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ISSUE 136 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2020
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Philosophy Now ISSUE 136 Feb/March 20
Philosophy Now, EDITORIAL & NEWS
43a Jerningham Road, 4 Greeks Bearing Gifts by Rick Lewis
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Rick Lewis, Anja Steinbauer, Sophia Gottfried has a lot to say about nothing in particular
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PORTRAIT OF KANT BY J.G. BECKER, 1768
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do not necessarily reflect the views of 54 Brief Lives: Etienne De La Boétie
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Martin Jenkins looks at the life of a Renaissance reformer
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February /March 2020 Philosophy Now 3
Editorial
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Greeks Bearing Gifts
n this issue we’ll be looking at ancient Greek philosophy as a It’s mainly from this latter period that the articles in this
I guide to modern life.
The philosophical tradition of Ancient Greece lasted many
issue draw their inspiration.
In this issue we look at ideas and arguments from Greek
hundreds of years and went through various phases. The first philosophy that might be useful to people in terms of their
Greek philosophers – the ones we now call the pre-Socratics – lives today. Many of the metaphysical speculations of the pre-
thought mainly about metaphysics. They wanted to under- Socratics just look quaint today, in the light of modern sci-
stand the nature of change, to know how the universe worked, ence. By contrast, the Greek philosophers from Plato and
and to find out whether there was a single substance underly- Aristotle onwards – the post-Socratics, as it were – still have
ing everything. In this way their ideas were the distant ances- plenty of useful wisdom to impart to modern people about
tors of modern science. It’s all made of water, said Thales. moral and social issues and the nature of the good life. Ask an
Nonsense, it’s all made of fire, said Heraclitus. No actually, ancient Greek philosopher about virtue or friendship and
said Democritus, it’s all made of little particles which are indi- they might well have some very useful suggestions. They’re
visible (a-toms). And so on. all dead, of course, but we have their books (or else books
Socrates broke with this tradition in being much more inter- written by their followers) so luckily we can still benefit from
ested in questions about how we should live. After his execution, their considered opinions and the reasons they gave for those
his followers continued his investigations, and over the next opinions.
couple of centuries a whole range of different philosophical So what gifts do the ancient Greeks have to offer us? This
schools took shape, each with their own approach but often issue can provide only a taste, but our opening article con-
taking inspiration in some way from the memory of Socrates. cerns friendship, comparing the way Aristotle developed the
There were Stoics and Cynics and Skeptics and Epicureans and notion of fellowship to the way it appears in The Lord of the
a few more as well. It’s interesting that well over two thousand Rings. Other articles consider the benefits of Socratic igno-
years later, these names continue as everyday words in our lan- rance; the advice Stoics might have offered concerning the
guage (and many other languages) used even by people who climate crisis; tragedy and political life; and of course, how to
don’t realise that they were ancient Greek philosophical schools. organise a Platonic wedding.
4 Philosophy Now February /March 2020

• Charred scrolls yield Philodemus’ notes
• French philosophers debate their future
• A ‘philosophical belief’ wins legal protection
News reports by Anja Steinbauer
Down Girl wins APA Book Prize that it makes a determination about the
News
read through conventional multispectral
The American Philosophical Association status of veganism. The judge ruled that imaging or infrared photography.” They
awards a biannual book prize to the best ethical vegans should be entitled to similar found notes made by Philodemus himself
published book written by a younger legal protections in British workplaces as during the compilation of the book. Kilian
philosopher. It has just been announced those who hold religious beliefs. “Religion Fleischer, a classicist at the University of
that the 2019 prize goes to Kate Manne, or belief” is one of nine protected charac- Würzburg, explains that they offer a
associate professor of philosophy in teristics under the Equality Act of 2010. unique insight into an ancient philoso-
Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, for Judge Robin Postle decided that ethical pher’s writing process. An unforeseen
her book Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny veganism qualifies as a philosophical belief bonus was that more of the text on the
(see review in Issue 133). The book is a under the meaning of the Act because it front also became legible: “It was a bit like
study of why even supposedly ‘postpatri- satisfies several criteria, including being Columbus, who went out to find India but
archial’ cultures, such as the US, struggle worthy of respect in a democratic society, at the very end he ended up in America.
to truly leave misogyny behind. Manne, not being incompatible with human We wanted to make the back visible but
referred to by the Chronicle of Higher dignity and not conflicting with the funda- the front of the papyrus is displayed much
Education as the “Philosopher of mental rights of others. better.”
#MeToo”, explained: “My dearest hope is
that, whether or not readers agree with it, The Archaeology of Knowledge The Future of French Philosophy
my book will help to improve the conver- There once was a philosophy library in a An ambitious conference is being held in
sations we are having about misogyny, villa in Herculaneum, at the foot of Mount Paris, bringing together dozens of philoso-
sexism and related social ills.” Vesuvius. This was a bad place to be when phers to discuss the future direction of
the famous eruption of that volcano nearly French philosophy. Appropriately titled
MBE for Emma Worley 2,000 years ago buried Herculaneum and Où va la philosophie française? it will be held
Emma Worley, co-founder of the The Pompeii. Remains of ancient papyrus from 16-18 January. For the first two days
Philosophy Foundation with her husband scrolls were found by those tunnelling it will be hosted by the Université Paris I
Peter, has been awarded an MBE in the down into the ruins in the 18th century. In Panthéon-Sorbonne, and the last day will
Queen’s New Year honours list. The 1795, scholars carefully unrolled some of be at the Bibliothèque Nationale. Sessions
Philosophy Foundation trains philoso- the scrolls and glued them onto cardboard will cover metaphysics, phenomenology,
phers to teach philosophy and Critical to preserve them. Papyrus scholar ethics, technology and philosophy of reli-
Thinking to children of all ages, in Graziano Ranocchia from the Italian gion. The organisers and participants
schools and beyond. Worley remarked: “I National Research Council explains that include many of the current French philo-
am of course proud to be honoured in this the same processes that charred the scrolls sophical luminaries and also Dr Joseph
way, but it really is a reflection of the also preserved them. “Unless Vesuvius Cohen, of University College Dublin. One
charity’s innovation and all the hard work erupted, they would never have survived,” of the main sponsoring organisations is the
of the philosophers who work with us he claims. One such scroll, charred and College International de Philosophie, co-
every day, and those who have supported tattered, was a history of Plato’s Academy founded by Jacques Derrida in 1983 to
us over the years, from our Trustees, written by Philodemus, in Greek. It also shake up the teaching of philosophy in
Patrons and funders to organisations such had writing on the back, which then of France.
as Philosophy Now who have championed course could not be read. Now scholars
our work from the beginning.” have deployed imaging technology to read Roger Scruton 1944-2020
the hidden side. It had been impossible to As we were going to press, word came
Veganism is ‘philosophical belief’ detach the papyrus fragments from the through that the English conservative
Ethical veganism is a ‘philosophical belief’ cardboard, Ranocchia said. “You see, this philosopher Sir Roger Scruton had died.
and consequently merits protection under would destroy them. They are extremely As well as political philosophy, he was
UK law, a tribunal has ruled for the first frayed.” His research team used shortwave- renowned for works on aesthetics, sex and
time. A milestone legal case was brought infrared hyperspectral imaging to decipher animal rights. At some personal risk, he
by Jordi Casamitjana, who says he was the writing on the back held underground philosophy seminars in
fired by the League Against Cruel Sports Ranocchia said the huge spectrum Eastern Europe during the Communist
because of his ethical veganism. His range allowed them to penetrate the layers era, personally smuggling books, teaching
former employers disagree, claiming his of the papyrus. “So with a huge penetra- materials and exam papers across the Iron
veganism was irrelevant to his dismissal. tion capacity, this is why we are able to Curtain frontiers. We will bring you a full
However, the case was ground breaking in read what our predecessors weren’t able to obituary in our next issue.

Greek Wisdom
IMAGE © VENANTIUS J PINTO 2020. TO SEE MORE ART, PLEASE VISIT FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/VENANTIUS/ALBUMS
Fellowship For
Aristotle & Tolkien
Andy Owen explains what Aristotle was tolkien about.
“Without friends no one would want to live, even if they had all other take the fact we have friends for granted without thinking too
worldly things.” Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII much about what type of friends they are. When we get older,
we let work, distance and family get in the way. It is maybe only
n my early twenties a close friend committed suicide. He when we are much older and there is no work, family disperse,
I was a beautiful soul and I will always question myself as

to what, as his friend, I should have done to help him. As
Henry James advised; “Never say you know the last word
about any human heart.” Maybe there was nothing, maybe there
was something. At the time I had never really thought too much
and our world gets smaller that we realise what we are missing.
One of Western philosophy’s greatest figures, Aristotle, spent
a lot of time thinking about friendship. For him philosophy
meant thinking about how we should live, and friends were cen-
tral to the good life. He was not the first philosopher to value
about what being a friend meant. I don’t think we reflect about friendship so highly – Socrates is quoted as saying that friend-
the idea of friendship too much today. When we are young, we ship meant more to him “than all Darius’s gold” – but Aristotle

Greek Wisdom
was the first to dedicate sustained attention to the subject. In rather than on transactional value or a shared pleasure. Here it
his Nicomachean Ethics, no less than two whole books are devoted is the qualities of the individuals themselves that bind them
to the topic. Even justice, in Aristotle’s view the highest virtue, together as friends. To Aristotle, few things came close to the
only gets one book. value of such a relationship. As he puts it in Nicomachean Ethics
The classicist Edith Hall believes that for Aristotle, “the goal Book VIII:
of life is to maximise happiness by living virtuously, fulfilling
your own potential as a human, and engaging with others – “But complete friendship is the friendship of good people similar in virtue;
family, friends and fellow citizens – in mutually beneficial activ- for they wish goods in the same way to each other insofar as they are good,
ities.” (‘Why Read Aristotle Today?’ Aeon magazine). We are and they are good in their own right. Now those who wish goods to their
animals, so we get pleasure from the fulfilment of our physical friend for the friend’s own sake are friends most of all; for they have this
needs; but we are also naturally inclined to live together in com- attitude because of the friend himself, not coincidentally. Hence these
munities – so we are, in Aristotle’s own phrase, ‘political ani- people’s friendship lasts as long as they are good; and virtue is enduring.”
mals’. He claimed, “no one would choose the whole world on
condition of being alone, since man is a political creature and The depth and intimacy of such friendships means that they
one whose nature it is to live with others.” (Nicomachean Ethics most likely include the rewards of the other two kinds of friend-
Book IX). There’s a good reason solitary confinement is a brutal ship: there is utility and pleasure, too. When you respect and
punishment. care for someone, and they do the same in return, you gain joy
Neuroscientists search our brains to locate our conscious- from being with them. When they’re a virtuous person, and you
ness, but for me consciousness is not within, but in the space start to become so with their help, there is utility, too. The idea
between me and you: what holds us together as persons are our of mutual improvement was key for Aristotle in this type of
interactions with those who know and love us. Accordingly, one friendship. Such friendships can last for a lifetime, but they take
of the great joys of life for Aristotle was friendship. He felt that time and trust to build, or as Aristotle writes, “Wishing to be
a life well lived needed to be built around friendship through- friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.”
out one’s life: I think there is much value in understanding what type of
friendship you’re engaged in with each of your friends. It helps
“In poverty as well as in other misfortunes, people suppose that you understand what you should expect from each of them, and
friends are their only refuge. And friendship is a help to the young, what you should give. When you realise that your friendship is
in saving them from error, just as it is also to the old, with a view to based on pleasure, you can resist the need to share the values
the care they require and their diminished capacity for action stem- of that friend and manage your expectations concerning the
ming from their weakness; it is a help also to those in their prime in depth of emotional support you should expect. When your
performing noble actions, for ‘two going together’ are better able to friendship is of the third type you should be prepared to invest
think and to act.” (Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII). the time and emotional support to help them become who they
can potentially be, for themselves and for you.
Aristotle’s Associations This third type of friendship can develop even if on the sur-
Yet for Aristotle not all friendships are the same. He identifies face two individuals don’t seem to have much in common, as
three distinct types. The first is a friendship of utility. In this long as there is an underlying respect and appreciation of their
kind of friendship, the two friends are not in it for the sake of virtues. This was the case with one of the twentieth century’s
any affection for one another, but because each receives a ben- more unusual friendships, between the conservative poet and
efit from the relationship. This type of friendship is often tem- Nobel laureate T.S. Eliot, and the cigar-chomping comedian
porary and due to a shared situation. When the benefit ends, famous for his bawdy humour, Groucho Marx. Despite their
so does the friendship. An example of this would be a work rela- obvious differences in character, in 1961 the two men bonded
tionship. You might enjoy the time you spend together, but over their mutual respect for each other and their shared love
once the situation changes, so does the nature of your relation- of literature, and remained friends until Eliot’s death in 1964.
ship. When you leave the business, despite the promises to keep Aristotle believed that you’re more likely to develop the fel-
in touch, you don’t. The second kind of friendship is based on lowship type of friendship with someone when you’ve seen them
pleasure in the friend’s company. Again, this is often a tempo- at their worst and watched them grow from there, or if you’ve
rary friendship. It’s fine for as long as the two parties gain enjoy- endured mutual hardships together. This idea is supported by
ment through their friendship, but ends when tastes or lifestyles Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union Army during the
diverge. It’s seen with the old college friend you meet years later American Civil War, who wrote, “The friend in my adversity I
who was the life and soul of the party back in the day, but with shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped
whom you now find you no longer have anything in common. to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so
For Aristotle, most of the friendships we have fall into one of ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity” (Personal
these first two categories. Whilst neither of them is necessarily Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, CreateSpace Publishing, 2018).
bad, they can lack depth and be limited in their quality. There can be an immediate bond between strangers who dis-
The third type of friendship, which I am going to call fellow- cover they have suffered in the same way: just witness the meet-
ship, is the most valuable. This type of friendship is based on a ing of two old soldiers who fought in the same campaign. Maybe
mutual appreciation of the character and goodness of the other this is the flip-side of the idea that what holds people back from

Greek Wisdom
(1919): she complained that the novel failed to address the
“ Wishing to be friends
is quick work, but friendship is a
slow ripening fruit.
damage that was felt after World War I, comparing it to a ship
returning from a perilous voyage with a curious ‘absence of any
scars’. After an honest discussion over lunch, Woolf accepted
some of Mansfield’s criticisms and went on to write the first of
three war novels, Jacob’s Room (1922), which would mark
Woolf’s transition to the Modernist style for which she has
become best known. She followed it up with two of her most
Aristotle
”
celebrated books, Mrs Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse
(1927).
Writing about the friendship between La Boétie and Mon-
taigne, Sarah Bakewell highlights an interesting tension that
close fellowship, particularly young men, is a fear of revealing can appear in friendships. She notes that “The Renaissance was
vulnerability. In hard circumstances your vulnerability is a period in which, while any hint of real homosexuality was
exposed whether you like it or not. Personally speaking, as a regarded with horror, men routinely wrote to each other like
young man I believed that the route to friendship was to prove love-struck teenagers” (How To Live: A Life of Montaigne, Vin-
my usefulness, or prove I was entertaining, not because I tage 2011). Bakewell argues that such couples were usually not
believed that, beneath the bravado, I shared the same virtues in love with each other, but were operating under an elevated
and values. As a young man, revealing your true self to another ideal of friendship absorbed from Greek and Roman literature.
can be a terrifying prospect. Such a bond between two well-born young men was the pinna-
cle of virtuous philosophy, but when friendship was as close as
Famous Friends that there was also the risk of rumour. In my time in the army,
This was something that French sixteenth century essayist and in sports team dressing rooms, I have seen behaviour less
Michel de Montaigne understood. Like Aristotle, Montaigne influenced by Greek and Roman literature that would not seem
believed friendship to be an essential component of happiness. out of place in a gay sauna – while at the same time genuine
Montaigne had just this sort of friendship with fellow writer homosexuality was still treated as a sign of weakness. A fear of
Étienne de La Boétie [see this issue’s Brief Life, Ed]. Of him being accused of being in a sexual relationship can discourage
Montaigne claimed that “He alone had the privilege of my true friendship to develop into fellowship: this is particularly acute,
portrait.” He means that when they were together, he allowed but not exclusive to, friendships between young men in envi-
himself to be himself. In fellowship our friends understand us ronments where homophobia is also toxically present.
for who we are. We can reveal our true selves and be accepted.
As the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson claimed, Talking Tolkien
“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to I am very lucky. I have several close friends from university, the
be stupid with them.” (Journals & Miscellaneous Notebooks of army, and through life’s other contact points; but also many
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1838-1842, Harvard Univ. Press, 1969). whom I have known since I started secondary school. They
As Aristotle identified, true fellowship also involves helping know me probably better than I know myself, and they allow
each other grow. La Boétie died just four years after he met Mon- me to be myself and forgive me for all that entails. Their friend-
taigne, and Montaigne was hit by periods of grief for his lost ships fall into Aristotle’s third category, and have made me a
friend for the rest of life. But even beyond his death La Boétie better person. These friendships have provided me with joy and
allowed Montaigne to become the same true self on the page that utility, too.
he had been in the company of his friend. La Boétie wrote a sonnet In 1911, eighty-four years before we left school together, a
making it clear what he thought Montaigne needed in way of writer who would famously write about a fellowship left the same
improvement. In this way their friendship helped Montaigne school with his own group of close friends. They would not get
become the writer he had the potential to become. Montaigne the chance to see each other grow into middle age. The group
replaced his dear friend with unmet multitudes who would read of friends were Christopher Wiseman, Robert Gilson, Geoffrey
his work for centuries after his own death in 1592. Smith, and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, who would go on to write
Mutual nurturing is evident in more of history’s most famous The Lord of the Rings (1954/5). They had formed a secret society
friendships. Twentieth century writers Virginia Woolf and they called the ‘Tea Club and Barrovian Society’ (TCBS), due
Katherine Mansfield provide another such example. When the to their fondness for drinking tea in the school library and in the
pair first met, in 1916, Woolf, at thirty-four, was the author of nearby Barrow’s Stores. Others joined this society, but Wiseman,
just one novel, whereas Mansfield had carved out more of a Gilson, and Smith were Tolkien’s closest friends. Gilson dreamed
name for herself despite being six years younger. They became of becoming an architect; Wiseman a musician; Smith a poet;
close friends, but also jealous rivals. They would discuss their and Tolkien had already begun to invent his own mythic lan-
projects over tea and write thousands of letters to each other, guages and write stories of elves and dwarfs. But as the four
pushing each other to be the best that they could be. Mansfield reached their early twenties and were taking the first steps towards
even wrote a negative review of Woolf’s book Night and Day realising their ambitions, the First World War began.

Greek Wisdom
loss to their fellowship created by the deaths of Smith and Gilson
and other members of the TCBS. Tolkien instead created a new
fellowship on the page and sketched out his idea of loyal, last-
by Melissa Felder ing and deep friendship in the face of adversity in honour of
those close friends he had lost. From beyond the Somme they
inspired him to flourish.
Tolkien once claimed, “I have always been impressed that
we are here, surviving, because of the indomitable courage of
quite small people against impossible odds.” Just so, the hob-
bits of his books were “a reflection of the English soldier”, their
smallness emphasizing “the amazing and unexpected heroism
of ordinary men ‘at a pinch’.”
In The Lord of the Rings, the group of nine that undertook the
SIMON & FINN © MELISSA FELDER 2020 PLEASE VISIT SIMONANDFINN.COM
epic journey to cast the One Ring, the most powerful magical
ring, into the fires of Mount Doom, so ending the Dark Lord
Sauron’s power, were known as the companions of the fellow-
ship of the ring. Over the course of the story this fellowship
breaks down into smaller friendships, the most famous being
that between the hobbits Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee.
They are not fighters, and never display more than a simplistic
understanding of their task, but their friendship meets all the
criteria of Aristotle’s third type. They grow together through-
out the story and its adversity. They are dedicated to each other
and love each other dearly for who they are. Indeed, as the Ring
casts a malignant influence on Frodo, it is Sam who keeps him
true to himself: “It’s like in the great stories, Mr Frodo. The
ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they
were... Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant
something, even if you were too small to understand why. But
I think... I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had
lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept
going. Because they were holding on to something.”
I think for Tolkien, like so many who experienced the horror
of war, the friendships he had in his life were the thing that he
was holding on to.
I am lucky as I have been able to see nearly all my close
friends grow into middle age. I have not had to cope with the
scale of loss that my fellow alumni the TCBS did. Now, watch-
ing my children play with the children of my friends makes me
think about the friendships they will make in their own lives. I
hope they will have friends that are useful to them, and I hope
they will be useful back. I hope they will have friends that will
By 1915 all four had signed up; Wiseman in the Royal Navy bring them pleasure, and I hope that they will bring joy in
and the other three in the Army. By 1916 all three were in France return. Most of all though, I hope they find fellowship with a
preparing for most catastrophic, bloody battle in the British few friends, and understand the difference. Maybe by doing so
Army’s history, the Somme. Lieutenant Gilson was killed on the they might one day be able to provide what one of their friends
first day of the Somme, on 1 July 1916, leading his men in the needs in their darkest hour. I hope when they find friends that
assault on Beaumont Hamel. Lieutenant Smith was killed on 3 let them be who they are and help them become who they can
December 1916 when a German artillery shell landed on a first best be, they are as grateful as I am for my friends. As Marcel
aid post. Both were twenty-two years old. On 27 October 1916, Proust urges us, “Let us be grateful to people who make us
as his battalion attacked Regina Trench, Tolkien was struck happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls
down by trench fever. He was invalided to England on 8 Novem- blossom.”
ber. Tolkien’s battalion was subsequently almost completely © ANDY OWEN 2020
wiped out. Andy Owen is the author of the novel East of Coker (2016) and
Tolkien survived the war, as did Wiseman, but they were the biography All Soldiers Run Away: Alano’s War, the Story of
never able to rebuild their close friendship in the shadow of the a British Deserter (2017).

Greek Wisdom
The Wisdom of Ignorance
Daniel Silvermintz wants us to rediscover the virtue of Socratic ignorance.
gnorance may be bliss, but that doesn’t mean we should argues that we must know what ‘success’ means before we can
I celebrate stupidity. Ignorance has never been a good

excuse, but it is even less so today, when anyone with a
question can simply google an answer. How much more
do we expect of our experts when even a schoolchild has access
to the vast storehouse of human knowledge? Even in this age of
figure out how to achieve it. After all, one would need a quite
different gameplan depending on whether one was striving to
be like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos or Mother Theresa. Meno’s
question presumes that he already has a good idea of what suc-
cess entails – which turns out to have more in common with
participation trophies, we would be shocked if the Nobel com- amassing money and power than helping the poor and needy.
mittee decided to award a prize to a team of scientists whose Socrates, however, admits that he is completely clueless about
research was a complete failure, regardless of how many years the subject: “I have to reproach myself with an utter ignorance
they’d worked on it. The case is, however, quite different in phi- about virtue” (71b). Meno is shocked by this response, given
losophy, where Socrates (470-399 BC) is celebrated for an odd Socrates’ reputation for wisdom. “But is it true, Socrates,” Meno
claim to fame: “The one thing I know is that I know nothing.” retorts in disbelief, “that you do not even know what virtue is?
Why in the world would we continue to venerate Socrates as Are we to return home with this report of you?” (71c).
one of the greatest thinkers in the history of philosophy when Why would Socrates’ admission of ignorance provoke such
he admits to being a complete ignoramus? moral outrage in Meno? Certainly Meno would excuse Socrates’
We should, of course, keep in mind that Socrates’ ignorance ignorance regarding a whole range of subjects; however, one
did not go over so well with his contemporaries. They were so might expect everybody to know what it means to be a good person.
frustrated by his philosophical investigations that they sentenced Even the Sophist Protagoras (490-420 BC), who was notorious
him to death. During his trial Socrates claims that he pursued for promoting unethical ideas among his students, was more judi-
wisdom at the expense of all his other responsibilities, and he cious about professing his ideas publically: “Everyone, they say,
appeals to his poverty as a validation of his professional integrity. should profess to be just, whether he is so or not, and whoever
Callicles, one of Socrates’ most ruthless critics, was less than does not make some pretension to justice is mad,” (Plato, Pro-
impressed by this attempt at defending the philosophic life: tagoras 323d). Socrates not only professes his own ignorance, he
“When I see philosophy in a young lad I approve of it,” begins goes even further by insisting that he has never met anyone who
Callicles, before unleashing his rebuke, “But when I see an knows the meaning of ‘virtue’. With this casual aside, Socrates
elderly man still going on with philosophy and not getting rid not only dismisses his contemporaries, but his entire civilization.
of it, that is the gentleman, Socrates, whom I think in need of a Stories about heroes such as Achilles were not merely captivat-
whipping” (Plato, Gorgias 485c-d). ing entertainment for the Greeks, they presented role models
Although relatively few individuals in Athens were engaged in for the cultural formation of the next generation of warriors and
studying philosophy, everybody in the city seems to have known statesmen. Once again it is Protagoras who reminds Socrates
about Socrates. When the comic playwright Aristophanes wanted that he should know better, since every schoolchild can recount
to lampoon scientific thinking in his play Clouds, he depicted
Socrates as an absent-minded professor conducting preposterous
experiments: his student reports that the master was trying to
figure out whether a gnat hums through his mouth or through
his anus. The play opens with the country bumpkin Strepsiades
trying to convince his good-for-nothing son Phidippides to better
himself by enrolling at Socrates’ Academy. “I know that lot!”
exclaims Phidippides in disgust, “Sly, shifty bastards! Anaemic,
barefooted fools, like that Socrates and his mate, that Chaerephon
guy! Bundles of misery and nothing else” (Clouds 103).
Socrates’ reputation appears to have extended far beyond his
home in Athens. Plato preserves the encounter between
Socrates and the young and ambitious military leader Meno,
who hailed from the neighboring city state of Thessaly. Having
studied with other famous intellectuals, notably the Sophist
Gorgias, Meno appears to have sought out Socrates for advice
regarding how he might best achieve what the Greeks called
arête, which we can translate either as ‘success’ or ‘virtue’. “Can
you tell me, Socrates,” inquires Meno, “whether arête can be
taught, or is acquired by practice, not teaching?”(Plato, Meno
70a). Rather than answering the young man’s question, Socrates

Greek Wisdom
lectual labors in the same manner as an victorious athlete at the
Games: “What, then, does such a man as I deserve?” asked
Socrates indignantly: “There is nothing, men of Athens, so fit-
ting as that such a man be given his meals [free for life] in the
Prytaneum. That is much more appropriate for me than for any
of you who has won a race at the Olympic Games with a pair
of horses!” (Apology 36d). The jury was not amused by Socrates’
proposed punishment and sentenced him to death by drinking
hemlock. However, not long after his death, the Athenians real-
ized that they had wrongfully convicted him. History has fur-
ther vindicated Socrates’ good name. But the question remains
– why should we venerate someone on account of his ignorance?
In Plato’s dialogues we are the beneficiaries of a few thou-
sand pages that preserve, with more or less fidelity, Socrates’
conversations with his contemporaries. Over and over again
Socrates declares that he knows nothing about the subject he
and his companions are discussing. An extraordinary passage
among those thousands of pages has preserved one of the few
occasions in which Socrates affirms something he claims to know
with absolute certainty: “that there is a difference between right
opinion and knowledge is not at all a conjecture with me but
the deeds of the great men of the past: “The children, when they something I would particularly assert that I knew: there are not
have learnt their letters… are furnished with works of good poets many things of which I would say that, but this one, at any rate,
to read as they sit in class, and are made to learn them off by I will include among those that I know” (Meno 98b). Mistaken
heart,” replies Protagoras; “Here they meet with many admoni- for a fool or a moral reprobate, Socrates’ profession of igno-
tions, many descriptions and praises and eulogies of good men rance was actually a provocative way to get people to think about
in times past, that the boy in envy may imitate them and yearn the distinction between an opinion (which can often be wildly
to become even as they” (325e). How then can Socrates say that misguided) and a logically proven claim. In other words,
he has no clue what it means to be virtuous, when he has, along Socrates may have had many good opinions, but he realized that
with all his countrymen, been raised on the works of the poets? this could not serve as the basis for wisdom.
We begin to see how Socrates’ declaration of ignorance could Even though there were philosophers who preceded him,
get him into a lot of trouble. Despite testimony that he observed Socrates is the true founder of the Western philosophical tra-
traditional Greek religious rituals, the charge brought against dition because he was the first to investigate human affairs sci-
him by the Athenian court was that he held unorthodox beliefs: entifically. “Socrates was the first to call philosophy down from
“Socrates is a wrongdoer,” reads the indictment, “because he the heavens,” writes the Roman statesman Cicero about his
corrupts the youth and does not believe in the gods the state monumental achievement, “and compel it to ask questions about
believes in, but in other new spiritual beings” (Plato, Apology life and morality” (Tusculan Disputations 5.10-11).
24b-c). Socrates responds to the charges by arguing that far from Many people still regard ethics merely as a matter of opinion.
being sacrilegious he has been on a mission from god. He testi- A 2015 study conducted by the Barna Research Group reports
fies before the court that the oracle at Delphi had told his friend that 74% of millennials agreed with the statement: ‘Whatever is
Chaerephon that Socrates was the wisest man in the world. right for your life or works best for you is the only truth that
Socrates then reports that he devoted the rest of his life to inves- exists’ (‘The End of Absolutes: America's New Moral Code’
tigating others to see if he could find someone wiser (whether barna.com). In contrast, Socrates staunchly believed that human
out of humility, or the pride of disproving the god he doesn’t affairs are governed by absolute principles and thus can be inves-
say). In the end, Socrates confirms the oracle and declares him- tigated like other fields of knowledge. Despite devoting his entire
self the wisest man in the world, since he is the one person who life to these studies, he was forced to recognize the limits of his
admits his own ignorance. “I am wiser than this man,” as Socrates knowledge. But just as cancer research will not stop until it finds
says of one of Athens’ respected politicians, “for neither of us a cure, we must continue the work that Socrates initiated, for no
really knows anything fine and good, but this man thinks he other reason than our lives depend on it. “The duty of inquiring
knows something when he does not, whereas I, as I do not know after what we do not know,” charges Socrates to future genera-
anything, do not think I do, either” (Apology 21d). tions in the Meno (86b), “will make us better and braver and less
Socrates’ claim to be doing the god’s work didn’t go over so helpless than the notion that there is not even a possibility of dis-
well with the jury, who were less than impressed by his boast- covering what we do not know.”
ful claim to know nothing, and even less by his attempt to make © DANIEL SILVERMINTZ 2020
others look like fools. They found him guilty; but offered him Daniel Silvermintz is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Uni-
a last chance to redeem himself by telling the court what would versity of Houston, Clear Lake. His book on the founder of the
be an adequate punishment to fit his crimes. In his final act of Sophist movement, Protagoras: Ancients in Action, was published
protest, Socrates suggested that he be celebrated for his intel- by Bloomsbury Academic in 2016.

Greek Wisdom
What Philosophy Does To Philosophers
Rohan Somji looks at the consequences of thinking for three antique thinkers.
philosopher is someone who concern for cultivating virtue within. In
A sees deep questions where

others find things straightfor-
the case of slavery (an integral part of
Greek society), once Alexander the Great
PORTRAIT © CLINTON INMAN 2020 FACEBOOK HIM AT CLINTON.INMAN

ward. This I call ‘problematis- found the philosopher looking atten-
ing’, or, as Plato called it, ‘the search for tively at a pile of human bones. Diogenes
essence’. In any case, it instills a sense of explained, “I am searching for the bones
mystery, awe and wonder. Now, there of your father, but cannot distinguish
are numerous ways of problematising them from those of a slave.”
and dealing with it; but rest assured, the Pyrrho of Elis (c.360-c.270 BC)
consequences it has on the problema- accompanied Alexander the Great in his
tiser are definite and enduring. invasion of India. There, he encountered
Where better to look for examples of the gymnosophists – naked wise men. This
the impact of philosophy on life than exposure seems to have inspired him to
three fathers of Greek thought: Socrates, live a life of solitary inquiry.
Diogenes, and Pyrrho? They had widely Considered the father of Skeptical
different, highly eccentric personalities philosophy, Pyrrho lived a radically skep-
(the price of authenticity, perhaps?). tical life. He doubted pretty much every-
Although they differed in their philo- thing, essentially problematising the very
sophical approaches, they are all excel- possibility of knowledge, as well as the
lent examples of the impact philosophy Socrates Examined by Clint Inman 2020
possibility of any stable unchanging
has, for better or worse. nature that could be studied or known.
The last words of Socrates (470-399 BC) were “Crito, we His approach was based on epoche, a suspension of judgement.
owe a rooster to Asclepius. Please, don’t forget to pay the debt.” The effect of this thinking was, first, inducing a stunned silence
Ironic, given that Asclepius was the god of medicine and or non-assertion known as aphasia, subsequently leading to
Socrates had just drunk hemlock. Was he implying that the ataraxia, or freedom from worry. For Pyrrho, the way to a happy
poison was the cure for life? Or was he just displaying humour life was by ridding oneself of the suffering caused by worry. This
and insouciance, even at the brink of death? meant recognising the illusory nature of knowledge itself and
Socratic enquiry consisted of the disciplined questioning of coming to terms with the inaccessibility of any knowledge at all.
things taken for granted by others. But it’s interesting that Someone needs to go through a deep shift to allow such a state
though the task is to dissect a complex idea, none of Plato’s dia- to be realised in terms of lifestyle.
logues actually end with Socrates satisfied that he has reached The lives of these three philosophers show that philosophy
the heart of the concept. Socrates displays great patience, and can be far from just theoretical speculation. The father of moral
is noteworthy for his ability to recognise and point out igno- philosophy, the father of Cynicism, and the father of Skepticism,
rance. How ironic that the first great philosopher in the West each lived a philosophical life as well as initiating a discourse.
was also the first to claim true ignorance. The humility and the Their lives embodied the truths that they proclaimed. For each,
passion to know that proceeds from such a state is evident. philosophy was a practice more than a teaching – or rather, their
It is said that Diogenes (412-323 BC) was once seen rolling a way of life was the teaching. Interestingly, none of the three
barrel up and down a hill from sunrise to sunset. When asked philosophers I’ve discussed wrote any major works themselves.
why, he said that when the citizens heard that invaders were We know of them mostly through the writings of their pupils.
marching towards them the city began to hustle and bustle. Dio- In an age of information and an abundance of the tools of
genes concluded, “I wanted to look as busy as they.” This kind pleasure, it is time we learnt again from those who knew how
of mockery was typical of Diogenes the Cynic. little they knew. Problematising may be the antidote to our
Nietzsche once remarked, “Make your life a work of art”, vanity, inculcating humility and curiosity. It prevents us from
and maybe his words travelled back through time, because that’s being satisfied with spoon-fed oversimplified ideas about our
precisely what Diogenes did. He was an ascetic, living a life of world. It makes us seek restlessly for clearer, deeper answers
virtue over pleasure. He claimed he was “a citizen of the world about reality and about ourselves. Seeking begins only when
rather than a place,” so was the first recorded cosmopolitan. there is something to be sought.
He challenged every moral, custom, and regular way of life Above all, philosophy is about enhancing awareness, which
without regard to the consequences. This challenging came is perhaps the key trait defining humanity. If philosophy has had
from his acute sense of seeing problems in Greek society. one influence on peoples’ lives, this is the only influence it needs.
Although very apocryphal and there being little more than To be aware is to be human.
a few anecdotes about him preserved, Diogenes nevertheless © ROHAN SOMJI 2020
was a master problematiser. He could see that the way of life Rohan Somji is a postgraduate from the University of Mumbai,
of people in the cities had strayed far away from virtue, main- currently working towards applying Continental philosophy’s insights
taining only a façade of behaving appropriately, without any to developments in AI.

Greek Wisdom
A Stoic Response To
The Climate Crisis
Matthew Gindin thinks that the Stoics have useful advice for us right now.
he Stoic philosophers, who flourished in the Graeco- So for Epictetus our desire for happiness should be directed
T Roman world between the third century BCE and

the fourth century CE, were profoundly interested
in the natural world, and considered science essen-
tial knowledge for a philosopher. It’s likely that a Stoic time
traveller, transported into the early 21st century, would initially
towards knowing that we understand and choose well. In other
words, our pleasure should be in our rationality and the good
character that follows from it. We should not seek happiness in
things we want but which are impossible to control, even good
things: our health, wealth, reputation, relationships, or even
hesitate to believe that humans could remake the climate of the whether we continue to live or die. A moment’s reflection will
Earth and in doing so threaten the future of the entire bio- confirm that all of these latter things (which Stoics call ‘exter-
sphere. I think we can be confident, however, that once pre- nals’ or ‘indifferents’, or sometimes more charitably, ‘prefer-
sented with the scientific evidence our devotee of Hellenic ables’) are outside our control. A chance encounter with an
reason would embrace the consensus and agree we are facing ebola-carrying passenger on a jet could eliminate all of them in
an incomprehensibly dangerous emergency. short order. Epictetus’s vision of the Stoic sage is of someone
It is now widely agreed in the scientific community that we who restricts the lion’s share of their desire towards refining
are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event in Earth’s their own rationality, knowledge, and wise choices, and takes
history – and that this one has been triggered by human activ- pleasure as much as possible in those accomplishments.
ity. Due to the way we live, much of the biodiversity of the How does this apply to facing the climate crisis?
world has disappeared over the last hundred years, and more I think applying Epictetus’s advice to our global situation
of it will go in the next hundred. At the end of 2018 the Living would mean first of all ending our desire to save the planet.
Planet Index of the World Wildlife Fund reported that from More accurately, since the planet itself will, as some enjoy point-
1970 to 2014 there was a 60% decline in the overall numbers ing out, be fine, it means ending our desire to save human global
of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Another recent civilization and the current biosphere. We may succeed in saving
report, published in the journal Biological Conservation (Vol. 232, those things, but according to current projections there is a very
April 2019), found that more than 40% of the world’s insect real possibility that we won’t. Epictetus would say that we should
species are dramatically declining and a third are endangered – not desire what may be impossible, and certainly nothing which
risking what the report’s authors call a “catastrophic collapse is out of the sphere of our control. Rather, what we should desire,
of nature’s ecosystems.” is that we choose and act well. In the climate context this would
How would the Stoics have responded? I’m not asking this mean seeking to understand what is happening and making the
question merely as an interesting intellectual exercise, but most rational choices we can as a result. Our individual choices
because I think Stoic philosophy has key intellectual resources might range from trying to change government policies to
to help us face our growing ecological crisis. With that in mind reduce the scale of the damage, to acting individually in ways
I’ll outline what I think are a few useful pieces of advice from that protect ecology, to moving to higher ground, among many
the Stoic arsenal. I want to begin first with Epictetus, who I think other things. Primarily, though, it means directing our atten-
has the most powerful and important guidance to offer us, and tion to building strong and serene characters to withstand the
then add supplementary ideas from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca. full impact of the coming crisis, something Epictetus claims it
is actually in our power to do.
Epictetus It might seem that Epictetus is preaching an inward-focused
Epictetus (55-135 CE) was a freed slave born in what is now quietism or navel-gazing self-development, unmoored from the
Turkey. He taught Stoicism in Rome before being banished in wider world, but he’s not. Stoics, unlike Epicureans, were civic-
about 93 CE by the Emperor Domitian, along with the other minded, and saw the person’s role in the universal city of human-
philosophers. He went to Greece and continued to teach there. ity – the cosmopolis – as being of central importance. For Epicte-
Epictetus’ prescription for freedom can be simply explained, tus, all people have multiple roles to fill in the cosmopolis, each
despite its power. Our desires should only be directed towards of which should be embodied with excellence. For example,
what’s possible, because desiring what’s impossible will being a good father requires certain choices and types of
inevitably produce frustration and unhappiness. behaviour, and a father should enact those. A key element of
This seems to be common sense; but things get interesting this doctrine is that one’s obligation is to fulfill one’s role as
as a result of Epictetus’s conception of possibility: we should best one can – which is different from succeeding in it or being
get our happiness from thinking and choosing well (which is rewarded for it. For our purposes though, the really useful
within our power), not from getting what we want (which isn’t). insight comes from what Epictetus said to a student who com-

Epictetus, Seneca & Marcus Aurelius
by Gail Campbell, 2020

Greek Wisdom
plained that his brother mistreated him. Epictetus’s answer can late. Why should we think things would be any different now?
be summarized as: “So what? Your task is not to have a brother The drastic reforms needed to halt climate change are difficult
who loves you, which you cannot hope to succeed in, but to be and expensive, and will take a long time to implement. During
a good brother yourself, which you can.” that time, climate change will advance and quite probably acquire
When applied to climate change, this can be powerful guid- irreversible, self-sustaining momentum.
ance. What is our role as intelligent animals whose well-being The lesson from Marcus Aurelius here, then, is twofold: stop
is dependent on the integrity of their ecosystem? One would wasting mental energy being shocked or offended by human
think it obvious (although one would be wrong about that, inaction on climate change. Do not assume that humanity will
apparently) that we should first and foremost study how not to take upon itself timely and wise actions, or that some mysteri-
disrupt the web of relationships that humans so need to survive ous force will protect us from the results of our own behaviour,
and thrive. The Stoics, who sought both honourable and respon- or soften the horrific blows when they come. Shock and
sible behaviour, would certainly counsel living lives permeated incredulity are not worthy of anyone who studies history or the
by care towards the natural world. So perhaps Epictetus would natural world. Don’t be like a traveller unfamiliar with how things
say that in the face of the climate crisis, our primary task is not go here. It’s time for us to face what is happening, and to pre-
to save the ecosystem, which individually we cannot hope to pare. Facing reality is the first step in figuring out how to handle
succeed in doing, but rather to fulfill our roles as good citizens it well.
of the earth, doing what we can, even if everything goes to hell.
Seneca
Marcus Aurelius Seneca the Younger (4 BCE -65 CE) was a statesman, playwright,
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 CE) was Roman Emperor for nearly and tutor to the powerful. He was also a Stoic philosopher. Like
twenty years. He was also a Stoic philosopher who kept a note- other Stoics he counselled a focus on the perfection of character,
book of advice from himself to himself (a practice recommended and cultivation of peace and strength of mind in the face of adver-
by other Stoics too). This notebook, disseminated after his death sity. One frequently-mentioned piece of advice in the letters he
as his Meditations, is still a bestseller. In it Marcus Aurelius wrote to his friend Lucilius, is to learn to live with poverty and
focuses on the cultivation of virtues such as fortitude, serenity, hardship before they happen, as well as to cultivate independence
and amiability, and reminds himself repeatedly of such things and self-sufficiency. As he wrote in his inimitable style, “Trim
as the impermanence of life, the need to be mindful of our inter- yourself back to that small fortune that chance cannot take away”
dependency, and our responsibilities to the communities of (Letter 20). By saying this, Seneca did not mean that one should
which we’re inescapably a part. throw away, or even radically pare down, one’s possessions (he
I want to highlight just one remark from this book: “The didn’t, as is well known), but rather that one should intention-
foolishness of people who are surprised by anything that hap- ally cultivate the ability both to be happy with less, and to rely
pens. Like travellers amazed at foreign customs” (Meditations only on that which one can find in oneself. As he wrote in the
12.13, tr. Gregory Hays). Here Marcus Aurelius gently mocks same letter, “So I think it is really necessary to do what I told you
our tendency to be shocked by events. I imagine he had in mind in my letter great men have often done: set aside some days when
all the irrational extremes of human experience, as well as nat- by making a pretence of poverty we train ourselves for the real
ural disasters, wars, or stunning twists of fate. All of these things thing. We should do it all the more since we are steeped in luxu-
are intrinsically part of the fabric of our social and natural lives, ries, and think everything harsh and difficult. Better to wake the
and to suggest otherwise is to believe things to be other than mind from sleep; pinch it, and remind it of how little our nature
they actually are, which is dangerous. actually requires. No one is born rich: everyone who comes forth
There is a lot to learn from this one saying. Firstly, we should into the light is ordered to be content with milk and a bit of cloth.”
not think that a catastrophic climate change will not occur. Considering the uncertainties that face us, particularly eco-
Global extinction-level crises have happened before, at least five nomic and technological disruption in unpredictable ways, this
times, wiping out between 75-96% of life on Earth each time. idea of preparing ourselves might be good advice: a sort of work-
And there is no reason to think that the conditions which pre- out before the fight.
vailed the last time that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere So our Stoic advisors, who intended their philosophy to speak
were this high – such as trees growing near the South Pole and eternally across the ages for any human exigency, say: do not
sea levels twenty metres higher than now – will not happen again. waste time in being shocked at human irrationality; do not be
On the purely human level, it’s also time to stop being shocked naïve about how bad things can get; and begin training for a
by our failure to adopt long-term thinking and act to halt the world of lack and hardship. Restrict your desire to perfecting
disaster now unfolding. Throughout history elites have acted to your own understanding and good choices, and fulfill your role
preserve their own interests while the world burned around them, as an rational animal on the Earth regardless of whether global
and the common folk have been so fooled by propaganda that civilisation can be saved or not.
they have been unable to see what was happening until it was © MATTHEW GINDIN 2020
too late. Nazi Germany is only one of many examples of both Matthew Gindin is a former Buddhist monk, teacher of Jewish his-
tendencies; members of the intelligentsia around the world wrote tory and culture, journalist, writer and meditation instructor in Van-
of what was happening and would happen, but the high cost couver. He is currently launching a Philosophy Club for children. He
activities needed by the Allies to halt disaster were not under- writes regularly for Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, as well as for
taken until catastrophe demanded them and it was almost too several other publications, and can be followed at matthewgindin.com.

Greek Wisdom The glory that was Athens
by Leo von Kranze
The Tragedy That Was Athens

Alex Holzman sees the history of Golden Age Athens as a play
with Pericles and Socrates as its tragic heroes.
he most prominent dramatic distinction we’ve inher- son is dead, his invention destroyed, and although his body is
T ited from the Greeks is that between comedy and

tragedy. Comedies end in marriages and happily-
ever-afters. Greek tragedies are also easy to iden-
tify, as they usually end with the death, imprisonment, despon-
dency, or some other unraveling of the principal character(s).
freed, his spirit is broken.
Here we can see that the punishment for hubris is often mired
in irony, another device central to Greek storytelling. If hubris
is born from the ignorance of a character – from their being
unaware of their limits, and proudly so – then irony grows out
This is almost always due to some set of character flaws, or of their ignorance of their ignorance. The word ‘irony’ itself
hamartia, from the Greek meaning ‘to err’. comes from the Greek eirōneía, meaning ‘feigned ignorance.’
One recurrent tragic set of character flaws revolves around This is a reference to the stock Greek comic character the eirôn,
hubris, which refers to an over-reaching mixture of pride and whose tongue-in-cheek self-effacement really directed towards
arrogance, generally against some divine force, entity, or hier- blowhards usually won him the day. In tragedy, this character
archy (it originally meant the use of bodily violence to shame a is inverted into someone whose ignorance is not feigned, lack-
victim). Icarus is perhaps the most straightforward example of ing the self-awareness of the eirôn: he cannot help but stray into
hubris. He’s a boy whose brilliant (and equally hubristic) father hubris, and thereby into tragedy. The thematic consequences
Daedalus crafts for him a pair of waxen wings in his desire to they suffer serve to highlight their ignorance, and caution the
seize the power of flight from the gods, in order for them to audience against reckless pride. Another example is Midas’s
escape imprisonment. But Icarus flies too close to the sun, his desire for a golden touch, turning his true treasures – his wife
wings are melted, he falls, and is swallowed by the sea. Either and daughter – to cold metal.
ignorant or unconcerned with his mortality, in flying too close Since the ironic cycle of action and reaction culminates only
to the sun he has encroached upon the realm of the gods, and at a story’s end, even when it’s predictable irony is inherently
in doing so has lost touch with his own rationality, duty, and retrospective. So it ensnares the hubristic in a dramatic trap,
life. Icarus attempts to seize the heavens, and for this is lost for- depriving them of agency in return for the audience’s emotional
ever to the depths. Similarly, Daedalus’ flight to freedom results catharsis or cleansing.
in his losing his ideals and plunges his spirits to the depths: his This entrapment in time and space – this subjugation to story

Greek Wisdom
– is core to Greek narrative notions of human life, mortality,
and fate. At the center of the most famous Greek stories is a
single man or woman into whose narrative orbit fall people,
monsters, and gods. Obviously, the public will relate readily to
stories of common people (or highly anthropomorphic deities)
overcoming Herculean struggles. The anthropocentrism also
reinforces the importance of human life and of human mortal-
ity. The archetypal Greek tragedy is both an affirmation of life
and an acquiescence to death, for to live and to die is the lot of
(wo)man, and to live honorably and die humbly is the lot of a
great (wo)man. Those characters who do not recognize this (and
most, in the end, do not) are doomed by their hubris to ironic
destruction. They will achieve immortality in a sense, but only
through the denial of their selves.
Let’s see how these ideas apply to Golden Age Athens. Pericles:
glory or bust
Pericles’ Tragic Monologue

Both Pericles’ (c.495–429 BCE) and Athens’ hubris are as dra- in the future.” But that which we admire today is exactly that
matic and complete as that of any mythical figures. Pericles, the which Pericles dismisses: the delightful words of Homer, and
great leader and statesman of Golden Age Athens, would be more relevantly, that other wordsmith Thucydides, who records
claimed by a ravenous plague that decimated the city as a result Pericles’ oration in his History of the Peloponnesian War. (Even
of the Peloponnesian War with Sparta of 431–404 BCE. Con- calling it ‘Pericles’ funeral oration’ is somewhat disingenuous
vinced though it was of its inevitable victory, Athens lost the because it is in reality Thucydides’ oration, since he doubtless
war, along with its democracy, its empire, and its cultural pre- edited the speech to put the dramatic spin on history he wanted.)
eminence. The war entangled every major power on the Greek Similarly telling is Pericles’ claim that Athens has “set up
peninsula, along with their overseas colonies and military eternal monuments on all sides, of [its] setbacks as well as of
alliances. By the end, poverty and disease ran rampant across [its] accomplishments.” This is a less than subtle political flour-
the city-states. Religious taboos were shattered as Pan-Hellenic ish, aimed at reminding his listeners of his own building pro-
festivals were invaded and temples sacked and burned. Devas- gram, responsible, among other things, for the reconstruction
tating civil wars and revolts proliferated, some of which would of the Acropolis during Athens’ zenith.
last until Phillip II, father of Alexander the Great (but viewed At the heart of this program, of course, is the Parthenon, the
by the Athenians as little more than a barbarian warlord) easily highest achievement of the Doric architectural order, and
conquered the peninsula in 337 BCE. symbol of both Athenian and Greek cultural supremacy. Built
The Peloponnesian War marked nothing less than the com- and decorated by 432 BCE, the paint would barely have been
plete upheaval of the social order so beloved by Pericles. Even dry when Pericles gave his funeral oration at the end of 431.
as its greatest leader extolled Athens’ virtues in a funeral speech, Neither a traditional Hellenic temple nor a cult sanctuary, the
the city was embarking upon a conflict that would forever end Parthenon was, as Pericles suggests, a victory monument, actu-
its self-styled hegemony. Athenians were, in the end, ignorant ally to the Battle of Marathon against Persia. Marathon was
of their own fate and unheeding of the very legends that doubtless the greatest military accomplishment in Athens’ his-
described their proclivity towards greatness and the downfall tory, if not all of Greek history, and it was worth remembering
that might result. at the outset of a grueling new conflict.
In Pericles’ famous funeral oration in Athens, he is so con- Pericles’ political nous in evoking Athens’ past glories, as
vinced of Athens’ self-evident greatness that he slips into hubris well as reminding his audience who it was who built these ‘eter-
and irony, and in so doing becomes as tragically immortalised nal monuments’, is unquestionable. So too is the arrogance and
as Medea or Orpheus. irony belying it. The Parthenon was not, after all, eternal in the
A few lines of his speech demonstrate the irony particularly way Pericles certainly presented it, and possibly imagined it, to
well. First is his admonition that “We do not need Homer, or be. It still stands today, but it was horribly burned in the third
anyone else, to praise our power with words that bring delight century AD, as well as sacked by mere pirates. Pagan worship
for a moment, when the truth will refute his assumptions about there was banned by Theodosius II in 435 AD, and its great cult
what was done.” In demeaning storytelling as a way of captur- statue of Athena was spirited away and destroyed on foreign
ing truth, Pericles ignores the obvious fact that his own words soil. It was converted, first to a Catholic church, and then into
are scarcely different: his oration is itself little more than ‘words a mosque by the Ottoman Empire, whose war with the Vene-
that bring delight for a moment’, especially considering the lin- tians caused it catastrophic damage. Then, as it lay in ruins,
gering despair that would soon descend upon Athens. He is cor- much of its statuary was carted off by Lord Elgin to the British
rect in that the truth will refute the assumptions of the story- Museum. It is true that the Parthenon is eternal in what it has
teller; he was wrong, however, about who that refuted story- come to more broadly represent: namely the aesthetic, archi-
teller would be – himself. He is correct (as even tragic heroes tectural, and intellectual majesty of the Ancient Greeks. Yet this
can be), that Athens will be the “admiration of people now and is itself an ironic twist of fate for Pericles and Athens: the same

Greek Wisdom
thing when he does not, whereas when I do
not know, neither do I think I know, so I
am likely to be wiser than he to this small
extent” (Apology 21a, trans. G.M.A Grube).
In thinking like this Socrates becomes a
profound subversion of the hubristic char-
acter. He is convinced that the gods must
be wrong; but this belief is based on his own
humility. Similarly, he believes his investi-
gation to be ‘in the service of the god’, even
while making the purpose of that investiga-
tion to ‘refute the oracle’ (21b-22a). So he
is at once deeply hubristic – denying the
gods’ wisdom, stepping outside the social
© GUTO DIAS 2019. PLEASE VISIT FACEBOOK.COM/PG/GUTOZDIASSTUDIO/
order, unaccepting of his fate as the wisest

man of all – while still lacking the self-cen-
teredness and arrogance typical of tragic fig-
ures.
Unfortunately, Socrates is also deeply
ironic, his fate equally so. As with the eirôn,
it ought to be clear that Socrates’ compar-
ative ‘ignorance’ is to an extent feigned. The
oft-mentioned ‘impossibility’ of Socrates is
in part due to the unrealistic psychology of
believing that you know nothing, since
‘knowing that you know nothing’ is a con-
tradiction in itself, is incoherent. Socrates
also says that he knows more than everyone
else in Athens, thereby admitting that he is
the wisest of all. The Apology is a dramatic
presentation of Socrates’ defense while on
trial for corrupting the youth of Athens by
introducing new beliefs to them; and his
tone towards his accusers and even the jury
is nothing short of condescending. He is
openly insulting towards Meletus, an oth-
erwise respectable Athenian, and is implic-
itly critical of the entire trial, as farcical as
it is. And why should he act otherwise? It is
clear that his true crime is saying what
people do not wish to hear while playing
the innocent naïve. His propensity to do
this is at the heart of what is now aptly called
longevity that enabled the Parthenon to impossible man known as Socrates. But this ‘Socratic irony’. Like the eirôn, then, there
outlive Alexander and Rome and to dazzle story also ends tragically. is a comical quality to Socrates’ argumen-
modern tourists also allowed its appropria- As presented by Plato in The Apology, tative technique, which was satirized by
tion for long centuries by nations who cared Socrates (470-399 BCE) is a man of contra- comic works such as Aristophanes’ The
nothing for Greece’s ancient gods or dictions who embodies a peculiar type of Clouds. But Socrates owns his hubris, as well
Athens’ glory. irony. After learning that the Delphic oracle as his irony. He is conscious of his igno-
considers that no-one surpasses him in rance – in contrast to the Athens of Peri-
The Irony of Socrates wisdom he is perplexed, since he considers cles’ time, whose assuredness can yield
Unfortunately, it would be wrong to think himself anything but wise. He attempts to nothing but disappointment.
that the tragic story of Athens ended after prove the oracle wrong by speaking with all Socrates’ treatment of mortality and fate
Pericles’ hubris and the Peloponnesian those considered wise, only to find out that also distinguishes him from the dominant
War. Every good tragic hero needs an they were in fact deeply ignorant. Concern- thinking of Athens. When asked by the
opportunity for redemption, or at least the ing one such exchange he concludes that “it court to suggest a punishment for his
emotional release of catharsis. For Athens, is likely that neither of us know anything ‘crimes’, Socrates recommends that he be
this comes in the form of the strange, worthwhile, but he thinks he knows some- given free meals at public expense in return

Greek Wisdom
for what he views as a public service. This is little more than a
sneering joke, for his fate was all but decided: it would be death.
Yet unlike so many other tragic heroes, for whom death is the
ultimate fear, Socrates fears it not at all. Death is frightening
only to those who expect to live forever; to those who feel enti-
tled to immortality and view death as its thief; to those who have
not truly lived the good life. In fact, Socrates views death as
entirely preferable to the alternative, which is to have to stop
asking those annoying questions, and so to live a life of true and
imposed ignorance. “The unexamined life is not worth living,”
he famously concludes (38a).
During Socrates’ lifetime Athens had lost the vast majority
of its prestige, wealth, power, and moral superiority. The con-
fidence of Pericles could no longer be justified. Athens’ lashing
out against Socrates was symptomatic of an insecure society
faced with a reality incongruous with their historical self-esteem
and a slow decline undeserving of their past glory. Their beliefs
had been forcibly questioned by decades of struggle and suffer-
ing: they had little patience for a condescending vagrant’s fresh in a disastrous invasion of Sicily; when its democracy is disman-
insults. Yet in a final ironic twist of fate, it would be Socrates’ tled by its Spartan enemies and a puppet tyranny is installed, the
Athena
philosophy that would immortalize Athens. Socrates was the punishmentattacks!
of Athens’ pride reaches its climax. All that is left is
last true Athenian, and for this his fate was a belly full of hem- for Socrates, a peculiar, misanthropic, gadfly of a man, to put
lock and a spirit full of wisdom. them in their place and offer us, the audience, a semblance of
catharsis. Socrates’ willing acceptance of his sentence shames
Summating History Athens; for where the city implicitly fears its demise, Socrates
A classical tragedy consisted of four parts: a valorous beginning accepts his own with dignity, humility, and virtue. In acquiesc-
establishing the character’s daring or worthiness; the subse- ing to death, Socrates affirms life – most of all, the examined life.
quent descent of the hero into folly and hubris; a climactic pun- So what can be taken away from the tragedy that is ancient
ishment befitting their pride; and finally a cathartic finale, enun- Athens? Surely there must be something. After all, modern
ciating the error of the antagonist’s ways. The oration of Peri- Western civilization seems every day to slip further into Peri-
cles and the outcome of the Peloponnesian War as told by clean hubris, even as the consequences ratchet ever upward.
Thucydides, and the defense of Socrates as told by Plato, Thucydides’ cynicism towards human nature predicts as
together map perfectly to this narrative schema. much. But perhaps Thucydides is correct to doubt humanity’s
First, Pericles’ oration sets out the assured magnificence of ability to overcome our tragic collective propensities. It is no
Athens. coincidence that Greek tragedy and its modes remains so
The inner frieze of the Parthenon demonstrates this mag- engrained in what is now rapidly becoming a global culture, for
nificence well. If Joan Breton Connelly in ‘Parthenon and we seem to have learned little from their examples. Yet at the
Parthenoi’ (American Journal of Archaeology 100.1, 1996) is to same time, our ability to capture our less savory habits in art
be believed (as she ought to be), part of the frieze depicts the and science suggests that we, like Socrates, at least stand a chance
founding myth of Athens, in which the king Erechtheus and his of recognizing those limitations in ourselves.
wife Praxithea prepare to sacrifice their daughters to save Athens Athens and its democracy disappeared, true; but its values
from war. This act establishes both Athens itself and the city’s and philosophies lived on in Rome, Europe, then in North
claims to divinely ordained distinction. The myth suggests that America, Asia, and beyond. The world never forgot Athens.
as long as Athenians remember and emulate Eretchtheus’ family Pericles may have been arrogant to a fault, but he was far from
and their sacrifices, they will continue to be looked upon kindly wrong: Athens was a shining city on the hill, a testament to
by the gods. The glory of Athens’ in its founding as presented humanity’s lofty achievements, a beacon of culture in a world
in this myth consists in how it is at once honorable and strong- of barbarism. And like a tragic heroine, it slipped all to easily
willed, as well as pious, humble, and self-sacrificing. This is a into greed, hypocrisy, egoism, and pride.
highly hubristic design choice, but an unsurprising one, con- We must learn to appreciate both the Athens described by
sidering that Pericles himself oversaw the project. Pericles and that chronicled by Thucydides: we must surren-
But the very same assuredness of Athens would lead inevitably der to fate as did Erechtheus, and ridicule those who do not, as
to hubris. Athens had enjoyed so much success for so many gen- did Socrates. The wisdom of the ancients is all that remains of
erations that it became inconceivable that things could ever be their civilization, in scraps and fragments though it is. We owe
otherwise. Just as Xerxes and his father were so convinced of it to them as much to ourselves to not follow in their footsteps
their unstoppable military power, until it was stopped at but instead read the maps of history they left behind.
Marathon, so too was Pericles beguiled by Athens’ triumphs. © ALEX HOLZMAN 2020
When Athens suffers defeat after defeat in the Peloponnesian Alex Holzman is a former student of philosophy and current staff
War; when it loses a significant portion of its male population member at The College of New Jersey.

Greek Wisdom
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Greek Wisdom
You begin your introduction to the anniver- avoid, and maybe it has practical uses;
sary edition by talking about the truths of but to overcome bad faith and fully
existentialism being timeless. But do you recognise in one’s thought and actions
think the heightened anxieties that seem so that one is inescapably free, not a fixed
prevalent make existentialism especially entity like a chair or a stone but the
relevant now? growing sum total of one’s ongoing
To answer your question I need to set choices, is to achieve the existentialist
out briefly what the timeless truths of holy grail of authenticity.
existentialism are. Basically, they’re the So the main focus of the book is to
timeless truths of the human condition. show how a worthwhile life is possible
Specifically, these are that we’re inalien- in the teeth of the inescapable truths of
ably free in that we are constantly con- the human condition. And existentialism
fronted by the requirement to choose is always highly relevant because these
who we are through choosing what we truths, our all-too-human lot, remain
do. We are responsible for the choices the case at all times and in all places.
we make. It is often recognised that Given that existentialism is always maxi-
existentialism is a philosophy of free- mally relevant, it cannot be more rele-
dom, less so that it is a philosophy of vant at one time than another. But
responsibility. Our inalienable freedom although it is not especially relevant now,
makes us anxious. In The Concept of Anxi- it is highly relevant now.
ety (1844), the original existentialist If this is an age of heightened anxiety,
Søren Kierkegaard wrote, “Anxiety is it is not because there is more to be anx-
the dizziness of freedom”. It is the result ious about now than in the past. Perhaps
of responsibility. Fear is the possibility we simply hear more about anxiety
that I might fall; anxiety is that there is because of social media, and our
nothing to stop me from jumping. increased awareness of it creates the
At any given moment, we are indeter- impression that there is more of it
Gary
minate in the sense that we are no about. But a huge fuss is made about
longer what we were and not yet what anxiety these days to the extent that it
we hope to become through our cur- has become fetishized. Certainly there is
rent actions. We always lack in the pre- a trend, largely due to an exponential
sent what we hope to gain in the future. growth in the number of ‘support’ pro-
Cox
This lack is the basis of desire. fessionals of all kinds, towards treating
We are embodied. We seek to tran- any level of anxiety as a medical prob-
scend and surpass what we are now lem, when fundamentally, anxiety is part
through our actions but we can never and parcel of what it is to be human. I
transcend our bodies. The body is an worry about global warming; my par-
ever-present set of facts – a ‘facticity’, as ents worried about nuclear holocaust;
is the author of several Sartre calls it – that challenges us, limits their parents worried about TB. For
our freedom, presents possibilities, lets most people, certainly in the developed
books on existentialism us down. We are also constantly con- world, modern technology has eliminat-
fronted by the existence of other people ed the worries caused by a hand-to-
and general philosophy. as beings that constantly look at and mouth existence, but we all still have to
judge us: we have a being-for-others that contend with the existential issues of
The 10th anniversary is a key part of who we are. We are con- other people, risk, ageing, and death.
edition of his bestselling tingent in that our existence is not nec- And still above all it is the responsibility
essary. That we need not be, renders of our freedom that makes us anxious,
self-help book How to our existence absurd, and life has no
other meaning than the one we choose
not the world itself. We will always be
anxious because we will always be free.
Be an Existentialist was to give it. Moreover, each moment of
our life is defined by our mortality, by What else can existentialism teach us about
published recently. the fact that life is a finite project. Our the world of social media?
death is ‘our ownmost possibility’: If existentialism is about getting real,
Gavin Smith nobody else can die your death for you. then the first thing it teaches us about
It’s a grim list for sure, but to seek to social media is that we cannot wish it
talks with him about fool yourself that life is not governed by away, that most of us cannot entirely
these truths is to be inauthentic, is to escape it and its many challenges, that it
existentialism. live in bad faith. Bad faith is basically must therefore be dealt with. Existen-
acting as though one has no choice, as tialists talk about recognising our being-
though one’s life is on rails, or general- in-situation – recognising our reality for
ly, exercising one’s freedom negatively what it is and dealing with it positively
to deny or stifle it. It’s choosing not to rather than wishing we were someone
choose. We are all guilty of bad faith to else somewhere else. Social media now
some extent. It’s difficult to entirely definitely belongs to our being-in-situa-
22 Philosophy Now February /March 2020 Interview

Interview
tion. Existentialism also has much to Beauvoir, Camus, and Merleau-Ponty from doing so by
say about the phenomenon of being- – coexisted in that time and place and preaching that exis-
for-others: how part of what we are is were profoundly shaped by it. I sought tentialism is a heresy,
unavoidably shaped and influenced by to capture that time and place, and the which of course from the
other people and the opinions they philosophy, literature and art it point of view of orthodox
form of us – opinions we cannot con- inspired, in my biography of Sartre, religion, it is. In 1948 the Catholic
trol. An understanding of our being- Existentialism and Excess (2016). For Church added Sartre’s complete works
for-others as part of the human psyche some, existentialism is synonymous – even those not yet written – to its list
sheds light on why we find social media with the romance and eroticism of that of forbidden books.
so attractive, addictive, and troubling. era, its heady intellectual atmosphere Existentialism is not for the faint-
Thus it provides a useful guide to how supercharged by the backdrop of a war- hearted. Not all existentialism is atheis-
social media is best dealt with: how best torn Europe. However, given that exis- tic, but most of it is, and as Sartre said
to behave when using it to maximise tentialism is a philosophy for all time, in his autobiography, Words (1963),
pleasure and opportunity while min- it need not be associated with that era. “Atheism is a cruel, long-term business”
imising anxiety and paranoia. Sartre Perhaps an excessive association with (p. 157). Existentialism is for people
famously wrote, “There is no need for that era wrongly leads some to suppose who demand the truth however dark
red-hot pokers. Hell is other people!” that existentialism was merely a philos- and uncompromising that truth may be.
(In Camera, 1944). Yet surely, other ophy of that time, a fad that it is now It is often thought that, because it
people – even people on social media – well past its sell-by-date, which is not dwells on harsh realities – anxiety,
can often also be heaven, if dealt with in true. Nazi-occupied Paris may have absurdity, death, and so on – existen-
the right way. provided the existentialist philosophers tialism is a pessimistic, nihilistic philos-
who endured it with dramatic illustra- ophy, but this is to profoundly misun-
Given that existentialist themes were tions of their philosophical points – derstand it. How to Be an Existentialist
addressed by the Greeks two and a half mil- Sartre for example was exercised by the seeks to show how it is possible to live a
lenia ago, is it not reasonable to argue that choice between cowardice and courage worthwhile and rewarding life on the
existentialism is an exploration of themes in the face of torture – but absolutely basis of a full recognition of the tough
that have always existed? any time or place will provide illustra- existential truths. If religion is often
As you say, what might be broadly tions to support existentialist claims. about wishing, then existentialism is
called ‘existentialist themes’ have been Moreover, although Sartre thought about willing. It is about getting real
around for thousands of years. The list that existentialism should and could be and acting decisively towards reason-
of timeless existential truths I just gave synthesised with Marxism, it is not at able, worldly goals. As I wrote in the
clearly shows that much of existential- all certain that it is a particularly left- book, “You have to build your life on an
ism is really a matter of taking an hon- wing philosophy. Existentialist argu- understanding and acceptance of how
est and courageous look at the funda- ments can also be used to support things really are, otherwise you will
mentals of the human condition. The broadly so-called centre-right views always be fooling and deluding yourself
ancient Greek philosophers were bound concerning individualism, personal as you hanker after impossibilities like
to draw many of the same broad con- aspiration, personal responsibility, self- complete happiness and total fulfilment.
clusions about human reality as philoso- reliance, limited altruism, and our Ironically, existentialism is saying, if
phers draw today; as Shakespeare drew oversensitive blame and excuse culture. you want to be happy, or at least be
in his day; as future thinkers will draw Certainly, How to Be an Existentialist happier, stop struggling to achieve
in their day. If existentialism as a specif- has been criticised by some and praised complete happiness because that way
ic relatively modern philosophical by others for lacking the arguably only leads to disappointment.”
school did anything original, it was to excessive sympathy bordering on Existentialism is not in the business
systematically explain the existential mawkishness that to some extent char- of replacing religion. Unlike religion,
truths of human reality, our being-in- acterises the modern left. I leave people existentialism does not tell people how
the-world, as a coherent whole – not to make up their own minds by actually to live, what to eat, what to wear, who
least by employing many of the best reading the book. to marry. It instead urges people to
ideas relating to the nature of con- So, yes, it is hard to free existential- recognise that they and others are
sciousness and freedom that had accu- ism from the myths, images, and even inalienably free, and to embrace their
mulated in Western philosophy by the politics of Left Bank Paris, but not freedom in a positive, courageous, and
nineteenth century. This comprehen- impossible. Existentialism can be pre- moral way rather than act in bad faith
sive holism is seen in such major exis- sented as a coherent and useful philoso- and deny their freedom. The most
tentialist works as Heidegger’s Being phy without mentioning war-torn Paris, rewarding thing for me about writing
and Time (1927), Sartre’s Being and Parisian intellectuals, or even Parisian How to Be an Existentialist is the wealth
Nothingness (1943), and de Beauvoir’s cafés. of correspondence I have received over
Ethics of Ambiguity (1947). the past decade from people who tell
Will the bleak realism of existentialism me it has helped them to find or recov-
Is it hard to free existentialism from the ever replace the comfort offered by religion, er their self-esteem, to confront reality,
myths and images of post-war Left Bank whether traditional or New Age? and to get their life together. PN
Paris? Many religious people are simply not
On one level existentialism is intimate- willing to go out of their comfort zone • Gavin Smith is a novelist and an English
ly bound up with wartime and post-war to contemplate the stark, mostly atheis- lecturer for the Open University. He
Paris because several of the major exis- tic realism of existentialism. Indeed the received his PhD from the University of
tentialist philosophers – Sartre, de church has actively discouraged them Exeter in 2010.
Interview February /March 2020 Philosophy Now 23

An Essay on Nothing
Sophia Gottfried meditates on the emptiness of non-existence.
I
n philosophy there is a lot of emphasis on what exists. We structed by the individual human mind, frequently through
call this ontology, which means, the study of being. What is comparison with a socially constructed concept.
less often examined is what does not exist. Pure nothingness, on the other hand, does not contain any-
It is understandable that we focus on what exists, as its thing at all: no air, no light, no dust. We cannot experience it
effects are perhaps more visible. However, gaps or non-exis- with our senses, but we can conceive it with the mind. Possibly,
tence can also quite clearly have an impact on us in a number this sort of absolute nothing might have existed before our uni-
of ways. After all, death, often dreaded and feared, is merely the verse sprang into being. Or can something not arise from noth-
lack of existence in this world (unless you believe in ghosts). We ing? In which case, pure nothing can never have existed.
are affected also by living people who are not there, objects that If we can for a moment talk in terms of a place devoid of all
are not in our lives, and knowledge we never grasp. being, this would contain nothing in its pure form. But that
Upon further contemplation, this seems quite odd and raises raises the question, Can a space contain nothing; or, if there is
many questions. How can things that do not exist have such space, is that not a form of existence in itself?
bearing upon our lives? Does nothing have a type of existence all This question brings to mind what’s so baffling about noth-
of its own? And how do we start our inquiry into things we can’t ing: it cannot exist. If nothing existed, it would be something. So
interact with directly because they’re not there? When one nothing, by definition, is not able to ‘be’.
opens a box, and exclaims “There is nothing inside it!”, is that dif- Is absolute nothing possible, then? Perhaps not. Perhaps for
ferent from a real emptiness or nothingness? Why is nothing- example we need something to define nothing; and if there is
ness such a hard concept for philosophy to conceptualize? something, then there is not absolutely nothing. What’s more,
Let us delve into our proposed box, and think inside it a little. if there were truly nothing, it would be impossible to define it.
When someone opens an empty box, they do not literally find it The world would not be conscious of this nothingness. Only
devoid of any sort of being at all, since there is still air, light, and because there is a world filled with Being can we imagine a dull
possibly dust present. So the box is not truly empty. Rather, the and empty one. Nothingness arises from Somethingness, then:
word ‘empty’ here is used in conjunction with a prior assump- without being to compare it to, nothingness has no existence.
tion. Boxes were meant to hold things, not to just exist on their Once again, pure nothingness has shown itself to be negation.
own. Inside they might have a present; an old family relic; a A world where there is nothing is just an empty shell, you
pizza; or maybe even another box. Since boxes have this pur- might reply; but the shell itself exists, is something. And even
pose of containing things ascribed to them, there is always an if there were no matter, arguably space could still exist, so
expectation there will be something in a box. Therefore, this sit- could time; and these are not nothing.
uation of nothingness arises from our expectations, or from our Someday we may come face to face with pure space, that is
being accustomed. The same is true of statements such as a nothingness waiting to be filled. Possibly, when scientists find
“There is no one on this chair.” But if someone said, “There is no a way to safely pilot spaceships into black holes, or are able to
one on this blender”, they might get some odd looks. This is create a pure vacuum, we will be forced to look straight into the
because a chair is understood as something that holds people, void. But even if that really is nothing, by entering into that
whereas a blender most likely not. nothingness, humans will destroy it by filling it. Or perhaps we
The same effect of expectation and corresponding absence will be consumed by it and all traces left of our existence will
arises with death. We do not often mourn people we only might be erased.
have met; but we do mourn those we have known. This pain Death, the ultimate void for humans, makes people uneasy
stems from expecting a presence and having none. Even people for obvious reasons: all that they are will be forever reduced to
who have not experienced the presence of someone them- a blank space felt only by loved ones, and even that absence
selves can still feel their absence due to an expectation being will be forgotten someday. However, let us not steer away from
confounded. Children who lose one or both of their parents these questions about nothingness, even if they may take us to
early in life often feel that lack of being through the influence of bleak places. When one looks a little closer at the big questions,
the culturally usual idea of a family. Just as we have cultural even though it may seem contradictory, nothingness appears
notions about the box or chair, there is a standard idea of a everywhere. And if we want to learn how something came
nuclear family, containing two parents, and an absence can be from nothing, or if there ever was nothing, we can not shy away
noted even by those who have never known their parents. from looking into the scary void a little closer.
This first type of nothingness I call ‘perceptive nothingness’. © SOPHIA GOTTFRIED 2020
This nothingness is a negation of expectation: expecting some- Sophia Gottfried is the philosophy club president at the Harker
thing and being denied that expectation by reality. It is con- School in San Jose.

The Democracy of Suffering
Life on the Edge of Catastrophe,
Philosophy in the Anthropocene
Todd Dufresne
Rethinking Humanity
in the Twenty-First Century
Dog’s Best Friend?

Rethinking Canid-Human
Relations
Edited by John Sorenson
and Atsuko Matsuoka
Wish I Were Here

Boredom and the Interface
Mark Kingwell
Zoo Studies
A New Humanities
Edited by Tracy McDonald
and Daniel Vandersommers
McGill-Queen’s University Press

mqup.ca
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @McGillQueensUP
Francis Fukuyama
& the Perils of Identity
Peter Benson critiques a liberal but nationalistic brand of identity politics.
he American political philosopher Francis Fukuyama is easy to see this if one thinks of Socrates, presented by Plato as
T is still best known for his 1992 book The End of His-
tory and the Last Man. It was written in response to
the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent col-
lapse of the Soviet Union. Those events, he contended, consti-
tuted the triumph of liberalism, democracy, and capitalism over
an embodiment of humanity at its best – a role model, as we might
say. Far from recognizing and rewarding his qualities, his own
society sentenced him to death, for the alleged crime of encour-
aging the youth of Athens to think for themselves. Socrates’ unruf-
fled acceptance of his condemnation exemplifies thymos in Plato’s
the alternative social model provided by communist totalitari- sense of the term – courage, steadfastness – whilst displaying a
anism. “For a very large part of the world,” he wrote, “there is notable indifference to the opinion of others, and a freedom from
now no ideology with pretensions to universality that is in a posi- any craving for their recognition. So Fukuyama is wrong in assert-
IDENTITY POLITICS BY CAMERON GRAY 2020. PLEASE VISIT PARABLEVISIONS.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/CAMERONGRAYTHEARTIST
tion to challenge liberal democracy” (p.45). From today’s per- ing that “Plato’s thymos is… nothing other than the psychologi-
spective, this triumph seems a good deal less definitive. Various cal seat of Hegel’s desire for recognition” (End of History, p.165),
forms of totalitarianism remain alive and well: in China, North concluding that “thymos typically, but not inevitably, drives men
Korea, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere. And the rise of populist to seek recognition” (p.166). Fukuyama subsequently gives no
politicians in the West has placed strains on the continuance of serious consideration to the human capacity to reject the need for
recognizable liberal democracy. Fukuyama’s latest book, Iden- recognition. Instead, he judges that thymos (in his sense) “is the
tity: Contemporary Identity Politics and the Struggle for Recognition seat of today’s identity politics” (Identity, p.18) – which politics
(2018), was written as a reaction to the unexpected election of are indeed notable for their insistent demands for recognition.
Donald Trump. Like many people, Fukuyama feels troubled by
the fact that a liberal democratic society could elect as its leader The History of Identity
a man so notably opposed to liberal values and often openly con- Pursuing further his enquiry into the factors that have led to
temptuous of democratic processes. How could this happen? our contemporary notion of personal identity, Fukuyama offers
What does it tell us about our world? the following account of the relevant historical developments:
Curiously enough, Trump had already been mentioned “The modern concept of identity unites three different perspec-
briefly in The End of History (on p.328). At that time, he was tives. The first is thymos, a universal aspect of human personal-
merely a well-known tycoon in the building trade, and ity that craves recognition. The second is the distinction between
Fukuyama referred to him as a representative example of driv- the inner and outer self, and the raising of the moral valuation
ing ambition. Fukuyama’s concern was whether a stable liberal of the inner self over outer society. This emerged only in early
democracy could provide adequate satisfactions for such hugely modern Europe [with Luther’s Reformation of Christianity].
ambitious people. Clearly, for Trump, the mere acquisition of The third is an evolving concept of dignity, in which recogni-
large amounts of money did not in the end fully gratify his striv- tion is due not just to a narrow class of people, but to everyone”
ing for success, which drove him on into the political sphere. (Identity, p.37). He then subjects the second of these factors to
Fukuyama uses the Greek word thymos for this ambitious drive. the same kind of modification he performed on thymos: “In
He takes it to be a universal feature of humanity, to which any modern times the view has taken hold that the authentic inner
possible social order will need to accommodate itself. He derives self is intrinsically valuable… The inner self is the basis of human
this idea in part from his interpretation of Plato’s tripartite divi- dignity… [But] the inner sense of dignity seeks recognition. It
sion of the human soul in Book IV of Republic. According to Plato is not enough if I have a sense of my own worth if other people
the three parts are Reason, Desire, and Thymos. This last word do not publicly acknowledge it… Self-esteem arises out of esteem
unfortunately does not have any very exact English equivalent, by others” (p.10, my emphasis). If this last statement were true
but combines notions of drive, ambition, spiritedness, courage, in any significant sense there could never be a fundamental con-
and determination. Fukuyama’s use of the term, however, flict between our inner and outer selves, because our own valu-
includes in addition a characteristic not present in Plato’s descrip- ation of our characteristics would always be an internalisation
tion, a desire for public recognition. Here Fukuyama blends ideas of our evaluation by others. Society, not individuals, would then
from Plato with those of Hegel, who is a more central and defin- be the only source of values. Fukuyama concludes, “Because
ing influence on Fukuyama’s thought. The desire for recogni- human beings naturally crave recognition, the modern sense of
tion by another is the central motivation propelling the dialectic identity evolves quickly into identity politics, in which individ-
of the master and bondsman in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit uals demand public recognition of their worth” (p.10).
(1807), and so propelling history itself, and it underpins many The alleged reasons for the expansion of identity into the
aspects of Hegel’s account of history. But Plato’s understanding political sphere are clarified by the third of Fukuyama’s postu-
of thymos did not acknowledge a need for public recognition. It lated origins for the modern concept of ‘identity’; the extension

of the idea that some people are due recognition from some people, ing climatic apocalypse which will leave all of us in the same
to the idea that all people are due recognition from all people, so sinking boat. Otherwise, unresolvable conflicts between mutu-
that, for example, human rights become applied universally. This ally exclusive viewpoints dominate the political landscape. This
is universal legal recognition. is how as divisive a figure as Trump could become US Presi-
Fukuyama closely follows Hegel in regarding the right to uni- dent – with the votes almost equally divided for and against him.
versal recognition as having been announced in principle in the A similarly almost equal division of views has propelled Britain
French Revolutionaries’ 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and into Brexit chaos.
Citizen. Subsequent history has then been an uneven process of In this context Fukuyama understandably feels the need not
actualizing this project. But Fukuyama also notes a later bifurca- merely to describe our situation but to ask ‘What is to be Done?’,
tion in this demand for universal human rights – a split between which is the title of his last chapter. Unfortunately, I find his
the original aim of giving the same rights to every individual and proposals here both dispiriting and unconvincing. “We cannot
the specific pleas made for the rights of different groups of people. get away from identity or identity politics,” he writes (p.163)
Over time a conflict arises between these two projects. Fukuyama because “identity builds on the universal human psychology of
is at his best in elucidating this division. thymos.” I have already questioned whether thymos in his sense
In the abstract it may not seem obvious that any conflict could is really as universal as he thinks. He goes on, “But if the logic
arise from such closely-related goals, but in practice the distinc- of identity politics is to divide societies into ever smaller, self-
tion can become very evident. Fukuyama gives an illuminating regarding groups, it is also possible to create identities that are
example from the politics of race in the US from the time of the broader and more integrative” (pp.165-6).
civil rights movement of the 1960s to the present day. He com- His major vehicle for integrative identity is nationhood: “We
ments on p.107, “The early civil rights movement of Dr Martin need to promote creedal national identities built around the
Luther King Jr simply demanded that American society treat foundational ideas of modern liberal democracy” (p.166). By
black people the way it treated white people.” Later groups, how- ‘creedal’ he means the central values and principles of each par-
ever, argued that “the authentic inner selves of black Americans ticular nation state. So he is promoting nationalism as a cure for
were not those of white people, but were shaped by the unique the ills of identity politics – one of which ills, by his own admis-
experiences of growing up black in a hostile white society.” In sion, is the resurgence of nationalism itself! Those of us who
this way, “each marginalized group had a choice… It could have experienced the various angry phases of current political
demand that society treat its members identically to the way that events may well feel that passionate nationalism is more likely
the dominant groups in society were treated, or it could assert a to be divisive rather than unifying. In the book’s final lines
separate identity for its members and demand respect for them Fukuyama concludes: “Identity can be used to divide, but it can
as different from the mainstream society. Over time, the latter and has also been used to integrate. That in the end will be the
strategy tended to win out.” Similar splits emerged from the self- remedy for the populist politics of the present” (p.183). So his
assertion of other ethnic minorities, in feminism, and in the cam- suggested cure for the problems of identity would be a higher
paign for gay rights. identity. But which features most characterize a nation (its
The ideology of ‘multiculturalism’ arose as a reaction to these ‘creedal commitments’) are rarely readily agreed upon by all its
demands. About this Fukuyama writes with acute insight: citizens. Hence assertions of national identity cause splits even
within the nation itself, let alone between that nation and others.
“Multiculturalism was a description of societies that were de facto diverse.
But it also became a label for a political program that sought to value Identity & Ideals
each separate culture… equally… While classical liberalism sought to Liberalism is intended to offer an alternative to fractious cul-
protect the autonomy of equal individuals, the new ideology of multi- tural splits.The characteristic feature of a liberal society has
culturalism promoted equal respect for cultures, even if those cultures been best expounded by the American philosopher John Rawls,
abridged the autonomy of the individuals who participated in them.” as the ability of people with radically different conceptions of
(p.111, my emphases). the Good to live together – not in a state of agreement, but
without hostility. Thus, the liberal state must remain neutral
Identity Today with respect to these divergent views. (It follows that participa-
More generally, ‘Identity Politics’ has become one of the most tion in the civil life of the state cannot be founded on one or
distinctive features of contemporary political debate. It has dis- more specific identity.)
placed more traditional areas of political disagreement, such as As Fukuyama recognizes, our democracies can only survive
over economic policies, and has contributed to a fractious ideo- on the basis of this pluralistic liberalism – which current iden-
logical landscape with little sense of consensus. On the Left, a tity politics tend to undermine. Without a pluralistic basis,
historical concern for the working class has been overtaken by democracy becomes the tyranny of the majority – with ‘major-
responses to more specific oppressions suffered as a result of race, ity’ given a purely mathematical definition electorally. So I am
gender, sexual orientation, etc. On the Right, a resurgent sense highly sceptical of Fukuyama’s advocacy of a renewed nation-
of national identity has risen in reaction to the globalisation pro- alism – which he supplements with a call for compulsory
pelled by capitalism. National Service (civil or military) as an aid to integration. This
This is the historical juncture at which we now stand. It has would be a very unlikely policy to be widely accepted in either
little resemblance to any imagined ‘end of history’. Any thoughts the US or the UK.
we now have about endings tend to revolve around an approach- It would seem to me more useful to study the mutations already

taking place within our concept of identity, which is itself a far it in her novel Winter (2017).
more recent notion than Fukuyama seems to realize. The first The major crises facing the world today, such as global warm-
use of the word ‘identity’ in this current sense quoted by the ing, cannot even begin to be tackled unless we take a universal,
Oxford English Dictionary only dates from 2005. This suggests that non-partisan, perspective. Some countries are going to be more
the concept is not, in fact, as deep rooted in Western thinking as severely affected by the changing climate than others, and far
Fukuyama believes, but is a relatively recent mode of self-descrip- sooner. Yet if our automatic assumption is that it will affect others
tion, and one which is already beginning to take new forms within but perhaps not us, our approach will inevitably lack the neces-
the political discourses it has enabled. I am thinking particularly sary urgency. For this reason, Fukuyama’s prescription of a
of the formulation “to identify as [a member of a particular renewed sense of national identity is the last thing we need.
group]”. The addition of the simple word ‘as’ shifts identity from Almost every political problem in today’s world results from per-
a given to a choice. It refers to an identity as willingly assumed ceived divisions between ‘us’ and ‘them’ based on group loyalties
rather than imposed from without. This linguistic use has been which are bolstered by modern notions of identity. Only when
particularly prominent in recent years among LGBT people. we stop having identities in the group-defined sense can we return
Indeed the ‘T’ of this acronym (for ‘transsexual’) designates people to being individuals.
whose bodies might appear to assign them as one gender but who It was on the idea of humans as separate individuals that liberal
self-identify as another. An even more common designation is political theory was originally established. In our divisive times these
LGBT+, the ‘+’ indicating the inclusion of all additional possi- are the only acceptable grounds on which liberal democracy, with
bilities, either known or yet to be discovered. A few brave souls its many advantages, can stand. The numbing possibilities of total-
have already begun to claim that they identify as ‘+’: the opening itarian alternatives, fascist, religious fundamentalist, or ethnic,
to unspecified possibilities. Needless to say, this is controversial, should alert us to the dangers if this mode of society – apparently
and divisions of outlook have formed around whether one thinks so successful until recently – should collapse.
of oneself as born with a certain sexuality or as discovering differ- As I’ve suggested, some people are beginning to think of their
ent options. But my concern is with the developments in our ter- identities as self-chosen rather than determined by nature or his-
minology that allow possibilities to be envisaged that were previ- tory. This is a sign that the concept of identity as elucidated by
ously unimaginable because unnamed. Fukuyama, as being defined by society, is already beginning to
disintegrate, making space for new ways of thinking about our-
The Future of Identity selves and our relations to others. Now when someone says,
It is a feature of human beings that the way we think about our- “That’s part of my identity; it’s a central component of my sense
selves can change the kind of selves we are. of self!” they’re not reporting a fact in the objectively observable
There is a history to the various concepts that humans have sense, but rather giving an interpretation of their life. It’s a his-
used to describe themselves. This indicates not merely a suc- torically specific conception of human selfhood. There have been
cession of different theories about human nature, but also a in the past, and will be in the future, alternative ways of thinking
series of different ways that life has been experienced and lived about our selves. In Sartre’s existentialism, for example, the cen-
by people. In medieval times, a person might typically have tral characteristic of human life is freedom, and any of our choices
thought of themselves as a pilgrim soul, seeking the path towards for self-identification could only be pasted over this ineradicable
their heavenly reward. In the twentieth century, many people freedom. A fixed or ‘essential’ identity is ruled out by his theory.
sought to balance within themselves the conflicting claims of In Buddhist meditation, an important practice involves detaching
ego, superego, and id, as propounded in Freud’s picture of oneself from each category of identification we possess (gender,
humanity (with its obvious echoes of Plato). Our current, indeed age, race, even being a Buddhist) in order to reach the unencum-
very recent notion, is of overlapping identities – of social roles bered consciousness lying behind all these veils. Maybe if we could
both imposed on us and accepted by us as constitutive of our do that in our lives, some of our conflicts with others would evap-
subjectivity. This is a sociological notion of the self. The con- orate. The politics of identity, on the other hand, can only multi-
cept of ‘social identity’ was introduced into sociological theory ply conflicts and divisions.
in the 1950s. Such a concept lacks any criterion of individual- Finally let us return to the figure of Socrates as the exemplary
ity: for in each of these categories one is by definition a member embodiment of Platonic thymos. What kind of identity did he have?
of a specified group. Hence in this theory our identities are Plato’s dialogues make it clear that it was never Socrates, but rather
always collective, not individual. his interlocutors, who had definite ideas about who they were, what
Here we must return to the important historical split they believed, and where their allegiances lay. Socrates, on the
Fukuyama discusses between thinking in terms of universal indi- other hand, took on the role of asking questions about their assumed
vidual rights or in terms of group rights. Universal rights treat certainties, thereby undermining their complacency. His provoca-
every individual as separate and equal. Group rights, on the other tions put their allegiances into flux, and people would feel their
hand, treat people as members of specific collectives. The con- senses of identity quivering and becoming insubstantial. This, I
cept of the Universal thus paradoxically becomes closely allied would suggest, is the very role that philosophy should still play in
with the notion of the Individual. Group identities, on the other contemporary disputes about identity.
hand, can never generate a sense of universality, because any © PETER BENSON 2020
group is always defined by a barrier separating ‘us’ from ‘them’. Peter Benson would prefer not to be defined by such identities as ‘philoso-
To move beyond this viewpoint would be to recognize “There phy graduate’; ‘regular contributor to Philosophy Now’; ‘devoted fan
is no us and them, there is only us” , as Ali Smith beautifully puts of Miley Cyrus’; and other such contingent facts about his life.

How To Change Your Mind
Steven Campbell-Harris tells us how philosophy can change thinking.
id you know that the Dalai Lama is afraid of cater- tive Ju-Jitsu. He tries to awaken a dormant belief in us, then
D pillars? Have you heard that the first passport hold-

ers had to give written descriptions of themselves
instead of photos?
If you are like most people, reading these facts from 1342 QI
Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted has changed your mind. Granted,
steps back and allows the force of our own beliefs to work against
us. This technique for argument doesn’t apply exclusively to
matters of morality. For example, the following belief is quite
common: ‘The present exists’.
The argument below aims to refute this claim:
you haven’t had to upturn your worldview and reexamine every-
thing you thought you knew. Nonetheless your perception of 1. If the present is of any length, some of it will be in the past
passports and of the Dalai Lama ever so slightly altered. We and some will be in the future
might call this the adaptation model of changing our mind; we 2. But the present can’t be in the past or the future, by definition
reshape our beliefs in the light of new information. 3. So, the present can’t have length
However, we don’t only change our minds in this way. As 4. But if the present can’t have length, the present can’t exist
the Dalai Lama himself put it, change also comes from within.
Take the following statement. Would you agree with it? ‘You Once again, this argument presents no new data or informa-
can be a good person and have friends’. If you do, consider this tion. Instead, beliefs we already hold (consciously or not) such
quote from the French Enlightenment statesman and philoso- as ‘the present moment has some duration’ and ‘the present can’t
pher Montesquieu, “a truly virtuous man would come to the be in the past’ are tested against each other to see if they make
aid of the most distant stranger as quickly as to his own friend. sense. If we are to change our minds as a result, it will come
If men were truly virtuous, they wouldn’t have friends” (Pen- from an acknowledgement that what we thought we knew is
sées et Fragments inédits de Montesquieu, I). Montesquieu doesn’t more problematic than we had anticipated. Our present self is
try to persuade us that friendship is morally problematic by pre- aghast at the complacency of our past self.
senting new information about the world. Instead, he appeals
to a principle of impartiality that many of us already share, leav- Thinking in Crisis
ing us to carry on the work of persuasion by ourselves. Are When I teach philosophy in schools I often see children chang-
friends more deserving of our help than strangers? If not, why ing their minds in this way. Throughout the enquiry they become
should we assist them more? As we question ourselves, we might clearer about the principles to which they are already committed
think differently about the original statement. and notice apparent conflicts with them. There the work of phi-
Practitioners of the Japanese martial art Ju-Jitsu are trained losophy begins, with greater self-knowledge and the drive for
to use an opponent’s energy against them instead of directly consistency.
opposing it with their own force. Montesquieu appears to be The English historian and philosopher R.G. Collingwood
doing something similar here; practicing a kind of argumenta- once claimed that philosophy “does not, like exact or empirical
science, bring us to know things of which we were simply igno-
rant, but brings us to know in a different way things which we
CONTACT HIM AT [email protected]
already knew in some way” (An Essay on Philosophical Method,

1933, p.161). Collingwood is right to say that the work of phi-
losophy is to shed new light on old beliefs: by seeing something
familiar in an unfamiliar way we can relearn it. However, he
doesn’t adequately address the sense of confusion that follows
this. Philosophy is thinking in crisis. When we revisit our beliefs
we find ourselves stuck, imperilled, lost. We need a way out.
Many of the classic problems of philosophy come from jux-
taposing different beliefs. I believe both that ‘the River Thames
today is the same River Thames from last year’ and that ‘the
water in the Thames is always changing’. But if the water in it
CARTOON © JONNY HAWKINS 2020
has all changed, in what sense is it the same river? I am told that
‘time and space began with the Big Bang’, but also believe that
the claim that ‘time began’ is paradoxical because for something
to begin presupposes time. So must time therefore be eternal?
These and other problems of philosophy are spring cleaning
for the mind. Perhaps this is why the Austrian philosopher
Ludwig Wittgenstein described philosophy as “a work on one-
self, on one’s own interpretation, way of looking at things” (Cul-

Philosophical Haiku
ture and Value, 1970, p.16). Interpersonal disagreement, or dis-
agreement between people, is incidental. The real work is in
resolving our intrapersonal disagreements: our disagreements
with ourselves. Socrates concurred, “It would be better for me…
that multitudes of men should disagree with me than that I,
PORTRAIT © CLINTON INMAN 2020 FACEBOOK HIM AT CLINTON.INMAN

being one, should be out of harmony with myself” (Gorgias,
482c). The ‘being one’ in Socrates’ statement is both aspira-
tional and declarative. We are a hodgepodge of different desires,
thoughts, and feelings, and yet somehow aim to present our-
selves as, and to be, one person. Part of the goal of philosophi-
cal thought is to reconcile our many views into a coherent whole
and so act and be as one in the world.
Motivations for Self-Examination

When we recognise an inconsistency in our beliefs we may find
this irresistible to puzzle over. The possibilities on offer can
elicit a childlike wonder. The feeling is akin to that described
by Arthur C. Clarke who, in contemplating the possibility of
alien life, wrote “two possibilities exist: either we are alone in
the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying” (quoted
in Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the Twenty-First Cen-
tury, 1999, p.295). We can be drawn to philosophy by a sense
that the different possible answers on the Big Questions are
equally compelling, terrifying, and awe-inspiring. Questions
such as: Do we have free will or not? Are there moral facts? Is
time an illusion? Regardless of the answers we reach, they will
have a profound impact on how we think about the world.
HERACLITUS
Nevertheless, we may feel this sense of wonder and deep
intrigue when considering philosophical possibilities and still not (c.535-475 BCE)
be moved to investigate. We may instead choose to stay in a state Speak not, but say much
of detached perplexity, not seeking any resolution. This was the Eternal change is constant:
avowed goal of the school of Pyrrhonian scepticism founded by Nothing understood.
Pyrrho of Ellis (c.360-c.270 BCE). According to the Pyrrhon-
ists, when we are pulled in different directions by our beliefs or
H
eraclitus had a pretty dim view of humanity; so much so that he
reason or evidence, we should choose to stay in a state of sus- spent a great deal of time crying over it. For this reason he is some-
pended judgment. When we are not committed to anything, we times referred to as ‘the Weeping Philosopher’. One assumes he
don’t have to be defensive about our beliefs and we can be even- was not invited to many symposia (symposium literally means a ‘drinks
keeled and non-dogmatic in our dealings with others. This way party’). Heraclitus was also known as ‘the Obscure’, because he enjoyed
we can achieve a freedom from mental disturbance (ataraxia in writing in an incomprehensible fashion. Phrases such as ‘Souls have a
Greek). The suspension of the desire for truth can set you free! sense of smell in Hades’ don’t readily lend themselves to clear interpre-
While the Pyrrhonian way may be tempting, for many it tation, although it is possible he simply meant it as a literal observation. It
amounts to an evasion of responsibility. We shouldn’t prema- is surely no coincidence that three of the most incomprehensible philoso-
turely decide that some matters will never be settled. They might phers of the modern age – Hegel, Heidegger and Wittgenstein – all
not be; but the only way to put this daily to the test is by con- (metaphorically) had posters of Heraclitus on their walls.
tinuing to strive for maximum coherence from our beliefs and Heraclitus believed that people were sleeping-walking through their
the evidence. lives, when what was needed was careful introspection. To this end he
In the end, then, it seems we are left with a fundamental states, “I went looking for myself.” It is not known if he found himself;
choice. Either we can leave this potential disharmony with our but he did conclude that the defining feature of existence is change –
beliefs alone by ignoring it or developing a deep skepticism for ‘everything is in flux’ (panta rhei)– as summed up in his famous apho-
the truth; or we may find that these conflicts prompt a quest rism, “You cannot step into the same river twice.” Honestly, you can’t,
for invention and a desire for new ways of viewing the world give it a go.
and ourselves. In the process of destroying old beliefs, the hope Loathing people so much, he took to wandering alone in the moun-
is that something more durable will emerge. And along the way, tains eating nothing but grass and herbs, which alas gave him dropsy.
we might just change our minds. He sought to treat this by covering himself in cow manure, but to no
© STEVEN CAMPBELL-HARRIS 2020 avail, surprisingly.
Steven Campbell-Harris is a philosophy specialist and teacher trainer © TERENCE GREEN 2020
at the Philosophy Foundation, an award-winning charity that brings Terence is a writer, historian, and lecturer, and lives with his wife
philosophy to schools and the wider community. and their dog in Paekakariki, NZ.

Kant Now
Immanuel Kant’s Globalization Program
Dan Corjescu looks at how Kant wanted to unite the world.
lobalization, democracy, and migration are themes
G which continually ignite debate, both scholarly and

non-scholarly. None of this is new. In his own inim-
itable way, the German Enlightenment philosopher
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) touched upon all these political
hot topics, and more.
Over the last few decades Kant’s political writings have been
increasingly appreciated by political philosophers in the
English-speaking world. This acknowledgement was given a
significant boost by John Rawls in his A Theory of Justice (1971)
and The Law of Peoples (1993).
The Development of Humanity

In 1784, Kant famously wrote: “Out of the crooked timber of
humanity, no straight thing was ever made.” He nevertheless
believed that humanity’s imperfect nature can be improved
through institutions such as republican (or to modernise Kant’s
Kant examines
terminology, democratic) government, international laws, and the crooked timber
treaties. of humanity.
If humans are indeed capable of social and political improve- on both the large and the small scale. Ultimately, world peace
ment, then Kant thinks the psychological engine of that and ‘gentle commerce’ are to reign as an end state.
improvement will be what he calls their ‘unsocial sociability’ Crucial to this outcome is humanity’s construction of repub-
(‘ungesellige Geseligkeit’). He sees man (and it was man for Kant) lican (ie democratic) states which are able to organize them-
as experiencing a fundamental tension between his desire to live selves together on a global basis, preferably led by a large ‘lead-
in community with others and his strong desire to be left alone. ing power’. This is seen as a result of humanity’s rational devel-
This tension leads to, among other things, a competitive rivalry opment. States that are rationally constructed to serve the ratio-
for prestige and material goods between individuals. However, nal goals of the majority (including life, liberty, and the pursuit
this cardinal and at times violent struggle also leads to the of property) see no intrinsic, rational benefit in destroying these
unfolding of man’s telos, or purpose. Humanity’s purpose, common goods equally being pursued by the other rationally-
according to Kant, cannot be realized in one single individual, organized states. The logic here is simple: people do not know-
but only in the species as a whole. So it is that through the core ingly will their own destruction, and so, if possible, will resort
‘unsocial sociability’ conflict humanity’s ‘species-being’ (Gat- to arbitration, treaty making, and other peaceful methods of
tungswesen) develops over time. (This idea is clearly echoed in conflict resolution if they are able to erect national or international
the political theories of first Hegel and then Marx.) structures that will permit them to do so.
What does Kant see as mankind’s end goal? It is the achieve- As has been frequently noted – most recently by Steven Pinker
ment of reason and reasonableness, first within the individual in Enlightenment Now (2018) – Kant was the first to hit upon the
himself; then with other individuals in a rationally organized notion that democracies do not fight each other. It took Thomas
community or state; and, finally, between different communi- Friedman to present its corollary, known as the ‘Golden Arches’
ties or states. doctrine: the idea that no two countries with McDonalds fran-
Now for Kant, a mature individual is not to have his reason chises have gone to war (The Lexus And The Olive Tree, 2000).
dictated by authorities outside of himself, whether this is based Yet, the hypothesis that ‘gentle commerce’ brings with it a soft-
on religious doctrine, customs and traditions, or political author- ening of international relations and a binding of political inter-
ity. Human reason is instead to be unfettered to its utmost, and ests was a common theme even in the seventeenth century – see
then put to use to serve ‘man as man’ – which ultimately means for instance Jacques Savary’s The Perfect Merchant (1675). How-
an increase in the general welfare and common good of all ever, this opinion has been often challenged by commentators
humanity. In the final situation, humanity will have liberated who have pointed out that the high level of trade and commerce
itself through a long historical period of trial-and-error and much in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries did precious
sorrow, and achieved an equilibrium of wisdom for human affairs little to stave off the calamity of the First World War.
32 Philosophy Now February/March 2020

Kant Now
Clearly, Kant has located a kind of globalism within the psy- mopolitanism and concomitant rights of hospitality. If every
chological tensions of man himself. Man struggles to satisfy his place on earth becomes rationally organized into republican
inner self, which is disinclined to combine with others but which spaces, what is to prevent a rational individual from situating
nevertheless grasps that without the others his ultimate reason him or herself within his or her chosen space?
for being, his telos, cannot be fully satisfied. His task is to find Or is the future of the global movement of peoples some-
rational ways of organising cooperating with others, on a local thing else? For instance, it is conceivable that if the world
level, and on a global level too. The key is the global spread of becomes politically and economically homogenized (as Francis
democracy. This allows the effective and stable construction of Fukuyama also famously prophesied), this would perhaps lessen
global guarantees for security and prosperity. And so Kant the incentive for the flow of peoples between borders. Why
derives the idea or perhaps even prophecy of an eventual ‘per- would you need to migrate, when your country’s political and
petual peace’. economic system is more or less the same as that of every other
country? So, through a process of greater democratization, the
The Right To Hospitality world might reach a stage of political development that would
The presumption of perpetual peace ties in nicely with another decrease the need for economic/political migration. This would
idea of Kant’s: that of the ‘universal right of hospitality’. This perhaps eventually leave only non-urgent reasons for departing
cosmopolitan conception is based on the idea that human beings one’s land of origin, perhaps even just aesthetic ones – the pref-
have at least a weak right to inhabit any part of the globe, and, erence for a particular landscape or culture, for example. ‘Peak
as such, should be offered the opportunity of help or at least Migration’ would then have past.
non-harm while temporarily sojourning in other lands.
This right of individuals and peoples to move to any place they Greater Togetherness Through Democracy
choose is, in principle, a result of a rational right to a better life, One could say that the spread of democratization fuels globaliza-
and so it can only be restricted in principle by the equally ratio- tion. Therefore it is not surprising that the fear of globalization
nal claim of a need to maintain the economic, political, and cul- expresses itself, as often as not, in anti-democratic, illiberal polit-
tural stability of the desired country. Not surprisingly, in between ical movements. But allow me to myself dabble here in the dan-
these two rational claims heated political debates often unfold in gerous art of prophecy: this will be a temporary political reac-
countries which may or may not be fully democratic. tion, lasting only as long as the democratization process takes
The Kantian germ of universal cosmopolitanism and a uni- to spread to places where it’s needed most – such as sub-Saha-
versal right of hospitality can be brought together with his vision ran Africa. Happily (at least according to Steven Pinker’s rather
of the spread of republicanism and the setting up of a ‘league Kantian recent bestseller Enlightenment Now) the historical odds
of nations’, for us to glimpse the emergence of a kind of global and data trends say that democracy will spread.
feedback loop. The more that democratic and cosmopolitan We could say that modern Western democracies are at the
ideas and rights spread throughout the globe, the wider are the moment showing themselves true to Kantian anthropology:
doors opened for the migration of both individuals and groups, they wish to remain alone in a world that wants to join them.
in turn strengthening cosmopolitanism and the spread of new We can see that, in a sense, globalization is also the greater ful-
ideas. And so on. Thus, perhaps unknowingly, Kant laid the filment of the Kantian principle of the broadening of the possibili-
groundwork for the idea that democratization may lead to ties of the individual imagination. A closer world means that I can
greater levels of global integration based on ever-widening cos- come closer to you, not as an inscrutable stranger, but as a poten-
tial co-national, a friend, or even a lover.
Globalization means that the potential for intimacy with the
‘other’ increases dramatically. This fact makes a lot of people
uncomfortable. However, the forces of reaction cannot ulti-
mately win unless they are willing to reject the process of democ-
ratization, since globalization is a result of that process. With-
out democratization, globalization will cease to exist or will
become dangerously unstable, as it was in the nineteenth cen-
tury, when commerce was mistakenly considered sufficient for
world peace. As Norman Angell once wrote, that was indeed a
‘great illusion’ (but ironically, not as Angell meant it).
In conclusion, I might offer the not altogether original insight
that it is democratization rather than the spread of ‘gentle com-
merce’ that offers the more secure prospect of peaceful global-
ization, and along with it the general resolution of the move-
ment of peoples, with greater cosmopolitan rights, and/or the
gradual, necessary dissolution of their reasons for moving in
the first place.
© DR DAN CORJESCU 2020
The Death Star? No!

Dan Corjescu teaches Political Philosophy in Zeppelin University,
Kant’s cosmopolitan dream. Friedrichshafen, Germany.
February/March 2020 Philosophy Now 33

Kant Now
Kant’s Opus postumum
Terrence Thomson wrestles with Kant’s unfinished work
to ask what we should expect from philosophy books.
have recently been immersed in trying to understand ‘marks of decrepitude’ and ‘Kant’s weakening faculties’ were
I Immanuel Kant’s last text, his so-called Opus postumum. It is

composed of sheets (or ‘fascicles’ or ‘convolutes’) that Kant
began writing in the mid 1790s, continuing to a year before
his death in 1804. It is not easy to summarize, but I can start by
observing that it contains a vast array of thoughts, notes, drafts,
common even in the reviews of the first Akademie Ausgabe version
of Opus postumum (in two volumes, in 1936 and 1938). Yet between
the fascicles being found on Kant’s desk and the publication of the
Akademie edition, 132 years had elapsed, and the loose pages had
already suffered some complex, even catastrophic, events, includ-
and marginalia at varying levels of completion. Attempting to ing being dropped in a puddle and coming out of order, forever
make sense of Opus postumum presents an especially challenging leaving us in the dark about how they should be arranged. Kant
task since it throws up all manner of perplexing material, which did not number his sheets. Once they were published, no reviewer
sometimes morphs the philosophy in the three Critiques [of Pure failed to note the eerie, unknown nature of the new Kantian land-
Reason, of Practical Reason, and of Judgement, Ed] that form the pil- scape, and most opted to simply not take it seriously at all. One
lars of Kant’s thought; sometimes does not relate to it at all; and reviewer, Kuno Fischer, famous for how critical he was toward
sometimes contradicts it entirely. Opus postumum, said, “one may doubt the value of [Kant’s last]
At its root (if we can talk in such a way about Opus postumum) work… if one considers both the frail state in which Kant was at
is a work Kant provisionally titled Transition from the Founda- the time and the completion to which he himself had brought the
tions of Natural Science to Physics, which attempts to construct a philosophy he had founded” (Quoted from Kant’s Final Synthesis,
bridge to empirical physics from the ‘special’ metaphysics of Eckart Fӧrster, 2000, p.49). The clear implication was that the
nature partially explored in his Metaphysical Foundations of Nat- manuscript is a waste of time, not to be bothered with, and that
ural Science of 1786. Whilst this is the initial project Kant focuses the real scholarship is in studying Kant’s previous work.
on, as the fascicles progress various topological shifts take place. These points of view have cast a deep shadow over the Opus
Kant begins to rework his whole theory of matter into a more postumum.There have also been brilliant attempts at reintegrat-
precise element of the metaphysics of nature, capable of taking ing Opus postumum into Kant’s philosophy (Gerhard Lehmann,
into account the density of matter alongside attractive and repul- Burkhard Tuschling, Vittorio Mathieu and Erich Adickes pro-
sive forces. Apparently this reworking was a response to a prob- vide some of the most detailed scholarship), as well as fantastic
lematic part of Metaphysical Foundations that was pointed out to hermeneutical proposals designed to critically reconstruct it.
Kant after its publication. But these attempts have all been dogged by the subterranean
If this seems like a strange diversion for Kant, it pales in negative idea that Opus postumum is simply not worth the trou-
oddity to his discussion of ether in the central fascicles. Labelled ble; that it is best to stick to the Kantian edifice we know and
Übergang 1–14, these fascicles contain an attempt to ‘transcen- love.
dentally deduce’ an invisible yet material medium through However, more recently, many scholars have cast off this
which all matter travels. This dispersed ‘world material’ (which prejudice and returned to Opus postumum in a sustained attempt
was not an uncommon conjecture in eighteenth century natu- to investigate what’s going on and how it may provide a key to
ral science) is one of the most discussed parts of Opus postumum, understanding Kant’s previous work in a new light. The three
since it challenges what Kant scholars previously held his monographs in English fall under this category: the aforemen-
method of transcendental deduction to be capable of. More- tioned Eckart Fӧrster’s Kant’s Final Synthesis in 2000, Bryan
over, the idea of ether seems contradictory – it is material and Wesley Hall’s The Post-Critical Kant in 2015, and Oliver
yet invisible; it is everywhere yet impermeable – but Kant Thorndike’s Kant’s Transition Project and Late Philosophy in 2018.
nonetheless affirms that a transcendental deduction of it is pos- All three are fine scholarly works, destined to contribute to
sible, even necessary. This is only one of the many complexi- the future reception of Opus postumum. Yet it cannot be denied
ties jutting out from Opus postumum. There are plenty more. (and I don’t think anyone does deny it): Opus postumum is filled
I must admit that this is only one interpretation of what is with problems and contradictions. Even decisions around edi-
happening in Opus postumum. Indeed, every one of the few theses torial form are problematic; how do we decide whether to keep
put forward about Opus postumum has been regarded by Kant the deletions and correct the 'mistakes'? Yet recent scholarship
scholars as highly debatable. There aren’t that many: as of 2020 on the text, particularly Hall’s masterpiece The Post-Critical Kant,
only three English monographs and a handful of journal arti- suggests that there is a unique thread running through Opus pos-
cles. It seems that we do not know how to begin understand- tumum, and if a few simple rules are followed we can find in the
ing such a curious amalgam of material. Why is this the case? text an argument that makes sense and even convincingly cri-
Ever since some fragments were first published in journals in tiques the philosophy of Kant’s three Critiques.
1882, Kant’s Opus postumum has been considered something of Accordingly, Hall gives four rules for a ‘good interpretation’
an interloper in his body of writings. Terms such as ‘senility,’ of Opus postumum. First, be consistent with the text; second,

Kant Now
of Opus postumum, only to find that we have grasped nothing. This
pain is provoked by Kant’s repetition, restatements, over-meticu-
lous descriptions, the sudden shift from one subject to another,
deletion of important sentences, paragraph-long sentences, irrel-
evancies (for example, shopping lists, to do lists, dinner party guest
PLEASE VISIT WOODRAWSPICTURES.COM
lists…), and the general disorder of the work. But, this pain is actu-
ally a ticket into a remarkable world: it is an invitation to think in
an authentic way with Kant, warts and all. Opus postumum truth-
fully mirrors the act of thinking: it misses nothing out, not even
the myriad repetitions, deleted passages, and contradictions. In
the same way, rarely are our own thoughts immediately clear.
Rather, they are often repetitive, contradictory, multifaceted, and
unstructured, until we actively organize them, redraft them, res-
UNFINISHED KANT © WOODROW COWHER 2019
culpt them, polish them, and so laboriously make them clear. It is

even rarer to be publically presented with raw thinking. On the
contrary, the organization of ideas, especially when presented in
book format, directly influences our notion of what thought is. So
in a book of philosophy, we are typically not invited to think with
the author, only to think about his or her perfected thoughts. Opus
postumum is the opposite of this standard format, and with it we
are presented with nothing less than a challenge to how we read a
philosophy book. It unintentionally demonstrates that the expec-
tation of a smooth, linear, rational line of argument in a philoso-
phy book (analytic and continental) is so ingrained, that when we
encounter something authentically different, the immediate reac-
tion is to overlook it or discount it. And Opus postumum is not per-
fected; nor does it contain a smooth, linear, rational line of argu-
make Kant consistent with himself; third, be philosophically mentation. Rather, it is rough terrain – non-linear, and jutting out
plausible; and fourth, give Opus postumum the respect it deserves in many directions.
– after all, Kant considered it the ‘keystone’ of his philosophy. This brings us to a possible answer as to why we need rules
These rules are evidently excellent guidelines for navigating for interpreting Kant’s last text. Perhaps the problem does not
through any complicated text, not only Opus postumum. But lie in Opus postumum at all, but in our expectation of it as a book.
something about them bothers me. Why should we make Kant Perhaps we are so used to philosophy books presenting their argu-
consistent with himself? Why should we erase any trace of con- ments in a smooth way that when we’re confronted by something
tradiction? I cannot recall coming across a similar set of rules irregular, our instinct is to try to make it fit, to transform it into
for reading other philosophical books; nor do I recall the need a work with a rational arc. Perhaps without rules we are left with
to adopt similar rules for Kant’s other work – even the notori- merely the raw contradictions of the book, a scattered tangle of
ously difficult Critique of Pure Reason, which contains contra- arguments without conclusions, and conclusions without argu-
dictions too. So why the need for such rules with this ‘keystone’ ments. But so what? Why can we not read Opus postumum in this
of Kant’s philosophy? way, respecting its contradictions and admitting that, yes, it is a
Before staking a possible answer, it is worth making a few more rough ride; yes, there are problems with it; and yes, it is perhaps
observations about Opus postumum as a book. To begin with, it is one of the most difficult documents by one of the most difficult
unfinished, which means that we interrupt Kant in his thinking philosophers; but also, yes, it challenges us to think for ourselves
process. So whereas in his Critique of Pure Reason, for example, in the most rigorous way. It challenges our expectation of what a
we have an orderly layout presenting the argument – for instance, philosophy book is and what a philosophy book is supposed to
a Doctrine of Elements and a Doctrine of Method; or the divi- do, by showing us what a philosophy can be, and by doing what
sion of the argument into a Transcendental Aesthetic, Transcen- a philosophy book is not ‘supposed’ to do.
dental Analytic, Transcendental Dialectic, and so on – there is Whether we continue to try and fit this irregular oddity into
no equivalent layout in Opus postumum. We catch Kant in the act, the regular framework of philosophical argumentation, or
so to speak. This gives rise to the enormous difficulties in inter- whether we try to account for the contradictions and problems
preting the text; but it also inadvertently gives rise to enormous in a different way remains to be seen. But I’m sure of one thing:
opportunities. Instead of ascertaining Kant’s analysis and recon- if ever Saul Bellow’s words were appropriate when he wrote, “I
structing it in our own conference papers, essays and books, we have always been a believer in an unfinished work to keep you
join him in thinking. alive” (Ravelstein, 2000), they are so with regard to Kant and his
This, inevitably, is a painful experience. In an oft-quoted letter, Opus postumum.
Kant remarks that writing the fascicles was “a pain like that of © TERRENCE THOMSON 2020
Tantalus” (Correspondence 12:257): so it’s no wonder that we too Terrence Thomson is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Research in
also feel pain when we try to reach out and grasp the core ideas Modern European Philosophy in Kingston University, London.

AMBIVALENCE
E.T. Urso has some philosophical ambivalence for
us especially for Valentine’s Day.
ssuming you’ll get married, choosing the right part- it’s true because it’s true. We know they’re the one because they’re
A ner will be the most important decision in your life.

The choice is so consequential that even the least
romantic person – she who dismisses feelings as ter-
rible guides to action – must take seriously the quest to iden-
tify the one. On pragmatic grounds, we’ll spend more time with
the one, without having to empirically test all particulars.
Then it happens. Gradually, almost imperceptibly… but at
some point it becomes undeniable: the unshakable conviction that
we had about our partner has given way to doubt, and we ask our-
selves whether this person truly is the right person for us.
the one than with anyone else, so we’d better like them. As imi- The reasons for questioning will be unique to each case, but
tative beings, we’ll absorb the one’s mannerisms, so we’d better they’re often a mixture of considered reflections and vague dis-
esteem them. Our conversations will be limited to our com- content. We’re just not as excited about it all as we used to be.
bined capabilities, so we’d better pair well. In short our lives Or often it’s an absence of feeling. We’re not disillusioned yet,
will blend. We may also biologically fuse through parenthood, we just sort of ... sigh. Perhaps we’d pictured ourselves with
spawning crawling creatures made from both of our identities. someone more adventurous. Maybe we find ourselves reminisc-
Naturally, then, the question ‘Who will we marry?’ excites us ing on an old friendship that could have been more: how our
(if we’re optimistic) and stresses us (if we’re not). And as time conversation flowed, tending toward topics of greater interest
passes and pairing prospects dwindle, whether from lack of to us. Or maybe we’ve discovered that our partner is ‘fiscally
opportunity or from our own ineptitude, we might worry if we shortsighted’, and we suddenly fear our financial future with
haven’t fallen in love, which is the generally accepted Western them. Or maybe our partner is too judgmental; or too meek. Or
method for identifying the one – a method so insane that it they’re too uptight; or too wild – which was exciting at first, but
makes Berkeley’s idealism look super solid. we can no longer allow ourselves to love them unrestrainedly
We glorify this phenomenon of falling in love so much that because part of us knows they’ll drag us into a dark place. The
those still standing may feel inadequate. Impatiently we wait for reasons for questioning will vary, but what I want to highlight
our secular savior. Expectation likely contributes to our propen- is something more universal: a fundamental change in attitude.
sity to fall in love. But whether we’re primed for it or not, I’m While before we were in a state of certainty about our partner,
not denying the reality of the phenomenon. The novels and now we are in a state of uncertainty. The very question, ‘Is this
movies are right. Falling in love is the most rapturous experience person the right person for me?’ marks a fundamental change
in life. But this rapture is often ill-expressed. In art, falling in love from when we fell in love. I’m not saying we no longer consider
is described as a sort of whirlwind, a flaming passion that over- them worthy. In fact, we still believe they might be the one. But
whelms reason; but in reality, I’ve found that the distinctive rap- part of us questions that belief, and considers the contrary pos-
ture of falling in love is an intense inner serenity. This serenity I sibility. We’re suddenly unsettled, pulled in both directions and
believe derives from certainty. “This is it,” we think as we gaze inwardly torn, and so in an entirely new state, no longer unques-
into our lover’s gaze, like mirrors infinitely reflecting one another. tioningly wholehearted. I’ll call this state ambivalence. Ambiva-
“This is the person for me.” This certainty that they’re the one – lence has destroyed every relationship I’ve ever been in.
is bliss. So there’s a sort of analytic truth aspect to love: like 2=2, So I’ve started to wonder, does the very presence of ambiva-

lence presage the failure of a relationship? Is ambivalence, by Thank you, Least Romantic Person. We appreciate your take,
definition, the death of love? Or can love withstand profound and kind of like it, too, for it frames ambivalence more opti-
doubt? Is it possible to deliberate about being with someone, mistically. But I’ll tell you, Least Romantic Person – as a roman-
and happily live with that decision, even if we’ve lost our rap- tic myself, I love the feeling of being in love. Sure, you might
turous certainty? call it a reckless intuition, but there is something valuable in it,
My belief, unfortunately, is that the ‘death of love’ option is which might not matter to a rational spirit, but which is lifeblood
true. If I’m being empirical, in every instance so far observed to me. Moreover, I think reasoning is subservient to our long-
by me, ambivalence has proven toxic. Indecision seems to indi- ings. Even scientists working meticulously in the lab must be
cate that I’m no longer devoted: it doesn’t feel right anymore; driven by some desire – by their passion for discovery. We cure
doesn’t feel pure, it feels forced, untrue. And so alienation diseases because we value life. And for me life’s most rapturous
begins. And ultimately, I can’t deal with the dissonance. My experience is falling in love. Now that I’ve become ambivalent,
inner schism is projected outward, and in one way or another, something primal is lacking, and the drive, the desire, is dulled.
the relationship ends. I can make a list of pros and cons about my partner, and turn
out a negative or positive sum, but in either case I’ll feel the
Thinking versus Feeling same. Something’s been lost. And in my blunt days I’ll think, ‘If
I’m stoical by nature, and probably as a reaction to this, I’m I’m not feeling it anymore, what’s the point?’ I’ll wonder if
strangely reverent of emotions. I care about how stuff feels. But there’s someone out there I’d be in love with forever. After all,
it might help us to question the romantic notion that feelings we hear of those couples for whom that special thing remains
are foundational in relationships. To do so, let’s return to the throughout their lives. Is it possible that our bodies know some-
Least Romantic Person mentioned earlier, and ask what she thing about love before we’re able to articulate it – in other
thinks about certainty and ambivalence. Let’s first examine that words, before we’re able to provide reasoning? When we fell
rapturous certainty experienced when we fall in love. Our Least in love, we experienced with our entire bodies a conviction that
Romantic Person would ask: gave us peace, unity, drive. Now that peace is lost. We’re frag-
mented and full of doubts. Does our body know it’s over, and
“What do you mean by ‘certainty’? It sounds like it was a feel- now the intellect is merely appointing reasons?
ing of certainty, or at most an intuition or a sense of conviction: The Least Romantic Person is wary of sweeping feelings, and
but it definitely wasn’t an analytic certainty like those of mathe- suggests for us to mind the details. We can ponder points of
matics, as cute as your earlier simile was. ‘2+2=4’ is an analytic compatibility, and if they’re substantial, choose our partners anew,
truth – essentially a tautology – in which the truth of the state- deliberately, gaining a new kind of logically-induced peace
ment is determined simply by the meaning of the terms in the which admits imperfections such as dissimilar interests. Take
statement. Unfortunately, other than by this kind of ‘certainty hiking for example – a notoriously polarizing activity. Some
by definition’, absolute certainty is impossible to attain. Even the people love it; some people hate it. It sounds trivial: but what if
most rigorous scientific theories, with loads of supporting evi- to our partner hiking isn’t just the pain-in-the-ass-walking-to-
dence and double-checked sound reasoning, can only claim to arbitrary-points-in-mountains that it is to us? For them it’s more
be probably true. Certainly, your conviction that you’d found ‘the the conversation, the shared sensations, the connection to
one’ met neither of these criteria. In fact, when you started asking nature. This divergence may be one of several, but perhaps our
yourself ‘Is this person right for me?’, that was the first time you partner (who we’ve discovered is also now feeling ambivalent)
started thinking properly. Only by questioning can you deter- decides they can keep that part of life to themselves, and that
mine whether your partner is right for you – not through mys- our relationship is valuable for other reasons. Couples can con-
tical intuition and fickle feelings, but by inquiry and reasoning. sider all the variables, the traits we admire and disapprove of in
Don’t you find it suspicious that you were so sure, early on, when each other: temperaments, shared memories, family, level of
you didn’t know them as well as you do now? And only after mutual respect, loyalty, intelligence, beauty, natural affinity,
knowing them more, empirically, through prolonged contact, moral values... We can think about it all to make the most impor-
do you begin to wonder... Ambivalence, this new state that you tant decision in our lives. But then there’s that feeling – the
fear has spoiled everything, is actually allowing you to ask the aforementioned vague discontent, or lack of feeling, which has
right questions with a cool head – to make a reasonable choice. recently dulled our relationship. This feeling is significant to
Don’t despair. Be grateful that you can think and determine your me, while the Least Romantic Person doesn’t trust feelings at
fate. I cannot help you with the ultimate deliberation, because all – they’re volatile and flimsy and can’t be the foundation of a
each case is different and the details matter; but I can tell you committed relationship. And yet. And yet… We may choose to
that you can decide. And in my opinion, this thoughtful delib- end a relationship because of lack of feeling, or as they say,
eration is a more substantial form of love in any case. If you care because we’re not in love anymore. We can do it, and depend-
about each other, you’ll think about whether you’ll make each ing on our disposition, it might even be the right thing to do.
other thrive. You can analyze your partner; you can analyze your- As long as we’re aware that we’re ending things quite simply
self. I’m not a feelings person, but if that magic matters to you – because we’re not feeling it anymore.
the spark, the spell, the connection – who am I to contest it? Use © E.T. URSO 2020
this moment of uncertainty – which is the first step toward knowl- E.T. Urso is a Honduran-American screenwriter. Author of The
edge – to reflect, project, and discuss, with no hard feelings: are Folly of Faraway Things, Urso is currently working on a philosoph-
you right for each other?” ical novella inspired by Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground.

Letters
When inspiration strikes, don’t bottle it up.
Email me at [email protected]
Keep them short and keep them coming!
Press (For) Freedoms be free from the effect of power, and whether he is justified: Who were the
DEAR EDITOR: I found Professor Schö- give up political activism. The first is other speakers invited to the seminars
necker’s article in Issue 135 defending infinitely preferable, on the grounds that (i.e., is his claim of overall balance justi-
academic freedom interesting, but I neither of the other options offer a way fied?); Who was the intended audience –
believe that he has neglected to take to begin to work out whether any ideas the public, undergraduates, or post-grad-
something important into account. We are a genuine alternative to a dominant uates?; Was this the first time he had
must bear in mind that many opponents system of thought. It might be objected been involved in such a controversy? Fur-
of free speech don’t share the same lib- that we shouldn’t feel that we need to ther, it would be reasonable to seek a
eral values, preferring a more markedly include in our discussion whatever ideas counter account of the same dispute from
left-wing approach. This approach the rulers espouse. If the point is to the Dean or Rector of his school.
includes the idea that ‘freedom of work out how to free ourselves from Schönecker refers to the ‘alleged’
speech’ is a means for an established, such authority, it seems reasonable to right-wing backgrounds of Jongen and
dominant, privileged class to maintain exclude the ideas it uses to maintain its Sarrazin. The use of the term ‘alleged’
hegemonic power over minority groups. dominance. Unfortunately, if we have implies that Schönecker is not convinced
(I should point out that not all on the left accepted there’s some kind of hidden that either has such a background. How-
think this). Those who hold this belief power at work, we can’t assume to know ever, Schönecker also informs us that
oppose freedom of speech by claiming in advance what form it takes or what Jongen is a senior figure in the Alternativ
it’s not possible: rather, speech is always ideas it has produced. For all we know, it für Deutschland. It is known that a consid-
subject to the interests of the dominant may espouse its own ideas superficially, erable proportion of the membership of
class. Put simply: what’s lacking is an and its real dominance is established by the AfD hold racist views. Hence, to have
argument in favour of freedom that the inadequacy of alternatives. To put it achieved his position, Jongen either holds
accepts an inequality of power exists, and simply: anyone who believes that hidden racist views himself or is tolerant of AfD
that those who benefit from this are power is at work in society should also members who are racists. In that light,
always in a position to make use of ‘free- believe that any ideas about how it Schönecker’s doubt over the politics of
dom of speech’ in an attempt to domi- works, along with ideas of how it can be Jongen must also be questioned.
nate all corners of society. resisted, may themselves be products of MICHAEL SHAW, HUDDERSFIELD
Let’s assume we accept the claim that hidden forces. Such people should wel-
modern liberal society is fundamentally come free discussion. If power is every- Sleepy Security
unequal, and that these inequalities are where there’s no reason to believe that it DEAR EDITOR: Brandon Robshaw’s article
maintained via a kind of manipulation. By hasn’t found its way into the more attrac- on burqa banning in Issue 135 mentions
accepting this claim (I realise it’s con- tive alternatives. I believe this is a good that in Aesop’s fable the sun was better
tentious), we agree that there’s some kind left-wing case for academic freedom. than the wind in getting someone to take
of hidden power at work in society. If so, ALASTAIR GRAY, BRIGHTON their coat off. This jogged an old mem-
not only can no-one claim to know social ory. Some years ago, one of my Saudi stu-
truth, but no-one can claim to be entirely DEAR EDITOR: The article ‘Protecting dents turned up with her male guardian in
free from the effects of the hidden power. Academic Freedom’ by Dieter Schö- tow. I thought his auditing the course
Anyone who claims to know what the necker in Issue 135 raises a number of without paying a fee was a bit of a cheek;
problems are and how they might be issues. Firstly, in exercising a right, one but before I could confront him, he fell
engaged with must admit that their ideas has the accompanying responsibility of asleep in the first seminar, and then was
might be a product of the ruling hege- giving due consideration to likely conse- never seen again. I thank Dr Robshaw and
mony. On these grounds, no-one can quences. Schönecker’s article does not Aesop for assuring me that it was the sun
assume any idea to be free from the present any assessment of consequences shining in my classes and not my delivery
sphere of influence of the ruling power. of holding seminars with right-wing that got him off my hands.
There are three major possible politicians such as Jongen and Sarrazin. MICHAEL MCMANUS, LEEDS
responses to this: the first is that we There is also the need to separate
engage with each other in constant dis- Schönecker’s personal justification for his Denier-Denier
cussion; the second, that we go to war actions from his attempts to defend aca- DEAR EDITOR: I wish to express my con-
with each other to decide which view demic freedom. There are a number of sternation that a professor of philoso-
should dominate; the third is that we questions to which I would like an answer phy, Wendy Lynne Lee, should support
acquiesce in the belief that we can never before making any judgement as to the value-laden term ‘climate change

Letters
denier’ (‘Dewey & Climate Denial’ in ual, as well as answering the conundrum beyond our own brief existence – and
Issue 135). She does not define this con- provoked by the Ship of Theseus about herein lies a path to human satisfaction.
cept, but a ‘climate change denier’ would the replacement of physical constituents. Let’s drink to that.
appear to be anyone who questions the This does not assume that questions about MARY JANE STREETON, BRISBANE
assumptions that (a) the planet is heating the nature of consciousness, or the soul
up unusually, and (b) that this is caused are answered. Nor does it assume any- DEAR EDITOR: In Sam Woolfe’s article,
primarily by CO2 emitted by the burn- thing about nature versus nurture. ‘Philosophical Outlook & Mental Well-
ing of fossil fuels. These are matters of RAYMOND M. KEOGH, IRELAND Being’ in Issue 134, it’s virtually a given
scientific observation which may or may that pessimism is an accurate assessment
not be true. However, if a person may Artful About Arthur of reality, in contrast to rose-tinted
not question them without condemna- DEAR EDITOR: With reference to Dennis Pollyanna glasses. Woolfe doesn’t even
tion, what becomes of Karl Popper’s Vanden Auweele’s excellent article on acknowledge an opposing view. Rather,
principle of falsifiability ? Schopenhauerian ethics in Issue 134, as a pessimism has an air of moral seriousness.
Worst of all, perhaps, the word terminal optimist I would to like to offer Woolfe discusses ‘anti-natalism’, the
‘denier’ is habitually associated with an alternative ‘glass half-full’ interpreta- idea that, given the supposed preponder-
‘holocaust denier’. The application of tion of some of the essential contentions. ance of suffering over pleasure in life, one
the term is to imply an appalling moral Schopenhauer’s depiction of the would have been better off never having
deficit.Those who wish to live in a human condition as being driven relent- been born. I attended a talk by an author,
peaceful, reasonable and rational world lessly by insatiable desires (or to quote Peter Heinegg, making this very argu-
should decry the use of the term ‘climate Jefferson, ‘the pursuit of happiness’), ment. In the question period I asked him,
change denier’. might more appropriately be described “So why not just kill yourself?” His reply
ROSIE LANGRIDGE, LONDON as a drive for ‘purpose’. Hedonistic was, “Squeeze the damn fruit till it’s dry –
desires are merely one of a range of pur- why would I throw it out before I’m fin-
Viva Santa! suits that people may take to this end. ished?” So this nattering nabob of nega-
DEAR EDITOR: We live under the Schopenhauer viewed our perpetually- tivism found life worth living after all!
tyranny of ‘the offended’, so bravo to Joe tortured ‘willing self’ as the only know- Pessimism may have been realistic in
Biehl (PN 135) for exposing the able part of the greater world or ‘atma’. the 1819 of Schopenhauer’s book, when
Grinches who feel the need to ‘out’ He saw solace therefore as coming either the vast majority of people did live in
Santa. In any case, the existence of Santa from the temporary distraction provided abject squalor, with all the suffering he
Claus was legally confirmed in a US by art, or through compassion, which he talked about. If you look at graphs of
court case, which can be followed in the rather jovially depicted as the recognition human lifespans, average incomes, etc.,
1947 documentary, Miracle on 34th Street. of being part of all suffering, not just they’re virtually flat for millennia, up till
TERRY HYDE, YELVERTON, DEVON one’s own. But to suggest that time spent then. But after that, they go practically
with art offers a brief reprieve from our vertical. So there has in fact been tremen-
The Author Strikes Back relentless pursuit of desire misses, I dous progress, giving most people today
DEAR EDITOR: I am replying to two letters think, an important point. From personal far better quality of life; as thoroughly
that appeared in Issues 134 of PN, appear- experience I would speculate that art in documented in Steven Pinker’s recent
ing under the title ‘The Clone Wars’; and its highest form can provide a platform book, Enlightenment Now. Pinker shows
to three in 135 entitled ‘I Do Not Agree’. by which our separate ‘willing selves’ can that today an optimistic outlook better
I wish to point out that most of the mat- experience a taste of our unified common reflects reality, whereas pessimism is actu-
ters they raise are resolved by carefully self (atma). Although Schopenhauer ally grounded in misconceptions about
considering the definition of ‘identity’ advocated pursuit of ‘inner warmth’ to our world. This was also shown in an
provided in my article, ‘DNA & The avoid the need for closeness with other excellent 2009 book, The Case for Rational
Identity Crisis’ (Issue 133). ‘Identity’ is the human beings, perhaps unwittingly he Optimism, by Frank S. Robinson.
sameness of a person at all times or in all sought out art not for distraction but FRANK S. ROBINSON, ALBANY, NY
circumstances; the condition or fact that a because the sense of connectedness to
person is itself and not something else. In that which is greater than the individual Pointing Out the Obvious To Tallis?
the case of clones, the nuclear DNA may mortal self was profoundly consoling. DEAR EDITOR: I read Raymond Tallis’
be identical, but it reacts differently if the The suggestion that mere recognition article on ‘Religion & Evil’ (#134) with
cellular fluid (cytoplasm) into which it is of the suffering ‘other’ could bring conso- much sympathy and interest. I would
embedded (i.e., the host) differs from that lation has again somewhat missed the like to add a few remarks under the
of the donor. Even in cases where the point. The linking of the individual’s heading ‘Pointing Out the Obvious.’
same nuclear DNA is introduced into sim- inherent drive for pleasure to a ‘purpose’, For a person with an active religious
ilar host cells, subsequent development namely addressing the desires of others – faith, the only reasonable reply to the
will differ as the environment encountered of separate beings who are nonetheless association of religion with the history of
by the developing cells differs. Consider, fellow parts of the atma – can provide us human wickedness is to say that any reli-
for example, epigenetic reactions. In short, with a sense of transcendence beyond our gion which sanctions or inspires wicked-
even cloned individuals will never be iden- isolated, finite selves. By serving to meet ness is bad religion; and bad religion is
tical. With DNA, science provides a even one of a fellow being’s desires, we failed religion, in the same sense that bad
means of defining sameness in the individ- can create a positive legacy to the whole science is failed science and bad philoso-

Letters
phy failed philosophy. We must distin- unknown; but they exist independently of who argue the opposite base their opin-
guish religious practices from religious our measurements, in the same way that ion on a false image of him (corrected by
ideals. Prof Tallis’s essay is mostly con- mathematics itself exists independently of the work of Walter Kaufman). So I pre-
cerned with religious practices; but he our minds. Tallis gives us a discourse on pared to write this letter, and in doing so
does fairly point out that history has as the evolution of units of measurement re-read the review. But wait! Smith, in
many examples of good religious prac- based on human attributes such as arms, his own review, offers statements about
tice as it has of bad. He also points out feet and hands. But the discovery of con- Nietzsche that demonstrate very well
that much of our history of wickedness is stants of nature led to so-called ‘natural the absurdity of aligning Nietzsche with
the result of political ambition and other units’ which underpin our comprehension the Far Right. He tells us that, “Nation-
factors, combined with nominal religious of the Universe at all scales from the cos- alism draws [Nietzsche’s] ire as much as
faith (the two often go hand in hand). mic to the infinitesimal. Mathematics has anything else; he found anti-Semitism
We know that politics is not going away, uncovered secrets of the Universe that ridiculous, and he recommends continu-
and we can be reasonably sure that reli- defy our common-sense view of the world, ally seeking new, shifting perspectives to
gion is not going away anytime soon, and measurements confirm their veracity. understand the world. Most fundamen-
either, so our task must be to think more PAUL P. MEALING, MELBOURNE tally, Nietzsche is clear in his firm rejec-
carefully about our ideals, and try to tion of any kind of herd mentality, left,
improve our practices. We have made Epistolary Enhancements right, or center.” Smith is correct. So he
real progress, but much work remains. DEAR EDITOR: While reflecting on the should rewrite the review and speak the
For a philosopher of religion, the task is topic of human enhancement, as dis- truth: as for Nietzsche (but not Heideg-
to think as clearly and carefully as one cussed in Issue 134 by Susana Badiola ger), the premise of the book is a crock!
can about the question of the existence and Daniel Faggella, I came across this DAVID WRIGHT, SACRAMENTO, CA
of God, of the possible definitions of passage in The Perennial Philosophy
God, and whether any God is necessary. (1945) by Aldous Huxley: “Because DEAR EDITOR: Using Leni Riefenstahl’s
Religious freedom is intimately related technology advances, we fancy that we film Triumph of the Will as an example,
to intellectual freedom. What is the are making corresponding progress all Stuart Greenstreet makes a case that a
point of having either freedom, if one is along the line; because we have consid- work of art which expresses values with
not willing to exercise it? erable power over inanimate nature, we which we disagree is bad art (Issue 132).
My political philosophy is progressive are convinced that we are the self-suffi- Greenstreet argues that form and con-
conservatism. We should conserve those cient masters of our fate and captains of tent are bound together in a work of art,
values which we have learned from his- our souls; and because cleverness has and so a work cannot be judged without
tory to be worth protecting, while at the given us technology and power, we considering the moral value of its con-
same time working to create a better believe, in spite of all evidence to the tent. He also claims that to evaluate a
society to pass on to the next generation. contrary, that we have only to go on work on the basis of its formal properties
I have decided that my philosophical being yet cleverer in a yet more system- without discussing its content is not
thinking should have the same character atic way to achieve social order, interna- ‘morally acceptable’. I agree that both
and intent. And my reading of Raymond tional peace, and personal happiness.” form and content must be taken into
Tallis’ article has led me to think that he The idea that we can make ourselves account. Greenstreet proposes that ‘for-
holds the same general conviction. happier by incorporating tools into our malism’, where a work is judged on tech-
D.N. DIMMITT, LAWRENCE, KANSAS bodies is similarly a mirage, I think. Like nique, organisation, production values,
any new technology (or like a new tat- creativity, and innovation, is a way of
DEAR EDITOR: I invariably find Ray- too) the excitement lies mainly in the avoiding taking the subject matter into
mond Tallis’s ideas and arguments stim- novelty. Soon enough, this wears off, consideration when assessing the artistic
ulating. ‘On Measurement’ in Philosophy and we’re back where we started. The value of a work. I concur. However, tak-
Now Issue 133, about the human ability ‘human enhancement’ project may be ing into consideration the content as well
to comprehend the Universe to the stopped cold when the first lawsuits as the form of a work does not entail
degree that we do, was no exception. come in from people who discover that making a judgement on the moral, intel-
Tallis rightly points out that without an they aren’t, in fact, any happier; or from lectual or social worth of the matter pre-
ability to measure natural phenomena designer babies who resent having been sented: it means determining what the
the task of science would never have got treated as accessories by their parents. content is, then assessing how success-
off the ground, let alone reached the PAUL VITOLS, NORTH VANCOUVER fully the manner in which it is presented
heights of finesse with which we are all conveys it to the audience. So I disagree
familiar. I have a slightly different per- Far Right? Very Wrong with Greenstreet that a work should be
spective, however. There are relation- DEAR EDITOR: The review in Issue 134 judged on its ‘moral vision’. Even if the
ships inherent in the natural world that by Joe Smith of the book, Dangerous values it expresses are abhorrent to us, its
have deep significance, and without our Minds: Nietzsche, Heidegger, & the Return value as art rests on the skill with which
comprehension of the often complex of the Far Right leaves me baffled. Smith it expresses those ideas. It can be
mathematics that underpin these relation- explains that the book’s author defends ‘morally’ bad, socially objectionable, or
ships, our comprehension of the natural his stance against those who suggest that intellectually deficient, but still great art.
world would be deficient. Without mea- Nietzsche was apolitical. Personally I do PATRICK O’CALLAGHAN
surement the relationships would be find Nietzsche apolitical, and that most BRAY PARK, QUEENSLAND

IMAGE BY CAROL BELANGER GRAFTON
Philosophy Then
The Pleasure Principle
Peter Adamson takes pleasure in
pondering ancient hedonism.
S
pare a thought for the Cyrenaics. sense-perception. But Epicurus thought valuable. Epicurus accepts this conclusion,
Their name remains obscure that a tenable hedonism would take a endorsing a sophisticated hedonism that
while those of other Hellenistic broader view of life and include taking calls for foregoing some available plea-
philosophical schools – the Stoics, comfort in past pleasures and looking for- sures for prospective gain. In fact – and
Epicureans and Skeptics – have entered ward to the prospect of future ones. rather ironically, given the way we use the
our everyday language. This is a shame In developing his own brand of hedo- word ‘Epicurean’ nowadays – his hedo-
because among those schools, it was the nism, Epicurus sought to block various nism did not so much focus on the enjoy-
Cyrenaics who defended an understand- objections that had been raised against ment of pleasures, but on the avoidance of
ing of the good life that many of us would pleasure as the highest good. With their present and future pain. He claimed that if
find quite appealing: that it is natural to advice to seize available pleasures, the all pain is absent, including not just obvi-
pursue pleasure, so that it makes sense to Cyrenaics were in danger of being dis- ous physical pains, hunger, thirst, and the
take pleasures as they become available. missed as brutish. As Aristotle says, such like but also fears of future suffering, then
The school’s teaching can be traced crass priorities seem more apt for cattle one is already in the best possible state.
back to Aristippus, who hailed from than humans. Epicurus cautioned that he Someone who is entirely free from pain is
Cyrene, in what’s now Libya (hence the was not recommending a blind pursuit of already as happy as Zeus.
school’s name). Aristippus was notorious sensory indulgence – the pleasure he had Of course it is hard for us to achieve
for his self-indulgence. Anecdotes have in mind was not of the sort that can be such a state, even for a short time, never
him, for instance, saying that there’s noth- found in ‘boys, women, and fish’ (in other mind over a whole life; but Epicurus’
ing wrong with going into a whorehouse, words, sex and culinary delicacies). Nor teaching was designed to help us come as
as long as you can get out again. But it was should we seek after honors, such as close to it as possible. Hence his advice to
his grandson, also named Aristippus, who having statues erected in our name. practice self-restraint: by training oneself
made hedonist (pleasure-seeking) philoso- Instead, invoking the cradle argument, to need less, one is protected from the suf-
phy into the family business. He conceived Epicurus encouraged the enjoyment of fering due from wanting more. Hence also
pleasure as a ‘smooth’ movement in the pleasures that are ‘natural’, like simple Epicurus’ famous praise of friendship.
person experiencing it, and pain as food and drink. These natural pleasures Having friends is a powerful protection
‘rough’, and said we have an instinct to are relatively easy to acquire. His rationale against suffering, and can be a compensat-
seek the smooth, as we can see from the was that if we put a high value on expensive ing comfort when one suffers – as when
behavior of newborn children. luxuries, or the fickle admiration of other Epicurus consoled himself during his
This so-called ‘cradle argument’ would people, then we are bound to suffer pain painful death by remembering conversa-
be used by other Hellenistic schools, with when these pleasures are unavailable. tions with friends.
both Stoics and Epicureans agreeing that The Cyrenaic advice was not to con- Epicurus’ style of hedonism seems
whatever we pursue by nature, that is, cern ourselves with the future, but Epicu- better able to withstand objections from
before we are corrupted by society, must rus thought we should do exactly that. rival philosophies. But in making his hedo-
indeed be good, as natural goals are ‘appro- Focusing too much on present pleasures nism more sophisticated, he considerably
priate’ for us. The Epicureans even agreed might sometimes cause future pains, as reduced its intuitive appeal. While it is
with Aristippus that pleasure is the sole when overeating gives you a stomach ache. immediately plausible that pleasure is
natural good. But they disagreed sharply Or we might endure pain to avoid greater good, given that babies and even animals
when it came to the pursuit of that good. pain later on, as when we have a small fill- naturally seek it, it is downright implausi-
The Cyrenaics put all their emphasis on ing done today to avoid major dental ble that the highest pleasure consists in the
present pleasures: those we can have now. surgery in the future. By taking this mere absence of pain. Also, which plea-
After all, I cannot enjoy my memory of an longterm perspective, Epicurus could sure-seeker wants their life to be devoted
almond croissant the way I’m enjoying the defuse another argument against straight- to rigorous self-discipline? I tend to side
one I am eating right now, and the prospect forward hedonism, suggested in Plato’s with the Cyrenaics here: if I’m going to
of a future croissant will always be uncer- Protagoras. Even if all we are trying to do is lead a life devoted to pleasure, and not, say,
tain. As a support for this focus on immedi- maximize pleasure, then we need to virtue or wisdom, I want to have some fun.
ate pleasures, Aristippus developed a whole develop an ‘art of measurement’ – an intel- © PROF. PETER ADAMSON 2020
theory of knowledge prioritizing the way ligent strategy to ensure our choices really Peter Adamson is the author of A History of
things currently seem to us. Here too there do give us more pleasure than pain in the Philosophy Without Any Gaps, Vols 1-5,
was a degree of agreement with Epicure- long run. So even the hedonist must rec- available from OUP. They’re based on his pop-
anism, which also grounded knowledge in ognize that wisdom and self-control are ular History of Philosophy podcast.

We explode your thinking this issue as Scott Parker looks at
Sue Prideaux’s (armour) penetrating biography of Friedrich
Books Nietzsche; Roger Caldwell scrutinises philosophical revolu-

tions; & Joshua Schrier is approximately correct, probably.
I Am Dynamite! him to leave his position as

by Sue Prideaux Professor of Philology at the
University of Basel, and
wander in search of climes that
THE TEMPTATION FOR ANY might alleviate his symptoms.
biographer of Friedrich “On several occasions,”
DYNAMITE DIAGRAM © PBROKS13 2018

Nietzsche must be to begin in Prideaux tells us, “he thought
Turin, with the madman sobbing, his arms his last hour had come” (p.125).
draped around a horse’s neck. He sinks to the Her account of his ongoing
flagstones of the Piazza Carlo Alberto. We sickness serves to illustrate
learn that he is never to recover. The scene Nietzsche’s aphorism, ‘That
fades out, and we are whisked back to his which does not kill us makes us
childhood, to proceed with the tale of how the stronger’ by allowing us to understand
‘philosopher of the future’ reached this break- his life through his suffering and what he
ing point. Prideaux instead opts to build her accomplished despite his suffering. Or was
first chapter around Nietzsche’s first meeting it because of what he suffered? There’s
with Richard and Cosima Wagner in 1868, scarcely a better example of making a virtue
when Nietzsche was an undergrad at Leipzig of necessity than Nietzsche’s distinctive writ-
University. This meeting initiated two of the ing style. His headaches, nausea, and bad
formative relationships in Nietzsche’s vision limited his capacity for reading and
personal as well as intellectual life, and allows writing, so he developed the skill of compres- autobiography. What then is the biography
Prideaux to introduce the reader to her sion. According to Prideaux, brevity became of a philosopher? To what should such a
subject at an important turning point for him. “an increasingly valuable power as the biography aspire? In Nietzsche’s case at
Yet in order to contextualize the meeting creative intervals between his bouts of illness least, the biography is a genealogy of his
sufficiently, Prideaux must strain to cram became shorter, leaving him with the prob- writing, rounding out and contextualizing
biographical information and historical lem of how to communicate his thoughts the autobiography. If we come to Prideaux
weight into the early pages, resulting in a speedily and to maximum effect before the knowing who Nietzsche is through his writ-
muddied narrative. This attempt to seize the next attack” (p.34). This casts a very different ing, whether we are thrilled or offended by
reader’s attention with drama serves neither light on Nietzsche’s explosive aphorisms. him, we still might come asking from what
readers new to Nietzsche, for whom it is Lou Andreas-Salomé, a love interest, and one context such a writer emerged. His illness
insufficient, nor readers who are familiar with of the most complex characters in Niet- was, of course, only one of the contingencies
the philosopher, for whom the hook is super- zsche’s life, read even more into the effect of around which his life and his writing grew.
fluous. Starting with the Wagners is no more Nietzsche’s illness on his writing. As For another, Prideaux offers Nietzsche at
unnecessary than starting with the horse; but Prideaux notes, she thought it “enabled him eleven, when he had his own bedroom for
it’s no less unnecessary either. to live numberless lifetimes within the one. the first time. It was then that “he quickly
Now that I’ve delivered my harshest crit- She noticed how his life fell into a general fell into the habit of working till around
icism, let me strongly encourage you to stick pattern. A regular recurrent decline into sick- midnight and getting up at five in the morn-
with Sue Prideaux beyond the first chapter. ness always demarcated one period of his life ing to resume” (p.23).
If you do you’ll be rewarded with a lively and from another. Every illness was a death, a dip Knowing some of the key contingencies
informative account of Nietzsche’s life. down into Hades. Every recuperation was a surrounding a writer’s work can help us to
Prideaux conveys a sensitive feel for her joyful rebirth, a regeneration... During each appreciate the work itself; and, as in the case
subject that will inform any reading of Niet- fleeting recuperation the world gleamed of Nietzsche’s misogyny, perhaps under-
zsche’s resounding prose. anew. And so each recuperation became not stand it. He was not above letting his humil-
Prideaux takes her title from Nietzsche’s only his own rebirth, but also the birth of a iation at being rejected by Lou, with whom
announcement in his autobiography Ecce whole new world, a new set of problems that he shared “the most exquisite experience of
Homo (1888), “I am not a man, I am dyna- demanded new answers” (p.202). Such his life” (p.204) – an ascent of Monte Sacro
mite.” She gives us the man who would make rebirths in Nietzsche’s thinking are sketched – and his frustration with his mother and
such a claim – the very thing that draws read- rather than detailed by Prideaux – which is sister, affect his attitude toward women
ers of Nietzsche to a biography about him. not a knock on the book but a reminder that generally. In less reactionary periods,
And who was that man? it is not a primer on Nietzsche’s philosophy though, as Prideaux writes, “his sympathy
Often, a sick one. Headaches, nausea, and but a biography. for women and his insight into their
trouble with vision incapacitated him for In Beyond Good and Evil (1886) Nietzsche psychology is remarkable for its time”
days, sometimes weeks, on end. Illness forced wrote that all philosophy is unconscious (p.201). Prideaux points her readers towards
42 Philosophy Now February /March 2020 Book Reviews

Books
Nihilism & Philosophy
1882’s The Gay Science for examples of the heroic age that valued courage and caste.
by Gideon Barker
more forward-thinking Nietzsche. In Apho- Then Heidegger, seeing the present tech-
rism 71 of Book Two he criticises the “amaz- nocratic age as a result of more than two
ing and monstrous… upbringing of upper- THE PHILOSOPHER as nihilist thousand years of forgetfulness of Being,
class women” that involves linking sex with is a destroyer of worlds, a tried to return us to a long-forgotten way of
shame before sending them ignorantly into revolutionary who comes to make us see with understanding and living in the world, to
a marriage. new eyes and radically change how we live. recover a more ‘primordial’ thinking.
Unlike the charge of misogyny, acquit- The nihilist philosopher uses words, not Baker’s account of the Cynics is heavily
ting Nietzsche of anti-Semitism is easily bombs; but not simply to offer us new indebted to Michel Foucault, whose lectures
accomplished, and Prideaux continues her doctrines or facts. This is philosophy not as on the subject (translated into English as The
timeline beyond Nietzsche’s death to do so. a matter for contemplation, but as something Courage of Truth) were the last he was to
That this must be done again and again is to be lived – and if we are to live in a new deliver before his death in 1984. The Cynics
largely due to Nietzsche’s state after his order, the old one must first be dismantled had not previously been accorded much
nervous collapse in Turin, where he became or destroyed. The question is, once the space in the history of philosophy: their
largely unable to communicate coherently. cobwebs and lies are swept away, what are we doctrines were sparse, their writings have
He understood throughout his life that left with? Once all our old values and ways not survived, and what we know of them
madness was a possibility. But more than of life are gone, do we still have a world at comes down often in jokes and anecdotes.
that, he also understood madness as “the all, and not chaos? They were shocking to the society of their
only engine strong enough to drive change Typically, however, this going forward day, in that their way of life involved a rejec-
through the morality of custom” (p.335). into a new world also involves a sort of going tion of all conventional values. They would
Nietzsche’s men of the future, the Übermen- back. Gideon Barker’s book Nihilism and do in public what most people thought it
schen, were those who could escape the grip Philosophy deals with four such instances. In proper to do only in private; they acknowl-
of conventional moral codes and find their ancient Greece, the Cynics rejected what edged no family, home, or state, but will-
own individual meaning. Anyone who they saw as the artificial world of the city- ingly embraced a life of begging and desti-
aspired to such greatness must be willing to state in the interest of a return to nature. tution. If this was a sort of asceticism, it was
pay a price – either accepting madness or at Then, with the rise of Christianity, the hier- a cheerful one: the Cynics showed that you
least pretending to be mad. Nietzsche was archical order of the Roman Empire was could be happy without material posses-
always ready, perhaps eager, to do so, even rejected in favour of a world in which, in St sions, and that care of the body is less impor-
if it could leave him at the mercy of his Paul’s words, there would be “neither tant than care of the soul. There is nothing
cunning, anti-Semitic, Nazi-sympathising Greek nor Jew, slave or free, male or ‘other-worldly’ in this.
sister Elisabeth. female” but all standing equal before God. In Plato’s dialogue The Sophist, Socrates
Over the past half century Nietzsche’s In modern times, after the ‘death of God’, says the real philosopher is one who ‘lives
legacy has increasingly shaken off the image Nietzsche declared the end of what he calls the philosophical life in truth’. For Baker,
his sister created of him, and his influence Christian ‘slave-morality’, trusting to the Cynicism is the first philosophy to have
has grown accordingly. Prideaux is near her Übermensch or ‘Over-Man’ to bring back an actively tried to put this vision into action.
best when she demonstrates Nietzsche’s
ongoing appeal by simply voicing some of Image from
his deepest concerns in her own words: the Zoroaster Clavis Artis
“What happens when man cancels the 1738
moral code on which he has built the edifice
of his civilisation? What does it mean to be
human unchained from a central metaphys-
ical purpose? Does a vacuum of meaning
occur? If so, what is to fill that vacuum? If
the life to come is abolished, ultimate mean-
ing rests in the here and now. Given the
power to live without religion, man must
take responsibility for his own actions”
(p.375). As long as Nietzsche’s ideas
resonate, the fascination with him will
remain. And as long as it does, I Am Dyna-
mite! will find a much-deserved readership.
© SCOTT F. PARKER 2020
Scott F. Parker’s most recent book, A Way
Home (Kelson), explores time, home and self-
hood in a series of personal essays.
• I Am Dynamite! A Life of Nietzsche, Sue Prideaux,

2018, $30 hb, Tim Duggan Books, 464 pages, ISBN:
978-1524760823
Book Reviews February /March 2020 Philosophy Now 43

Books
The Cynics radicalized the Socratic simplic- places. But in Nietzsche’s doctrine of the Probably Approximately
ity of life. After all, Socrates went home each will to power, Heidegger sees the end of Correct by Leslie Valiant
night to bed; the Cynics by contrast often metaphysics, the completion of a history of
didn’t have homes. Socrates didn’t take part forgetfulness of Being lasting more than “ALL BY NATURE desire to
in politics: the Cynics didn’t even acknowl- two thousand years: with the essence of know,” said Aristotle, in one
edge the city-state (polis) to begin with. It was knowledge as will to power comes “the of his less contentious remarks. Epistemology
necessary for them to keep a distance from unrestrained exploitation of the earth” even is the study of the validity and scope of meth-
the exercise of political power if they were “the thrust into outer space”, confirming ods aiming to satisfy that desire to know,
to say what they thought needed saying. mankind’s sense of homelessness. including how one distinguishes between
ETERNAL FORMS © PAUL GREGORY 2020
They aimed to speak truth fearlessly The ‘essence of metaphysics’, Heidegger knowledge and mere opinion. Being able to
whether to fellow citizens or to a mighty tells us, is nihilism. If so, how do we escape make reliable inferences and deductions is
tyrant, to expose lies or wrongdoing. Most it? If Nietzsche remains the last metaphysi- quite useful, so epistemology has been central
Greek philosophy was for an elite, but Cynic cian despite his repudiation of all philosophy not only to the Western tradition of philoso-
philosophy was available to all. since Plato, what of Heidegger himself? phy but to philosophy globally (For classic
The parallels with Christianity are strik- Arguably he is in no better position. Niet- non-Western examples, see the Nyaya Sutras,
ing. In both there is a rejection or inversion zsche awaits the Übermensch for the transval- or the works of Dignaga). Also, philosophers
of conventional values. In both the call is a uation of all values. Heidegger, seeking to of mind as well as religious apologists debate
radical one. The Jesus of St Paul’s writings recover a sort of poetics of Being in a time how the capacity to learn (or for that matter,
is a destroyer of the Jewish law; he and his when instrumental (practical-goal-directed) any rational faculties) could possibly emerge
disciples lead a wandering life, taking ‘no reason has strangled thought, vainly evokes from an entirely undirected, that is, irrational,
heed for the morrow’, leaving family and what is, in effect, a return of the gods. evolutionary process. Computer science may
possessions behind in order to embrace a life These are some – but only some – of the provide new insights into all these philosoph-
of poverty and to live in what is seen as the themes explored in Baker’s interesting, ical problems, by discovering fundamental
truth. The lowest are raised up, the highest informative, but somewhat unwieldy new limits to the sorts of processes by which a
brought down. Both the Cynic and the book. In particular I have said nothing about system can learn to predict its environment.
Christian are concerned with the care of Nothing, with which Baker, following I’m not talking about the recent computer
souls; although, for the Christian this is in Heidegger and other thinkers, is much programs that can outperform human experts
preparation for another world, whereas for concerned. But if Baker is advancing a thesis, at chess, Go, poker, diagnosing illnesses, or
the Cynic it is in this world alone that we it is hard to see what that thesis is. In this his predicting chemical reactions. It has been
must struggle to achieve the true life. brief Conclusion fails to enlighten. Indeed, quipped that computer science is neither
For Nietzsche, Christianity is Platonism I am not sure that it fully makes sense: he about computers (the electronic gadgets
for the masses, promising us an eternal tells us that “finitude is an aborted nihilism”, themselves) nor a science (no laboratory).
world where all is truth and light in place of but I fail to see quite how this statement Rather, theoretical computer science is more
this world, which Plato called “the twilight cashes out. akin to mathematics and formal logic, consist-
world of change and decay”, where By the end of the book I’m little clearer ing of formal proofs of how processes behave,
mankind could only live to die. For Niet- about what nihilism is than I was at the independent of any particular hardware or
zsche, however, it is not our everyday world beginning. The journey has been an exciting software implementation. In this book, Leslie
of appearances that is the illusion, but the one; but has it in the end led round in circles? Valiant, the T. Jefferson Coolidge Professor
Platonic-Christian heaven. His declaration Philosophy has again and again claimed to of Computer Science and Applied Mathemat-
of the death of God is directed not only at start from the beginning, in effect discarding ics at Harvard University, presents a readable
Christianity, but at any claim to the exis- its own tradition. Is this in itself a nihilistic introduction to his work on ‘probably approx-
tence of another world. This world in which gesture? Is a new beginning even possible? imately correct’ learning algorithms – PACs.
we live – the only world there is – is not only The Cynics, St Paul, Nietzsche, and Most decision-making algorithms are care-
subject to change but is also without goal or Heidegger, were all adept at tearing down fully designed to never make mistakes. In
purpose. It is also subject to eternal recur- old beliefs, and all also have a positive end contrast, PACs are less stringent, allowing for
rence. The challenge for us is to embrace in view: that of getting us to live true, noisy input data and somewhat faulty, ‘good
what seems the ultimate pointlessness: the authentic lives. But the true nihilist is surely enough’ outputs. ‘Probably approximately
prospect of repeating our lives in every one who believes in nothing. correct’ quantifies the extent to which a learn-
detail forever. Is it possible to live without values? If ing process with no underlying theory about
For Heidegger, that philosophy is not possible, could it be desirable? The painter the problem, finite computational resources
the overcoming of nihilism Nietzsche had Francis Bacon once proclaimed in an inter- and limited access to data, can make infer-
intended. On the contrary, it is “the ulti- view: “I believe in nothing. I’m an optimist.” ences. PAC systems also allow one to diagnose
mate entanglement in nihilism”, and fails to © ROGER CALDWELL 2020 how a learner can fail. For instance, a given
escape from the metaphysical prison. In Roger Caldwell is a writer living in Essex. His task may be fundamentally too random to be
effect, Nietzsche remains caught up in latest collection of poetry, Setting Out for the learned; or it may be too complex to extract a
Platonism. If the true world is one of eternal Mad Islands, is published by Shoestring Press. prediction even in principle, even if there were
Becoming for Nietzsche, as compared to perfect information; or the learner may be
one of eternal Being for Plato, it is still, for • Nihilism in Philosophy: Nothingness, Truth and using the wrong algorithm or data. Moreover,
all that, a true world: all that’s happened is World, Gideon Baker, 2018, £85, 239 pages, ISBN: what PACs tell us is not limited to the partic-
that Being and Becoming have changed 978 1 3500 3518 8 ular physical or biological mechanism by
44 Philosophy Now February /March 2020 Book Reviews

Books
The robots are still coming by generally considering unusual cases; there-
fore PAC predicts human reason to perform
poorly on them. For instance, consider the
famous sorites problem: how many grains
make a heap? Since our previous experiences
ROBOT © MARCIN WICHARY 2009
of heap- and not-heap-like piles are very

distinct, attempting to classify an intermedi-
ate pile is ill-defined: it violates the ‘represen-
tative data’ assumption.
Although unmentioned by Valiant, seeing
evolution as a learning process provides a
novel perspective on entire schools of philo-
sophical thought. For instance, the PAC
theory of evolution might reduce Schopen-
hauer’s ‘will to life’ to a more fundamental
‘will to learn’. The ‘turning of the will upon
itself’ – the development of rational capaci-
ties whereby the will critiques itself – occurs
which the learning process occurs. Instead it predictions one generates from experience, merely accidentally in Schopenhauer’s
can place bounds on the types of problems any and can even provide some guide to its own theory, but is an almost inevitable conse-
physical system with finite resources can predictive accuracy for theoryless problems. quence of PAC. Predicting the future by
perform, including human brains. Evolution This provides an interesting twist on using a PAC process is moreover how organ-
is by its nature theoryless (as Valiant puts it, Hume’s critique of induction as having no isms exert power over the world; and thus the
one can find a mate without having a theory ultimate theoretical justification (although ‘will to learn’ also encompasses Nietzsche’s
of mating), so the PAC model lends itself to Valiant does not pursue this). ‘will to power’. Perhaps the closest philo-
studying evolutionary ‘ecorithms’. Chapter 8 makes some appropriately sophical connection is seen in Michel
One of Valiant’s major scholarly contribu- cautious speculations about the implications Foucault’s inaugural College de France
tions (and the topic of Chapter 6) is indeed of PAC for human cognition. Probably 1970-1971 lecture series, which framed a
the description of evolution as a restricted approximately correct learning algorithms legal perspective on a ‘will to know’, connect-
class of probably approximately correct learn- can establish a continuum of learning (or ing the Aristotelian desire to know to Niet-
ing algorithms in or by which a population broadly characterised, ‘thinking’) capabili- zsche’s desire for power. Is legal process –
learns to respond to its environment. The ties that encompasses the whole natural that bureaucratic Leviathan – a consequence
limited types of evolutionary processes each world, through what Aristotelian or of a probably approximately correct learning
individual can perform (for example, having Scholastic philosophers would have called algorithm for human societies?
reproductive success, or not dying), and ways the vegetative and animal faculties, up to This is an enjoyable, well-written book
populations can learn from the environment rational human capabilities. Valiant even for a general audience describing a compre-
(for example, through mutations in DNA), claims that he can use PAC to establish the hensive mathematical theory of adaptation,
limit the types of learning tasks that evolution mathematical inevitability of materialistic, evolution, learning, and cognition. It is
can perform. Framing evolution as a compu- undirected evolutionary processes resulting accessible to such an audience, while provid-
tational problem enables proofs that rely only in a rational faculty. Moreover, the limits on ing sufficient references into the primary
on very general limits concerning the compu- energy, time, and memory in a PAC process literature for further study. The essential
tational complexity of what organisms can also give insight into the origins of the points are illustrated with conceptual and
perform and the types of feedback they can cognitive biases and logical fallacies so pictorial examples of simplified versions of
receive. Valiant’s conclusions are more prevalent in human thinking. the algorithms, and example problems that
general than typical biological treatments of Why might this book be interesting for demonstrate the logical underpinnings,
evolution, as they do not rely upon any partic- philosophers? Valiant engages with episte- without getting bogged down in formal
ular physical mechanisms. mology and theory of mind only in passing, mathematical proofs. The book also
Chapter 7 focuses on the classical episte- making a few nods towards the usual suspects provides interesting material for philosoph-
mological topics of deduction and induction – Sextus Empiricus, Aristotle’s Posterior ically speculation. The conclusions may be
as viewed through this ‘probably approxi- Analytics, and Ockham’s Razor – without simplistic, but they’re probably, approxi-
mately correct’ lens. Valiant argues that drawing out many of the philosophical impli- mately, correct.
deductive logic, including probabilistic cations. However, a philosophically inclined © PROF. JOSHUA SCHRIER 2020
modelling and computer programming, is reader will find many other ways PAC might Joshua Schrier is Kim B. and Stephen E. Bepler
fragile. In other words, there is no guarantee illuminate classic problems. For example, Chair Professor of Chemistry at Fordham
that the answer will be correct if the under- Valiant criticizes philosophical thought University in New York.
lying theoretical model is incorrect. In experiments on the grounds that probably
contrast, inductive learning – that is, learn- approximately correct learning only works if • Probably Approximately Correct: Nature’s Algo-
ing from repeated experience – can occur in the data one learns from is generally repre- rithms for Learning and Prospering in a Complex
the absence of any theory. PAC-style induc- sentative of what one is trying to predict. World, Leslie Valiant, New York, Basic Books, 2013,
tion can quantify the uncertainty of the Thought experiments violate this condition x+195 pages, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-465-03271-6
Book Reviews February /March 2020 Philosophy Now 45

JOKER
Film Stefan Bolea meditates on madness at the movies.
M
ost of us possess a sense of real- Joaquin Phoenix portrays Arthur Fleck, a gestures with no reference to sentiment.
ity, but what if our senses failing stand-up comedian with a psycho- The apathy of the murder is chilling. The
deceive us? Would I still know logical disorder that causes him to laugh at brilliance of Phoenix’s performance of
what was real if, for instance, I inappropriate moments. The film provides madness makes me think of other great
had a microscopic brain tumor that made a backstory for the character of the Joker in deranged villains from past decades: Jack
me hallucinate that the people around me the Batman stories. Under the pressure of Torrance (Jack Nicholson) from The Shin-
were devils, or that a beautiful sunny day successive disasters and injustices, Fleck ing; Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe) from Wild
was a dark nightmare? What if I then felt the descends into madness and goes on a killing at Heart; John Doe (Kevin Spacey) from
urge to start shooting people? spree. In the process, though, he adopts the Se7en.
Joker, a psychological thriller directed and persona of Joker and becomes the symbol of Closely linked to the central theme of
co-written by Todd Phillips, is a meditation a revolution against privilege in Gotham madness in Joker is the idea of the ineffec-
on this disassociative sort of madness. It City, and a hero to rioters who fail to grasp tiveness of psychotherapy. “You never
emphasizes the philosophical problem of the the depth of his disorders. Madness is noto- listen,” complains Arthur to his therapist,
‘liquid’ divide between perception and real- riously difficult to perform, because, on one “All I have are negative thoughts.” Dialogue
ity: if my perception is biased, then my reality hand, the actor must keep his emotions in is seen as fake, and because access to the
transforms as well. A second, connected, check while acting as if they are out of awareness of others is blocked, one enters
problem of madness, is the dissolution of the balance, and, on the other, his exaggerations the realm of solipsism, where pain is incom-
distinction between inside and outside. I can must be credible, otherwise the movie municable. The other person may be falling
project my inner being onto the world, becomes a melodrama or caricature. But apart, yet I cannot see through his mask. So
changing its color and tone. If I can’t tell that watch, for instance, arguably the most Joker is also a meditation on ‘ontological
I’m doing this then I’ll live in a labyrinthine disturbing scene of the movie, in which insecurity’, as R.D. Laing put it, and on a
inferno, a prison of my own projections. No Arthur smothers his mother with a pillow as sort of existential paranoia. If I lack empa-
one can reach out to somebody with this kind he delivers the crucial line: “I used to think thy, the other may seem to me like a robot,
of insanity. No one really exists for them, and that my life was a tragedy, but now I realize a computer program, or a ghost. I may even
after a while their own broken mirror reflects it’s a comedy.” Arthur’s tone is neutral, as if doubt the existence of the other person. I
no one. The subject devours the world, also his actions are completely severed from any may even come to doubt my own existence:
disintegrating in the process. emotion. The scene is a cold description of the other never sees me, therefore I fail to
see myself, therefore I fail to exist. Invisibil-
ity is a socio-political problem: many may
feel that they don’t have a place, that they
are worthless, that they don’t mean noth-
ing, that their lives make no ‘cents’, as
Arthur writes in his journal.
Which brings us to the idea of the
‘damnation of the poor’. A society for which
JOKER IMAGES © WARNER BROS. PICTURES 2019
money is god always ultimately equates fail-

ure with death. There are many ways in
which the poor are put to death by such a
society, and one is the denial of healthcare.
Arthur’s access to therapy and medication
becomes hindered on account of welfare
cuts, precipitating his insane behaviour. I
might even infer that the motif of rats,
which occurs a few times in the movie, is a
symbol of the great mass of the poor, which
Karl Marx called the lumpenproletariat,
resistant to the systemic extermination
machine.
Two religious ideas come to mind. First,
Don’t kick a clown
I think of the Hindu principle of tat tvam asi
when he’s down
(‘thou art that’), which states that we should
try to recognize the same essence in the

Film
ing the dictatorship of conformism. Gener-
ally, he can be seen as an educator of the
sense of humor. One might distinguish
between fake laughter – the appropriate
laughter of the ‘they’ – and Joker’s super-
fake laughter that becomes authentic
because it is his own original expression,
uninfluenced by social imperatives. His
vision of life as a comedy which is darker
than a tragedy reminds us of the absurdist
playwright Eugène Ionesco’s reflection
regarding the hopelessness of the comic.
other, since we are essentially the other. discloses the sadistic sense of superiority of When we enjoy watching a performance of
Failure to recognise ourselves in the other the ruling class, who observe the drama of Ionesco’s Exit the King, we are laughing at
means that ‘man is wolf to man’; that the disadvantaged from the heights of their the tragic aspect of existence – we laugh at
exploitation never ends; that ‘the boot contempt. When the most advanced soci- our lives and our deaths. Joker’s vision of life
stamping on a human face’ (to quote eties treat their most disadvantaged as comedy is also connected to his mental
Orwell’s 1984) forever remains the symbol members as ‘rats’, one may say that illness, and so raises the question from
of our never-ending civil war. This lack of pessimism becomes a valid interpretation of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose: is
empathy is another motif throughout the life and that optimism is wicked, as Arthur laughing demonic or divine? According to
movie, and it leads to mass destruction. Schopenhauer argued. In the movie, many some theologians, the devil – the first paro-
Second, I think of the Christian idea that respond to Joker as people respond to dist – is simia Dei (‘God’s ape’). People are
greatest are those who serve; “they and not Schopenhauer or to the nihilist philosopher sadder than they declare, sadder even than
the strong being pointed out as having the Emil Cioran: they are so sick of being lied they think they are. “I’ve never been happy,”
first place in God’s regard” (in John Stuart to that accepting even an inconvenient or declares Fleck ironically, upon explaining
Mill’s words). So contempt towards the toxic truth is better than believing the lie. that his childhood nickname was ‘Happy’.
lowly in the movie is not merely a symptom We come to a central problem of humor. Finally, one of Joker’s central ideas is
of fascistic indifference but of satanic arro- We are trained to laugh only when it is reminiscent of Fight Club or Mr Robot: a
gance. Like Hamlet’s play-within-a-play, appropriate. “We enjoy ourselves and have schizoid character sparks the flame of insur-
the Joker scene where the wealthy are seen fun the way they enjoy themselves” is how rection. One question we might ask here is,
amusing themselves while watching Chap- Martin Heidegger puts it in Being and Time. do I have to fight myself, or the world? In
lin’s Modern Times, a film about the hardship Joker has his own particular humor, and other words, should I attempt to master
of life during the Great Depression, laughs when things aren’t funny, so harass- myself, as the Stoics urged, or should I
attempt to conquer the world? And is the loss
of myself acceptable if I gain the world in
return (cf Matthew 16:26)? When he
becomes Joker, Arthur becomes the worst
possible version of himself; but he gains the
world, or at least the acceptance of some part
of it, turning into a symbol of the revolution.
If I’m fighting evil, I cannot be good,
because then I would surely lose. Sadly, I
must become more evil than evil. Para-
phrasing Nietzsche, we might say that
whoever fights monsters will surely become
a monster.
© DR TEFAN BOLEA 2020
Dr tefan Bolea earned 2 PhDs, in Philosophy
and in Literature, from the University of Cluj-
Napoca, Romania. He is also the editor-in-chief
I wouldn’t get on that of the magazine egophobia (www.egophobia.ro)
train if I were you
and the editor of Apostrof.

Street Philosopher
Destined In Delhi
Seán Moran contemplates kismet and choreography.
T
his girl lives in an artists’ colony (Between the Species, 2018). But neither her chance upon a poor start in the lottery of life;
in Delhi. Although her DNA nor her upbringing fully ‘chore- they’re also hampered by an inherited inabil-
makeshift water bucket says ographs’ or determines her life, since she is ity to do anything about it. Others win a
‘Power Supreme’, India is a also a ‘caring purposive subject’, not just an grand start plus the genetic endowment to
country where many people are disempow- object of genetic and social compliance. make the most of their early privilege. Let’s
ered, by both gender and caste. This is not All she can do – all any of us can do – is not be too pessimistic, though: neither
America, where anyone can be President. play the hand that fate has dealt us. However, genetic nor social determinism is the whole
The odds are stacked against a poor girl the card game metaphor is inexact, because story. We can sometimes rise above our
becoming the Prime Minister of India, or our ability or inability to play the hand is part initial circumstances. Moreover, being a
attaining any position of power, supreme or of the hand itself. Some people not only duke or a president is no guarantee of happi-
otherwise. She’s carrying water because her
home has no plumbing. Her mother cooks
out in the open air, over a fire on the ground.
I hope that the girl has a flourishing life,
whatever direction it takes.
The artists in the colony are professional
snake charmers, magicians, drummers and
dancers. Despite their grim living condi-
tions, the residents were welcoming. I was
offered home-cooked food by people who
probably didn’t have enough to eat, but I
didn’t insult them by refusing.
I was there to teach local children some
Irish jigs and hornpipes on the tin whistle.
(The next time you’re in Delhi listen out for
any Indian street musicians playing jaunty
Irish tunes – and maybe give a decent tip to
one of my former students.) In return, they
taught me a Hindi song made famous by
© SEÁN MORAN 2020

Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan. I
performed it on a bridge in Paris recently
and some Indian tourists filmed me on their
phones. There are some self-righteous folks
who would complain about my ‘appropria-
tion’ of Indian culture, but such sniping is
PHOTO
never from Indians. In fact, Shah Rukh Khan
himself retweeted the video of me singing
his song, playing the flute, and dancing. It
went viral for a while, earning the approval
of an astounding number of Indians. My
musical performance was rightly seen as
homage, not appropriation. But I enjoyed
the absurdity of achieving brief international
fame as a clodhopping dancer.
Unlike me, the girl in my photograph has
such grace, balance, and poise that she could
make a living as a dancer, as do many of her
friends and neighbours in the colony. There
are genetic and environmental pressures
nudging her towards such a life. As
Josephine Donovan wrote, shaping her
future is an “intrinsic teleological choreo-
graphic program – whatever one may call it
(entelechy, psyche, soul, or DNA code)”

Street Philosopher
ness, either for themselves or for those whose Socrates. In other words, we shouldn’t judge a book
paths they cross. Nevertheless, blaming the Or Silenus. by its cover. Some of the least likely people
underprivileged for their plight, or praising are touched by divinity. If we could see
the successful for their achievements, is like beneath their carapace, maybe everyone, no
chastising dice-players for throwing a one, or matter how mired in the gutter they seem to
congratulating them for a six. Sheer deter- be, would reveal a divine spark. And those
mination or a kind mentor can help to over- whose circumstances are grim need not be grim.
come disadvantage; but chance is still a major Oscar Wilde captures the human predica-
factor – including being genetically predis- ment pithily in his play Lady Windermere’s Fan
posed towards resilience in adversity, or (1892). The caddish Lord Darlington, with
being lucky enough to find the right mentor. his hereditary advantages, says, “We are all in
Every one of us is dependent on random the gutter, but some of us are looking at the
events which shape our trajectories. Given stars.” We can all raise our eyes to the stars –
slightly different circumstances, we could all to the transcendent – or even dance in the face
have turned out to be a rich (wo)man, poor of adversity. Socrates danced in his old age,
(wo)man, beggar (wo)man, or thief. The last and went to the higher world with equanimity
possibility is unsettling. But if we were when he was unjustly executed.
brought up in a family of pickpockets, would
we necessarily have the independence of The Way We Roll
mind to reject our domestic ethos and follow guide their route. But, even more fascinat- This line of thinking is rejected by the
another path, like Billy Elliot dancing his way ingly, before they set off, they climb on top French-Algerian philosopher Albert Camus
out of a mining family? of their dung-ball and perform an ‘orienta- in his book The Myth of Sisyphus (1942).
tion dance’ to align themselves with celestial Camus feels that rather than take a leap of
La Danse Voleur features in the night sky. I just love the faith and rely on God to provide meaning in
Talking of which, have you ever seen a pick- symbolism of the whole fol-de-rol: gazing up an otherwise meaningless life, as another exis-
pocket dance? I have; and it was strangely at the stars and dancing, in-between scrab- tentialist, Søren Kierkegaard advocates, we
moving. I was playing my flute and singing bling about in the dirt. should embrace the absurdity of the world
the popular French song Aux Champs Élysées Although the diet of nocturnal scarab heroically, as Sisyphus did in legend. In the
in Paris one day (what better way to fund beetles may be distasteful to us, these crea- ancient story, Sisyphus is condemned by the
street philosophy research than street tures were sacred to the Ancient Egyptians. gods for all eternity to push a boulder up a
performance?). Just as I started belting out After all, the god Khepri’s night-time mountain, watch it roll down, and repeat, ad
the chorus a gang of teenage pickpockets mission was to roll the setting sun through infinitum. However, by recognising his task as
walked past, looking for tourists to rob. They the underworld, to be ready for sunrise on futile, Sisyphus defiantly ‘owns’ it, without
took a furtive peek at the contents of my hat the opposite horizon the next day. the consolation of belief in a more transcen-
and… started to dance. dent narrative. Camus admires Sisyphus’s
I have no affection for pickpockets – my Socrates As Satyr acceptance of his meaningless plight, and his
phone was stolen at Pigalle Metro station – but If an insect satyr, Scarabaeus satyrus, was seen determination to carry on regardless. Person-
this little vignette made me realise that they as divinely gifted, so too was a human satyr: ally, I would love to see Sisyphus take occa-
were just innocent children at heart. Well, Socrates. The politician Alcibiades describes sional breaks from his labours and lift his eyes
not innocent, perhaps; but children nonethe- Socrates as being similar to: “the Silenus- up from the boulder: he might even dance –
less – taking a break from their child labour figures that sit in the statuaries’ shops; those, to the music of the Rolling Stones, perhaps –
to perform a playful, spontaneous dance. I mean, which our craftsmen make with pipes with some Bollywood choreography and Irish
Some of those youngsters may graduate or flutes in their hands: when their two halves hornpipe steps just to add a bit of variety.
to more serious crime, while others could are pulled open, they are found to contain Life is not usually as bleak as Sisyphus’s
conceivably earn a more honest living, images of gods” (Plato, Symposium). In myth, drudgery, but we’re all condemned to push
perhaps as lawyers. The ‘intrinsic teleologi- Silenus was an ancestor of the satyrs: ugly, our dungy little spheres along, whatever that
cal choreographic program’ of humans is not bawdy, drunken wild men of the woods. allegory actually involves for you. As a revolt
a fixed algorithm, but can be over-ridden by Alcibiades, who was not ugly, but did have against the absurdity of our situations, we can
the individual. Not so in the case of other a thing for Socrates, and was far from sober pause to gaze idly at the heavens, and do a little
animals, whose ‘choreographies’ are pretty at the time, tells the assembled drinkers not dance, metaphorically or literally. Our ‘power
much fixed; their behaviour genetically to be fooled by Socrates’ appearance, for it supreme’ as humans is to reject both the
shaped by their survival value. For example, conceals a divine interior: intrinsic and the extrinsic choreographies
nocturnal dung beetles of the species imposed on us, and go freestyle for a while.
Scarabaeus satyrus have a remarkable gift. To “Again, he is utterly stupid and ignorant, as Then we can return to our water-carrying,
survive, they must roll a ball of dung away he affects. Is not this like a Silenus? It is an dung-rolling, pickpocketing, or lawyering,
from the dung-heap quickly, or rival beetles outward casing he wears… Whether anyone refreshed and empowered.
will steal it. So, according to Foster et al else has caught him in a serious moment and © DR SEÁN MORAN 2020
(Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society opened him, and seen the images inside, I Seán Moran teaches postgraduate students in
B, 2017), they give a ‘stellar performance’ of know not; but I saw them one day, and Ireland, and is professor of philosophy at a
navigating in a straight line. That’s no empty thought them so divine and golden, so per- university in the Punjab. He is available for
phrase: the beetles actually use the stars to fectly fair and wondrous.” weddings and other celebrations.

Paying
Attention to
T allis Attention
in
Wonderland Raymond Tallis becomes aware
that he can’t afford to ignore attention.
G
iven the hours your columnist the world as merely spectatorial. To use a count as information from what’s discarded
has spent thinking about the distinction that Heidegger elaborated, we as mere noise.
nature of human consciousness, interact with the entities in our environ- This is where the idea of mental affor-
it is surprising that he has not ment not as items that are merely ‘present dances gets particularly interesting, because
until now paid much heed to a crucial at hand’ (Vorhanden) but as things that are it is relevant to wider issues of human
dimension of it: attention. ‘ready to hand’ (Zuhuanden) – not just visi- agency, volition, and the philosophy of
The prompt for my recent switch of atten- ble, but useable. Ready-to-hand items action. The regulation of attention is neces-
tion to attention itself was an illuminating belong to a world of opportunity – or in sary for the exercise of free will, and indeed
paper published in Mind, Tom McClelland’s Heideggerian terms, as possibility-for-me for a coherent life.
‘The Mental Affordance Hypothesis’ (2019). or possibility-for-us, as when I or we see
‘Affordance’ was a term introduced by the something that I or we might be able to use. Attending To Action
American psychologist J.J. Gibson nearly half Alternatively, affordances may be present Action seems to be most clearly voluntary –
a century ago. Gibson wanted to remind under the guise of necessity, as when I see something that’s done – when we pay atten-
psychologists of the extent to which percep- something such as an onrushing elephant tion to at least some of its elements, namely
tion is interwoven with action. The salient that I must avoid. In sum, whether an item those which are explicitly connected both
part of our environment is experienced as a out there qualifies as a full-blown affor- with the goal of the action and the circum-
shifting set of affordances. Affordances are dance will depend on its salience to the tasks stances in which it is taking place. (Attention
perceived items that increase the disposition I am engaged in doing or have in mind to to our goals, more than anything, distin-
to certain actions, and, indeed, may gird us up do. What makes McClelland’s paper of guishes action from mere reaction. The
for such actions (a phenomenon described as particular interest is that he extends the latter is closer to a happening than a doing,
‘potentiation’). Artefacts are obvious affor- notion of an affordance beyond affordances as when we duck to avoid a missile or jump
dances: they have been manufactured to serve for bodily actions, such as gripping, walking, in response to a loud bang.) But the more
a certain purpose. A teapot, for example, is a eating, and fleeing, to affordances for mental carefully we inspect it, the more complex
‘grippable’. But naturally occurring objects actions, such as imagining, counting, and appears the relation between attention and
may also be experienced as opportunities for most importantly, attending. the exercise of our agency. Consider some-
action. A tree may be a ‘climbable’, or a cave Mental actions are mental events that are thing pretty quotidian: walking to a pub to
may be encountered as a potential hiding under our own control. Among events or have a conversation with a friend. During
place – a ‘me-hideable’. scenarios that afford attention, McClelland the journey we’re bombarded by sensory
At any given time only a proportion of the distinguishes those that we attend to delib- stimuli. Only a small subset of them are
items that surround us are experienced as erately from others which press themselves relevant to our journey and count as mental
affordances, because most of the things in on us and insist on being attended to. Atten- affordances, seducing or requiring our
our environment are irrelevant to our ongo- tion to a pain or a loud bang is involuntary: attention. There will be some stimuli that
ing concerns. The trees whizzing by the train we are ‘hailed’ (to use McClelland’s term) by force themselves upon us, but we reject
window as I write this sentence do not invite such events. By contrast, focusing on some- them as mere distractions unless they are
me to engage with them. That is to say, thing in response to one’s own or another’s salient, as when a hoot warns us that we are
opportunities for action depend on your instruction seems to be voluntary and may about to step into the path of a car. Other-
current preoccupation or agenda. A book on involve mental effort. Attention, it is clear, wise, we choose to pay attention only to that
my shelf may be promoted from mere back- spans a wide zone between passive/receptive which our action demands.
ground to an affordance when a need arises aspects of mind and active ones. The attentional affordances that shape,
for me to consult it. The decision to climb a The gradient of the activeness of atten- guide, or energize voluntary actions are
mountain transforms its surfaces into tion may be illustrated by vision, when we often prescribed in advance. What makes
footholds and handholds. Affordances are pass from involuntarily registering a flash; street signs or pub names privileged mental
not confined to individual material objects: to looking; thence to watching; peering; affordances is their relevance to our goals.
they also include scenarios such as deterio- scrutinizing; interrogating; and, finally, to Behind this is a network of what we might
rating weather or the crowdedness of a room. making formal observations, including call ‘becausations’: my going to meet you in
Fans of Heidegger’s classic 1926 book measurements. Active attention – as when the pub, for example, to discuss a joint plan,
Being and Time may be sympathetic to we’re waiting for something to happen or draws on a multiplicity of sources that make
Gibson’s rejection of a tendency among someone to turn up – being on the look-out sense of the action as something that fits
psychologists to regard our mode of being in for possibilities, actively differentiates what into my life insofar as it overlaps with yours.

Our purposes shape our attention, and our Self-manipulation is one of the most inti-
choice of attentional affordances keeps us mate aspects of the exercise of volition.
on what right now counts as ‘the straight Training and practice will enable us to do
and narrow’ as we endeavour to fulfil those automatically things which at first have to be
purposes. If we are to respond to the unex- enacted consciously, painstakingly, and
pected but salient we must also strike a
balance between focused and open attention
– between inwardly regulated concentra-
attentively. They are perhaps the most obvi-
ous aspects of our capacity to focus on certain
things and safely ignore others. And learning
T allis
in
tion, and responsiveness to happenstance
events. Voluntary attention is dappled with
inattention. Because I do not usually need to
do, as consciously-intended actions, most of
the movements involved in walking to the
how to attend in a certain way is a particularly
striking expression of our capacity to position
ourselves in order to exercise our freedom. It
reminds us of the extraordinary extent to
which we have a hand in creating the percep-
Wonderland
interval between the womb and the tomb.
pub – maintaining my balance, putting one tual opportunities we take advantage of in Transforming your world into a source of
leg in front of the other – I don’t have to furthering our interests. We can do this solicited, planted, or rigged attendibilia is
attend to most of my perceptions associated directly or indirectly, immediately or after an one of the keys to moving from a life that is
with them, unless something goes awry. appropriate interval of time. We can set traps a mere succession of moments, to a vita that
The automatic manufacture of off-the-shelf for our attention, ambushing ourselves with has a curriculum.
steps is to be contrasted with the bespoke reminders to look, listen, or read. We can Many ethologists have highlighted the
action of consciously navigating myself to a even manipulate the conditions for the very extent to which the unique capabilities of
particular destination, in the service of a possibility of attention – namely, at the very human beings are rooted in collective atten-
singular goal, executed with the aid of street least, being sufficiently awake – by a variety tion, maintained between groups of differ-
signs that are consulted to support a deci- of means, such as pinching ourselves, taking ent sizes and durations. This collective
sion to turn left or right or carry straight on. a breath of fresh air, drinking a coffee, attention enables modes of cooperation and
The distribution of attentional affordances, making sure we had a good night’s sleep, self-development unknown even in our
and the balance between doing and happening setting an alarm, or asking someone else to nearest primate kin. Our public spaces are
in an action, will be radically different when wake us up in the morning. crammed with ‘notices’ that directly or indi-
I am learning to walk again after a stroke rectly solicit attention, and our communal
(when I will need to concentrate on my At t’End lives require convergent attention. A strik-
balance), or when I am taking a route I could It’s easy to overlook the extent to which ing example is what we may call ‘institution-
follow in my sleep (when I have no need to manipulating our own attention – obeying ally prescribed attention’. In my professional
consult street signs). And attentional affor- the strange inner command ‘to pay atten- life as a doctor, most of my waking
dances will evolve during an action as we tion’ – is central to self- and world-control, consciousness was directed towards atten-
judge what has still to be done and how, and and to the creation of an ever-increasing tional affordances that I was obliged to seek
monitor our performance in ongoing distance between a train of reactions driven out, respond to, and interpret. My relatively
actions: whether we are ‘on course’, or have by a torrent of unsolicited experiences and expert, technologically-trained attention
arrived at our goal. carefully tailored journeys undertaken in the would alight on attendibilia such as elements
of the history of the illness, or signs ranging
from the demeanour of the patient to subtle
changes in movements or the appearances of
scans that might indicate neurological
disease. My years of training and (alas)
mistakes transformed aspects of the
perceived world into ‘signs’ for me – mental
affordances that would require my response
and provide at the very least a first interpre-
tation of what they might signify.
Many philosophers of mind have identi-
fied intentionality or ‘aboutness’ as a unique
mark of the mental. But it is only part – the
ground floor – of the story of human
consciousness. Attention and its individual
or shared control is intentionality in italics.
It is central to the many shared worlds in
which we achieve things far beyond the
scope of other living creatures. Time to
meta-attend to it.
© PROF. RAYMOND TALLIS 2020
Raymond Tallis’s latest book, Seeing
Attending to affordances whilst Ourselves: Reclaiming Humanity from
walking down the street. God and Science is out now.

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Brief Lives
Etienne de la Boétie (1530-1563)
Martin Jenkins looks at the life of an influential early political philosopher.
E
tienne de la Boétie is probably best known in the Parlements were the only government institutions with any inde-
English-speaking world through a footnote in his pendence from the throne. As a group of educated men of inde-
friend Michel de Montaigne’s essay ‘On Friendship’ pendent means, the Parlements represented the sole focus of
[see last issue for Montaigne’s Brief Life, Ed]. Even in political debate outside the royal court.
France, La Boétie is a shadowy figure. No portrait of him sur- About this time La Boétie married Marguerite de Carle, a
vives, though Montaigne compares him to Socrates as a beautiful widow with two young children whose brother was President of
soul behind an ugly face. His life is poorly documented. Yet he is the Bordeaux Parlement. Then he became friends with Mon-
arguably the most influential French political theorist of the six- taigne. The latter was also a member of the Parlement, and he
teenth century. claimed to have become interested in La Boétie after reading
La Boétie was born in 1530 at Sarlat-la-Canéda in Guienne in some of his unpublished works. La Boétie was a mildly prolific
south-west France. Orphaned at the age of ten, he was then writer, but published nothing in his lifetime. He wrote poems in
brought up by his uncle, a priest also named Etienne. Nothing is Latin and French (Montaigne included twenty-nine of his son-
known of his schooling. We know he studied law at the Univer- nets in his Essays); he translated from Plutarch, Xenophon, and
sity of Orléans, which was the most prestigious law school in the Italian poet Ariosto; but his most important work of this
France. On graduating in 1553 he secured a position as a magis- period was the Discours de la Servitude Volontaire (Discourse on Vol-
trate in the Parlement of Bordeaux. untary Servitude), published in 1574.
The Parlements were the superior law courts of France. Their
members enjoyed all the privileges of nobility and were known La Boétie Considers Voluntary Servitude
as the noblesse de robe (as opposed to the noblesse d’épée, the warrior There is uncertainty as to the date of writing and the nature of
nobility). They considered themselves the repositories of the this work. Montaigne originally claimed that La Boétie was
fundamental law of the realm – for instance, the Parlement of eighteen when he wrote it, but in the final edition of the Essays
Paris claimed, and exercised, the right to ‘verify’ royal edicts, he changed this to sixteen. However, some internal references in
that is, to confirm their conformity with the law, and if they the Discourse seem to date the text to about 1552, making La
wished, to refuse to register them, making them ineffective. The Boétie twenty-two. Moreover, Montaigne hints that it may have
The St Bartholomew’s Day

Massacre of 1572
by François Dubois

Brief Lives
“There can be no friendship where there is cruelty, where there is dis-
Possible sketch
of de la Boétie loyalty, where there is injustice; and among the wicked, when they come
together, it is a conspiracy, not a company; they do not love each other,
but they fear each other; they are not friends, but they are accomplices.”
La Boétie’s political thinking appears to have been republican

in nature. He makes a positive comparison between the Republic
of Venice (“a handful of people living so freely that the most
wicked among them would not wish to be king of all”) and the
Ottoman tyranny; and Montaigne remarked that he would
rather have been born at Venice than at Sarlat.
Remembering a Mémoire
In 1560 La Boétie was sent to Paris by his Parlement. His official
mission was to discuss his colleagues’ salaries; his real job was to
raise the question of relations between Catholics and Protestants
in south-western France. This was the major political issue of the
day, confused by the weakness of the French monarchy. France
was suffering from three ineffectual Valois kings, all under the
thumb of their mother Catherine de Medici, despised by the
nobility as an Italian bourgeoise, and lacking the skill in political
manipulation which should have been her family inheritance.
Three factions of the noblesse d’épée were jockeying for influence
at the royal court when La Boétie arrived there. This surely con-
been a rhetorical exercise, a defence of a hypothetical position; firmed him in his view about how tyranny operated.
but he then undermines this idea by asserting that La Boétie La Boétie met and became the friend of Michel de l’Hôpital,
would never assert a view in which he did not believe. the moderate Chancellor of France. L’Hôpital sought peace
In this short work La Boétie addresses an important political between Catholics and Protestants. Initially La Boétie supported
puzzle: why do human beings submit to the rule of tyrants? He him. But in January 1562 the government issued an edict grant-
argues that freedom and the desire for it are the natural states of ing limited toleration to Protestantism, which satisfied neither
humanity, and that even under tyranny freedom is easily party. It did however provoke La Boétie’s second great work, the
regained: Mémoire touchant l’édit de janvier 1562 – Reflections on the Edict of
January 1562.
“Be resolved to serve no more, and there you are, free. I do not want There is some dispute as to whether the Mémoire contributed
you to push him or topple him, but merely no longer hold him up, and to the debate leading up to the Edict, or whether it was a later
you will see him, like a huge colossus with the base taken away, collapse response to it. Whichever it is, the Mémoire has a poor reputa-
under his own weight and break up.” tion. Annie Prassoloff, a recent editor of the Mémoire (Galli-
mard, 1993), contrasts the ‘fireball’ of the Discours with the
So why do people submit voluntarily to a tyrant? Mémoire’s ‘cold light of this burnt-out star’. However, this is to
La Boétie distinguishes three kinds of kings: those elected by overlook the different natures of the texts. The Discours is a
the people; those who rule by right of conquest; and hereditary youthful private theoretical work: the Mémoire is a mature public
monarchs, but in practice he only considers the last case. He says document addressing a problem of practical politics. In it Le
that hereditary monarchs consider their subjects to be hereditary Boétie considers the question Machiavelli asked: How can the
slaves, and that their subjects often accept this status because it is state secure the obedience of its members?
customary. (This very much was the case in sixteenth century La Boétie effectively starts in the Mémoire where he left off in
France.) However, he also recognises that self-interest can lead the Discours. He says that in a state with two religions (in this case
to collaboration with a tyrant. He describes how half a dozen meaning Catholic and Protestant), human relations are cor-
self-interested cronies gather round a king, then six hundred rupted. The result “is almost universal hate and malevolence
more attach themselves to the cronies, and eventually, thousands between the king’s subjects, which in some places feeds secretly,
of people exercise power on behalf of the dictator. But, he points in others declares itself more openly, but everywhere produces
out, none of these people are friends of the tyrant: the tyrant has sad results… It divides citizens, neighbours, friends, parents,
no friends (he cites a number of Roman emperors who were brothers, fathers and children, husband and wife.” How, he asks,
assassinated by those closest to them). A tyrant, he says, ‘is nei- did we get to this state? He blames the corruption of the Church;
ther loved nor loves.’ Luther and Calvin, he says, would not have begun their reform-
One might expect a work of this nature to end with a defence ing action if the Catholic church had not been corrupt. Although
of liberty. Instead, La Boétie exalts friendship, writing “L’amitié, aware of the doctrinal differences between Catholic and Protes-
c’est un nom sacré, c’est une chose sainte” – “Friendship is a sacred tant, La Boétie considers them relatively unimportant; out of
name, a holy thing”, and concludes by arguing that the effect of 100,000 Protestants, he says, only 200 actually understand them.
tyranny is to corrupt human relationships: He considers three options to remedy the division in the coun-

Brief Lives
try. The first, going over entirely to the new (Protestant) church, Achilles and the Tortoise
he rejects as impractical in France, although he acknowledges that
it has worked in England. The second, religious toleration, is also I entered in and took my place
rejected. He points out that it has not worked in Germany, where Ready to cheer the tortoise race.
there was still conflict between the different forms of Christianity. My drachma says that number nine
Also, it leads to further division; for example, between Lutherans, Is first to cross the winning line.
Calvinists, Zwinglians, Anabaptists, and so forth. La Boétie recog- At last they’re off and in slow motion,
nises that different religions coexist successfully in the Ottoman But what’s that noise and great commotion?
Empire, which contains Muslims, Jews, and Christians among The door flung wide, a mighty sound
others, but he doubts that different forms of the same religion can Hilarity all round the ground:
live together peacefully in a single state. He also warns that the Achilles is entering the chase,
enemies of France will take advantage of her religious divisions. So Which surely will increase the pace!
his solution is to insist on adherence to the Catholic Church – but My tortoise nine is in the lead,
not as it currently existed. First, he says, order must be restored. By But great Achilles has the speed
this he means those who have committed violence in the name of To overtake him, take the cup
religion must be punished. This he proposes to entrust to the Par- But first he has to catch him up:
lements. The monarchy had attempted repression intermittently, Impossible, against all clocks
through the noblesse d’épée. La Boétie observes that repression only Because of Zeno’s paradox.
works if combined with justice – in which, of course, the noblesse de
robe is expert. He is in favour of severe exemplary justice, but for © REV'D DR PETER MULLEN 2020
acts against the community, not for belief itself. Peter Mullen is a philosopher and Anglican priest. His last
Then the Church must be reformed, so that it becomes so cure of souls before he retired was Rector of St Michael's,
attractive to those repelled by its abuses that they return to it Cornhill in the City of London.
willingly. La Boétie sets out a programme of reform which
would effectively have transformed the Catholic Church into scholarship that the best manuscript of the Discours, on which all
what reformers such as Martin Luther (who had originally been modern versions are based, was owned by Henri de Mesmes,
a Catholic monk) had wanted. He echoes those reformers by who drafted a text called Against La Boétie.
continually citing the example of the early church. La Boétie’s influence seems to have crossed the Channel. In
But how will this reform come about? La Boétie has no con- Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Cassius uses the image of the Colos-
fidence in the church to reform itself. Instead he looks to the sus to describe the tyrant Caesar, and adds, “The fault, dear
King, ‘protector of the Gallican church’, to carry out this reform Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are under-
within France, supported by the Parlements, which will appoint a lings.” This might have come straight out of the Discours.
coadjutor for each bishop to ensure that it happens. Then La Boétie more or less disappears for over a century.
As a final nail in the coffin of corruption, the Church will lose There is an English translation in 1733, and in 1727 the Discours is
its right to raise revenue directly. Instead the state will raise the reprinted in an edition of Montaigne’s Essays. It also reappears in a
money to fund its needs, and in the case of absentee priests that couple of editions in the 1790s; but the idea that the citizen might
money will be administered by the public authorities. refuse the demands of the state was probably as obnoxious to
In effect, La Boétie set out a programme for a national Robespierre’s French Republic as it had been to the ancien régime.
church, nominally Catholic but under state control. He As the nineteenth century moved on, the thoughts which La
acknowledged that some aspects of his programme would Boétie had articulated became attractive to anarchists including
require the approval of the Pope, but was confident that the Pope Thoreau, the Christian anarchism of Tolstoy, and finally Gandhi.
would cooperate, as he did in Germany. The rediscovery of the Mémoire in 1917 should have brought
about a reassessment of La Boétie. Instead, the Discours has been
Death & Afterlife edited and reedited, while the text of the Mémoire is only readily
La Boétie died on August 18th 1563 from an intestinal illness, available as an appendix to the Gontarbert edition of the Dis-
possibly a form of plague. Montaigne recorded his last days in an cours. I suggest that only in reading the two texts together is it
eloquent letter, and was at his death-bed. La Boétie bequeathed possible to understand the idealistic thought of La Boétie. Both
his library to Montaigne, who also acted as his executor. are based on the Renaissance humanist idea that man (excuse the
Now begins La Boétie’s curious afterlife. Montaigne pub- anachronism) is master of his fate and of his institutions.
lished La Boétie’s other works in 1571 but omitted the Discours © MARTIN JENKINS 2020
and the Mémoire. By now the wars of religion had started and Martin Jenkins is a Quaker and a retired community worker. He lives
both texts were controversial. in London and Normandy.
If we only had Montaigne’s edition, we would probably
regard La Boétie as a minor Renaissance humanist. However, A Note on Texts
the Discours was circulating in manuscript, and an extract was The Discours is available in English in Atkinson and Sices’s edition (2012). The
published in 1574, followed in 1577 by a complete text, under commentary is mostly good but contains a few errors, and the English ver-
the title of Le Contr’un. Both these versions were published in the sion is often more of a paraphrase than a translation. The Mémoire is, to the
Protestant interest. It is one of the numerous ironies of La Boétie best of my knowledge, only available in French.

PLATO LOOKS TOWARDS THE CAVE BY RON SCHEPPER 2020 YOU CAN CONTACT HIM AT [email protected]
Fiction
Vincent Kavaloski modernises

Plato’s allegory of the Cave.
What is Freedom?
nce, in a faraway land, there was Cave World Cor- flickering silver screens upon which endless dots and lines
O poration. A dank and cheerless building, vast and

cavernous, its open-plan halls housed hundreds of
workers who sat in individual booths chained to
formed moving pictures of great fascination. The figures on the
screens moved according to the commands of distant Program-
mers. But the watchers knew nothing of the Programmers: they

Fiction
knew only the enticing, bright-lit screens. Having seen noth- way, bruising her knees and hearing only the rumble of laugh-
ing else, the people believed the electronic figures and shapes ter behind her. Yet stronger than this laughter was a gentle
and graphs they were seeing were Reality; and they believed presence that seemed to guide her in her ascent. She followed
that they were free. the fractured, distant light always upward. After a long,
Life in Cave World was a contest. Those who could exhausting ascent she reached a glass door shimmering in its
quickly identify the most shapes were given honors by the brightness. She hesitated, then threw open the door and
Programmers. They were called Executives, or Officers, or walked out into a glorious springtime.
VIPs. They were given extra dots for their screens, and flash- The hard, brilliant light struck her with such force that she
ing signs that said: ‘I am happy!’ or ‘I am free!’ or ‘I am some- became painfully blinded. She writhed under it, and part of
body!’ All the signs flashed at exactly the same moments, so her began to long for the dark safety of the Cave. It was com-
that the VIP section seemed engulfed in a great pulsing elec- fortable there, while here she was alone and vulnerable, with
tronic wave, reading ‘I am happy, I am free, I am happy, I no flashing signs to tell her what to do or how to feel. She felt
am free, I am Somebody!’ To sit in the wash of these bright the great fear of freedom.
lights was exciting, envied and sought by everyone. “Some- She looked down to avoid the direct light. At first she saw
day,” the others thought, “if I work hard and follow the dots only shadows and reflections in water. But after a time her
correctly, I will get a flashing sign on my screen telling me eyes began to adjust, and she saw the true glory of that sunlit
‘I am happy, I am free!’, and then I will be Somebody!” world. What magnificence! The utter miracle of lush green
One day a young woman became tired of the little flash- plants, the mystery of white clouds floating in the deep blue
ing dots and the endless contests. The figures seemed so pre- dome of the sky… and everywhere, everything saturated in
dictable, so routine, so boring. “Surely,” she thought, “there light: wave upon endless wave of voluptuous, buoyant light.
must be more to life than this? Besides, who is Somebody?” She wandered as if newborn, in wonder and delight, trying to
With great effort she tore her eyes loose from her screen touch every leaf and fragrant flower and blade of green grass
and glanced around. She turned slowly around and in doing she passed. She danced wildly in the sea of sunlight for the
so made a great discovery: the chains that held her existed sheer joy of being alive. Alive! As if for the first time! Joy lifted
only in her mind! her thoughts higher and higher like a red-tailed hawk soaring
Her screen began to flash furiously: “Stop! Return to on an updraft to heights of ecstasy, to the burning beauty of
Reality. Repeat. Stop! Return to Reality.” But she stood up. the sun itself. Her soul was consumed by fire!
She was afraid from the strangeness of it all, but she contin- Later, exhausted by this outpouring of ecstasy, she lay rest-
ued to turn. There, beyond the rows of identical screens, she ing in the soft grass. Her thoughts turned to her former com-
saw something amazing – distant people madly typing at key- panions, locked away in dingy Cave World below, manipu-
boards. They were the Programmers, controlling every lated like puppets by the Programmers. She must tell them
aspect of the only world she knew, but she could not under- the truth! The world of flashing dots was a cruel lie!
stand. She wondered whether they were an illusion. They Hard as it was to leave the World of Light, she turned back,
looked strange to her, and menacing. She stumbled back into journeying down, down to the Cave. She strode in and
her seat, turning back fearfully to her screen. It flashed furi- shouted: “Friends, come with me out into the sunlight! The
ously at her: “You are beginning to recover from a psychotic true world is brighter and bolder than you’ve ever dreamed!
episode. Repeat. You are now returning to Reality.” Come out from your prisons of flashing screens!” But the
Later she was given some extra colorful dots, then even a people loved the prison of their illusions and they feared the
flashing ‘happiness’ sign, but life could not be the same as new and different. Their screens flashed with angry epithets.
before. An insidious doubt had seized her mind. She was When she persisted, trying to shake them from their trances,
infected with the terrible disease called ‘Questioning’. So the Programmers pressed buttons to destroy her image on the
not long after, the young woman grew restless once again. screens. But although they could erase her from their
She could no longer be absorbed in the allure of moving machines, they could not extinguish her or her message. She
dots, no matter how colorful. One day she even blinked! Her walked through the Cave, singing of the wonder and freedom
screen went blank for a brief moment. In that moment she and joy of the World of Light; but the Cave Dwellers tuned
leaned forward, stood up again, and turned around. This her out – all except a boy in the back corner. As he glanced
time her screen flashed even more furiously at her. But she up at her, a question entered his mind. At that precise moment,
decided to follow her questions, and to explore. his screen went blank and she reached out her hand to him.
Off in the distance, beyond the Programmers, she saw a He grasped it, and rose slowly, like a morning star. Together
dim sign saying ‘Exit’, and beyond it a light. She began to they turned and began the long journey toward the light. A
walk towards it, hearing around her waves of contemptuous new day was dawning.
laughter from the Programmers. But even louder was the © VINCENT KAVALOSKI 2020
derisive, cutting laughter of all the VIPs, who were watch- Vincent Kavaloski is Professor of Philosophy and Integrative
ing her shaky, tentative struggle on their screens. But their Studies at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin. He also
happiness signs had grown dim. facilitates Socrates Cafés and public discussions on peace, justice
The woman fled through the Exit and up a steep stair- and human rights.

Professor Daniel Dennett
Visiting Professor of Philosophy at
New College of the Humanities
Distinguished
undergraduate study led
by extraordinary faculty.
Think different.
Think better.
Think NCH.
Find out more at nchlondon.ac.uk

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