A Walk Through The Garden Of Philosophy
"I never promised you a rose garden…"
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A Walk Through The Garden Of Philosophy"I never promised you a rose garden…" |
| Philosophy 211 Spring 1998 | Barbara Bond |
"So long as we think of philosophy as a set of (hopefully) true propositions, we will continue to be tempted by notions that philosophy can be a "science," that there is a correct way of doing philosophy, that a philosophical judgment or body of judgments can be true. If instead we allow ourselves to think of philosophy as expression, these rigid demands seem pointless or vulgar. Yet we surely do not want to reduce philosophy to mere expression, to autobiography or poetry, to "subjective truth" or psychic discharge. Although it is an expression of personal attitude, a philosophical statement is better compared to a piece of statuary than to a feeling or an attitude. The philosopher is a conceptual sculptor. He uses his language to give a shape to his prejudices and values, to give his attitudes a life of their own, outside of him, for the grasp of others." [Robert C. Solomon]
Language is the tool of choice for philosophers when they are expressing their ideas to others. I will examine how Jean-Paul Sartre and Friedrich Nietzsche used the tool they had at their disposal and the finished product they produced. Referring to the suggestion made by Robert C. Solomon above, the 'sculptor's' materials and methods will be examined and his 'statuary' considered. Since a three-dimensional construction is being compared with words on pages, I have diverted myself with an expanded analogy.
The visual and tactile impact of statuary is being compared to books of philosophy. To take the idea further, let us imagine that we are exploring The Garden of Philosophy, an immense formal garden. We can pause here and there to view the sculpted creations that different philosophers have contributed to the garden. We will move from the Descartes Interpretation Centre in the Rationalist section to the area set aside for the existentialist statuary. A path veers down a ravine, forcing us to walk single-file. Each turn of the path reveals a different creation. We will pause and view two closely. Please consult your program guides A and B.
Program A is the illustration and explanation of an imagined Nietzschean display.
The illustration and description express my idea of how Nietzsche's philosophical writing might be treated if it was statuary. The construction appears simple but forceful. It demonstrates dominance, freedom and pride. The effect is achieved by careful craftsmanship. In the same way, Nietzsche's philosophical writings are bold, persuasive and deliberate. For me, his writing has a dramatic quality. It is energetic and calculated to convince. I will show the language he chose to use and the way he used it.
Three points he wished to make in his work were:
To persuade his audience that his ideas are valid Nietzsche employed some time-honoured techniques. By invoking the wisdom and language of other authorities and using examples with which his audience could identify he caught their attention. He made sweeping assumptions and emotional appeals. His views were advanced by exaggerations and suggested associations.
One of Nietzsche's methods of enlisting the support of his readers was to refer to respected sources of wisdom. It is particularly noticeable in his work Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The name itself calls to mind the 'mystic knowledge of the mysterious east'. Zarathustra is a sage who uses Biblical phrases such as, "Hear, then, my word, you who are wisest", "verily, where there is perishing and a falling of leaves, behold" (110-1) and "I beseech you, my brothers" (112). Nietzsche allied himself with Classical Greek 'superiority'. He felt contempt for liars and said " 'We truthful ones' - thus the nobility of ancient Greece referred to itself " (115). He enlisted Thucydides as an authority on justice being originally an exchange between equals (124). He said "Socrates and Plato are right: whatever man does he always does the good" (129). For him, 'unegoistic' actions are impossible and he used quotations to support his position (130). On the other hand, Nietzsche did not neglect homelier subjects and analogies to clarify his points.
Nietzsche employed three main extended metaphors using subjects his audience understood. He said the infinite freedom possible to men who reject imposed moral codes is comparable to the adventure of setting sail with no charts and no destination (101). He compared Christians to domestic animals saying "the herd animal, the sick human animal - the Christian" (111). He described the man whose 'will to power' is constrained by society as a caged animal. The man:
impatiently lacerated, persecuted, gnawed at, assaulted, and maltreated himself; this animal that rubbed itself raw against the bars of its cage as one tried to 'tame' it; this deprived creature, racked with homesickness for the wild (119).
Nietzsche introduced humour when he made the idea of blaming birds of prey for harming lambs ludicrous. He said that the birds of prey harbour no dislike for the lambs. They are only doing what is natural and has the birds say " 'we don't dislike them at all, these good little lambs; we even love them: nothing is more tasty than a tender lamb' " (118). He was saying it is understandable that weak people (lambs) will assign evil motives to strong people (eagles). A skilled psychologist was working here.
Nietzsche crafted his philosophy to appeal to the ordinary man by playing on some very common desires. Repeatedly and specifically, he associated his ideas with manliness, pride and strength. A God that is purely good is an "anti-natural castration of a god" (132). When the will to power declines "The deity of decadence, gelded in his most virile virtues and instincts, becomes of necessity the god of the physiologically retrograde, of the weak" (133). An end to sin and guilt is the reward for adopting his ideas (130-1). He said men should return to their natural state. In his opinion, the civilized world was originally created by forceful, dominating individuals (120). For him, men have "forgotten the original purpose" (of justice) (124). Establishing a rapport with the audience is important in effective persuasion.
Nietzsche included his readers in his work. The words "Let us…" (98) are an invitation to join him. He labeled moralists as 'they' leaving the antecedent as understood (121). Speaking of the will as a causal agent he said, "Meanwhile we have thought better of it. Today we no longer believe a word of all this" assuming the agreement of his audience in his decision that the idea is "a fable, a fiction, a play on words" (138). Strong persuasive techniques carry the reader along.
Nietzsche used associations, strong language and exaggerations to persuade his readers to believe his ideas. Once people understood that the Christian God was unbelievable he predicted a "sequence of breakdown, destruction, ruin, and cataclysm" (103). He described sudden freedom from arbitrary moral values "a rebellious, arbitrary, volcanically erupting desire" (104). He suggested that an ordinary man is a "laughingstock or a painful embarrassment" to the 'overman', as apes are to men (112). Men who choose to be masters are "noble" and "exalted, proud" compared to slaves who are "the cowardly, the anxious, the petty, those intent on narrow utility." Slaves are "doglike" and "begging flatterers" (115). Christianized Teutons are "a caricature of man, like a miscarriage" (122). Nietzsche eloquently condemned the Christian Church saying:
The Christian conception of God - God as god of the sick, God as a spider, God as spirit - is one of the most corrupt conceptions of the divine ever attained on earth. It may even represent the low-water mark in the descending development of divine types. God degenerated into the contradiction of life, instead of being its transfiguration and eternal Yes! (134)
It is interesting to imagine the speaker of those lines.
Oddly enough, since a well-known statement from Nietzsche's writing is "God is dead" (99) I imagine him as an old time preacher. He prowls about the front of the chapel, pacing back and forth and stabbing the air with an outstretched finger. He mounts the pulpit, grasps the edge with his hands, leans over, and fixes the congregation with his gaze. His voice deepens to thunder, lowers to a whisper, and then cajoles. He pauses dramatically, raises his eyebrows, spreads his hands wide and delivers the telling phrase that seals the argument. Nietzsche could have been a splendid orator!
Nietzsche shaped his material dramatically. He provided all the prompts any speaker would need. He furnished pauses (100) and marked emphasis (98, 100). Even the asides are scripted, like the interjection "- all ordered society puts the passions to sleep -" (126). Rhetorical questions open discussions (98). Key words are repeated, especially noticeable in Nietzsche's critique of Christianity as he labels all of its structure as "imaginary" (132) over and over. Sounds are repeated in sequences such as "preservation, development, elevation, promotion and the expansion of their power" (127). Climaxes are built into the speeches, for example "The error of the spirit as cause mistaken for reality! And made the very measure of reality! And called God!" (138). I can imagine Nietzsche savouring the phrases "prowls cruelly around with unslaked lasciviousness" (104), "cauldron of unsatisfied hatred" (117) and "vengeful cunning of impotence" (118). These examples have shown Nietzsche's choice of words, how he used them and the effect he created.
Now please go to Program B, to see the illustration and explanation I have imagined for Sartre.
The illustration and description are my conception of Sartre's philosophical writing depicted as statuary. The structure demonstrates the tension of oppositions. It is carefully balanced, deceptively delicate, enclosed yet open, grounded but soaring. The paradoxical conclusions Sartre reached are expressed visually. The sculpture's precision and nuance benefit from close attention. In the same way, Sartre's writing reveals contradiction to be the nature of consciousness. He painstakingly deconstructed and investigated his subject for a specialized audience. The seeming ambiguities are only resolved after careful attention.
If I had to choose only three main points he wanted to make in his work they would be:
Sartre assumes a literate audience with an interest in and knowledge of other philosophers. His discussion is technical and precise. Common situations involving ordinary people are used to elucidate the fine points of Sartre's investigation. Sartre's work is not simple to read but his meaning becomes apparent with close attention.
Sartre had read deeply on his subject. He referred to the work of Husserl (242), Hegel (260), Descartes (251), Kierkegaard (256), Kant (251) and Heidegger (248), as well as other authors and thinkers. Sometimes Sartre granted the validity of an author's view (256), sometimes he expanded on their ideas (251) and sometimes he refuted their findings (250). As a scholar speaking to other scholars, the words may be simple, but the ideas are demanding for a layman to absorb. Discussing consciousness, Sartre said "It becomes positional only by directing itself upon the reflected consciousness which itself was not a positional consciousness of itself before being reflected" (243). Sartre understood that his ideas are complex and require amplification.
Because he was being very exacting, he anticipated objections and questions, and took care to expand his opinions with detailed explanations. Describing his idea that introducing an 'I' or agent into consciousness eliminated lucidity he used several different expansions on his word "opacity", such as "congeals", "darkens", "opaqueness", "loaded down", "heavy", "ponderable" (242). He explained a theory more than one way, such as when he was explaining the freedom of the 'Other' and continued saying "Or to be exact and to reverse the terms…" (288). His precision can be demonstrated by a quote from his discussion of man's freedom at any moment to be other than that which he is, "the permanent possibility that the possibility of not writing the book is my possibility" (266). In explaining 'bad faith' he says that a homosexual would be precise to say
To the extent that a pattern of conduct is defined as the conduct of a paederast and to the extent that I have adopted this conduct, I am a paederast. But to the extent that human reality can not be finally defined by patterns of conduct, I am not one (275).
He understood that his ideas require thought, saying, "One will perhaps have some difficulty in accepting these conclusions. But considered more carefully, they will appear perfectly clear" (250). In an effort to make things clear, Sartre employs everyday examples.
Sartre's illustrations were drawn from ordinary life. To prove that consciousness cannot be willed he used the example of trying to will oneself to sleep (244). To explain how man "causes Nothingness" (255), the case of a friend not being where Sartre expected him to be was used (253). An anxious bride who is afraid she will act disreputably reveals to us how frightening freedom can be (244). Sartre explained pre-reflective consciousness with the simple action of counting cigarettes (248). Sartre's ideas can be difficult to assimilate since he so often finds contradictions.
Sartre accepted the demanding task of explaining the character of consciousness. He said
consciousness is perpetually escaping itself, belief becomes non-belief, the immediate becomes mediation, the absolute becomes relative, and the relative becomes absolute (278).
Explaining separation from 'facticity' he said, "I am the self which I will be, in the mode of not being it" (257). He defines consciousness as "a being such that in its being, its being is in question in so far as this implies a being other than itself" (266-7). A complex subject was investigated and analyzed with exacting thoroughness in his works.
I will play with an imagined view of Sartre in a café. I eavesdrop as he outlines his latest idea to his woman companion. He sips his wine as he pauses to consider and then resumes, putting his argument yet another way. The presence of the waiter inspires an illustration. His finger taps the table. He leans forward, gestures with his hands and his eyes light up in the joy of total immersion in his discussion. He does not notice as I quietly leave.
Both the philosophers I have discussed contributed to an understanding of man and his responsibility to himself in this world. Their 'statuary' is their own. Each 'sculptor' chose and fashioned his own words to explain his ideas to others. Their words are their memorial.
The Friedrich Nietzsche Statement:
The Jean-Paul Sartre Statuary:
This sculpture is meant to be appreciated from the interior of the structure. The curving concrete path leading to the base is a gentle introduction to the breadth of insight expressed in this apparently simple creation. You are intended to take a seat on the café chair provided, imagine yourself sipping coffee or wine and gaze about you as the artist's conception unfolds itself to the senses.
The sustained dynamic tension of the sculpture surrounding you is maintained in a delicate balance of polished aluminum strips firmly based on a single support. Its ephemeral nature is immediately apparent. As you shift position, the bands of metal appear to disappear providing an illusion of openness. The structure will not descend upon you, even though the hoops of aluminum curving overhead appear to have no earthly bounds.
The arms of the almost complete sphere represent the combination of delicacy and strength of a ballet dancer, caught in a moment with her head tilted back, her arms out-thrust behind her, one toe gripping the earth, her gown aflutter in her tortured, arrested ascent to the heavens. The elements of the welded metal and negative space convey the artist's vision of chained freedom.
Works Cited
Oaklander, L. Nathan. Existentialist Philosophy: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996.
© 1998 Barbara Bond
