and
that uniform
under that much
of politeness,
veil
vaunted urbanity that we owe to the enlightenment
The name
of our century.
of the master of the
universe will no longer be profaned with oaths; rather
No
our scrupulous ears being offended by them.
one
will boast
of his
own
merit, but will disparage
No
one
will
that of others.
enemy, but
crudely wrong his
him. National
will skillfully slander
hatreds will die out, but so will love of country.
Scorned ignorance
a
dangerous
famous country from which Sesostris" departed long ago to conquer the world. She became the
mother of philosophy and the
fine arts,
and soon
was conquered by Cambyses,' then by
thereafter
Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and finally Turks.
Consider Greece, formerly populated by heroes
who
twice conquered Asia, once at
Troy and once
on their own home ground. Nascent
letters
had not
yet brought corruption into the hearts of her inhab-
but the progress of the
itants;
the dissolution
arts,
of mores and the Macedonian's yoke followed closely
upon one another; and Greece, ever
learned,
nothing in her revolutions but changes of masters.
men
the sobriety of the wise I
places.
all
vices held in dishonor, but others will be
who wish extoll
have them or affect them. Let those
as
times and in
school of the universe,
ever voluptuous, and ever the slave, experienced
adorned with the name of virtues. One must either
part,
all
first
excesses will be forbidden,
Pyrrhonism.'"
some
be replaced by
will
Some
in
that climate so fertile beneath a brazen sky, that
be insulted with blasphemies without
will
it
arts. \ irtue
on our horizon, and the same phenom-
light rose
esteem, no more well-founded confidence. Suspi-
deceitful
during the
has been seen taking flight in proportion as their
enon has been observed
trayal
and the
to the progress of the sciences
real
tude!
light
and integrity been
see in
it
merely
unworthy of my
Such
is
a
of the present. For
my
the purity that our mores have acquired.
Thus have we become decent men.
It is
for letters,
body which luxury and the
arts
had ener-
vated.
refinement of intemperance
praise as their artful simplicity."
Demosthenes could never
All the eloquence of
revive a
It is at
the time of the likes of Ennius and Ter-
ence' that '
Rome, founded by
shepherd and made
a
famous by fieldworkers, began
to degenerate.
But
Hkes of Ovid, Catullus, Martial,"' and that
after the
the sciences, and the arts to claim their part in so
crowd of obscene writers whose names alone offend
wholesome an achievement.
add but one
modesty, Rome, formerly the temple of virtue,
w ho
became the theater of crime, the disgrace of nations,
thought: an inhabitant of
I
some
will
distant lands
sought to form an idea of European mores on the
among
basis of the state of the sciences
us, the
perfection of our arts, the seemliness of our theatri-
performances,
cal
manners, the
the
affability
of our
quality
civilized
of our speech, our perpetual
and the plaything of barbarians. Finally, that of the world
tion of men of every age to night,
and circumstance who, from
seem intent on being obliging
one another; that foreigner,
mores
to
I
say,
was the eve of the day when one of her given the
no
is
effect, there is
no cause
But here the
real,
and our souls have become corrupted
is
are.
to seek
be said that
it
A
"
age.'
in pro-
The
daily rise
and
of
Roman
ca.
'"
No, gentlemen,
An 34:
location,
seemed
fall
of the ocean's
ancient school of skeptical philosophers.
in 6th century
Bc
poetry, and Publius Terentius Afer (ca. 190-
159 BC) was a
Roman
playwright.
Publius Ovidus Naso (93 greatest
(ca. 8-1—ca.
\'alerius
Roman
54 bc) was
writers. a
Martialis (ca.
bc-ad
18)
was one of
Gains \'alerius Catullus
famous Roman
40^a. ad
lyric poet.
Marcus
104) was a
Roman
satirist. ^'"
'"
its
Quintus Ennius (239-ca. 170 bc) was the father
this is a
the evils caused by our vain curiosity are as old as the world.
Taste.'"'
about that capital of the Eastern
legendary pharoah.
King of Persia
'
the
misfortune peculiar to our
Good
fall
was
destined to be the capital of the entire world, that
certain, the depravation
portion as our sciences and our arts have advanced
toward perfection. Will
of Arbiter of
Empire, which, by virtue of
^'
out.
effect
title
\\ hat shall I say
citizens
would guess our
be exactly the opposite of what they
Where there
to
capital
under the yoke which she had
imposed on so many peoples, and the day of her
displays of goodwill, and that tumultuous competi-
morning
falls
Tacitus claims that the
the idler Petronius
(d.
ad
Roman Emperor Nero made Good Taste."
66) "Arbiter of
Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts rctugc ol the scifiKfs
than barbarism
ihc arts UaiiislKcl liom
.iiul
more perhaps
the rest of Kuropf
All that
oiii o(
most shamclul about
is
tkbaialurN and corruption; blackest assassinations,
wisiloiii
in bctraNals,
ami poisons; most atrocious
coexistence ot every sort of crime: that
in
the
what
is
constitutes the fabric of the historN of Constantinople.
I'hat is
the pure source
whence
radiates to us
not out ol stupidits that these people ha\e
IS
It
h)rms
preterreil other
men
other lamls idle
spent
their
and
virtue,
highest
the
praises,
peoples under the contemptuous ians,
learned to disdain their teaching.^
remote times proofs of
in
eyes' In .Vsia there
acknowledgement
an immense country where
is
in the field of letters leads to the
highest offices of the state. If the sciences purified
mores,
they taught
if
men
to
shed their blood for
name
forget that
I
Greece
that
famous
for her
was
it
happ\ ignorance
of her laws, that republic
men, so superior seem.'
O
bosom of
in the very
there was seen to arise that city as
humanit\ did
to
Sparta! Kternal
shame
While the
if
there
is
not a single vice that does not
have mastery over them; not unfamiliar to them;
if
crime that
a single
is
neither the enlightenment of
empire have been able
to shield her
from the yoke of
the ignorant and coarse Tartar, what purpose has
her learned
all
men
What
served.'
benefit has been
by the fine
of
The
event confirmed this difference.
became the abode of
country of orators and philosophy.
this
number of peoples who, protected
virtues brought about their
the
against
contagion of vain knowledge, have by their
model
for other nations.
learned just as science
is
us,
which subju-
the distinction of having the history of
its
insti-
taken for a philosophical novel."' Such
were the Scythians, about
whom we
have been
left
such magnificent praises. Such were the Germans, whose simplicity, innocence, and virtues a pen -
weary of tracing the crimes and
atrocities of an
educated, opulent and voluptuous people - found relief in depicting.
Such had been Rome
herself in
the times of her poverty and ignorance. finally,
Such,
for her
courage which adversity
could not overthrow, and for her faithfulness which
example could not corrupt.
'"
Education
of
w here.
The
"There,"
ments worth Athens has
Some
is left
less to
\
and
irtue."
to us except the
of their heroic actions. Are such
monu-
us than the curious marbles that
left us.'
wise men,
it is
true,
had resisted the gen-
and protected themselves from vice
eral torrent
in
the abode of the Muses. But listen to the judgement that the first
learned
and unhappiest of them made of the
men and
artists
of his time.
"I have," he says, "examined the poets, and I
view them as people whose talent makes an im-
pression on
them and on others who claim to be to be such, and w ho are nothing
w ise, w ho are taken of the sort.
"From to artists.
poets," continues Socrates, "I
moved on
No one knew
than
less
about the
one w as more convinced that
artists
especially fine secrets. Still,
I
"*
Probably Xenophon's (430-354 bc)
Cyrus.
less brilliant.
the very air of the country seems to inspire
has that rustic nation show n herself to this
day - so vaunted
is
Nothing of her inhabitants
among
to be seen ever\
said the other peoples, ''men are born virtuous,
gated Asia so easily, and w hich alone has enjoyed
tutions
Lacedaemon
memory
which virtue was
elegance
serve as models in every corrupt age.
picture of
Such were the
Persians, a singular nation in
The
those astonishing works that
own happiness and first
Athens
taste, the
Marble and canvas, animated by the hands of the
will
the small
arts
of her buildings paralleled that of the language.
From Athens came
Contrast these scenes w ith that of the mores of
and good
civility
Could
men?
tyrant
the sciences and scientists.
artists,
most capable masters, were
be to be peopled by slaves and wicked
a
you drove out from your walls the
poets,''
and
derived from the honors bestowed upon them.^ it
intruded
arts,
there gathered so carefully the works of the prince
the ministers, nor the alleged w i.sdom of the laws,
nor the multitude of the inhabitants of that vast
led
\irtues
their
to a vain doctrine!
themselves together into .\thens, while
vices,
wisdom
as for the
demi-gods rather than
of
peoples of China should be wise, free and invin-
But
barbar-
of
their country, if they enlivened their courage, the
cible.
other
groufK-d
liowexer, the\ consiilered their mores and
Could
a truth
which we ha\e existing evidence before our
debating
bestowing on
that arrogant reasoners,
themselves
itself.
Hut \vh> seek
thai in
(act
li\es
about the sovereign g(M)d, about vice and about
the enliiihienment on which our century prides
for
those ol the
of evercise to
IIkn were iml unaware of the
miiul
"^
Peisistratus (ca.
collection of
arts
I;
no
possessed some
perceived that their
600-527 bc) allegedly directed the
Homer's works.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau condition
no better than that of the poets, and
is
under the same preju-
that they are both laboring
Because the most
dice.
among them
skillful
excel in
their specialty, they view themselves as the wisest
To my way
of men.
of thinking, this presumption
this
it
follows that, as
put myself in the place of
I
be what
I
am
answered myself and God:
what
I
would prefer
the true, the good, and the beautiful.
between
something.
however,
I,
not in doubt about
am
I
- what
all
believe they
What
plicity.^
know
know nothing, at least Thus all that superiority the oracle, reduces to
ignorant of what
I
do not
fatal
the wisest of men in the judgment of
the gods, and the most learned of Athenians in the
opinion of
Greece, Socrates, speaking in praise
all
is
this strange speech.''
Roman simWhat are these
effeminate mores?
What
meaning of these
the
is
these paintings, these buildings? Fools,
statues,
what have you done? You, the masters of nations, have you made yourselves the slaves of the frivolous
men you Was it to
conquered?
Do
rhetoricians govern you?
enrich architects, painters, sculptors, and
you soaked Greece and Asia with your
blood? Are the spoils of Carthage the prey of a flute
Romans make
player?
these paintings; drive out these slaves gate you and
He would
not aid in
down
haste to tear
these amphitheaters; shatter these marbles; burn
among us, our learned men and our artists would make him change his mind.-^ No, gentlemen, this just man would continue to hold our vain sciences in contempt.
her
roofs and those rustic
of ignorance! Does anyone believe that, were he to
be reborn
all
splendor has follow ed upon
What
actors that is
saved by your arm and
become of those thatched
is
know."
Here then
Rome
hearths where moderation and virtue once dwelt.^
is
if I it.
wisdom accorded me by
being convinced that
I
But there
that although these
us:
people know^ nothing, they
been your misfortune to be
it
you had seen the pompous coun-
life,
honored more by your good name than by has
do not know - neither the sophists, nor the
this difference
had
if,
returned to
conquests? "Gods!" you would have said, "what
remain
to
poets, nor the orators, nor the artists, nor
in
thought,
want
am.
"We
am
to
it.
O Fabricius!"'" What would your great soul have
tenance of that
I I
study
know what they know nothing.
or what they are, to
have learned or to know that I
I
their
From
has completely tarnished their knowledge.
the oracle and ask myself whether
men have begun to appear in our midst," own philosophers said, "good men have vanished." Until then the Romans had been content to practice virtue; all was lost when they began to learned
whose
who
subju-
corrupt you. Let
fatal arts
others achieve notoriety by vain talents; the only talent
worthy of
Rome
is
that of conquering the
world and making virtue reign
in
it.
When Cineas""'
the enlargement of that mass of books which inun-
took our Senate for an assembly of kings, he was
date us from every quarter, and the only precept he
dazzled neither by vain
would leave
gance.
is
the one
left to his disciples
descendants: the example and the virtue.
Thus
is it
and
memory
to
our
of his
Rome
to rail against those artful
who seduced
nor by studied elethat frivolous elo-
quence, the focus of study and delight of
futile
men. What then did Cineas see that was so majes-
noble to teach men!
Socrates had begun in Athens, Cato"' the Elder
continued in
pomp
There he did not hear
and
tic?
O
citizens!
riches nor
all
He saw
your
arts
a sight
which neither your
could ever display; the most
the virtue and ener-
beautiful sight ever to have appeared under the
vated the courage of his fellow citizens. But the
heavens, the assembly of two hundred virtuous
subtle Greeks
sciences, again.
and
the arts,
Rome was
dialectic
prevailed once
with philosophers and
filled
orators; military discipline
The
sacred
names of liberty,
homeland
disinterest-
in
Rome and
of
governing the earth."
But
was neglected, agricul-
ture scorned, sects embraced, and the forgotten.
men, worthy of commanding
let
us leap over the distance of place and time
and see what has happened before our eyes; or rather,
our countries and
in
let
us set aside odious
edness, obedience to the laws were replaced by the
pictures that offend our delicate sensibilities, and
names of Epicurus, Zeno,
spare ourselves the trouble of repeating the same
Arcesilaus.'"'
"Ever since
things under different names. ""
Marcus Porcius Cato "the Elder" (243- 149 bc) was
highly respected for simplicity ""
Roman
I
summoned
I
make
a
general and statesman, famous
It
was not
in vain that
the shade of Fabricius; and
that great
man
say that
I
w hat did
could not have
of virtue.
Epicurus (341-270 bc), founder of Epicureanism;
Zeno of Citium (336-264 bc), founder of Stoicism; and Arcesilaus (316-241 bc), a famous Skeptic.
^"'
Caius Fabricius Luscinus
Roman general. "'^ An ambassador
(d.
250 bc) was
a great
of the Thessalian king Pyrrhus.
Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts platcil
tlu-
111
Anions
us,
l.ouis \ll oi
inouili ol is
ii
drunk the hemlock; but he woukl from
more
a cu|>
and scorn
hitler
still:
Uih\
I\
noi
li.ivi
-
chunk
h.i\f
the msultinu; ridicule
limes worse than
are a luiiuheil
that
I
woiiUI
Soir.iii-s
iiik-,
death.
how lu\ui\,
IS
ha\e
(.lissolulion aiul sl.i\er\
times been the punishment lor the arrogant
we ha\e made
et forts that
happy ignor-
to lea\e the
ance where eternal w isilom had jilaced
heavy
us.
with which she had co\ered
veil
all
Hut
worse
is
would be cNcn
the\
had the misfortune
hail
of
being
born learned. low humiliating are these refleiiioiis
manity!
How
lui
lui-
mortified our pride must be! What!
be the daughter of ignorance.' Sci-
(!oulil probit)
ence and \irtue incompatible.' What consequences
might not be drawn from these prejudices? But to
her
reconcile these apparent
for vain inquiries.
there even one of her lessons from which
need merely examine
at
points of conflict, one
close range the \anity
the emptiness of those proud
power us and which we so
titles
and
which oxer-
gratuitousl)
bestow
we have neg-
upon human knowledge. Let us then consider the
w ith impunity? Peoples, know then once and
sciences and the arts in themselves. Let us see what
we have lected
had not destined us
ihe least ol her kiml-
noi
per\erse,
are
thev
it
is
The
operations seemed to give us sufficient warning that she
Men
nesses.
the ili(fuuli\ \ou fmil in
ih.ii
leaching Nw/'//V use of his reason enjoys unlimited freedom to use his own reason and to speak in his own person. For to maintain that the guardians of
may "
A
for his
diet
is
own
and
A man
person, and even then only for a
a legislative assembly.
Immanuel Kant limited period, postpone enlightening himself in
know
matters he ought to
about. But to renounce
such enlightenment completely, whether for his
own person means
more
so for later generations,
and trampling underfoot the sacred
mankind. But something which
rights of
may
or even
violating
not even impose upon
imposed on
by
it
a
can
itself
monarch;
his uniting the
own. So long
collective will of the people in his
he sees to
it
that
all
be
less
for his legislative
upon
authority depends precisely
people
a
still
true or imagined
as
improvements
are compatible with the civil order, he can otherwise
leave his subjects to for this salvation,
do whatever they find necessary
which
is
none of his business. But
anyone forcibly hindering
his business to stop
it is
others from working as best they can to define and
promote majesty
their salvation. It indeed detracts
if
he interferes in these
from
his
the writings in which his subjects attempt to clarify their religious ideas to
governmental supervision.
This applies if he does so acting upon his own exalted opinions
-
which case he exposes himself
in
reproach: Caesar non
who
This
are not restricted
of freedom
spirit
even where
it
by any
also spreading abroad,
is
has to struggle with outward obstacles
imposed by governments which misunderstand
own
their
now may
function.
For such governments can
how freedom
witness a shining example of
without in the
exist
least jeopardising public
concord and the unity of the commonwealth.
own
will of their
out of barbarism so long as
measures are
artificial
not deliberately adopted to keep them in
it.
have portrayed matters of religion as the focal
I
point of enlightenment,
from
of man's emergence
i.e.
This
his self-incurred immaturity.
is firstly
because our rulers have no interest in assuming the role of guardians over their subjects so far as
the arts and sciences are concerned, and secondly,
despotism of a few tyrants
because religious immaturity
is
the most pernicious
and dishonourable variety of all. But the attitude of
mind of a head of state who
now asked whether we at present live in an enlightened age, the answer is: No, but we do live in an age of enlightenment. As things are at present, we still have a long way to go before men as a whole can
arts
be in
on better ways of drawing up laws, even
If it is
can even be put into a position)
own understanding
of using their
confidently and
ises that there is
being cleared for them to work freely in this
and that the obstacles
direction,
immaturity,
incurred
fewer. In this respect our age
is
self-
becoming
gradually
are
the age of enlight-
We
prince
who
does not regard
to say that he considers
it
it
have before us
whom we now
to
as
beneath him
his duty, in religious
matters, not to prescribe anything to his people,
a brilliant
But only
pay
who
a ruler
himself enlightened and
to say:
Argue
like,
likewise has at
as
much
as
we
shall
you
like
and
but obeyl This reveals to us a
strange and unexpected pattern in
(such as
always find
if
human
affairs
we consider them
in is
but to allow them complete freedom, a prince
who
the widest sense, in which nearly everything
thus even declines to accept the presumptuous
title
paradoxical).
of tolerant,
man who (as far as
men
himself enlightened.
is
be praised by
a grateful present
first
liberated
government
free to use their
is
He
deserves to
and posterity
as the
mankind from immaturity concerned), and
own
reason in
all
who left all matters of
A
advantageous to it
also sets
high degree of civil freedom seems a people's intellectual
up insuperable
a lesser degree of civil
freedom enough room extent.
Thus once
^'
"Caesar
is
not above the grammarians."
Again, Frederick the Great.
to think freely shell,
it
the
barriers to
freedom, yet
it.
Conversely,
freedom gives to
expand
to
intellectual its
fullest
germ on which nature has
- man's inclination and vocation - has developed within this hard gradually reacts upon the mentality of the
lavished most care ^
to
may say what no republic
guarantee public security,
about whatever you
who
numerous army
well-disciplined and
a
this
tribute.
is
has no fear of phantoms, yet
hand
example of
which no monarch has yet surpassed the
would dare
enment, the century, of Frederick.^'
A
one
to universal en-
lightenment, to man's emergence from his
if this
entails forthright criticism of the current legisla-
kind, in
now
for he real-
to his legislation if
reason and to put before the public their thoughts
tion.
is
no danger even
he allows his subjects to m^k^ public use of their own
well in religious matters, without outside guidance.
way
favours freedom in the
and sciences extends even further,
But we do have
distinct indications that the
Men
accord gradually work their way
within his state against the rest of his subjects.
a position (or
all
official duties.
- but
much more so if he demeans his high authority so far as to support the spiritual
and
their verdicts
these deviate here and there from
if
orthodox doctrine. This applies even more to others
in
and publicly submit
judgement of the world
to the
opinions, even
may
official duties,
their capacity as scholars freely
to the
supra Grammaticos^
est
his rule, ecclesiastical dignitar-
notwithstanding their
ies,
by subjecting
affairs
Under
conscience.
Critique of Pure
who
people,
thus
btioim-
^r.ulu.ills
able to act freely. KNeimi.ilK,
iiillueiues
which
uoNeniinenis,
principles of
the
iiu ii-.ismiilN
eseii
ti
ih.M
tiiul
ihemseKes
iheN ean
Reason
l)\ trealuig nun, who is manner appropriate to his
profit
more than a muihifu\
in a
liimiiiN
Author's Note 1
I
read todaN on the .U)th Septeniher in Huscliing's
\\
oihcntlutu-
eoneernini!:
Suihruhtai of 13th September month's
this
a notice
Momilssihn/i.
licilniisilu-
The notice mentions Mendelssohn's answer
same question
which
as that
ha\e answered.
1
not yet seen this iournal, otherw ise
hack the aho\e reflections.
onl\ as a
means of finding out by comparison how
may
thoughts of two individuals I
Moses Mendelssohn (1729 was
"«/»fr Jie Frage:
(Question:
What
is
far
the
coincide by chance.
86) published an essay,
("On
heisst Auflclarung?''^
Enlightenment"),
moderns have thought
the
in 17(S4.|
objects (idealism, scepticism, etc.), or atuhmpoA^,£,'/ idea of the
nbiained
through
except
.Siinilarlv,
what
in
chemistry
is
sometimes entitled the
experiment of reJtulion, or more usuall\ the synthetic process.
The
iittu/ysis
of the metaphysician separates
b\
distinction,
(
the fundamental laws of the nu>tions of the
Copernicus had
and (the
at
the
at first
same lime
Newtonian The
together.
undiscovered
v
assumed onlv
latter
to
what
as an hv (xithesis,
ielded pr«M>f Of the inv isible force
which holds the universe
attraction),
would have remained
if (Opernicus
had not dared,
in a
for ever
manner
contradictory of the senses, but vet true, to seek the
in the spectator.
to
alxive
the
Ixidies gave established certaintv
heavenlv
observed movements, not
ity
demanded
which must therefore Ik accepted
the correctness of this distinction. a great similar-
KwJi/iof/tJ
harmon> can never be
reaMin, and finds that this
able self-conflict, the experiment decides in favour of
This experiment of pure reason bears
////t
Reason
gous to Critique,
this hypothesis, I
first
heavenlv bodies, but
in point
which
is
of view, analo-
expounded
in the
put forward in this preface as an hypothesis
only, in order to
these
in the
The change
draw attention
attempts
at
such
a
to the character
of
change, which are always
pure a priori knowledge into two very heterogeneous
hypothetical. But in the Critique itself it
elements, namely, the knowledge of things as appear-
apodeictically not hypothetically, from the nature of
ances, and the dialectic
know ledge of things
combines these two again,
in themselves; his in
harmony with
w ill be proved,
our representations of space and time and from the elementary concepts of the understanding.
From Reflections on the Revolution France
in
Edmund Burke The French Revolution seemed to many to embody the new ideals of modern, Enlightened it threatened a new barbarEdmund Burke (1729-97), Irish by birth and a member of the English Parliament, provides us
He
the Revolution Society in this political
tells
sermon
that this iMajesty "is almost the only lawful
culture, while to others
king in the world because the
ism.
crown to the choice ofhis people"". As to the kings of the
with the
most famous
critique of revolutionary
modernity. His Reflections on the Revolution
in
France (1790), a letter to a French correspondent,
was
inspired by several events: the arrest of the
mob
royal family of France by a
on October
6,
1789; the seizure of all Church property by the French republic; and closer to home, a sermon by
an Englishman, Dr Richard Price of the Revolution Society, endorsing the principles of the French
Revolution for England.
(All
of this
was years
before the worst revolutionary violence the
"Terror.") Critical of
the
in
France,
modern attempt
to re-
place traditional social arrangements with abstract
equality
and individual
work remains the
classical source
principles
rights, Burke's
like
of true conservatism. But his traditionalism is
simple authoritarianism; Burke supported
no
Irish
and American independence from Great Britain because he felt that the Crown had abused the traditionally recognized rights of Ireland and the American colonies. He likewise approved the
world,
of
all
whom
ofjly
one who owes
his
(except one) this archpontiff of
the rights ofmen, with
all
the plenitude and with more
than the boldness of the papal deposing power in
its
meridian fervor of the twelfth century, puts into one
sweeping clause of ban and anathema and proclaims usurpers by circles of longitude and latitude, over the whole globe,
it
behooves them
to consider
how
they admit into their territories these apostolic missionaries
who
are to
not lawful kings. That a
their subjects they are
tell
is
their concern. It
is
ours, as
domestic interest of some moment, seriously
upon
to consider the solidity of the only principle
which these gentlemen acknowledge a king of Great Britain to be entitled to their allegiance.
This doctrine,
as applied to the prince
British throne, either
is
neither true nor false, or
founded, dangerous, position.
According
ics, if his
now on the
nonsense and therefore it
illegal,
affirms a
most un-
and unconstitutional
to this spiritual doctor of poht-
Majesty does not owe his crown
choice of his people, he
is
no lawful
to the
king.
Now
1688 revolution of the English Parliament against James
II
as a conservative revolution aimed at
storing the traditional distribution of
re-
power which
theKinghaddisturbed.
But
I
may say of our preacher
''utinam migls tota
ilia
'
''Would that he had devoted
to trifles all the
spent in violence." Juvenal, Satires, IV,
Dr
time he
150—1.
The
Richard Price.
preacher
is
Edmund
Burke, a selection of
unmarked sections,
in
fulminating bull are not of so innoxious a tendency.
each case separated by space in the text, from Reflections on the Revolution in France (ed. J. G. A. Pocock), pp. 12-19, 25-6, 29-31, 51-2, 76-7, 216-18. India-
His doctrines affect our constitution in its vital parts.
napolis: Hackett
dedisset
tempora
saevitiae'".^
-
All things in this his
PublishingCompany Inc., 1987.
Reflections on the Revolution nolhinir can be
more
this kinjitlom
so held by his MajestN
you follow
is
iiniruc ih.ui
ih.it .
remote period,
the ctonmi oI
iloms ot liurope were,
Therefore,
with more or fewer limitations
their rule, the kiui; of (ire.it lintain,
it
who
at a
in
France
elective,
the ob)ecls of
in
But whatever kings might have been here
choice
most eertainl) does not oue
his high
ottke to anv
or elsewhere a thousand years ago, or in whatever
form of popular election,
no respect better than
nianiur the ruling dynasties of Kngland or I'rance
is in
who
the rest of the jjang of usurpers rob,
reign, or rather
over the face of this our miserable world
all
without any sort of right or
qualified,
the allegiance of
title to
The policy of this general doctrine, so
their people.
evident enough.
is
The propagators of
hopes that their abstract
this political gospel are in
principle (their jirinciple that a popular choice
is
nuiN has e
begun, the king of (ireal Britain
da\, king by a
Wwd
is, at
this
rule of succession according to
the laws of his c(»untr\; and whilst the legal conditions of the
compact
performed
of sovereignl) are
h\
him
in
contempt of the choice of the Revolution
(as the\ are
who have
el\,
performed), he holds his crown .Soci-
not a single vote for a king amongst
necessary to the legal existence of the sovereign
them, either individually or collectively, though
magistracy) would be overlooked, whilst the king
make no doubt
of Great Britain was not affected b\
In the
it.
mean-
time the ears of their congregations would be gradually habituated to
it,
as if
it
were
a first principle
admitted without dispute. For the present only operate as
compotio quue
et
this policy,
and
ments, so
Thus these is
opinion
it
common
has in
it
far as
which
is
politicians proceed
soothed with
with is
all
w hilst
examined upon the plain meaning of and
equivocations into play.
When
govern-
taken away. little
taken of their doctrines; but w hen they
and the direct tendency of
notice
come
their
to be
words
their doctrines, then
slippery
constructions
come
and
is
therefore the only
lawful sovereign in the world, they will perhaps
mean
to say
crown with the same contempt of his
tell
no more than that some of the
that his
his
Thus, by
Majesty (though he holds
people to choose; w hich right
and tenaciously adhered
ition
and are referable
this interpretation,
election differ
And how Brunswick
how does
in this
propos-
Lest the foundation of
title
should pass for
a
mere
lie
all
w hich, w ith him, com-
together in one short sen-
we have acquired
a right:
frame
a
them
for
misconduct.
government
for ourselves.
For if you
their idea of
This new and hitherto unheard-of though made
from our idea of inheritance.^
in the
name of
bill
of rights,
the whole people,
does the settlement of the crow n in the
belongs to those gentlemen and their faction only.
from James the First come
The body of the people of England have no share in it. They utterly disclaim it. They will resist the
line derived
to legalize our
monarchy
rather than that of any of
the neighboring countries? At
some time
or other,
practical assertion of it
w ith
their lives
and fortunes.
There
They are bound to do so by the law s of their country made at the time of that very Revolution w hich is
ground enough
for the opinion that
all
the king-
appealed to in favor of the fictitious rights claimed
"I concoct and
compound what soon
I
may bring
to be sure,
all
chosen by those is
directly maintained
choose our ow n governors.
to
admit
dec-
a
3
fense, since they take refuge in their folly.
is
bottom
it.
three fundamental rights,
for their of-
asylum they seek
full explicit
the Revolution, the people of England have acquired
to cashier
to the
concurrence
ceeds dogmatically to assert that, by the principles of
to
welcome
to
the king's exclusive legal
1
are
in
rant of adulatory freedom, the political divine'" pro-
2
nugatory.
in ex-
All the oblique insinu-
to.
ations concerning election
They
it
it
people, yet nothing can evade their
miserable subterfuge, they hope to render their proposition safe by rendering
to the
with the wishes) owes his crown to the choice of his
tence, namely, that
and therefore he ow es
come
plaining aw ay the gross error offuil, w hich supposes
by some
sort of choice,
will
their choice with
Majesty has succeeded to that he wears.
pose one system and
to the choice of his people.
to give
Whatever may be the success of evasion
king's predecessors have been called to the throne
crown
and order,
cessors, each in his time
w hich
were ripe
His Majesty's heirs and suc-
laration concerning the principle of a right in the
they say the king owes his crown
to the choice of his people
us they
a
has no claim, the
security,
is
into an electoral college if things effect to their claim.
by for future use.
mox depromere possim" By
favor, to
its
which
security
laid
w hilst our government
reservation in
would
theory, pickled in the preserving
a
juices of pulpit eloquence,
Con Jo
it
I
they would s(K)n erect themselves
the beginners of dynasties were
who
called
them
to govern.
by the Society which abuses
forth." Horace, Epistles,
I,
1, 12.
'"
Dr
Price.
its
name.
Edmund Burke These gentlemen of the Old Jewry, in all their reasonings on the Revolution of 1688," have a revolution which happened in England about and the
forty years before
much
so
late
French revolution,
before their eyes and in their hearts that
It is
We
must
it
was
a certainty in
which the subjects may
the succession thereof, to
have recourse for their protection." Both
safely
the three to-
these acts, in which are heard the unerring,
separate what
biguous oracles of revolution policy, instead of
recall their erring fancies
countenancing the delusive, gipsy predictions of a
Revolution which we revere, for
to the acts of the
them "to maintain
equally urgent on
all
necessary that
they confound.
and security of the realm," and that
we should
they are constantly confounding gether.
was absolutely necessary "for the peace,
First),
quiet,
unam-
demwisdom of the
"right to choose our governors," prove to a
how
the discovery of its true principles. If the principles of
onstration
the Revolution of 1688 are anywhere to be found,
nation was from turning a case of necessity into a
is
in the statute called the Declaration
that
rule of law.
most wise, sober, and considerate declaration,
drawn up by
great law yers and great statesmen, and
warm and
not by
one word
said,
is
inexperienced enthusiasts, not
nor one suggestion made, of
general right "to choose our ier
it
of Right. In
them
for misconduct,
own governors,
and
to form a
a
to cash-
government
Unquestionably, there was the person of
This Declaration of Right (the William and Mary,
at
the Revolution, in
a small
and
tempor-
a
ary deviation from the strict order of a regular
hereditary succession; but
against
it is
principles of jurisprudence to
from
a
law
made
sess. 2, ch. 2) is
draw
in a special case
all
genuine
principle
a
and regarding an
act of the 1st of
plum.^ If ever there was a time favorable for estab-
the cornerstone
lishing the principle that a king of popular choice
of our constitution as reinforced, explained, im-
was the only
proved, and in
at the
its
settled. It is called,
fundamental principles for ever
"An Act
for declaring the rights
of the subject, and for
liberties
King William,
individual person. Privilegium non transit in exem-
for ourselves.^''
and
totally adverse the
You
settling the
is
legal king,
Revolution.
Its
without
all
doubt
proof that the nation was of opinion
a
not to be done
at
it
was
not being done at that time
any time. There
is
it
ought
no person so
completely ignorant of our history as not to
know
these rights and this succession are declared in
that the majority in parliament of both parties
were
one body and bound indissolubly together.
so
succession
of the crown."
will
observe that
A few years after this period, a second opportunity
offered for asserting a right of election to the
crown.
On
the prospect of a total failure of issue
little
disposed
anything resembling that
to
principle that at first they were determined to
place the vacant crown, not on the head of the
Prince of Orange, but on that of his wife Mary,
from King William, and from the Princess,
after-
daughter of King James, the eldest born of the issue
wards Queen Anne, the consideration of the
settle-
of that king, which they acknowledged as undoubt-
ment of the crown and of a liberties
lature.
sion
further security for the
of the people again came before the legis-
Did they
for
this
legalizing
second time make any provithe
crown on the spurious
edly
his. It
recall
to
would be
your
to repeat a very trite story, to
memory
which demonstrated that
those circumstances
all
their accepting
liam was not properly a choice; but to
all
King Wilthose
who
They
did not wish, in effect, to recall King James or to
followed the principles which prevailed in the Dec-
deluge their country in blood and again to bring
revolution principles of the Old Jewry.' No.
laration of Right, indicating with
the persons
who were
more
precision
to inherit in the Protestant
line.
This act
also incorporated,
by the same
policy,
our
liberties
and an hereditary succession
in the
same
act.
Instead of a right to choose our
drawn from James the
just escaped,
strictest
it
and
liberties into the peril
was an
they
act of necessity, in the
moral sense in which necessity can be
taken.
own
governors, they declared that the succession in that line (the Protestant line
their religion, laws,
had
In the very act in which for a time, and in a single case, parliament departed
from the
strict
order of
inheritance in favor of a prince who, though not next, was, however, very near in the line of succes-
Dr district
Price's lecture
was delivered
in the
Old Jewry,
of London. In the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688,
Parliament successfully ousted Catholic James stalled
sion,
William
III.
Burke approved
II
and
it is
curious to observe
how Lord Somers, who
a
in-
this revolution as
drew the
bill
called the Declaration of Right, has
comported himself on
that delicate occasion. It
having reinstated the traditional rights of Parliament
which James had threatened.
is
curious to observe with what address this tempor-
^
"A
privilege does not
become
a
precedent."
,
Reflections on the Revolution ary solution of coiimuiiiN whilst
all
that
to
countenance the idea
is
brouiiht
kipi
is
m
could be touiul
an heredilarN succession
ot
made
torward, and fostered, and
man and
most
ol. h\
who
iollowed him. (^uitlinii the
this uieai
Commons
and declare
tall
the
the ieuislature
h\
iinperati\e
ili\,
he makes the
style ot an act ot parliament,
and
ot iKctssii\
i
1
.orils
to a pious, legislative ejaculation
that the\ consider
"as
it
mar\ellous
a
rhe\ knew that
ihc cm-,
lioin
iliis .u
iloubttui
a
title
would but loo nuuh resemble an that
in
France
of succession
and
election,
an election wouUI be ulterK destrucli\e ot
the "unitN, peace, and tranquillii\ ot this nation,"
which they thought
tore, to
tor these objects and, there-
exclude tor ever the Old Jewr\ d(Ktrine
own
"a right to choose our with
a
some
to be considerations ot
moment. To provide
ot
goNernors," thcN follow
clause containing a most solemn pledge,
proN itlence and mercitui goodness ot Ciotl to this
taken from the preceding act ot (|ueen IJi/abeth,
nation to preserxe their said Majesties' rnyal per-
as
sons most happily to reign over us on the
favor of an hereditary succession, and as solenm
thetr ariit'stors, tor
hearts,
they
praises." act
which, from the bottom of their
return
The
throrif of
humblest thanks and
their
legislature plainly
of recognition of the
had
in view the
of (^ueen I^lizabeth,
first
chap. 3rd, and of that of James the First, chap.
1st,
both acts strongly declaratory of the inheritable nature of the crown; and in
with a nearly
many
parts they follow
precision, the
literal
the form of thanksgi\ ing which
words and even
is
found
in these
The two Houses, in the act of King William, did God that they had found a fair opportunity to assert a right to choose their own governors, much less to make an election the only lawful title to the crown. I'heir having been in a condition to
avoid the very appearance of it, as
was by them considered
much as possible,
as a providential escape.
well-w rought
a politic,
veil
over every
circumstance tending to w eaken the rights which in the meliorated order of succession they
meant
to
this Society
a close
their ancestors, as
it
in the name of all humbly and faithfully heirs and posterities far eier\
their
will
stand to
maintain, and defend their said .Majesties, and also the limitation of the crown, herein specified and
contained, to the utmost of their powers, etc.
right
far is
from being true
it
by the Revolution to
had po.ssesscd
it
elect
before, the tLnglish nation did at
most solemnly renounce and abdicate
that time
for themselves
and
for
it,
their posterity forever.
all
These gentlemen may value themselves
much
as
they please on their whig" principles, but desire to be thought a better
I
as
never
whig than Lord Som-
understand the principles of the Revolu-
ers, or to
whom
by
tion better than those
it
was brought
about, or to read in the Declaration of Right any
unknown engraved
hearts, the
monarchy, and that they
It
those whose penetrating
to
our ordinances, and
in
words and
spirit
in
our
of that immortal law.
true that, aided with the powers derived
is
from force and opportunity, the nation was
appeared in the declaratory
time, in
Elizabeth, in
etc.
we acquired a our kings that, if we that
conformity to the practice of
Queen Mary and Queen
statutes of
a
by
them: The Lords spiritual
promise that they
faithfully
style has
might preserve
to
and do
mysteries
relax the nerves of their
imputed
of the principles
submit themselves,
perpetuate, or w hich might furnish a precedent for
might not
made
in
the people aforesaid, most
any future departure from what they had then settled forever. Accordingly, that they
eser was or can be given
and temporal, and Commons, do,
So
not thank
a pleilge as
renunciation as could be
old declaratory statutes.
They threw
solemn
some
sense, free to take
at that
what course
it
pleased for filling the throne, but only free to do
upon the same grounds on which they might
the next clause they vest, by recognition, in their
so
Majesties all the legal prerogatives of the crow n,
have wholly abolished their monarchy and every
declaring ''that in fully,
and
them they
are
most
fully, right-
entirely invested, incorporated, united,
and annexed." In the clause which follows,
for
preventing questions by reason of any pretended titles to
the crown, they declare (observing also in
this the traditionary language,
itionary policy of the nation, a rubric the
along w
ith
the trad-
and repeating
as
from
language of the preceding acts of EHza-
other part of their constitution. However, they did not think such bold changes within their sion. It
is
indeed
give limits to the
mere
supreme power, such
ment
at that
abstract
as
commis-
perhaps impossible, to
difficult,
competence of the
was exercised by parlia-
compemore indisputably
time, but the limits of a moral
tence subjecting, even in powers sovereign, occasional w
ill
to
permanent reason and
beth and James,) that on the preserving "a certainty in the
SUCCESSION
thereof, the unity, peace,
tranquillity of this nation doth,
depend."
and
under God, wholly
^'
The
of James
\\ higs II
were the party
that advocated the
from the English throne
opposed by the
lories.
in 1688.
removal
They were
Edmund Burke to the steady
maxims of
perfectly binding
upon those who
The House
state.
exercise any autitle, in
of Lords, for instance,
is
morally competent to dissolve the House of
mons, no, nor even cate, if
it
would,
its
and
intelligible
under any name or under any
thority,
and fixed
faith, justice,
fundamental poHcy, are perfectly
obedience.
nor to insult, servant, as this
portion in the legislature of the
under him and owe
The
the
Com-
other persons are individually, and
all
collectively too,
not
nor to abdi-
to dissolve itself,
other person;
the king'";
degree responsible.
goes by the
name of the
abdicate for his
which generally
society,
constitution, forbids such
The
invasion and such surrender.
have
parts,
and not the confused jargon of their Babylon-
law,
engagement and pact of
may
him, but "o«r
calls
and we, on our
learned to speak only the primitive language of the
ian pulpits.^'"
king
a
high magistrate not our
humble divine
own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy. By as strong, or by a stronger reason, the House of Commons cannot renounce its share of authority. The kingdom. Though
to him a legal w hich knows neither to flatter
,
calls this
Lord
sovereign
law
As he
not to obey us, but as
is
we are to obey the made no sort of
law in him, our constitution has
provision tow ard rendering him, as a servant, in any
Our
knows noth-
constitution
ing of a magistrate like the jfusticia of Aragon,"' nor
constituent parts
of any court legally appointed, nor of any process
of a state are obliged to hold their public faith with
legally settled, for submitting the king to the re-
each other and w ith
all
w ho derive any
those
under their engagements,
interest
as
serious
much
as the
sponsibility belonging to
all
servants. In this he
Commons and
not distinguished from the
is
the
w ith separate
Lords, who, in their several public capacities, can
communities. Otherwise competence and power
never be called to an account for their conduct,
w ould soon be confounded and no law be
although the Revolution Society chooses to assert,
w hole
state
is
bound
keep
to
its faith
On
the will of a prevailing force. the succession of the it
now
line
it
is,
left
but
this principle
crown has always been w hat
an hereditary succession by law in the old ;
was
a succession
by the
common
law; in
in direct opposition to
no more than the by
the new, by the statute law operating on the principles of the
common
law
stance, but regulating the
persons.
not changing the sub-
,
mode and
describing the
Both these descriptions of law are of
the same force and are derived from an equal au-
from the
thority emanating
and original compact of the reipuhlicae,^"
and
as
common agreement
state,
communi spomione
such are equally binding on
one of the wisest and most
beautiful parts of our constitution, that "a king
and
it,
Ill
is
servant of the public, created
first
responsible to
it.''
would our ancestors
at the
Revolution have
deserved their fame for w isdom
if
no security
in rendering their
for their
government feeble
freedom but
in its operations,
in its tenure; if they
better
remedy
they had found
and precarious
had been able
to contrive
power than
against arbitrary
confusion. Let these gentlemen state resentative public
is
to
whom
who
no
civil
that rep-
they will affirm the
king and people, too, as long as the terms are
king, as a servant, to be responsible. It will then be
observed and they continue the same body
time enough for
politic.
I
should have considered
all
this as
sort of flippant, vain discourse, in
no more than a w hich, as in an
unsavory fume, several persons suffer the liberty to evaporate, if it
were not plainly
spirit
in
of
support
of the idea and a part of the scheme of "cashiering kings for misconduct." In that light
some
it
is
worth
You
Kings, in one sense, are undoubtedly the ser-
produce
it
as
an entailed inheritance derived to us from our
forefathers, as
this
and
servants; the essence of
the
commands of some
pleasure.
at least),
w hose
anything
situation
is
to
like
kingdom, without any reference whatever
diversity
other and to be removable at
volition of the
its
parts.
We
By
this
to
means
unity in so great a
a
have an inheritable
crown, an inheritable peerage, and
""
Gommonwea 1th."
Perhaps
ceding the '^
common
of
right.
a
House of
obey
But the king of Great Britain obeys no
''Bv the
our posterity
to be transmitted to
an estate specially belonging to the people of
our constitution preserves
sense (by our constitution,
to the
of our constitution to claim and assert our liberties
other rational end than that of the general advan-
not true that they are, in the ordinary
positive
not.
Magna Charta
any other more general or prior
it is
them the is
has been the uniform policy
vants of the people because their power has no
tage; but
to
that he
observe that from
Declaration of Right
-
observation.
will
me to
w hich affirms
statute law
a
fall
reference to the confusion of tongues pre-
of the
Tower of Babel
Chief magistrate of Aragon, an
region of Spain.
in the
Hebrew
historical
Bible.
autonomous
Reflections on the Revolution
Through the same plan
Cloniinons aiul a people iiihcniin^; privileges, fran-
and
chises,
liberties
from
a
This policN appears to
long line of ancest«>rs
me
to
be the result
ot
proiounil reflection, or rather the happy effect of
which
f'ollouing nature, tion,
and above
A
it.
is
wisdom without
spirit of
innovation
is
reflec-
generallN
the result of a selfish temper and confined \ie\Ns
People w
ill
not look forward to posterity,
backward
look
to
ne\er
Hesides,
ancestors.
their
who
people of Kngland well know that the idea
the
of a
conformi(\ to nature
and b\ calling
in
our
of
her unerring ami powerful instincts
artificial institutions,
and feeble contrivances
fallible
France
in
of
Our
in the aid
foriifv the
t
of our
men
of speculation, instead of
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (ad 39-65),
a
Roman who
(1606-84), father of French classical tragic drama.
Reflections on the Revolution fioirrnmt-fil,
lli.it
oppos-
to ti-inptr to'^itlui tlic-sc
is,
aiul icsir.iiiit in
ite ck'iiicnts of lihiTiN
one lonsisi-
cni work, rtquiris iiuKh thouiiht, ikc|) ntktiion, a sagacious, |io\\crtiiI, anil conihinini!; niinil
do not
who
those
I'his
\\
hates er tluN are,
recommend
National AssenihlN. Perhaps the\ are not so niiser-
not,
abl> ck'ficient as they appear.
I
rather belie\e
it.
It
woiiki put iheni below the eoninion le\el ol luinian
Hut when the leaders choose
think, without
I
happN
ity,
their talents, in the construction of the state,
owing
will
be of no service. They of legislators,
instead
guides, oflhe people. to
propose
flatterers
instruments,
not
the
any ofthem should happen
If
scheme
a
the
become
will
of
liberty,
soberly limited
and defined with proper qualifications, he
will
be immediately outbid by his competitors
who
produce something more splendidly popular.
will
own
our
some causes
constitution but to their
owing
at
of
ami complaint, but these the\
to
theniselxes biiklers
owing
situation to the in
standing
whole
of
it,
own
ilo
of
They
owe
not
to their
think our
I
our constitution, but
to
to an\ part singly,
what we have
to
as well as to
what we have altered or superadded.
Our people
will
trul\
employment enough
find
patriotic,
and independent
free,
I
exclude alteration
changed,
it
but
neither,
should be to preserve.
my remedy
by
1
would
even
when
should be led
what
to
and compromise as the prudence of
traitors,
hopes of preserving the credit
in
until,
which may enable him
to
temper and moderate,
on some occasions, the popular leader to
become
at
aimed.
am
I
so unreasonable as to see nothing at
all
that
deserves commendation in the indefatigable labors
do not deny
I
that,
among an
number of acts of violence and folly, some good may have been done. They who destroy everything certainly will remove some grievance. They who make everything new have a chance that infinite
they
may
them
credit for
establish
something
beneficial.
what they have done
To
in virtue
give
of the
men
of France
made them in their
acquired,
it
ruling
principles
tell
us they have got so abundant
under
fallibility
thus
fallible
of mankind.
that
for
had
having
conduct attended to their nature. Let us if
we wish
to deserve their
what they have
please, but let us preserve
if
left;
and, standing on the firm ground of the British constitution, let us be satisfied to admire rather
than attempt to follow
their desperate flights
in
the aeronauts of France. I
have told you candidly
my
sentiments.
they are not likely to alter yours.
must appear
they ought.
same things could
He
rewarded them
fortune or to retain their bequests. Let us add,
we
a
a strong impression of the
crimes by w hich that authority has been that the
our
of
most decided conduct. Not
imitate their caution
authority they have usurped, or which can excuse in the
guarded circum-
being illuminated w ith the light of w hich the gentle-
share, they acted
of this Assembly.^
them
politic caution, a
were among the
ignorance and
But
A
forefathers in their
which he ultimately might have
I
would
spection, a moral rather than a complexional timidity
es-
did.
I
I
the reparation as nearly as possible in the style
of the building.
obliged
tablishing powers that will afterwards defeat any
sober purpose
a great grievance. In
and
is
active in propagating doctrines
make
in
I
guarding what they possess from violation. not
for a
spirit
should follow the example of our ancestors.
cowards,
left
our several reviews and reformations
in
Moderation
be stigmatized as the virtue of
are
apprehension
Suspicions will be raised of his fidelity to his cause. will
of the
In the former,
conduct.
ami not
measure
great
a
rather to
from them
ha\e got an iinaluable treasure.
an auction of popular-
uiulerstanilini!,.
make
impro\einent
for the
tluN
in
fiiul
men
our neighbours the example
to
hrilish consiiiulion than to lake moilels
take the k.ul in the
I
wish in\ count r\
I
France
in
You
are young;
I
I
think
do not know
that
you cannot guide but
not have been accomplished without producing
must
Most assuredly they might, because almost every one of the regulations made by them which is not very equivocal was either in the cession of the king, voluntarily made at the meeting
after they
future
ft)rm
In the
such
a revolution.
of the
states, or in the
orders.
Some
concurrent instructions to the
usages have been abolished on just
grounds, but they were such that as they
were
to all eternity, they
if
they had stood
would
little
from the happiness and prosperity of any
present
The
can hardly remain; but before
it
it
poets says, being",""' fied I
by
their errors fundamental.
in all its
varieties
of untried
transmigrations to be puri-
and blood.
little
to
long observation
'^"
its final
obliged to pass, as one of our
"through great
and
fire
have
may be
recommend my opinions but and much impartiality. They
improvements of the National Assembly are superficial,
But here-
may be of some use to you, in some which your commonwealth may take.
settlement
detract
state.
follow the fortune of your country.
.Addison, Cato, Act V, scene
i.
Edmund Burke come from one who has been no no
flatterer
of greatness; and
who
tool of
does not wish to belie the tenor of his
come from one almost
power,
in his last acts
the whole of
life.
They
whose public
exertion has been a struggle for the liberty of others;
from one
in
whose breast no anger, durable
or vehement, has ever been kindled but by what he
considered as tyranny; and
who
snatches from his
share in the endeavors which are used by good
men
to discredit opulent oppression the hours he has
employed on your
affairs;
and who
in so
doing
persuades himself he has not departed from his
usual office;
they
come from one who
desires
honors, distinctions, and emoluments but
and who expects them not
tempt
for fame,
and no
at all;
who
little,
has no con-
fear of obloquy;
who shuns
contention, though he will hazard an opinion; from
one
who
wishes to preserve consistency, but
who
would preserve consistency by varying his means
to
when the equipoise of the vessel in which he sails may be endangered by overloading it upon one side, is desirous of carrying the small weight of his reasons to that which may secure the unity of his end, and,
preserve
its
equipoise.
From Sketch
an
for
Historical Picture
Human
of the Progress of the
IVIind
Marquis de Condorcet Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, the marquis de Condorcet (1743-94), was one of les philo-
who
sophes. philosophers
ghtenment.
was
He
led the French Enli-
associated
ful
companion
kind
is
seems
superstition,
and the whole
of
man-
plunged once more into darkness, which
as if
it
must
last for ever.
Yet,
little
by
little,
with
that
day breaks again; eyes long condemned to darkness
characteristic Enlightenment project, the
com-
catch a glimpse of the light and close again, then
position of the Encyclopedie of
A journalist and supporter
all
knowledge.
of the initial
phase
it
the French Revolution, he
became
member
a
Assembly during its radical phase, but his constitutional and non-violent views led him publicly to attack the 1793 Jacobin Constitution. He was forced into hiding for nine of the Legislative
months, during which he wrote quently arrested, he died suicide.
become
Condorcet
the canonical self-interpretation of the
modern European and
Subsepresumably a book what would
his Sketch.
in his cell,
distills in his
world,
spurs progress not only politics.
in
in
slowly
of
which rational inquiry
science, but
He foresaw a coming era
in
society
of "reason,
become accustomed
by the natural progress of
we have
civilization;
watched superstition seize upon
and corrupt
it
it,
and tyranny degrade and deaden the minds of men
under the burden of misery and
From
that
happy land
where freedom had only recently kindled the torch
mind of man, its
released
from the
infancy, advances with firm
steps towards the truth.'
But
this
triumph soon
encourages tyranny to return, followed by
barabarism had exiled
We
is
gaze on
it.
have already seen reason
lift
her chains,
shake herself free from some of them, and,
all
the time regaining strength, prepare for and ad-
moment
vance the
of her liberation.
for us to study the stage in
which she
It
remains
finally suc-
ceeds in breaking these chains, and when,
compelled
frees herself
still
drag their vestiges behind her, she
to
from them one by one; when
at last
she can go forward unhindered, and the only
at
every fresh ad\ance because they are
the necessary consequence of the very constitution
of our understanding - of the connection, that
is,
between our means of discovering the truth and the resistance that
it
offers to our efforts.
its
faith-
Belgian provinces to throw off the yoke of Spain
and form
presumably France.
a federal republic. Religious intolerance
alone had aroused the spirit of English liberty,
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, marquis de Condorcet, from "The Ninth Stage:
From Descartes to the
Foundationof the French Republic" fromSketc^foran Historical Picture of ttie Progress of the
Human Mind
June Barraclough), pp. 124-37. New York: Hyperion Press, rpt. of 1955 Noonday Press edition.
(trans.
"That happy land"
at last
Religious intolerance had forced seven of the
fear.
nation alone escapes the two-fold influence
of tyranny and superstition.
leading-strings of
and
abroad on the earth, from which fanaticism and
renewed
We have watched man's reason being slowly formed
of genius, the
it,
obstacles in her path are those that are inevitably
tolerance, humanity."
One
to
without flinching; once again genius dares to walk
Marquis de Condorcet which, exhausted by a protracted and bloody
civil
indistinguishable from those of public prosperity,
war, was finally embodied in a constitution that
or because the despot's endeavours to destroy the
was
but
vestiges of feudal or clerical
preservation merely to the superstition
the law a spirit of equality,
for long the admiration of philosophers,
owes
its
of the English nation and the hypocrisy of their
And,
politicians.
finally,
it
was
also
through priestly
have been the desire to establish equality in slavery, but whose effects were often salutary.
We
persecution that the Swedish nation found courage
However,
midst of
in the
which owed
all
these advances,
their origin to theological disputes,
France, Spain, Hungary and Bohemia saw their feeble liberties extinguished, or so at least
would be vain
It
we
it
seemed.
to look, in those countries
call free, for that liberty
which
which infringes none
of the natural rights of man; a liberty which not only allows
him is
man
to exercise
based on
system of positive rights, unequally
a
privileges according to the
the class into
grants
town
in
them
different
which they
live,
w hich they have been born, the means
of which they can dispose, and the profession that they follow.
A
comparative sketch of the curi-
ous inequalities to be found in different countries the best retort that
we can make
to those
who
is
still
uphold their virtue or necessity.
But
in these
not degraded; some
are recognized; he can
man
has
lost the title
had rendered quality of
man had
power
groaned,
of citizen, which inequality
more than
little
man was
a
name, but the
accorded greater respect; royal
despotism saved him from feudal oppression, and
him from
more painful because the awareness of his condition w as constantly kept alive in him by the number and relieved
a state
of humiliation
actual presence of his tyrants.
tended to improve, both stitution
was partly
despots:
in
those
who
and
the
The system
in those states
free,
all
of law s
whose con-
in those ruled
by
the former because the interests of
exercised the real
pow er did not
invari-
ably conflict with the interests of the people; in the latter
commerce which
industry and
and violence
through the
is
spirit
of
inimical to unrest
the natural enemies of wealth,
as
through the sense of horror inspired by the none too distant picture of the barbarism of the preceding stage,
through
wider diffusion of the philosophical
a
ideas of equality and humanity, and, finally, through
the influence, slow but sure, of the general progress
Religious intolerance remains, but
instrument of
human prudence,
popular prejudice, or as
lit,
because the interests of the despot were often
a
more
as an
as a tribute to
precaution against popu-
fury abates; the fires at the stake are
and have been replaced by if it is
often
more
form of
a
arbitrary,
is
less
barbarous; and of recent years the persecutions
have become
much
complacency or
rarer,
habit.
and the
result rather of
Everywhere, and
in every
respect, governmental practice has slowly
and
re-
gretfully followed the progress of public opinion
and even of philosophy.
have more than compensated for their
Man
less violent
through the influence of the
their savagery,
oppression that,
enjoyed by the great mass of the
that the destruction of the virtually arbitrary
loss.
Manners have become
seldom
free.
people had been confined w ithin such narrow limits
to
self-
weakening of the prejudices that had maintained
said to be a
be not truly
greater or less extent, a genuine loss of liberty, the
seems
all
wealth, industry, and education, and sometimes
no longer be
of the aristocracy under which
in earlier ages or in
even to that of liberty.
lar unrest. Its
In those nations where at this time there was, to a
political rights
no precedent
of the causes
kind of despotism
interest, has often contributed to the progress of
of his rights
to
is
a
by enlightenment, tempered by
ion, controlled
at least
though he can be said
slave
which there
Europe
but arbitrary authority, restrained by public opin-
same countries the law guarantees
not there reached a state of perfection, his natural is
for
in
of enlightenment.
individual and civil liberty, so that if
dignity
produced
other parts of the world, a despotism in which an
to possess these rights but allows
them. For the liberty we find there
among men, and
distributed
shall give a detailed exposition
that have
of their rights.
to reclaim a portion
pow er had imparted to w hose inspiration may
Indeed, there to
is
if in
the moral and political sciences
always a large interval between the point
which philosophers have carried the progress of
enlightenment and the degree of enlightenment attained by the average
the
body of
man
beliefs held in
of education (and
common by
such
that constitutes the generally accepted creed as public opinion), those
who
may hold
fate
of the
people, under whatever constitution they their powers, are very far
from
the level of public opinion; they follow
without ever overtaking years behind
manv
know n
direct public affairs
and who immediately influence the
common
it is
men
it
it
its
rising to
advance,
and are always many
and therefore always ignorant of
of the truths that
it
has learned.
Sketch rills sktlill ot
proiiliss
till-
of
ilissciiuii.itioii
lllf
pllllosoplu
t>l
cilliullliiiiiuiil,
.Hill
whose
(ll
iiitm.-
gciKial aiul iiKMc I'Mckiit ctkcls \\c h.i\c .ilrc.uh cxaniincil, bniigs us
up
lo the stage
when
the inllu-
ence of progress upon public opinion,
puhlu
ol
ceases to be a slow, imperceptible atfair, ami pro-
whole order
must one da\
human
inclutle in
its
ol scNeral
the rexolution that
nations, a certain earnest of
scope the whole
of the
race.
h\ \ague or incomplete theories, publicists ha\e
at
last
disco\ered the true rights of nian and how the\
can
all
(I
be deduced from the single truth, that man
is
sentient heme;, capable of reasonins: anil ofaa/nirinii
moral
They have was the
seen that the maintenance of these sole object of
in political societies,
men's coming together
and that the
social art
is
the art
of guaranteeing the preservation of these rights and their distribution in the
was
largest area. It
not abilicate ilecisions theN
.So, in
rules, but
means and
this choice the individual
the
to
see
contract between the people and their lawgisers,
which can be annulled onl\ b\ mutual consent or b\ the defection
ofoneof the
there disappeared the
parlies;
le.ss
absurd opinion according to which ever chained to
its
a nation
no
less
was
for
constitution once this constitu-
had been established
tion
and along with
servile but
as
though the
right to
change it w ere not the guarantee of every other right, and
as
though human
institutions,
w hich are neces-
and capable of perfection
as
men
become more enlightened, could be condemned remain
compelled to abandon that astute and which, forgetful of the truth that
to
.Man was thus
for ever in their infancy.
all
false policy,
men
possess
to
is
the only
will
commerce, and unequally
betw een men, according to profession, and
w hich then
a
man's birth, fortune, or
calls into
being confhci-
balance, measures w hich w ould have been unneces-
w ithout
it,
and
sary
mark of truth
that
impotent
to
Nor
without loss of equality. fact
ditions of its industry and
cannot follow
w ill of the majority
advance
we
the disappearance of the belief in the existence of a
ing interests and opposing forces to restore the
itself;
the
all
to all
the face of such simple prmciples,
for
the society
ow n reason without subjecting others
in
common
to the character or prosperity of a country, the con-
common
his
Each man can
ina\
those rights unequally betw een countries, according
members of
can be accepted by
it
whether the
behalf ilo or ilo not in-
its
«)!i
fringe the rights that are
lo ileciile
of the individual
rights
determine these rules could belong only to the majority of the
authoritv
take
coiisiders
that in every society the
felt
that the authority to choose these
in
its
it
iIk in to the truth, aiul
t
equal rights b\ nature, would seek to apportion
should be submitted to certain
making
loniUu
most equal fashion over the
means of assuring the
in
lo
sarily defective
ideas.
rights
ilouii the |)!i)ceilure thai
l.i\
most likeK
it
After long periods of error, after being led astray
inusi
lli.i!
opinion upon nations or their leaders, suddenK
iluces a re\olution in the
Progress of the Human Mind
for an Historical Picture of the
genuinely bind himself
of the majority which
into
this policy
to control its
did
men any
and w hich are
in
more dangerous
any event
tendencies.
longer dare to divide humanity
two races, the one fated to rule, the other to obey,
the one to deceive, the other to be deceived.
They
then becomes unanimous; but he can bind only
had to recognize that all men have an equal right to be
himself; and he cannot engage even himself towards
informed on
this majority
when
it
fails
to respect the rights
ofthe individual, after having once recognized them.
Here we
see at once the rights of the majority
over society or rights.
its
Here we
members, and the
limits of these
see the origin of that unanimity
which allows the decisions taken by the majority alone to impose an obligation tion
which ceases
change
upon
to be legitimate
all;
an obliga-
when, with
a
in the individuals constituting the majority,
the sanction of unanimity no longer exists. less there are issues
majority
is
likely to
Doubt-
all
that concerns them,
the authorities established by
all;
must decide w hich its
own
These
thority of his
and on which Locke
name, w ere
later
set the
au-
developed by Rous-
seau with greater precision," breadth and energy,
and he deserves renow n
among
the truths that
forget or to combat.
for
it is
Man
having established them
no longer permissible
to
has certain needs and also
which
to satisfv
them; from
political writers: the
English phil-
certain faculties with
be in favour of error and against but
it is still
this majority that
issues are not to be subjected to
direct decision;
more
which the noble Sydney paid
principles,
for with his blood
on w hich the decision of the
it is
reliable than its
own;
it is
it
osopher John Locke (1632-1704); Jean-Jacques Rousseau;
and presumably Algernon Sidney (1622-89),
a
Whig
must
martyr who was exiled during the Restoration of the
considers
English monarchy in 1660, eventually returned to Eng-
the majority that
appoint those persons w hose judgment to be
and that none of over themselves
has the right to hide from them one single truth.
Three republican the interests of
men
the majority
land,
and was executed.
Marquis de Condorcet
The
these faculties and from their products, modified
and distributed
in different ways, there results
an
wealth produced each year provides a por-
tion for disposal
which
is
accumulation of wealth out of which must be met the
either the labour that has
common
required to ensure
needs of mankind. But what are the laws
according to which this wealth tributed, accumulated or
dissipated?
What,
is
produced or
dis-
consumed, increased or governing that
too, are the laws
greater production of wealth.
work; he possesses
which he puts
supply and demand from which
his needs.
in wealth, life
are happier, until a point
increase
is
balance?
follows that, with
reached
with
and well-being of
to the general organization of soci-
make
Hence
out of this available portion of
it is
required for the security of the State, the preserva-
increases,
tion of peace within
its
borders, the protection of
individual rights, the exercise of those powers established for the formation or execution of the law,
and, finally, the maintenance of public prosperity.
There
the frightening complexity of conflicting
one individual
independently of the use to
his faculties in order to provide for
violating anyone's rights, can establish the funds
How, with all the astonishing multifarious-
all
of this
directly to his
any decrease
ness of labour and production, supply and demand,
interests that link the survival
it
when no further
and
in population restores the
fall
The owner
owe
the annual wealth that the public authority, without
easier
becomes harder, suffering
consequent
or the labour
men
becomes
possible; or that, again, with
in wealth, life
until the
is
it
it
it
replacement by an equal or
its
disposable portion does not
general tendency towards an equilibrium between
any increase
not required to pay for
produced
are certain undertakings
which are beneficial it
and institutions
to society in general,
and which
therefore ought to initiate, control and supervise;
dependent on every
these provide services which the wishes and interests
accident of nature and every political event, his pain
of individuals cannot provide by themselves, and
eties, that
his well-being
remotest
which advance the progress of agriculture, industry
corner of the globe, how, with all this seeming chaos,
or trade or the prevention or alleviation of inevitable
and pleasure on what
is it
by
that,
a universal
by each individual on welfare of
demand his own
all,
happening
is
in the
moral law, the efforts made
his
and that the
Up to the stage of which we speak and even for a
interests of society
long time afterwards, these various undertakings
that everyone should understand interests
lie,
and should be able
where
to follow
them without hindrance?
Men, ulties,
therefore, should be able to use their fac-
dispose of their wealth and provide for their
needs in complete freedom.
The common
interest
of any society, far from demanding that they should restrain such activity,
interference with
public order
each
man
is
it;
on the contrary, forbids any and
were
his natural rights
is at
once the whole of
duty of the
social
power, the
left to
chance, to the greed of governments,
to the skill of charlatans or to the prejudices or self-
interest of powerful sections of the
community.
A
famous and
disciple of Descartes, however, the
ill-starred
John de
omy ought
like
Witt,"' felt that political econ-
every other science to submit
to the principles
itself
of philosophy and the rigour of
calculation.
as far as this aspect of
concerned, the guaranteeing to
social utility, the sole
natural hardships or unforeseen accidents.
the
own behalf minister to
Political
economy made
little
progress until the
Peace of Utrecht" gave Europe the promise of lasting
peace.
From
then onwards one notices
an increasing intellectual interest taken in this hith-
and the new science was
only right that the general will can legitimately
erto neglected subject;
exercise over the individual.
advanced by Stewart, Smith^ and more particul-
But
it is
not enough merely that this principle
should be acknowledged by society; the public authority has specific duties to
by law recognized measures
must
it
must
common measure
at least as far as preci-
principles are involved,
one could hardly have hoped
to
a
to
reach so soon after such a long period of
that
indifference.
create a coinage to serve as a
of value and so to
facilitate
that of another, so that having a value
com-
itself, it
can
be exchanged against anything else that can be given one; for without this
must remain confined little
point
its
establish
parison between the value of one article of trade and
very
French economists,
sion and the purity of
for the determination
fulfil. It
of the weight, volume, size and length of all articles of trade;
arly the
common measure
to barter,
activity or scope.
trade
and can acquire
'"
Presumably Johan de Witt (1625-72), Dutch
states-
man. '^
Of 1713, which ended
the
War of the
Spanish Succes-
sion. '
The
Scottish
(1753-1828) and
philosophers
Dugald
Adam Smith (1723-90).
Stewart
Sketch ihis
l)ui
progress
philosopliN
cral
h\
we can
truths NNhich
tlisco\er by
operations ot the hiinian his
impatient
seemed At
to
tor a time
it
w hich reduces them
step by step to other ideas of more immediate origin
or of simpler composition,
being
is
way
the only
to avoid
and indeterminate notions which chance presents to us at
By
we unthinkingly
hazard and
this .same analysis
accept.
he proved that
minds upon
the result of the operations of our
we have
sensations
received, or, to put
more
it
exactly, that they are the combinations of these .sensations presented to us simultaneously
memory
faculty of
no more than
He
a part
show ed that
after analysing
it
we
is
thereby limited to
compound
of such
if
by the
such a w ay that our attention
in
arrested and our perception
is
w ord
attach a
and circumscribing
sensations. to each idea
we
it,
shall
succeed in remembering the idea ever afterw ards a
the motives that
uniform fashion; that
is
to say, the idea will
be formed of the same simple ideas,
it
always
w ill always
be enclosed within the same limits, and
consequence be used
in
it
out any risk of confusion.
word
is
pond
to a determinate idea,
On it
it
can
injustice, ami, finally,
contorming
lor
them,
to
ol
our
constitution.
universal instrument.
methods
to perfect the
throw
light
Men
became
on
Thus
it
ings of the
facts
and
and
was applied
human
a
order
in
it
of the physical sciences, lo
and
their principles
validity of their proofs;
examination of
\irtiiall\
learnt to use
it
examine the
to
was extended of
to the rules
to the
taste.
to all the various undertak-
understanding, and by means of
mind
the operations of the
knowledge were subjected
in
every branch of
and the
analysis,
to
nature of the truths and the kind of certainty
we
can expect to find from each of these branches of It is this
new step
philosophy that has for ever imposed
a barrier
knowledge was thereby revealed. in
between mankind and the errors of barrier that should save
infancy, a
its
from relapsing into
it
its
former errors under the influence of new prejudices, just as
it
should assure the eventual eradica-
tion of those that
should make
it
still
survive unrecognized, and
certain that any that
may
take their
place will exercise only a faint influence and enjoy
only an ephemeral existence. In
Germany, however,
found genius
laid the
a
man
of vast and pro-
foundations of a new doctri-
if a
ne." His ardent and passionate imagination could
does not corres-
not rest satisfied with a modest philosophy and
times
leave unsolved those great questions about the spir-
the other hand,
used in such a way that
ami
we ha\e
from what might be called our moral
sensibility,
can in
chain of reasoning w ith-
in a
which, resulting
moti\es which spring from the very nature
it
ideas are
all
ca|)acit> to leel
determine the necessary and im-
iiuiiable laws of justice
chaos of incomplete, incoherent
lost in that
our
ihis metajihvsical methoil phil-
osophy should be guided; he showed that an exact ideas,
tielmgs, kails to our
ol
ideas,
from the
impos-
pleasure anil pam, the origin o( our moral ideas, the
be led astra\ b\ new errors.
and precise analysis of
om
development
of those general truths
it
will hi-
.il\\.i\ s
Irom these
Locke grasped the thread by which
last,
.mil
IS
I
foundation
obserxinji the
and
it,
lo
had regained her inde-
philosophy
that
pendence onl\
baek
\i
nuisi he cle-
snatched
path that he had traced for
\\ li.ili
know
.Smularlv the .m.iKsis ol
ilu
Soon, howcNer,
niincl.
iniaj;ination
Ignore
sible to
ami e\uleni
it
pninar\
those
Iroin
.iiul l(»
liiulmg, in the
jthilosoplu
brouirht
hail
eiitirel)
u;i-ii-
i.ikc
\\i-
il
reason; for he had iimlerslooil ihai rixecl
m
progn-ss
Ik-
broaikst sense.
latter woril in its
Descartes
I
iiKtapliNsics,
.uul
an Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human f\/lind
poliius .mil poliiK.il tion-
in
w.is f.uistil priin.iiils
()iii\
for
at different
human
arouse different ideas in the same person's mind,
ituality or the survival
and
man's freedom or the freedom of God, about the
this is
the most fecund source of error in
finally,
a limit to the
was the
human
first
man w ho dared
know and of the
objects
it
ics
and
to social
it
to
it
can
come
can comprehend.
This method was soon adopted by phers and, by applying
to set
understanding, or rather to
determine the nature of the truths that to
soul, about
existence of pain and evil in a universe governed by
reasoning.
Locke,
of the
all
moral science,
economy, they were able
philosoto polit-
to
make
almost as sure progress in these sciences as they had in the natural sciences.
They were
an all-powerful intelligence whose wisdom, justice
and loving-kindness ought,
it
would seem,
clude the possibility of their existence.
knot which the most
skilful analysis
I
le
to ex-
cut the
would never
have been able to untie and constructed the universe from simple, indestructible, entities equal by their very nature. entities
w ith
all
The
relations of each of these
the others,
w hich w ith
it
form part
able to admit
only proven truths, to separate these truths from
"
whatever as vet remained doubtful and uncertain.
niz (1646-1716).
German
philosopher and mathematician G.
\\
.
Leib-
I
Marquis de Condorcet of the system of the universe, determine those quahties of
whereby
it
The human
it
differs
from every other.
atom of
soul and the least
a block
prejudices of the masses which had for so long
and corrupted the human
afflicted
At
of
last
man
stone are, each of them, one of these monads, and
which
they differ only in the different place assigned to
opinions to his
them
in the universal order.
Out of all
the possible
combinations of these beings an infinite intelligence has preferred one, and could have preferred one
most perfect of
only, the
If that
all.
which
offends us by the misery and crime that is
it
still
explain
shall
adopted, or
at least
amongst them. One
it,
would
which,
system
being
progress of philosophy
entire school of English phil-
osophers enthusiastically embraced and eloquently
defended the doctrine of optimism, but they were subtle and less profound than Leibniz, for
less
whereas he based his doctrine on the belief that an all-powerful intelligence, by the very necessity of its
nature, could choose only the best of all possible
worlds, the English philosophers sought to prove their doctrine
by appealing
which we
particular world in sacrificing
all
to observation of the
and, thereby
live
to
submit
all
reason and to use in the search
instrument for
had not
sort of pride that nature
to base his beliefs
learnt with a
con-
for ever
on the opinions of
others; the superstitions of antiquity
ment of reason before
recognition
its
man
been given. Every
demned him
and the abase-
the transports of supernat-
disappeared from society as from
philosophy.
Soon there was formed
upheld, by Leibniz's compatthe
had been ignored,
own
for truth the only
ural religion
results.
this
has retarded
riots,
see in
true that any other combination
have had more painful
We
we
exists
for so long
that he has
race.
could proclaim aloud his right,
who were concerned
Europe
in
development of the truth than with
men who whilst devoting tracking down of prejudices where the all
a class
of men
with the discovery or
less
its
propagation,
themselves
the
to
in the hiding places
governments and
priests, the schools, the
long-established institutions had gathered and
protected them,
made
their life-work to destroy
it
popular errors rather than to drive back the fronof
tiers
aiding peril,
human knowledge - an
its
nor
indirect
way of
progress which was not less fraught with less useful.
the advantages possessed by this
In England Collins and Bolingbroke, in France
remains abstract and general;
Bayle, Fontenelle, Voltaire, Montesquieu and the
they lost themselves in details, which were too often
schools founded by these famous men,^'" fought on
either revolting or ridiculous.
the side of truth, using in turn
system so long as
it
In Scotland, however, other philosophers find-
ing that the analysis of the development of our actual faculties led to
no principle
that could pro-
vide a sufficiently pure or solid basis for the morality
of our actions, thought to attribute a
to the
human
new
faculty
from but associated
soul,^" distinct
with those of feeling or thinking, a faculty whose existence
they
proved
We
it.
showing
by
only
they could not do without
shall
history of these opinions and shall
that
recount the
show how,
if
all
the weapons with
which learning, philosophy, wit and can furnish reason; using every to pathos, every literary
literary talent
mood from humour
form from the vast erudite
encyclopaedia to the novel or the broadsheet of the day; covering truth with a veil that spared weaker
eyes and excited one to guess what lay beyond skilfully flattering prejudices so as to attack
it;
them
the better; seldom threatening them, and then
always either only one in partially;
its
entirety or several
sometimes conciliating the enemies of
they have retarded the progress of philosophy,
reason by seeming to wish only for a half-tolerance
they have advanced the dissemination of philo-
in religious matters, only for a half-freedom in
sophical ideas.
politics;
Up
now we have shown the progress of philosophy only in the men who have cultivated, till
deepened and perfected
show what have been
how
reason,
while
its it
against the errors into
it.
It
effects
learnt
these two scourges even
on public opinion;
against only their
to
a sure
ing truth; and
at the
same time
tilting
against
when abus-
more
when they seemed
to
be
revolting or ridiculous
safeguard itself
which the imagination and it,
at last
method of discovering and recogniz-
how
when
ing tyranny; yet always attacking the principles of
remains for us to
respect for authority had so often led
found
sparing despotism
the absurdities of religion, and religion
it
destroyed the
""
Philosopher Arthur Collins (1680-1732), statesman
Henry Bolingbroke (1678-1751),
philosopher
Pierre
Bayle (1647-1706), writer Bernard de Fontenelle (16571757), influential Enlightenment intellectual Francois de
Voltaire (1694—1778), and poHtical philosopher Charles
Presumably the faculty of "commonsense."
68~
de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755).
Sketch abuses, aiul l.wiiiu iluir .ixis to
when
these sinisiei trees
ping
ott a lew stra\
the trieiuls of hhertx cible shield
first
nouncing their its
\ci\
roots oi
to In
lop-
llial su|)eistili()ii is
the iiuiii-
behind which despotism shelters ami victim to be sacriliceil,
first
chain to be broken, and somelimes it
power,
secret
ilu-
.i|i|>e.iteil
an Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human l\/lind
biaiuhes; soiiuiiines teaehiiig
should therefore be the the
tlux
for
to the ilespols as the real aiul frightening
machinations and
never ceasing to
its
demand
reason and the freedom
of"
them with
enem\
ile-
of
stories of
and the saKation
cisni
ill. It
bore the marks
cajilains, magistrates life;
ence
still
independence
fold;
and
of
the press as the right
tiilcrancc,
in
morals
name
of
matters
all
anil law,
to
show
lasing to their charge, with
spilled
respect for
\ehemence
their |>olicN or their wulilfer-
on the
battlefiekl or
on the scaf-
finally, taking for their battle crN
humantty.
.
.
of
am thing
nature to bid kings,
and priests
and seNcrit), the blood
in-
the crimes of (anati-
tNraniu. harshness or bar-
of
barism, iiuoking the
human
all
pursumg,
iNranin;
aiul
religion, administration,
bloody persecutions;
the
manknul, protesting with
of
iklatiuabli energN against
.
reasati,
G.
W.
The most first
F. Hegel
influential
German
European philosopher of the
nineteenth century
half of the
was
the
thinker Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
(1770-1831). His idealistic system saw all reality as Geist or Spirit developing through a dialectical process of self-opposition and higher incorporation, a process embodied in the actual stages and events of human history. He endorsed Enlightenment ideals - the idea of consciousness as individual freedom, and of the objects of consciousness as value-neutral objects of potential utility - as a necessary but incomplete stage through which the human spirit must pass in its journey to complete self-understanding. In this excerpt from his most beautiful work. Phenomenology of Spirit {1807), Hegel characterizes what is wrong with the Enlightened consciousness: it is one-sided and unbalanced, the freedom of a solipsistic, empty individual who sees others as
mere objects for use. Hence it led to the worst violence of the French Revolution, theTerror of 17934, during which the French ruling "Committee of Public Safety"executed about 40,000 alleged enemies of the fledgling republic. For true freedom. Spirit must await its further development, when it discovers that
achieved
in
real,
concrete freedom can only be
the context of
membership
in
ness does not find itself to possess immediately. Utility
predicate of the object, not itself a
is still a
subject or the immediate and sole actuality of the object. It
when
is
the
same thing
the substance" of the other tion
that appeared before,
being-for-self had not yet show n itself to be
moments,
which would have meant
a
demonstra-
was
that the Useful
directly nothing else but the self of consciousness
and that
this latter
w as thereby
in possession
of
it.
This withdrawal from the form of objectivity of the Useful
has,
principle
however,
and from
already
this
taken
place
in
inner revolution there
emerges the actual revolution of the actual w orld, the
new shape of consciousness,
In fact,
what we have here
absolute freedom. is
no more than
an empty show of objectivity separating consciousness
from possession. For,
self-
partly,
all
members of world and the w orld
existence and validity of the specific
the organization of the actual
of faith'" have, in general, returned into this simple
determination as into their ground and spiritual principle; partly, however, this simple determin-
ation
no longer possesses anything of
its
ow n,
it is
rather pure metaphysic, pure Notion, or a pure
knowing by self-consciousness. That
is
to say, of
a moral
community under the institutions of the State.
"
''Substance" refers to the underlying reality, the true
being, of a thing.
Consciousness has found it is
partly
reason,
still
"Notion"
still
an
object,
its
Notion
and
in Utility.'
But
partly, for that very
"'
The world beyond
the actual world, as pictured by
religious faith.
an End to be attained, which conscious-
refers to the pure,
standing of a thing. Hegel
is
comprehensive under-
claiming that the EnHghten-
ment regards the essence of reality
as
mere
utility.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, "Absolute Freedom and Terror," paras. 582-95, pp. 355-63 from Phenomenology of Spirit (trans. A. V. Miller). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.
"Absolute Freedom and Terror" ihc
itst/f ol
the hcinti in jnJ-fftr
consciousness recognizes that
truth a passive
Jt-i'oiJ of st/J, is in
a self for
object,
i/Uii
hini^-m-ttselj^
is
a ht'imi/iir-tin other, beinji-in-itself, as
essentiall)
is
mIuI
L
its
or that which
self,
another sel!" Theobject, however, exists
for consciousness
whose distinctions
are in the pure
lUit ihc hi-ifiii-Jor-si-lf inlo
the
returns,
i.e.
sively to
w hat
form
this abstract
in
for consciousness
bcing-in-ilselt,
imiiiht
Notions.
of
which being-for-an-other
not a self belonging exclu-
self, is
and
called object
is
form
pure
of
pure
is
from the
distinct
"I"; for consciousness, (fua pure insight,
is
not a
which could be confronted by the object
sin^/c .self
ow n, but
as equally having a self of its
the gazing of the self into the
self,
is
pure Notion,
the absolute seeing
of /7.nv// doubled; the certainty of itself is the univerSubject, and
sal
of
all
actuality.
its
not return into
knowing
ow n
its
itself
is
is
it
itself as well as
unity,
now
it
is
and hence was
still
the
movement of universal
those abstract the
self,
self of
of the object and, as universal,
the
is
movement.
comes before us
is
as absolute freedom. It
the essence of
ness alone
resist
its
or siiuc, in truth, conscious-
1
which
sNstem
now
consciousness
W hat made its
or as being absolute!) Notion.
itself,
diremption into separate
when
becomes
the object
longer anything in
negativity has permeated
general
for
will.'
and
all
simply
it
And what
reality is solely spiritual; its
is
own w ill, and
more,
this will
is
this
is
a
not the
empty thought of w ill w hich consists in silent assent, or assent by a representative, but a real general
the will of all individuals as such. For will
is
w ill,
in itself
the consciousness of personality, or of each, and as this
genuine actual
self-conscious essence
will that
it
ought
it is
to be, as the
of each and every personality,
so that each, undivided from the
w hole,
alw ays does
everything, and w hat appears as done by the w hole
is
the direct and conscious deed of each.
all its
ascends the throne of the w orld w ithout any pow er
moments.
Out
consciousness raises
itself
no longer finds
essence and
no
is
It
comes
its
of its allotted
sphere,
work
its
this
in
particular sphere, but grasps itself as the .\olion of will,
grasps
spheres as the essence of this
all
and therefore can only is
work of the w
a
therefore,
all
realize
it.self
in a
will,
work which
hole. In this absolute
social
freedom,
groups or classes which are the
spiritual spheres into
which the whole
is
articulated
are abolished; the individual consciousness that
belonged to any such sphere, and willed and
purpose sal
law
its
,
The
it,
has put aside
the general purpose,
is
something into
its
language univer-
[moment
alien
which was the
The
itself.
were
in the object as if this
from which
it
had
first
on the contrary, the object
itself;
consciousness
have
of] dijference
utility,
being; consciousness does not
all real
movement
its
its
ful-
limitation;
its
work the universal work.
object and the
to return is
for
it
antithesis, consists, there-
fore, solely in the difference
between the mdiiidual
and the universal consciousness; but the individual consciousness
universal consciousness and will. its
ow n eyes
that
antithesis;
it is
itself is directly in its
w hich had only the semblance of an
The beyond o{ xh'ifi
actual existence hovers over the corpse of the
vanished independence of real being, or the being of
faith,
merely as the exhalation of
a stale gas,
of
the vacuous Etre supreme.^'
After
This undivided Substance of absolute freedom
.Notion, there
into existence in such a wa\ that each individual
begin
is
suhsistenl spheres, but a
with a continuing existence;
it
predicate of
spiritual reality,
has collapsed,
the Notion into an existent ohjeit was
and actuality are consciousnesses know ledge of itself.
the world
by
maintained
the individual consciousness conceives
that
supersensible world, or conversely, that essence
all
spiritual
the object as haMiig no other essence than self-
here lost the meaning of
conscious of its pure personahty and therein of
and
organized
is
into 'ma.sses' or spheres
iliNision
'masses', or spheres, of the real as well as of the
It is
which the
in
beings or |iowers ha\e their substance, their entire
the spiritual
all
it
the element
is
filled itself in
self-consciousness which grasps the fact that
certainty of itself
an
ceases to be this. For
the
self-returning unity of this Spirit thus
the essence
moments, an alternation w hich did
object for knowing,
moments,
is
then, the Useful was merely the
If,
alternation of the
conscious .Notion
being able lo
restricted
various
the life
away with,
as
spiritual
spheres
and
the
of the individual have been done well
remains, therefore,
is
as
his
the
two worlds,
all
that
immanent movement of
universal self-consciousness as a reciprocity of self-
Being "in-itself simply '
is;
being "for- another"
is
an
object for consciousness; being "in-and-for- itself" both
and
human
consciousness in the form of universality and of is
is
an object for
A
reference to Rousseau's concept of the general will
itself, as in a
self-aware
being.
personal consciousness: the universal will goes into itself dnd is a single, individual
w ill
to
w hich univer-
of a free society, which was influential during the French Revolution.
Supreme Being.
(JT)
G.
W.
sal
law and work stand opposed. But this individual
Hegel
F.
consciousness
is
as universal will;
no
less directly
it is
aware that
conscious of object
its
is
ing objectivity,
deed
and
it;
in creat-
doing nothing individual, but
it is
carrying out the laws and functions of the state.
This movement with
sciousness
is
which
in
lets
it
nothing
break loose to become a free object standing over against
It
it.
follows from this that
cannot achieve
it
must concentrate
it
self,
w hich
this
of
is
a
only an
is
One. But thereby
all
deed and have only
a limited
share in
so that
it,
the deed would not be a deed of the actual universal self-consciousness. Universal freedom, therefore,
can produce neither a positive work nor a deed; there
or of reality, either of laws and general institutions of
the fury of destruction.
and works of a
One
the
self-consciousness; for the universal will
actual will in a
anything positive, either universal w orks of language
conscious freedom, or of deeds
itself into
individuality and put at the head an individual
other individuals are excluded from the entirety of
thus the interaction of con-
itself
freedom. Before the universal can perform a
this
a law
given by that will and a work accomplished by therefore, in passing over into action
the deeds proper and individual actions of the will of
itself
for
is left
only negative action;
it
But the supreme
free-
reality
and the
merely
it is
which
reality
dom that wills them. The work which conscious freedom might accomplish would consist in that
stands in the greatest antithesis to universal free-
freedom, qua universal suhstuncc, making
that freedom,
itself into
dom,
or rather the sole object that will is
an object and into an enduring being. This otherness
actual self-consciousness itself
would be the moment of difference
ity
divided
in
whereby
it
itself into stable spiritual 'masses'
it
or spheres
which does not
tain itself in an
spheres would be partly the 'thought-things' of a
time creates
power that
is
separated into legislative, judicial, and
movement
executive powers; but partly, they would be the real
over,
we found in the real world of culture, and, looking more closely at the content of universal
itself into
essences
action, they
would be the particular spheres of
let itself
For
that universal-
advance to the
an organic articulation, and whose aim
and into the members of various powers. These
exist for
still
the freedom and individuality of
unbroken continuity, within
a distinction
itself,
is
reality
of
main-
to
the same
at
because
it is
or consciousness in general. And, more-
by virtue of
own
its
abstraction,
it
divides
extremes equally abstract, into
a simple,
and into the
discrete,
inflexible cold universality,
absolute hard rigidity and self-willed atomism of
Now
com-
labour which would be further distinguished as
actual self-consciousness.
more specific 'estates' or classes. Universal freedom, which would have separated itself in this way into its
pleted the destruction of the actual organization of
constituent parts and by the very fact of doing so
sole object, an object that
w ould have made itself into an existent Substance, would thereby be free horn particular individuality,
merely
and would apportion the plurality of individuals
pure and free individual self All that remains of
its
to
various constituent parts. This, however, would
restrict the activity
to a
and the being of the personality
branch of the whole, to one kind of activity and
being; ality
when
placed in the element of being, person-
would have the significance of a
specific per-
the world, and exists
that
has
it
now just for itself, this is its no longer has any content,
possession, existence, or outer extension, but this
knowledge of
the object by which
it
itself as
can be laid hold of is solely
abstract existence as such.
The
is
an absolutely
its
relation, then, of
these two, since each exists indivisibly and absolutely for itself,
and thus cannot dispose of a middle
term which would
link
them
together,
is
one of
self-
wholly unmediated pure negation, a negation, more-
consciousness. Neither by the mere idea of obedi-
over, of the individual as a being existing in the
ence to self-given laws which would assign to
universal.
sonality;
a part
it
would cease
to
be in truth universal
of the w hole, nor by
its
it
only
being represented in
law-making and universal action, does self-consciousness reality
of
let itself
be cheated out of
itself making
reality,
the
the law and accomplishing,
freedom
is
The
sole
work and deed of universal
therefore death, a death too which has
no inner significance or is
the
filling, for
empty point of the
what
more
For where the
or swallowing a mouthful of water.'"
is
merely represented and
present only as an idea, there
it
where
it is
it is
represented by proxy,
is
is
find itself in this universal work of absolute freedom little
does
it
It is
significance than cutting off a head of cabbage
not actual;
not.
Just as the individual self-consciousness does not
qua existent Substance, so
negated
thus the coldest and meanest of all deaths, with no
not a particular work, but the universal work itself self
is
absolutely free self
find itself in
'"
During the Terror thousands died on the
guillotine,
and thousands more on boats that were floated into the Loire river, then sunk. latter reference.
I
thank James Schmidt for the
'Absolute Freedom and Terror' In this
coiuiiionphuc monosvllablc
flat,
wisdom
the
taiiicil
iiittni;4cncc
olthc universal
I'hc jioNcrnnicnt
itscir.
con-
is
of the viovcrniiu-nt, the ahstraii will, in
is itscit
the
liillilluiii ol
noihinu;
Inn the
cist-
of pure thought or ni ah\trail matter, changes round into
The
executes
ijox
the one hand,
from
its
will,
called
anything else but
itself as
government
is
its
government makes
it,
When
[so) guilty.
is
specific
in
its
a faction. \\ hat
being
being
its
conversely, into a faction, the universal will maintains
what the government has actually done it,
is
the government, for
a
its
nothing specific and outwardly apparent
by which the
guilt
of the will opposed to
could be
it
demonstrated; for w hat stands opposed to actual universal will intention.
is
the
a faction lies
overthrow; and
crime committed against part, has
to
it
it
as the
only an unreal pure
is
will,
Being suspected, therefore, takes the place,
that
it
within
has
which
which
moments
its
can utilize
it
are realized;
has
shown
itself to
itual 'masses' or
spheres to which the plurality of
individual consciousnesses are assigned thus takes
shape once more. These individuals
submit
to negation
Out of this tumult.
would be thrown back
Spirit
to its starting-point, to the ethical
In
itself,
w hich
explicitly objective to itself,
it
is
effaces
and self-conis.
just this abstract self-consciousness, all
distinction
distinction within
it.
to itself; the terror
It is
as
and
all
continuance of
such that
of death
is
it is
objective
the vision of this
power of desire to
its
fear of the lord
universal sonality,
w ill
own Notion is
of itself was,
this latter
this self-consciousness
the
know s
w hich,
as
itself in
it
only
Here, however,
pure insight, com-
repeat
the result were only the
of self-consciousness in
w hich
self-
itself,
to
of universal Spirit,
it,
would
not as this particular
universal,
a
would be able
fore, too, reality
find
and there-
endure the objective
a reality
excluding
self-
consciousness qua particular. But in absolute freethere was no reciprocal action between a con-
existence,
or
is
immersed
that
sets
in the complexities
itself specific
of
aims and
thoughts, and a valid external world, whether of reality or
in the
thought; instead, the world was absolutely
form of consciousness
as a universal will,
equally self-consciousness was
and
drawn together out
negative nature
of the whole expanse of existence or manifested
aims and judgements, and concentrated into the
its
pure Thought and
positive
as
and
its
pure Matter -
is
confronted
with the absolute transition of the one into the other as a present reality.
The
universal will, qua abso-
this self-conscious reality
simple self
The culture
action with that essence
and the
last, is
to is,
which
it
attains in inter-
therefore, the grandest
that of seeing
its
pure, simple reality
it
immediately vanish and pass aw ay into empty noth-
heightened to the level
ingness. In the world of culture itself it does not get
lutely positive, actual self-consciousness, is
would
separates the predicateless Absolute
pletely separates
- completely
viz. that
merely the positive essence of per-
and that
positively, or as preserved therein.
as
if
but only as
individual,
sciousness that
its
and master
hearts. Spirit
universal essence acting on
know and
dom
quite different
world of
consciousness, which has experienced the negative
consciousness finds this
its reality
real
anew and continually
traverse
to
negative nature of itself But absolutely free self-
from what
and
which would have been merely refreshed
culture,
and Substance - an interpenetration
sciousness learns what absolute freedom in effect
an
to
substantial reality.
interpenetration
becomes
and return
apportioned and limited task, but thereby to their
complete
freedom
felt
and distinctions, arrange them-
selves in the various spheres,
of necessity
characteristic work, absolute
who have
the fear of death, of their absolute master, again
this cycle
its
own
its
be the negative element for the
cold, matter-of-fact annihilation of this existent self,
In this
has the matter
it
individual consciousness, the organization of spir-
have
its
univer-
determinateness; and in so far as this Substance
the simple inw ardness of intention, consists in the
can be taken away but
general,
in
accordance with
in
w hich has again entered men's
else
ihe
but
in the self-identical
and rejuvenated by the
mere being.
ol
ncgalinn,
the element of subsistence, or the Substance
the external reaction against this reality that
from which nothing
it
contains JiJ/erence
or has the significance and effect, oi being guilty; and lies in
of
develops as an actual difference.
it
pure negativity has
a
merely the viclonoits faction, of
in the very fact
that
that
l'\)r
sal will
to the universal will;
thus
.ind this again
thereby
be
to
itself
ttul in the llnnkniv,
self-ionsciousness
will
means
this
an
(tuts
Ireeilom as pure sell-ideniils
\bsi)hile
uni\ersal
it
absolutely impossible for
is
it
direct necessity of
and
other individuals
all
government
itself" a
consequently,
and
excludes
it
and so stands opposed
exhibit
same
order and action.
and on the other hand,
act,
constitutes
a specific
ami
wills
will tVoni a single point, at the
its
time wills and executes
On
eminent, which
which
that
nncu-ll, or to
sclt-cstablishcil lotus, or the imlixiilualitx, ot the
universal will.
negatise nature ami shows
Its
equall\
because
W.
G.
Hegel
F.
behold
as far as to
negation or alienation in this
its
form of pure abstraction; on the contrary, ation
filled
is
wealth, which
with it
its
neg-
content, either honour or
a
gains in place of the self that
has alienated from
itself;
it
or the language of Spirit
and insight which the disrupted consciousness acquires; or
it is
the heaven of faith, or the Utility of
an immediate
opposite faction; on the contrary, the universal will is its
will
pure knowing and willing and
much more
is
negation
is
the death that
is
without
nothing positive, nothing that
tains
content.
At the same time, however,
in its real existence
neither
the
which the
is
universal
ethical
with a
fills it
this negation
not something alien; inaccessible
dependent; on the contrary,
which
in
necessity
whim
of the
owner on which the disrupted consciousness will
is
world perishes, nor the particular
accident of private possession, nor the
itself
it
it is
sees
the universal
in this its ultimate abstraction has
noth-
ing with
is
immediately one with self-consciousness, or
the pure positive, because
it is
it
it is
the pure negative;
and the meaningless death, the unfilled negativity of the
self,
changes round
in its inner
Notion into
absolute positivity. For consciousness, the immediate unity of itself with the universal will, to
know
itself as this specific
experience.
What
point,
and
this
it
is
quently,
it
itself to
a
it
in that experience
immediacy of that insubstan-
vanished immediacy
versal will itself which far as
point in the universal
vanishes for
abstract being or the
tial
demand
changed round into the absolutely opposite
will, is
is
its
it
pure knowing or pure
knows
is
the uni-
now knows itself to be in so will.
that will to be itself,
Conse-
and knows
be essential being; but not essential being as
it
It is
itself;
than
is
It
does not
that atomic point of con-
thus the interaction of pure know-
pure knowing qua
essential being is the
universal will; but this essential being
is
abolutely
nothing else but pure knowing. Self-consciousness is,
therefore, the pure
knowing of
essential being
qua pure knowing. Further, as an individual self,
it is
only the form of the subject or of real action, a form
which
is
known by
reality, being, is for
reality
it
it
as form. Similarly, objective
simply a
would be something
selfless
that
is
form; for that
not known. This
knowing, however, knows knowing
to
be essential
being.
Absolute freedom has thus removed the antith-
ing positive and therefore can give nothing in
return for the sacrifice. But for that very reason
the universal
pure knowing and willing
lose Itself in that will, for
sciousness.
its
it is
qua this pure knowing and willing.
vanished in the loss suffered by the self in absolute
freedom;
striving to establish an-
archy, nor itself as the centre of this faction or the
the Enlightenment. All these determinations have
meaning, the sheer terror of the negative that con-
not will as revolutionary
existence,
government or anarchy
esis
The its
between the universal and the individual self-alienated Spirit, driven to the
antithesis in
will.
extreme of
which pure willing and the agent of
that pure willing are
still
tithesis to a transparent
itself Just as the
distinct,
reduces the an-
form and therein finds
realm of the
real
world passes
over into the realm of faith and insight, so does absolute freedom leave
its
self-destroying reality
and pass over into another land of self-conscious Spirit where, in this unreal world,
freedom has the
value of truth. In the thought of this truth Spirit refreshes
itself, in
and knows
this
so far as
it is
being which
is
and remains thought, enclosed within
consciousness to be essential being in
its
self-
perfection
and completeness. There has arisen the new shape of Spirit, that of the moral Spirit.
''Bourgeois and Proletarians"
Karl
Marx and
Friedrich Engels
Marxism is the most important criticism of the dominant Western form of economic modernity, capitalism. Among the various forms of socialism and anti-industrialism common in the nineteenth century, the German thinkers Karl Marx (1818-83) and his collaborator Friedrich Engels (1820-95) uniquely devised what they regarded as a "scientific" socialism. Borrowing Hegel's
Freeman and and
comprehensive theory of human history in which capitalism is a necessary but temporary stage whose industrial development would prepare the way for the eventual communist aboli-
They did not object to and secuthe restriction of ownership
tion of private property.
modern
industry, science, technology,
larism, but only to
and benefits to the capitalist or "bourgeois" class. The following excerpt from their famous pamphlet. Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), represents one of the most moving and
modern society. Capitalan ongoing economic revolution that
prescient depictions of
ism
is itself
continually builds and demolishes society,
in
The
history of
all
all
hitherto existing society
is
one another, carried on an uninterrupted,
ition to
now hidden, now open ended, either
contending
everywhere
a
we
find almost
complicated arrangement of
.society
into various orders, a manifold gradation of social
Rome we
rank. In ancient
plebeians, slaves; in the vassals,
guild-masters,
serfs; in
almost
all
have patricians, knights,
Middle Ages, feudal
lords,
journeymen, apprentices,
of these classes, again, subordin-
ate gradations.
The modern
bourgeois society that has sprouted
from the ruins of feudal society has not done aw a> with class antagonisms. classes,
new
It
has but established new
conditions of oppression, new forms of
struggle in place of the old ones.
Our epoch, .sesses,
the epoch of the bourgeoisie, pos-
however,
this distinctive feature:
has sim-
it
whole
plified the class antagonisms: Society as a
more and more
splitting
up
into
two great
is
hostile
camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie
From
and
Proletariat.
the serfs of the
Middle Ages sprang the
and ProCommunist
Karl Marx, with Friedrich Engels, "Bourgeois
In capitalism, the most important classes are the bourthe owners of
of
ruin of the
clas.ses.
In the earlier epochs of history,
letarians," section
is,
common
the
history of class struggles.'
geoisie, that
each time
fight, a fight that
in a revolutionary re-constitution
society at large, or in the
the
non-monetary forms of authority, thereby making class struggle naked and shameless. However abhorrent this capitalism is to the authors, it is hard not to hear in their words a hostile awe at the monumental changes it was working on the human condition. process demystifying
and plebeian, lord
oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant oppos-
notion of dialectical development, they formulated a
slave, patrician
guild-master and journeyman, in a word,
serf,
modern
industry, and the
proletariat, the class of industrial workers.
Party (trans. C.
Tucker
of Manifesto of the
Samuel Moore), reproduced
(ed.),
edition), pp.
1
in
Robert
The Marx-Engels Reader (second
473-83. New
York: Norton, 1978.
Karl
Marx and
Friedrich Engels
chartered burghers of the earhest towns." these burgesses the
From
elements of the bourgeoisie
first
were developed.
The
Cape, opened up fresh ground for the rising bour-
The
nobility,
an armed and
self-
governing association in the mediaeval commune,'^ here independent urban republic (as in Italy and
discovery of America, the rounding of the
geoisie.
sway of the feudal
East-Indian and Chinese markets, the
Germany), there taxable "third estate" of the monarchy
(as in France), afterwards, in the
period of
manufacture proper, serving either the semi-feudal
monarchy
colonisation of America, trade with the colonies,
or the absolute
means of exchange and in commodities generally, gave to commerce, to navigation, to industry, an impulse never before known,
the nobility, and, in fact, corner-stone of the great
and thereby,
the
the increase in the
to the revolutionary
element in the
The
feudal system of industry, under which
was monopolised by closed
now no
guilds,
longer sufficed for the growing
wants of the new markets.
The manufacturing
The
guild-masters were
system took
its
place.
world-market, conquered for
of labour betw een the different cor-
representative
The
sway.
committee
modern
executive of the for
itself,
exclusive
State,
The
bourgeoisie, historically, has played a most
The
bourgeoisie, wherever
hand, has put an end to
has got the upper
it
feudal, patriarchal,
all
idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn
labour in each single workshop.'"
motley feudal
Meantime demand ever
between
Even manufacture no longer
rising.
Thereupon, steam and machinery revolu-
sufficed.
The place of manugiant. Modern Industry,
tionised industrial production.
facture
was taken by the
the place of the industrial middle class, by industrial
millionaires, the leaders of
modern
armies, the
Modern
whole industrial the world-
market, for which the discovery of America paved the way. This market has given an
opment cation
to
by
commerce,
land.
This development
most heavenly
capital,
and pushed into
the background every class handed
down from
the
ism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation.
is
itself the
ment, of
how
product of
a series
a
the
modern bourgeoisie
long course of develop-
able
in the
vance of that
up that single, unconscionfreedom - Free Trade. In one word, for
sions,
development of the bourgeoisie
class.
a
An
corresponding
political
ad-
oppressed class under the
Burghers were the residents of
it
The
by religious and
political illu-
has substituted naked, shameless, direct,
bourgeoisie has stripped of
halo every
its
occupation hitherto honoured and looked up to with reverent awe.
has converted the physician,
It
man
the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the into
its
ily
its
bourgeoisie has torn away from the fam-
sentimental
and has reduced the
veil,
family relation to a mere
The
of science,
paid wage-labourers.
money
relation.
bourgeoisie has disclosed
how
it
came
to
pass that the brutal display of vigour in the Middle
production and of exchange.
Each step
numberless indefeasible char-
in place of the
tered freedoms, has set
of revolutions in the modes of
was accompanied by
It
has resolved personal worth into exchange value,
The
see, therefore,
fervour, of
chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimental-
Middle Ages.
We
has drowned the
It
ecstasies of religious
brutal exploitation.
extended, in the same proportion the bourgeoisie its
than naked self-interest,
turn,
its
commerce, navigation, railways
developed, increased
remaining no other nexus
than callous "cash payment."
reacted on the extension of industry; and in proportion as industry,
left
exploitation, veiled
has, in
asunder the
to his "natural
man and man
immense develcommuni-
to navigation, to
bound man
ties that
superiors," and has
and
bourgeois.
industry has established
but a of the
revolutionary part.
porate guilds vanished in the face of division of
the markets kept ever growing, the
is
affairs
State
managing the common
the
in
political
whole bourgeoisie.
pushed on one side by the manufacturing middle class; division
in general, the bourgeoisie has at last,
since the establishment of Modern Industry and of
modern
tottering feudal society, a rapid development.
industrial production
monarchies
as a counterpoise against
legally
independent
towns, whose lands (borough) had been freed from the control of the rural, feudal lords, ultimately by a royal
charter granting their freedoms. Later, charters
Ages, which Reactionists so fitting It
complement
has been the
bring about.
It
in the
first to
much admire, found its
most
slothful indolence.
show what man's
activity
can
has accomplished wonders far sur-
passing Egyptian pyramids,
Gothic cathedrals;
it
Roman
aqueducts, and
has conducted expeditions
would
"Commune'' was an
primarily grant trading and commercial rights.
'^
'"
town, unowned bv rural lords.
Guilds were trade associations of medieval craftsmen.
early
term
for the
independent
"Bourgeois and Proletarians" thai put
III
the sh.uli-
all
h)iiiKi
1
At)tlii.scs ol iialioiis
and crusades.
The
the most barbarian, nations into ciMlisalion
The
commodities are the heav\
ariil-
I
cannot exist without constant In
liouig^foisif
heap prices
its
(jI
with which
ler\
down
batters
it
(Chinese walls,
all
forces the barbarians' intenseK ob-
rcxolutionisni^ the instruments of iModuction, anil
with which
thereby the relations ot production, and with theni
stinate halreil ol loreigners lo ia|)i!ulaie
The whole relations of society. CofTservation of the
all
old
modes of production
the contrar\, the
unaltered form, was, on
in
condition ol existence for
first
Constant revolutionising
earlier industrial classes.
of production, uninterrupted disturbance
epoch from
tion distinguish the bourgeois
train
fast-fro/en
fixed,
.\1I
relations,
of
all
all
earlier
with their
of ancient and venerable prejudices and opin-
ions, are swcjit
away,
all
new-formed ones become
antiquated before they can ossify. All that melts into
air, all that is
compelled
at last
conditions of
holy
to face
life,
and
is
profaned, and
is
nations, on
bourgeois
i.e., il
w ith sober senses,
solid
man
is
his real
must
nestle everywhere, settle
everyw here, establish connexions everyw here.
The
the
compels ihem
it
to
colli cnilisation into their midst,
il
become bourgeois ihemseKes.
The
compels
i
iis
own
In
one wonl,
image.
bourgeoisie has subjected the countr> to the
rule ol the towns.
has created
It
enormous
cities,
com-
has greatly increased the urban population as
pared with the rural, and has thus rescued
a
con-
siderable part of the population from the idiocy of rural
life.
Just as
it
on the towns, so barbarian
has it
made the country dependent made barbarian and semi-
has
countries
dependent on the
civilised
ones, nations of peasants on nations of bourgeois,
his relations with his kind.
The need of a constantly expanding market for its It
production;
creates a world afic
the East on the West.
The
products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe.
to
It
pain of extinction, to adopt
mode of
introduce what
and agita-
social conditions, everlasting uncertainty
ones.
all
it
bourgeoisie keeps
away with the scattered the
more and more doing
state of the population, of
means of production, and of property.
has
It
exploitation of
agglomerated population, centralised means of pro-
the world-market given a cosmopolitan character to
duction, and has concentrated property in a few
bourgeoisie has through
production and consumption
its
every country.
in
the great chagrin of Reactionists,
under the on which
feet
it
it
To
has drawn from
of industry the national ground
stood. All old-established national in-
dustries have been destroyed or are daily being
destroyed.
They
are dislodged
whose introduction becomes tion
for
civilised
all
by new industries,
a life
and death ques-
itical
necessary consequence of this was pol-
centralisation.
Independent, or but loosely
connected provinces, with separate
interests, laws,
governments and systems of taxation, became
lumped together
into
one nation, with one govern-
ment, one code of law s, one national class-interest,
one frontier and one customs-tariff
The
by industries that
nations,
The
hands.
bourgeoisie, during
its
rule of scarce
hundred
raw material draw n from the remotest zones; indus-
colossal productive forces than have
tries
whose products
home, but
are
consumed, not only
in every quarter
at
of the globe. In place
of the old wants, satisfied by the productions of the country, their
we
satisfaction
new wants,
all
preceding
generations together. Subjection of Nature's forces to
man, machinery, application of chemistry
industry and agriculture, steam-navigation,
to
rail-
requiring for
ways, electric telegraphs, clearing of whole contin-
the products of distant lands
ents for cultivation, canalisation of rivers, whole
find
and climes. In place of the old seclusion and self-sufficiency, in
years, has created
one
more massive and more
no longer work up indigenous raw material, but
local
and national
we have
intercourse
every direction, universal inter-dependence of
And as in material, so also in intellectual production. The intellectual creations of individual nations become common property. National onenations.
sidedness and narrow-mindedness
become more
and more impossible, and from the numerous na-
populations conjured out of the ground - what
century had even
earlier
a
presentiment that such
productive forces slumbered
the lap of social
in
labour.'
We
see then: the
means of production and of
exchange, on whose foundation the bourgeoisie built itself up,
At
a certain
were generated
in
feudal society.
stage in the development of these
there arises a world
means of production and of exchange, the conditions under which feudal society produced and
The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all
exchanged, the feudal organisation of agriculture
tional
and
local
literatures,
literature.
instruments of production, by the immensely cilitated
means of communication, draws
all,
fa-
even
and manufacturing industry, feudal relations of property
in
one word, the
became no longer com-
OT)
Marx and
Karl
with
patible
forces; they
Friedrich Engels
developed
already
the
became so many
fetters.
The weapons
productive
They had
to
be burst asunder; they were burst asunder.
bourgeoisie
adapted to
political
is
going on before our
bourgeois society with
its
own
that has conjured
up such
no longer able world
whom
many
a
gigantic
is like
means of pro-
the sorcerer,
who
is
powers of the nether
to control the
he has called up by his
For
spells.
decade past the history of industry and
commerce
is
weapons
but the history of the revolt of modern
mention the com-
mercial crises that by their periodical return put on its trial,
each time more threateningly, the existence
the prole-
is
i.e.,
capital, is
the proletariat,
modern working class, developed - a class of w ho live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital. These labourers, who must sell labourers,
themselves piece-meal, are a commodity,
like
everj
other article of commerce, and are consequently to all the vicissitudes of competition, to
the fluctuations of the market.
Owing
the conditions for the existence of the bourgeoisie to
-
the
all
enough
has also called
class
In proportion as the bourgeoisie,
exposed
rule. It is
it
are to wield those
developed, in the same proportion
productive forces against modern conditions of
its
men who
tarians.
production, against the property relations that are
and of
that bring death to itself;
into existence the
relations of
production, of exchange and of property, a society
duction and of exchange,
turned against the
weapons - the modern working
class.
A similar movement Modern
political constitution
and by the economical and
it,
sway of the bourgeois
eyes.
and
a social
now
itself.
But not only has the bourgeoisie forged the
Into their place stepped free competition, ac-
companied by
with which the bourgeoisie felled
feudalism to the ground are
to the extensive use of
division of labour, the
lost all individual character,
charm
for the
machinery and
work of the
to
proletarians has
and consequently,
all
He becomes an appendage
workman.
only the most simple, most
of the entire bourgeois society. In these crises a
of the machine, and
great part not only of the existing products, but
monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that is
also of the previously created productive forces, are
required of him. Hence, the cost of production of a
periodically destroyed. In these crises there breaks
out an epidemic that, in
all
would
earlier epochs,
it is
workman is restricted, almost entirely,
have seemed an absurdity - the epidemic of over-
and
production. Society suddenly finds itself put back
commodity, and therefore
into a state of momentary barbarism;
its
a famine, a universal
it
appears as
w ar of devastation had cut
if
off
means of subsistence; industry and commerce seem to be destroyed; and why.-* the supply of every
Because there
is
too
much
civilisation, too
much
means of subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce. The productive forces at the disposal of society no longer tend to further the devel-
opment of the conditions of bourgeois property; on the contrary, they have
become too powerful
for
these conditions, by which they are fettered, and so
soon
as
they overcome these
fetters,
they bring
disorder into the whole of bourgeois society, en-
danger the existence of bourgeois property.
The
conditions of bourgeois society are too narrow to
comprise the wealth created by them.
And how
does the bourgeoisie get over these crises?
one hand by enforced destruction of
a
On
the
mass of
for the propagation of his race.
the repulsiveness of the
Nay more,
decreases.
in
work
increases, the
machinery and division of labour increases,
same proportion the burden of
increased speed of the machinery, etc.
Modern
industry has converted the
of the industrial
crowded
for
more extensive and more
destructive crises,
prevented.
crises are
work-
diers.
As
Masses of labourers,
privates of the industrial
placed under the officers
capitalist.
into the factory, are organised like sol-
army they
are
command of a perfect hierarchy of
and sergeants. Not only are they slaves of
the bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois State; they
and hourly enslaved by the machine, by
are daily
the over-looker, and, above
all,
by the individual
The more openly
more
way
little
shop of the patriarchal master into the great factory
the
and by diminishing the means whereby
in the
w hether by prolongation of the working hours, by increase of the work exacted in a given time or by
despotism proclaims gain to be
by paving the
wage
toil also increases,
this
to say,
equal to
proportion as the use of
of new markets, and by the more thorough exploitis
is
cost of production. In proportion, therefore, as
bourgeois manufacturer himself.
That
means
But the price of a
also of labour,
productive forces; on the other, by the conquest
ation of the old ones.
to the
of subsistence that he requires for his maintenance,
petty, the
embittering
The plied in
more
hateful
its
end and aim,
and the more
it is.
less the skill
and exertion of strength im-
manual labour,
in other
words, the more
Bourgeois and Proletarians" nioilcni iiuliisir\ Ihioiiks ».k-\il()|Kil,
the labour ot 1
)itfcrciKcs
men
t)t
supcrstilcil
st\
aiul
ajic
ha\c-
arc instruments ot labour,
more
use, according to their age
No
sooner
is
wages
It
no longer ain
esis
and coiulilions
elass
All
or less e\pensi\e to
and se\
than he
in cash,
upon by the other
is set
tion
sum- low
the
tradespeople, shopkeepers, and retired tradesmen
and peasants
all
The growing competition
make
their
ever
lixelihood
collisions
unceasing improvement of ma-
more rapidly developing, makes more and more precarious; the
between individual workmen and indi-
vidual bourgeois take
more and more
cause their diminutive capital does not suffice for
workers
and
swamped
is
carried on,
is
competition with the large
in the
capitalists, partly
Industry
because their specialised
skill is
begin
cla.sses.
torm
to
the character
'['hereupon the
in
order to keep up the rate of wages; the\ tound
permanent associations
in
order to make provision
beforehand tor these occasional
Thus
there the contest breaks out into riots.
is
recruited from
classes of
all
Now
the population.
The
proletariat goes
development. With
its
w ith the bourgeoisie. At
The
not in the immediate result, but in the ever-
first
struggle
its
the contest
carried
is
bourgeois
in
who
w orkers of
against the instruments of production themselves;
all
machinery, they
form more compact bodies,
consequence of their ow n active
order to attain
compelled
and
is
to set the
moreover
its
own
political ends, is
whole proletariat
yet, for a time, able to
stage, therefore, the proletarians
of the same character, into one national struggle classes.
ical struggle.
ians,
But every
And
class struggle
is
motion,
in
do
do not
so.
At
this
fight their
thanks to railw ays, achieve
in a few years.
and consequently into ally
a political party,
being upset again by the competition between
the workers themselves. But stronger, firmer, mightier.
it
It
ever
ri.ses
compels
up again, legislative
recognition of particular interests of the workers,
by taking advantage of the divisions among the bourgeoisie
Thus
it.self
the ten-hours'
Altogether collisions between the classes of the
many
the non-industrial bourgeois, the petty bourgeoisie.
development of the
Thus
finds itself involved in a constant battle.
movement
concen-
is
hands of the bourgeoisie; every victory is
w ith the aristocracy;
ways, the course of
proletariat.
later on,
The
bourgeoisie .\t
first
w ith those portions of
a victory for the bourgeoisie.
But with the development of industry the proletariat
Eng-
bill in
land was carried.'
old society further, in
the whole historical
a class,
continu-
is
remnants of absolute monarchy, the landowners,
so obtained
a polit-
which the
that union, to attain
This organisation of the proletarians into
enemies, but the enemies of their enemies, the
trated in the
was
local struggles,
highways, required centuries, the modern proletar-
form an incoher-
union, but of the union of the bourgeoisie, which class, in
just this contact that
numerous
burghers of the Middle Ages, w ith their miserable
broken up by their mutual competition. If anyto
to centralise the
between
ent mass scattered over the whole country, and
where they unite
was
It
that
different localities in contact
by force the
this stage the labourers still
this is not yet the
is
workman of the Middle Ages.
set factories ablaze, they seek to restore
At
lies,
modern industry and
tion that are created by
place the
with one another.
to pieces
of their battles
helped on by the improved means of communica-
needed
destroy imported wares that compete with
real fruit
expanding union of the workers. This union
against the bourgeois conditions of production, but
vanished status of the
and
and then the workers are victorious, but
directly exploits them. TheN- direct their attacks not
smash
lere
birth begins
locality, against the individual
their labour, they
1
only for a time.
of a factory, then by the operatives of one trade,
tfiev
revolts.
through various stages of
on by individual labourers, then by the workpeople one
(Trades
combinations
Unions) against the bourgeois; they club together
rendered worthless by new methods of production. the proletariat
more
the wages ot the workers e\er
The
of collisions between two
Modern
distinctions ot
all
ever> where reduces wages to
le\el.
these sink gradually into the proletariat, partly be-
the scale on which
propor-
eijualised, in
crises,
chinery, the small
within the ranks ot the
more
the bourgeois, and the resulting commercial
keeper, the pawnbroker, etc.
lower strata of the middle class
sirenglh grows,
among
tluctuating.
generally, the handicraftsmen
ot lite
anil
machinery obliterates
as
portions of the bourgeoisie, the laiulloni, the shop-
The
more
|in»letariai are
lis
more. Ihe various inlcr-
teils thai sirenglh
labour, and nearK
an end, that he recedes
tar, at
Ktucinli.Ueil ui urtater masses, .uul
the exploitation ot the labourer b\
the manufacturer, so his
is
uoimii
working
distinctive social validity tor the
in* tic
ilu-
ih.n ol
l)v
not only increases in number;
it
becomes
'
Passed in 1847, the
hours, but only for
bill
limited the
women and
children.
work day
to ten
L
Karl
Marx and
the bourgeoisie
Friedrich Engels
itself,
whose
become
interests have
antagonistic to the progress of industry; at
times,
all
with the bourgeoisie of foreign countries. In these battles
it
sees itself compelled to appeal to
the proletariat, to ask for it
The
political
words,
weapons
and thus,
it
to drag
bourgeoisie
supplies the proletariat with
elements of other
help,
its
into the political arena.
therefore,
all
itself,
its
own
and general education,
furnishes
the
proletariat
in
with
for fighting the bourgeoisie.
we have
Further, as
already seen, entire sections
of the ruling classes are, by the advance of industry,
In the conditions of the proletariat, those of old society at large are already virtually
proletarian
swamped. The
without property; his relation to his
and children has no longer anything
wife
common modern
with
bourgeois
the
in
family-relations;
modern
industrial labour,
subjection to
AmerGermany, has stripped him of every trace of national character. Law, morality, religion, are to him so many bourgeois prejudices, behind which lurk in ambush just as many bourgeois intercapital, the ica
as
same
England
in
as in France, in
in
ests.
All the preceding classes that got the
precipitated into the proletariat, or are at least
threatened in their conditions of existence. These
is
upper hand,
sought to fortify their already acquired status by
also supply the proletariat with fresh elements of
subjecting society at large to their conditions of
enlightenment and progress.
appropriation.
when
Finally, in times
the class struggle nears
the decisive hour, the process of dissolution going
on within the ruling
class, in fact
w hole
within the
The
proletarians
cannot become
masters of the productive forces of society, except
by abolishing
own
their
and thereby
priation,
previous
mode
character, that a small section of the ruling class
mode of their own
cuts itself adrift, and joins the revolutionary class,
to destroy all previous securities for,
range of society, assumes such a violent, glaring
the class that holds the future in
its
hands. Just
as,
of,
therefore, at an earlier period, a section of the nobility
went over
to the bourgeoisie, so
now
a
portion of the bourgeoisie goes over to the proletariat,
and
in particular, a portion
ideologists, level
who have
raised
of the bourgeois
themselves to the
of comprehending theoretically the historical
movement
Of all
bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone
The
revolutionary class. finally
The
is its
special
lower middle
a really
and
Modern
Industry;
essential product.
class, the small
manufacturer,
the shopkeeper, the artisan, the peasant,
all
these
fight against the bourgeoisie, to save
from extinc-
tion their existence as fractions of the
middle
class.
They are therefore not revolutionary, but conservative. Nay more, they are reactionary, for they try to
of is
and insurances
individual property.
ments of minorities, or
The
proletarian
movements were move-
in the interests of minorities.
movement
the self-conscious,
is
independent movement of the immense majority, in the interests of the letariat,
immense
majority.
The
pro-
the lowest stratum of our present society,
stir,
cannot raise
superincumbent sprung into the
Though
other classes decay and
disappear in the face of
the proletariat
is
and
All previous historical
cannot
as a whole.
the classes that stand face to face with the
They have nothing to fortify; their mission
appropriation. to secure
of appro-
also every other previous
itself up,
without the whole
of official
strata
being
society
air.
not in substance,
yet
in
form,
the
struggle of the proletariat with the bourgeoisie at first a national struggle.
country must, of course, with
its
own
The
first
is
proletariat of each
of
all settle
matters
bourgeoisie.
In depicting the most general phases of the de-
velopment of the less veiled civil
up
proletariat,
we
traced the
more
or
war, raging within existing society,
to the point
where
that
war breaks out into
back the wheel of history. If by chance they are
open revolution, and where the violent overthrow
revolutionary, they are so only in view of their
of the bourgeoisie lays the foundation for the sway
impending transfer into the
of the proletariat.
roll
proletariat, they thus
Hitherto, every form of society has been based,
defend not their present, but their future interests, they desert their
own
standpoint to place them-
The "dangerous layers of old society,
into the
class," the social
life,
scum, that
thrown off by the lowest
may, here and there, be swept
movement by
conditions of
a proletarian revolution; its
however, prepare
we have
already seen, on the antagonism of_
oppressing and oppressed classes. But in order to
selves at that of the proletariat.
passively rotting mass
as
it
far
more
the part of a bribed tool of reactionary intrigue.
for
oppress a to
it
class, certain
under which
existence.
it
The serf,
conditions must be assured
can, at least, continue
its
slavish
in the period of serfdom, raised
himself to membership in the commune, just as the petty bourgeois, under the yoke of feudal absolutism,
managed
to develop into a bourgeois.
The
"Bourgeois and Proletarians" nioilcrii LihoiiriT,
on the comiimin,
with ihf piounss
of"
instc.ul ol
.iiul
deeper below
ihe conditions of existence ol
own
becomes
lie
class,
de\elops more
And i
s
here
it
rapiill)
a
than population anil wealth that the bourgeoisie
unfit any longer to be the ruling to impo se its conditions of
and
society as an over-riding law.
because its
it
is
It
class in society,
existence unfit
is
upon
to rule
incompetent to assure an existence
sla\e within his slavery, because
letnni: liini sink into
his
pauper, ami pauperism
becomes e\ideni,
such a
it
state, that
to
cannot help it
Ihe essintial idiulilion
risiiiv;
intluslry, sinks ikc|Ki
has to feed
lor the
capital
is
sively
on
moter ol
society.
capital;
between
bourgeoisie,
due
is
the formation
condition
the
Wage-labour
of iiulustr),
labourers,
development from under
to
whose
of
for
rests exclu-
labourers.
the
iiiNoluntarv pro-
replaces
the
competition,
isolation
h\
their 1
he
.Modern Industry, therefore, cuts
its feet
the very foundation on which
the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products.
no longer compatible with
of
competition
the
the existeiue, aiul
rcNolutionars combination, due to association.
above
is
is
the
lor
bourgeois class,
wage-labour
Ihe advance
longer live under this bourgeoisie, in other words, existence
ol the
augmeniaiion
aiul
him, instead of being k\\ by him. Society can no
its
swa\
What all.
the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, Is
its
own
grave-diggers.
Its
fall
and
the victory of the proletariat are equallv ine\ itable.
'Bou/^^s*^*^
c^i^foy^
^V^
^jffofy-J if-
L
PART
II
Modernity Realized
I
Introduction to Part
The
century
from
1860
1950 brought
to
the
triumph of modernity, and simultaneously greatest crises, both intellectual
period that the
in this
new
and
social.
It
is
science and the indus-
revolution actually changed the lives of most
trial
human and
beings living in Europe, North America,
much
indirectly,
bound new
of
world.
the
Peoples
were thrown,
to a local agrarian lifestyle
by choice or necessity, into the
either
and
cities
a
industrial world market. \\ aves of scientific
revolution, in cosmology, physics, geology,
chem-
and biology deeply altered our view
istry,
the world, unleashing
power.
mere
The
fact
new
conditions of
religion
of
technologies of awesome life
changed, and the
of change seemed to
wisdom and life.
its
make
relevant
less
traditional
to
everyday
became widespread, then
Liberal democracy
was challenged by fascism and communism, themselves
modernist
modernity.
Two
reactions
world
against
wars,
closed with the terrifying
first act
a cultural relife,
in
which
some
artists
fluid,
non-traditional environment, while others
and
were revolted by
the
new,
by regarding
reflected
itself as
in
transform-
this crisis.
Many
of
the most important philosophers of the period
claimed that
all earlier
some deep
flaw
thought had suffered from
requiring
break with the past. This tive;
is
radical
revision,
a
historically distinc-
philosophers in every era usually think other
philosophers
are
critique.
When
purview of
a
radicalism appears
few cranks
at
is
it
usually the
the margins, but in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the
most prominent philosophical schools - analytand
ical
logical philosophy,
existentialism, pragmatism,
phenomenologv and Marxism - radically
rejected the speculative, metaphysical, and quasi-
from
thought
of earlier
tendencies
theological
the Greeks through the mid-nineteenth century. Historically speaking, in twentieth-century philo-
sophy, radicalism became the norm. It is
this period that created
most of the philo-
among
sophical schools and divisions prevalent
Western (and
a large percentage of
non- Western)
philosophers to this day: pragmatism
(in the
work
of Charles Sanders Peirce, George Hebert Mead,
Paul
gaard,
wrong about something, but
Sartre,
Simone
(Edmund
Husserl,
Jean-Paul
Tillich,
de Beauvoir); phenomenology
Martin Heidegger, and .Maurice Merleau-Ponty); logic, logical positivism,
and analytic philosophy
(Gottlob Frege, G. E. .Moore, Bertrand Russell, the early
Ludwig
Wittgenstein, Rudolf Garnap,
Kurt Godel, and Alfred Tarski); ordinary language philosophy (the
it.
Western philosophy ation
embraced
thinkers
was funda-
philosophy
William James, Josiah Royce, and John Dewey),
of the atomic age.
sponse to the new conditions of
past
all
existentialism (Friedrich Nietzsche, Soren Kierke-
Europe and much of the developed world, and
Throughout the period there was
that
of
communications and military technologies, devastated
claim
the
mentally wrong-headed was a particularly radical
new
features
employing
II
W ittgenstein,
later
J.
L. Austin);
and process philosophy (Henri Bergson and Alfred
North Whitehead). In ical
tradition these
each
other,
mented
into
their rejection of philosoph-
movements
leaving
also diverged
from
philosophy
frag-
Western
divergent
styles
or
sub-cultures,
each denying the legitimacy of the others. sure,
some remained
To
be
faithful to the older specula-
tive-metaphysical tradition, but
it
was the new
Introduction to Part
methods
II
that defined
To
the era.
degree we philosophers of the looking back
the
very large
a
new millennium of the
creativity
are
still
late
nineteenth and early twentieth century for
to
inspiration.
early twentieth-century period,
and science were being revolutionized.
was the
in question. Baudelaire
employ the term modernite
first to
new
in describing the
nineteenth-century urban aesthetic.
was
Peirce
the inventor of pragmatism, which would eventu-
form the
ally
During the same art, politics,
non-human
basis
Rorty's postmodernism
for
attempt of more moderate "non-
as well as the
foundationalists"
postmodernism.
counter
to
Modernism in painting initially took the form of a new realism that renounced the idealization of subject matter, but more prominently it was
Through
his radical critique of the idealism of the
Western
tradition,
the age of abstraction, of the liberation of artistic
postmodernism,
imagination by Impressionism, Cubism, Expres-
Deleuze, and Foucault.
sionism, Futurism, Surrealism,
Symbohsm, Dada,
and ultimately Abstract Expressionism. In other arts as well
was
it
of explosive waves
a period
tian)
both moral
and epistemic, Nietzsche crucial
(i.e.
is
Judeo-Chris-
the godfather of
especially
Derrida,
for
De
Saussure's structuralist
linguistics set the stage for
French post-structural-
ism. Marinetti and later
Le Corbusier
extolled
new
forms of literature and architecture, respectively,
Pound and
that reflect the Utopian social theories characteristic
stream of consciousness novels
of the period between the world wars. Weber, one
of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, the existential
of the most influential theorists of modernity,
of experimentation: the poetry of Ezra
T. S.
Eliot, the
of Hemingway;
realism
Albert
the
music
atonal
Schonberg and Alban Berg,
of
non-
the
presented an historically informed, yet incipiently existentialist
account of the modern age. Wittgen-
thematic dissonance of Igor Stravinsky; and the
stein's radical assertion
modernism of Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and the Bauhaus school. Simultaneously new forms of social radicalism developed in response to the coming of mass,
became the most prominent form of twentieth-
industrial society: socialism, Marxist-Leninist bol-
whose psychoanalytic theory was hugely
shevism, futurism, syndicalism, fascism, Nazism,
in the
anarchism. Discontents and intellectuals sought
mounting "discontent" inherent
new
civilization.
architectural
alternatives
ization
to
the juggernaut of
and mass culture.
Charles
Scientifically,
Darwin and Sigmund Freud
human beings,
modern-
recast our picture of
while in physics the greatest revolu-
tion in our picture of the universe since the seven-
teenth century was led by Neils Bohr,
Wolfgang Erwin
Pauli,
Max
Planck,
Louis de Broglie, Albert Einstein,
Schrodinger,
Werner
and
Heisenberg,
of the limits of philosophy
century anti-foundationalism, and his later view of
language as pluralistic "language-games" inspired the postmodernism of Rorty and Lyotard. Freud, influential
humanities and social sciences, warned of the in the progress of
Husserl diagnosed the "crisis" of mod-
ernity with his
new philosophy of phenomenology,
which formed the
basis
both
for
Heidegger's
thought and the French post-structuralists' tique.
Adorno's and Horkheimer's
cri-
classic Dialectic
of Enlightenment was crucial for the debate over the fate of modernity, and, with Weber, forms the basis for
Habermas's work. Sartre's existentialism was
Paul Dirac. Particularly important for understand-
an important mid-century response to the problem
ing modernity, the field of sociology established
of
itself in this
largely
period as an independent discipline,
through providing theories of modern-
Marx and Weber, the work of Emile Durkheim, Henry Sumner Maine, Georg Besides
ization.
Simmel, Ferdinand Tonnies, Walter Benjamin, Talcott Parsons and
Arnold Gehlen,
but a few, are central for
later studies
to
name
of modern-
alienation,
following selections illustrate these
ments, and auger the
later shift to
move-
postmodernity.
of species would
Darwin's denial of the
fixity
become
the
paradigm
sciences,
and put the distinction of human and
dominant
for
the
life
and
a
prime target
for
Hei-
The final four selections, which follow World War II, represent the transition to postmodernism. Heidegger's attack on Western humanism and the technological domination of nature by the "subject," a project
with which he believed Western
philosophy to have been complicit,
postmodernism,
ization.
The
modern
degger.
is
crucial to
as well as his willingness to
bend
philosophical language in an attempt to say the
unsayable. Lacan's structuralist version of psychoanalysis
had
a
structuralists.
of scientific
major impact on the French post-
Thomas Kuhn's famous progress
analysis
through revolutions and
Introduction to Part noii-rationaiiltLiMDns, lathci than aiul ciniuilan\i- process,
a
puttiN rahoiial
was crucial
lor KortN aiul
wtll-kiutw n
inosi
\aiHccl.
other anti-r(Hiiulatit)nalists, as well as tor the wule-
were passing out
spread uncertaint\ ahoui the limits
mio
and realism
in science.
I
)aiuel
Hell
ot rationalism
authored the
a
\trsi
life,
howcNtr
\ariatii)ii,
cvcr cause proceeding, able to an
iiuli\ iiliial
if
»)t
liom
slight, aiul
he
it
wh.ii-
anN ilegree pnitit-
in
an> species, in
iis
inlinileK
conii>le\ relations to other orgatuc heinijs aiul to
nature, will leml lo ihe preseivaiion ol
cxleiii.il
ami
that iiuliNuhial,
hetter chance ot sur\ uals of an\ species
thus ha\e
also, will
ing, tor, ot the nian> inili\
i\
sur\i\e.
ha\e
I
itl-
called
We
tion.
tainly
its
relation to
this
produce great
results,
in
man's power of selec-
man by
have seen that
a
slight \ariation, if useful,
preserved, by the term of Natural Selection,
order to mark
a
horn, hut
liich are periotlicalh
which each
principle, h\ is
w
number can
small
he inheriieil In
will iienerall\
The ottspring,
otlsprinu;.
its
selection can cer-
and can adapt organic
beings to his ow n uses, through the accumulation of
him by
slight but useful variations, given to
hand of Nature. But Natural Selection, hereafter see,
and
efforts, as the
We
a
power incessantly ready
immeasurably superior
as
is
is
works of Nature are
now
will
be treated, as
greater length.
the
shall
for action,
man's feeble
The
more detail the my future work this subwell deserves, at
it
much
elder de Candolle and Lyell
have largely and philosophically shown that
all
organic beings are exposed to severe competition.' In regard to plants, no one has treated this subject
w ith more
spirit
and
ability
W.
than
Herbert,
to
Dean
life,
easier than
in
- than constantly Yet unless
am
is
words the truth of the universal struggle or more difficult - at least I have found it so
admit
for
Nothing
it
to bear this conclusion in
be thoroughly engrained
in the
I
convinced that the whole economy of nature,
with every fact on distribution, extinction,
and variation,
will
rarity,
We behold
bright w ith gladness,
we
of food;
we do not
which are
life;
or
we
the face of nature
often see superabundance
see, or
idly singing
insects or seeds,
abundance,
be dimly seen or
quite misunderstood.
we
ing ik|HiuliiHe of one being on another, and in-
how
Two
food and
il
the moisture.
.\
at all
.^ugustin
life
on the edge of a desert
lo be cUpeiuleiit
a
which on an average only one
of
may
be more truly said to
same and other
The
kinds which already clothe the ground.
dependent (m the apple and
is
on
which annualls produces
struggle with the plants of the
toe
is
though
against the drought,
plant
maturity,
to
may be
o( dearth,
each other which shall get
ith
should be saul
thousand seeds,
comes
lime
in a
w
li\e. IJut a |ilan!
struggle for
more propcrK
life
mistle-
few other trees,
a
but can only in a far-fetched sense be said to struggle with these trees, (or parasites grow
on the same
many
too
if
tree,
it
of these
w ill languish and
Hut several seedling mistletoes, growing close
die.
disseminated by birds, birds;
and
may more truly be said
with each other.
to struggle
it
may
the mistletoe
.\s
is
existence depends on
its
metaphorically be said to struggle
with other fruit-bearing plants,
order to tempt
in
birds to devour and thus disseminate
its
seeds rather
than those of other plants. In these several senses,
which pass into each other,
use for convenience'
I
sake the general term of struggle for existence.
A
struggle for existence inevitably follows from
the high rate at which
all
organic beings tend to
Every being, which during
increase.
lifetime produces several eggs or seeds,
destruction during
some period of
natural
its
must
suffer
and
life,
its
during some season or occasional year, otherwise,
on
the
principle
of
geometrical
numbers would quickly become
increase,
its
so inordinately
great that no country could support the product.
Hence,
as
more
individuals are produced than can
possibly survive, there
must
in
every case be a
another of the same species, or with the individuals
live
largely these songsters, or
by birds in
mind,
though food may be now superabundant,
not so
canine animals
truiN said to struggle
saiil to
not onls the
bui suicess in leaving progeny.
on
round us mostly
and beasts of prey; we do not always bear that
more important)
is
ol ihe iiuli\ uhi.il.
struggle for existence, either one individual with
and are thus constantly destroying
forget
use the term .Struggle tor
I
and metaphorical sense, includ-
forget that the birds
their eggs, or their nestlings, are destroyed
'
mind.
mind,
|>renns«.- thai
in a large
chidinu (which
of Manchester, evidently the result of his great horticultural knowledge."
should
MsiciKc-
together on the same branch,
of Art.
to those
discu.ss in a little
struggle for existence. In ject shall
to
we
as
I
I
it is
seasons of each recurring year.
de Candolle (1778-1841), botanist, and
of distinct species, or w of
life.
It is
conditions
manifold force to the whole animal and vegetable
kingdoms;
for in this case there can
be no
artificial
increase of food, and no prudential restraint from marriage.'" Although
'"
some
Thomas Robert Malthus
Charles Lyell (1797-1875), whose Principles of Geology
economist,
(1833) influenced Darwin.
human
"
exceed natural resources.
William Herbert (1778-1847), botanist.
ith the physical
the doctrine of Malthus applied with
argued
population
that will
species
may be now
(1766-18.34),
uncontrolled
proceed
a
political
growth
exponentially,
of the
hence
Charles Darwin
more or
increasing,
cannot do
There
all
world would not hold them.
no exception
is
numbers,
less rapidly, in
so, for the
to the rule that every
organic being naturally increases at so high a rate,
would soon be
that if not destroyed, the earth
covered by the progeny of a single
slow-breeding
and
years,
man
Even
pair.
has doubled in twenty-five
at this rate, in a
and
room
progeny. Linnaeus has calculated that plant produced only two seeds
if
- and
- and
all
must
laws; but
trees!
fall
how
Throw up a handful of feathers, ground according
to the
simple
to definite
problem compared
this
is
and animals which have determined,
in the course
of centuries, the proportional numbers and kinds of
now growing on the old Indian The dependency of one organic
trees
ruins!
being on an-
for his
other, as of a parasite
on
an annual
between beings remote
in the scale of nature.
there
no
is
to
the action and reaction of the innumerable plants
few thousand years,
there would literally not be standing
plant so unproductive as this
growth of the
is
its
prey,
often the case with those which
generally
lies
may
This be
strictly
their seedlings
said to struggle with each other for existence, as in
next year produced two, and so on, then in twenty
the case of locusts and grass-feeding quadrupeds.
would be
years there
phant
is
reckoned the slowest breeder
animals, and
probable
I
The eleof all known
a million plants.'^
have taken some pains to estimate
minimum
rate of natural increase:
be under the mark to assume that
it
breeds
and goes on breeding
it
its
will
when
But the struggle almost invariably
be most
will
severe between the individuals of the same species, for they frequent the
same food, and
same
districts, require the
same dangers.
are exposed to the
In the case of varieties of the
same
species, the
ninety
struggle will generally be almost equally severe,
years old, bringing forth three pair of young in this
and we sometimes see the contest soon decided:
thirty years old,
interval; if this
be
end of the
so, at the
till
fifth
century
there would be alive fifteen million elephants, des-
cended from the
first pair.
.
many
different
checks, acting at different periods of life, and during different seasons or years, probably
come
some one check or some few being all
concur
together,
wheat be sown
and the mixed seed be resown, some of
the varieties which best suit the soil or climate, or
.
In the case of every species,
most potent, but
for instance, if several varieties of
in
into play;
generally the
determining the
are naturally the
most
fertile, will
beat the others
and so yield more seed, and consequently years quite supplant the other varieties. a
mixed stock of even such extremely
in a
few
To keep up
close varieties
as the variously coloured sweet-peas, they
must be
number or even the existence of the species. In some cases it can be shown that widely-different
each year harvested separately, and the seed then
checks act on the same species in different
kinds will steadily decrease in numbers and disap-
average
When we
districts.
look at the plants and bushes clothing an
we are tempted to attribute their proportional numbers and kinds to what we call chance. But how false a view is this! Every one has heard that when an American forest is cut down, a entangled bank,
very different vegetation springs up; but
it
has been
observed that ancient Indian ruins in the Southern
United States, which must formerly have been
diversity
now
display the
same beautiful
and proportion of kinds
as in the sur-
cleared of trees,
rounding virgin
forests.
What
the several kinds of trees
a struggle
between
must here have gone on
during long centuries, each annually scattering
its
seeds by the thousand; what war between insect and insect
- between
insects, snails,
with birds and beasts of prey -
and
crease,
all
and other animals all
striving to in-
feeding on each other or on the trees
mixed pear.
in
due proportion, otherwise the weaker
So again with the
varieties of sheep:
it
been asserted that certain mountain-varieties
has will
starve out other mountain-varieties, so that they
cannot be kept together.
The same
result
has
followed from keeping together different varieties
may even be doubted
of the medicinal leech.
It
whether the
any one of our domestic
varieties of
plants or animals have so exactly the habits,
same
strength,
and constitution, that the original propor-
tions of a
mixed stock could be kept up
dozen generations,
if
for half-a-
they were allowed to struggle
together, like beings in a state of nature, and if the
seed or young were not annually sorted.
As
species
of the same genus have usually,
though by no means invariably, some similarity
in
habits and constitution, and always in structure, the
struggle will generally be
more severe between
same genus, when they come
or their seeds and seedlings, or on the other plants
species of the
which
competition with each other, than between species
first
clothed the ground and thus checked the
of distinct genera. Linnaeus (Carl von Linne, 1708-79), the
modern 'taxonomy',
C90^
who produced
or classification of living things.
We
into
see this in the recent exten-
sion over parts of the United States of one species of
swallow having caused the decrease of another
The Origin of Species ush
TIk' tfciiil iiKitasf ot ilu- iiussclilii
species.
parts ol Scoilaiul has causcil ihc ilitrcase ol soiiijlhrush.
Io\n trci|UcnllN nm'
I
iii
ilu-
hear ol oiu- spceus
another species uiuler the
ot rat takiiiii the place ot
Ms ui(»ui.ipliual range,
(.oiiliius ot
siituiion w
l.ir,
clim.iie aloiK
One
conjiener.
^reai
species ot charlock will supplant
another, and so in other cases.
We
can dinily see
w hy the competition should be most severe between
which
allied forms,
till
nearly the
same place
in the
economy of nature; but probably in no one case could we precisel> sa\ why one species has been victorious over another in the great battle ot corollary ot the highest importance
.\
of c(»n-
we ha\e reason
of
are destroyed bs
ilu\
ih.ii
lines ol
to
lite.
Not
the rigour of the
we reach
until
the extreme con-
the Arctic regions or
111
an utter desert,
will
may be extremely
on the borders
competition cease. The land
cold or dry, \et there will be
competition between some few species, or between the individuals of the or
lite.
dampest I
may be
change
belie\e that only a few plants or animals range so
niost ditterent climates! In Russia the small Asiatic its
a
climate would clearly be an
lo
I
ad\ antage to our plant; but
cockroach has eNer\ where driven betore
it
lespei
III)
we can
lence, also,
animal
is
same
warmest
species, for the
spots.
when
see that
plant or
a
placed in a new countr\ amongst new
deduced trom the foregoing remarks, namely, that
competitors, though the climate ma\ be exaclK the
the structure ot every organic being
same
most
essential yet otten
hidden manner,
other organic beings, w ith w hich petition for tbod or residence, or to escape, or
related, in the
is
on w hich
it
preys.
it
comes
com-
into
from w hich This
of all
to that
it
has
obvious
is
in
the structure of the teeth and talons of the tiger; and
of the legs and claws of the parasite w hich
in that
on the
clings to the hair
and fringed
flattened
seems
at first
If
in the
legs of the water-beetle, the
confined to the elements of air
former home, yet the conditions
changed
generall) be
we wished
to increase
way
to
in
to
modify
we should have
to give
in
tage over a different set of competitors or enemies. It
is
good thus
to
try
in
our imagination to
some advantage over another. Probno single instance should we know what
give any form
ably in
to do, so as to succeed.
It
w ill convince us of our
ignorance on the mutual relations of
doubt stands
beings; a conviction as necessary, as
being
already thickly clothed by other plants; so that the
seeds
may be w idely
distributed and
fall
on unoccu-
pied ground. In the water-beetle, the structure of its
w ell adapted
legs, so
for diving, allow s
with other aquatic insects, to hunt for
and
it
to
its
compete
own
prey,
to escape serving as prey to other animals.
relation to other plants.
But from the strong growth
keep steadily
at
to
to
is
that each organic being
is
some period of its
life,
during some season of the
year, during each generation or at intervals, has to
When we
and
life,
on
reflect
ourselves with the is
to suffer great destruction.
full belief, that
healthy, and the
prompt,
we may console
this struggle,
not incessant, that no fear
and beans), w hen sown
midst of long grass,
organic
seems
striving to increase at a geometrical ratio; that each
generally
in the
mind
in
of young plants produced from such seeds (as peas
I
all it
be difficult to acquire. All that we can do,
struggle for
The store of nutriment laid up w ithin the seeds of many plants seems at first sight to have no sort of
native
its
some advan-
it
and water. Yet the advantage of plumed seeds no in the closest relation to the land
in its
in a different
it
what we should ha\e done
country; for
ot its
an essential manner.
average numbers
its
new home, we should have
body. But in the
plumed seed of the dandelion, and
beautifully
relation
tiger's
as in its
life will
and
that
is
the war of nature that death
felt,
the
vigorous,
is
the
happy survive and multiply.
suspect that the chief use of the nutriment in the
seed
is
to favour the
grow th of the young seedling,
whilst struggling with other plants growing vigor-
ously
Look does
at a plant in the
midst of
its
not double or quadruple
it
We know
that
it
or cold,
where
ranges
it
plant the
range, w hy
numbers?
dampness or dryness,
into
slightly
hotter
or drier districts. In this case
see that if
its
can perfectly well withstand a
more heat
damper
Natural Selection
around.
all
little
for else-
or colder,
we can
clearly
it
low w
ill
the struggle for existence, discussed too
Can is
the principle of selection,
w hich we have seen
so potent in the hands of man, apply in nature.'
think
we
Let
be borne
it
shall see that in
mind
it
in
I
can act most effectually.
what an endless number
in imagination to give the
of strange peculiarities our domestic productions,
in number, we should some advantage over its competitors,
and, in a lesser degree, those under nature, vary;
we wished
power of increasing
have to give
I
briefly in the last section, act in regard to variation.-
or over the animals which preyed on
it.
On
the
and how strong the hereditary tendency domestication,
it
may be
is.
truly said that the
Under whole
Charles Darwin organisation becomes in
be borne in mind the
are
fitting
some degree
Let
plastic.
how infinitely complex and mutual relations of
it
close-
life.
Can
it,
then, be thought improbable, seeing
man
that variations useful to
have undoubtedly
occurred, that other variations useful in to each life,
some way
being in the great and complex battle of
should sometimes occur
in the
course of thou-
sands of generations.'' If such do occur, can
we
We
have reason to believe, as stated in the
chapter, that a change in the conditions of
the conditions of
gone
a
able to natural selection,
would have the best chance of surviving
others,
and of procreating
we may
their
kind.''
On
the other hand,
sure that any variation in the least
feel
by giving
Not
of variability
I
any extreme amount
believe,
necessary; as
is
man
produce great results by adding up
mere individual
direction
Nature, but
far
more
that
any great physical change,
be affected by natural selection, and would be
places for natural selection to
we
see
left a
in
the
species called polymorphic.
We shall best understand
Nor do
I
believe
as of climate, or
any
fill
up by modifying
of each country are strugghng
together with nicely balanced forces, extremely
natural selection by taking the case of a country
slight modifications in the structure or habits
undergoing some physical change, for instance, of
one inhabitant would often give
climate.
ants
The
proportional numbers of
its
would almost immediately undergo
and some species might become
we have
conclude, from what
and complex manner
in
inhabit-
a change,
extinct.
We may
seen of the intimate
which the inhabitants of
each country are bound together, that any change in the numerical proportions of ants,
some of the
inhabit-
independently of the change of climate
would seriously
affect
country were open on certainly immigrate,
many
its
and
itself,
of the others. If the
borders,
new forms would
this also
would seriously
disturb the relations of some of the former inhabitants.
Let
it
ence of a single
been shown of
a
how powerful the influintroduced tree or mammal has
be remembered
to be.
But
in the case
of an island, or
country partly surrounded by barriers, into
which new and better adapted forms could not freely enter,
we should then have
places in the
economy of nature which would assuredly be better filled up, if some of the original inhabitants were in some manner modified; for, had the area been open to immigration, these same places would have been seized
on by intruders. In such
case, every slight
modification, which in the course of ages chanced to arise,
and which
in
any way favoured the indi-
over others; and
still
No
further increase the
still
country can be named in which
the native inhabitants are to
now
each other and to the physical conditions under
which they
live, that
improved; for in
all
so far conquered
none of them could anyhow be countries, the native have been
by naturalised productions, that
they have allowed foreigners to take firm possession
And as foreigners have thus everywhere we may safely conclude
of the land.
beaten some of the natives, that the natives
might have been modified with
advantage, so as to have better resisted such intruders.
As man can produce and a great result
means of
by
selection,
certainly has
what may not Nature
effect.''
Man can act only on external and visible characters: Nature cares nothing far as
they
may be
for appearances, except in so
useful to any being.
She can
act
on every internal organ, on every shade of constitutional difference,
Man
on the whole machinery of life.
selects only for his
that of the being
character
is
own
good; Nature only for
which she tends. Every selected
fully exercised
by her; and the being
many
is
life.
Man
climates in the
same
keeps the natives of
be
produced
methodical and unconscious
his
them
to
all
so perfectly adapted
placed under well-suited conditions of
would tend
of
an advantage
further modifications of the
same kind would often advantage.
it
viduals of any of the species, by better adapting to their altered conditions,
is
and improving some of the varying inhabitants. For as all the inhabitants
the probable course of
could
so
produce new and unoccupied
actually necessary to
element, as perhaps
any given
unusual degree of isolation to check immigration,
Variations neither useful nor injurious would not
fluctuating
in
from having incompar-
easily,
ably longer time at her disposal.
Natural Selection.
can certainly
differences,
preservation of favourable variations and the rejecI call
chance
do occur, natural selection can do
that, as
degree injurious would be rigidly destroyed. This
tion of injurious variations,
a better
of profitable variations occurring; and unless prof-
nothing.
over
are supposed to have under-
life
change, and this would manifestly be favour-
itable variations
slight,
by
or increases variability; and in the foregoing case
doubt (remembering that many more individuals
however
first
life,
on the reproductive system, causes
specially acting
are born than can possibly survive) that individuals having any advantage,
work of improvement.
free scope for the
organic
all
beings to each other and to their physical conditions
of
preserved; and natural selection would thus have
The Origin of Species countrN,
scklom t\fn.iscs each sckcltil
Ik-
ttr in soiiK' peculiar aiul
long and
tittiiii;
quadruped
feeds a
l(H)
much
so, that
on parts of the Cxjntineni ixrsons arc warned not to keep white pigean we wonder, then,
whereas
a
beetle, a curculio,
a
certain disease than yellow
another
disease
attacks
than
plums;
yellow -fleshed
more than those with other coloured
that Nature's productions should be far 'truer' in
peaches
character than man's productions; that they should
flesh.' If,
be infinitely better adapted to the most complex
ences
conditions of life, and should plainly bear the stamp
several varieties, assuredly, in a state of nature,
of
may
It
metaphorically be said that natural selec-
and hourly scrutinising, throughout
daily
tion
is
the
world,
every
up
that
all
is
even the
variation,
w hich
rejecting that
is
bad, preserving and adding
improvement of each organic being nothing of these slow changes
offers, at the
in relation to its
organic and inorganic conditions of
life.
We
see
in progress, until
hand of time has marked the long lapse of and then so imperfect
ages,
past geological ages, that
of
slightest;
good; silently and insensibly working,
whenever and wherever opportunity
the
life
are
now
different
is
our view into long
we only
see that the forms
from w hat they formerly
Although natural selection can for the
structures, trifling
see
make
trees
trees
and w ith
would
all
the aids of art, these slight differ-
a great difference in cultivating the
would have
which
effectually settle
smooth or downy,
to struggle with other
of enemies, such differences
a host
a yellow or
variety,
act only
through
good of each being, yet characters and
which we are apt
importance,
leaf-eating
to consider as of very
may thus be acted on. When we
insects
green,
and bark-feeders
whether
purple fleshed
In looking at
many
small points of difference
between species, which,
as far as
our ignorance
permits us to judge, seem quite unimportant,
must not
produce .some
slight
and direct
effect. It
is,
tied
through variation, and the modifications are
good of the
for the
being, will cause other modifications, often of the
most unexpected nature.
As we
see that those variations
domestication appear life,
at
which under
any particular period of
tend to reappear in the offspring
at
the
the red-grouse the colour of heather, and the black-
varieties of
believe that
these tints are of service to these birds and insects
them from danger. Grouse, if not some period of their lives, would in-
in preserving
destroyed at
crease in countless numbers; they are suffer largely
known
to
from birds of prey; and hawks are
how-
more necessary to bear in mind that there are many unknown laws of correlation of grow th, w hich, when one part of the organisation is modi-
ever, far
period; - for instance, in the seeds of the
we must
we
forget that climate, food, etc., probably
mottled-grey; the alpine ptarmigan w hite in w inter,
grouse that of peaty earth,
a
fruit,
should succeed.
accumulated by natural selection
were.
and
with
where the
higher w orkmanship.'
far
far
same
many
our culinary and agricultural plants;
in
the caterpillar and cocoon stages of the varieties of the silkworm; in the eggs of poultry, and in the
colour of the
.\ndre\v fruit trees.
down
of their chickens; in the horns of
Downing (1815
52),
.\merican botanist of
L
Charles Darwin our sheep and
cattle
when
nearly adult; - so in a
state of nature, natural selection will
act
on and modify organic beings
at
be enabled to
any age, by the
accumulation of variations profitable
and by it
their inheritance at a
profit a plant to
have
its
at that age,
with weak beaks would inevitably
beaks, for
all
perish: or,
more
shells
might be
being
known
and more
delicate
broken
easily
selected, the thickness of the shell
to vary like every other structure.
.
.
corresponding age. If
more and more
seeds
widely disseminated by the wind,
can see no
I
Recapitulation and Conclusion
greater difficulty in this being effected through
natural selection, than in the cotton-planter in-
down in Natural selection may
As
this
whole volume
is
one long argument,
may
it
creasing and improving by selection the
be convenient to the reader to have the leading facts
the pods on his cotton-trees.
and inferences
modify and adapt the larva of an insect
contingencies, wholly different from those which
concern the mature
no doubt
will
affect,
insect.
These modifications
through the laws of correl-
ation, the structure of the adult;
and probably in the
briefly recapitulated.
That many and
to a score of
serious objections
may be
ad-
vanced against the theory of descent with modification through natural selection,
do not deny.
I
endeavoured to give to them their ing at
full force.
I
have
Noth-
can appear more difficult to believe
first
case of those insects which live only for a few hours,
than that the more complex organs and instincts
and which never
should have been perfected, not by means superior
is
feed, a large part of their structure
merely the correlated result of successive changes
to,
though analogous with, human reason, but by
So, conversely,
the accumulation of innumerable slight variations,
modifications in the adult will probably often affect
each good for the individual possessor. Neverthe-
in the structure of their larvae.
the structure of the larva; but in
all
cases natural
selection will ensure that modifications consequent
on other modifications shall not
became
be in the
least
at a different
period of
degree injurious: for
life,
they
if
they would cause the extinction of the
so,
real if we
-
Natural selection will modify the structure of the in relation to the parent,
and of the parent
in
to
our im-
admit the following propositions, namely,
that gradations in the perfection of any organ or
instinct
which we may consider, either do now
or could have existed, each good of
species.
young
though appearing
less, this difficulty,
agination insuperably great, cannot be considered
all
its
kind,
exist
-
that
organs and instincts are, in ever so slight a
degree,
variable,
- and,
that
lastly,
there
a
is
adapt
struggle for existence leading to the preservation
the structure of each individual for the benefit of the
of each profitable deviation of structure or instinct.
community;
The
relation to the young. In social animals
if
do,
is
species;
found case
What
natural selection cannot
modify the structure of one
to
it
in
to this effect
works of natural history, will bear investigation.
only once in an animal's whole
importance to
by natural
species,
I
cannot find one
might be modified
it,
may be
A structure life,
to
if
truth of these propositions cannot,
disputed.
.
.
I
think, be
.
w ith-
any advantage, for the good of another
and though statements
which
will
each in consequence profits by
the selected change.
out giving
it
used
of high
any extent
selection; for instance, the great jaws
Although
I
am
convinced of the truth of the
fully
view s given in this volume under the form of an abstract,
I
by no means expect
convince experi-
to
enced naturalists whose minds are stocked w ith multitude of facts of years, from mine.
It is
a
all
a
viewed, during a long course
point of view directly opposite to
so easy to hide our ignorance under such
possessed by certain insects, used exclusively for opening the cocoon - or the hard tip to the beak of
expressions as the 'plan of creation', 'unity of
nestling birds, used for breaking the egg.
ation
been
asserted,
that
of the
best
It
has
short-beaked
design', etc.,
and
disposition leads
we
give an explan-
restate a fact.
Any one whose
to think that
when we only
him
to attach
more weight
to
tumbler-pigeons more perish in the egg than are
unexplained difficulties than to the explanation of
able to get out of it; so that fanciers assist in the act
a certain
of hatching. a full-grown
Now,
if
nature had to
make
the beak of
pigeon very short for the bird's
own
theory.
number of
A
flexibility
facts will certainly reject
few naturalists, endowed with of mind, and
who have
already begun to
advantage, the process of modification would be
doubt on the immutability of species, may be
very slow, and there would be simultaneously the
enced by
this
volume; but
I
my
much influ-
look with confidence to
who w ill
most rigorous selection of the young birds within
the future, to
the egg, which had the most powerful and hardest
be able to view both sides of the question with
young and
rising naturalists,
The Origin of Species inipartialiiN
\\hoc\cr
.
arc mutable
\n ill
kvl to
is
do muKl
lHlu\f
that spcciis
scr\ jcc In loiiscicniiouslN
cvprcssini; his conviction; tor onl\ thus can the loail
of prejudice b> which this subject
be removed.
.
.
o\er\\
is
helmed
.
Autht)rs of the highest eminence
seem
to be fullx
.1
secure future
progress towards perfec-
will tenil to
To mv mind it accords we know of the laws impressed
bank, clothed with
production and
It
IS
interesting to contemplate an entangled
many
insects flitting about,
world should have been due
through the
those determining
like
the individual. \\ hen
view
I
birth
the all
and death of
beings not as special
creations, but as the lineal descendants of some few
beings which lived long before the
bed of
first
the Silurian system was deposited, they
seem
to
me
to become ennobled." Judging from the past, we may safely infer that not one living species will
transmit
its
unaltered likeness to a distant futurity.
.\nd of the species
now
progeny of any kind the
manner
in
w hich
tinct.
can so
kinds,
claborateK
damp
and with worms crawling
earth,
and
to reflect that these
constructed forms, so different from
each other, and dependent on each other
complex
a
manner, ha\e
laws acting around
us.
all
in
so
been produced by
These laws, taken
in
the
largest sense, being
(irowth with Reproduction;
Inheritance, which
almost implied by reproduc-
tion; \ ariability,
is
from the indirect and direct action
of the external conditions of
life,
and from use and
disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a
to a far distant futurity; for
Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural
organic beings are grouped,
Selection, entailing Divergence of (Character and
all
that the greater
We
many
living very few will transmit
number of species of each genus, and all the species of many genera, have left no descendants, but have become utterly exshow s
plants of
with birds singing on the bushes, with various
extinction of the past and present inhabitants of the to .secondary causes,
In ami for
ciulownunis
independent l>
that the
solel\
corporeal and mental
all
tion.
on matter by the Creator,
works
the gocKl of each being,
view that each species has been
created.
whole
some confidence
inappreciable length.
ec]uall\
«>f
the
desolatcil
look with
\iul as natural selection
satisfied with the
better with what
has
lUiue we ma\
worKI lo
cataiKsm
no
ihai
far take a
futurity as to foretell that
it
prophetic glance into
w ill be the common and
the
Extinction
of less-improved
forms.
Thus,
from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which
we
are capable of
conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows.
There
is
grandeur
in this
widely-spread species, belonging to the larger and
view of
dominant groups, w hich w ill ultimately prevail and
originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms
procreate living
new and dominant
forms of
life
As
life,
with
or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone
are the lineal descendants of
cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity,
all
from so simple
we may
beautiful and
feel certain that
the ordinary succession
by generation has never once been broken, and
The
several powers, having been
the
species.
those which lived long before the Silurian epoch,
Silurian system
fossil-containing rocks.
its
is
an early Palaeozoic stratum of
a
beginning endless forms most
most wonderful have been, and are
being, evolved.
I
Charles Baudelaire Charles
Baudelaire
(1821-67),
controversial
Parisian poet and critic of the arts,
was the first to
use the term "modernity" (modernite), in the essay "The Painter of Modern Life" (1863). For Baudelaire modernity is the attitude or sensibility of the urban flaneur or idler, the non-productive aesthete who embodies the sensibility of the outdoor cafe, that vantage point from which the passingcarnival of city life can be observed. Most famous for the collection of poems, r/7e Flowers of Evil, for which he was legally charged with offending public morality,
Baudelaire revolutionized
French poetry
with his realistic attention to the disorder and depravity of urban
life, in
which he nevertheless saw
Artist,
Man of the World, Man
M.
draws the
all
is
art,
M. G.
in a
is
and who
own novels, one day London review, much to the who regarded the matter as an
irritation
of the
latter
outrage to his modesty.
when he heard
that
I
And
again quite recently,
was proposing
to
make an
assessment of his mind and talent, he begged me, in a
most peremptory manner,
to suppress his
and
to discuss his
the
works of some anonymous person.
humbly obey proceed
works only
odd
this as
request.
will discuss his
for
which he professes
name,
though they were
The
I
will
reader and
though M. G. did not
we
as
as
exist,
I
and
drawings and his water-colours,
would
a
a patrician's disdain, in the
group of scholars faced with
the task of assessing the importance of a
Crowds, and Child
known,
well
things to do with
illustrations for his
spoke of
same way
of
Thackeray, who, as
very interested in
will
a characteristically modern beauty.
An
incognito, and carries his originality to the point of
modesty.
number of
precious historical documents which chance has
Today I want to talk to my readers about a singular man, whose originality is so powerful and clear-cut that
it is
self-sufficing,
and does not bother
to look
None of his drawings is signed, if by we mean the few letters, which can be so
for approval.
signature
easily forged, that
many
compose
a
name, and that so
other artists grandly inscribe at the bottom
of their most carefree sketches. But
all
his
works are
signed with his dazzling soul, and art-lovers
have seen and liked them
from the description
I
will recognize
them
brought
conscience completely, all
the things
nalist.
my
to reassure
my
readers assume that
have to say about the
artist's
nature,
so strangely and mysteriously dazzling, have been
more
or less accurately suggested by the works in
question; pure poetic hypothesis, conjecture, or
imaginative reconstructions.
who
propose to give of them.
M. Charles Baudelaire, from "The Painter of Modern Life" (trans.
Guys
I
And even let
easily
C. G.' loves mixing with the crowds, loves being Constantin
and the author of which must for
to light,
ever remain unknown.
(1802-92), Parisian painter and jour-
P.
E.
Writings on Art
Charvet)
and
1992, sections 3-4,
in
Baudelaire: Selected
Literature,
pp.
395-406.
London: Penguin,
"The Painter Ci
\1.
an
IS
man.
t)kl
|can-|ati|ius"
l>ci;an
uriting. so thc\ sa\,ai ihcagcot torl\-i\\(> Perhaps
was
it
about that
at
world
M.
aijc that
of iiiiaiics that
obstsscil h\ the
(i.,
up
his niiiul, pluckcil
f'llltil
what goes on \\
uh two
laubourg
the
lage pub-talkers with the
paper. To be honest, he drew like a barbarian, like a
kins
clumsy fmgers and
disobedient
tool.
haNe seen
1
these early scribblings, and
who know what
people
who
claim
number
large
a
admit that most
1
his of
could, without shame, have failed to
to,
dw elt in these obscure M. G., who has discovered
unaided
i'oday,
the
all
little
of the trade, and w ho
tricks
has taught himself, without help or advice, has
become
pow erful master
a
in his
ow n way; of
his
mmds
Thus
that curiosity
this:
is
Do a
\ou remember
this age
and entitled
Mtin
7 he
he happens upon one of these efforts of
manner, he
tears
up or burns
it
w ith
it,
a
most amusing show of shame and indignation. For ten whole years quaintance of
convalescent
is
for a long time
illustrated
in
I
as
ting everything, he
w ants
knew
that he
out into
I
it
had appeared en-
have thus been able to 'read'
and
and daily
a detailed
also
lished (without signature, as before) a large
of compositions by this
tity
ballets
and operas.
saw
once that
I
artist
at
\\ I
hen
artist
at last
I
ran
pub-
quan-
Now
man
context, pray interpret the
'artist' in a
very
narrow sense, and the expression 'man of the world' in a very
broad one. By 'man of the world',
man
of the whole world, a
the
world
and
reasons behind specialist, a soil.
M. G.
man who
the
mysterious
all its
customs; by
man
I
mean
a
understands
and
legitimate
'artist',
I
mean
a
tied to his palette like a serf to the
does not Hke being called an
not justified to a small extent? in everything the
He
artist. Is
he
takes an interest
world over, he wants
to
know,
understand, assess everything that happens on the surface of our spheroid.
even not he "
The
at all, in intellectual
lives in the
artist
and
moves
little,
or
political circles. If
perpetually in the spiritual
artist
key to the character of
But convalescence
The
M. G. return to childhood.
like a
is
convalescent, like the child, enjoys to the
highest degree the faculty of taking a lively interest
us hark back,
of the world. In this
word
imagine an
in things,
w as not dealing exactly w ith an
but rather with a
had
condition of the convalescent, and you will have the
him
ground
sight of,
him. Curiosity had become a
compelling, irresistible passion.
from the new to
the spores and
which he had caught
face,
in a flash fascinated
account, infinitely preferable to any other, of the
Crimean campaign. The same paper had
all
remembers and passionately remember everything. In the end he rushes the crow d in search of a man unknow n to
him whose
have seen a considerable life,
to
all
he has been on the point of forget-
the ac-
mass of these on-the-spot drawings from I
odours of life;
thought with
the shades of death
with delight
a great
gravings from his travel sketches (Spain, Turkey, the Crimea). Since then
in
in
mo\ing around him. He has
come back from
and breathes
make
to
been working for an English
paper and that
only recently
a
enjoying the sight of the passing
is
by nature
wanted
I
who
G.,
and very cosmopolitan.
traveller
had
M.
is
it
»/ the C.rawjy^ Sitting
the thoughts that are
When
first
and looking through the shop window,
in a cafe,
crowd, and identifying himself
his early
the
most powerful pen of
abundant
gift.
(j.,
ma> be con-
picture (for indeed
a
picture!) written by the
what was
to his
man
sidered the starting point of his genius.
needed
add an unexpected spice
vil-
bum|v
bore to the
a
understand W.
to begin to
early artlessness he has retained only to
country
of
becomes
limits, quickly
thing to note
discern the latent genius that
beginnings,
unneccs-
the world, to the spiritual citi/en of the universe.
of the
they are talking about, or
is
Iheir talk, ineMtably enclosed within \ery
narrow ot
it
are, let us face
mere manual labourers,
Ner> skilleil brutes,
couravic t«)cast ink ami colours on to a sheet of white
child, angrily chiding his
Life"
.Sauit-Ciermain.'"
which
or three exceptions,
name, the majorit\ of artists
sar> to it,
in
Modern
of
even the most if
we
trivial in
appearance. Let
can, by a retrospective effort of
our imaginations, to our youngest, our morning impressions, and
we
shall recognize that they
w ere
remarkably akin to the vividly coloured impressions that illness, ties
we
received later on after a physical
provided that
illness left
pure and unimpaired.
thing as a novelty; the child
Nothing
is
more
like
our spiritual facul-
The
w hat we
child sees every-
is
call
always 'drunk'. inspiration than
the joy the child feels in drinking in shape and colour.
I
w ill venture
that inspiration has tion, that
a
more
go even further and declare
to
some connection with conges-
every sublime thought
is
accompanied by
or less vigorous nervous impulse that rever-
berates in the cerebral cortex.
The man
of genius
has strong nerves; those of the child are weak. In
Breda quarter he knows nothing of
Rousseau.
"
A less, and a more, posh quarter of Paris, respectively.
into
By Edgar Allan Poe,
in his
French bv Baudelaire.
Tales (1845), translated
Charles Baudelaire
assumed an important
the one, reason has the
in
whole being. But genius recaptured
mind
sum
the
that
it
to bring order into
animal-like in
its
must be attributed ecstasy, which all
when confronted with something may be, face or landscape, light,
children have
new, whatever
it
watered
colours,
silk,
enchantment of
A
beauty, enhanced by the arts of dress.
mine was
amassed.
involuntarily
joyful curiosity
telling
friend of
me one day how, as a small boy,
he
used to be present when his father was dressing,
and how he had always been ment, mixed with delight,
with astonish-
filled
he looked
as
with a certain dislike of those things that go to
make up
at
the
arm
kingdom of the metaphys-
the intangible
Let us therefore reduce him to the status of
ician.
La
the pure pictorial moralist, like
The crowd
and with the
to express itself,
of experience,
stare,
gilding,
no more than childhood
is
that enables
To this deep and
the
childhood equipped now with
at will,
man's physical means analytical
role;
almost
occupies
sensibiUty
other,
domain,
his
is
and water that of the
bird's,
his profession
is
Bruyere.'
just as the air fish.
is
the
His passion and
merge with the crowd. For the
to
perfect idler, for the passionate observer
it
becomes
an immense source of enjoyment to establish his dwelling in the throng, in the ebb and flow, the bustle, the fleeting
and the
from home and yet
to feel at
To
infinite.
be away
home anywhere;
to
see the world, to be at the very centre of the world,
and yet
be unseen of the world, such are some of
to
the minor pleasures of those independent, intense
and impartial
spirits,
who do
not lend themselves
The
easily to linguistic definitions.
observer
is
a
muscle, the colour tones of the skin tinged with rose
prince enjoying his incognito wherever he goes.
and yellow, and the bluish network of the
The
The
beginning to possession
him with
fill
fate
was showing the
was
settled.
famous
Need
tip
and
respect,
to take
Already the shape of
of his brain.
things obsessed and possessed him.
I
veins.
picture of the external world was already
A
precocious
of its nose. His damnation
say that, today, the child
I
is
a
was asking you
just
now
to think of M.
G.
as an
man possessing
think of him also as a man-child, as a
moment
every
words I
the genius of childhood, in other
a genius for
told
you that
whom no edge of life is blunted.
I
was unwilling
to call
and that he himself rejected
artist,
modesty tinged with
him
this title,
aristocratic restraint.
I
a
pure
all
would have
of character and a subtle understand-
the moral
mechanisms of this world;
from another aspect, the dandy aspires
way
M.
but,
to cold de-
who
tachment, and
it is
dominated,
ever anyone was, by an insatiable
if
in this
that
G.,
passion, that of seeing and feeling, parts
trenchantly with dandyism.
Augustine.
'I
Amabam
to be, as a matter of policy
and
art
me when
amare, said St
I
is
M. G.
blase, or affects
class attitude.
hates blase people. Sophisticated
stand
minds
will
M. G. under-
say that he possesses that difficult
of being sincere without being ridiculous.
would
the lover of universal
willingly confer
on him the
pher, to which he has a right for
title
I
of philoso-
more than one
who
are
life
moves
into the
He, the lover of
may
life,
most
plastic form, inspires
him
com-
also be
pared to a mirror as vast as this crowd; to a kaleidoscope endowed with consciousness, which with every one of life,
all
in
its
movements presents compose
the elements that go to
in energies
a pattern of
and the flowing grace of
multiplicity,
all its
more
vivid than
it
one of those
said, in
talks
every
at
life
always inconstant and fleeting. 'Any man',
once
an ego
life. It is
and reflecting
he rendered
itself,
M. G.
mem-
orable by the intensity of his gaze, and by his
eloquence of gesture, 'any
down with
a
faculties,
and who
crowd,
a fool!
is
When,
as
man who
sorrow so searching
A
is
is
as to
not weighed
touch
his
all
bored in the midst of the
fool!
and
he wakes up,
I
despise him!'
M. G. opens
sees the sun beating vibrantly at his
his eyes
and
window-panes,
he says to himself with remorse and regret: 'What an imperative
command! What a fanfare of light! Light
everywhere in sleep!
light that
for several
hours past! Light
I
have
I
off he goes!
in
And And he watches the flow of life move by,
could have seen and have failed
majestic and
dazzling.
He
to!'
admires the eternal
beauty and the astonishing harmony of
'
lost
and endless numbers of things bathed
life
reason; but his excessive love of visible, tangible things, in their
im-
though into an enormous reservoir of
as
electricity.
company
love passion, passionately,'
might willingly echo. The dandy
is
he has found, from
enchanted world of dreams painted on canvas.
Thus
moment
for that
into his
possible to find, just as the picture-lover lives in an
would
word 'dandy' implies
ing of
women
the lovely
all
those that could be found, and those
athirst for the non-ego,
w illingly call him a dandy, and
I
makes the whole world
life
with a
a sheaf of good reasons; for the a quintessence
from
his
crowd
painter.
eternal convalescent; to complete your idea of him,
at
lover of
family, just as the lover of the fair sex creates
Jean La Bruyere (1645-96), French moralist.
in the
"The Painter capital Litiis, a harmoiiN
taiiud in ihc tumult
the landscape ot the
power
the
to
express lIuniseKes
others are sleeping, this
j;rcat cit\,
lanJscapcs of stone,
table, his stead\ ga/e
in the mist,
the sun.
enjoys
le
main-
i
full lace
proud
equipa^;es,
same ga/e
the
un
man a
Modern
of
Life'
now, whilst
\ih1
leaning over his
is
sheet of paper, exactly
as he directed just
now
at
the things
about him, branilishing his pencil, his pen, his
horses, the spit a\u\ polish of the jirooms, the skilful
brush, splashing water from the glass up to the
handling h\ the paire hoNs, the smooth rhythmical
ceiling, wi|)ing his
gait
of the women, the heaut\ of the children,
the joy of
life
and proud
clothes; in short,
peacocks
as
universal.
life
full
of their prett>
If in
if
dethroned by
rosettes,
and chignons have come down of the neck,
become
have been raised and
if waist-lines
fuller,
you may be sure that from
off his eagle's eye will have detected
marches by, maybe on
way
its
and
lively as
it.
skirts
w ay
a long
A
regiment
ends of the
to the
w ith
earth, filling the air of the boulevard airs, as light
born again on the paper, natural and more than
on the nape
a little
its
might escape him, quarrelsome though alone, and
modi-
bonnets have widened
if
shirt, hurried, vig-
driving himself relentlessly on. .\nd things seen arc
and curls have been
clusters of ribbons
pen on his
orous, active, as though he was afraid the images
of
shift
a
fashion, the cut of a dress has been slightly fled,
of
martial
hope; and sure enough
M.
natural, beautiful
and better than beautiful, strange
and endowed with an enthusiastic of
their
The weird
creator.
from nature.
distilled
higgledypiggledy
the
.All
are
been
has
stored
materials,
memory,
by
the soul
life, like
pageant
classified,
ordered, harmonized, and undergo that deliberate
which
idealization,
is
the product of a childlike
perceptiveness, in other words a percepti\eness that
is
acute and magical by
its
very ingenuousness.
G. has already seen, inspected and analysed the
weapons and the bearing of troops.
Harness,
highlights,
whole body of
this
mien, heavy and grim mustachios, flood chaotically into him; and
determined
bands,
Modernity
these details
all
w ithin a few minutes
.And so, walking or quickening his pace, he goes his
poem that comes with it all is virtually composed. And then his soul w ill vibrate w ith the soul of
way, for ever
the regiment, marching as though
him,
the
creature,
proud image of joy and
it
were one living
when
the sky draws
the city lights go on.
The
its
curtains and
gaslight stands out
on the
men
purple background of the setting sun. Honest or crooked customers, w ise or irresponsible,
saying to themselves: 'The day
Good men and bad and each hurries
done
is
all
are
at last!'
turn their thoughts to pleasure,
to his favourite
cup of oblivion. M. G.
will
haunt
be the
to drink the
last to
this solitary
leave any
men, has a
a nobler
for
want of
question.
a better
The aim
his eye
music sounds;
human passion offers a subject to where natural man and conventional man
reveal themselves in strange beauty,
w here the rays
for
We may
have described
the fleeting pleasure for that indefinable
to call 'modernity',
term to express the idea
him
the poetry that resides in
is
its
to extract
in
from fashion
historical envelope, to
we
cast
our
eye over our exhibitions of modern pictures,
we
distil
the eternal from the transitory. If
be struck by the general tendency of our
to clothe all
pulsates,
1
that of the pure idler,
He is looking something we may be allowed
where poetry echoes, a
aim than
of circumstance.
shall
life
of what?
mortal endowed with an active
more general aim, other than
place where the departing glories of daylight linger,
any place w here
in search. In search
assured that this man, such as
imagination, always roaming the great desert of
discipline!
But evening comes. The witching hour, the uncertain light,
rest
manner of subjects in all of them use the
the past. Almost
artists
the dress of
fashions and
the furnishings of the Renaissance, as David used
Roman
fashions and furnishings, but there
is
this
of the dying sun play on the fleeting pleasure of the
difference, that David, having chosen subjects pe-
'depraved animal!'"
culiarly
murmurs
well-known
to
enough genius few
men
all
there, to be sure,
'\\ ell,
well filled,'
a
day
of us; 'each one of us has surely
to
have the
fill
gift
it
in
depraved animal" {Discourse on
Among Men^
the
same way.' No!
of seeing; fewer
Rousseau's phrase: ''The
of Inequality
is
to himself a type of reader
man who the Origin
Part One).
still
meditates
have
is
Greek or Roman, could not do otherwise
than present them in the style of antiquity, whereas the painters of today, choosing, as they do, subjects
of a general nature, applicable to
on dressing them up
all
ages,
will
in the fashion
of the
Middle Ages, of the Renaissance, or of the
East.'"
insist
a
and Foundations
'"
Jacques
Louis
classical painter.
David
(1748-1825),
French
neo-
Charles Baudelaire This
evidently sheer laziness; for
is
much more
it is
convenient to state roundly that everything
hope-
is
ugly in the dress of a period than to apply
lessly
oneself to the task of extracting the mysterious
may be hidden there, however small may be. Modernity is the transient, the
But
Versailles, for example).
extended. In a unity
we
can be yet further
it
call a
nation, the profes-
sions, the social classes, the successive centuries,
introduce variety not only in gestures and manners,
beauty that
but also in the general outlines of
or light
such
it
contingent;
the
fleeting,
one half of
is
it
art,
a nose,
mouth, forehead,
Such and
faces.
be standard for a
will
given interval of time, the length of which
the other being the eternal and the immovable.
not claim to determine here, but which
There was
tainly
form of modernity
a
for every painter
of the past; the majority of the fine portraits that
remain
from former times are clothed
to us
in the
own day. They are perfectly harmoni-
dress of their
shall
I
may
cer-
be a matter of calculation. Such ideas are not
familiar
enough
to portrait painters;
weakness of M. Ingres,
and the great
in particular, is the desire to
impose on every type that
him
sits for
a
more or
less
ous works because the dress, the hairstyle, and even
complete process of improvement, in other words
the gesture, the expression and the smile (each age
despotic perfecting process, borrowed from the
has
and
carriage, its expression
its
its
smile) form a
You have no
right to despise
this transitory fleeting element, the
metamorphoses
whole,
full
of
vitality.
of w hich are so frequent, nor to dispense w ith
you do, you inevitably
fall
and indefinable beauty,
abstract
and only
woman
of the one
like that
nonsense that only
necessarily right, you
is
you are guilty of
substitute another,
can
If
of the time before the Fall. If for
the dress of the day, which
fashion
it.
into the emptiness of an
Thus
excuse.
a piece of
imposed by
a fancy-dress ball
the
goddesses,
the
a
store of classical ideas.
In a matter such as this, a priori reasoning
The
be easy and even legitimate.
between what
ation
called the
body
is
is
a quite satisfactory explanation of
how what is material
or emanates from the spiritual
and w ill alw ays
reflects
and what
called the soul
is
w ould
perpetual correl-
reflect the spiritual force
it
derives from. If a painter, patient and scrupulous
but with only inferior imaginative power, were
commissioned
to paint a courtesan of today, and,
for this purpose,
were
to get his inspiration (to use
nymphs, and sultanas of the eighteenth century
the hallowed term) from a courtesan by Titian or
are portraits in the spirit of their day.
Raphael, the odds are that his work would be
No doubt it is an excellent discipline to study the old masters, in order to learn how^ to paint, but
can be no more than
aim
fraudulent, ambiguous, and difficult to understand.
The
study of a masterpiece of that date and of that
your
kind will not teach him the carriage, the gaze, the
understand the beauty of the present day.
come-hitherishness, or the living representation of
draperies of Rubens or Veronese will not teach
one of these creatures that the dictionary of fashion
is
The
it
to
you how la retne
superfluous exercise
if
to paint watered silk a /'antique, or satin a
or any other fabric produced by our mills,
supported by
a
swaying crinoline, or petticoats of
starched muslin.
same
a
The
texture and grain are not the
as in the fabrics of old Venice, or those
at the
court of Catherine.'"'
cut of the skirt and bodice
We may
is
today give her dress
add that the
absolutely different,
that the pleats are arranged into a finally that the gesture
new
pattern,
and carriage of the
a vitality
worn
and
and
woman of
a character that
woman of former ages. In short, any form of modernity may be worthy
under the
has, in rapid succession, pigeonholed
coarse or light-hearted rubric of unchaste, kept
women,
Lorettes.""
The same remark
applies precisely to the study
of the soldier, the dandy, and even animals, dogs or
and of
horses,
external
life
all
things that go to
of an age.
Woe
make up
betide the
the
man who
goes to antiquity for the study of anything other
than ideal
art, logic
and general method! By im-
mersing himself too deeply
in
it,
he will no longer
are not those of the
have the present in his mind's eye; he throws away
in order that
the value and the privileges afforded by circum-
of becoming antiquity, the mysterious beauty that
stance; for nearly
human
stamp
life
unintentionally puts into
been extracted from
it.
It is this
it
must have
task that
M. G.
particularly addresses himself to. I
have said that every age has
expression,
its
gestures.
its
own
carriage,
its
This proposition may be one
at
Russian Empress, Catherine the Great (168-4—1727).
verify
my
objects other than for
our originality comes from the
upon our
assertions
from
w ho, having to represent
Women
I
could
innumerable
women. What would you
example, of a marine painter
case)
sensibility.
reader will readily understand that
easily
easily verified in a large portrait gallery (the
(l05)
The
all
that time impresses
of suspect "virtue"
(I
say,
take an extreme
the sober and elegant
"The Painter Ih'.iuin of a
m
nioikrii \tsstl, were
itt iin.-
monununial complex
slcrn, ot ships ot hxiioiu- aucs, aiul the
sails aiul riiiiiinu: ol
the sixteenth ceimiiN-
Ancl what woiiUI >oii think ot an
commissioned
to
do the
he were to
were
thorough-
portrait ot a
restrict his studies to
to content
\ou had
at list
bred, celebrated in the solemn annals if
his c\ts
oiii
the sIikIn ot ihc oNcrliMiltil, iwisiiil sli.ipts, the
the
»>t
museums,
himselt with looking
at
turf",
he
it
equine
studies of the past in the picture galleries, in \ an
Dyck, Bourguignon, or
M.
Ci.,
\
an der Meulen.^
a
quite different
\ an der
began b\ looking
been of
a striking
how
at
of
and onl\
life,
onginahtN,
still
remain take on the
an additional pnMilOf obedience to
the impression, of a flatters of truth us,
he
result has
which whatever traces
in
may
Life"
later diil
The
to express life
untutored simplicitN
appearance
Modern
especiall\
for
businessmen,
nature iloes not exist, unless
it
be in
in
I'or
most of
whose eyes
its strict utility
relationship with their business interests, the fantastic reality
are full of
of it
life
becomes strangely blunted. M.
constantly; his
memory and
his eyc-s
it.
|iath.
Seventeenth-century Flemish painters Anthony
Dyck and Adam
le
(i. registers
guided b\ nature, t\ranni/ed o\er b\
circumstance, has followed
I
contri\e to learn
of
\
an
Meulen, with French contem-
porary Jacques Courtois (nicknamed // Bourguignon).
(l0|)
Charles S. Peirce most
America's
philosophic
original
genius,
thought of
grade than the "distinct-
a far higher
ness" of the logicians.
We have there found that^he
pragmatism, America's most famous contribu-
action of thought
excited by the irritation of
was marked
doubt, and ceases
Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914)
is
the inventor of
tion to world philosophy. His career
by brilliance
in
a variety of mathematical, scien-
and by thetragedy
tificand philosophical pursuits,
He was fired from Johns Hopkins University at the age of forty-five, never held another regular academic appointment, and
of unfulfilled promise.
lived his later life in abject poverty. In its critique
of
metaphysics pragmatism
much
of
is consonant with twentieth-century philosophy - like
and phenomenology - but it has more recently served the radical purposes of antifoundationalism and postmodernism. Peirce, however, regarded pragmatism as perfectly compatible with metaphysics and cosmology; his was logical positivism
a truly systematic philosophy.
In
"How
to
Make
my
for
purpose.
1898. In fact, in order from those that James and others were promoting as pragmatism, it
in
how
great,
hand
my
had described the
I
no matter how small or
pull out
I
my
is
I
decide, while
going to the purse, in which way
fare.
To
such
call is
a
as
my
words very
dis-
To
speak of such a
a
temper which
it
must be admitted
the least hesitation as to whether
coppers or the nickel
be, unless
word, yet
I
act
I
as
I
may be
am
Charles S. a clearness
of
pay the
be sure to
from some previously contracted too strong a
is
excited to such small mental activity
necessary to deciding Peirce,
section IV (pp.
that, if there
shall
(as there will
how
principles set forth in the first of these papers'
method of reaching
uncomfort-
is
habit in the matter), though irritation
lead, at once, to a
my pay
causing an irritation which needs to be
matter minutely,
five
The
will
able to the verge of insanity. Yet, looking at the
was "ugly enough
II
I
question Doubt, and
certainly to use
appeased, suggests
"pragmaticism," which, he said,
Section
for instance,
If,
purse and find a five-
proportionate to the occasion.
is
be safe from kidnappers."
as if
cent nickel and five coppers,
of his doctrine to
to
is
and the resolution of it.
in a horse-car,
name
Peirce later changed the
It
starting of any question,
doubt
liam James introduced
attained; so that
phenomena as they appear under a mental microscope. Doubt and Belief, as the words are commonly employed, relate to religious or other grave discussions. But here I use them to designate the
the term, which would not appear to distinguish his views
is
the sole function of
is
thought. All these words, however, are too strong
decision Belief,
Wil-
belief
the production of belief
Our Ideas Clear" (1878) Peirce explains pragmatism for the first time, although he does not use in print until
is
when
section
II
(pp.
297-302) from "How
I
shall act.
289-93) and to
Make Our
Ideas Clear,"second paper of the series 'Illustrations
"The Fixation of November 1877. '
(10|)
Behef,
Popular Science Monthly.
of the Logic of Science," Popular Science Monthly, vol. XII,
January 1878.
New
York: D. Appleton
and Co.
How Most
doubts
Irctiuciitls
hoNNCMT mcmu'iitary,
Inmi sonic
arise
iiulccision,
our action. Sometimes
in
it
is
have, tor example, to wait in a railway-
not so.
I
station,
and
to pass the lime
mcnts on the
walls,
1
and different routes which
ditterent trains
never
I
expect to lake, merely fancying myself to he state of hesitancN, because
am
I
of
in a
bored with haMiiii
nothini; to trouble me. I'eiijned hesiianc), whether
mere amusement or with
feiirned for
a lofty
jnir-
pose, plays a great part in the production of scien-
However the doubt may originate, it the mind to an activity which may be
inquiry.
tific
stimulates
calm or turbulent. Images pass
slight or energetic,
rapidly
through
consciousness,
melting into another, until
-
it
may be
past
Thought
or future.
is
ma\ add
of «)ur sensations.
that just as a piece
«)1
written in parts, each part having
second,
over
an hour, or
in
act
together between the same sensations.
Thought
motives, ideas, or functions.
such sNstem, for is
to
that
produce
sole motiNe, idea,
its
may
it
some other s>stem of relamay incidentally base
to
of thinking
tions. 'The action
other results;
serve to
ure that
dilettanti
it
seems
it is
amuse
them
to vex
w hich takes
a favorite subject out
literary
belief.
sorts of elements
of consciousness, the distinction between which
by means of an
illustration.
In a piece of music there are the separate notes, and is
the air."
A
single tone it
second of that time as
in the
so that, as long as to a sense
it is
may be prolonged
for
exists as perfectly in each
whole taken together;
sounding,
it
from which everything
in the past
was
as
debate
the very debauchery of thought.
is
be
may be
it
made
rest;
and whatever does not refer
of the thought
an orderliness
in the succession
of sounds which
and to perceive it must be some continuity of consciousness which makes the events of a lapse of time present
aware
to belief
at
no part
is
belief? It
is
is
the dcmi-cadence
musical phrase in the symphony of
a
We
three properties: First,
consists in
its
itself.
then,
our intellectual
It
has for
in action
only possible motive the attainment of thought
which only portions of
are played.
toward anything but the
Thought
belief.
occupies a certain time, during the portions of it
it,
voluntarily thwarted, can never
to direct itself
production of
which closes
it
of the arena of
ill-concealed dislike.
from the other elements which accompany though
performance of which
But
it
discovery
a positive
But the soul and meaning of thought, abstracted
And w hat,
itself.
and
met with
is
This disposition
is
completely absent as the future different with the air, the
might be present
w ho
to think that the
words, we have attained
there
example,
questions upon which they delight to exercise
those which occasioned our hesitation. In other
an hour or a day, and
us, for
not rare to find those
finally settled;
under such circumstances
clear
onl) one
is
and function,
and w hatever does not concern
belief,
purpose belongs
may ever get
made
These dif-
ferent systems are distinguished h\ ha\ ing different
as
best be
so
air,
have so perverted thought to the purposes of pleas-
all is
how we should
may
own
various systems of relationship of succession subsist
when
- we find ourselves decided as to
we obser\e two
music may be
its
and among
after long years
In this process
|>orlion of the
thread of melody
a
running through the successuin
We
Clear'
one incessantly
at last,
in a fraction of a
some
present to us, but must cover
read the adNcrtise-
compare the advantages
1
Make Our Ideas
to
life.
of; .second,
it
have seen that
it
is
something
it
has just
that
we
are
appea.ses the irritation of doubt;
involves the establishment in our
strike the ear at different times;
and, third,
there
nature of a rule of action, or, say for short, a habit.
to us.
We certainly only
the separate notes; yet
hear
it,
for
we
perceive the air by hearing
we cannot be
hear only what
is
As
it
appeases the irritation of doubt, which
motive
for thinking,
said to directly
rest for a
present
belief
at
the
it
moment w hen
the
belief is reached. But, since
of which
a rule for action, the application
is
is
thought relaxes, and comes to
instant,
and an orderliness of succession cannot
involves further doubt and further thought, at the
exist in
an instant. These two sorts of objects,
same time
that
it is
a stopping-place,
what we are immediately conscious of and what we
starting-place for thought.
are mediately conscious of, are found in
mitted myself to
sciousness.
Some
completely present last,
all
con-
elements (the sensations) are at
every instant so long as they
while others (like thought) are actions having
thought thinking
is
call
it
That
thought
essentially an action.
is
it is
why
also a
new
I
have per-
at rest,
although
is
The final upshot of
the exercise of volition, and of this
thought no longer forms
a part;
but belief
is
only a
upon our nature
beginning, middle, and end, and consist in a con-
stadium of mental action, an
gruence
due to thought, w hich will influence future thinking.
in the succession
of sensations w hich flow
through the mind. They cannot be immediately
The habit,
"
Melody.
essence of beUef
and different
different
is
effect
the establishment of a
beliefs are distinguished
modes of action
to
which they give
by the rise. If
cm)
Charles S. Peirce
the
do not
differ in this respect, if they
appease
same doubt by producing the same
rule of
beliefs
manner of consciousness of them can make them different action, then
beliefs,
ent keys
no mere differences
any more than playing
in the
a
tune in differ-
playing different tunes. Imaginary dis-
is
tinctions are often differ only in their
drawn between
mode
gling which ensues
is
beliefs
which
of expression; - the wran-
enough, however.
real
To
believe that any objects are arranged as in figure 12.1,
and
to believe that they are arranged as in
figure 12.2, are
one and the same
conceivable that a
ent,
and are among the
One singular deception of this is
to mistake the sensation
produced by our own unclearness of thought character of the object
we
perceiving that the obscurity
fancy that
for a
are thinking. Instead of
we contemplate
is
purely subjective,
a quality
of the object
if
our concep-
form we
same, owing to the absence
of the feeling of unintelligibility. So long as this
deception
lasts, it
obviously puts an impassable bar-
way of perspicuous
rier in the
thinking; so that
it
equally interests the opponents of rational thought to perpetuate
and
it,
adherents to guard against it.
its
Another such deception
to
is
mistake a mere
difference in the grammatical construction of two
words
for a distinction
between the ideas they ex-
when the general mob of much more to words than to is common enough. When I just
press. In this pedantic age,
writers attend so
said that thought
we ought when we are upon
of which
as the
it
things, this error
pitfalls
which often occurs,
do not recognize
as
constantly to beware, especially
we
do
and
essentially mysterious;
is
of beliefs really differ-
false distinctions
as the confusion
metaphysical ground. sort,
it is
man should assert one proposition
and deny the other. Such
much harm
belief; yet
which
tion be afterward presented to us in a clear
an action, and that
is
although
a relation.,
it
consists in
person performs an action but
a
not a relation, which can only be the result of an action, yet there
was no inconsistency
in
what I
said,
but only a grammatical vagueness.
From all these sophisms we shall be perfectly safe we reflect that the whole function of
so long as
thought
produce habits of action; and that
to
is
whatever there
is
irrelevant to
purpose,
its
connected with is
but
a thought,
an accretion to
but
it,
among our sensations which has no reference to how we shall act on a given occasion, as when we listen to a piece of music, why we do not call that thinking. To develop its meaning, we have, therefore, simply to deterno part of
it.
If there be a unity
mine what habits
means
it
produces, for what
simply what habits
is
identity of a habit to act, not
it
involves.
depends on how
it
thing
a
Now,
merely under such circumstances
likely to arise,
the
might lead us as are
but under such as might possibly
how improbable they may be. What the habit is depends on when and how it causes occur, no matter
us to Figure 12.1
As
act.
for the when, every stimulus to action
is
derived from perception; as for the how, every pur-
pose of action
is
to
produce some sensible
Thus, we come down tical, as
to
what
is
result.
tangible and prac-
the root of every real distinction of thought,
no matter how distinction of
subtile
it
meaning so
may
be;
and there
is
no
fine as to consist in any-
thing but a possible difference of practice.
To
see
what
this principle leads to, consider in
the light of it such a doctrine as that of transubstantiation.
The
Protestant churches generally hold
that the elements of the sacrament are flesh
and
blood only in a tropical sense; they nourish our souls as
meat and the
juice of
But the Catholics maintain just that;
Figure 12.2
it
would our bodies.
that they are literally
although they possess
qualities of wafer-cakes
all
the sensible
and diluted wine. But we
How can ha\c no conception of wine except uh.ii
ni.i\
seconti graile, howeser.
mind,
Thai
Nve
beliefs are nolhinii hut selt-notitications that
should, upon occasion, act in regard to such
we
things as
belie\e
be wine according to
to
the qualities which
we
The occasion ofsuch
action
belie\e wine to possess.
perception, the moti\e of
what
would be some sensible produce some sens-
to
Thus our action has exclusive reference
ible result.
to
it
affects the senses,
our habit has the same
bearing as our action, our belief the same as our habit,
our conception the same as our
belief;
and
we can consequently mean nothing by wine but what has certain
upon
effects, direct or indirect,
our senses; and to
of something as having
talk
all
the sensible characters of w ine, yet being in reality
blood,
senseless jargon.
is
Now
it is
,
my object to
not
pursue the theological question; and having used as a logical
example
drop
I
it,
point out
how impossible
it is
it
without caring to
anticipate the theologian's reply.
only desire to
I
that
we should have
anything
we
our idea of
is
its
Our
idea of
sensible effects;
and
if
we have any other we deceive ourand mistake a mere sensation accompanying
fancy that
selves,
the thought for a part of the thought
It is
itself.
absurd to say that thought has any meaning unrelated to
its
only function.
and Protestants
to fancy
It is
foolish for Catholics
themselves in disagreement
about the elements of the sacrament, regard to
all
if
they agree in
their sensible effects, here or hereafter.
appears, then, that the rule for attaining the
It
third
grade of clearness of apprehension
follows:
Consider what
effects,
object of our conception to have.
ception of these effects
is
is
as
which might con-
ceivably have practical bearings,
we conceive
the
Then, our con-
the w hole of our concep-
opposite, fiction.
its
There
reality.
product of
a
is
has such characters as his
That whose characters
it.
how you or
think
I
an external
is
however, phenomena within our
are,
ow n minds, dependent upon our thought, w hich same time
the
at
sense that
real in the
we
are
think
reall\
them. But though their characters depend on how
we think, they do not depend on w hat we think those characters to be. Thus, a a
dream has a real existence as
mental phenomenon,
dreamt
it;
that he
completely subject. fact
so,
was
thinks
independent
On
somebody has
if
dreamt so and
what anybody
on
of
all
peculiarities
really
does not depend dreamt,
but
is
on
opinion
the
the other hand, considering, not the
of dreaming, but the thing dreamt,
by virtue of no other
fact
it
retains
than that
its
was
it
dreamt to possess them. Thus we may define the real
w hose characters are independent of w hat
as that
anybody may think them
to be.
But, however satisfactory such a definition
be found, that
it
them,
would be
makes the
it
Here, then,
a great
of
reality, like
produce.
it
have
is
to
may
mistake to suppose
idea of reality perfectly clear.
us apply our rules, .\ccording to
let
every other quality, consists in
the peculiar sensible effects
The
w hich things partaking
only effect which real things
cause belief,
for
the
all
sensations
which they excite emerge into consciousness
The
the form of beliefs. is
question therefore
is,
in
how
true belief (or belief in the real) distinguished
from
Now
false belief (or belief in fiction).
have seen
,
as
we
former paper, the ideas of truth
in the
in their full
development, appertain
exclusively to the scientific
method of settling opin-
and falsehood,
ion.
A
itions
person
who
which he
method of
Section IV
reason
is
literature
Let us now approach the subject of
logic,
and con-
which particularly concerns
Taking clearness
arbitrarily chooses the
will
propos-
adopt can use the word truth
Of
course, the
tenacity never prevailed
exclusively;
As
men
of the dark ages it.
When
a poetical
for that.
But
we
some fine comment-
find
Scotus Erigena
is
in the
passage in which hellebore
is
does not hesitate to inform the inquiring reader
w ith perfect confidence, never dreaming it.
upon
choice.
Every child
no idea could be clearer than
he does not understand
too natural to
examples of ing
his
spoken of as having caused the death of Socrates, he
uses
this.
it,
to
of famil-
in the sense
iarity, it
figment
\ it
thought impresses upon are independent of
ation to hold on
that oi reality.
h\
only to emphasize the expression of his determin-
tion of the object.
sider a conception
Vet
may perhaps be reached
definition
a
somebodN \ imagination;
an idea in our minds w hich relates to anything but conceived sensible effects of things.
pu/./le
turn ol
considering the points of difference between reality
and
Such
pr«»bablN
of a rellecti\e
to g!\e an abstract defiiution of the real
such
this, thai, or the other, is wiiic; or,
That wine possesses certain j^roperties.
2
wouUI
ii
most men, e\en among those
enter into a beliet, en her
1
Make Our Ideas Clear"
to
that
for clearness in its
that Helleborus
and Scorates were two eminent
Greek philosophers, and
that the
latter
having
(@)
L
Charles S. Peirce been overcome
argument by the former took the
to retract
matter to heart and died of it!'"
disputation
is
of truth could a
What sort of an idea man have who could adopt and
the opinion
w hich is natural
in
teach, without the qualification of a perhaps, an
opinion taken so entirely
who
of Socrates, to
I
at
random? The
real spirit
hope would have been delighted
have been "overcome
in
argument," because he
would have learned something by
in curious
it, is
whom
discussion would seem to have been simply
its
When
philosophy began to awake from
long slumber, and before theology completely
dominated
the practice seems to have been for
it,
each professor to seize upon any philosophical po-
he found unoccupied and which seemed
sition
strong one, to intrench himself in
from time
forth
it,
and
a
to sally
to time to give battle to the others.
Thus, even the scanty records we possess of those disputes enable us to
make out
dozen or more
a
opinions held by different teachers
one time
at
concerning the question of nominalism and realism.
Read the opening part of the "Historia Cala-
mitatum"
of
Abelard,
who was
certainly
as
philosophical as any of his contemporaries, and
For
see the spirit of
combat which
him, the truth
simply his particular stronghold.
When meant
is
method of authority
the
little
more than
breathes.'^
it
one man is not so for
contenting themselves with fixing their
settled. In
own
opinions by a method which would lead an-
man
other
to a different result, they betray their
feeble hold of the conception of what truth
persuaded that the processes of investigation,
fully if
only pushed far enough, will give one certain
which they can be
solution to every question to
One man may
applied.
by studying the
light
investigate the velocity of
Venus and the
transits of
aberration of the stars; another by the oppositions
of Mars and the eclipses of Jupiter's
by the method of Fizeau;
third
and
their faith
their
ponderous
faith in Aristotle
through without finding an argument which
Lissajoux; a sixth, a seventh, an eighth, and a ninth,
may
follow the different methods of comparing the
measures of
They may
statical
and dynamical
each perfects his method and his processes, the results will
move
tined centre.
ent minds
may
toward
steadily together
So with
all scientific
set out
with the most antagonistic
noticeable that where differ-
foreordained goal,
No
is
like the
operation of destiny.
modification of the point of view taken, no
selection of other facts for study,
no natural bent
man
predestinate opinion. This great law
belief
to escape the
they adopt; so completely has the idea of loyalty
in the
conception of truth and reahty.
replaced that of truth-seeking. Since the time of
which
is
Descartes, the defect in the conception of truth has
investigate,
intent
apparent.
on finding out what the
It is
an opinion he laid
strike a
been
facts are,
less
is
defending
down
facts; is
is
their
but show him that
inconsistent with what
elsewhere, and he will be very apt
way
the
But
is
what we mean by the
I
would explain
may be
it
opposed
is
is
said that this view
given of reality, inasmuch as
it
of the real to depend on what
real.
'"
"Hellebore" refers to a plant of the
Socrates actually died from drinking a potion
hemlock; John Scotus Erigena (born
ad
lily
who
That
directly
is
which we have
ultimately thought is
that,
on the
independent, not necessarily of
thought in general, but only of what you or finite
all
and the
makes the characters is
about them. But the answer to this reality is
truth,
the
opinion
by
reality.
to the abstract definition
one hand,
embodied
The
fated ^ to be ultimately agreed to
object represented in this opinion
than on
harmony with
hard to convince a follower of the a
prion method by adducing
he has
sometimes
Still, it will
that the philosophers have
inquiring what belief is most in
system.
des-
a
research. Differ-
upon with contempt even by the party whose
man
electricity.^
obtain different results, but, as
at first
of mind even, can enable a
less
by that of
Foucault; a fifth by the motions of the curves of
ent faiths flourish side by side, renegades are looked
scientific
satellites; a
a fourth
them by a force outside of themselves to one and the same conclusion. This activity of thought by which we are carried, not where we wish, but to a
toward
folios
been
is.
On the other hand, all the followers of science are
the Catholic faith. All the
Church, and one may search
It is
for
views, but the progress of investigation carries
in the
goes any further.
ever to cease; they seem to think that
prevailed, the truth
efforts of the scholastic doctors are directed
harmonizing their
These minds do not seem to believe that
another, and that belief will, consequently, never be
contrast with the naive idea of the glossist, for
a struggle.
it.
number of men may
think about
it;
I
or any
and
that,
family;
made from a me-
810) was
'
Armand-Hippol yte Louis Fizeau
(181 9-96) and Jean-
dieval philosopher.
Bernard-Leon Foucault (1819-68) were French physi-
'"
cists;
Peter Abelard (1079-1142), medieval theologian and
logician.
(Jog)
Jules-Antoine Lissajoux (1822-80) was a French
mathematician.
"How on the other hand, though the object
of the fmal
opinion tlepends on what that opinion
is,
that
opinion
anv
man
does not depend on what you or
is
Our
thinks.
per\ersit\
and
I
oj)!!!-
siKiue the
human
race should
last.
change the nature of the
lonj:;
as the
even that would not
\ et
belief,
which alone could
be the result of investigation carried sufficiently
of our race, another
after the extinction
if,
far;
should arise with faculties and disposition for in-
must be the one
true opinion
that
vestigation,
which they would ultimately come crushed to earth
result
from investigation does
not depend on how anybody
But the
of that which
reality
is
the real fact that investigation last, if
But
I
may be
asked w hat
I
may
actually think.
real
does depend on
is
continued long enough,
minute
"Truth
and the opinion
shall rise again,"
which would fmally
to.
destined to lead, at
to a belief in
please, h«»w
have to say to
the
is
a
meaning.'"
\\ ell,
or not
liant
that
then, after the universe
is
dead (according to the
prediction of some scientists), and forever,
has ceased
not the shock of atoms continue
will
though there I
all life
will
be no mind to know
it.^
To
reply that, though in no possible state of
this
know-
number be great enough to express amount of what rests unthe amount of the known, yet it is
much of
so
when
in
it
is
have
makes very
it
say that a stone on the
complete darkness,
to say, that
is
bril-
makes no
pniluthly
it
that that stone
may at
the bottom of the sea, flowers in the untraveled desert,
about
which,
propositions
are
etc.,
diamond being hard w hen
a
much more
concern
seems
that
the arrangement of our lan-
me, however,
to
like
not pressed,
it is
guage than they do the meaning of our
we
that
ideas.
have, by the
application of our rule, reached so clear an appre-
hension of what we mean by
ical
reality,
rests on, that
making
and of the
we should
fact
not, per-
pretension so presumptuous as
a
singular,
if
we were
to offer a
it
metaphys-
theory of existence for universal acceptance
among
those
fixing belief
much more
who employ
the scientific
However,
metaphysics
as
method of is
a subject
curious than useful, the know ledge of
of a sunken reef, serves chiefly to
like that
it, I w ill not trouble the more Ontology at this moment.
enable us to keep clear of reader with any I
have already been led
path than
much
further into that
should have desired; and
I
I
have given
the reader such a dose of mathematics, psychology,
and
that
all
is
already have
ledge can any
writing
the relation between the
clusively.
known
There
to
is
that
any
is
sol Ned.'
be fished up to-morrow. But that there are gems
w hich,
And
we
remembering always
difference,
would be
hopelessly beyond the reach of our knowledge?
must confess
bottom of the ocean,
haps, be
these things not really exist because they are
1
difference whether
little
buried secrets.
Do
make
h\
a
years you
that only practical distinctions
which the idea
many a gem of purest ray serene The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
go on for
to
number of
may be objected, "\S
it
covered, to the lost books of the ancients, to the
Full
were
it
possible to saN that there
it
your principle
It
all
if
these remote considerations, especially
it.
of history, forgotten never to be re-
facts
hundred' .\nd
question which nnghl not uliimateh be
But
Clear'
ten thousand \ears, with the acti\it\ ol
l((i
last
million, or a billion, or any
might e\en coiKei\ahl\ cause an arbitrary
it
proposition to be uni\ersally accepted as
and
or
that ol others
niav indetlnileJN postpone the settlenieni ol ion;
what
\v\
Make Our Ideas
to
is
is
most abstruse,
for the I
me, and
left
that
that
I
fear
what
I
he
may
am
now-
compositor and proof-reader ex-
trusted to the importance of the subject.
no royal road
to logic,
and
really valuable
unphilosophical to suppose that, with regard to
ideas can only be had at the price of close attention.
any given question (w hich has any clear meaning),
But
w ould not bring
investigation if it
a
were carried
far
enough.
forth a solution of
it,
Who would have said,
few years ago, that we could ever know of what
substances stars are
been longer has existed.'
know
in a few
would be the
hundred
II,
years.^
I
am
going to return to the easily
not wander from
it
Who can
way can be applied
(1716-71), Elegy Written
53-6.
that in the matter of ideas the public
at the pains
light
guess w hat
result of continuing the pursuit of
Thomas Grey Churchyard,
can be sure
know
may have human race of what we shall not
made whose
in reaching us than the
Who
I
in a
Country
my
prefer the cheap and nasty; and in
shall
The
reader
who
and
has been
of wading through this month's paper,
be rewarded
beautifully
again.
next paper
intelligible,
in the next
one by seeing how
w hat has been developed
in this tedious
to the ascertainment of the rules
of scientific reasoning."'
^" "The Doctrine of Chances," Popular Science Monthy March 1878.
(toT)
L
Charles S. Peirce
We
have, hitherto, not crossed the threshold
of scientific
logic.
know how
make our
to
It
is
certainly
ideas clear, but they
be ever so clear without being
make them
so,
we have
important to
may
How to How to give
true.
next to study.
birth to those vital and procreative ideas
multiply into a thousand forms and diffuse themselves
everywhere,
advancing
making the dignity of man, to rules,
is
an
civilization art
and
not yet reduced
but of the secret of which the history of
science affords
some
hints.
which
Author's Note 1
Fate means merely that which
and can nohow be avoided. suppose that
(@)
a certain sort
It
is
sure to
is
come
true,
a superstition to
of events are ever fated.
and
it
is
another to suppose that the word fate can
never be freed from fated to die.
its
superstitious taint.
We
are
all
and Lies
''On Truth
in
a Nonmoral
Sense"
Madman"
"The
''How the 'True World' Finally a Fable"
Became
The Dionysian World* Friedrich Nietzsche A student
of ancient
"On Truth and
languages by trade and a
sity
in
ill
in
relative
becoming insane eleven years later. Nietzsche's concern was nothing less than the conditions of health, greatness, and sickness in human cultures. He was deeply critical of Judeo-Christian civilization, which he saw as destroying the health of Western humanity by undermining
until
human
nihilistic belief in
through
instincts
a
slavish,
the unreality of this world and
the promise of happiness
in
the next. Nietzsche
was one of the first to foresee the waning of Christianity in
a
health from his only univer-
post aged 34, he wrote feverishly
isolation
in
Nonmoral Sense'"
philosopher by predilection, Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844-1900) was a unique and misunderstood genius. Retiring
Lies
an increasingly secular Europe, and fam-
Once upon
a time, in
that universe '
which
The German term
some out of the way corner of is
dispersed into numberless
in the title translated here as
"non-
moral," aussermoralischen, could be, and has been, also translated as "super-" or "extra-" moral.
Friedrich Nietzsche: [A] "OnTruth
and Lies
in
a Non-
moral Sense." pp. 79-91 from Philosophy and Truth (ed. Daniel Brazeale). New York: Humanities Press,
1979; B] "The Madman" from 7^76 Gay Sc/ence (trans, and ed. Walter Kaufmann), Part Three, section [
ously coined the phrase"God
is
dead."
He pressed
remarkable denial of the very concept of truth - "truthfulness" being a prime
this critique to a
Christian value. Nietzsche's notion of a future
125, pp. 181-2. New York: Vintage. 1974; [C] "How theTrue World Finally Became a Fable." from Twilight of the Idols, reproduced in The Portable Nietzsche
Nietzsche's radical critique of metaphysics, the
and ed. Walter Kaufmann). pp. 485-6. New 1968; [D] The Dionysian World.* para. 1067, pp. 449-50 from The Will to Power (trans. Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale. edited with commentary by Walter Kaufmann). New York: Ran-
and of truth, make him the godfather of postmodernism.
fourthsectionisthisvolumeeditor'snot Nietzsche's.
"overman," the authentic individual of the post-
was later embraced by the Nazis (alnothing could be more foreign to
Christian era,
though
Nietzsche than a mass, collectivist movement). unity of the self,
(trans,
York: Viking.
dom
House. 1967.
*
Note that the
title
given to this
L
Friedrich Nietzsche
twinkling solar systems, there was a star upon
beasts of prey. This art of dissimulation reaches
which clever beasts invented knowing. That was
peak in man. Deception,
most arrogant and mendacious minute of
the
"world history," but nevertheless,
was only
it
a
minute. After nature had drawn a few breaths, the
and congealed, and the clever beasts had
star cooled
- One might invent such
to die.
miserable,
how shadowy and
and arbitrary the human nature.
not
a fable,
would not have adequately
still
There were
intellect, tellect
nothing
transient, intellect
looks within it
did
among men
and pure drive them.
They
- is
are deeply
honest
immersed
in illusions
and
in
this in-
surface of things and see "forms." Their senses
human, and only it so solemnly -
it is
it
its
as
it. But if we we would learn air w ith the same
axis turned within
nowhere lead
merely glide over the
their eyes
on the contrary, they are
to truth;
content to receive stimuli and, as in a groping
man
game on
universe w ithin himself. There
is
nothing so repre-
hensible and unimportant in nature that
not immediately swell up
would
it
a balloon
at
the
power of knowing. And
just
to
like
have an admirer, so even
were, to engage
permits himself to be deceived in his dreams
even make an attempt to prevent
solemnity, that he feels the flying center of the
it
the backs of things. Moreover,
that he likew ise flies through the
wants
how an
have arisen among
for truth could
every night of his
as every porter
almost nothing
is
could communicate with the gnat,
slightest puff of this
for
much the rule and
so
that there
comprehensible than
is less
and
have happened. For
possessor and begetter takes
though the world's
the solitary flame of vanity
which
a role for others
continuous fluttering around
in short, a
dream images;
Rather,
life.
-
the law
a false front,
human
has no additional mission which would lead
beyond human
behind convention, playing oneself
up
borrowed splendor, wearing a mask, hiding
over with the
it is all
will
how
how aimless
during which
eternities
And when
exist.
and yet he
illustrated
talking behind the back, putting living in
its
flattering, lying, deluding,
life.
through sheer
this,
whereas there
men who have stopped snoring power. What does man actually
are supposed to be
know about
His moral sentiment does not
will
himself? Is he, indeed, ever able to
perceive himself completely, as
out in
if laid
a
Does nature not conceal most things from him - even concerning his ow n body lighted display case.^
and lock him within
the proudest of men, the philosopher, supposes that
in order to confine
he sees on
deceptive consciousness, aloof from the coils of the
ically
all
sides the eyes of the universe telescop-
bow els,
focused upon his action and thought.
It is
remarkable that this was brought about by
the intellect, which was certainly allotted to these
most unfortunate, merely
delicate,
and ephemeral beings
as a device for detaining
them
a
minute
the rapid flow of the blood stream, and the
intricate quivering of the fibers!
crack in the chamber of consciousness and then
man
suspect that
would have every reason
his ignorance
quickly as Lessing's son."
knowing and sensing
The pride connected w ith
lies like a
blinding fog over
the eyes and senses of men, thus deceiving
concerning the value of existence. For
them
She threw away the
And woe to that fatal curiosity which might one day have the power to peer out and down through a key.
within existence. For without this addition they to flee this existence as
a proud,
satiable,
is
sustained in the indifference of
by that which
and murderous - as
the back of a tiger.
is pitiless,
greedy, in-
if hanging in
dreams on
Given this situation, w here in the
world could the drive for truth have come from.' Insofar as the individual wants to maintain
this pride
him-
he w ill under natural
contains within itself the most flattering estimation
self against other individuals,
of the value of knowing. Deception
circumstances employ the intellect mainly for dis-
is
general effect of such pride, but even
the most its
particular effects contain within themselves
most
some-
thing of the same deceitful character.
As
a
means which
its
principal
and necessity,
man
same time, from boredom
wishes to exist socially and with
the herd; therefore, he needs to
for the preserving of the individual,
the intellect unfolds
simulation. But at the
pow ers in dissimu-
means by which weaker,
strives accordingly to banish
from
make peace and his
world
at least
the most flagrant helium omni contra omnes.^^^ This
wake something which
peace treaty brings in
its
robust individuals preserve themselves - since they
appears to be the
step toward acquiring that
have been denied the chance to w age the battle for
puzzling truth drive: to wit, that which shall count
existence with horns or with the sharp teeth of
as "truth"
lation,
is
the
less
say, a "
Gotthold
Ephraim
Lessing
(1729-81),
German
first
from now on
(ji5)
That
is
to is
is
invented for things, and this legislation of language
dramatist and philosopher, whose son died the day he
was born.
established.
uniformly valid and binding designation
'"
War
of each against
all.
"On Truth and Lies likewise cstahlislus the
time.
first
I'he liar
.uul lie arises
who
person
a
is
is
example, "I
am
unreal appear to be
when
rich,"
I
le says, lor
misuses
lie
arbitrarx substitu-
What one-sided
(.lillereniialions!
twist itself
worm What
a
lit
this ilesignation
lo
abiltiN
its
couki therelore also
tor this, then
"snake"
ot a
Narious languages placed side h\
with words
is
ii
ne\er
a
him and
being defrauded as
they hale
thereby exclude him.
will
is
is
not so
being harmed by
is
it
Thus, even
fraud.
liar
what
this stage,
at
basically not deception itself, but rather
the unpleasant, hated consequences of certain sorts
of deception.
It is
man now wants
in a similarly restricted sense that
nothing but truth: he desires the
pleasant, life-preserving consequences of truth.
indifferent toward pure
He
know ledge which has no
consequences; toward those truths which arc pos-
harmful and destructive he
And
inclined.
besides,
even hostilely
is
what about these
linguistic
question of truth, neser
Is
lan-
man
only by means of forgetfulness that
can
the least
men, and
tions of things to
To
with truth in the form of tautology, that
he
will not
is
be content w ith empty husks,
image,
time there
ent one.
complete overleaping of one sphere,
is a
right into the
One
middle of an entirely new and
man who
can imagine a
and has never had
a sensation
person will gaze w
a
ith
by "sound."
must know w hat men mean way with all of us concerning
that he
It is this
we believe
we know something about when we speak of trees, snow and flowers; and yet we possess noth-
colors,
that
,
ing but metaphors for things - metaphors which
same w ay
It is
the copy in sound of a nerve
entities. In the
that the
sound appears
as a sand figure, so
X
of the thing in
itself first
stimulus. But the further inference from the nerve
the mysterious
stimulus to a cause outside of us
is
as a nerve stimulus, then as an image,
of a false and
application
unjustifiable
already the result
of the
a
sound.
Thus
any case, and
proceed logically
been the deciding factor
within and with which the
and
if
of language,
the standpoint of certainty had been decisive
for designations, then
"the stone
is
how could we
hard," as
if
still
dare to say
"hard" were something
.stimulation!
We
separate
things
according to gender, designating the tree as mascu-
Hne and the plant assignments!
How
as feminine.' far this
What
arbitrary
oversteps the canons of
"principle of sufficient reason," formulated by
appears
finally as
later
all
the material
of truth, the scien-
work and
build,
is at least
if
not
not de-
rived from the essence of things.
In particular,
let
tion of concepts.
us further consider the forma-
Every word instantly becomes a
concept precisely insofar as
it
is
not supposed to
serve as a reminder of the unique and entirely individual original experience to which origin; but rather, a
The
man
derived from never-never land,
otherwise familiar to us, and not merely a totally subjective
in
and the philosopher
tist,
and
the genesis of language does not
principle of sufficient reason.'^ If truth alone had in the genesis
astonishment
cover their causes in the vibrations of the string and
correspond in no way to the original
word?
deaf
Chladni's sound figures:" perhaps he will dis-
then he will always exchange truths for illusions. a
differ-
totally
is
of sound and music.
What
is
in turn, is
imitated in a sound; second metaphor. .And each
the things themselves
to say, if
transferred into
is
The
metaphor.
first
language:
satisfied
worth
for expressing these
begin with, a nerve stimulus
an image:
"truth" of the grade just indicated. If he
not be
in
relations he lays hold of the boldest metaphors.
ever reach the point of fancying himself to possess a will
likewise
is
This creator only designates the rela-
w ill now swear
realities?
in
language and something not striving tor.
Perhaps such
guage the adequate expression of all
The "thing
to the creator of
at
Are designations congruent with things?
a
precisely what the pure truth, apart
is
from any of its consequences, would be)
ucts of knowledge, that
of the sense of truth?
that
something quite incomprehensible
conventions themselves? Are they perhaps prodis,
The
show
ipiestion of adequate expression; otherwise, there
wouUl not be so many languages.
avoid by excluding the
first
thing!
side
itself (which
It
a
and
arbitrary
preferences,
property of
lor that
in a
means of
It is
speak
onK upon
will
W hat men
sibly
louches
he does this
cease to trust
is
We
ieilaiiil\'
and moreover harmful manner, society
tions or even reversals of names.
much
make some-
the pro|ier ilesignation
means of
fixed conventions b\
selfish
real.
woukl he "poor."
tor his condition
here lor ihe
uses the \alul
designations, the words, in oriler to
thing which
lor ihc
l.ius ol liulh
(itsi
miih
contrast between
Sense"
a Nonmoral
in
as
it
w ord becomes
simultaneously has to
fit
a
it
owes
its
concept insofar
countless
more
or less
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), held that every factual truth
must be supported by
Nietzsche
is
referring to the
der assignment of nouns.
a sufficient reason.
German
language's gen-
"
Ernst Chladni,
German
physicist
speed of sound with vibrating rods
who
studied the
in the late eighteenth
centurv.
(lii)
Friedrich Nietzsche similar cases
- which means, purely and simply,
which are never equal and thus altogether
cases
unequal. Every concept arises from the equation
of unequal things. Just as
it is
certain that
never totally the same as another, so the concept "leaf
is
formed by
it is
one
leaf is
certain that
arbitrarily discard-
ing these individual differences and by forgetting the distinguishing aspects. This awakens the idea that, in addition to the leaves, there exists in
the "leaf: the original all
model according
to
to
phors. Thus, to express
man
a
unconsciously and in accordance with habits which
which
this unconsciousness
centuries'
Our
We call a person "honest,"
"why
and
has he behaved so honestly
and
usual answer
"on account of
with the
liar,
excludes.
As
the cause of the leaves.
is
We
know nothing what-
soever about an essential quality called "honesty";
at
the sense that one
is
a third as
"mute," there
The
of truth
utility
arises a
venerability,
something which a
is
person demonstrates for himself from the contrast
his
is,
From
in regard to truth.
and
reliability,
honesty." Honesty! This in turn means that the leaf
today.'*"
and forgetfulness he arrives
obliged to designate one thing as "red," another
moral impulse
ask
and precisely by means of
old;
his sense of truth.
as "cold,"
we
the duty
of course forgets that this
petent hands, so that no specimen has turned out to
then
is
manner binding upon everyone. Now is the way things stand for him. Thus he lies in the manner indicated,
herd and in
be a correct, trustworthy, and faithful likeness of the original model.
morally, this
it
to lie according to a fixed convention, to lie with the
are
- but by incom-
exist:
be truthful means to employ the usual meta-
nature
the leaves were perhaps woven, sketched, meas-
ured, colored, curled, and painted
of the duty which society imposes in order to
whom
no one
and everyone
trusts
a ''''rationar being,
now
he
places his
behavior under the control of abstractions.
no longer
tolerate being carried
He
will
away by sudden
but we do know of countless individualized and
impressions, by intuitions. First he universalizes
consequently unequal actions which we equate by
all
omitting the aspects in which they are unequal and
cepts, so that he can entrust the guidance of his life
which we now designate
and conduct
as
"honest" actions.
we formulate from them a qualitas occulta'^^ which has the name "honesty." We obtain the concept, as we do the form, by overlooking what Finally
individual and actual; whereas nature
is
ac-
is
quainted with no forms and no concepts, and likewise with no species, but only with an
X
remains inaccessible and undefmable for
which
For
us.
even our contrast between individual and species is
something anthropomorphic and does not origin-
ate in the essence of things; although
presume
pond
we should not
to claim that this contrast does not corres-
to the essence of things: that
dogmatic assertion and,
be
a
as
indemonstrable as
What then
its
truth.''
is
would of course
as such,
would be
just
sum
poetically
of
human
illusions;
relations
which have been
intensified, transferred, after long usage,
seem
which we have forgotten are
they are metaphors that have become
w orn out and have been drained of sensuous
force,
coins which have lost their embossing and are
now
considered as metal and no longer as coins.
We truth
still
do not yet know where the drive
comes from. For so
Occult quality.
112:
to
the animals depends
far
schema, and thus to dissovle an image into cept.
For something
is
for
this
in a
a
con-
possible in the realm of these
schemata which could never be achieved with the vivid
first
impressions: the construction of a
pyramidal order according to castes and degrees, the creation of a
new world of
laws, privileges,
subordinations, and clearly marked boundaries
new
-
a
now confronts that other vivid world of first impressions as more solid, more universal, better known, and more human world, one which
than the immediately perceived world, and thus as
equals and
regularity of a
Whereas each
individual and without all
classifica-
of concepts displays the rigid
Roman
in logic that strength teristic
is
therefore able to elude
is
tion, the great edifice
columbarium^'" and exhales
and coolness which
of mathematics. Anyone
who
is
has
characfelt this
cool breath will hardly believe that even the concept
- which
is
as a die
-
bony, foursquare, and transposable
as is
nevertheless merely the residue of a
metaphor, and that the illusion which in
we have heard only
upon
perceptual metaphors
volatilize
perceptual metaphor
movable host of meta-
be fixed, canonical, and binding.
illusions
ability
the regulative and imperative world.
and rhetorically
Truths are
man from
A
and embellished, and which, to a people to
them. Everything which distin-
to
guishes
opposite.
phors, metonymies, and anthropomorphisms: in short, a
these impressions into less colorful, cooler con-
is
involved
the artistic transference of a nerve stimulus
into images
is,
if
mother of every
Roman
not the mother, then the grand-
single concept.
vault for funeral urns.
But
in this
concep-
"On game
crap
tiuil
"iruiir"
imans using c\ti\
the designated manner, counting
fashioning the right categories, ami ne\er
atel>,
vi»)Ialing the
order of caste and class rank,
Romans and
the
in
ilu-
spots accur-
its
just as
up the heavens
l.truscans cut
with rigid mathematical lines and confineil \Mthin each ot the spaces therel\\ within
hmplum,^^ so e\er\ people has
a
a goil
delimiteil, as a similarl)
uni\ersf as original
man
and
demands within
henceforth
thinks
that each conceptual
Ins
own sphere.
admire man
1
truth
that
who succeeds in piling up an dome of concepts upon an
and takes them
Of
phor can one
ally
si
imagination that
faith
himself
be
spiders' webs: delicate
raises
himself
far
enough
to
enough not
b> the waves, strong
by every wind. As
one constructed
like
be carried along
to
be blow n apart
man
genius of construction
a
above the bee
of
following
in the
way: whereas the bee builds with wax that he
man
gathers from nature,
more
builds with the far
delicate conceptual material
which he
manufacture from himself. In
this
he
is
first
has to
greatly to be
admired, but not on account of his drive for truth or for
pure knowledge of things.
something behind
a
in
hen someone hides
bush and looks
the same place and finds
much to praise is how matters
V\
it
for
is
such seeking and finding. Yet
the definition of a
mammal, and
ing a camel, declare "look, a
indeed brought
is
way, but
to say,
it
it
is
a
and universally vahd apart from man. At
bottom, what the investigator of such truths
into
is
man.
is
only the metamorphosis of the world
He
strives to
something analogous
to
understand the world as
man, and
at
best
he
achieves by his struggles the feeling of assimilation.
Similar to the w ay in
w hich
astrologers considered
a
man
does
but for an instant he could escape from the
would be immediately destroyed.
him
cult thing for
admit
to
to
even
It is
a diffi-
himself that the
insect or the bird perceives an entirely different
world from the one that
man
does, and that the
question of which of these perceptions of the world is
the
this
more
correct one
would have
to
quite meaningless, for
is
have been decided previously
in
accordance w ith the criterion of the correct perception,
which means, is
accordance with a criterion
in
not available.
But
in
any case
it
seems
"the adequate expression of an object ject"
-
is
a
two
to
me
w hich would mean sub-
in the
contradictory impossibility. For be-
tween
That
is
prison walls of this faith, his "self consciousness"
between subject and object, there
have
human
table
ilus
artistically creating subject,
that "the correct perception" -
thoroughly anthropomorphic truth which contains
seeking
an
window,
l/iis
mammal,"
I
hich origin-
short, only by forgetting that he
this
not a single point which would be "true in itself or really
sun,
l/iis
which
make up
petrification \n
faculty of
then, after inspect-
a truth to light in this
a truth of limited value.
I
mass of images
a
like a fier\ liquid, onls in the invincible
itself, in is
meta-
with any repose, security, and consistency.
live
If
means of the
b\
onl>
not
stand regarding seeking and finding
"truth" within the realm of reason. If
is
again in
it
there as well, there
lie lorgets that
wiih an\ repose, security, and
li\e
reamed from the primal
order to be supported by such a foundation, his
must
he has
ihemseKes.
to be the things
and coagulation of
unstable foundation,
mg thai
measure] imme-
to
mere objects
as
«ine
treat
doing so he
ot all things but in
()nl\ b\ lorgetling this primiti\e world ot
consistencv:
were, on running water.
construction
him
«)1
tu
is
the original perceptual metaphors are metaphors
one may certainly
infmitelv complicated
method
Ills
which he intends
|
dialelx before
truth in
it
measure
ihese things
course, in
and, as
man
god be sought only
lere
might) genius of construction,
as a
as the
muliiphed cop\
mlinitil\
ilie
piiiiire
Sense"
a Nonmoral
in
again proceeils Irom the error ol belicN
mathematicall) divided conceptual heaven above
themselves
Truth and Lies
absolutely
spheres,
different is
no
no correctness, and no expression; there an aesthetic relation:
I
mean,
as
causality,
is,
at
most,
a suggestive transfer-
ence, a stammering translation into a completely
foreign tongue - for which there
is
required, in any
case, a freely inventive intermediate sphere
mediating force. "Apearance"
is
a
word
and
that con-
many temptations, which is why I avoid it as much as possible. For it is not true that the essence tains
of things "appears" in the empirical world. painter without hands
who wished
.\
to express in
song the picture before his mind would, by means
more
the stars to be in man's service and connected
of this substitution of spheres,
with his happiness and sorrow such an investigator
about the essence of things than does the empirical
,
still
reveal
considers the entire universe in connection with
world. Even the relationship of a nerve stimulus to
man: the
the generated image
entire universe as the infinitely fractured
echo of one original sound - man; the entire
A
religiously distinct, e.g. holy, space.
when
is
not a necessary one. But
same image has been generated millions of times and has been handed down for many generations and finally appears on the same occathe
Friedrich Nietzsche sion every time for last
all
mankind, then
same meaning
the
were the
men
for
sole necessary
acquires at
it
would have
it
image and
if
if it
the relation-
ship of the original nerve stimulus to the generated
image were manner,
strictly
causal one.
eternally
repeated
a
an
certainly be felt
and judged
same
In the
dream
would
to be reality.
But the
hardening and congealing of a metaphor guarantees absolutely nothing concerning
necessity and
its
ations has
no doubt
ism of this
is
he has quite clearly
we can
from the telescopic heights is
to
secure, complete, infinite,
How
not contradict each other.
will
some
little
if one
much
chemical processes, coincides properties which
who impress this,
which impresses
movement of
in the
we bring
the stars and in
bottom with those
at
Thus
to things.
it is
we
ourselves in this way. In conjunction
of course follows that the
it
in
artistic
process
if
all
w ithin them. The only way in which the new con-
thus occurs
possibility of subsequently constructing a
ceptual edifice from metaphors themselves can be
explained
is
forms. That
by the firm persistence of these original to say, this conceptual edifice
is
is
an
imitation of temporal, spatial, and numerical rela-
tionships in the
domain of metaphor.
the
does this reif it
were
place where the illusion
and unreality can be divined. Against kind of sense perception -
be able
and
semble a product of the imagination, for
or
things. All that conformity to law,
us so
is
it
most astonishing
is
w ill harmonize with and
things that are discovered
now as a bird,
-
the microscopic
and without any gaps. Science
following must be said:
He
penetrate here
to dig successfully in this shaft forever,
things
number which
begins in us already presupposes these forms and
has concluded that so far as
such, there should be
precisely
bear
deep mistrust of all ideal-
felt a
presence, and infallibility of the laws of nature.
regular,
all
within themselves the laws of number, and
of metaphor formation with which every sensation
sort: just as often as
- everything
comprehend
actually
familiar with such consider-
convinced himself of the eternal consistency, omni-
depths
we
in all things
nothing but these forms. For they must
with
exclusive justification.
Every person who
amazing that
this,
the
each of us had a different
we could only perceive now as a worm, now as a plant, if
of us saw a stimulus as red, another as blue,
We
have seen
how
originally language
it is
works on the construction of concepts, over in later ages by taneously
science.
constructs
Just as the bee simul-
and
cells
which
a labor taken
them with
fills
honey, so science works unceasingly on this great
columbarium of concepts, the graveyard of percepalways building new
higher stories and
while a third even heard the same stimulus as a
tions. It is
sound - then no one would speak of such a regularity
shoring up, cleaning, and renovating the old
of nature, rather, nature would be grasped only as a
above
creation which
towering framework and to arrange therein the
After
all,
what
is is a
subjective in the highest degree.
law of nature as such for us?
are not acquainted with effects,
which means
it
We
in itself, but only with its
in its relation to other laws
of
all, it
takes pains to
entire empirical world,
fill
w hich
,
up
this
cells;
monstrously
to say, the anthro-
is
pomorphic world. Whereas the man of action binds his life to reason
and
its
concepts so that he will not
nature - which, in turn, are known to us only as sums
be swept away and
of relations. Therefore
builds his hut right next to the tower of science so
refer again to others
all
these relations always
and are thoroughly incompre-
we actually know about these laws of nature is what we ourselves bring to them - time and space, and therefore relahensible to us in their essence. All that
tionships of succession and number.
But everything
marvelous about the laws of nature, everything that quite astonishes us therein and seems to
demand our
explanation, everything that might lead us to distrust idealism:
all this is
within
tained
inviolability of
space.
the
completely and solely con-
mathematical
strictness
and
our representations of time and
But we produce these representations
in
and
that he will be able to
exist.
powers which oppose
(TIJ)
ceases to be
scientific
to find shelter
their shields the
The
most varied
in
upon him,
"truth" with com-
pletely different kinds of "truths"
which bear on
sorts of
emblems.
drive toward the formation of metaphors
the fundamental
human
drive
a single instant dispense
w hich one cannot
is
for
with in thought, for one
would thereby dispense with man himself. This drive is not truly vanquished and scarcely subdued constructed as
it
and
And he requires shelter, for there are frightful
by the
things only under these forms, then
it
bulwarks which presently
powers which continuously break
the spider spins. If we are forced to
all
work on
for himself beneath those
from ourselves with the same necessity with which
comprehend
the scientific investigator
lost,
fact that a regular its
and
prison from
products, the concepts.
It
new world is own ephemeral new realm and
rigid its
seeks a
On another
(.haiiiul lor its atiiMiN. .uul
myth Am\
in ttri gcncTalI>
tiiuls this in
it
his ihi\c continually
I
.
and Lies
Truth
metaphors
a Nonmoral Sense'
in
confuses the conceptual catet^ones and cells h\
ilesignates the stream as "the
bringing forwanl new
carries
and metonymies.
It
metaphors,
transferences,
coniinuall\ manifests an ardent
desire to refashion the world which presents to
waking man, so
lar,
that
it
he as colorful, irregu-
will
lacking in results and coherence, charming, and
new
eternally
world ofclreams. Indeed,
as the
man
concepts that the waking
awake; and
clearly sees that he
precisely because of this that
is
it
is
it
web of
only by means of the rigid and regular
is
itself
he sometimes thinks that he must be dreaming
when
this
web of concepts
torn by
is
right in maintaining that if the
we would be
us every night
Pascal
is
same dream came
to
art.
occupied with
just as
it
itself.
is
dreamt
takes
fact,
''I
w ho a
because of the way that myth
granted
for
it
as a king
hours every night that he was
for twelve
workman.''^ In
happy
miracles
that
happening, the waking
life
always
are
of a mythically inspired
people - the ancient Greeks, for instance - more closely resembles a
world
When when
of a
dream than
does the waking
it
disenchanted
scientifically
god
in the
shape of
a bull
in the
team of
- and
horses'"
this
is
moment, and
possible at each
is
a beautiful
what the honest
is
all
it
when
fables as if they
were
theater acts as
it is
more
were, enchanted
it
the rhapsodist true, or
when
him
tells
w ithout
deception, the intellect,
Injuring, that
is free; it is
former slavery and celebrates
its
epic
the actor in the
So long
royally than any real king.
able to deceive
master of
released from Saturnalia.
to
previous conduct,
mark
the
of dis-
clings his
himself
is
whole
it
life
nothing but
most audacious w hen
feats
smashes
into confusion,
this
it.
it is
but
life,
immense frame-
That to
which the needy
long in order to preserve
and toy
a scaffolding
of the liberated
framework
and puts
fashion, pairing the
the closest,
human
be something good and seems
be quite satisfied with
most
in
it
an ironic
and separating
alien things
demonstrating that
.And
throws
to pieces,
back together
it
for the
intellect.
it
has no need of
these makeshifts of indigence and that
it
will
now be
no regular path w hich leads from these
its
It is
stractions.
sees
for these intuitions;
them he grows dumb, or
else
he
speaks only in forbidden metaphors and in un-
heard-of combinations of concepts.
He
does this so
by shattering and mocking the old conceptual
may
at least
correspond creatively to the
impression of the powerful present intuition.
There intuitive
are ages in
man
w hich the
rational
man and
latter is just as irrational as the
former
They both
life:
desire to rule over
know ing how
the
stand side by side, the one in fear of
intuition, the other with scorn for abstraction.
to
meet
his principal
is
The
inartistic.
the former, by
needs by means
of foresight, prudence, and regularity; the
latter,
by
disregarding these needs and, as an "overjoyed hero," counting as real only that
been disguised
tive
throws
There exists no w ord
when man
as
it
intuitions
into the land of ghostly schemata, the land of ab-
never more luxuriant, richer, prouder, more clever pleasure
life
work and planking of concepts
and more daring.
\\ ith creative
its
now does bears
free intellect copies
considers this
barriers he
who w ere merely amusing themselves by men in all these shapes. But man has an invincible inclination to allow
with happiness
The
distortion.
of nature sw arms
deceiving
as
become the master and
simulation, just as that previous conduct did of
the gods,
is,
it
it
face the expression of
its
indigence. In comparison with e\er\ thing that
that
around man as if it w ere nothing but a masquerade of
himself to be deceived and
who covets existence;
search of booty and prey
has
it
dares to wipe from
dream, anything
as in a
in
is
company of Peisistratus driving
Athenian believed - then,
Hut now
for his master. it
w ho goes
nymph,
can drag away
through the market place of Athens w ith
bondage from
guided by intuitions rather than by concepts. There
maidens, w hen even the goddess Athena herself
suddenly seen
of
endeavors, with gl(M>my
it
thinker.
every tree can suddenly speak as a a
At other times
like a servant
man
just as
he would otherwise walk." I'he
now thrown the token
the tools to a poor indi\iilual
hours every night that he was king," said Pascal,
would be
it
moving path which
offkiousness, to show the way and to demonstrate
to
believe that he
man where
intellect has
we are w ith the things that we see every day. "If a workman were sure to dream for twelve straight
as
bound-
into contusion aiul ihsplaces the
ary stones of abstractions, so that, for example,
as illusion
w as perhaps the case
man
life
which has
and beauty. Whenever,
in ancient
Greece, the intui-
handles his weapons more authoritatively
and victoriously than his opponent, then, under " ^'
Blaise Pascal
According
( 1
to
favorable circumstances, a culture can take shape
623 62), Pensees, number 386.
Herodotus,
the
tyrant
Peisistratus
(600-527 Bc) entered Athens accompanied by dressed as the goddess Athena.
a
woman
and
art's
mastery over
life
manifestations of such a this dissimulation, this
can be established. All the
life will
be accompanied by
disavowal of indigence, this
cm)
Friedrich Nietzsche
of metaphorical intuitions, and, in general,
glitter
this
immediacy of deception: neither the house, nor
How
we drink up
the gait, nor the clothes, nor the clay jugs give
this?
the sponge to wipe
seems
It
as if they
were
intended to
all
express an exalted happiness, an Olympian cloudlessness, and, as
The man who
were, a playing with seriousness.
it
is
guided by concepts and abstrac-
tions only succeeds
by such means
in
warding off
misfortune, without ever gaining any happiness for
And
himself from these abstractions. for the greatest possible
intuitive
man, standing
while he aims
freedom from pain, the
in the
midst of
a culture,
already reaps from his intuition a harvest of continually inflowing illumination, cheer,
tion
-
and redemp-
in addition to obtaining a defense against
To
misfortune.
when he
be sure, he suffers more intensely,
suffers;
he even suffers more frequently,
since he does not understand
how
same
into the
sorrow as he
ditch.
is
not be consoled.
who
learns
concepts
is
He
is
then just as irrational in
in happiness:
How
he cries aloud and
differently the stoical
will
man
from experience and governs himself by affected
by the same misfortunes! This
man, who at other times seeks nothing but sincerity, freedom from deception, and protection
truth,
against ensnaring surprise attacks,
now
executes a
him - you and But how did we do
killed
could
away the
Who
the sea?
gave us
What
entire horizon?
were we doing when we unchained
from
this earth
moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging its
sun? Whither
is it
continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in directions? Is there
not
Do we
empty space? Has
the breath of
feel
all
any up or down? Are we
still
not straying as through an infinite nothing?
not
it
become
colder? Is not night continually closing in
on us?
Do we not need to light Do we hear nothing as
morning?
of the gravediggers
who
lanterns in the yet of the noise
God? Do we
are burying
smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition?
Gods, dead.
too,
God
decompose.
And we have
killed
God
dead.
is
remains
him.
"How shall we comfort ourselves,
from
to learn
experience and keeps falling over and over again
have
All of us are his murderers.
I.
evidence of having been invented because of a pressing need.
We
cried; "I will tell you.
the murderers
What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we of all murderers?
have to invent? great for us?
not the greatness of this deed too
Is
Must we
become gods
ourselves not
simply to appear worthy of it? There has never been a greater
deed; and whoever
born
is
-
after us
for
masterpiece of deception: he executes his master-
the sake of this deed he will belong to a higher
piece of deception in misfortune, as the other type of
history than
man executes his in times of happiness. He wears no quivering and changeable human face, but, as it were, a
mask with
He does not When a real
cry;
dignified, symmetrical features.
he does not even
alter his voice.
storm cloud thunders above him, he
wraps himself
in his cloak,
walks from beneath
and with slow steps he
at his listeners; at
him
out. "I is
fell silent
and they,
in astonishment.
on the ground, and
it
At
and looked again
were
too,
last
silent
and stared
he threw his lantern
broke into pieces and went
have come too early," he said then;
not yet. This tremendous event
wandering;
still
it.
history hitherto."
all
Here the madman
it
is still
"my time
on
its
way,
has not yet reached the ears of
men. Lightning and thunder require time; the
light
of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, i
i
The Madman"
require time to be seen and heard. This deed
more distant from them than the most - and yet they have done it themselves.''
Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright
place,
morning hours, ran
and cried incessantly:
''I
to the
seek God!
God!" - As many of those who did not
market I
seek
believe in
God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got lost.^ asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hiding.^ Is
has been related further that on the same day
madman
forced his
and there struck up out to
distant stars
and called
to
way
into several churches
his requiem aeternam deo.^
account,
have replied nothing but:
now if of God?"
these churches
sepulchers
he
is
"What
said
Led
always
after all are
they are not the tombs and
he afraid of us.' Has he gone on a voyage?
emigrated? -
Thus they yelled and laughed. The madman jumped into their midst and
pierced them with his eyes. "Whither
(n^
It
the
still
is still
is
God?" he
'
A
"requiem"
is
a
Latin prayer for the dead, in which
eternal rest {requiem aeternam)
Here
it is
being asked for
God
is
asked for the deceased.
{deo).
How
"How
The Dionysian World
the 'True World' Finally Became a
do
\iul
Fable" lu
I
lisii»r\
ol
.m
i
end,
i»tr
I
know what "the world"
\d
of the circle
unless a ring feels good-will
for all its riddles.-
and nothing
apparent one.
the
a
or there, but rather as
luptuous delight,
it!
(Bright day; breakfast; return of bun sens'" and cheerfulness;
not
out, as a play of torces
eternally," as a
cockcrow of positivism.) 5.
and
torce,
a
torms toward the hottest, most turbulent, most
Nordic, Konigsbergian.)" 4.
definite
something end-
detimte space
in
recurrence, with an ebb and a
a consolation, an obligation, an imperative.
unattained.
wasieil, not
extentled, but set
lessh
the
unpromisable; but the very thought
slrablc,
it
Christian.)'
The true world
whole, of
but likewise without increase or income;
losses,
"empty" here
the sinner xsho repents") it
as a
itself,
i\i*c\
not exfx-nd
enclosed h\ "nothingness" as by a boundary, not
something blurr\ or
the pious, the \irtuous
(Progress ot the idea:
transtorms
but onl>
itselt
iIu(
that
unalterable si/e, a household without expcn.scs or
unattainahle tor now,
insidious, incomprehensible
.V
the
truth ")
tin-
The true \NorUI
pronuseil tor the (*'for
llic sum--,
il, /k* is it
oldest torni ot the idea, relativeh sensible,
simple, ami persiiasi\e
2.
Iincs in
ShjII
THih world, a
magnitude of force
not grow bigger or smaller, that
pious, the \irluoiis
mc'
to
is
mirror^
energv, without hc{(mning,
ot
firm, iron
a
my
is
you,
t(Kj,
you
most power -
intrepid,
the will to
.\nd you yourselves are also this
power - and nothing
besides!
humanity;
INCIPIT ZAR.\TI lUSTRA.)" The
Nict/schc rogarded NNonun as fundamcntalh menda-
"
Kant
Good
title
The DionNsian World
mine, not
Nietzsche's.
cious.
"
lived in Konigsbcrg, Prussia.
''Zarathustra begins," referring to Nietzsche's
book Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
.\
reference to Nietzsche's idea of the "eternal recur-
rence," that in our finite material universe
sense.
own
all
events must
be endlessh repeated. "l)ion>sian" below refers to Dion>sus, the Greek god of intoxication and sexuality.
(S>
14
^
'The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism"
Tommaso
Filippo
Marinetti
The cosmopolitan writer Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944) founded the movement of Futurism
in
Futurism"
ism
1909 in
a prime
is
movements
by publishing "The Manifesto of
a Paris newspaper. Marinetti's Futur-
example
of the artistic
that exploded
in
and social
the period between
the world wars. Utopian, modern, intense, Mari-
wants an
netti
can re-make the world by
art that
recognizing the novel possibilities of industrial,
mass nor
is
society. This it
Italian
benign
not a purely aesthetic view,
is
implications. Marinetti urged
in its
involvement
in
World War
I
and
Suddenly we jumped, hearing the mighty noise of the huge double-decker trams that rumbled by outside, ablaze with colored lights, like villages
suddenly struck and uprooted by the
flooding
Po and dragged over
Futurism. Like Mussolini, Marinetti regarded war
Then
the silence deepened.
tened to the old canal muttering
and the creaking bones of
damp
their
We had stayed up all night, my friends and
I,
hanging mosque lamps with domes of
filigreed
under
domes starred like our spirits, shining like them with the prisoned radiance of electric hearts. For hours we had trampled our atavistic ennui into rich oriental rugs, arguing up to the last confines of brass,
and blackening many reams of paper with our
felt
pride was buoying us up, because
ourselves alone at that hour, alone, awake, feet,
like
proud beacons or forward
sentries against an
army of
down
their
at
us
from
hostile stars glaring
celestial
Alone with stokers feeding the
down
in the
hellish
fires
of
who
red-hot bellies of locomotives launched
their crazy courses, alone with
reeling like
wounded
lis-
above
"Let's go!"
I
said.
"Friends, away! Let's go!
Mythology and the Mystic last.
We're about
after, the first flight
Let's go!
Look
Ideal are defeated at
to see the Centaur's birth and,
of Angels!
life, test
there,
dawn! There's nothing
on the to
.
.
.
We
must
the bolts and hinges. earth, the very first
match the splendor of the
sun's red sword, slashing for the
first
time through
our millennial gloom!"
We
went up
to the three snorting beasts, to lay
amorous hands on out on
their torrid breasts.
that threatened
The
I
stretched
my car like a corpse on its bier, but revived at
raging
my
a guillotine blade
stomach.
broom of madness swept us out of
ourselves and drove us through streets as rough and
deep
as the
beds of torrents. Here and there, sick
encampments.
great ships, alone with the black specters
grope
sickly palaces
once under the steering wheel,
frenzied scribbling.
we
we
feeble prayers
under the windows
green beards,
shake the gates of
and on our
But, as its
we suddenly heard the famished roar of automobiles.
soon
as an heroic intensification of life.
An immense
and through
falls
gorges to the sea.
later
became an enthusiastic supporter of Benito Mussolini, arguing that fascism was an expression of
logic
on
holiday
drunkards
birds along the city walls.
Filippo
Tommaso
Marinetti,
"The
Manifesto of Futurism" (trans. R.W.
Founding and Flint
and Arthur
W. Coppotelli) from Marinetti: Selected Writings (ed. R.W. Flint), pp. 39-44. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1972.
1
"The Founding and Manifesto of Futuntm" lamplight ihc
irusi
glasN Uii^lit
(hll>ll^tl wiiiiloxs
Muthcnuiics
iiciciitiil
u> liis-
iis
our |H-nshin|{
ot
eyes I
w
crictl.
" Ihf siiiu.
ihi-
Mini
.ilmu-
^t^nt
were
mi!
luuicrNtanii'
|)crha(>%'
1(
uho urr^' Wc don't want to Woe to anvonr nho %a\% th\\n
is
or - w hat
based, in principle, on
c«
>lkci
i\
db^hivior
on convention.
amounts to the same thing
though often imbued
involved here were designated by three names, each
Polite formulas, tor instance,
suggesting and opposing the others.
with a certain natural expressiveness as in the case ot
retain the
word
sign to designate the
I
propose to
whole and
replace concept and sounJ-imagc respect ively by
mfteJ and signijur;* the
last
to
.nlN
priscmtJ
MKccssmn,
in
tlu\
ckimnis
I'luir
lt»rin a
chain
This
I
where
facts arc l\pical in this re-
ake the countless instancc\ where aitcralMin
JiincnsuinN, aiuiitor\ signit'icrs ha\c
their coni-
the dislinc-
is
hnguisiu insiiiuiion
ertain iliachronii
(
)
spect
arc
\\[k of fatlh thai
s4ilc
lasses of diffrrcnecs
i
ii\e tuiution of the
\shich can oltcr sinuiitaiu-ous groupings in sc\crjl at
c\en the
IS
It
language has. tor maintaining the piaraikii%ni hc-
obMous
is
it
occasions a comepiual change and that the
guished corresponds
sum
of the ideas distin-
sum
in principle to the
When two words
the
of
feature bcctniH's rcaililx
apparent when they are
distmctise signs
represented
ami the
through phonetic alteration (eg. French Jrcreptt
writing
in
graphic marks
Sometimes
siihstituteil lor
is
the linear nature
When am seems that obxious
accent a
I
I
spatial
the sigmtier
t>t
s\ liable, lor
is
not
instance,
it
concentrating more than one sig-
element on the same point
nificant
of
line
succession in time
Hut this
an
is
illusion, the sNilahle aiul its accent constitute onl\
There
»>ne ph(»national act
no
is
within the
clualitN
act but onl\ ilillerent opposiiionv. tn uli.it
auil
precedes
what follows.
from
and
Jtcrepitui
if
onl\
ha\e s«»mething
the\
wonl mas ha\e and
succeeding
mind
significant but without alwa\s
and two ideas
mind tend
When we compare to this: in
language there are onl\ dilferences.
Kven mt)re important: plies positive
difference generally im-
terms between w hich the difference
is
but in janguai^c there are (ml vdirtjcrcnccs
set up;
without positive
tcrtiis.
\\
hether
we
take the signifieti
language has neither ideas nor
or the signifler,
sounds thaiexisted but
a
bt;^fore
the linguistic system
onK concep tual, and phonic differences that The idea or phonic
have^issued from the system.
substance that a sign contains
is
of
than the other signs that surround
its
because
meaning or
a
its
sound being
affected, solely
is
true only
if
e\ cry thing in
the expression
father and
same with
fitting, for
it
applies
or
tw«)
ideas,
e.g.
the
idea
having
and
a signified
but only
distinct.
(ippositinn.
The
signifler, are not different
Between them there
entire
with which we shall be concerned
on oppositions of
this
is
only
mechanism of language, later, is
based
kind and on the phonic and
conceptual differences that they imply.
A
W hat
is
unit
a
is
ponds
true of value
is
true also of the unit.
segment of the spoken chain
that corres-
both are by nature
to a certain concept;
purely differential.
language
is
.\pp hed to units, the principle of differentiati on
the signified and the signifler
can be stated in this wav: the characteristics o f
when we consider the we have something that is posi-
theun it blend
class.
positive terms
signs
would not be
mother,
as
own
no longer
into the
"father" and the idea "mother"; two signs, each
sign in
tive in its
that are
merge
to
only to the comparing of two sound-images, eg.
are considered separately; its totality,
trial
each other, we can no longer speak of difference;
is
neighboring term has been modified.
Hut the siaiemeni that iie^ative
importance
Proof of this
term may be modified w ithout
that the value of a
either
less
it.
first
conceptual difference perceived
signifier.
F.Nerything that has been said up to this point boils
down
()r a 'chair*
seeks to find expression through a
distinct in the
in Its I'otality
chatu
(cf.
being successful on the
«)r
confused
common.
\n\ nascent difTerence will lend
become
(.on\ersely, any the
in
forms
different
iliuirc 'desk')
invariably to
h\
he Siprn ClonsidcrccJ
from irnpui), the ideas
dturcpi
that the> express will also tend to Ix-come
distinct signifier,
I
arc confu)»cd
A
linguistic
system
is
a series
in
with the unit
itself
any semiological system
,
guishes one sign from the others constitutes
of differences of sound combined with a series of
Differenc e makes character just as
differences of ideas; but the pairing of a certain
and the
same principle
of values; and this system serves as the effective link
commonly
it.
v alue
is this:
in the last analysis
what
referred to as a "grammatical fact"
the definition of the unit, for
within each sign, .\lthough both the signified and
an opposition of terms;
the signifler arc purely differential and negative
the opposition
when considered
formation of
a
makes
.Another rather paradoxical consequence of the
between the phonic and psychological elements
is
it
unit.
number of acoustical signs with as mauN cuts made from the mass of thought engenders a system
separately, their combination
In language,^
whatever distin-
is
it
particular))
German
it
is
fits
always expresses
differs
only in that
significant (e.g. the
plurals of the type Sacht:
(m>
>^
Ferdinand de Saussure Nachte)."^
Each term present
in the
without umlaut or
fact (the singular
position to the plural with umlaut and
When
e)
is
the
Nacht nor Ncichte
is
opposition. Putting
it
isolated, neither
anything: thus everything
op-
consists of
number of oppositions within
the interplay of a
system.
grammatical final e in
Nacht: Nachte, we might ask what are the units involved in
whole lars
it.
Are they only the two words, the
series of similar
and
plurals,
words, a and
a,
or
all
singu-
etc..''
Units and grammatical facts would not be confused
if linguistic
signs were
made up of something
another way, the Nacht: Ndchte relation can be
besides differences. But language being what
expressed by an algebraic formula a/ h in which a
we
and
h are not simple terms but result
relations.
Language,
in a
from
a set
manner of speaking,
is
of a
shall find
nothing simple
tion each other. Putting
Some
form and n ot a
its
oppositions are
the
names
significant than
and grammatical
others; but units
different
more
facts are only
for designating diverse aspects of
same general
fact:
the functioning of linguistic
oppositions. This statement
is
so true that
we might
very well approach the problem of units by starting
from grammatical
Nacht means
facts.
night.
Taking an opposition
like
it
overstressed, for ology,
all
it
substance.
it is,
regardless of our
approach; everywhere and always there
complex equilibrium of terms
type of algebra consisting solely of complex terms. of
in
is
the
same
that mutually condi-
another way, langu age
is
a
This truth could not be
alMhe mist akes
in
our termin -
our incorrect ways of naming th ings tha t
pertain to language, stem from the involuntary
supposition that the linguistic
have substance.
phenomenon must
.
From "Science as a Vocation"
Max
\\ cbcr
Max Weber (1864-1920). giant German sociology, stands
of
Marx as one
of the great
with
age
Freud and
of the quintessential theorists of
modernity. A supporter of liberal republicanism in
imperialist,
arguing ity,
for the
Germany. Weber
quasi-feudal
famously opposed the
need
politicization of science,
for
dispassionate objectiv-
a stance directly connected to his view of
his most and the Spirit of Capitalism, he described Euro-American modernization as an expanding "rationalism." by
modernity.
the
In
Introduction
famous book. The Protestant
of
life
rationalitat).
lation of
order to serve worldly
which nowadays
and by
Does one
mean
it
the conditions ot
American
Lnless he
is
streetcar has
into motion.
belief that sanctified the character traits re-
even
liberty, rational
price:
it
buys
mod-
individual
thought, and material progress
exchange for a "disenchantment of the world." a permanent state of dissatisfaction, and an "iron cage" of bureaucratic alienation. There is no way around this bargain. Weber argued in his marvelous 1918 lecture "Science as a Vocation." He concludes that one must either bear the fate of the times like a man.'or sacrifice rational intelligence and "return [to] the arms of the old churches in
.
There
is
no third option.
and
created
this
science
b\
means
technology,
that we, todax, tor instance, everv-
sitting in this hall,
streetcar,
a
ears
what
first clarify
scientifically oriented
satisfied that
capitalism. For Weber,
\
practically.
The development of Protestantism, he was an example: unlike Catholicism, it announced an individualistic, calculative form of salvation through disciplined work, an innerweltliche Askese or "this-worldly asceticism." Christianity thereby evolved a form of
modern comes at
of
usually judged in such an ex-
rationalization,
intellect ualist
then theorized,
ernity
is
tremely negative way. Let us
goals.
quired by
imj-Mirtant
lite
ha\e
a
greater knowledge ot
under which we
Indian
or
a
exist
Hottentot?'
than has
Hardly.
of
to instrumental rationality {Zweck-
in
most
ha\c been undergoing lor thousands
\vc
an
the analysis, planning, and manipu-
phenomena
Iracrion. the
is a
Iraclion, of the process ol intilltctuali/ation Nshich
to
Ethic
which he meant an increasing subjection
spheres
.ScitntifK progress
a
physicist,
no idea how the car happened to get And he does not need to know He is he may 'count' on the behasiour ot the
and he orients
this expectation; but it
one who rides on the
his
conduct according
takes to produce such a car so that
tools.
When we it
spend money today
does
money
hall,
it
happen
in
bet
that
readiness to the question;
that
one
c-an
daily food
buy something
sometimes more and sometimes
The savage knows what he does
\
I
economy almost every one of them will
hold a different answer
'
can move.
there are colleagues of political
here in the
for
it
sa\age knows incomparably more about his
I'he
How
to
he knows nothing about what
in
less.'
order to get his
and which institutions serve him
in this
southern Xfrican pcdplc
Max Weber, from "Science as
a Vocation." pp.
138-40. 143-9. 155-6 in From Max Weber Essays in Sociology (trans, and ed. H. H. Gerth and C.Wright Mills). New York: Oxford University Press. 1946.
.
Max Weber The
pursuit.
increasing inteilectualization and ra-
do
tionalization
««/, therefore, indicate
an increased
and general knowledge of the conditions under
which one It
or belief that
if
What namely, the knowledge
else,
one but wished one could learn
any time. Hence,
means
it
one can,
play, but rather that
is
things by calculation. This
disenchanted.
in
at
that
come
in principle,
means
service.
all is
means to its devoted disciples. To raise this question
inteilec-
is
and,
in
general,
which science belongs
this
''progress,"
and motive
as a link
do they have any meanings
You
to
force,
beyond the
that go
purely practical and technical.^
will find this
question raised in the most principled form in the works of
to ask for the vocation
life
Leo
Tolstoi."
He came
to raise the
What
of humanity.
Today one
from presuppositions."
It
for
into an infinite "progress," according
own imminent meaning should
its
an end; for there
is
always
never come to
a further step
ahead of
And no
It
founda-
w orld; and,
at least
our special question, these presuppositions are
the least problematic aspect of science. Science further presupposes that what tific
work
this,
our problems. For
we must
is
yielded by scien-
important in the sense that
is
being known." In
it is
"worth
obviously, are contained
this
all
presupposition cannot be
means.
scientific
its
can only be
It
inter-
ultimate meaning, which
reject or accept according to
position tow ards
has none because the individual hfe of civilized
man, placed to
And his man death has no meaning.
meaningful phenomenon.
.
that the rules of logic
tions of our orientation in the
proved by
is a
.
thing.''
valid; these are the general
preted w ith reference to
for civilized
there such a
Is
work presupposes
and method are
question in a peculiar way. All his broodings in-
answ er w as:
total
the value of science.'
usually speaks of science as "free
creasingly revolved around the problem of whether
or not death
of science within the
is
depends upon what one understands thereby. All scientific
process of disenchantment, which
has continued to exist in Occidental culture for millennia,
no longer
is
hence, the problem of what science as a vocation
tualization means. this
meaningful vocation.'
question must be raised. But this
world
calculations
what
a
it is
that goes
master
that the
means and
Has "progress" as beyond the
take.^
meaning
a recognizable
his
thought as the key-
art.
stand should one
technical, so that to serve
The
this
merely the question of man's calling for science,
longer have recourse
This above
w ith
into
order to master or implore the
existed. Technical
perform the
Now,
such
did the savage, for w hom such mysterious
spirits, as
powers
One need no
means
to magical
it
that principally there are
no mysterious incalculable forces
all
novels one meets
note of the Tolstoyan
lives.
means something
Throughout
the imprint of meaninglessness. late
our ultimate
life.
Furthermore, the nature of the relationship of
work and
scientific
presuppositions
its
varies
The
natural
sciences, for instance, physics, chemistry,
and as-
widely according to their structure.
one who stands
in the
man w ho comes
w hile
lies in infinity.
upon the peak which Abraham, or some peasant of the
past, died "old
and
he
not only because with such knowledge one can
in
attain technical results but for its
march of
progress.
to die stands
satiated with life" because
stood in the organic cycle of life; because his
life,
terms of its meaning and on the eve of his days, had
him what
given to
life
had
to offer; because for
him
tronomy, presuppose to
as self-evident that
it is
w orth
know the ultimate law s of cosmic events
far as science
can construe them. This
quest for such knowledge this presupposition
is
to
ow n
is
as
the case
sake, if the
be a "vocation." Yet
can by no means be proved.
there remained no puzzles he might wish to solve;
And
and therefore he could have had "enough" of
the world which these sciences describe
is
worth
has any "meaning," or that
it
makes
Whereas
civilized
man, placed
in the
life.
midst of the
continuous enrichment of culture by ideas, knowledge,
and problems, may become "tired of hfe" but
not "satiated with
life."
minute part of what the ever anew
,
He
life
and what he
seizes
is
always something
provisional and not definitive, and therefore death for
him
death
is
ingless;
is
a
meaningless occurrence.
meaningless, civilized
by
its
life as
very "progressiveness"
And such it
because is
mean-
gives death
less
while, that
it
for the
A
great Russian writer (1828-1910).
12^
it
be proved that the existence of
answers to such questions.
Consider modern medicine,
ogy which
is
a practical
technol-
highly developed scientifically.
The
general "presupposition" of the medical enterprise is
stated trivially in the assertion that medical sci-
ence has the task of maintaining
life as
such and of
diminishing suffering as such to the greatest possible degree.
the medical "
can
sense to live in such a world. Science does not ask
catches only the most
of the spirit brings forth
still
man, even
Yet
this is problematical.
By his means
man preserves the life of the mortally ill
if
the patient implores us to relieve
him
"Science at a Vocation" cM-n
lite,
III
hiN rrlaiixis,
it
worihlcNs jiul
whom
III
IN
Ins
grow imlHaruhic. gram
hiN worthliNs lilc
Irom suttrring
ilcinpiion
wlxun
ii>
Perhaps
4 |XM»r
liiiutu
or noi, wish jiuI iiuisI wish lor his iKaih
prcMip|x>sitions ol niciiicinc,
prcM'iu the plnsicufi Iroin
Whfihir
pculK ctlorts
Njtiir.il
icchnicallN
it
l«)
worth while
is
ilo
ue wish
il
Iea\es i|uite asule.
Icchnicalh
sense
l\\v
iiNing
not jskeil h\ ineiiuine
is
ih)
wlutlur
aiul
master hie
to
assumes
«»r
whether we shouUI ami do w
pur|vises, life
\v\
|H*nal khIi*,
science gises ns an answer to the ijuestion
what we must
tit
ilu
.iiul
i(
ri-liiu|iiishing his tlura-
lite
this question
is
his rr-
rcbtnis, wluilur thi\ .ulmn
inxolxcil. whiisc
jml when
litr
ihc cosIh oI nuinuining
ish to
uliiin.iteK
it
lor its
gnen
is
The
tail
tor aesthetics
to Ciod
and, in
man. Hence, aesthetics shotiU be works of
is
partly
ot
whether there
dcK's not ask
should deplore
it
establishes what
It
to the rules ot
bound by
Mews
in
11
belongs there
To take ami
juristic
logically
is
thought,
compelling and
tions
IS
another
\\
hen speaking
recogni/ed as bind-
helher there should be law ant! uhelher one
legal
such questions
just these rules
jurisprudence does not answer.
our
this result,
It
can only
state:
It
according to the norms ot
thought, this legal rule
means of attaining
is
the appropriate
a
one uses
in
stand
is
such
a
Consider the historical and cultural sciences.
in
literary,
and
phenomena
social
terms of their origins. But they give us no answer
to the question,
cultural
.\nd
whether
whether the existence of these
phenomena has been and
they it
is
worth whi/c.
do not answer the turlher question, is
worth the
etfort
is
an interest
partaking, through this procedure, of the
this interest
is
commu-
the case; and that they
by no means proves that
goes without saying. In fact evident.
in
men." But they cannot prove
"scientifically" that this
presuppose
meet-
one's
come
out clearly
dut\.
The words
damned
meeting are not means of scien-
of contemplatne thought; they
to loosen the soil
swords
are
against
are weapons.
analyzes them
what results
it
is
not
at all
it
self-
words
such
enemies:
the
would be an outrage, however,
It
in
"democracy"
instance,
for
If,
lo
lecture or in the
a
under discussion, one considers
its
is
sarious forms,
the wa\ the\ function, determines
tor the conditions
of
life
has as compared with the other.
the one form
Then one con-
fronts the forms of democracN with non-democratic
forms of
which,
political
order and endeavors to
w here the student may
in
terms of his ultimate
stand. But the true teacher will
from the platform any student, whether let
it is
ideals,
he can take
political position
a
upon the
expressed or suggested. is
political
a
to a
from
beware of im|>osing
the facts speak tor themselves"
way of putting oNcr
come
find the point
"To
the most unfair
position
the
to
student.
W
required to know
them. They presuppose that there
nity of "civilized
one thing,
means of canvassing votes and The) are not plow-shares
analysis but
positi(m
it.
rhe> teach us how to understand and interpret political, artistic,
is
and part) posi-
in a political
personal standpoint; indeed, to
and take
tific
p
for him.
whiih
ilarilv
rather lacilitates this dut>
aiul
new ami genuine
a
tlnall\, will create
sionately for him. After
integrilx.
the
return silenil\, without the usual pubiicit\ build-
up
leitual
lourage to
con-
the person w ho cannot bear the fate of the like
quite « JifTcrmi
matter than the evasion of the plain dut\ of inlcl-
an inner sense, something simi-
result, but
will
man\ monuments ni tries intellectualK to
religions without
prophecN, then,
f>ncii
to torce anil to "in\ent"' a
st>le in art,
are prmluceil as the
ities last
is
like a rirebraiul. weliling tluin
we attempt
It
m«)numental
an unconiliiMinjl
cthiailly
higher than the academic prophecx, which docit not
former times swept through the
in
in la\or ol if
clearb reali/e that in the leciure-riMims ot the uni-
is
pulsating that corres|>onds to the prophetic Wii,*'
ilc\oiion
reliKiouh
intimate ami not
art
within the smallest ami intimate circles,
human
not acci-
It is
Mcnficc
intellectual
acculental that l(Kla\ oiiK
our greatest
that
ilenlal
mitt
i-iihcr
lilc
\N«irlil
b>
ill.
siiMinu- \ahii-s luxe rciri-utcil
4iul iiiDsi
public
Iroin
raimii-
l»\
Ami, aKivr
ali/iition Ani\ inicllci.lU4li/4lion
Kdom
12 "Seir"
is
f sau.
Jacobs
In the t'oilox^ing
another name for
Le Corbusier Charles-Edouard Jeanneret,
a.k.a.
Le Corbusier
(1887-1965), was a Swiss architect whose 1923 collection of magazine articles Vers une Architecture (translated as Towards a
New Architecture)
is
perhaps the most important architectural book of the twentieth-century. Le Corbusier took it as his generation's task fundamentally to rethink architecture's meaning for a new technological and socially egalitarian age.
De-ornamentation and
geometrical simplicity are not only functional
and egalitarian, but they reveal the truth of a building, naked and essential. When his innovative design for the first League of Nations center in Geneva in 1927 was disqualified (because it had not been drawn using India ink!), the International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM) was formed, largely to defend his kind of avant-garde work. His architectural style was based on a vision of a future society that
would be true to
its
own
by the relationships which he creates he wakes profound echoes
in us,
an order which we
he gives us the measure of
feel to
be in accordance with
that of our world, he determines the various
move-
ments of our heart and of our understanding; then that
we experience
Three Reminders
it is
the sense of beauty.
to Architects
MASS Our
eyes are constructed to enable us to see forms
in light.
Primary forms are beautiful forms because they can be clearly appreciated. Architects to-day no longer achieve these simple
forms.
Working
Industrial nature.
by
engineers
calculation,
employ
geometrical forms, satisfying our eyes by their geo-
The
metry and our understanding by
Engineer's ^Esthetic and
their
work
is
on the direct
line
their mathematics;
of good
art.
Architecture
The
Engineer's ^Esthetic, and Architecture, are
two things that march together and follow one from the other: the one being now the other in an
The
unhappy
at its full height,
state of retrogression.
Engineer, inspired by the law of
Economy
SURFACE A
mass
is
divided up according to the directing and gener-
is
enveloped
in its surface, a surface
ating lines of the mass; and this gives the
which
mass
its
individuality.
and governed by mathematical calculation, puts us in accord with uni\ ersal law.
The realizes spirit;
He achieves harmony.
Architect, by his arrangement of forms,
an order which
is
a
pure creation of his
by forms and shapes he
to an acute degree
affects
and provokes
our senses
plastic emotions;
Le Corbusier, from "Argument," pp. 1-8; inder:
Mass," pp.
Mass," pp.
47-64
in
Towards a
(trans. Frederick Etchells). tions,
1986.
"First
Rem-
29-31; and "Third Reminder:
New
New
Architecture
York: Dover Publica-
Towards a Nt^w ArcNtucturo \rthuccls ciMiNdiucnls
Mv
itHtljN
The grtai
'l"
"'
all Jill
•...ii..iii.
J
surfjcrs
(il
//A7'/
pruhlcins ol
The airplane
inusi huM- J groiiulrKul soluiion I'lircrd
ncciis
cxactU
iif
nuke use
actonljiKc with the slncl
in
cnmnccrs
ilcicrmiiifil coruiitions,
generating ami accusing lines in rela-
(it
forms
to
tion
>%i»rk
III
IheN
/\/s
nuKkiii iunsiiiutiun
create
liinpui
of the airplane lies in the toKic vthich
governed the sialement
the
of
problnn and Us
realization
The problem
ino\ing
.iiui
the prtnlucl o( lUrsc Mrlrttiim
is
The lesson
of
ilu
house has not
liccn
\cl
slated plastic tacts
Nesertheless there
exist
ilo
siandanls fur the
dwelling house
l\
/'/
Ihc
.Machinery contains
Wiihoui
\ou ha\e lack
plan.
a
^m^\,
generator
IM.ui IS the
onUr,
iil
aiul
which makes
The house
machine
a
is
in itself the factor ot
ccun-
for selection for living in.
wilJulness
The IMan hokis
in itself the
pn>hlems
i'he great
collectiNe necessities, put a
essence of sensatitm.
to-morrow,
of
"plan"
tlu- i|iRsti(>ii ot
in
new form. Minlern
\ll()\]()lilLi:S
In
ilictaleil
We
must aim
face the
ilemaiuls. aiul
life
is
waiting
new
tor. a
kind of plan, boih tor the house aiui lor the
the fixing of standards in order to
at
problem
of perfection.
The Parthenon
is a
proiluct of selection applied
to a stanilani
cit\
Architecture operates in accordance with standards. Rc'iiiilaliiii;
,incs
I
Standards are
mailer of Ujgic, analvsis and
a
minute stud>; ihe\ are based on
An
ine\itable element ot ArchiiecUire.
The necessitN
tor ortler.
has been well "stated."
The regulating
guarantee against wilfulness.
line
is a
.\
a
problem which
standard
is
definiteU
established by experiment.
brings satisfaction
It
to the understanding.
The
regulating line
a recipe. Its
given to
is
a
means
are an integral
it
to
an end;
it
is
not
Architecture
choice and the modalities of expression part of
architectural
THE LliSSOX
Ol ROMl.
creation.
The
business of Architecture
tional relationships
Eyes
W hich Do
Not Sec
.Vrchitecture goes
-Architecture
The The
LIXERS' A
epoch has begun.
great
There
exists a
There
exists a
spirit;
it
is
to
new
stifled
in the
of intention
in industrial
The
own
result
animating
ot"
a state
all
the
of mind
special character.
Our own epoch is determining, day by day, its own style. Our eyes, unhappily, are unable yet to discern it. liners.
Plan prtK'eeds from within to without; the
exterior
is
the result of an interior.
The elements
of architecture are light and shade,
walls and space.
Arrangement
is
the gradation of aims, the classi-
fication of intentions.
-Man looks eyes,
Ocean
a unit\
sense of relationships; architecture deals
by custom.
a unity of principle
its
of order,
utilitarian needs.
thing
new
lie.
work of an epoch, the which has
beyond
a plastic
Tin: liJA si()\ Ol' PL \\s is
"styles" are a is
emo-
Passion can create drama out ol inert stone.
mass of work conceived
be met with particularly
-Architecture
Style
to establish
with quantities.
spirit.
production.
The
spirit
is
is
by means of raw materials.
at
w hich arc
the creation of architecture w ith his 5 feet
6 inches from the ground-
One
can only deal with aims w hich the eye can appreciate.
Le Corbusier and intentions which take into account architectural
come
elements. If there
into play intentions
do not speak the language of architecture, you
Beautiful also with
which
artist's sensibility
arrive
tioning elements.
the animation that the
all
can add to severe and pure func-
of plans, you transgress the rules of the
at the illusion
Plan through an error in conception, or through leaning towards
a
Architecture or Revolution
empty show.
PURE CREATION OF THE MIND
new problems have prenew tools have been created them. If this new fact be set
In every field of industry,
sented themselves and
Contour and
profile
arc
the touchstone of the
architect.
capable of resolving
against the past, then you have revolution.
Here he reveals himself as artist or mere engineer. Contour
is
There
here no longer any question of custom,
is
free of
all
constraint.
nor of tradition, nor of construction nor of adaptation to utilitarian needs.
Contour and mind; they
the plastic
pure creation of the artist.
Mass-production Houses
new economic
needs, mass-production units have been created
both
mass and
in
detail;
have been achieved both
profile are a
call for
In building and construction, mass-production
has already been begun; in face of
this fact
be
and definite
in detail
set against the past,
and
results
in mass. If
then you have
revolution, both in the
method employed and
the large scale on w hich
it
The
in
has been carried out.
history of Architecture unfolds itself slowly
across the centuries as a modification of structure
A
great epoch has begun.
and ornament, but
There
concrete have brought
exists a
new
spirit.
Industry, overwhelming us like a flood which
on towards
rolls
us with
new
its
destined ends, has furnished
new epoch,
tools adapted to this
mated by the new
Economic law
ani-
inevitably governs our acts and
The problem of the house is a problem of the The equilibrium of society to-day depends
epoch.
Architecture has for
it.
its first
duty, in this
period of renewal, that of bringing about a revision
of values,
a revision
of the constituent elements of
the house.
the index of a greater capacity for construction, and
overturned. If we challenge the past,
no longer
belonging to our
own
is
based on analysis and experi-
period has
Our minds have
Industry on the grand scale must occupy
about; and
The machinery
of Society, profoundly out of between an amelioration, of histor-
gear, oscillates
importance, and a catastrophe.
The
primordial instinct of every
itself
house on
intellectual.
mass-production
basis.
create the mass-production spirit.
of constructing
It is a
mass-production
houses.
The
human
being
is
various classes of
workers in society to-day no longer have dwellings adapted
spirit
come
arisen, consciously or unconsciously.
with building and establish the elements of the
We must
shall learn
consciously or unconsciously
to assure himself of a shelter.
ment.
The
we
exist for us, that a style
apprehended these events and new needs have
ical
Mass-production
a
and
conquests, which are
there has been a Revolution.
our thoughts.
upon
new
of an architecture in which the old codes have been
that "styles"
spirit.
in the last fifty years steel
to their needs;
neither the artizan nor the
question of building which
is at
the root of
the social unrest of to-day: architecture or revolution.
The spirit of living in mass-production houses. The spirit of conceiving mass-production houses. we
If
eliminate from our hearts and minds
dead concepts
in regard to the house,
and look
all
the question from a critical and objective point of
view
,
we
shall arrive at the
"House-Machine," the
mass-production house, healthy (and morally so too)
and beautiful
tools
in the
same w ay
that the
working
and instruments which accompany our
ence are beautiful.
(51$)
First
Reminder: Mass
at
exist-
Architecture
is
the masterly, correct and magnifi-
cent play of masses brought together in light. eyes are
made
to see
forms
in light; light
Our
and shade
reveal these forms; cubes, cones, spheres, cylinders
or pyramids are the great primary forms which light reveals to advantage; the
image of these
is
.
Towards a New Architecture disltiKt
guil\.
and IS
ll
tangihlt- wiihiii u\ Jiul
Hiihout
Jiiibi-
itui reason ihai (hcM: arc hrautiful
liir
formi. ihf mn\t hfiiutiful fo'fti
l.\cr\lxKl>
is ujjrcril
js Id that, the thiUI, the sjNugc aiul (lu- incijplus-
liun
ll
Roman
(irccL or
l.g\|>iian.
arihitccturc
and
kus iPT hate the .imentan grant elrvalon
afe
magmfumt I'lRM -rtl
IT» of ikr ntw
A\«»RI(.AS I.N(il\I.I.R% (IVIRHMII.M
lll>
IIIMK
\\MII SK( III!
ihc \cr\ luiurc ot ihc pbstic arts
IS (it
J
failonei. ike
>
01 R IXHIRISCi
AI.(.tJl.Afl()N.H
(
K»
11
I
An
is
architecture ot prisnis, ciilx-s ami c\lnulers, p\ra-
muls or spheres I. uxor,
\
einple
I
(
not.
Iiiiui.iiiii iil.ilU
i»Iis«.
uiii.
«>t
I
I
.III liitiv till
(.
IN
spheres, cones aiul iNJiiulers
tui
I
expression ol
gcometr>
of
we search
in
it
for
kind tmtside plastic
ol a sub)ecti\e
complex
a
tor that reason that a cathedral
is
an
is
second order (intersectinii arches)
hcautitui and that
not \er\
is
compensations
art.
A
cathedral
interests us as the ingenious solution ot a difficult
problem, but
a
problem
which the
ot
Ki iniiulci
I
i^ostulales
he plan
is
site
impact
gravity, which
The
is
a
drama; a j'l^ht against
is
not a
their
Pyramids, the Towers
ot
Babylon, the Ciates
Samarkand, the Parthenon, the Coliseum, the
t)t
Pantheon,
Mosques
the
Pont
the ot
«.lu
Santa
Ciard,
Stamboul, the Tower
Sophia,
ot Pisa, the
to space
du
do
(^uai d'Orsay, the Cirand Palais
architects
of to-day,
the sterile back-
waters of their plans, their tbiiage, their pilasters
and
their lead r(K)ts,
ha\e ncNcr acquired the
ct)n-
eye trans-
in a large interior, the
multiple
surfaces of walls and vaults; the cupolas detenninc the large spaces; the vaults display their
accordance
comprehensible
with
w hole structure
trom
rises
accordance with
a rule
harmony: is at its
this
its
reasons.
base and
which
is
is
in
The
developed
written on the
is
.\
pr()t«)und pro-
architecture.
basis. V\ ithout plan there c-an
of aim
grandeur
neither
sur-
noble torms, variety of tbrm,
in the plan:
jection of
own
and the walls adjust themselves
taces; the pillars
The plan
lost in
relationship of
the
unity of the geometric principle.
not belong to .\rchiiecture."
The
rhvthm and not an
architecture.
is
The eye observes,
ground
I'he Ciare
if
the dispfjsition of
if
clean
in just pro|>ortion, the
is
If
it
kind and ha\e not been
derives trom these satistactions of a high
the Pont-Royal, the In\alidcs Architecture.
receives the
It
up around
mits to the brain co-ordinated sensations and the
in
these belong to
a
incoherent agglomeratHin,
Cupolas of Brunclleschi and of Michael Angelo, all
a titrmal
the rKcc»-
le\el, the
rcaMin ol their height the same accomnKnlation that has
wum
jiui
ionsiani repairs toexeiulr,
them
(a
labour of Sisyphus) the gas
The Circck mythological character Sisyphus was condemned h\ the gods rcpcaicdb to mil a boulder up a hill, only to see it roll back down, tor etcmit> "Tubes" refers .
to
subwavs.
(m>
Le Corbusier city.
Here again the plan
is
the generator; without
it
accent running not from top to bottom, but horizontally from
poverty, disorder, wilfulness reign supreme.
Instead of our towns being laid out in massive
This
left to right.
a modification of the first
is
importance
in
quadrangles, with the streets in narrow trenches
the aesthetic of the plan;
walled in by seven-storeyed buildings set perpen-
but we shall be wise to bear this in our minds,
dicular on the
courtyards,
pavement and enclosing unhealthy
airless
and sunless
wells,
our new
has not yet been realized;
it
in considering projects for the extension
of our
towns. *
*
*
layout, employing the same area and housing the same number of people, would show great blocks of
We are living in a period of reconstruction and of
houses with successive set-backs, stretching along
adaptation to new social and economic conditions.
No more
avenues.
arterial
opening on every side not on the
puny
to air
trees of
courtyards, but
and
light,
flats
and looking,
our boulevards of to-day,
In rounding this
Cape Horn the new horizons
before us will only recover the grand line of tradition
by a complete revision of the methods
in
but upon green sward, sports grounds and abun-
vogue and by the fixing of a new basis of construc-
dant plantations of trees.
tion established in logic.
The
jutting
prows of these great blocks would
break up the long avenues
at regular intervals.
The
In architecture the old bases of construction are
dead.
We
shall not rediscover the truths of archi-
various set-backs would promote the play of light
tecture until
and shade, so necessary
ground
to architectural expression.
Reinforced concrete has brought about a revolution in the aesthetics of construction.
By suppress-
ing the roof and replacing
it
concrete
is
new
hitherto
unknown. These set-backs and recessions
leading us to a
are quite possible
and
by
will, in
terraces, reinforced aesthetic of the plan,
the future, lead to a
play of half-lights and of heavy shade with the
A
for
new
bases have established a logical
every
architectural
period of 20 years
manifestation.
beginning which
is
occupied in creating these bases.
A
will
be
period of great
problems, a period of analysis, of experiment,
a
period also of great aesthetic confusion, a period in
which
We tion.
a
new
aesthetic will
must study the
be elaborated.
plan, the key of this evolu-
"Lecture on Ethics" From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Ludwiu;
\\ ittgcnstcin
philosopher
Austrian
Ludwig
Wittgenstein
(1889-1953) was perhaps the most
influential
Western philosopher of the twentieth century. Brilliant and unhappy. Wittgenstein struggled all his life against the bewitchment" of his mind by philosophical questions. Having studied with
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), his early work on
fundamental issues in the philosophy of mathematics, logic, and the nature of philosophy gave major impetus to logical positivism. Wittgenstein then declared that he had put all philosophical questions to rest and left academia. Years later, after a major change in outlook, he returned and gave rise to "ordinary language" philosophy, presented in his posthumous but hugely influential Philosophical Investigations that
meaning
is
(1953).
Its
notion
determined by social contexts
of
practical activity, or "language-games." later play
Most
an important role
in
would postmodernism.
of the following excerpt is his lesser
"Lecture on Ethics" (1929).
in
known
which he explains
diminished by mentioning them to
The
first
one, N\hich almost
that l.nglish
not
is
m>
>(»u
nati\e tongue and
and
one
talks
to a.sk
you
I
to
stantly be
mar. that
I
you right
in this point
\\
first
to read a
announced the end
of traditional philosoph-
to
I
have
me my and my
thought was that
I
paper to your society,
would
certainly
was
do
it
second thought was that
if
tunity to speak to you
should speak about some-
thing which
I
am
I
I
to
have the oppor-
keen on communicating to you
give you a lecture about, say, logic.
ical reflection.
lecture
And
hen Nour former secretary honoured
me
by asking
is this,
few words
will say a
I
about the reason for choosing the subject chosen:
con-
committing against the Knglish gram-
and
stein
will
1
of mine with slightly wrong expectations. set
my
get at
The second difficulty will mention probably many of you come up to this
to his first book. Tractatus
which Wittgen-
if
can do is make my task easier by tr\ing to meaning in spite of the faults which about a difficult subject. All
inquiry. Following this is the
in
is
ex-
which would be desirable
human
Logico-Philosophicus (1921).
my
jircssion therefore often lacks that prcci.sion
subtle!)
famous conclusion
the limits of
beforehand
need not mention,
I
that
I
should not misuse this opportunity to I
c^ll this
misuse, for to explain a scientific matter to \ou
would need paper.
a
a it
course of lectures and not an hour's
Another alternative would have been
to
give you what's called a popular-scientific lecture, that i i
Lecture on Ethics"
Before
I
begin to speak about
me make have
a
great
my
subject proper
few introductory remarks. difficulties
thoughts to vou and
I
in
think
I
feci
I
communicating
is
a lecture intended to
you understand
let
shall
my
some of them mav be
a
make you
believe that
thing which actualK you don't
Ludwig Wittgenstein: [A] "Lecture on Ethics." The Philosophical Review 74. no. 1 (January 1965). pp. 3-12: [B] from Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (trans. D. F. Pears and B. F. McGuinness). paras. 6.53-6.57. pp. 73-4. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1961.
(@)
Ludwig Wittgenstein understand, and to gratify what
believe to be one
I
about
superficial curiosity about the latest discoveries of
actually used in
science.
rejected these alternatives
I
you about
talk to
of general importance, hoping that
up your thoughts about
clear
it
may
My
it).
and
third
is
it
the hearer
this, that
is
led
That
stand
he says, but what on earth
or else he thinks "I see
on earth
incapable of
w hat
it
he driving at"
is
he's driving
but how
at,
he going to get there." All
is
lec-
he either thinks: "I under-
to say:
is
is
if
will say
and the goal w hich
leads to. all
them
and the
one which,
last difficulty is
seeing both the road he
to
(even
I
most lengthy philosophical
in fact, adheres to
tures and
to
help to
this subject
you should entirely disagree with what about
me
to
can do
I
is
these expressions
all
be
and decided
w hich seems
a subject
Now the first thing that strikes one
concerned with.
of the lowest desires of modern people, namely the
senses.
instance
say that this
I
purpose has been previously fixed upon. In
the
word good
coming up
in the relative sense
now
will
into
what
He says:
"Ethics
is
in his
book Prin-
the general enquiry
Now I am going to use the term
good."
is
is
adopt the explanation of that term
which Professor Moore has given cipia Ethica.^
know,
begin. IVly subject, as you
will
I
predetermined standard.
to a certain
similarly if
I
say that
catch cold
I
mean
it
is
important for
say that this
right road relative to a certain
deep problems. But
this
them. Supposing that
me
of you saw
I
part of what
make you
to
is
generally called Aesthetics.
see as clearly as possible
number of more
or less
And
take to
I
a
"You're behaving
want
I
to
preposterous
to say "I to
answered "I know, I'm
could say would be
said
and by enumerating them
I
But suppose
that's all right."
you
each of which could be substituted for the above definition,
man
the other
all
know I behave badly, but then I
you ought
on the same photographic
plate in order to get
the picture of the typical features they
common. And ive
photo
I
as
by showing
could make you see what
say - Chinese face; so
synonyms which I
I
if you
will
is
had
all
you such
to
in
a collect-
the typical
look through the
-
row of
put before you, you
will,
hope, be able to see the characteristic features they
all
have
common and
in
features of Ethics.
Now instead of saying "Ethics is
the enquiry into what
Ethics
what is
is
these are the characteristic
is
good"
the enquiry into what
is
really important, or
I
I
is
life
living.
I
w ill
worth
as to
all
what
to
to
he would say "Well,
J
behave better." Here you have
i
instance was one of a relative judgment.
Every judgment of
ment of
facts
form that
loses
it
relative value
all
is
the right
mere
a
in
es-
this:
state-
such
a
the appearance of a judgment
of value: Instead of saying "This
Granchester,"
is
and can therefore be put
first
The
sence of this difference seems to be obviously
is
the right
way
to
could equally well have said, "This
I
way you have
to
go
if
you want
to get to
valuable, or, into
good runner" simply means that he runs
a certain
way of
these phrases you it is
that Ethics
is
number of etc.
G. E. Moore (1873-1958), English philosopher who,
Now
miles in a certain
what
judgments of
I
w ish
to
a
number of minutes,
contend
relative value
is
is
that,
although
all
can be shown to be
mere statements of facts, no statement of fact can ever be, or imply, a judgment of absolute value. Let explain this: Suppose one of you were an
niscient person
with Bertrand Russell, invented twentieth-century "ana-
ments of
lytic" philosophy.
and that he
(l4g)
want
an absolute judgment of value, whereas the
me '
w ant
man
living, or into the right
rough idea
don't
Granchester in the shortest time"; "This
could have said Ethics
believe if you look at
get a
were
could have said
the enquiry into the meaning of life, or into what
makes
and
I
behave any better," could he then say "Ah, then
that's all right".^ Certainly not;
faces
then
me
to
beast" and then
like a
duced when he took
number of photos of different
"Ah
had told one of
I
and he came up
lie
produce the same sort of effect w hich Galton proa
Ethics uses
don't want to play any better,"
I
put before you
will
I
if
playing and said "Well, you play
synonymous expressions
be the subject matter of Ethics a
w hat
how
not
is
playing badly but
tial
and
life
could play tennis and one
which includes w hat
most essen-
my
I
these expressions don't present any difficult or
pretty badly" and suppose
believe to be the
not to
mean that it's the goal. Used in this way
the right road
is
me
that catching a cold produces
Ethics in a slightly wider sense, in a sense in fact I
fact
simply means
Thus when we say that this man is a good pianist we mean that he can play pieces of a certain degree of difficulty with a certain degree of dexterity. And
I
I
far as
this
certain describable disturbances in
Ethics and
\
that
the chair serves a certain predetermined purpose
and the word good here has only meaning so
end you may see both the way and where
leads to.
If for
means
a good chair this
is
hand
on the other.
ethical or absolute sense
is
will call
I
the trivial or relative sense on the one
again to ask you to be patient and to hope that in the it
them
that each of
is
two very different
all
and therefore knew
all
the
om-
move-
the bodies in the w orld dead or alive also
knew
all
the states of
mind of
all
"Lecture on Elhic*" luiiiuu iH-ings tlui cM-r IimhI, jiuI \up|x»sc this iiuii \Nroic
he knew
all
Uwik, ihcn this UmiL
in j big
woiiUI oiniJin the uholc ilt-Mriplion ol ihc
whji
iiul
want
I
ionitiin ni>thin^
sj\
(i>
woiilil
road
nicnt or jn\ihin^ thai uoiiUI logujllv inipK suth j iiuiutncni
ami
iiions
ami
all
NiamI on
same
the
which,
prop«»sitn)ns
in
the
same was
same
le\el
Ihere are
aiul
you
of
Now
Hamlet's
"\othinvj
w«»rils:
makes
but thinkinu; to a
agree to that aiul
will
vtcmkI
either
\\ hat
I
would
t«)r n«)t
bringing about. .And
leail
a state ot atfairs is a
of the that
is
l^e
the
i«
sense,
absolute
an\
in
are sublime, important, or iri\ial
some
such
absoluteU
were,
it
quite clear to us
i>
illu«irair lhi%
The rnjhi road
an arbiirariK prrdctcrnimcd
leails to
it
go on,
I
sense in talking alxiut the right road apart frtim
lan hv
iUmtiIhiI \souUI, as
level
end and
we louUI
pri>|'M>sitions siaiul «>n the
til
IK)
rcljliM*
.ill
whuh
iruc scuniilu pro|x>s-
in fail all iruc pn»|>oMti(»Ms thai
lUii all the tails
rnailc
lonijin
uoiilil ot «.i>urNc
It
lUiliinH-iUs ol \4lnc
mr. briorr
let
b\ a rather obxions exam|>le
xmuiUI uII jn tlhual luilg-
ih.il \m-
onl\ rrlalivr value ind rrUli%r gtMMi.
is
cU Anil
riKht,
v\orlil,
(his IxMik
ihal
i\,
teiiuil there
common ground
describe this
make you recall so that we may
our investigation.
for
I
believe the best
way of describing
w hen
I
wonder at the existence of the world.
.\nd
am
I
ha\ c
it
/
that
"how extraordinary will
is
to say that
then inclined to use such phrases as
extraordinary
I
it
anything that the
should
"how
exist"
or
world should exist."
mention another experience straight away
(®)
Ludwig Wittgenstein which
know and w hich
also
I
acquainted with:
others of you might be
what one might
is,
it
experience of feeling absolutely state
of mind in which one
safe,
nothing can injure
Now
me
let
I
these expressions seem,
mean
the
similes.
am
whatever happens." experiences,
these
for,
we
believe, they exhibit the very characteristics
I
And
try to get clear about.
have to say
I
there the
give to these experiences
"I
wonder
me
explain this:
something being the
case,
it
means
w onder
to say that
is
I
bigger than anyone
w hich,
or at any thing
word,
say
I
am
has a
to say that I w onder we all understand what
at
at
It
I
good and clear sense
perfectly
is
which
nonsense! If
is
the existence of the world"
at
misusing language. Let
w hich
thing
first
that the verbal expression
is,
we
of a dog
at the size
I
w onder
namely the ordinary wonder.
I
To
say "I
wonder if I
visited
it
for a long time
had been pulled down nonsense to say that world, because
I
of this dog
should not
I
such and such being
at
can imagine
not to be
it
could of course wonder
being as
and has not
meantime. But
at the existence
I
But
wondering
this experience
at is a tautology,
But then
wondering
what
to say that
namely
it's
just
w hat
at the
at a tautology.
I
I
am
safe if
I
therefore get that
it is
I
am
me
a
One
am w ondering
same applies
I
want
seem
in this sense to
ically.
be used as similes or allegor-
For w hen we speak of
when we
God and
that he sees
him
kneel and pray to
etc., etc.
But
ence which
them
is, I
ring to
is
to
I
know what
am
safe in
it's
it
my
nonsense
Again
as the other
to impress
this
example
"existence"
on you
him as a human we try to w in,
to. For the first of w hat people were refer-
have just referred
believe, exactly
when they
God had
said that
created the
world; and the experience of absolute safety has
been described by saying that we
A third
hands of God. is
that of feeling guilty
by the phrase that
Thus
feel safe in the
experience of the same kind
and again
God
this
was described
disapproves of our conduct.
and religious language we seem
in ethical
or that
misuse of our language runs
must
constantly to be using similes. But a simile
And
be the simile for something. fact
by means of a simile
must
I
if I
can describe a
also be able to
the simile and to describe the facts w ithout
drop
Now
it.
our case as soon as we try to drop the simile and
no such
find that there are first
appeared to be
nonsense.
Now
mentioned
seem
to
And
so,
we
it,
what
at
now seems to be mere experiences w hich I have
the three
you (and
I
could have added others)
who have
to those
facts.
a simile
absolute value. But
all
all
this allegory also describes the experi-
I
We
safe whatever happens.
Now
some similarity. And when we say "This man's life was valuable" we don't mean it in the same sense in which we would speak of some valuable jew elry but there seems to be some sort of analogy. Now all religious terms
instance to me, to have in
misuse of the word
"wondering."
it
football
player" there seems to be
have mentioned, the
and therefore
a certain characteristic
good
simply to state the facts which stand behind
be safe essentially means
misuse of the word "safe"
was of
a
is
in
physically impossible that certain things
to say that a
To
again.
"This
in the sentence
it's
have had w hooping cough and cannot it
good fellow,"
am
cannot be run over by an omnibus.
should happen to
is
the
in ordinary life to be safe. I
is.
at
sky being blue or not
Now
experience of absolute safety.
room, when
I
it
I
nonsense to say that one
the other experience w hich
means
when
mean.
I
the sky being whatever
at
might be tempted
blue.
not
that's
I
me
could wonder
the sky being blue as opposed to the case
clouded.
of the
not existing.
it
had
I
while looking into the blue sky,
it
it is
world round
at the
If for instance
it is.
it
and has imagined that
in the
wonder
means
being of great power whose grace
which
cannot imagine
I
something
it's
although the word good here doesn't mean what
elaborate allegory which represents
house w hen one sees
of, say, a
is a
w onder
I
the case. In this sense one can w onder at the exist-
ence
sense,
could conceive
at the size
size, at
the case" has only sense
its trivial
and when we say "This
similar,
our terms and actions seem to be parts of a great and
sense of the
could conceive of a dog of another,
I
not right in
common
extraordinary. In every such case
not to be the case.
is
be just
to
facie,
an ethical sense, although, what we
right in
mean,
prima
seems that when we are using the
it
everything and
something being the case which
because
word
Thus
have ever seen before
I
in the
and religious expressions. All
all ethical
the
inclined to say "I
is
me
consider
safe.
through
call,
experienced them, for
some sense an
w hen I say they
intrinsic,
are experiences,
surely, they are facts; they have taken place then
and there, lasted
a certain definite
quently are describable. said
some minutes ago
so
time and conse-
from what
must admit
it is
have absolute value.
to say that they
make my point
I
And
still
I
have
nonsense
And
more acute by saying
I
will
"It
is
the paradox that an experience, a fact, should
seem
way
to in
have supernatural value."
which
paradox. Let
I
Now
would be tempted
me
first
to
there
meet
consider, again, our
experience of wondering
at the existence
is a
this first
of the
| '
nBetatmLogfco-PNkmophtcM wurlil Jiul
wr
\%j>,
It
(>h\i(iusl\
which wc hj\c ncxcr
t»l
such an c\cnt
\ou sudilenix grew
is
\inipl\ jn c%cni ihr
as cxtraordinar> a thing as
Now wheneNer we
should ha>e re-
c«»^ered trtini t>ur surprise, what
would
m\esligated and
him
would ha\e him
I
at
Tor
group
s\siem.
I
his
is
it
b> this term
is
has not Net Ix-en explained b\
a tact
science which again tailed to
lor hurting
And where would clear that when we
we mean
disap|K-ared, unless what
fnereK that
were not
it
wa> e\er\thing miraculous has
in this
It
it
vivisected.
ihe nuracle have got to? liKik
w«iuUI suggest
I
and ha>e the case scien-
to fetch a doitor
Ih"
nt'ically
\tiw siipfxtNC
\cl seen
Imn's head ami began to roar
j
houUI be
can imagine
wmilil he
litr
lake the case ihjt one ol
Iu|>|h-iu-iI
(xrtiiinly that I
in a >lighll\ ililtctciil
i(
kno\« v^hji in orilmjr\
nurjilc
cdiicil J
like
iiir licsiri^H'
III
all
means
with others
this tact
shows
we ha\e
that
that
in a scientific
absurd to sa\ "Science
is
it
hitherto
has proved that there are no miracles." Ihe truth that the scientific
way tact
to l
he correct method
really
is
what can be
to
in
philosophy would
be the following: to say nothing except
science
be
said,
i.e.
propositions of natural
something
i.e.
do with philosophy
someone
else
wanted
something meta-
Now
6.54
what we mean by our
and religious expressions.
me
I
comes
at
once see
Now when
clearly, as
it
this
were
of light, not only that no description that
I
is
would not be
sat-
he would not
this
method would be
the onlv
.My propositions serve as elucidations
eventually recogni/es
when he
in
who understands them
as
nonsens-
has used them - as steps - to
is
climb up beyond them. (He must, so to
to is
speak, throw away the ladder after he has
climbed up
not yet succeeded in finding the cor-
rect logical analysis of
against
all it
it
the following way: anyone
w hat we mean
by saying that an experience has absolute value that
had
strictly correct one.
certain experi-
ical,
all
that he
have the feeling that we were teaching him philosophy
me
that after
him
to certain signs in his
isfying to the other person
perfectly clear to if
meaning
has nothing
that
and then, whenever
to say
propositions. Although
we dnn V mean nonsense,
we have
and
it
to
importance, this simply shows that by these words
that
is
Philosophicus
we cannot express all we say about
Well,
and
it
human mind which
in the
help respecting deepiv
life
says
Tractatus Logico
absolute or ethical value and
just a fact like other facts
it
an\ sense Hut
in
ences constantly tempt us to attribute a quality to
them which we
good, the
What
absolute valuable, can be no science
a
is
as
far
springs fr«)m the desire to say something about
the ultimate
that
seem
this will
of
Religion was to run against the boundaries of lan-
other
at
the absolute miraculous remains nonsense. the answer to
.\1>
tendency
guage. This running against the walls of our cage
failed to give a
I
wanted
ever tried to write or talk Kthics or
language to the expression hy the existence of lanall
I
language
the
physical, to demonstrate to
what we want
had not yet
I
hrynnJ the world and
beN«>nd sigmfiiant
sa\
men who
)ust ///?»/
of the miraculous from an expression hy means of
guage,
hat
I
nonM-nsKal expres-
nonsensical because
whole tendencN
have said by shifting the expression
I
of
that these
do with them was
that
the exist-
some limes and not
at
now
nttt
was
sensicalitN
the existence of
But what then does
aware of this miracle
ftignificainl
found the correct cxprawumft, hut that ihar nun-
now
will
the existence of the world, though
itself.
b> ahMilulr
rvrr>
the experience of
is
not any proposition in language,
language
mean
1
rc)ctl
now
see
say that the right expression in language for the
miracle
see
I
sions were
the w(»rd "miracle" in a I
Hould
1
on the ground
initio,
to sa\
IS
I
and an absolute sense. .\nd
relatiNe
.iA
I
the absolute sense of that term. I'or
nluf
to dciM.ribc
that
description that an\bod> could p(i%%ihl\ %uftKC»(.
not the
is
would do
value, hut
imagine whate\er
of"lcM)king at a fact
as a miracle. l"or
it
is
ol
it.)
ethical
He must
urged
and then he
in a flash
can think
7
transcend these propositions, will see the
world aright.
What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), Moravian-born
a
Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoana-
other way.
lysis,
isthe most influential psychological theorist
able
of the twentieth century, despite the continuing
He saw unconscious and aggression behind
from
possible
reaction against his work.
in-
stincts of sexuality
all
facts,
culture, including the behavior of
know
human
life
and
its
human
instinctual nature
must always
feel in the
confines of a civilized society. Freud concluded
more well organized society becomes, more discomfort or guilt its members must
that the
the
even
they obey
however, no Utopian; he does not want to unshackle human instincts. Human beings are innately aggressive, and this aggression must be controlled. His account is poignant in its historical context, written as it was during the rise of Nazism, and preceding a period of violence that perhaps even he could not have imagined. Forced as a Jew into feel,
if
emigration by
its strictures.
Hitler's
Freud
which we
for
how we
stand
pretation of life.
(The
annexation of Austria
in
of the existence of an instinct of
death or destruction has met with resistance even in
aware that there
is
a frequent
inclination rather to ascribe whatever
is
dangerous
is
own that
nature. I
To
an original bipolarity in
begin with
put forward the views
it
I
due place
in
our inter-
when
it
ber
my own
tinged with erotism.)
it is
instinct of destruction first
analytic literature, I
became receptive
shown, and surprises
still
to
is
talk
it
in
psycho-
took before
That others should have
it.
iittle
children do not like
of the inborn
own
how hard
quotation from
a
human
made them
in
nobody wants
to
has
perfection; it is
it"
inclination
and destructiveness,
God
to cruelty as well.
able existence of evil
A
remem-
show, the same attitude of rejection
to 'badness', to aggressiveness
be reminded
I
the idea of an
emerged
and how long
me less. For
there
when
defensive attitude
to reconcile the
undeni-
- despite the protestations
poem
of Goethe's.
its
was only tentatively have developed here,
but in the course of time they have gained such
(l45)
it its
desire for destruction
directed inwards mostly eludes our perception, of
course, unless
'
in love to
can no longer under-
I
is,
the image of His
and hostile
I
can have overlooked the ubiquity
can have failed to give
and so
am
work.
scientific
of non-erotic aggressivity and destructiveness and
science."
I
in
and inwards), strongly
instinct (directed outw^ards
alloyed with erotism; but
when
analytic circles;
strive
and masochism we have always
that in sadism
1938, he died in London in exile.The Nazis burned his books as a prime representative of "Jewish
The assumption
standpoint than any other
they provide that simplification,
seen before us manifestations of the destructive
Discontents (1930), he used psychoana-
theory to explore the inherent discomfort
lytic
a theoretical
ones;
without either ignoring or doing violence to the
infants. In a later speculative work, Civilization
and
me that I can no longer think in any To my mind, they are far more service-
hold upon
Sigmund
Freud, chapters
Civilization
and
its
6 and
7,
Discontents
Strachey). NewYork: Norton,
1961.
pp.
64-80 from James
(trans.
CMbation and Its OtoooncanCt ot
(ihnslun Science
Ills
with
The
4ll-mMKlnc\s
Hould be the
m
out js an excuse tor (mhI,
4ll-|M)\*crlulnc\>
li>
I
l>cvil
bciki
ol the
and the
dcMth instinct.'
much
must be c«»nlessed
It
we have uistinct; we
that
greater ditficuliN in grasping that
can onls suspect
as
it,
background behind unless
presence
its
with Kros.
It
in
is
twists the erotic
same time succeed
were, as something
it
and
K.ros,
escapes detection
it
betra>ed h\
is
the
in
being alloxed
its
sadism, where the death instinct
aim
own
sense and yet
at
the
tully satisfies the erotic urge, that
we
in its
obtaining the clearest insight into
in
nature and
its
emerges without an> sexual purpose,
we cannot
tury of destructiveness,
that the satisfaction of the instinct
fail is
to recognize
work
of each against
the hostilits
This aggressive instinct
mam
which we
meaning
the
found alongside of Kros and which
And now,
it
the e\olution
ol
no longer obscure
to us.
and the
out in the life
instinct
human
destruction, as
narcissistic a
moderated and tamed, aim, must, w hen
its
it
is
directed towards objects, pro\ide the ego with the satisfaction of
needs and with control over
its vital
nature. Since the assumption of the existence of the instinct
must
is
mainly based on theoretical grounds, we
also admit that
is
it
not entirely proof against
theoretical objections. Hut this to us
now,
future
in the present state
research
and
may
the struggle for
all
that follows
I
ill
human
of the
this battle of the giants that
my
return to
ciNili/ation
impediment
it
no
will
doubt
I
was
.At
become acquainted w ith
species. .\nd
m
is
an original,
man, and
one point
in
the
led to the idea that
ual instinct
"Eros".
refers
more simply and narrowh
which Freud
is
to the sex-
here interpreting broadh as
What
order U) inhibit to
it,
We
perhaps.'
make
it
ha\e already
few of these methods, but
a
important. This
we can
stud\ in the histor> of the
dexelopment of the indnidual. What hap|x-ns
him
to
in
render his desire for aggression inncKUOus.'
Something Nery remarkable, which we should never
in point
it is,
is
is, il is
is
is
nexertheless quite obviintrojected, internalized;
of fact, sent back to w here directed tow ards his
taken o\ er by
a
ow n
it
came from There il
ego.
portion of the ego, w hich sets itself
over against the rest of the ego as super-ego, which
now
,
in the
form of 'conscience',
action against the ego the that the
ego would ha\e liked to
extraneous individuals.
is
is
called
a
need
satisfy
upon
other,
The tension between the
by us the sense of guilt; for
ready to put into
same harsh aggressiveness
harsh super-ego and the ego that "Libido"
it is
not yet with the one that appears to be the most
- that
decide the matter.
constitutes the greatest
to civilization.
course of this enquiry
all
our nurse-maids try to
emplo>
it,
have guessed and which
adopt the standpoint, there-
view that
itself
what
.Another ipiesiion concerns us more nearl\
means does
ous. His aggressiveness
self-subsisting instinctual disposition in I
is
appease with their lullab\ about llea\en
of our know ledge;
fore, that the inclination to aggression
instinct of
works
therefore be simply descTibed as life
how things appear
retlection
bring further light w hich w In
is
it
This struggle
species.
the aggressiveness which opposes
were, inhibited in
is
must present the struggle
It
consists of, and the evolution of
essentially
civilization
(»f
think,
I
of ci\ilization
between Kros and Death, between the life
civi-
representative of the death instinct
h.i\e
world-domimon with
shares
and uf
all
the deri\ativc
is
harmless, to gel rid of
it
will nut
programme of
fulfilment of the hitter's old wishes for omnipotence.
and, as
arc lo
Necessity
common,
in
The
instinct of destruction,
men
ol
one another
to
accompanied
presenting the ego with
its
it
in the blindest
by an extraordinarily high degree of enjo\ment, owing to
its
e\en where
relation to l.ros. Ikit
Ixuind
against each, op|>oses this
all
the fxiwer ol Kros
ol
ihtf
hold them together. Hut man's natural agfcrevkivc instinct,
it
can once more be
libuU)'"
denote the nunitestations in
moral nature
to the ileepU
Ixiw will
Why
not know, the work of Kro*
nuke
it
i%
itier
and nations, into
These colleitions
preiiseK this
IS
d«»
be hbidinallx
low
and
iiuliMiluaU.
that lamihes, then races, |>eoplcs
has to hap|H-n,
pro-
a
i%
pur|Mnc
whitM:
one grrai unity, the unity of mankind.
t«»
a
that ci\ili/jiion
Lnn..
ol
will Ik- well ailMseil. »>n stmie suitable occasion.
nuinLiml.
under the inllucrmc at
ill
nu\ now add
the
in
nunkiml
a H|H:cial protrHft «khith
undergiicN, and
it
is
subjected to
it,
expresses itself as
punishment. Civilization, therefore,
obtains masterv over the individual's dangerous
(gB>
.
Sigmund Freud desire for aggression by
weakening and disarming
and by setting up an agency within him over
it,
conquered
like a garrison in a
Thus we know of two guilt:
one arising from
to
city.
.
it
watch
The
first insists
origins of the sense of
and
fear of an authority,
upon
renunciation of in-
a
stinctual satisfactions; the second, as well as doing
presses for punishment, since the continuance
this,
of the forbidden wishes cannot be concealed from
is
out; but
was the same
it
suppression in the child
is
At
act of aggression
whose
supposed to be the source
of his sense of
guilt.
surprised
reader were to exclaim angrily: 'So
if the
this point
makes no difference w hether one not - one gets a feeling of guilt
may
should not be
I
it
one's father or
kills
We
in either case!
take leave to raise a few doubts here. Either
it is
not true that the sense of guilt comes from sup-
of the super-ego - the demands of conscience -
pressed aggressiveness, or else the whole story of
be understood.
to
simply
It is
continuation of
a
the severity of the external authority, to which
has succeeded and which
now
see in
it
has in part replaced.
it
We
what relationship the renunciation of
the killing of the father
of primaeval
man
is a
did not
fiction
but a plausible piece of history,
of something
renunciation of instinct was the result of fear of an
expects to happen
guilty because he really has
its
love. If
as
is,
one has carried
were, quits with
it
the authority and no sense of guilt should remain.
But with
fear
of the super-ego the case
Here, instinctual renunciation
w ish
persists
is
all
and cannot be concealed from the
justified.
if it is
not
would be
a
- namely, of
And
a
person feeling
done something which
of this event, which
is
after
an everyday occurrence, psycho-analysis has not
yet given any explanation.'
That
different.
not enough, for
is
cannot be
it
any more
happening which everyone
external authority: one renounced one's satisfactions in order not to lose
and the children
their fathers
often than children do nowadays. Besides,
case
out this renunciation, one
fiction
kill
instinct stands to the sense of guilt. Originally,
the
On that occasion
the sever-
the super-ego. ity
We have also learned how
the kilHng of the father
at
by the brothers banded together.'"
an act of aggression was not suppressed but carried
.
the other, later on, arising from fear of the superego.
complex and was acquired
sion.
true,
is
Nor
is
When one
and we must make good the omis-
there any great secret about the matter.
has a sense of guilt after having commit-
super-ego. Thus, in spite of the renunciation that
ted a misdeed, and because of it, the feeling should
has been made, a sense of guilt comes about. This
more properly be
constitutes a great
economic disadvantage
in the
we may put
erection of a super-ego, or, as
in
it,
the formation of a conscience. Instinctual renunciation
now no longer has
effect; virtuous
continence
with the assurance of love.
unhappiness -
loss
completely liberating
a
is
no longer rewarded
A
threatened external
of love and punishment on the
part of the external authority
- has been exchanged
permanent internal unhappiness,
for a
for the ten-
it presupposes that a conscience - the readiness to feel guilty -
was already
in existence before the
Remorse of this
deed took place.
sort can, therefore, never help us to
discover the origin of conscience and of the sense of guilt in general.
cases
is
What happens
in these
everyday
usually this: an instinctual need acquires the
strength to achieve satisfaction in spite of the conscience,
which
is,
after
all,
limited in
its
strength;
and with the natural weakening of the need owing
sion of the sense of guilt
can also be asserted that
It
called remorse. It relates only to a
deed that has been done, and, of course,
when
a child reacts
to his first great instinctual frustrations with ex-
cessively strong aggressiveness
and with
pondingly severe super-ego, he phylogenetic model and
is
is
a corres-
following
a
going beyond the re-
sponse that would be currently
justified; for the
to
its
having been
power in
is
satisfied, the
former balance of
restored. Psycho-analysis
is
thus justified
excluding from the present discussion the case of
a sense
of guilt due to remorse, how ever frequently
such cases occur and however great their practical importance.
father of prehistoric times was undoubtedly terrible,
and an extreme amount of aggressiveness
may be
attributed to him.
from individual
Thus,
to phylogenetic
if
one
shifts
over
development, the
'"
In the Oedipus complex, cornerstone of Freud's the-
ory of child development, the normal child develops a sexual attachment to the opposite-gender parent, and
competitive anger and fear toward the same-gender par-
differences between the
two theories of the genesis ent.
of conscience are
still
further diminished.
On
the
other hand, a new and important difference makes its
appearance between these two developmental
processes. that
We cannot get away from the assumption
man's sense of guilt springs from the Oedipus
(14§)
The
conflict
is
normally resolved through renunci-
ation of the desire and an identification with the same-
gender parent.
Strictly, the
Oedipal complex refers only to
the development of boys, the analogous phase (and the
analog}
is
complex.
notoriously tortured) for girls being the Electra
.
:
OvmaUon andlts Dtscoments Hill
(it
ihc luiiiun sense ul guill gins bail
it
Lillini;
tit
I
he primal father that v%as aftrr ,
Are
'remorse'
constieiue ami presup|M>setl.
where,
There secret
our
m
no doubt
is
we huxe II
not.
remorse come from? shouUi explain the
that this case
the sense o( «uill to us aiul put an enil lo \nil
ililficullies
was the
I
luiieve
His
lowunls the father him, loo
loNcti
iKcn
satisfied In their act
came
to the fore in their
up the supcr-cgo by
s«>ns
him,
hateil
\lier their hatreil
hail
aggression, their lo\e
«>t
remorse
for the ileeii
It
set
identification uith the t.iilur,
agencx the father's power, as hough as
it
iia\e that
a
punishment
t
tor the
deed
which were intended
And
had
of aggressitin the\
carried out against him. and
the deed.
This remorse
ii«Ks
it
the primonlial ambisalence of
ol
result
hut the>
tions
case
that (al thai lime| j
existence In-fore the ileeiP
in this case. Jul the
«>l
feelinjj
assume
N«e lo
sense ol guilt were not, us
a
ilu
it*
all a
it
results (if
in
whuh
impulsion a
further
a
iniensilicalion
through
What
completed
is
hcinK^ to unite in
can onl\ achiexe ihis aim
il
reinfonrment
e\er-iiu reasing
Jkt\
the sense of guilt
ciNili/ation
human
lauses
ilosel\-kml group,
father
mthmt
the
ot
Since avili/jfion obeyi an micnul crock
guili.
group
lo the
relation
in
If
neiessarx course of development
a
is
of
tn-gan in relation lo the
from the famiK
humanit> as
to
whole, then
a
as
inborn conflitt arising from ambiva-
a result of the
lence, of the eternal struggle In-tween the trends
inextncabK bound up
of lose aiul
death
with
increase of the sense
.u\
It
there
perhaps reach
will
is
heights
One
finds haril
to
great |>oet's
moving arraignment
tolerate.
«if
that is
which
guilt,
the
indixidual
reminded of the of the
'HeaNenly
Powers'
created the restricIhr tuhrt ins
to prevent a repetition of
since the inclination to aggressive-
.chcn uns hinein
I
\rnien schuldig werden,
Ihr lasst ilen
ness against the father was repeated in the following
Dann
generations, the sense of guilt, too, persisted, and
Deiin jede .Schuld racht sich auf Krden."
it
uhcrlasst Ihr ihn
den IVin,
was reinforced once more by every piece of aggressiveness that was suppressed and carried oxer to the
Now,
super-ego.
we can
think,
I
at last
grasp two
.\nd
we ma\
thought that
well is
it
heave
things perfectly clearly: the part pla\ed b\ love in
to salvage without effort
the origin of conscience and the fatal incN itabilii) of
own
the sense of guilt. \\ hether one has killed one's
rest
from doing so
father or has abstained
One
the decisive thing.
bound
is
either case, for the sense of guilt
is
is
not really
is
set
going as soon as
So
long as the community assumes no other form than
itself in the
science VV
Oedipus complex,
and
to
create
hen an attempt
the
same
conflict
dependent on the
is is
the
made
to
and
lo express
to establish the
first
con-
sense of guilt.
w iden the community,
continued
past;
bound
is
it
in is
which the
an expression of
are faced with the task of living together.
that of the family, the conflict
from the whirlp
New
riu- l.iilui'c ot ilu-
Initial
|(i\"
uiih paintul icclings ihui hc
IS (>nl\
Si unci- \tlir
Us
luLiiiluil \1mIi\i-
The ilu-
LnivcrKul Philosufihy Ai\t\ its fniHT Dissnlutmn
nt
lili.il
Pnu
CSS of
tor this r.iilurii
\t)\>
IKW luim.imiN,
tile
It
with suih an ixaiiid
must hjM-
ol the It
biTii Ihi.uisi-
it
dui not hold
its
own,
it
the inspinnu hiliil in
lost
uniMTsal philos«»ph\ mu\
ideal ot a
lis
spirit,
.uiim.iliil aiul I>IinmiI
the scope
in
new methtKl And such, indeed, was the
case.
turned out that this method could hrinv: unques-
tionable successes onl\ in the positive sciences Hut it
was t>therwise
in
metaph\sics,
problems
in
i.e.
he ncccs-sary consequence was a peculiar change in
the whole
problem form
wav of thinking Phili>M»ph\ became [problem
ol the
ol the| (x»ssibilit> ol a
we
ph>sics, anil, tollowing what
concerned implicitly the meaning and possibility of the whole problematics of reason. jxjsitive sciences, at
first
.As
Vet the problem of a jvissible metaphysics also en-
though
sciences, since these had their relational
were not in
lackinir
esen here. I ni\ersal philosophy,
which these problems were related
lo the tactual sciences, UM)k the
unclearlv
tbmi
ot
system-
ipso that
clear in
the eighteenth centur>
at a critically una.ssailable edifice
eticalh
from generation
undisputedly the case
The
tor long.
generation,
to
in the
could not survive
movements
all
beginning of the modern
era,
happened not merely contrast
was
as
universalK admired
belief in the ideal of philo.sophy
method, the guideline of
the
ot arriving
which grew theor-
this conviction
positive sciences
held the
still
proceeding toward unit),
»)t
began
to waver; this
tor the external
became
monstrous
and
since the
motive that
between
the
a
isr
advance
to make w hole historic-al process has
remarkable form, one which becomes \isible only
through an interpretation motivation.
Its
from
is
ot its
hidden, innermost
not that of a smooth develop-
ment, not that of a continual grow th of lasting
concepts,
configurations
in
its
ettect
were
sciences,
as well as scientists,
becoming
fast
experts. But even tilled
on outsiders
the specialized business of the positive
among
those theorists
with the philosophical
interested
unphilosophical
spirit,
precisely in the highest
who were
and thus were metaphysical
questions, a growing feeling of failure set in - and in their case
unclanfied,
against
reigning
the
because the most profound, yet quite
motives protested ever more loudly deeply
ideal.
extending from
rooted
There
Hume
assumptions of the
begins
and Kant
of passionate struggle tor
a
to
long
our
period,
own
a clear, retlective
time,
under-
standing of the true reasons for this centuries-rjr that gc. with I
hi
iU-\N(mIiI
I
\K.inmu-l
mill.
.is ilii
nm
iMileni
nimiitiii
I
\\huh o|Kralrs with
uiu
o| N.iim.il Si
III
.ibsolute truth
Hul now
something
inusi n»»fc
NM-
the highcsi
»>l
iir
is
actualK gixcn through
|H-r-
hlc-worUI
This siihsiitution
passcil
physicists
the siKctciling centuries
all
on
to
his
The
manner
oj
ct»nstructing,
conceptualizing.
proNing.
which operates with
way,
in its
imme-
truly
thinking,
derived
ities
was preceded h\ the
its
which knew nothing
a
has
at
practical art of sur\e\ing,
of idealities. ^ et
geometrical achicNement was
geometry,
idealities,
meaning. The geometry of ideal-
first
for
Thus
the occasional (even "philosophical")
all
which go from technical
reflect u ins
ized nature; they
intuitive
fundament
of idealization; the
latter
a
Immc-
the ensuing peniKl
intuited nature.
of
ami originallx
A\\i\
geo-
remained
this
substitution of idealizeil nature for prescieniil*ic*ally
pure
sources from which the so-called geometrical intuthat
for (ialileo
sources:
ihc
in
diatcK with (ialileo. then, Ix-gins the surreptitious
was already empty
it
removed from the sources of
i.e.
huUlen
ourvUn
for
of the application of
complicated
work back
diate intuition
ition,
has
in
meaning. Kven ancient geonietr> was, zr/vtf"'
meamng
e\en the
nutrv
was no longer original geometrN:
this sort ot"**iniuiti\eness"
ihmLmg
general terms.
that
geonutrv, the inherited
inheritetl
**intuiti\e"
the
siicicssors,
Cialileo N\as hinisell an heir in respect to
geometry
wc have |M>mlcd out above
as
course of our e\|>osiiion of dalileo's ihoughtk
was pronipiU t>f
ness was an diusion
could
Thai lhi\ otY%iouft-
rt-al
ilu-
cmt cxfKricnccil and cxpcncnir-
i\cr\ilaN
ado
applieil without further
a «cH-«uif'M.Mmt,
"(>h\iouHl\"
«»iil\
uUMlitits lor
is
w huh, JH suih
m
subNtriuiiil \sorlil of uorlil
proiluco
il.
iinmcciMici)
and ihc thinking
jIIn
ihc siirrtptilimis subsiiiuliiin ol ihc inallu-inalu
ccption. that
Ih-
ohd
ii>
"inluiiitin"
pntiri
a
such
a
pre-
meaning-fundament
for the great invention
encompassed the inven-
do not
going
radical!),
(
scientific)
meaning alwaxs slop
to its true
back
at ideal-
carr\ crn Utsi
a trjililion .iiul
a ^t/tti, insiitar as this iniircsi
plaxcit a ilctcrinining role at
pnnul
all in its
cstal>-
hshnu'iit K\cr> aitciupt to IcaJ the scientist to such reflections, if
comes
it
non-scientific
scholars,
ol
circle
*inetaph\sical "
Ironi a nonnutheniaiical,
calcil his life to these sciences
seems so obMous
must, after
know
him
to
as
reietleil
is
The professional who has
iUhIi-
all
what he
best
attemptini; ami accomphshini; in his work
Tor
reteni times
readers),
up
iieing caught
Hut the
ii
schtMil'
meaning
that the ititii
)>.
whole dimension which must be inquireil
Mdt seen
at all
ami thus not
with
at all ileali
at least
felt
\ui\ clearK the\ influence, ililfuult, the aii.iKsis of the
(of sciencej
ourseKes
find
in a
unilersianiling of the beginning
son is
ol iirtle
form, lvi»
jii.ijwv
The absorption of
v»\.iii
faclualiiy,
whether into legendars prehistor> or into math-
be iirasped, but on the contrary to conceive
mediated conceptual
as the supcrtlcies, as
to tulfillmeni only
de\elopmeni
ot their stKial, historical,
sijjmificance.
The
the
in
and human
task ot cognition dcK's not consist
mere apprehension,
tion, but in the
huncd unc
ihc riteidificalion of
ematical tormalism, the s>mbolical relation of ihc
moments which come
in
the dving of
auiumn. and c\cn
re|H-aied ilscll c\cr)
W ith
if
gud-
oil o( ihc
s\non>mous with
dire«.ll\
It
laitaahly,
to Icyilimi/c
higiiulU the carr\in|(
i;i\en as
temporal relations oi the tacts which allow them just to
was
nature
ihc mythic
ol
determine the abstract spatio-
approach otkiKJwIediie: toc«»mprehend the such; not
the
suh|ecti\e ratn>nalii\. the subjection ot
p\en. What
(
kuifupping
«kiih ihc
but the same e\er\ time
to loi^ical tormalism.
realiiN
all
which tcnd%
priKcss,
ileiepiion iless
autumn
The uniqucncM
the rc|Kiiiion wa.s noi ihc result uf the
subsirati- ol
Ih* j
riu- i-i|UJiioii ot spirit Jiul worlil
own
'"
Prrscphonr
i|iuhi\ llun lo
enutical apparatus conceals the sanction ol
triumph
the c\clcot npring and i>t
bin ihc ahstnict nuicrul which
arises c\cimull\. Inii onl\ wiih
ollniih sides
him
ol
Ictt
ihink ihut nuisi Jicoinpjnx
/
jhsirjtl
riu-
rccorii-iiukiiig
|H»vscvscs
u
Sul>)c».i aiul tibiixi arc
iu\ iilcjN
all
lulurr lurn> agjinsi the
ii\cr
himscll, noihing
(hinlintc Nubicvt
coniem|>orary to the mythic process in ihc the abstract category in science,
appear as the predetermined, which
«)t
each im-
is
or lo
accordmgU
the old. .Not existence but knowledge
without
is
hope, tor in the pictorial or mathematical symbol
it
appropriates and perpetuates existence as a schema.
and calcula-
classitlcation,
determinate negation
rile
makes ihe new
nnthology has entered
In the enlightened world,
into the protane. In
its
blank purit\, the reality
mediacy. Mathematical tormalism, however, whose
w hich has been cleansed of demons and their con-
medium
ceptual descendants a.ssumes the
is
number, the most abstract tbrm
ot the
immediate, instead holds thinking tlrmly to mere
immediacN.
I'actuality
restricted lo
mere
its
wins the day; cognition
repetition;
tautology.
and thought becomes
more
I'he
thought subjects existence lo its
machiner}
the iiselt",
Hence en-
lightenment returns to myiholog}, which
how
ot
more blind
the
resignation in reproducing existence.
realh knew
is
never
it
to elude. I'or in its figures
myth-
L nder
the
title
of brute
trom which the\ proceed a
is
preserve as the medicine
now
domination
is
demons.
as a.ssuredl) sacred
man was
reason of the protection of his gods. that
to
tacts, the sed by Hades, god of the under-
spirits
economic apparatus, even before
on the individual and
rational ones.
defines himself only as a thing, as a static elem-
.
Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno His yardstick
ent, as success or failure.
models established
for
self-pre-
of his function and the
to the objectivity
tion
is
approxima-
servation, successful or unsuccessful
it.
Everything
else, idea
and
crime, suffers the force of the collective, which
monitors
it
from the classroom
But even the threatening
to the trade union.
collective belongs only to
postulated axioms, innate ideas, or higher abstrac-
Logical
tions.
produce the most general
laws
within
relations
them. Unity resides of contradiction
is
and
arrangement,
the
The
agreement.
in
define
resolution
Knowledge
the system in nuce.^
Any
of subsumption under principles.
consists
other than systematically directed thinking
is
unor-
the deceptive surface, beneath which are concealed
iented or authoritarian. Reason contributes only the
the powers which manipulate
idea of systematic unity, the formal elements of
power.
it
as the
instrument of
w hich keeps the individual up
Its brutality,
of
to scratch, represents the true quality as value represents the things
little
sumes. things
men
as
which he con-
The demonically distorted form which and men have assumed in the light of unpre-
judiced
cognition,
domination,
indicates
the
principle which effected the specification of mcina in spirits
and gods" and occurred
magicians and medicine men.
in the jugglery
The
of
by means
fatality
of which prehistory sanctioned the incomprehensibility
of death
is
comprehen-
transferred to wholly
The noontide
sible real existence.
panic fear in
which men suddenly became aware of nature totality has
adays
is
found
ready to break out
at
expect that the world, which
w ill be set on are
fire
by a
totality
every moment: is
as
which now-
in the panic
its like
men
without any issue,
which they themselves
and over which they have no control.
Enlightenment, according to Kant,
is
.
.
"man's emer-
gence from his self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to
use one's understanding w ithout
fixed conceptual coherence.
Every substantial goal
which men might adduce
as an alleged rational
insight
Enlightenment sense, delu-
in the strict
is,
sion, lies or "rationalization,"
even though individ-
ual philosophers try to advance
from
this conclusion
toward the postulate of philanthropic emotion.
Reason
is
the "faculty
.
.
.
of deducing the particular
from the general. "^^ According
to Kant, the
geneity of the general and the particular
is
homo-
guaran-
teed by the "schematism of pure understanding," or the unconscious operation of the intellectual
anism which structures perception with
subjective
The
understanding.
the
impresses the
in
understanding
of the matter (which
intelligibility
judgment discovers there) on
objective quality, before
it
enters into the ego.
it
mech-
accordance
an
as
With-
schematism -
tual perception
in short, w ithout intellec- no impression would harmonize
w ith
and no category with an example;
out such
a
a concept,
and the unity of thought (let alone of system) tow ard
which everything produce
is
directed would not prevail.
this unity is the conscious task
To
of science. If
the guidance of another person.""* "Understanding
"all empirical
w ithout the guidance of another person"
ations of the pure laws of the understanding,"
is
under-
standing guided by reason. This means no more than
by virtue of its own consistency,
must
research
laws
...
are only special determin-
alw ays ensure that the principles are
organizes the
always properly linked with factual judgments.
individual data of cognition into a system. "Reason
"This concurrence of nature with our cognitive
that,
has
... for its
it
object only the understanding and
purposive employment."^ lective unity the
It
makes "a
its
certain col-
aim of the operations of the under-
standing."' and this unity
is
the system. Its rules are
faculty It is
is
an a priori assumption
the "guideline"
"'
.
.
.
of judgment."'"
for organized experience.
The system must be
kept in harmony with
nature; just as the facts are predicted
from the
the indications for a hierarchical construction of
system, so they must confirm
concepts. For Kant, as for Leibniz and Descartes,
belong to practice; they always characterize the
rationality consists of
"completing the systematical
connection, both in ascending to higher genera, and in
descending to lower species."^
ing" of knowledge principle."
thinking
is
is
"its
The
"systematiz-
coherence according to one
In the Enlightenment's interpretation, the creation of unified, scientific order
and the derivation of factual knowledge from principles,
w hether the latter are elucidated
as arbitrarily
".VlflMfl,"
is
alw ays real action
physics, of course, perception
theory
may be proved -
is
and suffering. In
-by means of w hich a
usually reduced to the
electric sparks visible in the experimental apparatus. Its
absence
quence, for
it
is
as a rule
destroys no
w ithout
practical conse-
more than
a theory
-
or
possibly the career of the assistant responsible for
up the experiment. But laboratory condi-
divine or magical force believed to permeate
the world in animistic relicion.
Facts, however,
individual's contact with nature as a social object:
experience
setting '^
it.
In a nut shell.
OMecfic of Em^htenmem (itiiiN
c«>nNliiu(v the rxcrplion
hinking thai vIikn
I
nuke syMcni and perception accord cunllictH \M(h more than iMibicd Msual unpressions, il con-
mil
\«ith
lliiis
prattuf
he i\|Hctcil cxcni
I
M>. bin the unc\(>cilcd e\cni
«K.i.ur.
the drutj
«»r
The spark Nxhich most surely indicates the
ot Wslciiulu ihinkitii;, tlu* \ioljiioti
trunsient |HT«.cpi, Init
muUUd dciih
m
KniighieniDeni has
mind
jogu,
tit
luck
is lui
hcs\su-m the
I
kntm-
the («»rm ot
is
i«>
tn-tur
iI«k-s
ihe hrulgc oillapses. ihe trops wither, kills
IjiIn
Icdgc which ctijKs most pniticicntK with the facts
and sup|xirts the indiMdual must nusterN of nature
its
seit-preserNation Immaturity survive.
The burgher,
i
s
the higical subject ot the
Ihe ihtticuhies b> the tact that
in the
I
pruu
tlie
then the mabihix^ to ot
And administrator,
concept
reason caused
ot
subjects, the possessors ot that
its
very reast)n, contradict one another, are ctinceaied b\
the apparent clarity ot the iudijments ot the
Western l.nliiihtenment. In the
(>//;
(if
other
what he has
ili.in
ti\es
I
Logic
MH..iii-
Reason
knowledge and planning, which impressed the
empirically
i
ses
and makes himself; and, on the other, impossible tor
nothing else but what he makes of himself. first
nothing
Because by the word "will" we generally mean
man
to transcend
The second of these
ity.
Man
is
have planned to be. Not what he
will
a world without guidance
or nature. This heroic subjectivism is
rather than a patch of moss, a piece of gar-
existentialism.
own
self,
wise; but
man
that
it
is
subjectiv-
the essential
meaning of
man
chooses his
sa\ that
we mean that e\er\ one of us does likewe also mean by that that in making this
choice he also ch(M)ses the
is
When we
human
that
we want
all
men. In
to be, there
of our acts w hich does not an image of
man
as
we
at the
is
fact, in
creating
not a single one
same lime
create
think he ought to he.
To
Jean-Paul Sartre, from •Existentialism" (trans. Ber-
nard Frechtman) tions, pp.
in
Existentialism
and Human EmoCitadel 1985.
15-24 and 46-51. New York:
Jean-Paul Sartre choose to be
is to affirm at the same time we choose, because we can never
this or that
the value of what
choose
evil.
We always choose
If,
at
we
we exist and fashion our image same time, the image is valid for
grant that
one and the
everybody and sponsibility
our whole age. Thus, our re-
for
much
is
supposed, because
greater than
involves
it
workingman and choose union rather than be
all
we might have
mankind.
communist, and
a
If
I
am
a
to join a (christian trade-
by being
if
want
to
be resigned for everyone. As a
to
action has involved
dren; even
humanity.
all
individual matter, if
w ant
I
to
To
result,
take a
more
marry, to have chil-
marriage depends solely on
if this
my
my
w ish, I am involvmonogamy and not merely myself. Therefore, I am responsible for myself and for everyone else. I am creating a certain image of man of my ow n choosing. In choosing
ow n circumstances ing
humanity
all
myself,
is
I
or passion or
in
choose man.
conferred upon the
is
evident even w hen
is
You know the story: an Abraham to sacrifice his son; if an angel w ho has come and said, "You
it
w ere
really
Abraham, you shall sacrifice your son," everything would be all right. But everyone might first
are
wonder, "Is
it
really an
someone used
Her doctor asked
give her orders.
who
talks to you.'"
that
an
it's
angel.'
there that they
As you
will see, it's all quite
The existenanguish. What that
anguish.''
man is man who involves
tialists
say at once that
means
is this:
he
mankind
all
as
who
Of
course, there are
we claim
are not anxious; but
who
w ell
can not help escape the feehng of his responsibility.
himself and
not only the person he
is
chooses to be, but also a lawmaker
same time, choosing
is,
at the
as himself,
total
and deep
many
people
many people
believe that
it.
w hen they do
something, they themselves are the only ones involved, and
And
when someone
What
to
impose
my
humanity?
I'll
a pathological
proves that they are addressed to that
have been appointed
I
my
choice and
conception of man on
never find any proof or sign to con-
me of that. If a voice addresses me, it is always me to decide that this is the angel's voice; if I
will
choose to say that
and yet
exemplary as if all
says to them,
"What
if
good one,
acts.
moment I'm
obliged to perform
mankind had
its
eyes fixed on
way.^"
There
is
if
everybody looked
no escaping
this disturbing
except by a kind of double-dealing.
and makes excuses
for
everybody does that,"
is
at things that
thought
A man who
lies
himself by saying "not someone with an uneasy
to say to himself,
way
that
actions?"
And
has the right to act in such a
might guide
itself
by
my
not say that to himself, he
There
is
is
masking
is
here discussing the famous existentialist
theme of anxiety or dread
cm)
(in
German,
Angst).
humanity if
he does
his anguish.
no question here of the kind of anguish
which would lead
to quietism, to inaction. It
matter of a simple sort of anguish that anybody has had responsibihties ple,
w hen
familiar
is
is
a
who
w ith. For exam-
a military officer takes the responsibilit\'
and sends
makes the
a certain
number of men
to
main he alone
choice. Doubtless, orders
come from
above, but they are too broad; he interprets them,
and on
this interpretation
depend the
lives
often or
fourteen or tw enty men. In making a decision he can
"
Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (1813-55)
discussed the Biblical story of Sartre
him and were
And every man ought "Am I really the kind of man who
guiding itself by w hat he does.
death, he chooses to do so, and in the
one should always ask himself, "What
who
For every man, everything happens
for an attack
really,
it is I
good rather than bad.
not being singled out as an Abraham,
every
at
is a
it is
ders and answer, ''Everyone doesn't act that way."
would happen
it's
hear voices, what proof is
if I
everyone acted that way.'" they shrug their shoul-
But
is it
come from heaven and not from
me? What proof is there
that they are
hiding their anxiety, that they are fleeing from Certainly,
"Who
her,
She answered, "He says
from the subconscious, or
hell, or
condition.-*
Now, I'm
the
hallucinations;
vince
meant by
realizes that
really
God." What proof did she really have that it was God.' If an angel comes to me, w hat proof is there
simple.
who
I
on the telephone and
to speak to her
for
is
am
and
angel,
What proof do I have.'" There was a madw oman w ho had
Abraham.'
consider that such an act
what
itself.
angel has ordered
This helps us understand w hat the actual content
First,
lie.
conceals
the anguish that Kierkegaard called the
is
of such rather grandiloquent w ords as anguish,
forlornness, despair.
it
anguish of Abraham."
a
show that the best thing for man is resignation, that the kingdom of man is not of this world, I am not only involving my own case - I
member I want
Anguish This
all.
on the other hand, existence precedes essence,
if
universal value
the good, and noth-
ing can be good for us without being good for
and
conscience, because the act of lying implies that a
commanding him bling {\S-\3).
to kill his
God
testing
Abraham (by
son Isaac) in Fear and Trem-
'Exittentialiftm'
iKii
lulp (uMiig
the mnirarx.
tin
lor
actUM)
ioiuhimn
the \cr\
is
Icailrrs kixiM
(hriii troni acting,
ol
ihrir
it
it
Kxause
has \ahie onl\
which
shall see that this Linil ot anguish,
Liiul that existentialism ilesirilns.
is
the
explaiiuil, in
is
II
anil
W hen
we
ger was lond ol, exist anil that
The
ot this.
term
we mean onU
we hase
to lace
existentialist
is
that (itnl
all
leuleg-
I
es
certain kind or secular ethics
not
which would
i
a
like to
aUtlish Ciod with the least p«»ssible expense MxKit
some
ISHO,
up
I'rench teachers tried to set
which went something
ethics
a secular
(lod
like this:
is
and costK h>pothesis; we are discarding
useless
a it;
but, meanwhile, in order lor there to be an ethics, a siKiely. a cisili/ation,
is
it
and
values be taken sern)UslN
sidered as having an
essential
thc\
that
prutri existence.
ecause,
free;
is
I
(Condemned,
to be free.
because he did not create himsc-lf,
is
a
jxiwer of
in the
sweeping passion
man
fatally leads a
to
therefore an excuse, lie thinks
responsible tor his passion.
is
man
'Fhe existentialist d
to turn to
scribed in a heaven of ideas, though otherwise
does not
is
to a fixed
excuse iK-hind us, nor )Ustilication Ixhire us
must be
lie,
(mkI d(»es not
il
commands
the consequences
stn>nj;l\ t>pposeil
uan making
lan't
human nature In other words, there \s no man is free, man is Ireeilon) On the
gixen
duct So,
part of action itsell
is
s|H-ak ol lorlornness,'" a
UttVtm,
ileterminism,
or
Irtim actum, hut
w
TX\tx\
exiHirncc rcalK d(ic« precede cMrncc, there
other hand,
not a curtain scpai^ting us
is
Il
He
find an\ thing to cling to
whom
involves.
ii%uli
x.^., ji.vi -^ a
»
e^lusc^ lor himscit
aiKlition, h) a direct res|Hinsibiht> to the other luen It
...
no explaining things awa> b> reference
chosen
is
it
(hkI diK-.
Ikcjusc neither within him nor Hithoui diic^ he
ami when they chiMisc one, lhe\
ol fxivsihihlies,
We
keep
iiuphes that the\ eiiMsjge j luinilH-r
It
reah/e that
ilcjr u|Hin
()uihcr
hunun
i
in the
4 cDnstituent
not in the scnsi* that (mkI
sense ol pavsing iKxontl
the sense that
nun
al\\a\s present in a
is
evistentulisni hununisin
remiml nun
is
clement
tranM.entlent.
and
Ih*-
that there
is
universe,
o(
tuit
siib|ecti\it>, in
imt viosetl in on hinisrlf hul
hunun
is
iini\ersc. the uni-
This connccliun
suh|cili\il\
twccn irjnNct'iuicfKN, as
nun
hunun
ilu
is Ji
There
hijrt, at the center olthis pav%ing-he> onil
is
what ue
is
call
liununisni, because \m
no lau-nuker other than
himself, and that in his lorlornness he will decule h\ himself, because
himself as nun,
we
nt>t in
in seeking outside
jHiint
out that
nun
\mII luiril!
turning low an! himself, but
ofhimsclf a goal which
is
|usi ihis
liberation, iust this particular fulfillment
I'rom these few n«)ihinv:
is
reflections
more uniust than
ii
is
c\Hicnt
ha\e l>een raised
irNing to plunge
c>er\
calls
the obiections that
nun
ilra«»
Christians, then the lis
all
nulh>
ihc cimir-
|M»siiion
into despair at
all
un'l
If
liui
if
one
unbelief des|>air. like the
of
aitituile
n
u% h.xi%tmiuh%m
i{uences of a coherent aiheisiii
word
not (King uurd in
is
original sense
I'Aisieniiahsm isn't mi aiheislic
wears
out showing that (mhJ doesn't
that
It
Rather,
exist
itself it
declares that e\en
if
(lod did exist,
would change nothing. There you've gof our |>oint of view Not that we believe that (iod exists,
that
but
we think
not the issue istic, a
tor
(
their that
a^^ainsi
ing el»c than an jiienipi to
that the
problem
doctrine of action, and
Jinsiiaiis
own
despairing.
of
Mis existence
in this sense existentialism
to
ilespair
make no
it
is
is
is
optim-
plain dishonesty
distinction
ami ours and then
between t«)
call
us
Martin Heidegger Heidegger (1889-1976), Husserl's replacement at the University of Freiburg, took phenomenology in an existentialist direction in his great early work, Being and Time (1927). In it he sought to investigate nothing less than the meaning of Being itself (crucially distinct from Martin
beings or things) through an analysis of the of Being characteristic of
as he called
human being
mode
{Dasein,
an analysis marked by the theme
us),
of resoluteness
in
the face of Being-towards-
death and historical destiny. His philosophy subsequently moved inanincreasinglyanti-humanist direction, for
meant a
which the task of thinking Being
rejection of the subjectivism
and anthro-
pocentrism characteristic of modern thought and
an
The
effect.
according to
actuality of the effect
To
accomplishment.
what already what
can really be accomplished. But
is
above
"is''
all
Being.'
is
Thinking accom-
plishes the relation of Being to the essence of
man.
does not make or cause the relation. Think-
It
ing brings this relation to Being solely as something
handed over
to
it
from Being. Such offering con-
comes
to
the house of Being. In
its
the fact that in thinking Being
sists in
language: Language
home man
dwells.
w ith w ords
is
Those who think and those who are the guardians of this home.
rectorship of the university, and by publicly identi-
cause some effect issues from
fying Hitler and the Nazi Party with Germany's
applied.
Thinking
special destiny. Even after the war Heidegger
action
presumably the simplest and
never recanted these views, but merely ceased to
time the highest, because
written
in
His "Letter on
response to a
philosopher,
is
letter
Humanism
"(1947),
from a young French
is
something into the fulness of its essence, to lead it forth into this fullness - producere. Therefore only
create
speak of them.
valued
accomplish means to unfold
modern technological domination of the world. In 1933 these philosophical themes took embodied form when Heidegger agreed to give his loyalty to the new National Socialist regime by becoming a party member in order to assume the the
is
But the essence of action
its utility.
Their guardianship accomplishes the manifestation of Being insofar as they bring the manifestation to
language and maintain
in
it
speech. Thinking does not
Being
is
to
language through their
become it
acts insofar as
man. But
all
it
action only be-
or because it
thinks. at the
it
is
Such same
concerns the relation of
working or effecting
lies
Being and
is
directed toward beings. Thinking,
Being [Sein)
is
to be contrasted with beings {seiende) or
in
a direct repudiation of Sartre's ex'
humanwhen we abandon
istentialism. Heidegger insists that a true
ism, which can arise only
traditional philosophical thinking,
would under-
entities.
Heidegger's aim, since his early work Being and
Time (Sein und
1927),
Zeit,
to think the
is
Being without reducing Being
meaning of
to beings.
stand man's essence as his "proximity" to Being,
would than
make man
its
the ""shepherd of Being rather
Martin
Heidegger.
engineer or overseer.
on
Humanism" from
Martin Heidegger: Basic Writings (trans. Frank A. Capuzzi. with
We are still far from pondering the essence of action decisively enough. We view action only as causing
(JB)
"Letter
"
ed.
David
J.
Glenn Gray and David
Farrell
Krell),
Harper& Row. 1977.
pp.
Farrell Krell,
193-242. New
York:
:
on Humanism"
"Letter in
contrul,
uy
can
Icti
itiMrll
thi» Icltmg I'f-jrt"
Ihinliii);
Ik-ing mi iIui
t>>
ii
rcnuutfmtnt pur ifitf pour
ritre"' Here the
hnguistKulK
is
it
these V'pur" jiui "pour")
(i(
}m\
this
in
is
mil Lnii\« whether
ilo
I
ptivsihlc to vi\ \MiiU
uncc,
^k cbirunl
the iruih of Itcing. Iliinking Mrciimplishrs
pcriciKr
js
saul i»nl\
\k-
I
to ihc dcNiinv ol ck-sisicncc. Thcrclorc ck-sisiciui-
Ihou^ht
ol as a sih-hIk
can also nc\cr
tn*
lixing creature
ainonc tnhcrs
LiiuI ot
man
ijrantiil that
drslincil Ui thiuL the essence
his
«»1
is
Being and not
mcrcl) 10 giNc accounts ot the nature and hislor\ ot his cunsiituiion
and
nun
attribute to
Thus even what we
activities.
afumahtas on the hasis
as
cumparis«>n with "biast"
iirouiuled
itseil
is
The hunun lM>dy
essence ol ck-sistcnce.
IS
bmlogism o\erct»me by
the ern)r ot
human boih,
a soul to the
the existentiell
a
mind
ail
lite
joining
and
on In
to
let
The
distorts existence.
intlexible concepts
its
and
thought
that
Iking
physiolog\
that
tact
ot
and
physiological chemistry can scientifically investi-
man
gate
as an
organism
"organic" thing, that
is,
explained, the essence ot little
no proot
is
in the
man
body
that in this scientillcall>
consists. That has as
validity as the notion that the essence ot'nature
has been discovered in atomic energy.
It
could even
be that nature, in the tace she turns toward man's technical mastery,
Just as
little
is
simply concealing her essence.
as the essence of
man
scnieiKc va>s
n the confrar>. ihc
wa\
thai he
oicum
iVkAn
is
cvM:niull>
the "there", that
Being "" The "licing"
ol the
is.
«uih
in
Da, and onl>
it,
the tundamental character of ck-«i»icncc, ihat
an ecslatie inherence in the truth of licing
which
nun
essence ot
ecstatic
lonsists
ha*
it,
of
'l*hc
ek-sistencc,
in
trom the metaph\sicali> con-
dittereni
IS
j
ihr lighting ot
ceived txulcnlia. Medie\al phih»soph> conceives
Kant represents
the latter as actualilas
exttlentta
ence
the
e\er\ thing relapse into "lite-expencnce," with a
warning that thinking b\
"ol))ctt,
lor
m
some-
is
to the soul,
mind
before singing the praises ot the
disrupts the tlow ot
name
a
AS aclualitN in the sense ot the «)b)ecti\it\ ot exfxrri-
the mind, and then louder than
tt>
a%
ot the
thing essentially other than an animal organism
Nor
icnlur\
intending to exprr%% the rnetaphv»iail ctmcrpi iA the actualiiv ot the actual
vourtr that ilcicrnuncs hin» F.k-M>iciKc
righlrcnih
consists in being
Hegel detines
the sclt-knowing
txislftitui as
Nietzsche grasps cxts-
lilea ot abs«)lute subjectivity.
as the eternal recurrence of the same.
iititia
Here
it
renuins an o|Hn question whether through existrnexplanations ot
liii
in these
first
seem quite
e\cn
as
lite
it
as actuality,
which
at
dilterent
the lk-ing of a stone
«ir
the Being ot
plants and animals
is
adequately thought. In any case li\ing creatures they
as
are
Being
with«)Ut
are
standing outside their
such and within the truth of Iking, pre-
as
serving in such standing the evsential nature of their Being.
Of all
the beings that are, presumably
the most difficult to think about are living creatures, because
way most the
at
on the one hand they are
closely related to us,
same time separated from our
essence by an abyss. However, as
though the essence of divinit)
what
in a certain
and on the other are
is
namely,
it
ek-sistent
might also seem
is
closer to us than
foreign in other living creatures, closer,
an essential distance which however
in
nonetheless more familiar to our ck-
an animal organism can this insuftlcienl definition
distant
of man's essence be overcome or ottset h\ outfitting
sistent essence than
man
conceivable bodily kinship with the beast. Such
with an immortal soul, the power of reason, or
the character of a person. In each instance essence
is
is
reflections cast a strange light
passed over, and passed over on the basis of the
and therefore always
same metaphysical projection.
ot
man
\\ hat
is
or, as
it is
called in the traditional
language of metaphysics, the "essence" of lies in his
this
way
is
ek-sistence.
meaning
Time
this
Dasein
But ek-sisience thought
-
in
not identical w ith the traditional concept
ot exiswniiii,
the
man
which means
sentence
lies
aclualit)
in contrast to
ot essffitiu as possibility. In Bt'im; is italicized:
in its existence."
"The
and
'essence' of
is
not
under consideration, because neither of these metaphysical determinations of Being,
sentence
is
let
alone their
yet in question. Still less does the
contain
a
man
as
still
animitl rationale.
animals are lodged
upon the current
premature designation Because plants and
in their respecti\e
en\ ironments
but are never placed treely in the lighting of Ik-ing
which alone
is
"world," they lack language. But
in
being denied language they are not thereby sus-
pended worldlessly this
in their
environment.
word "environment" converges
puzzling about
living
creatures
In
all its
Still, in
that
is
essence
However, here the
opposition between existcnlia and essentta
relationship,
our appalling and scarcely
is
universal
statement
Dasem^ since the word came into fashion
about in
the
*'"
for
Diiscin, literally
human
being.
It
Heidegger's term are always there,
to the world.
He also describes
indicates that
thrown into and vulnerable this
is
we
"thcrc-hcing,"
"there-ness" (or Da) as Luhiun^,
a
word meaning
both light and a tbresi clearing. Dasein's thcre-ncss
is
a
place where things are lighted or revealed.
(m>
Martin Heidegger language is
it
is
not the utterance of an organism; nor
Nor can correct way
the expression of a Hving thing.
ever be thought in an essentially
it
in
terms
of
even
terms of the character of signification. Lan-
in
guage
symbolic
its
perhaps
character,
not
the lighting-concealing advent of Being
is
think
Ek-sistence, thought in terms of ec stasis, does not
coincide with existentia in either form or content. In
the
means
Existentia
{existence)
adequate execution and completion of thinking that abandons subjectivity
Being and Time the third division of the
"Time and Being," was Here everything
the
is
as
is
question of whether
man
name
it
is
in the destiny
of
in
is.
For
Idea.
man actually is or not; rather,
in the
it
to
posing this question
Who?
we
man is U hat'f we are
ask what
or the
already on the lookout for something like a person
and misconstrues the
essential
unfolding of ek-sistence in the history of Being.
why
the sentence cited from Being and
careful to enclose the
word "essence"
in
quotation marks. This indicates that "essence"
now being
defined from neither
esse existentiae^^^
acter of Dasein.
is
nor
esse essentiae
but rather from the ek-static char-
As
ek-sisting,
in that he takes the
"On
lecture
the Essence of Truth,"
man sustains Da-sein
Da, the lighting of Being, into
Time"
ing of the turning from "Being and
"Time and Being." This
turning
not
is
thinking that was sought
to
change
a
of standpoint from Being and Time, but in
it
the
arrives at the location
first
of that dimension out of which Being and Time experienced, that
By way of
contrast, Sartre expresses the basic
tenet of existentialism in this way: Existence pre-
cedes essence. In this statement he tentia
and
is
taking exis-
according to their metaphysical
essentia
meaning, which from Plato's time on has said that precedes
essentia
Sartre
existentia.
reverses
this
statement. But the reversal of a metaphysical state-
ment remains
a
metaphysical statement.
\\ ith
it
Being. For even
if
philosophy wishes to determine
the relation of essentia and existentia in the sense
"thrown."
had
Being
unfolds essentially in the throw of
as the fateful sending.
But
to explain the sentence
sence as
human
if it
if
one wished
about man's ek-sistent es-
were the secularized transference
to
beings of a thought that Christian theology
is
that this
suiim
esse);"^"^
w hat
es-
is
we understand what Being and Time calls "projection" as a representational positing, we take be an achievement of subjectivity and do not
it still
as esse essentiae
and
Rather than think of the mind
as
knowing or not
knowing Being, Heidegger thinks of Being and concealing
itself
not a passive object for the """ ''''
as revealing
Being grants unconceaiment;
human
it
subject.
essentia
it
is
and
how
it
is
existentia
ness of Being.'
We
ing, let alone
not
the
differentiation
existentia (actuality)
Or
at all a sign
must presume
upon
comes
to
is
the fact
a lesser capacity its
of forgetful-
that this destiny
human
think-
of early West-
essential provenance,
of essentia
(essentiality)
and
completely dominates the des-
is '^'^'
Heidegger
is
describing a major change ("turn") in
"On Time and Being"
God
essay of Heidegger's.
(isg)
of
with the differentiation of
does not rest upon a mere failure of
his thinking.
His being.
esse existentiae
could never be thought.
Essential being and existing being, respectively. is
first
this differentiation
We have yet to consider why the
ern thinking. Concealed in ^'""
remains to ask
question about the destiny of Being w as never asked
and why
est
sential. If
to
Being
appear to thinking!
not the realization of an essence, nor does
{Deus
ek-sistence itself even effect and posit
it
in
some other way,
from what destiny of Being
all
it
medieval controversies, in Leibniz's sense,
for ek-
expresses about sistence
God
in
or in
would be the ultimate error
it
he
stays with metaphysics in oblivion of the truth of
"care." But Da-sein itself occurs essentially as It
is
from the
to say, experienced
is
fundamental experience of the oblivion of Being.
or an object. But the personal no less than the objective misses
The
until 1943, provides a certain insight into the think-
with equal impropriety whether
who he
sics.'''"
The
its
not an answer to the
is
We are accustomed
is
section
thought out and dehvered in 1930 but not printed
responds to the question concerning man's "es-
Time
The
question was held back because thinking failed in
for the realization of
appears in
sentence ''Man ek-sists''
is
held back. reversed.
the adequate saying of this turning and did not
something that
That
is
of
first part,
succeed with the help of the language of metaphy-
the determination of what
or
made
surely
is
fact that in the publication
opposed
truth. Existentia
sence."
by the
difficult
The
this other
possibility as Idea. Ek-sistence identifies
in contrast actualitas, actuality as
mere
to
of Being.
truth
of the "existential analysis"
as the ecstatic relation to the lighting of Being.
terms of content ek-sistence means standing out into
way the "understanding of
the only
in the context
of "being-in-the-world" can be thought - namely
more
itself.^""
in
it
Being"
(below) was
a late
Humanism"
"Letter on tun
Wcilcrn
ol
IusIoin
jiuI nl
IhsIuin
all
ilrlcr-
nuncil b) Kuropc
jUuit
pr«>|HiMiioi)
Sdrlrr*H Lc\
lumc "cxistcntuliMu"
about the rclatH)n ol
and fxisUntta can is
it
As
|ust saul. that
enough What
imla) remains
still
ot nian to the |>oint
that
dimensuin
honor
to the
onl\
Hut e\en
it
happens clunisih ia.scin
man
not,
the
thai
IS
man
the cimcncc ot
reali/e the
profXT
hiichr^i
dctmninaliom fttill do mA
hunianiun
in
man w
di|cnit\ of
o that e%trni
I
humanmean that such thinking aligns itvell against the humane and advocates the mhuman, that ii promotc« the inhumane and
the thinking in Heinf
ism
imr
I
against
Bui this opiMiMiion diH's not
man Humanism
Aiu\ ileprecates the dignilv ol
op|>oseil Iniause
nun high enough Ol man does not consist
course the essential v*orth in his
beings, as the "Subject"
being the substance ol
among them,
may deign
tvrant ol Being he
\\
humanitai ot
d«K*s not set the
it
ol
ness ot Ix-ings into an
tct
question ol
a
still
Irom what we ha\e
become an im|H-tus
apart
tmt no staicnu-ni
I
preparing s«>nKthing precursor\
|H-rhaps
limt
•iw*/
and
f JiCfi/u
be exprcvsetl since there
common
at all in
//r" Mirl
lor a
ol "cxistcniijiisin"
piiontN
tlu
Imwcxcr.
c'lit/cn/iu t»\cr cwtntiti iIiicn.
ihc
implicjiion ol
"thrown" from
rather
is
lieing itsell into
iIk truth ot Being, so that ek-sisting
m
this fashion
he might guarti the truth ol Being, in order that
beings might appear
Man
beings thev are
the light of ik-ing as the
in
decide whether and
iloes not
how beings appear, whether and how (iod and
the
and culture through man's doings might be vindi-
gods or historv and nature come torvsard
the
cated.
lighting ot Being,
however, lor the sake
But
It,
ot the truth ot
we should
tlrst
ot
essential experience
that
man
is
to say this in the
mav
Being
in
make
attain to the
order to ponder
clear
how
to us
when
he ek-sists.
man
dawns
it
we now
\\ ere
language ot the tradition,
run: the ek-sistence ot
Ik'ing
claims him. Such an
it
happens
in that
so that civilization
todav
all
man and how
concerns
on us
we
order thai
in
dimension
(»t
his substance.
in the
sisting has to
man
is
as ek-
guard the truth of Being. .Man
shepherd of Being. Being and Time is
when
thinking
is
is
the
in this direction alone that
It is
ecstatic existence
experienced as "care. ^et Being
thinking that
oiiiiii,
is
a
word
present and
at
is
that
the
same lime, with puzzling ambiguity, usually means itself. If
destinv; tor in accord with this destinv
existence." But "sub-
designates the presence otvvhat
present
the destinv of tking.
essence which corresj^onds to such
would
stance," thought in terms ot the historv ot Being,
is
lies in
and depart
ever a question of finding what
is
it
fitting in his
sentence otten recurs,
already a blanket translation oi
tcim "substance"
man
to presence
"
is
why in ^t'/z/j,' and linic the "The 'substance' ot man is
what
The advent of beings But tor
I'hat is
it
come
int(i
we think
the metaphysical
sense already suggested in
that a
and
what is
to sav
to
it.
Being-
is
"Being
"
cosmic ground. Being
and
itself
It
is
work of art,
or Ciod. Being
is
a
The
not Ciod and not
her than
tart
all
beings
than every being, be
rock, a beast, a
farthest
is
learn to experience
that
is
man
yet nearer to
is
It
come must
machine, be
it
it
a
an angel
the nearest. Vet the near remains
from man. .Man
at first
clings alwavs
when thinking
and
accordance with the "phenomenological destruc-
only
tion" carried out in Being and Time, then the state-
beings as beings
ment "The 'substance' of man
ek-sislcnce" says
In truth, however,
man
such; precisely not, and never. Being as such. The
is
nothing else but that the way that
essence becomes present to Being
herence
in
the truth of Being. '^"
is
in his
proper
ecstatic in-
Through
this
determination of the essence of man the humanistic interpretations of
man
as iinitfuil rationale, as
"per-
to
But
beings. it
no doubt it
relates itself to Iking.
always thinks only of beings as
"question of Iking" always remains about beings.
name
It
indicates:
is
represents
still
not
at
all
a
what
question
its
elusive
the question in the direction of
Being. Philosophy, even
when
it
becomes
"critical"
son," as spiritual-ensoukd-bodily being, are not
through Descartes and Kant, always follows the
declared talse and thrust aside. Rather, the sole
course of metaphysical representation.
from beings back "Truth" (the literal
aUtheia).
for
Heidegger means "unconccalmcnt"
meaning otthc ancient Greek word
tor truth,
It
thinks
to beings with a glance in passing
toward Being. For every departure from beings and every return to them stands already
in
the light of
Being.
V
Martin Heidegger
But
metaphysics
Being either solely in ''outward is
the
recognizes
appearance"
lighting
view of what
as the
of
present
is
(iJea) or critically as
what
seen as a result of categorial representation on the
part of subjectivity. This
Being
means
as the lighting itself
that the truth of
remains concealed for
metaphysics. However, this concealment
yet held before
the treasure of
it,
But the lighting
wealth.
its
own proper
Being. Within
itself is
the destiny of Being in metaphysics the lighting affords
first
comes
view by which what
a
man
so that
touch upon Being
10).
This view
yields
is
present to
it,
himself can in apprehending (noein)
first
It
man, who
into touch with
present
is
such
to
{thigein, Aristotle,
Met. IX,
gathers the aspect to itself
first
when apprehending
aspects
has become a setting-forth-before-itself in the percept
w
of the
taken as the suhiectiim of
res cogitans
But how - provided we really ought to ask such a all - how does Being relate to ek-
question at sistence.^
of Being. But this relation
Being
itself is
the relation to the extent
time, an
is
as
it is
not by reason
of ek-sistence; on the contrary, the essence of eksistence derives existentially-ecstatically from the
essence of the truth of Being.
The one
thing thinking would like to attain and
for the first time tries to articulate in Being
Time
and
something simple. As such, Being remains
is
mysterious, the simple nearness of an unobtrusive
governance.
The
guage
But language
itself
nearness occurs essentially as lanis
not mere speech, inso-
we represent the latter at best as the unity of phoneme (or written character), melody, rhythm, and meaning (or sense). We think of the phoneme far as
and written character
as a verbal
of melody and rhythm as to
do with meaning
as its
its
body
for language,
and whatever has
soul,
We usually think of
mind.
language as corresponding to the essence of represented as animal rationale, that
certttudo.^'''''
first
"ecstatic" relation of the essence of man to the truth
not a
is
defect of metaph\ sics but a treasure withheld from it
sophy, has yet to be thought for the
is,
man
as the unity
of body-soul-mind. But just as ek-sistence - and
through
the relation of the truth of Being to
it
- remains
man
veiled in the humanitas of homo animalis,
Being amid
so does the metaphysical-animal explanation of
beings, gathers to itself and embraces ek-sistence in
language cover up the essence of language in the
Because
history of Being. According to this essence lan-
that
It,
as the location of the truth of
existential,
its
man
as the
that
is,
one who
relation that
ek-sists
comes
Being destines
ecstatically sustains
himself, he at
ecstatic, essence.
it,
that
first fails to
is,
to stand in this
for itself, in that in care takes
that this
is
at the
the nearest.
same time
than the farthest
is
upon
recognize the nearest and
attaches himself to the next nearest.
and
it
he
He
even thinks
But nearer than the nearest
for ordinary thinking farther
nearness itself the truth of
Forgetting the truth of Being in favor of the pressing throng of beings unthought in their esis
what ensnarement means
in
Being and
This word does not signify the Fall of
Time.^^^''
iMan understood at the
the house of Being which
is
from Being and is
in a
"moral-philosophical" and
same time secularized way;
rather,
nates an essential relationship of
man
is
But man
is
sists
is
Being, guarding
So the point not
man
in that
^^"'
something
In the perception of the thinking substance taken as the
subject "'"^
also
of certainty.
Verfallen,
here translated as "ensnarement," has
been translated
as "fallenness.'"
man
what
is
ek-
essential
but Being - as the dimension of the
of ek-sistence.
has been hitherto concealed from philo-
pos-
that in the determination of the
in the all
is
not
familiar sense. Rather,
space-time occur essen-
the dimensionality which Being itself
Thinking attends
is
ecstasis
However, the dimension
spatial
tially in
it
who
he belongs to the truth of
as ek-sistence
everything spatial and
because
this
of man's
it.
is
humanity of man
Being
logical" distinction but rather a relation which,
home
the
the house of Being in which
by dwelling,
desig-
not imply a moral-existentiell or an "anthropo-
as
is,
not only a living creature
it
do
it
sesses language along with other capacities. Rather,
to
in a provisional fashion,
so
essence.
within Being's relation to the essence of man. Ac-
which are used
to pass
And
correspondence to Being and indeed as
its
correspondence, that
cordingly, the terms "authenticity" and "inauthenticity,"
comes
pervaded by Being.
proper to think the essence of language from
language
Being.
sence
guage
is.
to these simple relationships.
them within the grammar of metaphysics. But does such thinking - granted that there is something in a name - still allow itself to It tries
to find the right
word
for
long traditional language and
be described as humanism.' Certainly not so
humanism humanism
far as
thinks metaphysically. Certainly not is
existentialism and
is
if
represented by
what Sartre expresses: precisement nous sommes sur
LAtter
wif
plan
u ituUmfitt Jf\
I'M j/ y
trtmi //finr
hummfs
'rhtiughi
mv
should
/im of
11
sj\.
and iJutiou.sK
gi\cs Ik-ing
itscll
vumc
arc the
/>/«i«
imprinsiK
jiixo"
here "jsncs"
/
coiKruicii
i\
heralded
in
p(Klr\, ^ilhiuil \c« l>cti>iumg nunilcsi as ihc history ol
The world-hisinru al thinking
ilcin){
lloldcrlin thai sjKaks «uii in ihc |XK-m
brjiKc" jiul
more priniordul
ihcrctorc cvscniulK
IS
ot
•Rcincin-
thus more signitkjni lor the tuiurc than thc
mcrc
cosino|xiliianisiu ol (iinthc
the sunic
l"or
rcJMin lloUlcrlin's relation to (ireek ci\ili/ation MMiK-thing eNsi-ntulK other than huinanisin
with
conlronieil
Cicrnuns who knew
held U» I
al>out
Ix"
the t\pual (lernun
lonielcvsncss
wtjrid
I
terms
»»t
lloldcrlin
lenee
it
coming
is
is
to
at
i
Ix-
\S
ilu-
hen
Noiing
and
li\e«.l
what
than
soineihinu other
thttuuht
those
therchire.
ileath.
is
piihlu
homelcssncss
in the
man
This homelcssncss
spccitkalh e\oked trom the
is
melaph>sKs and
dcstin\ ot lieing in the torm ot
through mclaphssics
and covered up
modern man.
ot
simulianeoush entrenched
is
Because Marx by experi-
as such.
non
to
communism and
the dtKlnncs o( tion.
world-historKal s|x-aks out in
"iommumsm" schauung"
who
IS
h\ the term
i
presumablv once
ot a
more than
above
in the tact
tailing
is
dawning
have seen
now
till
Sartre
of
less in the basic traits
attempts to explicate destinN yet, and that
For such dialogue free oneself as well as
it is
product-
a
becomes
possible.
certainly also necessary to
trom naive notions about materialism,
from the cheap refutations
posed to counter docs not consist
it.
that are
sup-
The essence of materialism
in the assertion that
everything
is
expanded
rather
to hunuinitiii
The modern meiaphxsical
Phenom-
metaphysicalK an anthropolarticular lite-
worlil ilestin\
Being now
I
|usi
l.uro|x-
remains Furopean by definition.
whether
i%
takc^
ever more clearly forced consiMs
is
glors
Its
course
that of other histt>rical accounts. Ikit since neither
so far as
shallowK,
The danger into which
\le
Whoever
it
"Americanism" mean, and mean
ilcrogalorilv, nothing
in
of IkinK
only as a "party" or a "Weltan-
thinking
ofhislor), the Marxist \ie\v ot"histor\
Husscrl nor
to their lounda-
pcnencc ot nhal
IS
It
irom the
and gather together what
superior to
a
.No mailer vthuh o(
ot the hisiorv ot Ik-ing
encing estrangement attains an essential dimension is
hmtH
pcnrplihlc
ihr onlv
the \arious |>osiiions one ch«M>scs to ailopi itmard
hiihcrtj) existed
deriNcd from Hegel, as the estrangement ol Its riKits
phase
the destiiu of ilu
nized in an essential and signitkant sense, though
has
and up
disiiiutive
st
What Marx recog-
u
the hiMur> ol mciaphvftic», which
in
mule
necessarN to think that destiin in
the histtirs ot Iking.
A%«tormol iruihirchnoki^v u grounded
maniiokl
man
more than mereh human, "being
a rational
represented as
if this is
creature." ".More" must not be
understood here additively as definition of
rationale.
consists in his being
man were
if
the
traditional
indeed to remain basic,
only elaborated by means of an cxistentiell postscript.
The "more" means: more originally and
therefore
more
essentially in
terms of his essence.
But here something enicrnatic manifests is
in
throvsness.
This
means
that
itself
man,
as
man the
cjH)
Martin Heidegger ek-sisting counter-throw of Being,
more than
is
animal rationale precisely to the extent that he less
bound up with man conceived from
ity.
Man
Man
not the lord of beings.
is
Man
pherd of Being.
is
subjectiv-
the she-
is
truth of Being,
stands safely beyond any danger
it
of shattering against the hardness of that matter.
Thus
to "philosophize" about being shattered
separated by a chasm from a thinking that tered. If
such thinking were to go fortunately for
rather, he gains in that he attains the truth of Being.
man no
misfortune would befall him.
He
receive the only gift that can
loses nothing in this "less";
gains the essential poverty of the shepherd,
whose dignity consists
comes
as the
throw from which the thrownness
of Da-sein derives. In his essential unfolding within the history of Being,
man
is
the being
whose Being
as ek-sistence consists in his dwelling in the near-
ness of Being.
But -
Man
is
the neighbor of Being.
to thinking
But is
also the case that the matter of thinking
it is
not achieved in the fact that talk about the "truth
of Being" and the "history of Being"
is
set in
motion. Everything depends upon this alone, that
come
the truth of Being
to language
and that think-
ing attain to this language. Perhaps, then, language
you no doubt have been wanting to now - does not such think-
as
come
a
He would
from Being.
The
the preservation of Being's truth.
itself into call
being called by Being
in
is
shat-
is
much
requires
precipitous expression than
less
who
rejoin for quite a while
proper silence. But
ing think precisely the hiimanitas oi homo humanusr
imagine that his attempts to think are
Does
the path of silence.' At best, thinking could perhaps
not think humanitas in a decisive sense, as
it
no metaphysics has thought
or can think
it
it.'
Is this
"humanism" in the extreme sense.' Certainly. It a humanism that thinks the humanity of man
what
it
is
easily
from nearness
humanism
essence
in
same time
at the
which not man but man's
stake in
is at
But
to Being.
its
fall
in this
In Being and Time
it
is
the actuality of subjects
other and so in
fundamental contrast
istence^'"
Being.
ecstatic
is
it
man
Neither
is
"Ek-sistence,"
to every existentia
and
''ex-
dwelling in the nearness of
Being. Because there
the care for
is,
something simple
is
this thinking
it
seems quite
to be
difficult to
rare handicraft of
all eternity, even when they come very come at the right time. Whether the realm of the truth of Being is a blind
defined for late still
does.
with and for each
are.
the guardianship, that
It is
thought in
who act
become who they
w riting.
really matter, although they are not
said that every question of
cogito.
now
to the
Things that
game of stakes? So
not the actuality of the ego
would thus be more
and directed
philosophy "recoils upon existence." But existence here
to be thought. It
is
weaned from mere supposing and opining
it is
provenance from the truth
it is
as
historical
of Being. But then doesn't the ek-sistence of also stand or
home on
at
point toward the truth of Being, and indeed toward
not
a
of us today would want to
alley or
dom
whether
conserves
may judge
it is
its
after
the free space in which free-
essence
is
something each one
he himself has tried to go the
designated w ay, or even better, after he has gone a better way, that
is,
a
way
befitting the question.
On
the penultimate page of Being and Time stand the
"The
sentences:
with respect to the inter-
conflict
pretation of Being (that
is,
therefore, not the in-
terpretation of beings or of the Being of
cannot be
settled, because
it
man)
has not yet been kindled.
the representational thought that has been trans-
And
mitted as philosophy. But the difficult
quarrel,' since the kindling of the conflict does
is
not a
in the
end
it is
not a question of 'picking a
matter of indulging in a special sort of profundity
demand some
and of building complicated concepts; rather,
foregoing investigation
concealed in the step back that
lets
into a questioning that experiences
habitual opining of philosophy It is
fall
it is
comment any
further
upon
- and
the days ahead remain as
the
lets
aw ay.
thinking that hazards a few
The
steps in Being
and
Time has even today not advanced beyond that publication.
But perhaps
in the
one respect come farther into
its
meantime
it
has in
ow n matter. How-
end alone the
still
after
hold. Let us also in
The
into
question you pose
helps to clarify the way.
You
Let us not
opinion.
this
w anderers on the w ay
the neighborhood of Being. in
To
under way." Today
tw o decades these sentences
alley.
that
is
thinking enter
everywhere supposed that the attempt
Being and Time ended in a blind
preparation.
Comment redonner un
ask,
sens
au mot
"Humanisme"? ''How can some sense be restored to the
word 'humanism'.'" Your question not only
presupposes a desire to retain the word "human-
ism" but has lost
ever, as long as philosophy merely busies itself with
It
also contains an
its
admission that
this
word
meaning.
has lost
it
humanism
through the insight that the essence metaphysical, which
now means
continually obstructing the possibility of admit-
of
tance into the matter for thinking,
that metaphysics not only does not pose the ques-
i.e.
into the
is
'
on Humanism'
"Latter lion coiKrrniiig ihr truth
«•!
structN thr question. inMiUr
its
into the i|ut-siioiuhU-
UN to thiN insight
Icii
ob-
jl
thlnkln^ itut
liut the sjnic
in the ohli\ ion oi Item); ha.H
lUing but
mrtHii'?i |)cr%iHtH
csMCiKT ol hununisni has hkcN\isc cofU|Kllcil us to
nun more prunonhjIK
think thr rvsctuc ot
arises the possihilitN ol restoring to
humanui there
won! "humanism"
the
meaning
oldest
chronologicailv
not to
is
is
unilersHMKl
Ik-
though the wonl "humanism" were wholK with-
meaning
out
aiul
word
man
is
meant
To restore
|>oints to humaniltis, the
thai the es-
experience the essence of It
demands
also
evscnce in
sence
we show
that
to
is,
from Being
insofar as Being appropriates
first
primordially;
what evient
That
itself
man
we
that
tateful.
ek-sislence.
lies in
that
essentially
man more
own wa> becomes
its
man
ol"
as such.
can only mean to redetme
it
meaning of the word. That requires
but
This
to he taken esseniialU
sense to
a
The
imis^^^'"
word "humanism" has
the sense that the
the
flulus
man. the "-ism" imluates
«»l
sence of
mere
a
'*humunttttr in the
essence
IS
historical si-nse that
a
The restoration
rccktuuvl as
Us
than
oUler
\\ iih
humantuis ol homo
to this nion- csscntui
rr)r>iril
The es-
"Humanism" now means,
itself.
the word, that for
essential
such
a
simpK
the
lui'us
a
we decide
man
the essence of
way that the word does not pertain as such.
So we
we "humanism"
still
.\nd keep
it
it
to
in
man
name
presious
human-
no way adviKates the inhuman.' by sharing
in the
in the
use of the
predominant
in oblivion
of Being.'
Or should
think-
by means of open resistance to "humanism,"
shock that could for the
tirst
time cause
perplexitN concerning the hiimunttaa ol
honm hiimu-
risk a
nus
and
its
rellection
In this
basis.' if
way
it
could awaken
the world-historical
moment
not itself already compel such a rellection thinks not only
about
man
a
did that
but also about
the
"nature" of man, not only about his nature but even more primordially about the dimension
in
which the essence of man, determined by Being
all
than
"logical"
inhuman and
barbaric brutalit\
fication ol
I-
humanism nothing remains
a glori-
or what
more
is
who
somelxHh
for
that
negates
but the alfirinaiion of
inluimamiN
Because we are speaking against belie\e
we
logu
[xople
are ilemanding that the rigor of thinking
be renounced and in
its
drnes and
installed
feelings
Ix-
place the arbitrariness of
and thus
that "irra-
tionalism" be pr teaches an irresponsible
and destrucii\e "nihilism." For what
more
is
"logical" than that whoeNcr roundlx denies what truly in being puts himself
is
on the side of nonbeing
and thus professes the pure nothing as the meaning of realit\
r
\\ hat is
going on
"humanism,"
here.'
"logic,"
People hear
"values,"
talk
about
"world,"
and
They hear something about opposition They recognize and accept these things
"(iod."
But with hearsay
Enipt\ sound.
positive.
A
strictiv deliberate
grove that no light reaches.
name
hetra\ the
Because we are speaking againM "hununinm" pe«»ple lear a defense of the
these.
""
Ihex
same loundation
struiture ami the
liness of
just so that
l
what one believer he kniiH%
ol
Ixlore he reails
alreailN
denies the bevond, and renounces
currents, stilled in metaphysical subjeciiMsm and
ing,
simpK mirrorings
a
that
"'""^^
all
>t
^
are natural reinterpretation% ot what vkas read, or
keep the name "humanism" for
in
li
t
hc*c miMnirrpretation%
more
name we might perhaps swim submerged
I
a
results in a
that contradicts
ism - although
slowlx dissipate'
is
mm ImenJo.
.Should
is
are thinking a curious kind of
"humanism." The word
thinking in
of
ime has hitherto Ixen
are horrified at a philosophy that ostensibly dares to
of Being, specificallN
truth
them
I
issue here,
as ck-sisting for
in case
whiih the path
aiions to
ol |{cing anil let
not rather %ullrr a
Because we are speaking against "values" people
what
guardianship o\er the truth ot Being into this truth
to retain
home Should Me
at
IS
uhile longer ih
Martin Heidegger
what speaks against something negation and that this
And somewhere
destructive.
there
its
Being and Time
in
phenomenological de-
explicit talk of "the
is
automatically
is
"negative" in the sense of
is
With the assistance of logic and ratio - people come to believe that
struction."
so often invoked
whatever it
not positive
is
negative and thus that
is
seeks to degrade reason - and therefore deserves
to be
branded
as depravity.
We
they recoil before the task of simply inquiring into
we wished
the essence of logos} If
which
objections,
of course
is
bandy about
to
fruitless,
we could
with more right: irrationalism, as a denial of rules unnoticed
ground
To
in the defense
of
can eschew meditation on
it
and on the essence of
logos
are so filled with
and uncontested
which believes
"logic,"
say
ratio^
which has
ratio
its
in logos.
think against "values"
is
not to maintain that
"logic" that anything that disturbs the habitual
everything interpreted as "a value" - "culture,"
somnolence of prevailing opinion
"art," "science,"
is
automatically
registered as a despicable contradiction.
We
pitch
"God" -
"human
everything that does not stay close to the familiar
to realize that precisely
and beloved positive into the previously excavated
tion of
of pure negation which negates everything,
pit
ends
nothing, and so consummates nihilism.
in
Following
everything
let
we invented
expire in a nihilism
with the aid of
we
course
logical
this
ourselves
for
logic.
a thinking ad-
But what
let
and conclusively, that
is,
anything else - only
when one
what
without a clear prospect of posits in advance
meant by the "positive" and on
is
This
negative.-^
this basis
makes an absolute and absolutely negative decision about the range of possible opposition to cealed in such a procedure to reflection this
Con-
it.
the refusal to subject
is
presupposed "positive"
in
one believes himself saved, together with
which
its
posi-
and opposition. By continually appealing to the
tion
logical
one conjures up the
illusion
he has disavowed
fact It
he
is
when
in
that
entering straightforwardly into thinking
a thing
Being
in its
tion of
its
in
values
When
To
mean
does not
and
lessness
thinking,
mere
and
ent."
This
"logic."
To
and
illogical
thought the logos and the
dawn of thinking,
the
first
its
mean
to
but simply to trace in
essence w hich appeared in
that
is,
to exert ourselves for
time in preparing for such reflection.
what value if,
founder of
think against "logic" does not
break a lance for the
us
in Aristotle, the
Of
are even far-reaching systems of logic to
without really know ing w hat they are doing.
a
degrada-
for the value-
means
rather to
as
subjectivizing
against
into
reference to "being-in-the-world" as the
The is
of the first
beings
objects.
man
is
merely
a
homo humanus does "worldly" creature
in a Christian sense, thus a creature
turned away from
with meditation on Being
lost in Plato
drum
basic trait of the humanitas of
with the thinking that thinks the truth
of logos w hich w as already obfuscated
is
bring the lighting of the truth of Being before
God and
word could be more
dial essence
-
bizarre ef-
as elsewhere thinking
nullity of beings. It
tation proposes to itself in the generality of the
of Being.? This thinking alone reaches the primor-
The
think against values therefore
"Transcendence." What
is it
where
does not
one proclaims "God"
to beat the
sentation of beings in their Being, which represen-
how
objectivity
the greatest blasphemy imaginable
is
against Being.
understood
is,
when
doing.
God's essence. Here
other vistas.
that
is
not exhausted by
a subjectivizing. It
is
doing.
it is
of the
itself,
is
the altogether "highest value," this
not assert that
concept. But
valued
is
prove the objectivity of values does not
fort to
know what
implies a defense
to be the repre-
what
is
assess-
beings: be. Rather, valuing lets beings: be valid
sition to
"Logic" understands thinking
is
values positively,
The
"humanism" in no way inhuman but rather opens
so valued
is
by the
to say,
is
as a value
solely as the objects of
it.
ought to be somew hat clearer now that oppo-
finally
takes the form of value. Every valuing, even
toward pure negation and the
be sure, happens inevitably
important
"a value" what
worth. That
being an object, particularly
it
to
as
it is
through the characteriza-
admitted only as an object for man's estimation.
vances against ordinary opinion necessarily point
happens - and then,
its
ment of something
its
But does the "against" which
something
robbed of
dignity," "world," and
valueless. Rather,
is
is
so cut loose from
really
meant by
this
clearly called "the transcend-
transcendent
supersensible being.
is
considered the highest being in the sense
first
cause of all beings.
cause.
However,
God is thought as this name
in the
"being-in-the-
world," "world" does not in any way imply earthly as
opposed
to heavenly being,
opposed
to the "spiritual."
not at
signify beings or
all
the openness of Being. as
he
is
any realm of beings but
Man
the ek-sisting one.
openness of Being. Being
nor the "worldly" as
For us "world" does
is,
He
itself,
has projected the essence of
and
is
man,
insofar
stands out into the
which
man
as the
throw
into "care,"
is
as
Humantsm"
"Letter on ihiN
ol ilispaich-
such dispatching
()nl\
is
remains merel> s«)nu-lhing fabricated by
law
human rules
More
reason
man
that
is
wax
This abode
truth of Ik-ing.
than
essential
find the
first
yields the experi-
ence of something we can hold on Ik'ing offers a hold for
instituting
to his aboiie in the
The truth
to.
conduct. "Hold"
all
language means protectne heed. Iking
heed that holds
tecti\e
to the truth of
that
once the house
IS at
human
language.
in
of
guage," which
human
man
what
beings not be
at
home
of
them language becomes
tor their
sundr> preoccupations.
exceeds light in
contemplation because
all
which
it
cares for the
can
a seeing, as tlworta,
first live
it
puts
its
saying of Being into language as the
home of ek-sistence. Thus
thinking
deed that also surpasses
praxis.
all
above action and production,
grandeur of
quence of of
its
its
The
deed. But a
Thinking towers not
through
the
as a conse-
but through the humbleness
its effect,
in
its
sa>ing merel\
to
brings the
be taken quite
itself, to
language.
literally. It is
Such arriving
thought to language in itself is raised into
form
perpeluall\ under
in its
of the unusual,
initiates. .At the
light-
way
to
from
it
which
is
is
its
I'or
we
w«)rld-historical
its
the
in
accessible only to
and
scientific kn»)w ledge
We
search projects.
re-
its
nuasure deeds b\ the impres-
and successful achievements ai praxis. But the
sise
is
beha\
it
is
neither theoretical nor practical,
the conjunction of these
two forms of
ior.
Through
makes
itself
its
simple essence the thinking of Iking
unrecognizable with
acquainted
the
t»)
us.
unusual
simple, then another plight
But
if
Being
falls
of the
immediatelx
befalls
prey to arbitrariness; for
to beings. \\
W hat
thinking of
it
hence does thinking take
law governs
its
cannot cling its
measure.'
deed?
Here the third question of \our entertained:
we become
character
'The suspicion arises that such
ijiic
we
unfolding
same time we conceive of thinking
on the model of
letter
must be
(litmment sauicr /'element Jaicriture
iiimporte toutc recherche sans /aire de la philoso-
phic unc simple aientunercy^'^^'^
poetry now only in passing. the
same question, and
in
It
the
I
is
shall
mention
confronted b\
same manner,
as
thinking. But .Aristotle's words in the Poetics, al-
though they have scarcely been pondered, are that poetic
composition
is
still
truer than explor-
ation of beings.
But thinking
Being comes,
we
to Ix- thought,
ol the essential
name "philosoph)"
to language. is
contmualK has
which has
\alid
usage "bring to language" employed here
language.
IS
a
inconsequential accomplishment.
For thinking
ing
is
achievement and not
unspoken w ord of Being
now
in
lan-
t«»
the extent that
t«)
look tor thinking
and
move. Thinking attends to the lighting of Being that
It
to the extent
prestige uiuler the
us.
what relation does the thinking of
in
inconspicuous
|-'or
simplicity. FreciseU this keeps us
home
Being stand to theoretical and practical behavior.'
of ihe
strange in the thinking of Iking
nor
the
happm% through
language
Itself to
lan-
mere container
a
Iking
\\ hat is
Thus
language, so
in their
that for
But now
is
in the future
base brought something
deed of thinking
can historical mankind and
Kk-
Ikring
retain this thought in the heedfulness of laying is
way of
i»i
the usage "bring
and nothing further,
that
htv-
granted to language, think onl\
vsas
a
Iking and the home
beings. ()nl> because language
of the essence of
essence
such
in
of
our
the pro-
in his ek-sistent
such protectne heed
houses ek-sistence
it
guage
man
is
in
now an example
JUKI
we expressh think
that
capable ol sup|-H»rting and obligating. Otherwise all
at all
ileed of thinking manifested itself
the assignnu'nt e«tntaiiu-il in the ilis|H-nsaiion ol Ik'ing. ()nl\ the assignnu-nt
nothing
if
ul
o( tlujsc tlircctions that nuist
man
as
IS
It
house
in ihr
thoughtful va\mg
Iking can then- come from Iking
not onl\
this
all
c«Mmcc u
rnollrctMin
to
(*»
But
imih
tlu-
rniru%ird
is
which
thai Un|(U4|(c
luli\ inlu il»
sislrmr ihoughttulK dwclU
nuligiuncx
to
Iking
lorual.
In
nun. ck-sisting into
bcctimc law and rule lor
nrman. \omos
I
lliinls lUing,
it
To ihr rxicnl
H4V
l>cr\4Ai\c
has thus liccn brought
grants jsccnt into uran-.
lirst
assignment
Uscll tlu-
\ciltil
nothing
oimpulsion
lis
Onh
is
the cnsciuc ol wlui
is
llciuc Ihcjiisc
ihr noihii)^
iiinc
iIimuwciI hcrv
Jk"
I'hr nihibting in licing (.all
sjim
ihis ilulctiic l»ui ji chc
ihrmigh
is
an aienture not only as
a search
and an inquiry into the unthought. Thinking, essence as thinking of Being,
Thinking
is
related
to
is
Being
in its
claimed by Being. as
what
arrives
turn brings ek-sisting
a saying.
Thus language
the lighting of Being.
Language
onlv in this mvsterious and vet for us alwavs
^^^" I
all
low can
\sc
prcscr\c the cicmcni of adventure that
research contains without making philosoph> into a
mere
adventuress.-
Martin Heidegger {Favcnant). Thinking as such
bound
be said - to what extent,
advent
thought
is
of Being, to Being as advent, Being has already been
moment
of the history of Being, in what sort of
is
dispatched to thinking. Being thinking.
But destiny
tory has already
come
ts
to the
as the destiny of
in itself historical. Its his-
is
to
language in the saying of
bring to language ever and again this advent
of Being which remains, and
man,
for
ought
it
mentioned
in
to
be
said.
an earlier
The
letter is
threefold thing
determined
in its
remaining waits
ness in saying, frugality with words.
the sole matter of thinking. For this
is
It
time to break the habit of overestimating
is
mean the identical. Of course they say it only to him who undertakes to think back on them. Whenever thinking, in historical recollec-
What
that does not
tion, attends to the destiny itself to
destiny.
ous.
To
To
what
is
of Being,
fitting for
it,
it
in accord with
flee into the identical is
not danger-
order to say the
risk discord in
the danger. Ambiguity threatens, and
Same
is
mere quar-
is
needed
philosophy, but literature,
The
has already
in the present
more
fittingness of the saying of Being, as of the
destiny of truth,
is
the
first
the rules of logic which can
- not
law of thinking
thinking that
sophy, because physics - a
it
name
the thinking that
demanded,
become
the basis of the law of Being.
To
rules only
on
attend to the
of thoughtful saying does not only
fittingness
its
much
is
it.
letter.
come is no longer philomore originally than meta-
to
thinks
identical to philosophy. is
of
crisis is less
attentiveness in thinking; less
to
set aside
knowledge. Thinking erty of
world
but more cultivation of the
and become wisdom
reling.
The
in its
the history of Being: rigor of meditation, careful-
philosophy and of thereby asking too
its
what
dialogue with this history, and on the basis of what claim,
reason essential thinkers always say the Same. But
bound
at
cohesion by the law of the fittingness of thought on
thinkers.
To
to
However,
come can no longer, as Hegel the name "love of wisdom" itself in is
the form of absolute
on the descent
to the
pov-
provisional essence. Thinking gathers
language into simple saying. In this way language is
the language of Being, as clouds are the clouds of
the sky.
With
its
saying, thinking lays inconspicu-
imply, however, that
ous furrows in language. They are
what
spicuous than the furrows that the farmer, slow of
is
to be said
is
we contemplate at every turn of Being and how it is to be said. It
equally essential to ponder whether what
is
to be
step,
draws through the
still
more incon-
field.
Author's Notes Cf.
Martin Heidegger, Vom VVesen
des
Grundes (1929)
{The Essence ofReasons^ trans. Terrence Malick (Evanston,
II:
Norweston University
Kant and chill
the
Press, 1969)], p. 8;
Problem of Metaphysics, trans.
J.
Chur-
(Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press,
1962), p. 243; and Being
and Time, section 44,
p.
230.
See the lecture on Holderlin's hymn, "Wie wenn
am
Feiertage ..." in Martin Heidegger, Erlduterungen zu Holderlins Dichtung, fourth,
am Main:
(:@)
expanded edn (Frankfurt
V. Klostermann, 1971), p. 76.
Cf "The
Ister"
third stanza
and "The Journey'" [Die IVanderung],
and ff [In the translations by Michael
Hamburger (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966), pp. 492ff
Cf
Holderlin's
and 392ff ]
poem "Remembrance" [Andenken]
in
the Tubingen Memorial (1943), p. 322. [Hamburger, pp. 488ff ]
Martin Heidegger, Vom Wesen
des Grundes, p.
28
n. 1.
*The Mirror Stage as Formative as Revealed Psychoanalytic Experience"
of the Function of the in
Jacques
I
I
.acan
By applying structural linguistics to psychoana-
cspcciallN
Jacques Lacan (190180) became the most important innovator in French psychoanalysis. Although he was ex-
tion of the /as
theory, psychiatrist
lytic
is
method of the "short session which could be ended by the analyst at any moment - he greatly '
influenced French intellectual heavily
attended
public
life
lectures
through his
1953
from
through 1980. Claiming that the unconscious
in
part
by
of biological
determinism -
making unquenchable
desire,
(or the light
sheds on the forma-
it
it
in psychoanalysis.
It
an experience that leads us to oppose ans phiKv-
Some
you may
(»f
recall that this
conception ori-
ginated in a feature of human behaviour illuminated
by
a fact
of comparative psychology
age
when he
the
chimpanzee
is
for a time,
.
The child, at an
however short, outdone by
instrumental intelligence, can
in
ncNertheless already
recogni/e as such his
own
is
structured like a language, he resisted, on the
one hand, any form
.
we experience
sophy directly issuing from the Cogito.
pelled from the International Psychoanalytic As-
sociation - especially for adopting the clinical
toil.iN
not
image
in a mirror.
the illuminative
This recognition
indicated in
is
mimicry of the. -l/ra-fr/fAnw,' which
Kohler sees as the expression of situational apper-
homeostatic need, the root of psychic phenomena - and on the other, any attempt to strengthen the ego. encouraging the patient to
ception, an essential stage of the act of intelligence
"adapt" to social convention - as practiced by
and found empty, immediately rebounds
"ego psychology."
In his later
work Lacan
distin-
guished three orders of psychic relevance: the imaginary, a projected
image
of self-integration;
This act, far from exhausting
itself,
as in the case
of the monkey, once the image has been mastered
of the child
in
experiences
a
series of gestures in
in play the relation
ments assumed
in the
in the case
which he
between the mo\e-
image and the reflected en-
the symbolic, or the realm of cultural signifiers.
vironment, and between this virtual complex and
governed by a dominant sign, the name of the Father: and the real, which is the presupposed
and the persons and things, around him
unknown resistance to the imaginary and symbolic, most relevant in the form of trauma. In the following essay, a 1949 version of his famous 1936 lecture. Lacan sketches an in-
the reality
it
reduplicates
the child's
own body,
but
the
terpretation of the earliest stage of the imaginative
construction of the
The conception duced
at
our
last
ot the
Ihc " \ha!-t\pcricncf. " rctcrrtd
ti>
b\ \\ olfgang K.(»h-
Icr
(1887 1%7), one of the creators of Gcstalt Psxcholofry.
"
Janus
M
Hakiuin
(1S1
H^.U).
XnuriLan Ps\cholt>-
self.
mirror stage that
I
intro-
congress, thirteen years ago, has
Jacques Lacan, "The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the as Revealed in Psychoanalytic I
since tice
become more or
less established in the
of the French group. However,
worthwhile to bring
it
I
prac-
think
it
again to your attention.
Experience.' idan.
in Ecrits:
A
Selection, trans. byAlan Sher-
NewYork:W.W. Norton
& Company.
1977. chap-
ter one. pp. 1-7.
(5?D
Jacques Lacan This event can take
place, as
we have known
since Baldwin," from the age of six months, and its
repetition has often
made me
startling spectacle of the
upon the
reflect
front of the
infant in
mirror. Unable as yet to walk, or even to stand up, tightly as
artificial
(what, in France,
he
is
human
by some support,
and held
we
call a 'trotte-behe''*^^),
order to hold
given
this activity retains the
up
it
meaning
back an
meaning
I
have
months. This
dynamism, which has
hitherto remained problematic, as well as an onto-
with
my
We an
that accords
identification, in the full sense that analysis gives
namely, the transformation that takes
when he assumes an image -
place in the subject
whose predestination
to this phase-effect is suffi-
by the use,
ciently indicated
the ancient term imago.
in analytic theory,
of
^^
the child at the infans stage,
still
sunk
incapacity and nursHng dependence,
in his
motor
would seem
to
exhibit in an exemplary situation the symbolic
form, before tification
stores to
it is
is
precipitated in a primordial
objectified in the dialectic of iden-
with the other, and before language reit,
in the universal, its function as subject.
This form would have
we wished
it
will also
it
be called the Ideal-I,
to
to incorporate
in the sense that
if
into our usual register,
be the source of second-
ary identifications, under which term
I
would place
the functions of libidinal normalization. But the
important point
is
that this
of the ego, before fictional direction,
its
form
situates the
agency
social determination, in a
which
will
always remain irre-
ducible for the individual alone, or rather, which will only rejoin the
coming-into-being
{le
devenir)
of the subject asymptotically, whatever the success of the dialectical syntheses
by which he must
resolve as / his discordance with his
The
movements
form
is
it,
it
and
in a
sym-
with the turbulent
in contrast
that the subject feels are animating
motor
its
style
remains scarcely recognizable - by
these two aspects of
prefigures
its
fact is that the total
which the subject anticipates
own
reaUty.
form of the body by in a
its
appearance, symbolizes the
mirage the mat-
the
/, at
alienating destination;
same time it is still
as
it
preg-
nant with the correspondences that unite the / with
man
the statue in which
phantoms
that
projects himself, with the
dominate him, or with the automa-
ton in which, in an ambiguous relation, the world of
own making
tends to find completion.
Indeed, for the imagos -whose veiled faces
it is
our
privilege to see in outline in our daily experience
and
in the
penumbra of symbolic efficacity' - the mirror-
image would seem world,
if
to be the threshold of the visible
we go by
the mirror disposition that the
imago of one 's own body presents in hallucinations or
dreams, w hether
This jubilant assumption of his specular image by
matrix in which the /
metry that inverts
his
have only to understand the mirror stage as
to the term:
--ry
human world
on paranoiac knowledge.
reflections
it
size {un relief de stature) that fixes
mental permanence of the
to the age of eighteen
discloses a libidinal
logical structure of the
this
be regarded as bound up with the species, though
instantaneous aspect of the image.
For me,
given to him only as Gestalt,
of his support and, fixing
in his gaze, brings
it
is
an exteriority in which
more constituent than constituted, but in appears to him above all in a contrasting
certainly
which
power
to say, in
him. Thus, this Gestalt - whose pregnancy should
in a flutter
his attitude in a slightly leaning-forward position, in
is
of jubilant
he nevertheless overcomes, activity, the obstructions
or
uration of his that
or even
its
it
concerns
individual features,
its
infirmities, or its object-projections; or if
we observe
the role of the mirror apparatus in
w hich psychical
the appearances of the double, in realities,
That
however heterogeneous,
are manifested.
a Gestalt should be capable of formative
effects in the
organism
is
attested
biological experimentation that
the idea of psychical causality that itself to
formulate
its
it is
tion for the maturation of the it
it
a piece
of
so alien to
cannot bring
results in these terms.
nevertheless recognizes that
pigeon that
by
is itself
It
necessary condi-
a
gonad of the female
should see another
member
species, of either sex; so sufficient in itself
condition that the desired effect
may be
of is
its
this
obtained
merely by placing the individual within reach of the field
of reflection of a mirror. Similarly, in the case
of the migratory locust, the transition within generation
from the
solitary
to
the
a
gregarious
form can be obtained by exposing the individual, at a certain stage, to
a similar
ments of a istic
the exclusively visual action of
image, provided
it
is
animated by move-
style sufficiently close to that character-
of the species. Such facts are inscribed in an
order of homeomorphic identification that would '" '^
itself fall
"Baby- walker." "Image", primarily visual but including
feelings.
Lacan imagos are dissimulative. Hence the ego meconnaisiatue (misunderstanding).
is
For
based on
within the larger question of the meaning
of beauty as both formative and erogenic.
But the tive
facts
of mimicry are no less instruc-
when conceived
as
cases of heteromorphic
"The Mirror Stag9" It. ..I.
n|,-,,iit,.
ot
.ti
inn.
.^
Ii
ihc\ raise ihr i>fMl»UiM
1..
ihc li\in^ Mrv;.ir>ism
>r
I
|>s\«.h.
pruic
lingual cLniipls haiilK sccin less
ruliiuioiis jiu-iupts
suprenu'
IXKscill)
to rctjil
\oung,
still
MKioiogKjl
(Uillois
to the
We
oI aiiaptjtion
how Roger
aiui
them
rciliuc
to
Ij\%
whuh
illu-
human
the
has
aiitononn
greater
These
e\en
stage,
win than
ptu de
is
deter-
realitf),
which
the Surrealists, in their restless way, saw reflections lead
me
i«)
as
its
bett)re the social dialectic, the effect in
man of an organic
insuttlciency in his natural reality
any meaning can be gi\en to the word
in so far as
am
1
led, therefore, lu
regard the function of the
niirryr-bta^' a^iji particuldr wase of the function of
of
that
tolaiitN
its
the assum|>tion of the
subject's
/
ttiwilt
L
mwelt.^^^
this relation to nature
dehiscence
a certain
at
is
altered
the heart of the organism,
Discord betra\ed b\
primordial
usually manifests itself in
ment of the
months. The ob)ecti\e notion
the
signs of
of the
anatom-
incompleteness of the pyramidal system and
likewise the presence of certain
humoral residues
of the maternal organism confirm the view
formulated as the hirth in It is
of the Innenwrlt
base
I
dreams when the move-
analysis encounters a certain level of
in the
in
exoscopy, grow ing w ings and
fixed, for
fact
of a
real ipfcijii
I
have
prematunty
»/
all
the very
liosch
has
lime, in painting, in their ascent from
of
to il\c iniJIginar) -.^tnilh this
form
is
even tangiblv
the organic level, in the lines of 'fragi-
at
anatctmy of phantasv, as
lization' that define the
exhibited in the schizoid and spasmodic
svmptoms
of hysteria. Corrclatively, the formation of the / ized in
dreams by
a fortress, or a
is
stadium
symbolits
inner
arena and enclosure, surrounded by marshes and rubbish-tips, dividing
it
into
two opposed
fields
worth noting, incidentally, that
this
is
a fact
recognized as such by embryologisis, by the term
which determines the pre\alence of
foetalization,
the so-called superior apparatus of the neurax, and
of the cortex,
which psycho-surgical
of
contest where the subject flounders in quest of the lofty,
remote inner
castle
whose form (sometimes
juxtaposed in the same scenario) svmboli/es the
man.
especiallv
Hieronvmus
the visionary
that
then
It
form of disjointed limbs, or of those
organs represented
same
alsii
references
of theoretical
aggressive disintegration in the individual.
appears
uneasiness and motor unco-ordination of the neo-
ical
rigid struc-
de\elopmcnt
which term
This fragmented \mk\\
introduced into our system
revealed
natal
its
and.
an alien-
ot
rature of the ego's \erifications
tween the hitunivcll and the
a
armour
generates the inexhaustible quad-
the fifteenth ccnturv
man, howe\er,
form
a
orthopaedic
mental
entire
modern man.'^ Hut
i
a
phantasies that
ol
llius. to break oiM of the circle
into the
t%
in the lure ot spatial
mark with
ating identitN. which will
the
tiage
prccipilalcd friim
and u huh manufac-
up
shall call
I
the organ SOL iind ib reality - or, as the\ sa\, be-
by
ih
fragmented body-image lo
a
the tmagg^ wjiich iiio ct>tablish a relation between
In
Ihr mirmr
taking up arms for intestinal persecutions
'nature*.
±tttVAt\u
\|Hricii» cil as a liiiUH.ral
the suciession
extends from
ture
\t\\t
(111
pro|e(.ls the toriiulion o|
internal thrust
ulentiliiation,
recogni/e
captation manifested in the mirror-
in the spatial
t
the indixidual into hisior>
drama whosi-
lastly, to
in relation to (lu- tielcl ot force
in that 'little reality' (ic
limitation.^'
as
s|>ri>
on these mancrs ilun
\\^\u
shi-iiilin^
l«»i
U
olHrratlotts
in a quite startling
plane,
we
id
way. Similarly, on the mental
find realized the structures of fortified
works, the metaphor of which arises spontaneously, as if issuing
from the symptoms themselves,
to
designate the mechanisms of obsessional neurosis inversion, isolation, reduplication, cancellation
and displacement C^illois gical
was
writer,
a twcntieth-tcnturx
author of
Man
and
Ircnch anthropolin tlu-
Sacrfd (1^3V). ""
"Psychasthcnia" refers to neurosis.
Lacan had
who sought
a
to
strong interest in the surrealist painters
capture
"subjective"
reality.
Inner world and surrounding world.
or
'*imaginar\"
"Foetaiization"
is
retention of infantile features in
adulth(M)d. '^
tic
Hieronvmous Hosch
(
145(>
l.^lfi).
painter of fantas-
scenes of religious symbi)In
tor tiu nu|(>r
lhrt
phciuiinciinn. hkc
ot
uvygcn or X-riys." Scientific revolutions, as wc noicti |jt the cnil of Section \\, nccil
seem reNoJu-
whose puralh^fns
lionjr> oiiK to those
twentieth centur>, seem
rc%oluiions ol the earl\
nomul
juris
t)mcrs.
ti»r
s as a mere
eoiilil
were
adilition to Lnowleilue, tor their paraihi;ms
ununcctcil h\ the existence ot the new railiation
men
But lor
keiMn, CnMikes, and
like
RiKiitjien,
panim
ditterrniT, the
to a rrvolu!tonar\ conflict
ma%» pcr-
liiuJU resiiri to the lnhnii|ur% ol
n)iisl
sujMon, ulten iiuiiidin^ lone have had
a \ital role in
IhouKh re\oluiion%
the c\oluiion ol poliltial
mslituiions. that role depends
upon
ihcir bring
parliall\ extra|>olilicjl or cxlrainsiilutionaj
The renuimler
are jdecleii
To outsulers the\ max, hie the HalLm
h\ ihrni
of SclenUfIc Revolutions"
ol this essax
that the historical stud\ ol
e\mt%
aims to ilcmonsirate
paradigm change rexeaU
\er\ similar characteristics in the exolulion of the sciences. Like the choice cal institutions, that
proses to
Ih-
a
of commumtx choice
between competing
modes
choice between incompatible life.
Ik-cause
it
has that character, the
mereh by
not and cannot be determined
is
politi-
In-tween com|H'ting paradigms
ri'search dealt with radiation theor> or with
the e\aluati\e procedures characteristic of normal
CJlh(Kie ra\ tuln-s, the emervience ot \-raNs neces-
science, for these ilepenti in part ujion a particular
whose
sanl> \i(»lated one parailiirm as 'I'hai
created an«»ther
it
whN these rays could be disco\ered onl\
IS
lhn)U»;h somethinii's
tlrst
eoini: wroni; with nornial
research
and
open
scientific
to doubt.
ot the |iarallel
between
cance ot the
change
tlrst
parallel has,
however, a second signifi-
depends. Political rexoluiions aim
ways
political institutions in
themselves
institutions
politi-
that those
Their success
prohibit.
therefore necessitates the partial relinquishment ol"
in
one
of another, and
set ot" institutions in favor
the interim, society
institutions at
nor tully governed by
is
Initially
all.
is
it
crisis
alone that
attenuates the role of political institutions as
haNe already seen In increasing
it
numbers individuals become
ingly estranged
from
political lite
and more eccentrically within
many of
deepens, selves to
new
institutional
and behave more
is
group uses
commit them-
its
role
is
a
When
issue
debate ab!
pluiumuna
imluateil h\ existing |urailigins
is
ile\elo|>cd
abo\e cannot be maintained
preN alenl
ontem|>«»rarN interpretation ol the nature
whose
and fuiution
\
These are the phenomena to
fhet)n articulation
scientists ilirect their research
imu', but that research aims
ncH ones.
do
OnK when
ot the
the nnention
at
these attempts
encounter
scientists
much
the articulation ot
at
existing paradigms rather than
fail
(nit
the
til
articulation
at
t\pe
third
of
phen«»mena. the recognized anomalies whose charactcnsfic feature
is
their
stubborn refusal to be as-
similated to existing paradigms. gives nse lo
new
phent)mena
except
determined place
But
anomalies
anomalies
with
all
theory-
a
in the scientist's field of vision.
new theories
it
This type alone
Paradigms provide
theories.
are called forth to resolve
an existing theory to
in the relatit)n of
nature, then the successful
new theory must some-
where permit predictions
that are ditfcrenl
from
those deri\ed from
its
could not occur
the two were logically compat-
it
predecessor. That difference
In the process of being assimilated, the second
ible
must displace the
first.
K\en
a
theory like energy
v
theor>
of scientifii
is
the m«i^t
it
accepted Thai
interpretation, closely as-sociated with early Idgieal
positivism and not categoricallv rejected b>
wouUI
cessors,
restrict the
accepteil theors so that
with anN
some
later theor>
coulil not
made
that
possibK conflict
predictions about
same natural phenomena. l*he
the
of
known and
it
conception of
a scientific
theory emerges in discus-
sions ofthe relation between contem|>orary Kinstei-
nian dynamics and the older dvnamical equations
descend from Newton's Primipui.^
that
l-'rom the
viewpoint of this essav these two theories are fundamentallv incompatible
m
the sense illustrated by
the relation ofCUjpernican to Ptolemaic astronomy: F-instein's theory
can be accepted only with the
recognition
Newton's
this
that
remains
a
was
must therefore
examine the most prevalent objections The
gist
Today
wrong.
We
minoritv view."
to
it.
of these objections can be developed as
follows. Relativistic
dynamics cannot have shown
Newtonian dynamics
to
be wrong, for Newtonian
structure that relates to nature only through inde-
engineers and, in selected applications, by
pendently established theories, did not develop
physicists.
without paradigm destruction. Instead,
emerged from
a crisis in
which an
dient was the incompatibility
essential ingre-
between Newtonian
dynamics and some recently formulated consequences
of the caloric theory of heat.
Only
after
the caloric theory had been rejected could energy
become
conservation after
it
could type,
it
part of science.
.\nd only
best-
the strongest case lor this restricted
dynamics
il
suc-
its
range and meaning of an
conservation, which today seems a logical super-
historically
that
the %ubfctl
ol
whose
can Ik umlersiiMKl onlv through further
details
which
c«»nMsis ol those
rr%olulMm%
unfonunairU,
iiKla>,
ihttincN that result are seUioni uccepteil. Invause
seconii class
irtinri.
a hiMorical implau^ibilr
IH
It
is still
used with great success by most
Furthermore, the propriety of
many
this use
of the older theory can be proved from the very theory that has, in other applications, replaced
it.
Einstein's theory can be used to show that predictions
from Newton's equations
our measuring instruments satisfy a small
example,
if
will
be as good as
in all applications that
number of restrictive
.Newtonian theory
is
conditions. For
to provide a gcKni
had been part of science for some time
approximate solution, the
come
bodies considered must be small compared with the
one not
to
seem
a
in conflict
theory of
with
its
a logically
higher
predecessors.
It is
hard to see how new theories could arise without
relative velocities
velocilv of light. Subject to this condition
others,
Newtonian theorv seems
these destructive changes in beliefs about nature.
from Einsteinian, of which
Though
case.
logical inclusiveness
remains a permissible
Hut,
The three anticipations were: the heliocentric cosniol-
the
objection
it
is
and
a
few
be derivable
therefore a special
continues,
possibly conflict with one of
lo
of the
its
no theory can special cases. If
ogA ofthe ancient Greek philosopher Aristarchus of Samos
(310 2M) B( tion;
and the
ton's
eritics.
);
se\enteenth-century the»)ries of combus-
relativistic
These
historical crises that
view of space adopted by
early
"discoveries"
would only
New-
preceded the
later legitimate
them.
Isaac
Nev^ton's .Mathematual PnttitpUi of Salural
Philosophy (Latin orig., 1687). Hclovv, the sccond-centurv Bc Alexandrian Ptolemy formulated the ge betrayed the standards of science
But the
itions are logically unexceptionable.
of accepting them would be the end of the research
to extraordin-
ary science. If positivistic restrictions on the range
of a theory's legitimate applicability are taken the
ally,
mechanism
munity what problems may lead change must cease occurs, the
dition in
which ence
function.
to
community
something much
which
it
pre-paradigm
members
that
state, a
con-
practice science but in
product scarcely resembles
their gross
at all. Is
fundamental
to
And when
inevitably return to
will
like its
all
liter-
com-
that tells the scientific
really
sci-
any wonder that the price of
significant scientific advance
is
a
commitment
that
runs the risk of being w rong.^
More
important, there
a
is
revealing logical
which acids were formed by the combustion of
lacuna in the positivist's argument, one that will
substances like carbon and sulphur. Also,
reintroduce us immediately to the nature of revolu-
plained the decrease of volume
it
ex-
when combustion
tionary change.
Can Newtonian dynamics really be What would
occurs in a confined volume of air - the phlogiston
derived from relativistic dynamics.^
released by combustion "spoils" the elasticity of
such
the air that absorbed
ments, E\,Ei
elasticity
just as fire "spoils" the
it,
of a steel spring.^ If these were the only
phenomena
that
phlogiston
the
theorists
had
claimed for their theory, that theory could never
have been challenged. fice for
A
applied to any range of
But
argument
phenomena
to save theories in this
application
and
similar
will suf-
any theory that has ever been successfully
must be
restricted to those
to that precision
experimental Carried just
evidence
hand already
in
a step further
be avoided once the
phenomena
of observation with which the "^
deals.
(and the step can scarcely
first is
taken), such a limitation
prohibits the scientist from claiming to speak "scientifically" about
served.
Even
any phenomenon not already ob-
in its present
forbids the scientist to rely
ow n research w henever
form the
upon
restriction
a theory in his
that research enters an area
...
,
Imagine
like.^
a set
of state-
embody
£„, vvhich together
variables
and parameters representing
sition, time, rest
mass,
spatial
From them,
etc.
with the apparatus of logic and mathematics,
is
deducible a whole set of further statements includ-
some
that can be checked
special case,
we must add
statements, like {v/c)^
by observation.
New tonian dynamics
prove the adequacy of
«
To as a
to the ^i's additional 1,
restricting the range
of the parameters and variables. This enlarged set of statements
is
then manipulated to yield a new
iVi,iV2, ...,A^m
which
is
identical in
Newton's laws of motion, the law of so on. Apparently
set,
form with
gravity,
and
Newtonian dynamics has been
derived from Einsteinian, subject to a few limiting conditions.
Yet the derivation
Though
is
AVs
spurious, at least to this
point.
w ith the theory
law s of relativistic mechanics, they are not
no precedent. These prohib-
po-
together
or seeks a degree of precision for which past practice offers
the
laws of relativity theory. These statements contain
ing
at all.
way, their range of
a derivation look
the
are a special case of the
New-
J
"The Nature and Necessity I^WN Or
tun's
Uw»
arc noi unless lh«»sc
IcjNi ihc\
ii
way
arc rcinicrprrtcU in a
would have
ihai
been un|x»vsihlc until alter Kinstem's uorl \ariahlcs
|>jrjnu'(er\ that
ihc l.insicinian
in
reprcNcnicil spatial |xisitiun, tunc, nuss, cti
A.,'s
Mill
jml
the
iKVur
and tho there
in the \,'s.
tlinMrinun space, time, and ma.vs
still
represent
liui the
phwical
no
referents ot these l.insteinian toncepts are h\
means idcntual with those conser\ed, K.insteiman
ol the
in
the
same wax.
be ctuueixed to
same
I niess
)
we change
the
definitions ot the xarublcs in the .\,\, the staic-
mcnis
xve
haxe derixed are
change them, we cann«n
JrnirJ Newton's Laws,
Nexx toman.
n«»i
work
In doing so
automobile drixer
not
it
m
haxe
in acting as
done
to surveyors. XX
hat
it
undertaken onl\
lurthermorc, even
were
a legitimate
that iranslormalion
it
dexicc to emplox in interpreting
the older theory, the result ol
Ik XX
a
theorx so restricted that
it%
application would
it
could onl\ resale
was alreadx known liecause
hat
that restatement xxould
suffice for the
haxe
utility,
ot its
economy,
but
could not
it
guidance of research
Lei us, therefore, now lake
it
for
granted that the
between successixe paradigms are both
tlitferences
necessarx and irreconcilable explicitly
ihai
more rccmi
hindsight, the cxpliiii guidance ol the theorx
unc
t»
the adxanlJKe% ul
x^ilh
(
jn we then
sax
what sorts of differences these
most apparent type has alreadx been Successive paradigms
repeatedlx
more Lhe
are.'
illustrated
us different
tell
things about the population of the umxerse and
Our argument
about that population's behavior. Thex differ, that about such questions as the existence of sub-
IS,
and the
atomic particles, the materialitx of
light,
though he lixed
conservation ot heat or of energx
These are the
ot the
in a
same type
But the argument has
purported to do.
shoxxn Nexvton's Laxvs to be
For
Ih-
li
anx sense ot
used to juslity teaching earth-centered astron-
omy
can
mu%i (k
il
.\nd ihr iran%lormjlMJn
tor the puriXMM:
has iustitled. say, an
Newtonian umxerse. An argument is
we do
Newton's l^x*s exer
has, of course, explained xvhy tt)
If
prt)perix he said to
at least
"derive" noxx generalix recogm/ed.
seemed
oi Its u|>-lf>-iUlr ftUicrftMtr.
ma\ the two be meas-
exen then thex must not
anil
the
Ix"
is
conxertible with enern>.
is
()nl> at low relatixe xelocities
ured
Newtonian con-
name (Newtonian mass
cepts that bear the same
,
of Scientific Revoiutiont'
not
still
It
has not, that
a
limiting case ot
is,
substantive differences between successive para-
di^is, and thex require no further
Hut paradigms differ
in
illustration.
more than substance,
for
they are directed not onlx to nature but alvi back
upon the science
that
produced them. Thex are the
not
source of the methods, problem-field, and stan-
only the tbrms ot the laxvs that have changed.
dards of solution accepted by any mature scientific
Kinsicin's.
in the pa.s.sage to the limit
Simultaneously tal
xve
have had to
is
and familiar concepts
to
is
central to the rexolutionarx
Though
from geocentrism
community
at
any given time.
.\s
to
subtler than
heliocentrism,
the
result,
a
reception of a nexv paradigm often necessitates a
Some
redefinition of the corresponding science.
meaning of established
of Kinstein's theorx.
the changes
fundamen-
composed.
This need to change the
impact
is
which the universe
structural elements ot
which they apply
alter the
it
problems max be relegated
to
old
another science or
declared entirely "unscientific." Others that were prexiouslx non-existent or trivial may, xxith a nexv
paradigm, become the very archetypes of
sivmifi-
from phlogiston to oxygen, or from corpuscles
to
cani scientific achievement. .\nd as the problems
waves, the resulting conceptual transformation
is
change, so, often, does the standard that distin-
destructive of a previously estab-
guishes a real scientific solution from a mere meta-
no
less decisixelx
lished paradigm.
We may
ex
en come to sec
it
as a
physical speculation, xvord game, or mathematical
prototype for revolutionary reorientations in the
play.
The
sciences. Just because
from
a scientific revolution is not onlx
but
often
it
did not involve the intro-
duction of additional objects or concepts, the transition
from Nexvtonian
to Kinsteinian
mechanics
normal-scientific tradition that emerges
actually
incompatible
incommensurable
xvith
that
xvhich has gone before.
illustrates xviih particular clarity the scientific re-
The impact of Nexvton's xvork ui>on the normal
volution as a displacement of the conceptual net-
seveniecnth-centurx tradition of scientific practice
work through xvhich
provides a striking example of these subtler efTects
scientists viexv the xvorld.
These remarks should
suffice
to
shoxv
xvhat
might, in another philosophical climate, have been taken for granted.
.\i least
for scientists,
most of the
apparent differences between a discarded scientific theory and
its
successor are
real.
Though an
out-
of-date theory can alxvays be viexved as a special case
of
paradigm
shift.
bom
Before Nexvton xvas
"nexv science" of the centurx had in rejecting Aristotelian
at last
the
succeeded
and scholastic explanations
expressed in terms of the essences of material bodies.
droxe
it
To
say that a stone
fell
because
its
"nature"
toward the center of the universe had been (26B^j
^
'
'
Thomas Kuhn made
to look a
thing
it
mere
tautological word-play,
some-
had not previously been. Henceforth the
entire flux of sensory appearances, including color, taste,
and even weight, was
of the
size,
to be explained in
shape, position, and motion of the
elementary corpuscles of base matter.
The
tion of other qualities to the elementary
new
science. Moliere caught the
a
doctor
the
ridiculed
opium's efficacy
attribu-
atoms was
and therefore out of bounds
resort to the occult
when he
terms
as a soporific
many
seventeenth century
earlier
work.
scientific
seventeenth
mensely
work in the
problems and standards legitimate
for
science.
same sense
had been. Therefore, while the stan-
last
it
half of the
opium
particles
in
terms
the
commitment
had
that
his
change
from
dency
explanation
number of
fruitful for a
them of problems
that resulted
partially destructive
quality in the
explained
Nevertheless,
new
century's
mechanico-corpuscular
and
a further
every pair of particles of matter, was an occult
of occult qualities had been an integral part of
productive
paradigm
w as
who
explanations
period
from the mechanico-corpuscular world view, the effect of the
for
they moved.
an
direc-
spirit precisely
enabled them to sooth the nerves about which
In
New ton's w ork was
embodied standards derived
Gravity, interpreted as an innate attraction between
scientists preferred to
say that the round shape of the
of
a
by attributing to
dormitive potency." During the
much
Yet, though
ted to problems and
proved
to
im-
to fall"
as the scholastics' "ten-
dards of corpuscularism remained in
effect,
the
search for a mechnical explanation of gravity was
who Newton devoted much attention to it and so did many of his eighteenth-century successors. The only apparent one of the most challenging problems for those accepted the Pnncipia as paradigm.
option was to reject
New ton's
to explain gravity,
and that
theory for
its
failure
alternative, too,
was
widely adopted. Yet neither of these views ultimately
triumphed. Unable either to practice science
without the Pnncipia or to make that work con-
sciences, ridding
form
defied
teenth century, scientists gradually accepted the
generally
to the corpuscular standards of the seven-
accepted solution and suggesting others to replace
view that gravity was indeed innate. By the mid-
them. In dynamics, for example, Newton's three
eighteenth century that interpretation had been
motion are
law s of
less a
product of novel experi-
ments than of the attempt
known
to
reinterpret well-
observations in terms of the motions and
Con-
interactions of primary neutral corpuscles.
almost universally accepted, and the result was a
genuine reversion (which
and repulsions joined
sider just one concrete illustration. Since neutral
motion
corpuscles could act on each other only by contact,
of matter.
the mechanico-corpuscular view of nature directed scientific attention to a
brand-new subject of study,
is
not the same as a retro-
gression) to a scholastic standard. Innate attractions
The
size,
shape, position, and
as physically irreducible
primary properties
resulting change in the standards and prob-
lem-field of physical science
By
w as once again conse-
the alteration of particulate motions by collisions.
quential.
Descartes announced the problem and provided
could speak of the attractive "virtue" of the electric
first
putative
Wallis carried
Huyghens, Wren,
solution. it still
ing with colliding
further, partly
its
and
by experiment-
pendulum bobs, but mostly by
applying previously well-known characteristics of
motion ded
to the
new problem. And Newton embed-
their results in his law
s
of motion.
The
equal
"action" and "reaction" of the third law are the
changes
two
in quantity
of motion experienced by the
parties to a collision.
The same change
of
motion supplies the definition of dynamical force implicit in the second law
.
many
In this case, as in
others during the seventeenth century, the corpuscular paradigm bred both a
new problem and a
large
fluid
the 1740's, for example, electricians
w ithout thereby
did so, electrical
when viewed
itnaginaire
increasingly displayed
as the effects of a
mechanical ef-
fluvium that could act only by contact. In particular,
when
electrical action-at-a-distance
subject for study in
we now
call
its
own
right, the
all,
it
had been attributed
electrical
became
a
phenomenon
charging by induction could be recog-
nized as one of its effects. Previously,
"atmospheres" or
when seen
at
to the direct action of to the leakages inevit-
able in any electrical laboratory.
analysis of the
Le Malade
phenomena
an order different from the one they had shown
The new
view of
inductive effects was, in turn, the key to Franklin's
part of that problem's solution.
In Moliere's play
inviting the ridicule that had
greeted Moliere's doctor a century before. As they
{The Hypo-
Leyden
gence of a new and
jar
and thus
to the
New tonian paradigm
Nor were dynamics and
chondriac), Interlude III (following Act III), see the first
tricity.
response of Bachelierus.
scientific fields affected
emer-
for elec-
electricity the only
bv the legitimization of the
i
'
"The Nature and Necessity search iur
illrL'c^
anil
ImkIx nl
seemed iKtorr
jfliniiics
widrU rcKtird
Ihr iut^v
iniuir to iiuiicr
cit(htrcnih-i:rntury liicmturc
on chrinical
replacement scries alM» ilenxes tri«n ihis \upra-
nuxlunKal a\|Hii
NewlonuniMU
o\
hennsls
(
who
believeil in lliese ilillereniul Jllracliuns Ixlx^een
the
\armuN ilunmal N|Hvies
imdgincil rcaclHinN
expcnmcnis ami
up preMtuisI) un-
sei
scarchcti (or
new
sorts of
the iluia ami the theniical con-
\N iihoiit
cepts ile\eli»|Hil in that pr.
cnces between succevsise paradigms can be retricNeil Irtim the histors
set ot
the event, had
lhc\ transl
ol the
j)f
I
New-
Hul. like
MaxMrll's prii\cd diflkult lodupenM:
dards goxcrning |Hrmiissiblc pniblcms, concepts,
next section
Maxwell^ thf
iKom: rcaMin*
again. In the twentieth century tinstein succeeded
nineteenth-century proponents of the wave theory
in
of light the conviction that light waves must be
planation has returned science to a set of canons
propagated through
and problems
mechanical
a
medium
standard problem for poraries.
medium
support such waves was
many of
his ablest
a
contem-
His own theory, however, the electro-
magnetic theory of a
material ether. Designing a
to
light,
gave no account
able to support light waves, and
made such an account harder
at all it
of
clearly
to pro\ ide than
it
had
explaining grav itational attractions, and that ex-
more
like
that are, in this particular respect,
those of Newton's predecessors than of
his successors.
Or
again, the
development of quan-
tum mechanics has reversed
the methodologic^al
prohibition that originated in the chemical revolution, (.hemists
now attempt, and with
great suc-
cess, to explain the color, state of aggregation,
and
other qualities of the substances used and produced
John Dalton (1766^ 1S44) «a> an physicist.
l.nglish chemist
and
m
their laboratories.
be underway
in
.A
similar reversal
may even
electromagnetic theory. Space, in
(^OT:
Thomas Kuhn contemporary physics,
not the inert and
is
genous substratum employed
in
Maxwell's theories; some of
its
homo-
shifts in
new
both of problems and of proposed solutions.
properties are
we
not unlike those once attributed to the ether;
may someday come placement
By
know what an
to
paradigms change, there are usually significant
both Newton's and
electric dis-
the criteria determining the legitimacy
That observation returns us which
this section began, for
explicit indication of
is.
emphasis from the cognitive
shifting
to the
why
cannot be resolved by the
examples enlarge our understanding of the ways
To the extent,
which paradigms give form Previously,
we had
it
principally
life.
examined the para-
of normal science.
criteria
as significant as
it is
incomplete, that
tw o scientific schools disagree about what
lem and what
is
prob-
a
a solution, they will inevitably talk
a vehicle for scientific theory. In that
through each other when debating the relative merits of their respective paradigms. In the par-
entities that nature
does and does not contain and
about the ways in which those entities behave. That information provides a
map whose
details are elu-
cidated by mature scientific research.
nature
first
com-
the choice between
functions by telling the scientist about the
digm's role as role
to the scientific
provides our
peting paradigms regularly raises questions that
normative functions of paradigms, the preceding in
from
to the point
it
is
And
since
too complex and varied to be explored at
random, that map
is
and
as essential as observation
tially circular
arguments that regularly
paradigm w ill be shown criteria that
it
to satisfy
dictates for itself and to
few of those dictated by
its
result,
more or fall
each
less the
short of a
opponent. There are
other reasons, too, for the incompleteness of logical contact that consistently characterizes paradigm
experiment to science's continuing development.
debates.
For example, since no paradigm ever
Through
solves
the problems
the
they embody, paradigms
theories
prove to be constitutive of the research
They
are also,
how ever,
constitutive of science in
now the point. In parour most recent examples show that para-
other respects, and that ticular,
activity.
digms provide
is
map
all
paradigms leave
the
all
it
defines and since no two
same problems unsolved,
paradigm debates always involve the question:
W hich
problems
is
it
more
significant
to
have
Like the issue of competing standards,
solved.'
that question of values can be
answered only
but also with some of the directions essential for
terms of
of normal science
map-making. In learning
altogether,
not only with a
scientists
a
paradigm the
scientist
acquires theory, methods, and standards together, usuallv in an inextricable mixture. Therefore,
w hen
that
criteria that lie outside
and
in
that recourse to external criteria
it is
most obviously makes paradigm debates
re-
volutionarv
Author's Notes Silvanus P. Thompson, Life of William Thomson Baron Kelvin of Largs (London, 1910), I, 266-81. See, for example, the remarks by P. P.
XXV (1958), p.
Philosophy of Science,
W iener
R. Dugas,
in
I.
Franklin's
For
The fullest and most sympathetic account of
phlogiston
theory's
achievements
Metzger, Nerrton, Stahl, Boerhaave mique (Paris, 1930), Part
Compare
is
by
ferent sort of analysis
by R. B. Braithwaite,
Scientific
in general, see
Marie Boas, "The
Establishment of the .Mechanical Philosophy,"
X (1952), pp. 412 on
541.
taste, see ibid., p.
For the
483.
p. 76.
Osiris,
effect of particle-shape
Work
An
Experimental
in Electricity as
Inquiry into Science
and
an Example Thereof
electricity, see ibid.,
chs
viii-ix.
For chemistry,
Meyerson,
Identity
I.
and Reality (New York, 1930),
ch. X.
10
Explanation (Cambridge, 1953), pp. 50-87, esp.
For corpuscularism
E.
et la doctrine chi-
the conclusions reached through a very dif-
Nevptonian
see Metzger, Xeirton, Stahl, Boerhaave, Part
H.
II.
(Neuchatel,
(Philadelphia, 1956), chs vi-vii.
Short History of Chemistry' (2nd edn; London, 1951),
the
Steele
B. Cohen, Frqnklin and NetPton:
Speculative
298.
James B. Conant, Overthrow of the Phlogiston Theory (Cambridge, 1950), pp. 13-16; and J. R. Partington,.-/ pp. 85-8.
La mecanique au XI IP
1954), pp. 177-85, 284-98, 345-56.
E. T. W'hittaker,
and
Electricity, II
For
a brilliant
scientific
A
History of the Theories of Aether (London, 1953), pp. 28-30.
and entirely up-to-date attempt
development into
this
C. C. Gillispie, The Edge of Objectivity: the Histor\'
to
fit
Procrustean bed, see
An
Essay
in
of Scientific Ideas (Princeton, NJ, 1960).
From The Coming of Post-Industrial Society
Daniel Bell The influential American sociologist Daniel Bell (1919was well known for his controversial environment in analysis of the post-World War The End of Ideology (I960). A decade later he )
II
ventured again into prognostication with the timely.
The Coming of Post-Industrial Society
(1973). While
invented neither the term
Bell
post-Industrial' nor the idea of a post-industrial society, his
book
the
is
for the
If
post-war
to show that the nature of the economy was fundamentally changing,
attempted
and with it. our social arrangements, our culture, and our politics. The idea was later taken up by many writers, including Lyotard. and is now a commonplace of socio-economic analysis. In the following Introduction to his book (written three years after its original publication), he explains that in a post-industrial society knowledge replaces material goods as the most important commodity for production and exchange.
have been
Ihc phrase "post-industrial society" has passed
for better or
worse remains
sense, the reception
Once
it
was
was
logical
be seen. In one
and understandable.
clear that countries with diverse social
systems could be defined societies,"
to
whether
it
commonly
was inevitable
as "industrial
that societies
which
hypothesis about the linea-
bound
to
provoke interest
benelkiar) of fashion,
regret
i
'
it.
is
not a pomt-in-time prediction of the
future but a speculative construct, an as i/bascd
on
emergent features, against which the Mxrioiogical could be measured decades hence, so that,
reality
comparing the two, one might seek
to
determine
the operative factors in effecting s seek to catch a
fashionable wind and twist I
for
it
modish
pur|>oses. for
two
interstitial
and
employed the term "post-industrial"
reasons.
I'irst,
to
emphasize the
transitor) nature of these changes. .\nd second, to
underline
mean
a
major
axial principle, that of
an intel-
technology. Ikit such emphasis does not
lectual
quickly into the sixiological literature
a
a is
indicate in the b determinant
of all other societal changes. e\er exhausts a social
scheme
is
No conceptual scheme Each conceptual
reality.
prism which selects
a
sunu-
features,
rather than others, in order to highlight historical
change
or,
more
specificalb,
answer certain
to
questions.
were primarily extractive rather than fabricating
would be nificant place,
classified as ''pre-industrial," and, as sig-
changes
in the
well.
causUt.
KkKiKi
to
\l\in
)t1li
/ ;./;
character of technolog) took
one could think about ''post-industrial" soci-
eties as
.\
(1970).
Given, too, the vogue of "future
schlock," in which breathless prose
is
mistaken
Daniel Bell. "Foreword: 1976" from The Coming of Post-Industrial Society, pp. ix-xxii.
Books. 1976.
New
York: Basic
Daniel Bell
One can
of capitalists." Equally, contemporary Western cul-
see this by relating the concept of post-
Some
industrial society to that of capitalism.
have argued that post-industrial society
"succeed" capitalism. But
between two
confrontation
schema
post-industrial
dimension of
The
paradoxically, by capitalism
relations
The confusion between the two arose in the first Marx thought that the mode of pro-
Western
tion in
is
society, Marxists
concept to explain
all
economics through
Marx
felt
(i.e.
of produc-
that industrialization as the
production
mode
life.
classes, capitalists
and
would be
"answers"
a
think this
is
not unified entities.
whether
a
nation
is
The
ditions,
pow er
is
society.
by figure
-
Thus,
democratic or not - rests not
in
and the
Democracy cannot be it
we can
Thus,
if
we
get different
between
if one asks: Is
there a
This can be indicated, graphically,
26.1. if
one divides the countries by the hori-
USSR
are industrial societies, whereas
Indonesia and China are not. Yet
which
if
one divides
the countries along the vertical axis of property
concentrated or dispersed throughout the
even when
(or
zontal axis of technology, both the United States
historic tra-
on value systems, and on the way
from the technology
United States? the answer would depend on the
so. Societies are
on the economic "foundation" but on
say
"convergence" between the Soviet Union and the
left
nature of the polity
dif-
One cannot
to the question of the relation
axis specified.
demonstrably not
wide variety of
and the forces of production,
different social systems.
in stark, final confrontation. I
different
is
uncouple the two dimensions,
National dif-
proletariat,
Union
social relations
ferences would disappear, and in the end only the
two
forces of production a
Rather than assume a single linkage betw een the
spread
of production, and
uniformity in the conditions of
same
technology) exist within
Soviet
throughout the world, there would be, ultimately, global uniformity in the
were primar-
chemistry or physics) of the capitalist world.
since
advanced
would
social relations
social
a single
that the technology (or chemistry or physics) of the
realms of social conduct, from
And
The
ferent systems of social relations.
sought to use that
politics to culture.
of capitalist
feature
mode
under
forces of production
technological. Yet the
other dimensions of a society.
the prevailing
promoted,
property relations; the forces of production,
ily
duction (the sub-structure of a society) determines
Since capitalism
and
historical rubric.
place because
^///
is
itself.
For Marx, the mode of production united
economic dimension.
and encompasses
hedonism which
into a materialistic
refers to the socio-technical
society, capitalism to the socio-
a
modernism,
a
economizing mode, that has been
absorbed by a "cultural mass" and transformed
conceptual
different
schemata organized along two different axes.
not the "bourgeois" culture of the eight-
hostile to the
false
a
is
eenth or nineteenth century, but
will not
up
sets
this
ture
critics
easily "discarded,"
relations, there
begins to hobble the economic pow er
States
is a
divergence, in that the United
and Indonesia are
capitalist
w hile the Soviet
Industrial ^.^ 1
Ic
o 0}
U.S
1
U.S.
S.
R
"cs
o
Q) CO
The
axis of technology (horizontal) CD
2.
^
CC
o
^
a>
nuftiinf(
and iiim|>uier\ arc
Iliult
sirategii
manufacture of
lor the
\ |>ost-inilustrial seitor ih
iiiliiiiii.itiiiti
jiwl
knowledge aware
alls
ol the siraiegu role ol
Ikumik ilrumalKenerg\
natural
JkUii
resources as limiting factors of industrial growth,
question
anil the
whether these hmitationik
raised
is
do not mmlity the onset of To
a |X)st-industrial sector
an empirical and
this, there is
theoretical
a
the introduction ol p«»st-
answer, .\sa practical
tact,
industrial elements,
which are
does depend
timing, rate of diffusion, and
in the
capital
on the productivitv
extensi\it\ of use sectors.
The ilevelopment
depends
in
intensive,
of the«)ther
an industrial sector
ot
considerable measure on the economic
surplus of an agrarian sector; yet once industriali/.ation
under way. the pn)ducti\it\ of the agrarian
is
sector
itself is
increased through the use ot fertilizer
and other petro-chemical products. Similar!), the
ture" ot a society
The mt)de ot
An irulu»lumf cncrfy
other rcMnirec«ftiKh«» natural gak(*rtHl
^(nhIs
)
svhcnuu
feudal, cjpiiahsi.
periiHi,
i
aic Uiih "sikuIini"
Chiiu
Vcl ikal cungTurncc ilcmi m>l c\pbii) w In
(
through
is
a single
to read the character
overriding concept,
be capitalism or tota/itananism, and to
introduction of new devices trial
information and prcKcssing
may be delayed by
rising costs in the indus-
sector or lagging productivits
duced the) ma\ be the
\cr\
but once intro-
,
means
ot raising that
productivity.
cm
Theoreticall), «mk s(K*iety
is,
s.in
ihat post-industrial
ditterent
tn principle,
from the other
mislead one as to the complex (overlapping and
two.
even contradictory) features of any modern society,
alism did not derive from an agrarian mode. .\nd
or to assume that there are "laws of social develop-
similarly, the strategic role of theoretical
ment" in which one social system succeeds another by some inexorable necessity. .\ny society, since it
as the
mingles ditterent kinds of economic, technological,
does not derive from the role of energy
.\s a theoretical principle,
new
the idea of industri-
knowledge
basis of technological innovation, or the
role of information in re-creating st>cial processes, in creating a
political,
and cultural systems (some features of
manufacturing or fabricating society,
which are
common
these are, analytically, independent principles.
ical
to
all,
some of which
and idiosyncratic), has
ditterent
one has
\
in
to
are histor-
be analyzed trom
antage points, depending on the question
mind.
My
focus has been on the intlu-
ence of technologx not as an autonomous factor but ,
as an analytical element, in order to see
changes come
in the
social
wake of new technologies, and
what problems the society, and
must then attempt
what
its political
system,
Broadly speaking,
machine
industrial society
is
short,
based on
society
post-industrial
shaped by an intellectual lechnologx .And .
is
if capital
and labor are the major structural features of industrial
society, information
and knowledge are those
of (he post-industrial society.' I'or this reas(»n, the social organization
vastly different
to solve.
if
technology,
in
of a post-industrial sector
from an industrial
sector,
is
and one
can see this by contrasting the economic features of
The concept
"post-industrial"
that of "pre-industrial"
industrial sector
is
is
counterposed
and "industrial."
primarily vxtracttie,
its
.\
to
pre-
economy
based on agriculture, mining, fishing, timber, and
the two. Industrial
and used up,
One buys This
refers to .Max
W eber.
commodities are produced
in discrete,
exchanged and
consumed
identifiable units,
ical
sold,
as are a loaf of bread or an automobile.
the product from a seller and takes phys-
possession of
it.
The exchange
is
governed by
Daniel Bell specific legal rules of contract.
But information and
knowledge are not consumed or "used up." Knowledge
product and the question of
a social
is
costs, price, or value
is
vastly different
from
its
that
In the manufacture of industrial goods, one can
up
''production function,"
a
- roads,
canals, rail, air
movement of people and
goods.
structure has been the energy utilities gas, electricity
-
-
for the
The second oil
infra-
pipeline,
for the transmission of power.
The
third infra-structure has been telecommunications,
of industrial items.
set
transportation
the relative
(i.e.
principally the voice telephone, radio, and television.
But now with the explosive growth of com-
number of
proportions of capital and labor to be employed)
puters and terminals for data (the
and determine the appropriate mix,
terminals in use in the United States went from
of each factor. If capital
costs,
one can
But by
becomes
is
labor,
characterized not
but by a knowledge theory of
directive of innovation. Yet knowledge, it is
created,
by
it is
thus there
remains also with the produ-
sold,
good"
a ''collective
in that,
once
it
character available to
its
has been all,
and
incentive for any single person
is little
185,000 in 1970 to 800,000 in 1976) and the rapid
tion storage, the question of hitching together the
varied ways information
becomes
try
a
transmitted in the coun-
is
major issue of economic and
The "economics
of information"
is
not the same
character as the "economics of goods," and the
by the new networks of
social relations created
information (from an interactive research group
communicating through computer terminals
knowledge unless they can obtain
large cultural homogenization created
proprietary
a
television) are not the older social patterns
increasingly, patents no longer guarantee exclusive-
relations
on research only
lose out
by spending money competitor can
to find that a
quickly modify the product and circumvent the patent; similarly, the question of copyright be-
comes increasingly
difficult to police
when
individ-
Xerox whatever pages they
uals or libraries can
need from technical journals or books, or individuals
and schools can tape music off the
a television
If there
performance on video is
less
and
air or
record
this
- of industrial
society.
- or work
We have here - if
kind of society develops - the foundations of a
vastly different kind of social structure than
less incentive for individual
we have
previously known.
The
post-industrial society, as
I
have implied,
does not displace the industrial society, just as an industrial society has not
done away with the agrar-
economy. Like palimpsests, the
ian sectors of the
new developments overlie the pre\ious some features and thickening the
erasing
disks.
to the
by national
advantage, such as a patent or a copyright. But,
and many firms
social
policy.
or enterprise to pay for the production of such
ness,
data
decrease in the costs of computation and informa-
the codification of knowledge that
is
even when cer. It
embodied
is
a post-industrial society is
a labor theory It
the relative
of a labor theory of value.
talk
value.
at
layers,
texture
of society as a whole. In orienting a reader to the
persons or private enterprises to produce know-
detailed
ledge without particular gain, then the need and
be useful to highlight some of the new dimensions
effort falls increasingly
on some
social unit,
be
it
arguments
in this book, therefore,
it
might
of post-industrial society.
university or government, to underwrite the costs.
And
since there
no ready market
is
test
(how does
one estimate the value of "basic research".') there a challenge to
economic theory
to design a socially
optimal policy of investment in knowledge
how much money search; tion,
w hat
and
for
(e.g.,
should be spent for basic re-
allocations should be
w hat
is
fields; in
made
for educa-
what areas do we obtain
the "better returns" in health; and so on), and to "price" information
how
and knowledge to users.
^
be the develop-
ment of an appropriate "infra-structure" for the developing compmucatwm networks (the phrase is Anthony
Oettinger's) of digital information tech-
nologies that will together.
The
tie
first
the post-industrial society
infra-structure
in
society
ledge,
but only
w hereby
now
on the basis of know-
has there been
a
change
the codification of theoretical knowledge
and materials science becomes the basis of innovations in technology.
new
One
sees this primarily in the
science-based industries - computers, elec-
tronics, optics,
polymers - that mark the
last third
of the century.
In a narrower, technical sense, the major problem for the post-industrial society will
The centraltty of theoretical knowledge. Every
1
society has always existed
is
2
77?^ creation
of a new
intellectual technology'.
Through new mathematical and economic techniques - based on the computer linear programming, Markov chains, stochastic processes and the like
- we can
tools of
utilize
modeling, simulation and other
system analysis and decision theory in
order to chart more efficient, "rational" solutions
TfmComlr^tofPost'lndMirtaiSod&ty 111,
ctt>n«»ini,
Id
iiiMni
.
I
I
I
MIL-
ul
.IK
ii
in the
tcvsioiul clavN
;osi-iiulustrial society this
is
about TOin e\erN
mainly
the sout
ISTO.) in an industrial s«Kiet\, iheserMcesare irans-
and finance, which are auxiliar>
fxirtation utilities,
to the prinJuction ot gcHwis,
and personal service
and so
(beauticians, restaurant emplo\ees,
Hut
human serMces
harismatu
.
in that
methods
credo that knowledge mental ends,
IS
n»)t
anil
messianic
"routini/cd"
Wt
dogmas
itself,
.-i
[xtlitical
life
which men wrest
is
expansion of
I'he
subordination
inquiries
its
t>f
and the "test" of
goals,
some instrumental
game
their li\ing
work
is
a
prc-
a
against nature in
from the
game
soil,
in
the
small
against fabricated
men become dwarfed
as they turn out g»M>ds
industrial world,
work
b\ machines
and things. Hut is
primarily a
in a post-
"game be-
tween persons" (between bureaucrat and
client,
Situses
(IS
persons have to learn how to live with one another. In the histor\ ot
human
new and unparalleled 6
The
role
sector (e.g.
human
is
a
completelv
state of affairs.
of women.
\\
ork
in
orders,
Work
in
women
expanded employment
women. For
the
first
One
or
it
may
well
situ, IcKation), a set
in the
book|
i
be that
of vertic^al
of political
loci
sketch the posi'here are
tour functional situses - scientific, technological (i.e.
applied
skills:
engineering, economics, medi-
universities
complexes
social
centers),
and cultural
and
five insti-
economic enterprises, government and
and the
military.
complexes,
research
hospitals,
(e.g.
.\lv
social-service
argument
is
that
the major interest conflicts will be between the
situses
and
that
the attachments to these
might be sufficiently strong
to prevent the
organization of the new professional groups into a
coherent *^)
cla.ss in society.'
.Meritocracy.
.\
post-industrial scKietv, being
primarily a technical societv, awards place less on
time, one
can say that w omen have a secure base for economic
independence.
cla.sses
«)n
of s(Kiet\ that exist in su-
sible situses of the post-industrial order,
the post-industrial sector (e.g.
services) provides
opportunities for
have been usually ex-
of sociological
attention
w ill be the more important
attachment. (Later
situs groups,
the industrial
the factory) has largely been men's
work, from which cluded.
society, this
new
be crucial for the future
the post-industrial sectors, situsesiirom the Latin
bureaus,
excluded, artifacts are excluded, and
of the
perior subordinate relation to each other. Vet for
Thus
experience of work and the daily rou-
its
strata, horizontal units
tutional snuscs
is
become
a central feature
political units. .Most
research groups, office groups, service groups). in the
science has
the character of the will
has focused
analysis
cine), administrative
nature
on the basis of
of free inquiry and knowledge.'"
doctor and patient, teacher and student, or within
tine,
Now
payofl.
state-directed
to
results
its
social needs. In all this
S
of work. In
groups, subject to the vicissitudes of nature. In an
nature, in which
ha\e
until recentiv, science did not
but with the militar> and with social technol«)gies
waters, or the forests, working usually
industrial society,
has
it
creeds and enforced official
its
(principall\ in health,
constraint on economic
a
religious
mo\ements),
inexiricabK intertwined not only with technology
in the character
industrial world,
Lniike other
(pnncipalK
H) deal with the bureaucratization ol research, the
source of persistent inflation.
change
iegifiniacy
not any specific instru-
comnuimties
charismatic
groups
lis
the goal of science
scientific institutions
5
Miciely. It
from the
dcnvej*
it
putcrs, and systems analysis). a
hunun
has In-en re%olutn»n-
and procedures,
post-industrial society
becomes
in
it
ar> in its quest lor truth aiul o|>en in its
and
a
men
he scieniific ci*m-
I
unique insliluiion
a i
technical services (e.g. research, evaluation, c»)ni-
these services
CionomiialK, on
imuf
ihe
at
education and social services) and professional and
growth and
in
new serNices
in a post-industrial society, the
are prinuiril\
forth).
^*%t earner, ami
munitv, going luck to the sexenteenih ceniur>,
\ear 2(MH), ihc ic1hnK.1l ami prolessioiul class will
in I*>7>
the loul)
|>cr(.cni ol
rcf{ular
ingl\ feel less deiHrndcni.
Hv the
nnlhon |Krsons
lah»r force ol eight
M)
(iioh
the rising iiuulenie ol di\oric a\ Honien increa*-
Siuics this ){rmip,
niii-ii
I
h»
I
(aiiiilics
iu\c more than one
sees this in the steadily rising
curve of women's participation in the labor force, in
'"
Presumabl)
this
sentence means: "In
all this,
a central
feature of the post-industrial society - the character of the
new
scientific institutions - will
be crucial."
L
Daniel Bell the basis of inheritance or property (though these
can
command w ealth or cultural advantage) than on
education and
Inevitably the question of a
skill.
social
system
is
subject to such a causal trajectory.
Yet the very features of post-industrial society indicate that, as tendencies., they are emergent in
all
meritocracy becomes a crucial normative question.
industrial societies,
In this book
appear depends upon a host of economic and pol-
attempt to define the character of
I
and the extent
to
meritocracy and defend the idea of a "just meritoc-
itical factors
racy," or of place based on achievement, through
world power, the
the respect of peers.
to organize effectively for a political
The end oj scarcity? Most
10
and Uto-
socialist
pian theories of the nineteenth century ascribed
almost
the
all
of society to the scarcity of goods
ills
and the competition of men
common
most
In fact, one of the
economics characterized
it
definitions of
as the art of efficient
among competing
allocation of scarce goods
Marx and
for these scarce goods.
redistribution
of "third world" countries
of wealth,
the
and economic
between
tensions
the major powers which might erupt into war or
But
not.
it is
clear that, as a theoretical construct,
the continuing economic growth of
all
these soci-
eties necessarily involves the introduction
of post-
industrial elements.
The two
ends.
other socialists argued that abundance
do with the balance of
that have to ability
which they do
large
dimensions of
a post-industrial
society, as they are elaborated in this book, are the
and claimed,
in
centrahty of theoretical knowledge and the expan-
under socialism there would be no need
to
sion of the service sector as against a manufacturing
just distribution, since
economy. The first means an increasing dependence
there would be enough for everyone's needs. In that
on science as the means of innovating and organizing
was the precondition fact, that
for socialism
adopt normative rules of
sense, the definition of
communism was
tion of economics, or the "material
philosophy. Yet
is
it
always be with us.
I
brings
embodiment" of
quite clear that scarcity will
mean
not just the question of
scarce resources (for this
but that
is
still
scarcities
moot point) by its nature,
a
post-industrial society,
a
new
the aboli-
which nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century writers had never thought
of.
technological change.
scientific
I
out, there will be scarcities of information
and of
time.
And
point
the problems of allocation inevitably
strategic resource in the society. shift in the sociological
science-based industries, are a crescive
not a private, good
by
(i.e.
preferred lest enterprise opolistic.
Yet
it is
clear that a
become a
"comto
is
slothful or
for the optimal social
knowledge, we have to follow eg}- in
In the mar-
between producers
strateg}'
pointed
I
nature a collective,
a property).
keting of individual goods, petitive"
its
be
mon-
investment in
"cooperative" strat-
order to increase the spread and use of know-
ledge in society.
This new problem regarding
information poses the most fascinating challenges to
economists and decision makers
in respect to
both
fact.
The second change - the expansion of services - has been most
the economic sector
United
States, but has occurred in
as well.
in
in
striking in the
Western Europe
In 1960, a total of 39.5 percent of the
were
is
as the
And to that extent a
weight of the sectors within
workers in the enlarged
The economics of information. As
for access to
the advanced societies, and the increasing role of
remain, in the cruder form, even, of man becoming
11
need
knowledge, the organization of research,
homo economicus in the disposition of his leisure time. out earlier, information
the industrial soci-
and the increasing importance of information
The socialists and liberals had talked of the scarcities of goods; but in the post-industrial society, as
Most of
eties are highly sensitive to the
services
Common
Market area
(defined broadly as transport,
trade, insurance, banking, public administration,
personal service). Thirteen years
later, in
proportion had risen to 47.6 percent. this
A
1973, the
change of
The first - the who first described the ago - was a shift to ser-
kind usually goes in two phases.
observation of Colin Clark
phenomenon
thirty years
vices at the expense of agriculture, but with industrial
employment growing
as well.
But
in
Denmark,
Sweden, Belgium and the United Kingdom, the service-oriented sectors have tive
now grown at the rela-
expense of industrial employment (since agri-
culture has reached almost rock-bottom), and this
is
theory and policy in the post-industrial society.
beginning to take place throughout Europe as well.
Most of
is
The the
the examples in this book are taken from
United
whether
States.
other
The
question that arises
industrial
nations
Europe, Japan, and the Soviet Union post-industrial as well. ...
I
in
will
is
Western
become
do not believe that any
Soviet
Union
is
an industrial society, and
likely that post-industrial features will
that country as well. that this book. The ety,
The
it
appear in
striking fact, however,
is
Coming of Post-Industrial Soci-
has been the object of an extraordinary range of
attacks in the Soviet press,
from serious discussions
The Comt^ofP(M in
acjckiMK loiiiiuU, siuh as Pr^hlems
iophw
inirllcitiul wccLlirs
t»r
(lautu,
highl)
accounts
ciinuuiitee
icietilogKal threat
attack
PartN
in
The |>oses
On
an
reas4>ns \ie\s
betwtxn capitalism la>%s of
coinnuinism
central tenet of the faith
Is still a
lor e\|v»rt
a.s
ol
which the "objecti\e
histor> " proxe the ultiiuate \ict«»ry ol
sci|urncr ol ihi>
i%
lo
Hidm the di%|urHli«in hriwcm
mm
the realms, since each
prim
W hen tern,
under aiul
capitalism arose a% a Micu^-ecitnimiic %y%-
had
It
tenuous unity
a
an ethos (individuAl>
ism), a (lohiical philosophy (lilKralism), a culture (j txiurgeois conception ol ulilitv and realism),
character structure (res|Kclability
and the
cation,
like)
w ithered or remain a
.
delayed
and
a
(cralifi-
.Many of these elemenls have
What
as pale ideologies
is left is
technological engine, geared to the idea of func-
and efficiencN. which prcmiises
tional rationalitN
m> mono-
rising standard of living
discussion denies the h.Um that one tan use
of>cratr%
iples that arc lontrarv to the other
at least
iheoretual level,
a
other nu|or realni^ ol MKicial structure (>nc cufi-
woiiUi
It
htMik
il«Klrine
a "hisloric" ctmllict
is
communism
aiul
b\ the Partx's
this
I'nun the Su\iei
are quite clear
there
tt>
lo
nuJc
ul PjrtN
Mil^jar
PrjiJj
in
a iiccision haii txrcn
lileoiogical
anil
«/ Pkiitt
ihc l.ttetan'
nuga/iiu- Komtuuni\t ami
distortcii it
«-h
iilcoloi-u al ixtlt-inus in ihc offli
til
theoretic jl
scent js
luth
Industrial Sodety
way of
A
life.
and promotes
a
a
hedonistic
post-industrial change begins to
concepts such as capitalism or socialism U)
rework the
stratification
explain the complex structure of mcKlern stKieties.
to provide a
more
More
harness science more directly to instrumental pur-
lithic
doctrine bases
directlx, since the l*art\
view of history on the incMtable victory letariat
in the iat"),
(and
of the
its
pro-
justifies the repressive rule of the Parly
name «»f the "dictatorship of the proletarhow can «)ne sustain thai dojjma when the
proletariat
is
no longer the major (Kcupational
class
of a post-industrial society
This was precisely the problem
of a
remarkable
Cnihzutinti al
Science,
Soaal and Human
the
and
Technological Revolution, which appeared durini;
the "Prague Spring," in 1^)67, under the sponsor-
ship of the social-science director In this bi«khI Inlcirc ihc
\ cgas
I. as
ol
uas
alliiuilc
I'his
cMilciil in jrihiiciiurc, jrt,
lirsi
Lncrar>
ciiliiiral
!hal>
llass.ui
embraces the transcemleni heterogemiiN
ol posc-
nuKJern
uhilc
riling,
\>
critic
architectural
in
Charles jencks accepts the "emi garde " a
Donna
jxissihle
the avant-
ol
llarawax turns to cNberneiics for
leniinist
humanism
iheor\
replaceincni
in phil»>soph\
nuKlerms!
btmrgeois
traditional
philt)soph\
tor
philosophical
Luhmann's
radical con-
view
continue more
to
aims
while
accepting
of the postmodernist critique of modern
They argue
metaphvsics.
escaping
for a philosophical
world-
imbibes postmodernism's force while
that its
blanket rejection of traditional philoso-
phical aims.
Thus
1
)aN id
Ra\
(inft'in,
w ho
like
I
lar-
away and Luhmann depend on the "new science," sees
hope
for a
postmodern cosmology. Mark
Taylor employs post-structuralism toward aim, arguing for a Derridean theology.
David Hall shows the extent ('•hinese
modern
abandon the
thought anticipated
to
C
a rare
Lastly,
which prcmodern
much
of the post-
ieidcK](cr
some kind
In a sense, this
%cn%c
cir
is
the great surgical problem of
coniemfxirarv philosophy given that foundational-
ism
we
IS
dise