Interpretation

A JOURNAL

OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Number 3

Spring
315

1999

Volume 26

Leighton Moore

Laughing

at

Logoi: Laughter, Persuasion,

and

Glaucon's Courage

333

Peter Pesic

Desire, Science
Account
of

and

Polity: Francis Bacon's

Eros

353 379

Leo Strauss
Joseph Carpino

German Nihilism
Tractatus Liquorico-Philosophicus, Steinkopf

by

Sigmund

Book Reviews

391

Susan Meld Shell

An Approach to Aristotle's Physics: With

Particular Attention to the Role of His Manner of Writing,

by

David Bolotin

393

Paul Seaton

Spinoza, Liberalism,
Jewish Identity,

by

Question of Steven B. Smith

and

the

405

Chistopher

Flannery

John Adams

and

by
413
Michael Zuckert

C.

Bradley

Spirit of Liberty, Thompson

the

From Parchment to Power: How James

Madison Used

the

Bill of Rights To Save

the

Constitution, by

Robert Goldwin

Interpretation
Editor-in-Chief Hilail Gildin, Dept. Leonard
of

Philosophy, Queens College

Executive Editor General Editors

Grey

Seth G. Benardete Charles E. Butterworth Hilail Gildin Robert Horwitz (d. 1987) Howard B. White (d. 1974) Christopher Bruell Joseph

Consulting

Editors

Cropsey

Ernest L. Fortin

John Hallowell (d. 1992) Harry V. Jaffa David Lowenthal Muhsin Mahdi Harvey C. Mansfield Arnaldo Momigliano (d. 1987) Michael Oakeshott (d. 1990) Ellis Sandoz Leo Strauss (d. 1973) Kenneth W. Thompson
International Editors

Terence E. Marshall

Heinrich Meier

Editors

Wayne Ambler Maurice Auerbach Fred Baumann Amy Bonnette Patrick Coby Elizabeth C de Baca Eastman Thomas S. Engeman Edward J. Erler Maureen Feder-Marcus Pamela K. Jensen Ken Masugi Will Morrisey Susan Orr Charles T. Rubin Leslie G. Rubin Susan Meld Shell Bradford P. Wilson Michael P. Zuckert Catherine H. Zuckert Lucia B. Prochnow Subscription rates per volume (3 issues): individuals $29 libraries and all other institutions $48 students (four-year limit) $18

Manuscript Editor

Subscriptions

Single

copies available. outside

U.S.: Canada $4.50 extra; $5.40 extra by surface mail (8 or longer) or $1 1.00 by air. Payments: in U.S. dollars and payable by Postage
elsewhere

weeks

financial institution located (or the U.S. Postal Service).

a

within the

U.S.A.

The Journal Welcomes Manuscripts

in

in

Political Philosophy

as

Well

as

Those

Theology, Literature,

and

Jurisprudence.

follow The Chicago Manual of Style, 1 3th ed. or manuals based on it; double-space their manuscripts, including notes; place references in the text, in endnotes or follow current journal style in printing references. Words from languages not rooted in Latin should be transliterated to English. To ensure impartial judgment of their manuscripts, contributors should omit mention of their
contributors should
other work; put, on the title page with

postal/zip

code

in full, E-Mail

only, their name, any affiliation desired, address and telephone. Please send four clear copies,

which will not

be

returned.

Composition by Eastern Composition A Division of Bytheway Publishing Services Binghamton, N.Y. 13904 U.S.A. Printed by The Sheridan Press, Hanover PA 17331 U.S.A. Inquiries:

(Ms.) Joan Walsh, Assistant

to the Editor

interpretation, Queens College, Flushing, N.Y. 1 1367-1597, U.S.A. (718)997-5542 Fax (718) 997-5565

E Mail:

interpretation_journal@qc.edu

Interpretation
Snrine 1999

JL

Volume 9.6 26

Number 3

Leighton Moore

Logo'v. Laughter, Persuasion, Glaucon's Courage

Laughing

at

and

315

Peter Pesic

Desire, Science
Account
of

and

Polity: Francis Bacon's

Eros

333

Leo Strauss

German Nihilism

353

Joseph Carpino

Tractatus Liquorico-Philosophicus, by Sigmund Steinkopf

379

Book Reviews

Susan Meld Shell

An Approach to Aristotle's Physics: With

Particular Attention to the Role of His Manner of Writing, by David Bolotin

391

Paul Seaton

Spinoza, Liberalism, and the Question of Jewish Identity, by Steven B. Smith

393

Christopher

Flannery

John Adams

and the

Spirit of Liberty, 405

by

C.

Bradley

Thompson

Michael Zuckert

From Parchment to Power: How James Madison Used the Bill of Rights To Save the

Constitution, by Robert Goldwin

413

Copyright 1999

interpretation

ISSN 0020-9635

Interpretation
Editor-in-Chief Executive Editor

Hilail Gildin, Dept. Leonard

of

Philosophy, Queens College

Grey

General Editors

Seth G. Benardete Charles E. Butterworth Hilail Gildin Robert Horwitz (d. 1987) Howard B. White (d. 1974) Christopher Bruell Joseph Cropsey Ernest L. Fortin John Hallowell (d. 1992) Harry V. Jaffa David Lowenthal Muhsin Mahdi Harvey C. Mansfield Arnaldo Momigliano (d. 1987) Michael Oakeshott
(d.

Consulting

Editors

1990)

Ellis Sandoz

Leo Strauss (d. 1973)

Kenneth W. Thompson
International Editors

Terence E. Marshall Wayne Ambler

Heinrich Meier
-

Editors

Maurice Auerbach

Fred Baumann

Bonnette Patrick Coby Elizabeth C de Baca Eastman Thomas S. Engeman Edward J. Erler Maureen Feder-Marcus Pamela K. Jensen Ken Masugi Will Morrisey Susan Orr Charles T. Rubin Leslie G. Rubin Susan Meld Shell Bradford P. Wilson Michael P. Zuckert Catherine H. Zuckert

Amy

Manuscript Editor Subscriptions

Lucia B. Prochnow Subscription

rates per volume

(3 issues):

individuals $29 libraries and all other institutions $48 students (four-year limit) $18 Single
copies available. outside

Postage
or

elsewhere

U.S.: Canada $4.50 extra; $5.40 extra by surface mail (8 longer) or $1 1.00 by air.

weeks

Payments: in U.S. dollars and payable by a financial institution located within the U.S.A. (or the U.S. Postal Service).

The Journal Welcomes Manuscripts

in

in

Political Philosophy

as

Well

as

Those

Theology, Literature,

and

Jurisprudence.

contributors should

follow The Chicago Manual of Style, 13th ed. or manuals based on it; double-space their manuscripts, including notes; place references in the text, in endnotes or follow current journal style in printing references. Words from languages not rooted in Latin should be transliterated to English. To ensure impartial judgment of their manuscripts, contributors should omit mention of their
other with

postal/zip

work; put, on the title page only, their name, any affiliation desired, address code in full, E-Mail and telephone. Please send four clear copies,

which will not

be

returned.

Composition by Eastern Composition A Division of Bytheway Publishing Services Binghamton, N.Y. 13904 U.S.A. Printed by The Sheridan Press, Hanover PA 17331 U.S.A.
Inquiries:

(Ms.) Joan Walsh, Assistant to the Editor interpretation, Queens College, Flushing, N.Y. 1 1367-1597, U.S.A. (718)997-5542 Fax (718) 997-5565
interpretation_journal@qc.edu

E Mail:

Laughing

at

Logoi:
and

Laughter, Persuasion,
Leighton Moore

Glaucon's Courage

Student, Harvard Law School

"Socrates
there?"

was a

buffoon

who got

himself taken seriously;

what

really happened
of the Idols

Nietzsche, Twilight

I. INTRODUCTION

Nietzsche Socrates

means to

shock, but his question is the

whether to

right one.

We know little
seriously.

of

until we

know
saw

laugh

at

him

or to take although

him

Aris in

tophanes, for one, the basket-dweller

the

his

comic potential.

And,

it is

easier of

to ridicule
even

of

The Clouds than the beautified Socrates

was often taken

Plato,

dialogues Socrates

lightly,

sometimes

by

his

most sympa

thetic

interlocutors. Socratic ironies

provoke

three of the four occurrences of

laughter in the Republic (337a, 398c, 451b); and, surprisingly, the person in that dialogue who appears the most predisposed to find Socratic speeches comical is

Glaucon (see, e.g., 445a-b, 456d),

most and able respondent to

Socrates'

companion to the

Piraeus

and

the

willing look. For the young Glaucon the problem of Socrates appears as an immediate form of the question how best to live; and despite the seriousness with which he
takes that question, in the course of pursuing
other characters

his

questioning.1

This

case

deserves

a second

it he laughs twice,

as much as all

combined, responding

each time

to some more or less ironic

Socratic
tions

utterance

(398c, 451b). In
ironies

each

case, Glaucon's laughter

each case

implicitly

ques

Socrates'

seriousness,
Socrates'

although

in

it

remains

unclear

whether

Glaucon hears

as serious speeches

inviting

ridicule or as

jokes

inviting

responses

in kind.
of
Cephalus'

The ambiguity of Glaucon's laughs reflects possibilities fully realized in the Republic's other instances of laughter:

meaning more laugh at a ironic

friendly
plea

joke (33 Id),

Thrasymachus'

and

derisive

Socrates'

guffaw

at

for pity (337a). The perceptions behind these laughs differ in a way to which Plato calls attention more explicitly elsewhere. At Symposium 189b,
Aristophanes (no
I
this

mean expert as

to how speeches might produce

laughter)

says

would

like to thank Carl Page for his helpful

and

encouraging

comments on earlier

drafts

of

essay.

interpretation,

Spring 1999,

Vol. 26, No. 3

316

Interpretation
not

he does
median

fear

laughable"

"saying
do, but

something
would not wish

(ti

geloion

eipes),

which a co

ought to

his

speech

to be

"ridiculous"

(ka-

tagelasta).

being
must

or

Geloios is simply "laughable"; kata-, which signifies something's going down, here adds the nuance of contempt or belittling. Aris
remark suggests that even a comic speech

tophanes'

has

a serious side which

be taken seriously if the speaker's intention is to be properly honored, hence his careful distinction between the different laughs which mark the poet's
success or omits

failure

at

the serious task of speaking comically. The alternative he

is to

provoke

laughter

by failing (or,

more precisely,

by being

judged to

fail)

in the

serious attempt to speak seriously. appropriate response

that such
practiced

laughter is the

Callicles, in the Gorgias, claims to philosophy itself, at least when

scornful

by

older men

in

place of politics

(484e-485c).

Like

Callicles'

Thrasymachus'

remonstrance,
some aspect of

laugh

expresses

his

judgment that
seriously.

identify

this as

Socratic philosophy is unworthy of being taken an instance of laughter (cf. Philebus

"phthonic"

48a-50b)
that

which expresses a certain malice

toward

its

object.

Cephalus hints

in his youth, he laughed in this way at tales of the afterworld (330d-e). The laugh he utters in the Republic is of the second kind, however: it reflects a
perception

that the speech at which

please

he laughs

realizes

the speaker's primary

speech

intention to

by

successful gelotopoios

causing laughter (i.e., a perception that the or joke). I will call such laughter
suggests

is

"philic."

The

ambi must

guity judge

of

Glaucon's laughs

both types

of response: an

interpreter

whether each

laugh indicates
or some

ridicule of a

failure

of

seriousness, appre to discover what

ciation of a comic

success,
can

blend

of the two.

Thus,

Glaucon's laughs foreshadowed

Those

tell us,

it

proves of

by

the earlier

laughs

helpful to inquire how they may be Cephalus and Thrasymachus.

other

figures

represent variations on the

of

Republic's thematic

question:

the meaning and

desirability
traveling

the just life.

Cephalus,

the wealthy metic, and

Thrasymachus,
selves

the

rhetorician, have resolved this question for them

in

ways

that involve partial

envisions a of the

independence from
of

the city's common

life. The

ambitious

Glaucon

observe

his

fantasy

independence seemingly more complete: Lydian ring. Yet by the dialogue's end, all of these
are replaced with a concrete

form

abstract and partial

images

though

ironically

in

flected depiction

of philosophic

freedom,

and the question of

justice is

accord

ingly
city

transformed.

The

just life develops into

can claim to

inquiry Glaucon begins into the choiceworthiness two dialectically interwoven lines of thought: who
and what rule of and

of the

in the

live best,

life in

common with others should

philosopher-

such a person

have? Thrasymachus

kings and, for that matter, Socrates ings

raise

Cephalus, like the image of himself, stand for answers whose

shortcom

these questions anew.

Glaucon's laughs link him thematically with Cephalus and Thrasymachus; in doing so they reveal some of the deeper issues facing, not him alone, but also
the philosophic reader.

In

what

follows,

I interpret the dramatic

use of

laughter

Laughing
in
the

at

Logoi

317

Republic

as a

device for

drawing

attention

to a character's

perception of

the seriousness of
as well as

Socrates'

philosophic

logos. Socratic talk,

by

its ironic form

by its

paradoxical content, presents an

interlocutor

with a sometimes

difficult

concerning whether and how to take Socrates seriously (see, e.g., Gorgias 481b-c). To respond to that question with laughter may imply
question
either that serious.
must

Socrates

must

And

a given person's

be joking, or that he has a ridiculous way of being judgment of a Socratic speech in this respect

be informed

by
and

that person's own preconceived opinion of the serious

aims one might

have in

though
goods

Cephalus

speaking and inquiring about the just. Al Thrasymachus have decided this question in favor of
view when

able soul

pertaining to lower parts of the soul, Glaucon's younger, more persuad is already strongly inclined to take philosophic virtue as an end in
question of what

itself. For Glaucon, the

speech
nature

it

means

to take a given

Socratic

seriously is a concrete instantiation of the question of philosophy, its and its worth. To understand his laughter in light of that question is the

aim of the

following

interpretation.2

II. LAUGHTER AND GLAUCON'S COURAGE

When,
and

at the end of

Book I, Socrates has

won

the allegiance of Polemarchus

has bested Thrasymachus, he has not yet shown that the just life is the most choiceworthy in itself as well as for acquiring the external goods with which those two interlocutors are concerned. Glaucon asks to be truly, not just seem

ingly,
with

persuaded

(357a-b),

a request which conflicts

his later laughter

of

at two

Socratic

The form
suaded

that request

suggestively obviously uttered in jest. indicates that Glaucon's willingness to be per

speeches not although

strikingly

and

is

perhaps too complete:

justice he

could secure

he clearly does not yet grasp how his happiness, he lets the dialogue's continuation rest on

Socrates'

at

first

(not just his own) desire that the company be truly persuaded. Thus appears willing to be persuaded not to be persuaded, if that is what

Socrates

wants. are

Indeed,

when

Socrates later

claims that

his

opinions about the

Good itself

beyond the

scope of their
Socrates'

hearing

them soon yields to

partial payment

discussion, Glaucon's insistence on in the form of an image,

of the argument (506bopinions and own wisdom
Socrates'

with an unendorsed

promissory note for the balance 507a). Both Glaucon's strong desire to hear
Socrates'

his defer
not yet

ence to

judgment indicate that he knows his

of

does

suffice for the proper ordering lack, in his desire truly to desire the just, animates the entire dialogue. In making his request for true persuasion, Glaucon is asking Socrates to help him see his way soul. awareness of that clear

his

His

manifest

to

desiring

a good that

does

not yet

Socrates
ence that

prefaces

his

narration of

feel wholly like a Glaucon's request by informing his

good.3

audi

"Glaucon is

always most courageous

in

everything.

The

strange

318

Interpretation

but strong implication, that asking to be persuaded might illustrate courage of a superlative order, is not explained. As this remark is the first mention of cour
age

in the Republic, the

might

careful reader should give

it

weight and

should

ask

how it
claim

bear

on the

discussion to follow. And

not to the

not

only

that: since the narration,

belongs to the direct,

the

imitative itself

Socrates'

part of

it is
the

"yesterday"

uttered on

day

of that narration

and not on

the

of

dialogue

narrated (327a). Hence one should also ask how the earlier remark

may already be
took part

colored

by

the later discussion of courage,

in

which our narrator

"yesterday."

Yet the link to that discussion

tation.

guardian

is

said

first only to complicate the interpre to be courageous when "his spirited part preserves,
seems at

through pains and pleasures, what

which

has been
not"

proclaimed

by

the speeches about that

is

terrible and that which

is

(442c). Persuasion presumably involves

or

either a change ment to

in

an opinion or the

strengthening

weakening

of one's attach

it. Since Glaucon's his

being
a

persuaded of

the choiceworthiness of justice

must also affect

opinions about what

request would appear

to

betray

is fearful (see, e.g., 361e-362a), his sort. He deficiency of courage of the

even the

guardians'

only be persuaded for the better if his opinions weakly held. The guardians do not possess the only, nor
could

were either unlawful or

highest form
room

of

courage, however: theirs is "political

courage,"

a term which

leaves

for

both lower
political.

and

higher forms,
mentions not give

as there are

lives both lower

treatment"

and

higher than the is possible,

Socrates

that a "still finer

of the virtue

though

he does

it (430c). These

observations suggest that some

higher

form

of

courage,

some courage requisite to the philosophic

life,

appears

in Glau

con's eagerness

to be

truly (which

turns

out

to mean philosophically) persuaded

revealed

to choose

justice. As
it

such courage would

Socrates'

be best

in the drama

of a

philosophic

conversation, it is in
content.

narrative that one must

look for the

actions that give

Glaucon's

pursuit of persuasion

is marked,

at

least, by

dogged

endurance even

and a sanguine spirit.

when

Repeatedly

he holds Socrates to the

philosophic

quest,

Socrates

resists or warns of

danger (450a-45 1 b, 506b-d). When Socrates

with

moves to

escape, Glaucon (sometimes

a

help,

sometimes

without)

prods

him

back toward
was at and

full praising of justice. This reaction is natural enough: after all, it Glaucon's urging that the dialogue originally moved beyond the definition
of

defense

justice to its

praise.

What

requires explanation

is that
of

Socrates'

evasions often appear to occurs at a point when

Glaucon

as occasions

for

comedy.

Each

his laughs

Socrates is trying to get out of the dialogue. He first laughs when Socrates, having extensively discussed poetry with Adeimantus, (398c). Later, seemingly proposes to skip over "the matter of song and when Socrates moves to hand over the whole discussion of justice in the city in speech to the younger men, Glaucon accuses him of (427d). "talking And Glaucon laughs for the second and last time as he ridicules Socrates' un
melody"

nonsense"

willingness

to give a full account of the

community

of women

and children

Laughing
(451b). From the
persistence and repeated

at

Logoi

-319

juxtaposition

of

Glaucon's

comic moments with

his

in the

philosophic

inquiry

he

boldly began,

it

appears

that his laughs

his

peculiar courage are supposed to overview of the

An

discussions

of

be mutually illuminating. laughter in the dialogue

supports

this

association and
age.

helps clarify somewhat the general relation of laughter to cour The first mention of laughter comes from Cephalus, who testifies that he longer now
an

and others who once

do

so no

that old age

laughed scornfully (katageloien) at tales of the afterworld, has intensified their fear of death. Laughter here
of

flows from

incomplete form

courage,

heedless bravado toward

with

spiritual

dangers,
laughter
tales

which,

being

function
with

in the discussion of courage

would

Later, Adeimantus, Socrates suggests that such scornful

of youthful
poets'

desire, declines

the body.

be the young

guardians'

appropriate reaction on

portray

gods as

vulnerable to mortal griefs

of

(388d). Yet
off of

hearing he immediately
questioning, he
. . .

qualifies

this apparent approval

laughter.

Leaving
also

his

usual

flatly
man

asserts that the guardians

"shouldn't be lovers

laughter.
a

For

when a

lets himself

go

and

accompany his explained, nor is the detrimental

on

condition"

laughs mightily, he (388e). The nature

effect the

seeks

mighty

change to

change"

of this

"mighty
of

is

not

guardians'

love

laughter

would

have

their courage.

passage

from

Remaining in assertoric mode, the Odyssey which describes the

its
relation virtue

Socrates

proceeds

to expunge the
laughter"

gods'

"unquenchable

at

the

impotent Hephaistos (389a). The explicit discussion of laughter in the Republic

to courage, than with

acknowledges some

deficit of that

but generally associates laughter rather its full realization.

with

With the

foregoing

remarks

in mind, the interpretive

inquiry

somewhat, for the

central question now appears

to be whether
an

may be refined Glaucon's laugh

which some

ter may suggest an imperfection in

his courage,
persuasion.

incompleteness
answer

how illuminates his desire for true necessary to

public's situate

And to

this question

it is

Glaucon's laughs in the

Platonic insights

context of

his

character as well as

within the constellation of

which alone can

illuminate the Re laughter is

the

drama.

The

closest

Plato

comes to

having

Socrates

articulate a

theory
in

of

in the

Philebus."

There Socrates

explains to

Protarchus that the

nature of

laughable (to geloion) is

too
weak

a show of pretentious self-ignorance

another who

is

to take

revenge upon

the laugher.

Our

response to

the comic spectacle

extent
self-

is

a mixture of pleasure and pain: pain at another's evil

(at least to the

that we

feel

friendship
(phthonos,

toward

him), but

pleasure

in

our perception of

his

ignorance. This
"envy"

combination of pleasure and pain at the evils of others see

Socrates

calls

49d). Strangely, Socrates

not give rise

says that since

perceiving

the evils of our enemies

not unjust. ments

does

to envy, our pleasure in such evils is

Of primary importance here is that laughter implies certain judg about the person laughed at, both in himself and in relation to the one

laughing. In
wisdom;

himself,
relation

we

think, the
we see

comic character suffers

from

in

to us,

him

as neither

fully

friend

deficiency of nor fully an

320

Interpretation
Socrates
suggests

enemy.

but does
such

not

develop

the conclusion that the

judg

ments and passions

implicit in

laughter

raise the question of

justice.

Though the Philebus

of

account seems able to cast some

light

on the meanings

even aside
"later"

dramatic laughter in the Republic, its relevance requires careful consideration from the scholarly pitfalls involved in applying the doctrines of to the interpretation of dialogues. The Socrates of the Philebus
"earlier"

presents

his brief in

account of the

laughable in forms

order to articulate
presents

"the disposition

comedies"

of our soul

(48a). But comedy

only

one possible context

of

laughter,

one

in

which particular

of weakness and unwisdom are ob

jectified in dramatic
Socrates'

characters whose unreality, the utmost extreme of weak

vent

ness, invites the audience to

of
Socrates'

its

malice with

impunity. The limited

capture

purpose

explanation
own gentle

of

probably jest and laugh

and

accounts
at

for its failure to

the nuance
the soul's

Crito's

underestimation of

freedom (Phaedo 115c),

identification
of the

for its

apparent

deviation from the Republic's

truly laughable with the bad (452d-e, 457a-b; cf. Gorgias 509a-b). Still, the Philebus account describes one motive for laughter which may be useful for interpreting laughter in a Platonic dialogue: to the extent that
it is directed toward
pleasure

someone's another's

seriousness,

in perceiving

failure I

of wisdom.

ter I earlier called

"phthonic,"

and

will refer

laugh may suggest a malicious This is the variety of laugh to it in that way to indicate its

treatment in the Philebus. It should be noted that to perceive a

failure

of wis

dom implies to that

extent one's own at

least potentially
superior

greater wisdom.

Hence

it

appears that a character who perceives another's

(or, possibly, his own) lack

to that

of wisdom

is in

a position

to

judge himself
And if the

deficiency,

though

he

will not

necessarily do

so.

deficiency
at

sense of
wisdom

superiority should extend to that other, is thought to extend.

belongs to another, then this least as far as the failure of

Aristophanes'

Now clearly the phthonic cannot be the only form of laughter. distinction from the Symposium suggests another kind, a kind that
takes honor seriously might

one

who

intend to

produce.

Unlike the butt dream

of

of phthonic revenge

laughter,
against a

neither the comic poet nor the actors would

taking

laughing

audience, as

long

as the

laughter

was of

the right sort and at

the right times. To the extent that a

laugh honors a speaker's successfully real ized intention to be comical, it is neither malicious nor superior but what one might call To laugh with someone's joke reveals both a certain like"philic."

mindedness as to the subject matter and a willingness to cooperate

vention of

in

the con

joking

that the

butt

of the

cooperation and wished

Yet it must be kept in mind joke (where there is one) is, as such, excluded from that that pleasure. Such exclusion is presumably what Aristophanes
sake of mutual pleasure.

for the

to avoid.

such a nature as

On this account, laughter, whether philic or phthonic, should come easily to Glaucon's. The evidence of Glaucon's disposition throughout

the dialogue confirms both

his

seriousness about pleasure and

his devotion to

Laughing
the

at

Logoi

321

forms

of pleasure which most

deserve

seriousness.

Glaucon loves feasts

(372d), (402d),

music and

(398e), victory in battle (368a, 548d), youths with noble souls philosophic speeches (450b): spiritual meanings, sensuously em
virtue"

bodied. Strauss is

not wholly unfair in claiming that the young man "cannot distinguish between his desire for dinner and his desire for (p. 95). Hence Glaucon remains perfectly in character when, in the discussion of the

Good, he is

tempted to assert that pleasure is the source of knowledge and truth

(509a). In light
philosophical

especially in the context of his quest for persuasion, it is quite natural that Plato would make Glaucon
of these

facts,

and

laugh,
to

whether to express a sense of

indicate his delight in

some

superiority over some lack of wisdom, or surprising like-mindedness shared with friends.
own excellence and wants to

Glaucon takes

great pleasure

in his

in the company meaning

of

those

who are capable of pleasure expressed

recognizing it, and he in sensuous form.

see the

of that

Glaucon's laughter thus may express the vigor of his yearning for the noble, the fact remains that this yearning bursts forth in an inarticulate,
while

Yet

indeliberate
quickly,

way.

The temptation to joke

and to

laugh is

temptation to judge
a

perhaps

hastily,

and perhaps without even

realizing that

judgment has

been

made. As already noted, Aristophanes is aware that the comedian risks making himself ridiculous in the course of seeking to show his wisdom about human eros. A laugh, like a joke, may be wise or foolish depending upon whether what provokes laughter should instead have been taken seriously. As I argue more philosophic

fully below,
inquiry, but
as realized

Glaucon's laughs
also

reveal

his

pleasure and confidence

in

his imperfect

appreciation of

its

attendant

ironies.
that the

His courage,

in that inquiry,

preserves the

"lawful
can

opinion"

private good of porated

into

philosophy harmonious

and the public good of

order of rule

piety

be reliably incor
even when

preserves that

opinion,

Socrates himself is suggesting otherwise. And whether Glaucon's courage is complete depends upon whether he should, instead, have been persuaded.

III. CEPHALUS

good might counts

Cephalus introduces the possibility that a serious speech about the human be rejected with the sensuous immediacy of a laugh, when he re
how in his
youth

he

scoffed

(katagelan)

and

its

punishments
gone.

(330d). Yet

whatever

at the muthoi concerning Hades iconoclastic boldness such laughter surrender

betokened is
consoles

Cephalus

now

dreads death's
and

to judgment and

himself
the

poets'

with

flattery. He

Glaucon,

though paired
with respect

by

laugh

ter and

by

love

of

pleasure, are sharply contrasted

to courage.

The

warlike

Glaucon is distinguished
as

by

valor

in battle (368a);
rather

moneymakers
risk

like Cephalus,

Socrates later

points

out, would

be defeated than

their wealth (555a). And

if

the willingness to

be

persuaded shows a

higher form

322
of

Interpretation
occurs as
abrasive

courage, Cephalus appears to lack it. His laugh

the

discussion, having
and

been disquieted
sacrifice

Socrates'

by
his

he is abandoning and disrespectful

lose his hoard

interrogation

choosing to
while

position rather than to

of self-satisfaction.

Cephalus laughs

fleeing

the risk of

being

shamed

by
is

the
all

younger

Socra
and

tes. The old man's wisdom, while not entirely unsound,

poetry.

anecdotes

Although he has

no

well-grounded,

universal account

to give, he

has just

been

indulging
for
one

makes

his vanity by instructing the philosopher. Potential embarrassment threat to his serenity, but the more serious one is the possibility justice
might confirm the

that a philosophic discussion of to which he

and

"suspicion

terror"

and

has

reason

has just admitted, namely that he has done some unwitting injustice to fear the afterlife. No longer able to dismiss the tales of
Hades'

punishments, Cephalus is
them with that "sweet

now

unable

to take

his fears lightly, but

praises

must calm

hope"

of which

he

so

vehemently

(331a). The threat to this

motivates

sentiment posed

by

the question

Pindar's eulogy 'What is

justice?'
hiera)"

his

abrupt

departure "toward the

sacred things

(pros ta

(33 Id).

By leaving,
he has
more or

Cephalus hopes to

preserve the simple notion of

justice he feels
of

less

satisfied

in his life. Under this notion, the horizon

justice

is limited to fair
wrongs

men: truth-telling and paying one's debts. Any paying damages to the injured party and sacrific ing some property to the gods (331b). Cephalean justice, then, concerns itself with maintaining preexisting forms of interaction that smooth the peaceful ac

dealing

among

may be

redressed

by

quisition and enjoyment of the goods of private

life. Reliance

on

these conven

independence from community that property can bring, but leaves Cephalus unpracticed at determining for himself what his life is worth in the broader scheme. His mundane interpretation of the just
tions makes possible the qualified
man's

self-sufficiency for the more spiritual

than a metaphor,

as

freedom from debt

serves as an unexamined paradigm

rewards

that preoccupy him now.

Supported

by

no more

fectionism

of

his complacency is too easily threatened by the insistent per Socratic definition (331c-d). Perhaps he senses that there might
present, faults of

be, in his
But

past or

truth-telling for
would not

which

he

will not

know how

to make good the damage.

a threat to when

his complacency "Am I

not

by itself

make

Cephalus laugh.
on
you?"

He laughs

Polemarchus, preparing
the

to make good
of what

his father's default

to

the argument, quips:

heir

belongs

(33 Id).
a

Besides

being

witty, the joke is

comforting in

several ways.

Simply by being

jest, it

soothes the gadfly's supposed

Cephalus had have to do

speeches"

with

really is, it was, only a matter of "the desires and pleasures that (328d). It removes the indebtedness from the favor
as

sting

by suggesting

that the conversation

making it seem that Cephalus is conferring a bequest on his son, rather than Cephalus' getting bailed out of an uncomfortable situation. And it eases worry, by reminding him of his ability to do justice as he understands it. The old man

by

is

surprised and relieved

to think that

his Delphic

duty

of self-knowledge

may

Laughing
be handed down like the Socratic backs it

at

Logoi

323

family

fortune. His

son's

learning,
rest

wit, and filial grati

tude make that thought a pleasant one, as

refutation.
was

does
to

the contrasting prospect of

Cephalus has
than

cause enough

in the

assumption that

his definition

it seemed, considering that Polemarchus not only but also seems to have taken his own stand within authority its actually indefensible boundaries. His horizons having been restored, Cephalus laughs. In contrast with Glau
with poetic

better

con's

laughs,
laugh

which coincide with

alus'

accompanies

his urging Socrates ahead in the inquiry, Ceph his departure to look after the sacrifices. The move

toward piety

here

necessitates quite

literally turning

one's

back

on

theoretical

inquiry. Cephalus laughs, not before leaving, as some translations suggest, but "at the same (hama). This modifier invites the reader to associate
time"

Cephalus'

laugh
man

hasty departure that Polemarchus is attempting to smooth. The old laughingly abandons philosophy for the pleasure of religious consolation,
with

the

his laugh, like his exit, suggests that he will not be persuaded to change or even to question his understanding of the just. In laughing, Cephalus dismisses
and

dialectic

by

placing it

on a

level

with

lyrics

and witticisms;

in departing, he buries
philosophy the
city's

the inarticulate skepticism of

myths.

his

youth and elevates above

Yet the Republic,

with

its setting

of private

hospitality,

represents the city's

fear

as

absence, its scorn as

celebration of the

bemusement, its holy. Like that of Athens,

persuaded of
stands.

pious rejection of
Cephalus'

philosophy

as a

courage would

fails because to be
how his
cosmic

his

own

ignorance
no

for philosophy leave him uncertain

Socrates

ledger

But he is

Athenian juror: he fears to judge,

at and

because he fears to be judged. Whereas Athens first laughed

then took him seriously, Cephalus neither quite laughs at

him

nor quite takes

him

seriously.

His laugh is

an

indirect dismissal

of

philosophy, but also a part

ing

benediction: his

relation

to the philosophic

logos is benevolent, ignorant,

or even a partici

self-satisfied.

Although he

pant, under his auspices

be its governing principle the deeper inquiry unfolds.

cannot

IV. THRASYMACHUS

No

one would call

Thrasymachus

pious or

fearful. His
and

contempt

for

received

opinions on

justice

could not

be

more

open,

he laughs to

Socrates'

scorn

hesitance to take
symachus

a stand and

defend

an opinion on the

himself,

of course,

has

highly

just (337a, 336c). Thra unconventional opinion which he Yet

while

feels

quite able to

defend

against all comers.

his independence from

the political community

abstract and partial.

is

more pronounced than that of one

Cephalus, it
in his

remains

Although

doubts that the

resistance

rhetorician

old age will

be duped

poets'

by

tales, the very

to

persuasion

which preserves

324

Interpretation
Cephalus'

him from

fate

nevertheless circumscribes

his

potential

for true in

self-

sufficiency.

Not just Thrasymachus but the

abstraction

rhetorician as such goes cloaked

a certain

from
To

the community's dialectical life.

suaded; qua rhetorician, he is concerned

on others. cian

with arguments

Qua citizen, he might be per purely for their effect may say that
the rhetori

speak

like Thrasymachus himself, To be

one

is

not a rhetorician at the moment when

he is

being

persuaded, in the

respect of

his

being

persuaded. at

persuaded

(peithesthai) is

to obey; it may

be said, then, in Greek does his

the public
not even

least,

that the rhetorician as such obeys no one. Nor

reflect more than apparent concern argues

persuasive speech

necessarily
where

for

interest,

since the
place

rhetorician

remain

in the

for money (337d) and need the consequences of his persuasion are

felt (344d-e). Thrasymachus himself is introduced

serves

by

his local epithet,

which of

to emphasize his non-Athenian origins (328b). Yet the viability

this

abstraction

in

practice

depends
level

upon the public

dialectical life in

common.

The

rhetorician's art appears as part of that

from their
suit

members a

of

life only because communities call forth spiritual complexity higher than the naked pur
rhetoric

of selfish

interest: Political

exists,

after

all, to

persuade

public

deliberative bodies that the group interest

own.5

of which

quires the same course of action the advocate

they have the keeping re recommends for reasons of his

supper on the wealth who appears not

At
that

a more mundane

level,

rhetoricians

rely for their

even

only dialogue as He

complex economies can generate.

Cephalus'

Thrasymachus,

in the

guest, is no exception. But

at

money is

instrument: for Thrasymachus

victory. says. requires

least, it is primarily

a symbol of

merely an honor and

as he money from Socrates only for a penalty, for The convention he proposes suggests that, like any sophist, he desires that

"thanks"

his

wisdom should

be

measured

in money, for the

or even

sophist

depends

on the

dia

lectical community

not

just to eat,

merely to practice his art, but more

importantly,
tion.

to ascertain

his

own value through a quantifiable

form

of reputa

Thrasymachus in
much

particular

is

deeply
impress

concerned

for reputation; he

wishes

very

to speak so that he can

the young men,

especially Glaucon,

whose

yearning for the logos Socrates repeatedly invokes in persuading Thra symachus to deliver his account of the just (338a, see also 345b, 347e-348b).
once the symbolic gesture of

Accordingly,

upon, he does not even fix an amount alus, gratifies his spiritual needs
struments of

submitting to punishment is agreed (337d-338a). Thrasymachus, like Ceph

symbolic significance to the

by attaching

in

bodily

necessity.

He imagines the

reward of wisdom to

be the kind property by honor

for
assur

of recognition that can

be adequately

represented

by

transfer

of

notably, the same

than

kind Cephalus

pays to the gods.

Bewitched

more

by

gain, the sophist still

ultimately depends

on external sources

ance that

his life is

good

(cf. 582a-c).

Thrasymachus'

independence is illusory,

Laughing
if true self-sufficiency
own
would require

at

Logoi
for

325
one's

that one's knowledge suffice

benediction.
viewed

While Cephalus

logoi

as a source of pleasure and consolation, means of makes

Thra This

symachus sees them

concern

chiefly as a for dialectical hegemony

gratifying the love it difficult to abandon

of victory.

a position once

taken. To

be

persuaded

is to be bested, damaged (341a-b). This

who

difficulty is

all

the more acute

for Thrasymachus,

has

a personal stake

in his thesis (338a,

349a). Besides wanting to defeat any claim Socrates might make to a greater knowledge of the best life, Thrasymachus also wishes to display the worldly insights he has been
point well positioned to obtain at

first hand. As he takes

pains to

making be master; rather, he knows it well (345e). In fact he shares it in his own way and believes that Socrates does too (341a-b). And the mastery Thrasymachus has
achieved

out, he does

not go around

suppositions about the

human desire to

through precise speech and tough-minded observation gives him a

feeling

of superior wisdom which prompts

him to

Socrates'

ridicule

ironic

self-

effacement

(337a, 338b). Although

Thrasymachus'

rhetorical

prowess

and

his inside knowledge lists

with

of

things political provide

him the

confidence

to enter the

Socrates,

boldness Cephalus lacks, the rhetorician's marked unwillingness to be identified with the position he argues stands in sharp contrast to Glaucon's express desire
to

be

guided

by

the

logos (349a). His

courage

readiness

differs from Glaucon's

symachus'

for

philosophy.

for controversy accordingly Socrates calls attention to Thra lion (341c;

cf. 588e-

the man

hunger for victory and to a wild beast (336b), to

who

inability
a wolf

to be persuaded when he compares

and to a

(336d), (430b),

89a). It is Glaucon

later

points out

that the boldness of wild beasts is not

who are signified throughout

the same as the courage of the guardians

the dialogue
and the

by those equally spirited, though domesticable animals, the dog horse. The difference lies in the ability of spiritedness to obey (be
by)
reason.

persuaded

Unable to be persuaded, the

seductive power of reason

rhetorician can risk

nothing
will not

more than shame.

The

is lost

on

him: his life

be

changed.

Faced

with a

that

he

cannot get the

compelling argument in better of it (350c-d).

praise of

justice, he blushes
concerned

In

bringing

Thrasymachus to that telling

blush, Socrates is
not a

to

help

Glaucon

see that the unreformed

desire for victory is

true guide to the

self-sufficiency he seeks. As opposed to the verbal combat of the rhetorician, the philosopher's dialectic affords a kind of victory compatible with being per
suaded makes

(348a-b). In

for

an

fact, by radicalizing the susceptibility of persuasion, it ironic detachment from opinion as such, which supplies the kernel
plea of

of truth

in the

Socratic ignorance Thrasymachus

of

laughingly

dismisses. It
wise

is

consistent

Socratic doctrine that to be delivered

false beliefs is the

should

man's wish, not

mean

his fear. Whatever

persuaded

in the

context of

Socratic philosophy,

being "truly as long

turn out to
marks a

as the

desire for it

326

Interpretation
as

person

"most

courageous,"

Thrasymachus'

then
a

courage,

like Cephalus',

must remain

incomplete. The desire to have

definite

set of opinions prevail at

can

all

costs,

whether spurred courage.

by

the fear of death or of

defeat,

form

no part of

the

highest

V. GLAUCON

I have

suggested that each of

Glaucon's two laughs is it

ambiguous

between

more philic or

Cephalean

and a more phthonic or

Thrasymachean
point should and

perception of

the

Socratic
what

speech at which such

he laughs. At this
would signify.

be

somewhat

clearer share

an

ambiguity

Cephalus

Thrasymachus

sense

that speech about

justice,

to be serious, must ultimately serve

private now

ends;

they differ only

as to the nature of those ends.

Whereas Cephalus,

that

his desire for

pleasure

has become less bodily, finds himself wishing

to be flattered and consoled

spirited

by

the publicly approved opinions about

justice,

the

Thrasymachus transcends
above
all

such opinions to the extent of scornful rejec

experience.

tion,

honoring
his

his

own

And

Cephalus'

whereas

laugh

reasserts part of

challenged assumption

that philosophic speech must

Thrasymachus'

be

somehow a underscores

the cooperative pursuit of pleasure,

laugh

his

view

that it must instead be part of the competitive pursuit of

expresses a prejudice about the ways on

honor. Each,
may

then,

by laughing,

in

which a speech

be serious;
views seriousness.

and their respective opinions

this point grow out of different

on the more general question of what aims

may

command a person's
youthful

Glaucon's laughs
pleasure and

will also

be
as

seen

to reveal his natural,

assumption

desires for
philosophy

honor,

as

well

his

that the goods of

and wants.

will somehow resemble the goods

he already knows

Yet

they

also

indicate that he takes the

pursuit of philosophic persuasion more seri

ously than these

external goods and that

his

commitment to them

is

capable of

being

mitigated or even transfigured

by

philosophy.

As their very ambiguity

over the

suggests, Glaucon's laughs reflect,

course of a

not rigid

habits

of

judgment formed

life, but

rather a complicated mixture of possible ways of under a

standing philosophy's seriousness, Glaucon has not yet established.

Although Glaucon is described
coarse and

mixture whose equilibrium the youthful

as an erotic man

(474d), his desire is

and
Thrasymachus'

not

bodily, but

carries as

him into the

mortal

realm of more spiritual gratifica

tions.
of

Accordingly, just
are manifest

Cephalus'

disquiet

love

honor

in their

attachment to
and

gain, Glaucon's contrasting

readi

ness

to part with money

(337d)
of

his

contempt

for its

pursuit

(337d, 347b)
necessity.

symbolize

his

philosophic potential and

his disregard for

bodily

In

the

dialogues,

the

Socrates

offers

money inevitably evokes the paltry sum of the Athenians in half-mocking assessment of the value
As Strauss notes,
one of

image

silver of

his

own physical existence.

the many parallels

between

Laughing
the

at

Logoi
pay
a

327
fine

Republic

and

the

Apology is

that

in each, Socrates

must offer to
and

if his
their

speeches

do

not convince

(p. 77). Whereas Plato

person

the others betoken

save

friendship

toward

Socrates'

by
a

putting up money to
a gesture of

him
to

from death, Glaucon's

ward

offer to risk

his money is
up

friendship

the philosophic

logos.

By putting

stake, Glaucon declares himself

Socrates'

ally, expresses his disdain for

Thrasymachus'

ignoble

emphasis on

money,
the

and

simultaneously, in effect, hires

without which

a sophist

by

giving Thrasymachus Socrates from any

act echoes the

incentive
as

he

will not speak.

Glaucon

makes

his

one-sided

bet,

not so much to save

agon.

disgrace,
motifs of

in

order

to

hear

the

dialectical

Although his

friendship, loyalty, and defense of one's own, whose interrelationship was introduced through Polemarchus, it also reveals an eagerness particular to Glaucon, whom Socrates (qua narrator) mentions by name as having begged
Thrasymachus to Thrasymachus
to shame,
speak

(338a). It is Glaucon

who

later

so

persuaded

(348a),

and when the rhetorician whom

avidly wishes to see is ultimately brought

proves
unacceptable

it

will

be Glaucon to

his

up"

"giving

(357a). The young man wants to see Thrasymachean tyranny exposed in order to persuade himself that its promise of erotic liberation is hollow. Socrates
achieves

this

by

presenting the

proper

imposed

by

necessity,

as the younger

ordering of the soul, Cephalus thought, nor life but

not as

as

a chore

a confidence rather

game played upon the weak and as an

unwitting, as Thrasymachus

holds, but

enticing possibility

of wholeness which no

the philosopher's can

truly offer. This vision of completion charms Glaucon's erotic soul and inspires his loyalty; yet it remains worth asking whether Socratic philosophy can ulti
mately
offer closure of a

immediate
does he

consummations

kind the young son of Ariston, attuned to the more of love and violence, might recognize. How well
as

understand
and

Socratic irony? Does he know,

Aristophanes, Callicles,
how to take Soc

Cephalus,

Thrasymachus thought they knew,

extent that courage

whether and

rates seriously?

At least to the

is

needed

in

facing

ignorance, it
man's

appears that the

limitations

observed

up to the knowledge of in Cephalus and Thrasym

achus will not

hinder Glaucon. Evidence to this

which nevertheless also
Socrates'

effect a

is

provided

by

the young

first laugh,
speech.

betrays

telling

misapprehension of content

Socrates'

discussion
long"

with

Adeimantus concerning the

and style of the city's

poetry has fulfilled their

"quite
and rhythms of

expectation that the account of arrived at the question of

education would prove

(376d); having

the

instruments, they

modes

performance,
now that

however, Socrates sug

it is
clear what sort of

"everyone"

gests that
speeches

could

discover them,

must accompany.

Glaucon

responds to this of

ironic

exaggeration

by laughing being included

in favorable

out and

adding

full-fledged jest he
says

his

own:

"I

run the risk of not

in

everyone,"

(398c).

This predominantly
contrast

philic response places

with

Glaucon's
or

courage

that of either

Cephalus

for philosophy Thrasymachus. While

328

Interpretation
laugh
was associated with

Cephalus'

his fear

of a

death, Glaucon laughs

out

loud

at the recognition that whereas

Socrates has

made

him

Cephalus

abandoned the

discussion

rather

nonentity by than have his ignorance his: he

implication. And
ex

posed, Glaucon

follows his laugh

laughingly interrupts in by openly confessing

shows that

order to expose

immediately

ignorance
not

and

provoking Socrates to

help fully

him

cure

it. Though he

he does

fear

wise, perhaps his

interruption

shows that

he does

being thought less than fear being left to think

his way through these questions without a Socratic teaching at his side. But quickly he sees that he need not fear: Socrates is willing to indulge him, and

Glaucon himself has,

as

he says, "a
to

suspicion"

of

how things

must

be (398c).

What he actually has is he possesses a certain 399c). But in

contributes to rates

more

than that: with respect to harmonic mode at

which

least,

expertise

contrast with

Socrates repeatedly defers whose expertise in political Thrasymachus,

in

(398erhetoric

himself
If

feeling of superiority over Socrates, Glaucon, not (Apology 20d-23b), claims to be distinguished only
everyone can responds

his

unlike

Soc

point of

perplexity.

figure this out, he laughs, then I in kind to

"everyone" Socrates'

must

be

nobody.

Glaucon's jest
simply
relation

ironic

exaggeration: after

all, it
the

cannot

be true that
Yet in

could

deduce from
and

sketchy

poetics

between the
rhythm.

soul's proper

ordering

its

sensuous pleasure

in har

mony
also

and

sponse, Glaucon may be

judging that laughing off not just its

at agree that the

Socrates'

assertion

invites

such a re

its

serious content.

That Socrates is

purposely distorted form, but least partly serious is suggested a bit

intellect is properly instructed (403d-e; cf. 59 Id for the education to which Glaucon is ultimately persuaded). agathology Socrates himself has not troubled even to learn the modes (399a), although
as

later, in detail,

when

he

gets

Glaucon to

body's

care need not

be discussed

long

as the

of musical

Glaucon knows them

time
no

(398e-399c); the young man has spent substantial acquiring a kind of knowledge to which Socrates is about to give exactly time in a discussion of the best education. But Glaucon is right to insist.
well

Musical
of

matters are no

the noble or

merely intellectual exercise; rather, they end in the love beautiful (to kalon) (403c). When Socrates suggests that the

secrets of rhythm and share

harmony

are

easily
not

revealed

to all, whether or not

they

Glaucon's theoretical talent

surprise

and

intuitive

sense of the
an

beautifully

noble,

Glaucon's

probably derives

just from

initiate's
but

greater apprecia

tion of the technical

ate assurance that to

difficulties

such questions contain

also

from his incho

think them through contributes in some way to the soul's ennoblement. Could the study of music's sensuous elements be in

any way unworthy of the serious attention it requires? Only by assuming the negative could Glaucon infer, as he bantering. apparently does, that Socrates is Doubts
about

Socratic

seriousness

resurface

merely in Glaucon's second laugh

(451b),

whose more phthonic

tone suggests
occurs as

Thrasymachean

spiritedness rather

than Cephalean

jocundity. It

finish his

account of

the regime.

Glaucon, again, is urging Socrates to This time Socrates exhibits greater unwilling-

Laughing
ness,

at

Logoi
logos

329
most

because he feels
at

the

discussion approaching
the

the part of the

strongly Allan Bloom rightly

odds with received opinion:

idea

of philosophic rule

(473e).

comments that

book five is "an implicit calling

attack on all exist

ing

cities and their most sacred

n.

laws,"

to mind the attack of the

Seven

Against Thebes (p. 458,

meant obeisance

6).

Socrates'

verbal prostration
gods'

before Adrasteia is
seven

to remind Glaucon of the

vengeance upon

the

(451a). His

may be

ironic, but his

on

reference

is

not

idle.

Socrates'

execution
city.

may

be

seen as

revenge,

behalf

of

the gods, for a hubristic attack on a

Only

because philosophy questions the basis of the city can it promise a self-suffi cient life beyond the political; yet that very questioning endangers the earnest devotion to piety or to honor which could otherwise give shape to a life in
common with others and

(538d-e). In

leading

his friends

onto this most

dangerous

slippery ground (though it be the slippery cave) Socrates is aware that he leads them into
between philosophy
and the

ground of the path out of the all the

dangers

of the conflict more

city,

including

exile and

death, but

impor

tantly, error concerning the noble, the good, and the just (451a). Inadvertently to deceive one's friends in such matters, Socrates provocatively claims, is a
greater crime

than manslaughter.

Glaucon

responds with a

laugh, objecting
deceiver"

that "if we are affected in some

discordant way

by

the argument, we'll release you

like

a man who

is

guiltless

of murder and you won't

be

our

(451b). With this

comic

response,

Glaucon confidently rejects the possibility that the philosophic persuasion he has been so eagerly seeking could involve a real risk to his soul. Yet at the same time, his choice of words suggests uncertainty as to the nature of such
risks, an uncertainty
cation of misplaced release
which ought

to check

his

self-assurance.

As

further indi
could with

confidence, his suggestion that he

and the others

Socrates

of a

deceiver's

guilt presupposes a

lucidity

incompatible

being

deceived

at all.

Glaucon

echoes

Thrasymachus

by laughingly

Socratic assertion,
continue
achus'

while allying himself with (450a-c). Even his admonition to "be bold

negating the serious side of a the sophist in insisting that Socrates

speak"

and cf.

recalls

Thrasym

similar criticisms of

over, Glaucon's

own

(451b; boldness, like Thrasymachus', implies

evasiveness

Socratic

337a, 338b). More

a

belief that
present. a a

good

judgment

him from any danger Socratic logoi might confidence underlying Glaucon's laugh, though, derives not from contempt for some impotent challenge Socrates presents, but from
will protect

The
of

feeling

belief that
would

even

if

a philosophic

logos

could

be harmful,
speech

the-

appearance of of

discord

keep
into

Glaucon forewarned.
question at a

Socrates'

itself,

course,

calls such a

belief

general,

indeed

at a metaphysical

level;

and as

for Glaucon

more particularly, suffice

it to

note that

his intuitive
event

the

good even

beyond

being

is the only

setting in the dialogue that Socrates, as

of also recalls the

response to

Socrates'

narrator, calls laughable (509c).

Glaucon's

youthful

boldness toward the risks

philosophy

330
young
sessed

Interpretation
Cephalus'

brash dismissal

of

the myths

of

Hades. When

formerly

pos

by

that "savage

master,"

sexual

desire (329c), Cephalus laughed down

the unjust;
now

the tales of otherworldly punishments

awaiting

Glaucon, enjoy
off all and

ing

a more spiritual pleasure

in

philosophic

discussion, laughs
springs

the

dan
to

gers of the

inquiry

which will

rule over the

living. Glaucon's

ultimately second laugh

set the practice of

death

dying

from the

pleasurable antic

ipation

of

theoretically transgressing
questionable
Socrates'

the city's

doctrines,

supported

by his

con

fident but
replaced

highly by
to

trust that those

teachings and

doctrines may be adequately Glaucon's own intuitions.

attitude revealed

As

Cephalus'

opposed

demotic piety, then, the

in Glaucon's

laugh may be described as a form of piety turned toward philosophy. Glaucon is introduced as having accompanied Socrates to the Piraeus "to pray to
second

the goddess; and, at the same time

[hama]

...

to observe

[theasasthai]

(327a).

The conflicting desires to give homage to the gods and also to theorize detachedly about human nomoi coexist uneasily in that description, as later when Cephalus
must turn

own

away from theory to concern himself with "the sacred piety bears, of course, a clouded reputation due to the mode
with the

things."

Socrates'

of

his theorizing.

Consistent
tone

Apology, though, the Socrates of the Republic gives a religious to his philosophic inquiry into justice, a tone which apparently resonates with

Glaucon. In acquiescing to Glaucon's request for true persuasion, Socrates ex plains: "I can't not help out. For I'm afraid it might be impious to be here when justice is

being

spoken

badly

of and give
sound"

breathing
remark,

and able to make a whose request

up and not bring help while I am still (368b-c). Immediately upon hearing this

Glaucon,

for persuasion
among

to persuade, is mentioned

by

name as

initially turned on those begging Socrates

Socrates'

desire

to

continue

the argument (368c). It becomes obvious that the rhetoric of philosophical piety

has

Glaucon when, considerably later, the city in speech has been founded. Socrates is trying, Cephaluslike, to hand off the search for
made an on

impression

justice to the
him: "You

younger

men,

when

Glaucon breaks into the discussion to

not

remind

not to bring holy (427d-e). Still later, Socrates invokes help to justice in every way in your the specter of blasphemy to chasten Glaucon for wanting to suggest that pleasure, promised you would
power"

look for it because it's

for you

rather

than the good, might be the source of knowledge and truth

seems to perceive and to

(509a;

cf.

329c).

Socrates

trade on

Glaucon's

willingness to understand

philosophic

inquiry as a divinely ordained pursuit.

Yet

whether

coexistence raised cannot

by
be

piety and philosophy may ever be brought into a harmonious is among the most fundamental and problematic of the questions the Republic. While the complexities of that question need not and
explored

here, it

should

be

noted that those

of

very complexities
of

are

obscured

by

Glaucon's

laughing dismissal

the

dangers

the

battle between

philosophy
the tension

and civic opinion.

Elsewhere, too, he

reveals a certain naivete as to

between philosophy

and political community.

truly

persuaded suggests an assumption

that whatever

His very request to be dangers philosophy en-

Laughing
tails are mitigated

at

Logoi

33 1
seems

by

its

potential to replace error with truth. not

And he

tempted to attribute such

soul

but to human

spiritedness

that the wise,

smacks of

like

the

persuadability unusually in general. For example, his earnest assertion brave or the wealthy, are "honored by (582c),
many"

just to his

own

pliable

dramatic

irony

in light

of the

Republic's many

allusions to the

Apol

ogy, not

to mention its own teachings on the public reception philosophic wis

expect

dom may
later

(cf.

488a-489a, 516e-517a). Perhaps

believes

even more

tellingly, it

appears

that he

anyone would put the city's

meager offerings

behind him, if only presented with the right philosophic arguments (608b). Like his second laugh, these statements illustrate his underestimation of the tensions his
own pursuit of philosophic virtue will

involve:

an underestimation

probably
which

fostered

by
as

his

serious

desire for the

in

more

noble

forms

of

pleasure,

comprehends

his

pleasure

philosophy.

Insofar

how his desire for

Glaucon's laughs illuminate his courage, they do so by revealing philosophic persuasion affects his judgments about what is

fearful. He is willing to laugh off his own ignorance, not in order to rest with it like Cephalus, but to bring his perplexity unashamedly out into the open. A bold
self-reliance and philosophy's apparent promise of a

victory

over

igno

rance underwrite

his first,
not

confident

laugh. Later,

at a point when

traditional

institutions forms Glaucon's

are

being

just

purged

but radically altered, the

same promise

a plausible

basis for his

in

willingness to transgress received opinion.

But

confidence
when

philosophic

himself; thus,
retribution

Socrates (with

some

inquiry irony)

seems to exceed that of

Socrates

abases

himself to

avoid

divine

for taking risks with his souls, Glaucon's laughing response is dismissive of any danger. Like the guardians, for whom Socrates earlier rec
ommended

friends'

derisive laughter

as a preserver of courage against resists

persuasion

unworthy

and a

impious speeches, Glaucon here certain opinion about the divine

examination of the city's

by
is

spiritedly preserving

things: namely, the opinion that philosophic

assumptions
not

foundational

to be feared. Yet the

inarticulateness
much

of

his

response suggests which

he

cannot even

less remedy, the dangers to

Glaucon

Socrates

alludes.

adequately envision, In the absence of

guardians need the

understanding, he is left to rely

on

appearances.

As the

founders,

needs

Socrates.

VI. CONCLUSION

Plato
respond

places

Glaucon in

an

interesting

nexus of relations when

he

makes

him

to a Socratic

speech with a

laugh. The

Socrates'

most philosophic of shows

interlocutors in the Republic,

by laughing

Glaucon

his

kinship
rival,

with

the

least

philosophic

(Cephalus),

Socrates'

as well as with rejects the

principal

a theorist

of the political things who

contemptuously

Socratic

mode of theoriz

ing

(Thrasymachus). The character who wished to

be

persuaded

that the

just

332
man's pher's geous

Interpretation
happiness is secure, he justice in
and resists persuasion at a point where the philoso

happiness

risk conflict with

the citizen's. The "most coura

when

everything,"

he betrays

a certain

brashness

he laughs

off

dangers

that the

Socrates,
dangers
of

at

least,

takes seriously (although

he braves them, too) namely,

the conflict

between

philosophic

inquiry

and

politically

accept

able opinion.

Like the laughs he holds

certain

of

Cephalus

and

habitual
to him
some

opinions about what

made persuasive

by

the

Thrasymachus, Glaucon's laughs reveal that is serious and desirable, opinions pleasures to which he is naturally drawn, opin
a

ions threatened in
men, Glaucon is

way

by

Socratic

speech.

Yet
and

unlike either of

the older

unashamed

to admit

ignorance
of

is keen to

examine

his

opinions and reform when

his desires

by

the

light

Socratic

philosophy: so

keen that

Socrates himself

suggests a threat to that unconventional

project, Glaucon

dismisses that threat

with a

laugh

and a

joke. The

goodness and

honor

of phi

losophy

thus appear, not as philosophic questions, nor even as a philosophic

prejudice

answer, but as a

inarticulately

affirmed and preserved

by

Glaucon's
require

intuitions. Although the full

philosophic practice of virtue would a

surely

more, Glaucon's piety toward philosophy grounds which that practice might never be realized.

laughing

courage without

NOTES

1. English

quotations

from the Republic

are

(New York: Basic Books, 1968). For the Greek 1 have

drawn from Allan Bloom, The Republic of Plato consulted the Loeb Classical Library edition:

Paul Shorey, trans, and ed., Republic (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1930). 2. I am not aware of another study with the same purpose. One commentator who has
noted

briefly

Glaucon's laughter
and

The

City
3. I

dramatic detail worthy of philosophic interpretation is Leo Strauss, Man (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), p. 100.
as a

agree much more

justice,"

wisher of
was

than with the

unjust one

closely with Strauss's view, that Glaucon begins the dialogue as judgment of Nalin Ranasinghe, that what Glaucon "truly
life."

a "welldesired"

"the totally

truly desires any

conflicting yearnings that underlie his ambition; this is why he is both in danger of choosing tyranny, yet also persuadable toward philosophic virtue. See Ranasinghe, "Deceit, Desire, and the Dialectic: Plato's Republic Interpretation 21, no. 3 (1994): 309-32. 4. 48a-50b. Quotations from the Philebus are drawn from Seth Benardete, The Tragedy and
Revisited,"

life, perfectly disguised as the totally just thing, that thing is somehow to harmonize

To

the extent that

Glaucon

the

Comedy

of Life: Plato's Philebus (Chicago:

appreciates this point, though

University
he
makes

of

5. Strauss

different

Chicago Press, 1993). matter of it than I do (p. 80).

Desire, Science,

and

Polity:
of

Francis Bacon's Account

Peter Pesic
St. John's College, Santa Fe

Eros

Ours may
gence of political

well

be the "age

of

Bacon."1

Francis Bacon
this

anticipated the emer prospects to affect

newly life. Bacon

potent

science; he

also

foresaw its immense

of
new

called

himself the herald

era,

rather

than a

protagonist.
even

Nevertheless, he discerned many

of modern

crucial

features
glass

of modem science

before its flowering. His birth his

writings remain the

best

in

which the

enig
out

matic

science

stripped

anticipations.

may be contemplated, though Although he shared with Machiavelli

events
a

far

determination

grasp political realities, Bacon expected that reality itself would be trans formed through the activities of science, including new constellations of human
to

desire

and polity.

Accordingly, Bacon's
of

political

the outward social effects of technological

of science on

philosophy gauged not only innovation but also the inner effects

the souls

the scientists. He thus placed the question of eros at

scientific

the center of

his inquiry, for the

quest touches

the wellsprings of
at

desire in the

scientists

and, through them,

as

affects political

life

large.
philosophers,"

When Rousseau described Bacon

"perhaps the

greatest of

order.

he particularly had in mind Bacon's In this view, Bacon's program

vision

of a new and enlightened

social

of enlightenment was

sweeping

and yet

moderate, assuaging human desire

without

turbulent upheavals. Later readings,

however, have depicted scientific puissance leading to a radical unleashing of eros. For instance, Jerry Weinberger's detailed analysis of Bacon's New Atlantis
led him to
conclude that

"the true
desire."

depth"

of that work

lies in "the

grotesque

possibilities of excessive

In this view, Bacon is

fundamentally

(if

se a

cretly) the teacher

of a

transgressive eros.

Laurence Lampert

emphasized

Nietzschean

account of

science against

Bacon covertly inflaming the desire for a "holy of religion. These writers have raised many important questions
statements as a screen a rather

war"

but tend to treat Bacon's direct A

more straightforward

hiding

darker

teachings.2

reading leads to

different

account.

While

ac

knowledging
and

the possibilities of excess, Bacon's

larger

concern

is that

scientific

self-chastening may lead to diminishing eros. He discerns a new eros, purified heightened but not unleashed, for science points to a reshaping of desire.
In this
paper

I discuss the

ways

in

which

the souls of the scientists are

arduous

deeply

affected

by

their struggles with nature.

This

wrestling

of

the scientist

I thank John Briggs, Nieves Mathews,

and

Charles Rubin for their helpful

comments.

interpretation,

Spring 1999,

Vol. 26, No. 3

334

Interpretation
is
a mutual encounter

with nature

that tests both to the

to

utmost

but is

not torturous.

Bacon turned to
avoids
sexual

ancient myths

for images

describe

struggle.3

this
wounded

His Cupid

passion; his Pan avoids promiscuity. The

seeker,

like

Oedipus, is

able to solve the great riddle of

Bacon's treatments

precisely through his halting slowness. Prometheus, Vulcan, and Dionysus amplify his critique of

ordinary passion and emphasize the danger of the rape of wisdom through un bridled eros; he connects radical erotic deviations with certain kinds of technolog ical developments that lust
stories of
after

practical

power.

In contrast, Bacon

uses

the

Solomon, Ulysses,
Bacon

and

Orpheus to

evoke a new eros that

is

ardent yet

scientists'

not self-destructive. a new

purifies the

desires

by intensifying

them

in

myth, The New Atlantis, Bacon weighs the sweet against the claims of conjugal love and indicates ways ness of scientific searching in which they may conflict, to the extent that human fertility may dangerously

direction. In his

modem

even the ne decline. Nevertheless, his larger vision anticipates the possibility welfare of the polity lies in the balance between them. The of cessity harmony

between the

old eros and the new.

AN EGG LAID BY NIGHT

While admitting that love is

atom"

god, Bacon treats it as "the natural

motion of

the
about eros

(6.729),

rather than

as

human

passion.

His

new

way

of

thinking
was not
and all

is "more severe, from "a

settled"

sober and
universal

and requires the redirection of

the erotic

imagination.4

Pan, "the

frame

Nature,"

of

things,

or

really her

engendered

promiscuous

intercourse between Penelope

suitors"

(6.707; 6.320),

though the world

matter."

though the medium of confused

"is sprung from the Divine Word, Pan had few amours; "the world there

fore

can

have

discourse."

no loves, nor any want (being content with itself) unless it be of Pan is faithful to his wife, Echo, as "the true philosophy which

echoes most sizes that

faithfully

the voice of the world

itself

"

(6.714). Bacon

empha

parents"

be reminding himself that Cupid has no (OFB 6.201; 5.463), meaning that atomic attraction is derived from
philosopher should always
faith,"

"a

"experimental

not

"common
as

notions."

contemplating Cupid the erotic ancestry of Eros

By

parentless, "an egg laid

by

Night,"

Bacon

erases

and

intentionally
effective

discourages fruitless
bodies"

speculation.

The

primal

desire

of atoms uniting.

"is

in uniting
attracted.

and yet was not

produced

by

bodies

If so, the
to the

natural philosopher should reconceive

eros so that attraction

is

prior

bodies

As Charles
uses

Whitney
of

has

noted, "the Baconian

scientist must sacrifice the

ordinary

his sense,
insights."

intellect,
Those

and

imagination in

order to remain open to as-yet-unknown

who

"make up their

minds

before trying anything out,

when

they

come

to particular
torture both

facts
. .

abuse their minds and the

facts,

and

(OFB

6.247; 5.488). So in

order

wretchedly squander and to perform "the office of a

Desire, Science,
true priest of the
common
sense"

and

Polity
must

335
the
on

(4.26)

the desires of scientists must

and

be

scourged of

human "knowledge drenched in flesh

chastity
. .

blood"; they

feed

austere manna and achieve

against seductive appearances.

Bacon

warns upon

"every

student of nature

that whatever

his

mind seizes and

dwells
mind

with peculiar satisfaction an enchanted

is

to

be held in

suspicion"

(4.60), for the

not

is "like
and

glass, full of superstition and

imposture, if it be
"false Bacon

delivered imposed

reduced"

(3.394-95). This
man's own

corruption of the nature and

appearances

upon
of

us

by

every
as

individual

custom"

called the

Idol

the

Cave,

if Plato's
and

cave

had become for him

mirrors

an abysmal cavern whose walls

were

curving

low their

originals

distorting (3.396) and

in

which shadows no

longer

faithfully

fol

eyes are corrupted with

shadows.5

THE LIMPING SEEKER

parents.

Cupid is parentless, and the scientist stands in a singular relation to his Bacon treats the Sphinx as a symbol of science, who "being the wonder ignorant
and

of the

unskillful, may be

monster,"

not

prodigy in contemporary this creature is multiform and more than human. Its womanly beauty of voice and face connects it to the Sirens, whose alluring song Bacon will treat as a
a marvel or
usage.6

absurdly called a meaning Despite certain human features,

figure

of

Pleasure. Rather than tormenting

with

overwhelming pleasure, the

Sphinx

seizes

its

victims with painful questions.

Claws, sharp

and

hooked,

are ascribed to

it

with great

elegance, because the axioms

so that

and arguments of science penetrate and

hold fast the mind,

it has

no means
words

of evasion or escape; a point which the sacred philosopher also noted:

The

of

the

wise are as

goads,

and as nails

driven

deep

in. (Ecclesiastes

12:11)

The sharp
ence

claws are a

"fastening,"

of scientific questions

menacing image of the agonizing fascination, literally in the minds of the scientists. Practical sci
awareness

is

not

distant

and

impersonal

but

intensely

vivid, even painful,

realization.

Bacon is The Sphinx

also aware of the pleasures that received

accompany
as

scientific

fascination.
Muses.

her

store of

"hard

riddles"

questions and

from the Muses

"there is probably no Bacon thus distinguishes a preliminary

cruelty"

in

which

as

long
in

they

remain with the

stage

which

"the

object of meditation
pursuit

inquiry is merely to questions apart from any

and

know."

This

stage

is the

pure

of scientific

question of application.

In this

phase of

its

inquiry

"the understanding is not oppressed or straitened to expatiate, and finds in the very uncertainty
delight."

by it,

but is free to from

wander and

of conclusion pass

and

choice a certain pleasure and

But "when they

the

variety of Muses to

Sphinx,
present

that

is from

contemplation

to practice, whereby there

then

is necessity for
cruel."

action, choice, and

decision,

they begin to be

painful and

336

Interpretation
the stage of practical application of pure research, especially when rea

This is

sons of state require

immediate
that

action.7

Bacon

also notes

Augustus Caesar
"a
great

used a

Sphinx for his seal,

since

Augustus too had

man"

solved

in his

political

many life which, had he left them unsolved, "he

destruction."

new

riddles concerning

the nature of
would

have
a

many times have been in imminent danger of second Oedipus who saved Rome from the sphinxlike
grasped

Augustus

was

peril of the

interregnum,
scientist

the new secret of political power, and

forged the Empire. The

as

who solves the not

Sphinx's but

riddle

is "bom for

empire,"

Bacon

puts

it,

an empire

only

over nature

also over man.

In Bacon's account, the

scientist

is

not

an unpolitical

servant, meekly

delivering

his discoveries to his masters, but

wield such power should

takes responsibility himself. But those who

pared and purified.

be

pre

Not only do the claws of the Sphinx "penetrate and hold but also her questions "strangely torment and worry the mind, fast the (6.756-57). pulling it first this way and then that, and fairly tearing it to
mind"

pieces"

This tearing

ravages

the scientist even as

it forms

part

of the

solution, for
kingdom"

threat, as well as an immense prize: "distraction you fail to solve them; if you succeed, a laceration of if and mind, (6.757). Bacon notes that the Sphinx not only distracts and lacerates but "if the
the riddles pose a mortal
wretched captives could not at once solve and

interpret the same,

pieces"

as

they

stood

hesitating
berment is

and confused she

mirrored

cruelly

tore them to
pieces"

(6.756). This dismem

by

the

"tearing
the

to

of the mind of the scientist as

he

struggles with the riddle.

Oedipus
condition.

can enter

into

full laceration

of

the riddle because of his own

man of wisdom and penetra

Bacon

reminds us

that

Oedipus
feet."

was

"a

tion, but lame from

wounds are the

wounds

in his

Rather than crippling disabilities, these

very
a

means through which

Oedipus finds
for

the solution to the

riddle (see Briggs,

was subdued
and

pp.

13-14, 161, 174). Bacon

man with club

emphasizes that

"the Sphinx

by

lame

feet;

in too in

great a

hurry
it

to the solution of the

men generally Sphinx's riddles

proceed too
"

fast

(6.757-58).

Although Bacon does

concur

not

specify the

origin of this
Oedipus'

wound, the ancient sources

ankles

identifying
kill him

as the result of

father piercing his

incest.8

in

an

attempt to

and avoid

the prophecy of parricide and

To

exposure pre

Laius

added the uncommon

cruelty

of

the transfixion of the

might

infant's feet,

sumably his pierced, Bacon

says

to

decrease the
swollen

chance that

he

Oedipus'

survive;
riddle

name records

feet (Oidipous). The Sphinx's

answers
"readily."

touches those

feet,

and

Oedipus

Oedipus,

more

than any other man, had

and

to count on

his feet, from the four

one

painfully, to the
we walk.

on which most of us

agonizing pierced-together limb, begin to crawl and the two

ancient sources

then,

on which

Here Bacon departs from the

(Edmunds,

p.

12). After

the stage of three

legs

with which

those sources conclude Bacon adds a

as

final
that

four-footed stage,
"sinks into

which

he identifies
and

"extreme
bed"

age and

decrepitude"

a quadruped again

keeps his

(6.756). The

word again

Desire, Science,
signals

and

Polity

337

that the completed cycle of life verges into rebirth. Perhaps the "true
science,"

Oedipus'

sons of

spiritual

heirs,
the

will

in their

greater wisdom avoid the

tragic crisis that overwhelmed their ancestor. Bacon's Oedipus is triumphant;

his

wound allows

him to have

approach

Sphinx

so

overcome

her;

science succeeds often

because

wounded

slowly and warily that he can in its beginnings. Indeed, the

greatest scientists
Einstein.9

been the

slowest

thinkers,

including

Newton

and

of

Bacon may also have intended a reflection on the extraordinary destinies certain lame people, particularly King James and his own brother Antony.
considered

Francis

Antony's

mind

to be more "active and

able"

than

his own,
combina

despite Antony's "impotent

tion of

feet."

The

new science mirrors

Antony's

lameness

and penetration.

Francis

also

judged himself
and

weakened

by

health

(4.102)

but understood,

with

his brother

Oedipus,
Bacon
and

the paradoxical

advantage of person

deformity. In his essay "Of has "a perpetual spur in himself to

Deformity"

remarks

that such a

rescue

deliver himself from

scorn"

(6.480-81). The deformed

mangled

are exempt

ture

has

tend to seek their revenge

of

from envy, but those whom na on her. A few escape this "neces
virtue"

body being inwardly twisted. They

persons,"

sity in the frame

his

...

by

the sun of discipline and

bold"

and avoid
prove

are

"extreme

and

"sometimes they
recognize

excellent

among
as

which

Bacon includes Socrates; their

"readily"

deformity

helps them
"leg"

they contend with it. Oedipus Sphinx's riddle, because he of all people does
Oedipus
can

himself in the

not fit

it.

one

grasp

a truth

hidden to

all others

Having begun with only by overfamiliarity; he by

"not
a

is

one

of

those rare exceptions among the deformed who have turned away

from

revenge.

Here Oedipus differs from those

good, but
Oedipus'

great politiques moved

ambition passion

for

some

revenge against their

ill-condition.

Theirs is
as

for

revenge against the

it.10

death that

nature will

deal them kind

Robert

Faulkner

puts

wound

is

a path

to a

new

of

knowledge. It
specifies

turns profound

disability into

source

of new

insight. Bacon

that
p.

Oedipus killed the Sphinx; in the

human
solved.

ancient sources she

kills herself (Edmunds,

12). The impulse to have "revenge

suffering.

nature"

of all

has turned to the

with

eradication of unless

The Sphinx threatens death

stands

men

her riddle,
city.

it is
the

The

specter of

at the gate of

every

By killing

Sphinx, Oedipus transforms

vengeance

into

an

ennobling

attack on

the mon

strous riddles that afflict men.

THE SCHOOL OF PROMETHEUS

In his retelling
the individual

of the

seeker

Prometheus"

"school

of

story of Prometheus, Bacon goes beyond the case of to describe the successive generations of scientists. By the Bacon means those who by relentless investigation

338
seek

Interpretation
to expand the

benefits

of

Providence to

men.

But

while

they

work

so

arduously

they

stint themselves of

many

pleasures and of the various agreeableness of

wear themselves

life,
away

and cross their

genius, and (what is far worse) torment and

with cares and solicitude and

inward fears. For

being

bound to

the

column of

Necessity, they
flightiness
the

are troubled with

innumerable thoughts (which because

of

their

are represented

by

the eagle), thoughts which pick and gnaw and corrode

liver. (6.751-752)

There is

symmetry between their

vexation of

Nature

and the

inward suffering

of the scientists.
come

Only Hercules,
Prometheus,
to

to save them
crime of as

signifying fortitude and constancy of mind, can from their torments. Bacon also emphasizes what he calls
the attempt upon the chastity of
Minerva,"

"the last

which

he interprets

"trying
from

bring

the divine wisdom itself under the dominion of

sense and reason: and vexation more than

which attempt

inevitably

follows laceration

of the mind

rest."

without end or other that moved

In Bacon's recounting, it

was

this crime

any

Jupiter to
an

send the vulture to gnaw

Prome

theus. This crime was not a

deviation but

integral

Prometheus'

expression of

nature, the natural continuation of

his bold

plan to

bring
must

divine

secrets to men.

Perhaps the divine fire desire for

wisdom.

could not

be brought to

men without

exciting inordinate
and

Yet Bacon

cautions that and

"men

soberly

modestly

distinguish between things divine

of

human, between
heretical

the oracles

of sense and

faith;

unless

they

mean to

have

at once a

religion and a

fabulous

philosophy."

certain

"fable"

with

or

chastity is required if science is not to be contaminated if religion is not to become heretical. Bacon toys with the
faith"

"wonderful correspondency with the mysteries of the Christian and the of Prometheus. He goes as far as to indicate in this that, story enticing reading, Hercules would represent "an image of God the Word hastening in the frail
vessel of the

flesh to
all

redeem the

human

race."

But

at this point

Bacon
I

stops

himself "from
strange

license

of speculation

in this kind, lest

peradventure

bring
Bacon

fire to the

altar of an

the

Lord."

Strange fire:

unlike

Prometheus,

hesitates to kindle
lief.

in reconciling science with Christian be consciously restraining himself he shows both the continuing power of the Promethean temptation and his wilful avoidance of it."
even

illicit fire

By

If Promethean striving is

not

bridled it may

spend

its

strength

fathering

chi-

maeras, alluring but empty visions that are mocking images of true religion but lack power to help men. This restless striving finds its proper object in unravel

ing

Nature's secrets,

which

Bacon treats
of a what

as protected

by

a cipher.

Its

solution

requires

all the care not

just
in

few

rare minds

but

rather a succession of
a

many workers all lated organization

trate the code.

arranged

Bacon

calls a

"machine,"

highly

articu

which requires vast collective

many

This

varying undertaking Bacon calls

persons of

capacities to pene

the

"games

of Pro-

Desire, Science,
metheus,"

and

Polity

-339

recalling the legendary torch races that honored the fire-bringing Titan. The solitary, limping heroes of the school of Prometheus prepare the way for the waves of runners that follow them. In this relay race "the victory may
no

longer depend

upon

the unsteady and wavering torch of each single man; but

and
good

competition, emulation,
cooperative effort also

fortune be brought

aid"

to

(6.753). Their

harnesses

the

individual envies, desires,

and appetites of
public

the participants together to redirect individual passions from private to

objects.12

by this plan to render the scientists fit to conquer nature through the humility and fidelity with which they obey her. Only those whose sensibilities have been disciplined are capable of breaking the code; the very process of break ing the code involves so much humiliation and painful trial that the decoding
means

Bacon

itself chastens

and prepares the

decoders. Because God

and

of this

safeguard,

which

Bacon

ascribes to the secretiveness of

Nature, any

attempt to use

brute force

to penetrate the secret not only will fail but may recoil
maketh

disastrously, for "force

amended the
hope"

Nature

more violent

in the

return"

(6.469). If so, Bacon has

not

story of Prometheus. He has Prometheus imparts in

restored

hope to humanity,

the "blind
relies on

that
and

Aeschylus'

play.13

Scientific hope

"a true

legitimate
the rape

marriage

between the

empirical and the rational

faculty,"

rather

than on

of

Minerva.

THE CHILDREN OF VULCAN

The

god

Vulcan is

a central

figure in

several of science.

the myths which Bacon

of metal

uses to epitomize

the desires that animate

As the founder

lurgy
ences

and

alchemy, Vulcan is the source from which these

archetypical sci

emerge.

The
this

original
primal

possessor

of

fire, it is from Vulcan

and means of

that

Prometheus

stole

"help
with

of

helps

means";

without

this titanic theft men would have

power. walks

had

no chance of

touching

such godlike

Vulcan is

also

linked

the wounded seer Oedipus since

he, too,
also

been

limpingly lamed by his

There is

with a stick and

is thus

also

three-footed; Vulcan

had

father. The

constellation of

Vulcan

and

Oedipus discloses
reli

the new eros of the

giosity.

limping
if

scientist, an eros that also conditions his

a connection

between

Hephaistos'

celebrated skill as artificer

other.14

and

his lameness,

as

one were the price of the

His disfigurement is

also significant

in his
and

role as

the cuckolded husband of Aphrodite.

emerge not

Both Athena

Hephaistos

from

sexual

intercourse but from

each case an
compared

self-generative processes within

of opposite sex to the parent.

gods.

Hera, yielding in Hephaistos had few children,

Zeus
and

offspring

to the other

Instead, he

crafts automata and gave

self-moving tripods (see Iliad 18:418-20,

to men, Jupiter ordered Vulcan "to make a

376-77). After Prometheus

fire

woman."

fair

and

lovely

Pandora

represents

"pleasure

appetite,"

and sensual

the

340

Interpretation
of

fountainhead
men"

"infinite

mischief upon the

minds, the
"

bodies,

and the

fortunes

of

both personally

and

politically (6.751).
He

On

another occasion

Vulcan's de

sire was aroused

by

the goddess of wisdom,

whom

he

attempted

to

force

when

she refused

his

advances.

was not successful even

in

rape

but

in the
was

struggle which

followed his legs like

seed was scattered on the ground;

from

which

born Ericthonius,
with

a man well made and an

handsome in

the upper parts of the

body, but
the

thighs and

eel, thin and deformed:

he, from
might shew off

consciousness of this

deformity, first invented

and

chariots, whereby he

fine

part of

his

body

hide the

mean.

(6.736)
of scientific

Bacon interprets this

assault as an much

image
of

artifice,

symbolized

by

Vulcan, attempting "by

conquer and subdue

her,"

vexing just as Prometheus had

bodies to force Nature to its

attempted to rape and

will and

Minerva. In

the struggle "there

specious to
rade to

fall

out

by

the

way

certain

imperfect births
which
show

lame works,

look

at

but

weak and

halting

in

use,"

imposters

falsely

pa

the world "with a great deal of

triumph."

false

them about as in

Their deformities

are

in setting forth, and carry hidden by the chariot, but

things

Bacon knows them to be lame. He identifies

productions,
are and

such

"among
from the

chemical

novelties"

among
are

mechanical subtleties and

recover

whose contrivers

too intent on spectacular results "to

way."

themselves

errors of run

their
ners to

These

like the

golden apples that

beguile the Promethean

"stop

in their

undertakings

half way,

and

forsake the course,

than pursuing

and turn

aside
until

like Atalanta

commodity"

after profit and

rather

inquiries failures
Vulcan

they

yield

full illumination (6.744). discoveries

cannot

Bacon
of

regards such specious

more as raped.

deviant

eros than of

scientific

deduction: Minerva
Nature than
eros

be

The followers

"rather

struggle with

woo

her

embraces with
and

due

observance and

attention"

(6.736). Their

is discordant

harsh; they ignore

the rightful
result

wooing lame, like the parent, showing again that his lameness is expresses his innate erotic tendency. Yet Vulcan's seed has Ericthonius invents the chariot,
an estimable also

of

Nature, treating her

as a slave to slake

their desires. The

is

not accidental

but

generative power;
prompted

advance, though

by

van

ity

and

self-concealment.

Ericthonius

became
and

one

of

the

first kings

of

Athens, instituted
honors
and
men

the

Panathenaic Festival,

as conditores

imposing, half thin

did propose,
breed."

imperiorum, founders of and deformed, Ericthonius is like Athens,

fools did
dispose"

is among those due sovereign states (6.505-6). Half handsome

where

"wise

and

(7.158). In his

unpublished writings

Bacon pointedly calls the Greeks mere boys, chatterboxes who are "too imma ture to Their erotic immaturity and impotence leads to mere "inept in dispute
science not cients
results."

words,

and

empty

of

In contrast, Bacon

calls on

his

sons of
an

to touch nature
rather to

"only
mingle

with the tips of their

fingers,"

as
as

these

did, but

"so

themselves into her

being

to attain either

Desire, Science,
utility."

and

Polity

34 1

contemplative truth or works of

chaste,
emerge surable

holy,

and

legal

wedlock"

with

This is emphatically a vision of "a "things from which will

themselves,"

"a blessed

race of and

Heroes

or

Supermen

who will overcome the

race."16

immea

helplessness

poverty

of

the human

THE CRITIQUE OF DESIRE

Bacon intensifies his

Desire."

polemic against passion

in his

account of

"Dionysus;

or

Out

of

"the

appetite and aspiration

for

good"

apparent

there emerge

noxious and unsuppressible stage and

desires that lodge in

it
until

the soul even

in its

embryonic

finally
it"

prick and pain

"its

resolutions and actions

labor

and as
of

limp
gods

with

(6.741). Such desires

also take the

form

Dionysus'

mother

Semele

was scorched

to death

by

consuming fire, Jupiter. Even the king

of

limped
and

as

he

carried the unborn portentous

Oedipus
to
as

Vulcan this
sexual

in his thigh, sharing with deformity. Jupiter's maternity is connected

sewn
vehement

Dionysus

Dionysus'

ambiguity, "for every passion of the more

at once the

kind is

it

were

of

doubtful sex, for it has

woman."

force

of the man

and the a cre

weakness of the scendo of goes on

In Bacon's version, the

career of

Dionysus is

unremitting evil, for desire "never rests satisfied with what it has, but and on with infinite insatiable appetite panting after new triumphs.
way."

cruel, savage, and pitiless towards everything that stands in its

even condemns

Bacon

Dionysus taking up Ariadne

noble"

after she

had been

abandoned

by

Theseus iadne

as an

"especially
innocent

testimony indicting desire. Bacon depicts Ar

Theseus'

not as an

victim of

ambitions, but as simply "cast off

tried,

and upon trial rejected with

off,"

disgust."

Desire

habitually
they
of

pays

"court to

things cast edge, or

what

to the leavings of "honor or fortune or love or glory or knowl

will."

it

Passions

never

die, for

when

seem

extinguished,

"give them The

matter and

occasion,

they rise up

again."

climax of

this insatiable career is the

tearing

Orpheus

by

the Mae
and

nads, or of Pentheus

by

the

frenzied Bacchantes. The "curious inquisition

administered

salutary and free hateful and intolerable to

gious significance:

admonition"

by

Orpheus

and

Pentheus "are
underlines

alike
reli

passion."

an

Rampant
science. relation

passion

"every finally leads

overpowering insane passion

Bacon

its

grows rank

in depraved

religions."

to superstitious rejection of true religion and true to be a

This

climactic accusation seems

final

revelation of

the inimical

between
was

passion and science, except

that a quiet anticlimax undercuts

which

it. Bacchus
mean that

often

confused

with

Jupiter himself,
might

Bacon takes to
of

"lurking

passion or

hidden

lust"

lead to "deeds

high distinc

desert"

tion and

which

"from easily Bacon

virtue and right

distinguished,"

are practically indistinguishable from those which come If indeed the results are "not reason and
wellsprings of

magnanimity

the

desire

are motive

forces

whose power

cannot neglect or

discount.

342

Interpretation
not

Bacon does

merely

give a puritanical rebuke,

he is

aware of

the danger he

shares with the censorious

afflict the school of

Pentheus. Bacon is
eagle of

also aware of radical problems that

Prometheus. The

anxiety

gnaws their

livers, leaving
the

them perturbed and afraid (6.751).

What, then, is

the advantage

in

life

of the

forethoughtful
mind,"

scientist

if he is constantly
of

ravaged

by

care?

Bacon's reply is

guarded; he refers to the coming

equal

Hercules, "that is, fortitude and constancy of to rescue Prometheus. This fortitude, "being prepared for all events and to any fortune, foresees without fear, enjoys without fastidiousness, and
impatience."

bears

without

acquisition of scientific
worn and anxious.

In rehabilitating pleasure Bacon emphasizes that the knowledge should make us happy and fearless, not care
an enlarged

Without

bilities

might

be too

constricted

capacity for pleasure the to achieve true largeness of spirit. His

scientists'

sensi
example

is

Solomon,
as

the wisest of

kings

whose collection of natural

history

Bacon holds up
model

a model

for

King
and

James. As John Briggs observes, "the

would

extended

between James
scholarly
sides

Solomon

have been

deeply

probing

analogy for a

king known for indulgence

insist
upon

in pleasure, for his

kings"

pious

reputation, and his

p.

willingness to

the divine right of

activities

(Francis Bacon,
also

40). Be
who

his

prescient scientific

Solomon

was

the great

lover

enjoyed

physically his many loves; his knowledge rested on his rich experience. Bacon notes that Solomon enumerates and relishes his pleasures but also pro
me"

fesses that "Likewise my wisdom remained with not worship false gods. The scientists must remain
not

(6.764); his Solomon does

to the

open

heights
also

of pleasure

only

so that their sensibilities not

become

constricted

but

for

strictly in

scientific reason: of

they
or

must not neglect

to explore the phenomena of pleasure out

or

fastidiousness

fear

of pollution.

In the alluring
which

the

disgusting

as well as

the indifferent may lie crucial

gating.

discoveries

they

cannot shrink

from investi

THE SONG OF THE SIRENS

The

imagery

in Bacon's

account of

"The Sirens;
and

or

Pleasure"

emphasizes the

possible and

dangers

of this project.

The

various adventures of the

crew,
a

Ulysses,

Orpheus

warn

about
Sirens'

initiation
song

preparation,

and

show

hierarchy deterring
cast,"

of worthiness.

The

was so powerful

that "the examples of other

men's
men

calamities, however clear and conspicuous, have little effect in

pleasure."

from the
Ulysses'

corruptions of

like

crew, had better stop their

Men "of ordinary and plebeian ears if they cannot master such tempta

tions. Even "minds of loftier

pleasure."

order"

must venture

cautiously "into
with

the midst of

Like

Ulysses, they
pleasures

should

"fortify

themselves

olution"

and

behold

"as lookers

on rather than

followers,"

constancy of res bound by

restraint

their wilful resolution as

if to the

mast of their ship.

Their wary

limits

Desire, Science,
them to the role
and madness of
of

and

Polity

343

those who hold themselves back

from the full "foolishness

Orpheus'

pleasure."

Although Ulysses

relied on remedies

drawn from philosophy,

rem

edy is best

since

Orpheus

by

singing Sirens and

and

put them aside:

sounding forth for

power only,

the praises of the gods confounded the voices of the

meditations upon things
also

divine

excel the pleasure of

the sense, not

in

but

in

sweetness.

Despite Bacon's
calls
of

strictures against

for

scientists

mixing religious and scientific matters, he to imitate Orpheus in raising their discourse to the exaltation

the divine mysteries (see

sweetness of

Briggs, Francis Bacon,

who

pp.

1-2, 134-36). The

ravishing
sophical

knowing
Sirens,

the secret causes behind Nature enables the

scientists to withstand the

try

to rival the Muses

of

by

replacing
over the

philo

beauties

by

mere titillation.

The triumph

Orpheus

Sirens

recapitulates

the victory the Muses enjoyed over them in their singing contest.

Orpheus

reclaims pleasure

for

a musical science which can enchant and exalt

the spirits of men not

by denying
struggle

their passions but

by

key. Bacon
enced

seems to envisage

in his intense

something like the to learn "God's

rapture that

raising them to a higher Einstein experi

For its adepts,
such

thoughts."

common

visionary theorizing may be human life. Bacon does

not

more

fascinating

and pleasant than the sweets of

Orpheus'

neglect

troubling

adventure

in the

underworld.

Orpheus had virtually succeeded in bringing Euridice back to the earth when his impatience overcame him and he turned around to gaze at her. Bacon inter
prets this as

"curious

meddling,"

and premature

as

if

an

impatient
life"

scientist were

to

disturb
"the

a crucial experiment when

it is

on the

brink

of succeeding.

Here

fateful
of

experiment

is

under way.

"Restoring
things

the

dead

body

to

is the

climax

corruptible."

restitution and renovation of

(This is

emphasized

by

Paterson in "Bacon's Myth

pheus turns

of

Orpheus.") In
sight of political

the course of the experiment Or

"averse from the

women."

After Euridice's "teaches the

second

death

Orpheus

emerges as a

benign

figure

who

peoples to as

semble and unite and take upon them the yoke of and

laws
and

and submit to

authority,

conforming to precepts (6.722). In contrast, Ovid's Orpheus introduces a new form of and eros in the form of pederasty. Bacon's Orpheus is a teacher of rational political science whose eros is suffused with "the love of virtue and equity and
forget their
discipline"

ungovemed

appetites,

in

listening

peace."

This

rational

Orpheus turns towards the defeat life that

of

mortality through

a transfor

mation of political

requires a new eros.

Bacon directs
cian women who

our

Thrasympathy to Orpheus and away from the maddened slay him. He implies the superiority of his new eros, for "it is

wisely

added

in the story,

that

Orpheus

was

averse

from

women

and

from

marriage;

for

the sweets of marriage and the

dearness

of children

commonly

344
draw

Interpretation
men

away from performing great and lofty services to the commonwealth; be perpetuated in their race and stock, and not in their being The Thracian women condemn rejection of woman and family. Their
content to
deeds."17 Orpheus'

anger stems
at the

from Bacchus himself,

who as personified

Desire has been

world

attacked

deepest level. In contrast, Bacon's Orpheus enchants the height of peace. Wild beasts, "putting off their several
quarrels
and

to a new

forget their
of

ferocity, "no longer driven by

the stings and

furies

lust,

no

longer caring to satisfy their hunger or to hunt their Orpheus is able to touch these feelings of love and stirring discordant desires because
notes, "well
becomes"

prey."

virtuous action without

mood,"

of

his "sorrowful

which,

Bacon

philosophy

after

it failed in its first

attempt to conquer a

death. As

wild

beasts

and men give over their savage scientific and

desires for conflict,

blast"

purified realm of
strife.

feeling, dominated by

concerns, banishes
fellowship"

war and

Orpheus
on their

cannot withstand the

"hoarse

hideous

that the women that

blow

hom. "The bond his

animals

of that order and good and

Orpheus
fields.

had
cian

enjoyed with women

is broken

"confusion began

again."

The Thra

tear the singer to pieces and scatter

his limbs

about the

Their
pheus

rejected

desires

overwhelm we are

Bacon's dream

of a new eros.

Although Or

has failed again,

vision shifts

invited to take up his lyre. As

with

Prometheus,
in

Bacon's
relays

from individuals to

whole nations of seekers who will

carry the torch.

embodies

Bacon
and

his hope in the

waters

Muses'

sacred
under the

river Helicon,

who

"in

grief

indignation buried his

cyclical

elsewh

earth, to reappear
sink under

In

Bacon's
to

vision,

kingdoms flourish, then

"seditions

wars"

and

desolation from

and

no traces of them can

planks a

barbarism, leaving letters and philosophy "so torn in pieces that be found but a few fragments, scattered here and there like
In the
next cycle

shipwreck."

the waters will

issue forth

again

"perhaps among other nations, and not in the places where they were Bacon looks toward a scientific Utopia that will harmonize desire and

before."

science.

There,

the

rising

tides may carry

Orpheus'

hopes

to completion.

THE NEW EROS AND THE NEW ATLANTIS

ters.

Bacon's New Atlantis includes remarkably extended There are near every town "Adam and Eve's bride
and another

passages on erotic mat

pools"

in

which a

friend is

of

the prospective

friend

of

the prospective groom are permitted

naked

to see the
tracted.

bride

and groom a wise

separately bathe

before the

marriage

con

Joabin,

Jew

"excellently
might

seen

in the laws

and customs of that

defects"

nation,"

says that the respective

friends

be

able to

discern "hidden

in their

bodies,

which might render

fertile. These

pools would

disclosures

outside

erotically overstep the boundaries of shame that prohibit Eden, as White has emphasized in Peace Among the

them

repulsive or perhaps

in

such
Wil-

Desire, Science,
lows (p. 184). Bacon
alludes to

and

Polity

345

Thomas More's Utopia

[1515]

or

Plato's Laws

(772a),
iar

who

have their

prospective pairs view each other

naked.18

However,

as

Joabin notes, the Bensalemites "think it

knowledge"

a scorn to give a refusal after so

famil

and

therefore have chosen

a

scrutiny

by

proxy.

These

practices

are accompanied

by

mandatory waiting
as
well

period of one month strictures

between first
marriage con

meeting

and

marriage,

as

by
it

moderate

regarding

against parental consent.

This

suggests that these customs are

designed to

trol and moderate eros, and to render

subservient to parental and social super

vision; the viewing gives the friends power that

marriage so

they

could

abuse, vetoing

that

they

themselves can enjoy the persons whom

p. xxvii).

they have
his

seen

(see

Weinberger,
dwells

"Introduction,"

When Bacon
seizes and

advises

"every

nature"

student

of

that "whatever

mind
. .

upon with peculiar satisfaction

is to be held in

suspicion

(4.60) he
tice of

means to chasten overfondness

for

some pet

idea;

the

habitual

prac

self-denying doubt is
alchemists grand

a crucial guarantee of the old and

honesty

of

the scientist.
illusion,"

In contrast, the
as

"grow
were

die in the
jades.'9

embraces of their

if their

wane

ger.

Yet eros does not necessarily if it is suppressed, however, but may well become more furtive and stron At Adam's and Eve's pools the eyes of friends guard erotic choice not

designs

deceitful

through puritanical repression but

salem

judicious

exposure.

Joabin insists that Ben

is "the

world,"

virgin of

the

the most chaste nation, "free

from

all pollu

tion or

foulness"

and thus

immune to the immense

possibilities of abuse.
which

It is

hard to discern
bin extols,
chastity.

which came

first,

the "chaste minds of this

people"

Joa

or the scientific stance that

both

presumes and enforces such mental

Atlantean

science

includes
we

erotic matters.

They

test "all sorts of

beasts fruitful

and of

birds

that

thereby

may take light what may be wrought upon the

more

body

including alterations of growth and how to "make them bearing than their kind is; and contrariwise barren and not
man,"

and

generative"

(3.159).

Bacon foresees that the "mechanical "to satisfy her instruments of

passion
death,"

arts"

that Daedalus supplied to Pasiphae

for the
both

bull"

will produce

"instruments

of

lust,

and also alter

yet

of which could shake the world

(6.735). Such

ations of erotic pleasure could set men adrift

from their traditional customs,

science was

the Atlanteans are conservative.

when

Though their

already
of

established

they

received the

gospels,

they follow

the precepts of revealed religion.

Their devotion to House has the

science

is tinged

with religious awe.

The Father

Salomon's

presence of a great prelate

blessing

the crowd; the priest seems a

humble

assistant of

the scientific hierarchy. (This

is

noted

by

both Faulkner,

p.

245,

and

Leary,

pp.

246-47.)
Joabin,
a

Reason has brought peace; there is

no sign of

religious polity.

strife and

Jew, is honored
ceded to

and reconciled to the

Christian

The

king

has quietly

Salomon's House

control over the vital

secrets their science

discloses.20

The

new eros expresses

the needs of science. Although the scientist cannot

346

Interpretation
"mistress"

keep
ence

to sustain

of among theories, he needs to maintain a fervent love him through many trials and disappointments. Since he acts

sci

as a

member of a vast machine

his

scientific eros needs

to be
all

attached

to institu
ardent

tions, to the
quest. most

whole

company

of

Promethean

racers

pursuing their
commitment

It is scarcely surprising that such a demanding men, leave not much eros left over for private
the perishable

might, in
with

conjugal

life. As
pious,

Orpheus,
science.

love

of

women

may

conflict

with

ecstatic

THE FEAST OF THE FAMILY

Yet the
fected"

new eros

can

harmonize

with

the old. The narrator

is "much
heard

af of a

by

the "Feast of the

wherein nature

Family; for
so

that

(methought) I had

never

solemnity father of a

did

preside"

much

(3.151). In this

custom

the

family
his

with

his

family

and even

from

thirty living the king,

descendants

receives stylized

homage from

who acknowledges

the father as his debtor

on account of

extensive progeny.

This father

sits on a raised

dais like

monarch and eats

House."

alone, joined only by a son "if he The mother is installed out of sight "in a loft

hap

to be of Salomon's the right hand

above on

of

the chair, with a privy

blue"

and
giver

door, and a carved window of glass, leaded with gold (3.148-49), but only if she bore the whole lineage. The female birthis hidden, but her place of honor is above the masculine
progenitor.2'

The

various

kinds

of eros are revealed

by

their children. Alchemists

offspring.

die in

fruitless embraces, but the true scientist is rich in living gests that the thirty descendants "stand for the 'stirps of from the
marriage of mind and

White sug
that come

inventions'

the universe
some extra

"
.

(p. 177). Yet this Feast honors

all numerous

families, reserving
and

dignity
is

for those
some

of rank and partic population since

ularly those of
might

Salomon's House. Atlantis lack The

Clearly

there

danger that

languish

sufficient
narrator

inhabitants, particularly
asks

it is is

economically
well; and
much of

self-sufficient.

"whether they kept

there is commonly

marriage

whether

they

were tied to one wife?

For that

where population

so

affected,
of

and as with them

wives"

it

seemed to

be,

permission

plurality

(3.152). In the
"population"

usage of

Bacon's time,
a

"affected"

implies
are

"desired,
would

at"

aimed

and pp.

means

"populating

country."

(These

the glosses of

Vickers,

795-96.) Thus
island

the narrator expected that polygamy

be

permitted since the

was underpopulated.

The
since

reasons

for this
no

are unspecified.

The habitable
and

area

is

not

excessive,

the

island is

bigger than England in circuit, that food is

France

put of

thousand six

hundred
. .

miles so

and of rare

fertility

together, "five soil in the great

est part thereof

"scarlet

oranges"

grow

climate is mild; there. The mysterious pills that heal the sailors indi plentiful

(3.144). The

cate medicine

far

more advanced

than

in Europe. Nor does

one expect

infant

Desire, Science,

and

Polity

347

mortality to trouble a society which prepares "Water of Paradise, being, that we do to it, made very sovereign for health, and prolongation of (3.158). The Bensalemites have
pleasure. salem acquired control nineteen

by

life"

over

There has been

peace

for

hundred years,

fertility and sensual during which Ben

has been

isolated.22

eros so

The only remaining explanation for the underpopulation is some alteration of deep that it cannot be remedied by augmenting fertility or heightening
others

sexual pleasure.

ploy many
as a whole

Although only a few are Fathers, Salomon's House must em in its multifarious enterprises. Bacon implies that Bensalem
affected

is

deeply
goes

by

its

central project.

Evidently
projects and the

families

are

less

numerous, even though scientific

so much eros
wanes and

fruitfulness is

exemplary.

The inference is that

that sexual desire

into the
shrink.

Atlanteans'

scientific

families

Both the Bensalemites

Europeans face the

accompanied result of

same

problem, for different reasons: a diminution of the birth rate,

by

deterioration in familial life. In the

case of

Europe this is the

excessive eros channeled to sorbed

debauchery (3.152),

while

in Bensalem
of

eros

is

ab

by

the

chaste raptures of science.

The institution

Adam's
as a

and

Eve's
of

pools would

"unlawful This is

lust"

be inconceivable in Europe, which Joabin depicts which "if you give it any vent, it will

"furnace"

rage."23

also

deeply
of

connected

with

the peacefulness of

Bensalem,

whose

name means

"Son

Peace."

Like Bacon himself, the islanders in

concord.

abhor war and

have found

ways of

living

together

disposition has been

cultivated and also of

It seems, then, that this peaceful their erotic life has been tamed. And
are

now, Joabin and the Father crets, so

long

permitting these great se hidden, to be transmitted to the world. The Atlanteans seem
will embrace

Salomon's House

confident that will conquer

Europe

the scientific miracles of

run a great

Bensalem,

which

the world peacefully.

Clearly they
they
point

risk, for

even with

their technical prowess

it is

not certain that

could withstand all-out attack

from
it is

greedy

and corrupt

Europe. At this
the

Bacon's fiction breaks

or even

off and

unclear whether

he

regarded

work as

finished be

finishable. The
so that the

question remains whether

human

nature will

able to

be tamed

powerful secrets of

Atlantis

will prove

to

be

blessing

or a curse.

CONCLUSION: THE FLIGHT OF ICARUS

Although the Father

not explain

of

Salomon's House disclosed

accomplished.

unheard-of

wonders, he did

how they
and

were

These alluring

possibilities

inflame

desires
excess cause a

that might

otherwise

be

overchastened.

mischievous,

is "bad
excess

The story of Icarus teaches that but insufficient desire poses a greater risk "be
of magnanimity,
whereas

in

there

is something

something, like the

flight

of a

bird,

that holds kindred with

heaven;

defect

creeps on the ground can still

like

reptile"

(6.754). Yet those

untouched

by

scientific

light

grasp its fruits.

348
Bacon back

Interpretation
notes

of an

acidly that "when the Sphinx was ass: for there is nothing so subde
scientific secrets

subdued,

her

body
but
dull

was

laid

on the once
it"

and abstruse,

when

it is

thoroughly

understood and published to the world, even a

wit can
powers

carry
open

(6.757). Once revealed,

corrupt rulers.

become banal, their

to

difficult it
Bacon's

would

Bacon surely knew from his own failures with be to guard scientific powers from political
responsibility to
oversee the use of

King

James how

abuse.24

Scientists few

must take political

their discoveries.

political vision

turns on new possibilities of desire. Even after a

days in Bensalem the

to make us

sailors are enraptured with this new world,

"as

was enough

forget

all that was

dear to

us

in

countries"

our own

(3.147). Their
how
much

exhilaration shows

how

deeply
be

the new eros

has

moved
must

them,

and

Bacon hoped

we would

moved

in turn. Desire

be both

chastened and

heightened, avoiding
reconcile scientific on what

paradox

because this double human

motion reflects

the complex

repercussion of the new science on

fruitfulness
and

with

sensibility. In turn, the polity also must shrinking families. To do this, Bacon relies

is

"natural"

most revered

to moderate the

disorienting
of

effects of which

altering

nature.

He

also anticipates an alliance with

Christian

humanism,
love. But
of

shares the tenets of redemptive

Bacon indicts the The pressing

crimes of

suffering Daedalus he

and a new

kind

though
Icarus.25

cannot escape the

dangers

needs of

are more than

suffering humanity desperate gambles. In the

call end

for these

risky

measures, but
with

they

Icarus is "kindred

heaven";

those who watch

"there is

no excellent

his wavering flight taste a strange exaltation. As Bacon notes, beauty that hath not some strangeness in the
with

proportion."

Moved
science

by beauty

along that "passeth

hope

and

charity the polity may take to heart

a new

understanding."

NOTES

This is the

appellation of

Gemot Bohme, Am Ende des Baconischen Zeitalters

refer

(Frankfurt-

in The Works of Francis Bacon, ed. James Spedding (London: 1857-74 [reprint: New York: 1968]), in this case 6.732. 2. See the helpful account of Antonio Perez-Ramos, "Bacon's in The Cambridge
am-Main:

1993). Citations from Bacon

to volume and page number

Legacy,"

Markku Peltonen (Cambridge, Eng.: 1996, pp. 311-34) regarding Rous seau's assessment. See also Howard White, "Francis in History of Political Philosophy, ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, 3d ed (Chicago: 1987), pp. 366-85. See also Weinberger,

Companion to

Bacon,

ed.

Bacon,"

American Political Science Review 70 (1976): 884, Science, Faith, and Politics (Ithaca: 1985), pp. 27-32, 131-33, his "Introduction" to his edition of New Atlantis and The Great Instauration (Arlington Heights, IL: 1989), pp. xxxi-xxxii; and Laurence
and

"Science

Rule in Bacon's

Utopia,"

Jerry

Lampert, Nietzsche
of rhetorical

and

Modern Times (New Haven:

1993),

pp.

17-141. Although he

was a master

subtlety, Bacon held that ambiguity was the "sophism of all (3.394); mod ern readings that depict him as wholly paradoxical or ambivalent violate his express intent. See Brian Vickers, "Bacon Among the Literati," Comparative Criticism 13 (1991): 259.
sophisms"

3.

Contrary
of

to an old commonplace,
see

Bacon did
with

not consider

that this struggle required the

and the
'Torture'

"torture

nature";

my essay

"Wrestling

Proteus: Francis Bacon

of

Desire, Science,
" Leibniz'

and

Polity

349

Nature, his 90, no. 2 (1999): 81-94.When Leibniz coined this phrase he did not mean the abuse of Nature; see my essay "Nature on the Rack: Attitude towards Judicial Torture and the of Studia Leibnitiana 29, no. 2 (1997): 189-97. Rich and provocative insights have already emerged in the work of a number of scholars, particularly John C. Briggs, Francis Bacon and the Rhetoric of Nature (Cambridge: 1989), pp. 132-38, 238-39; I am indebted to this outstanding work on many points. See also Howard B. White, Peace Among the Willows (The Hague: 1968) and "Bacon's Wisdom of the Interpretation 1 (1970): 107-29; Charles W. Lemmi, The Classic Deities in Bacon (Baltimore: 1933), pp. 1-41; Paolo Rossi, Francis Bacon: From Magic to Science, trans. Sacha Rabinovitch (Chicago: 1968), pp. 81-96; Lisa Jardine, Fran cis Bacon: Discovery and the Art of Discourse (Cambridge, Eng.: 1974), pp. 173-92; Timothy Paterson, "Bacon's Myth of Interpretation, 16, no. 3 (1989): 427-44. 4. Bacon reinterpreted the myth of Cupid in a lengthy fragment, De Principiis atque originibus in De sapientia veterum (1609; 6.729-31). The De (5.461-500), expanding "Cupid, or the principiis is included in the new Oxford edition, Francis Bacon, Philosophical Studies c. 161 1-c. 1619, ed. Graham Rees (Oxford: 1996), vol. 6, pp. 196-267, cited as OFB with the volume and page number. Following the ancient division of two Cupids, "one is said to have been the most Bacon concentrates on the elder (OFB 6.197; 5.461), ancient, the other the youngest of the who gives the "general appetite of conjunction and procreation; Cupid, her son, applies the appetite (6.731). This redirection of the imagination (OFB 6.197; 5.461) is required to an individual
'Torture'

Nature,"

Ancients,"

Orpheus,"

Atom"

gods,"

object"

by

Democritean philosophy, "which, because it from

common

cut rather more

sharply

and

deeply

into

nature and

stood well apart

notions, was treated as childish

by

the vulgar

herd"

(OFB

6.205;
of

5.465).
Discovery,"

5. See Charles Whitney, "Cupid Hatched by Night: The 'Mysteries of in Inejfability: Naming the Unnameable from Dante to Beckett, Anne H. Schotter (New York: 1984), image
see p.

Faith'

and ed.

Bacon's Art

Peter S. Hawkins
use of the

and

59. For

a general

discussion

of

Bacon's

mirror

Katharine Park, "Bacon's 'Enchanted

pp.

Glass,'"

his, 75 (1984): 290-302. Erich

as a pris

Heller, The Disinherited Mind (New York: 1975),

oner

199-200, describes Kafka's hero

p.

in

distorted
usage

version of

Plato's

cave.

6. This
technology;

is

clarified

by Lemmi,

Classic Deities,

145.

science is essentially identical with Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology, trans. William Lovitt (New York: 1977), pp. 3-36. Roger Shattuck also tends to collapse this distinction in his treatment of the Sphinx in Forbidden Knowledge (New York: 1996), pp. 179-80, 323-24.

7. Here Bacon
see

addresses the claim of

Martin Heidegger that

8. See Lowell Edmunds, Oedipus: The Ancient Legend

and

Its Later Analogues (Baltimore:

1985),

pp.

9-10.
show that scientists

9. Studies
beyond the

have had

periods of

illness

or physical

disability

in

childhood

far

proportion

York: 1952), 229-52).

10. Sir

and

See Anne Roe, The Making of a Scientist (New Gerald Holton, The Scientific Imagination: Case Studies (New York: 1978), pp. in the
general population.

Anthony

Weldon

noted

that

King
him

James's "legs before he

were

thought)

some

foul play in his youth, James VI

and

or rather

was

born,

very weake, that he was

having
. .

had (as

was

not able

to stand at

seven years of age, that weaknesse made

ever

leaning

on other mens shoulders.

See David

Harris Willson, King As John Briggs has written, "It is the history. There is brother he
a pin through

I (New York: 1967),

maimed

p.

16.
whose

hero Oedipus

life best
of

presages

Bacon's

Bacon's
more

ankles too: the

disinheriting

death

his father. Antony, the

seems

to have loved

than

he

could

hobbling,

which

Francis in fact

wished

were

visibly

any friend, carried the visible sign of their his, saying it would signify and excuse the

exclusively contemplative See Briggs's biographical essay

tional
feet"

vocation

he

sometimes yearned

for to

prove

the new learning's

mettle

on

Bacon,

to appear

in the

new edition of the

Dictionary

of Na

Biography, in
notes

which

is

also

to be found Wotton's characterization of Antony's "impotent

(present edition, 1.799b).

that the deformed are "for the
most part

Bacon
affection

[Romans

1.31];

and so

they have

their revenge of

(as the Scripture saith) void of natural The issue of parricide emerges
nature."

350
also

Interpretation
regard to
Socrates'

Bacon

relentless quest for truth; see Sophist 24 Id. Robert K. Faulkner, Francis Project of Progress (Lanham, MD: 1993), p. 101. 1 1. See John Briggs's essay on "Bacon's Science and in The Cambridge Companion and "On the Role of to Bacon, pp. 172-99. See also Timothy Paterson, "Bacon's Myth of

in

and the

Religion"

Orpheus"

Christianity

in the Political

Philosophy

of

Francis

Bacon,"

Polity, 29,

no.

3 (1987): 419-42;
a

on

I hope to discuss the widely held view that Bacon was not really contrast, Lampert argues (Nietzsche, p. 110) that "Prometheus's crime is Bacon's
another occasion

Christian. In

crime,"

ignoring

that Bacon

expressly

refrains

from

such excesses.

12. See my book, The Labyrinth of Nature (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, forthcoming). See John E. Leary, Jr., Francis Bacon and the Politics of Science (Ames, IA, 1994), pp. 185-222. 1
thank
of

Charles Rubin for

drawing

my

attention to the

distinction between the

school and the games

Prometheus.
13. Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, 1. 252.
critical of

tremely

Already in his early writings Bacon had been ex Meditationes Sacrae (1597; 7.247-48). 14. See Iliad 1.591-93. Alternatively, Hephaistos may have been lame from birth (Iliad 18.39697). Common to both accounts is the displeasure of his parents. lameness passed down to
"earthly hope";
see the
Hephaistos' Hephaistos'

Palaimonios (Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 11. 202-3). connotes "lame in both and "skilled with both
son
legs" hands."

his

epithet

Amphigueeis

15.

According
and

to

Hesiod, Hephaistos had

after

no

father; he

was

born from Hera alone,

out of

her

"resentment

jealousy"

was the midwife of

Athena

(Theogony 927-29). Hephaistos in Pindar, Olympian 7.35-37. See Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth
Athena
was

born from Zeus

alone

(Baltimore:
pp.

1993),

pp.

74-78,

and

149-52. In Hesiod the figure

of

Mircea Eliade, The Forge and the Crucible (New York: 1962), Pandora is parasitic and malign (Theogony 10.617). For Bacon,
time."

women entice men

to "think only of what is pleasant at the

perhaps

16. Vulcan here may be considered a self-fertilizing father, he really has intercourse with his ancestress Earth, from
terram effudisse").

parallel
whom

to his mother

Hera,

or

Ericthonius is

said to

be

born ("semen in Bacon's

The

quotations are

from the

unpublished works

translated

in

Farrington, The Philosophy of Francis Bacon (Liverpool: 1964),

address to this

pp.

83, 109, 85, 72. The (childless)

works
.

imaginary

son

brings to
Single

mind

his dictum that "the best

see

have

proceeded

from the

men"

unmarried or childless and the

(6.391);
Life"

below.
married

17. The essay "Of Marriage "great

works"

derogates

life in

comparison with the

fortune"

only really
a general

possible to the unmarried persons who

do

not

have "hostages to

(6.391-92). 18. For

introduction to Bacon's
am

Utopia see

Brian Vickers, Francis Bacon (Oxford:

1996),

pp.

785-90. I

indebted to
of

number of

"Francis Bacon

and the

Conquest

Nature,"

insightful studies, including Laurence Berns, Interpretation, 7, no. 1 (1978): 1-26; Eva Brann, "An

Exquisite Platform:

Interpretation, 3, no. 1 (1972): 1-26; Briggs, Francis Bacon, pp. 16974 and "Bacon's Science and Religion"; Faulkner, Francis Bacon and the Project of Progress, pp. 229-59; Leary, Francis Bacon, pp. 231-63; Weinberger (see note 2 above); White, Peace Among the Willows, pp. 134-261; Charles Whitney, Francis Bacon and Modernity (New Haven: 1986), pp. 11-16, 196-203. See Plato, Laws 772a; Tommaso Campanula's City of the Sun [ca. 1602] also
cares

Utopia,"

for "the

breeding

of

human

beings"

on the model of animal p.

husbandry;

see

Henry Morley,
of Francis Ba

Ideal Commonwealths (Port

Washington, NY: 1968),

Thoughts
and

147.

19. From the

con, p. 73.

unpublished

Conclusions in Farrington,

Philosophy

20. This

preoccupation with

generating

new species runs

throughout Bacon's project, "for it is

no small gain

if

by

the application of violence we can communicate to

notes appended

bodies fixed "Magnalia

and permanent

natures"

(4.236-37). In

to the New

Atlantis

and entitled

Naturae"

Bacon

includes among important topics that

need to

be

pursued:

"Versions
another"

of

bodies

onto other

bodies.
also

Making
tersely

of new

species,

Transplanting
leanness."

of one species

into

(3.167). In

this

list Bacon

notes

"Deceptions

of the senses.

Greater

pleasures of the senses.

plexions, and

fatness

The altering

of com

and

The

scene of presumed revelation might except that

have been
all

a noble

lie

staged

by

pious
as we

but deceptive have severely

scientists,

they expressly "do hate

impostures

and

lies: insomuch

Desire, Science,
forbidden it to
work or
ness"

and

Polity

-351

all our fellows, under pain of ignominy and fines, that they do not shew any natural thing, adorned or swelling; but only pure as it is, and without any affectation of strange (3.164). See David Renaker, "A Miracle of Engineering: the Conversion of Bensalem in
Atlantis,"

Francis Bacon's New

Studies in 245-54.

Philology

87 (1990): 181-93; the issue is

also

discussed

by Faulkner,

Francis Bacon,

pp.

See Julian Martin, Francis Bacon, The State, and the Reform of Natural Philosophy (Cam bridge, Eng.: 1992), pp. 134-40, which emphasizes the enhancement of the powers of the Crown as Bacon's paramount intent; however, the way Salomon's House restricts the access of the King to
dangerous
scientific

discoveries

suggests that the

King

is not, finally,

supreme.

There is

also no

hint

in Bacon's text that ordinary imperialism is the goal of Salomon's House, contrary to Martin (p. 135). On the contrary, the way the Father seems to anticipate the reception of the secrets of Ben
salem

in Europe is
and

not

through Atlantean political

established political

domination but

a more cosmopolitan

influence

of

science above

beyond

institutions, reflecting
from the

the situation

in Bensalem is in

itself. 21. John Archer

the same position
and notes

that "the mother, though excluded to

open

display

of

power,

in

relation

her

family
and

that Bensalem
also

is to the

rest of

the world";

Sovereignty

Intelligence (Stanford: 1993),

p.

148. See

Without

Looking
form

Like One:

History
absent.

Knowledge in Bacon's New Cupid God both lays the

Malthus'

Sharon Achinstein, "How to Be a Progressive Clio 17, no. 3

Atlantis,"

(1988): 249-64
the maternal

at n. of

10. In Bacon's Chaos is

account of

cosmic
Night."

egg

and

hatches it;

22. W. M. S. Russell
sources; one

noted

See Whitney, "Cupid Hatched by connection that Bacon anticipated have been
all

of population and re

infers that he

would

the more aware that Bensalem should not have

Biology,"

See W. M. S. Russell, "The Origins of Social Biology and in Human Affairs 41 (1976): 109-37, cited in Harvey Wheeler, "Francis Bacon's New Francis Bacon's Legacy of Texts, ed. William A. Sessions (New York: 1990), pp. 291-309. Russell
suffered underpopulation.
Atlantis,"

"population"

also notes that the word

in this

sense

is

used

for the first time in English in Bacon's

essay Of the True Greatnesse of Kingdomes About three thousand years earlier the
Revenge,"

and

Estates (1612; 6.447). great warrior-king Altabin

was

punished no

by

"Divine
of

and the

Old Atlantis

was

destroyed

any

war or civil strife since the time of

King

flood. After that deluge, there is Solamona, "the lawgiver of our

by

indication
about

nation,"

1900

years

before.
who argues that the and

23. I diverge from Weinberger,

erbates the possibilities of

Bensalemite institution
note

of the pools

"exac

he is adultery the murderous helper of King David's illicit passions. Wein Biblical the different from Joab, very berger argues that Joabin, like his namesake, also stands for "excessive desires"; however, Bacon profound difference between them. See "Science may use the similarity in their names to indicate a and Rule in Bacon's 24. In parting the Father gives a lavish bounty to the European strangers, which Weinberger p. 884), since the Ben and sinister ("Science and Rule in Bacon's treats as
cuckoldry"

(see

above).

Here Joabin

shows that

Utopia."

Utopia,"

"unstable"

payment"

salemites consider

"double
cultivate

an excess

(3.132). Instead, I take this

as

demonstration
would

of the

lavishness the Atlanteans

among their guarded

desires,

and which

they

instill in the

Europeans,
Way"

through gratitude.
Man"

Bacon significantly interposes "The Flight of Icarus; also Scylla and of "Prometheus; or the State of midway between his treatments

Charybdis; or the Middle and "Sphinx; or Sci

and

ence"

in De
the

sapientia veterum.

He

notes

that "it

is

on

the side of excess that the young commonly

defect,"

sin,

as

old on the side of

judgment."

so that moderation
with

in

politics

is "questionable in

to be used than

with caution and

Bacon,

Bruno, held
83. his disgrace he did

"older"

that the moderns

general are

the ancients, because more experienced; see the rington,

unpublished

Thoughts

and

Conclusions in Far

Philosophy of Francis Bacon,

wrote

p.

Bacon
harshness

the New Atlantis after

and
not

of political

realities, even though

surely had few illusions left about the stop trying to regain the king's ear; see
erotic

Nieves Mathews, Francis Bacon (New Haven: 1996). the 25. Unlike Freud, Bacon sees more possibilities for tion;
see

Sigmund

Freud, Civilization

and

its Discontents, trans. James

life than unsatisfying sublima Strachey (New York: 1962).

352
I

Interpretation
agree with

Lampert that Bacon Temple in

an

meant to

pacify

sectarian

strife, but
pp.

not that

he

meant

to seize

possession of the

anti-Christian spirit

(Nietzsche,

68-70). Lampert

seems to

ignore those very bad

aspects of

to subvert; see note 11. See

character"

Christian teaching that Bacon valued (unlike Machiavelli) and did not wish Bacon's treatment of Daedalus, "a man of the greatest genius but of
emphasizes the envious nature of the scientist-Daedalus

(6.734). Lampert

in

Nietzsche,

pp.

34-39.

German Nihilism
Leo Strauss
Edited
by

David Janssens
Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Daniel

Tanguay
of Ottawa

University

The

following
of

lecture

textual evidence, on

by Leo Strauss was delivered, according to internal February 26, 1941, in the General Seminar of the Graduate
Social Science
of the

Faculty

Political

and

New School for Social Research

in New York. The text Leo Strauss's thought

climate of prewar

will prove

to be of particular

interest both for

students of

and for those more generally interested in the intellectual Germany. For the former, the lecture presents itself as one of

the rare occasions on which Professor Strauss suspended his customary reti

directly addressed an important contemporary issue. For the latter, it offers an interesting and compelling outlook on the intellectual currents of one of this century's key periods. Finally, both audiences will find that Professor
cence and

Strauss

combines

his

philosophical rigor and

edge of the problem under

Germany,"

perspicacity with firsthand knowl discussion. As "a young Jew, bom and raised in
well acquainted with

he

was without

doubt it

the phenomenon of Ger

man

nihilism, the influence

exerted

in

postwar and prewar

Germany, its key

be found in
of

representatives and

its historical

origins.

The basis
the Leo

of this edition

is

a typewritten manuscript which can

at

Strauss Papers (Box 8, Folder 15)

of

the Regenstein

Library

The

University
ten pages.

Chicago. The

manuscript consists of twenty-five

mostly typewrit

It bears many
some

corrections and

additions, some of them inserted

by

typewriter,

by

porated the changes edition

might

hand. In preparing the text, we have systematically incor and additions made by Professor Strauss so that the present
reflect

faithfully

his for
a

actual

presentation.

We

note

the few in

stances

in

which we

have

edited

readability.

We have

also

taken the

liberty
some

of correcting, without points

comment,

few

misspellings

in the typescript. At

in

the text Professor

Strauss

made a more substantial addition

with a short comment.

in hand

writing: these are mentioned

in the text,

In

some cases

the

handwriting

was

difficult to

read or altogether

illegible: this is indicated

interpretation,

Spring 1999,

Vol. 26, No. 3

354

Interpretation
parentheses

between

underlined

by

in the text, Professor Strauss,

as well as some

in the

notes.

Certain

words

were

by

typewriter,

some

by by

hand: in the
number

present edition these of

have been italicized. With

a view to

restricting the

notes,

single words which were either added or underlined

with an asterisk

hand

are

indi

cated

in the text

languages have in the

bles

other than

English have been italicized

immediately following the word. Words from by the editors. Finally, we

sources and

added some additional notes.

reader will

information concerning names,

dates

As the

remark, the present edition begins with two different ta

of these

of contents.

The first
on a

is

part of

the original typescript, while the

second was

found

handwritten

sheet attached to the typescript.

The

latter,
as

however,
is

provides a more accurate synopsis of

the contents of the

lecture

it

presented.

For this reason,

Professor

we

have

chosen to

include it

directly

after the

original table of contents.

We

are grateful to generous

for their

help

Cropsey, Leo Strauss's

this publication.

Jenny Strauss Clay and Professor Joseph Cropsey deciphering Professor Strauss's handwriting. Professor literary executor, has also generously given permission for
in

German Nihilism
Graduate

355

Faculty

of

Political

and

Social Science

New School for Social Research, 66 West 12 Street, New York, N. Y.

General Seminar: Experiences

of

the

Second World War

February 26,

1941

German Nihilism
I.
a

Leo Strauss

The

questions:

(a) What is

nihilism?

(b)

How far

can nihilism

be

said to

be

specifically German German

can nihilism

phenomenon?

II. It

is

a phenomenon much

broader than National Socialism.

type of

be described provisionally as the young atheist to the communist ideal. III. The
nihilism of the

passionate reaction of a certain

young

and the positivism of the old.

IV.

The

nihilistic

meaning

of the

term "wave of the

future."

V.

Nihilism is defined

as the rejection of the principles of civilization as such.

VI.

German

nihilism rejects

the principles of civilization as such in

favor

of

war and of warlike

ideals.

VII.

German

nihilism

is

a radicalized

form

of

German

militarism.

VIII.

One

of the roots of

German

militarism

is

moralism.

IX.

The

present

Anglo-German

war

is

a war about principles.

German Nihilism

1.

The

questions:

What is

nihilism?

And how far

can nihilism

be

said

to be a

specifically German
German

phenomenon?

2.

nihilism

is the genus,

of which

National

socialism

is the

best-

known

species.

356
I.

Interpretation
The ultimate,
non-nihilistic motive

underlying German

nihilism.

3.

The inseparable

connection

of

morality

and

the closed

society:

the

moral protest against

the

principle of modem civilisation.

II.

The

situation

in

which that non-nihilistic motive

led to

nihilism.

4.

German

nihilism

is the

reaction of a certain type of

young

atheist to the

communist

ideal

or prediction. of youth to

5.

On the affinity

nihilism, and the

nihilistic consequences of

the emancipation of youth.

6.
aim

On the affinity of progressivism to nihilism: progressivism leaves the undefined; it therefore opposes an indefinite No to the given order.
nihilism?

III. What is
man ?

And how far

can nihilism

be

said to

be specifically Ger Civil

7.

Nihilism is the

rejection of the principles of civilisation as such.

isation is the 8. 9.

conscious culture of sense

human reason, i.e.

science and morals.

Nihilism in the any German

defined is

characteristic of present

day Germany

rather than of

other country.

nihilism rejects
virtues.

the principles of civilisation as such in favor of

war and

the warlike

10. 1 1.

German German

nihilism nihilism

is therefore

akin to

German
of

militarism. and

is

a radicalized
of

form
the

German militarism,

that

radicalization modem

is due to the victory

as a whole.
nihilism of

romantic opinion

concerning the ideal

which

development

12.

German

is

related

to the

reaction

to the modem

is

characteristic

German idealist morality

of

philosophy:

and self-denial vs.

self-interest;

courage

morality of self-sacrifice is the only unambig

claimed

uously non-utilitarian virtue. 13. German idealism, while opposing Western philosophy,
synthesis of the modem not work;
modem

to be a

ideal
of

with the pre-modem

ideal;

that synthesis did

acceptance of the

the

influence

German idealism

made the

ideal impossible; the Germans had to fall back

on

on the pre-modem

ideal: that is to say,

the pre-modem
a polemic

ideal

as

interpreted

by

German

idealism, i.e.,
14. The

as

interpreted in ideal is

intention

against the enlighten

ment; and therefore: on

modem

a modem

distortion

of the pre-modem

ideal.
a tradi

of

English

origin: the

German tradition is
a

tion of criticism of the modem

amalgamation of the modem overemphasized the

ideal. While the English found

with

ideal

the classical
so much

ideal,
they

working the Germans

ultimately

break in the tradition

that

were

led from the

rejection of modern civilisation

to the rejection of the principle

of civilisation as
perial

such,
the

i.e.,

to nihilism. The
as

English
of

gentlemen as an

im

nation

vs.

German Herren

a nation

provincial,

resentful

fanatics.

German Nihilism
GERMAN NIHILISM. LECTURE TO BE DELIVERED ON FEBRUARY, 26, 1941.

357

1. What is

nihilism?

And how far

am not able

can nihilism
answer

be

said

to

be

specifically

German
to

phenomenon?

to

these questions; I can merely

try

elaborate*

them a

little. For the

phenomenon which

am

going to discuss, is
of an
adequate

much

too complex, and much too little explored, to

within

permit

description
scratch

the short time at my

disposal. I

cannot

do

more

than to

its

surface.
we

2. When
of us

hear

at

the present time the expression "German

must

nihilism,"

most
under

naturally think at once of National Socialism. It

however be
famous*

stood

from the

outset that

National Socialism is only the

most

form

of

German

its lowest, most provincial, most unenlightened and most dishonourable form. It is probable that its very vulgarity accounts for its great,
nihilism

if appalling, mately sarily To

shall

successes.

by

complete

may be followed by failures, and ulti defeat. Yet the defeat of National Socialism will not neces
successes

These

mean

the end of German nihilism. For that nihilism has deeper roots than

the preachings of
explain

Hitler, Germany's defeat in

propose

the World War and all that.

German nihilism, I in itself

I

to proceed in the

following

way.

first
is

explain not

the ultimate motive which

nihilistic. shall

motive

is underlying German nihilism; this then describe the situation in which that

non-nihilistic motive such a

led to

nihilistic aspirations.

Finally, I
from the
of that

shall attempt

to give the

definition

of nihilism as

is

not assailable

point of view of

non-nihilistic motive

in question,

and on the

basis

definition,'

to describe

German

nihilism somewhat more might mean:

velle

fully.
nihil, to will the nothing, the destruction of therefore primarily the will to self-destruc

3. Nihilism
everything,

including

oneself,

and

tion. I am told that there are human

not

beings

who

have

such strange

desires. I do
nihil

believe, however,

that such a

desire is the

ultimate motive of

German

to

ism. Not only does the unarmed eye not notice any unambiguous signs of a will demonstrated* to be the se-//*-destruction. But even if such a desire were
ultimate

motive,

we still should

be

at a

loss to fin de

understand
siecle

on

the

form,
To

not of the explain

mood called
nihilism

or

why that desire took of alcoholism, but of

militarism.

German
explain

in terms

of mental

diseases, is

even

less
to

advisable than

it is to

in

such terms

the desire

of a cornered gangster

bump

off together with

himself
a

a couple of cops and

the fellow

who doubledesire.2

crossed

him;

not

being
of

Stoic, I
is
that

could not call

that*

desire

a morbid

The fact

of the matter

German

nihilism

is

not absolute

nihilism, desire

for the destruction

of

everything
almost*

including

oneself, but a desire for the destruction

specific:*

something nihilism becomes

of modern civilisation.
absolute nihilism

That, if I may say

reason:

so, limited

an

only for this

because the

negation of modem civilisation,

the

No, is

not

guided, or accompanied,

by

any

clear positive conception.

358

Interpretation
nihilism

German

desires the destruction

a moral meaning.

of modem civilisation as

far

as mod

em civilisation

has

As

everyone
moral

knows, it does

not object so

much to modem

technical*

devices. That
object, is

to which the

German

nihilists

expressed

meaning of modem civilisation in formulations such as these:

man; or: the
greatest possible

to relieve man's estate; or: to safeguard the

rights

of

happiness
lar

of the greatest possible number.

What is the

motive

protest against modem of the

civilisation, against the spirit of the

West*,

underlying the and in particu

Anglo-Saxon*

West?
a moral protest.

The

answer must

be: it is

That

protest proceeds

from the it

conviction

that the internationalism inherent in

establishment of a

modem

civilisation, or, more

which

precisely, that the

perfectly

open

society

is

as

were

the goal of modem civilisation, and therefore all aspirations

directed toward life. That

protest and

that goal, are irreconcilable with the basic demands of moral

proceeds

from the

conviction that the root of all moral

life is essentially

therefore eternally the closed society; from the conviction that the open society

is bound to be, if
and

not

immoral,

at

least

amoral:

the meeting ground of seekers of

pleasure, of gain, of irresponsible power, indeed of any kind of

irresponsibility

lack

of

seriousness.3

Moral life, it is asserted,

of seriousness of the
closed

means serious

life. Seriousness,

and the ceremonial

the

flag

and the oath to the

society,

of the

society

which

flag by

are the

distinctive features

its very nature, is constantly

confronted

with, and
war.

ment,

M-day,

basically oriented toward, the Ernstfall, the serious mo Only life in such a tense atmosphere, only a life which is
sacrifices*

based

on constant awareness of the

to which
and all

it

owes

its existence,

and of

the necessity, the

sublime

duty

of sacrifice of

life

worldly goods, is
societies of the

truly
West in
a

human: the

is

unknown

to the open

society."

The

which claim state of on

to

aspire

toward the open society,

moral

actually

are closed societies

disintegration: their

value, their respectability, depends entirely

their still

being

closed societies.

Let

us pursue

this argument a little

further. The
not proved

open

society, it is asserted, is

actually impossible. Its possibility is

progress*

at all

toward the open society. For that progress

merely
present

verbal.

Certain basic facts

of

human

nature

by what is called the largely fictitious or which have been honestly

is
spade,
are at

recognized

by

earlier generations who used to call a spade a

the
and

time verbally

denied, superficially
who

covered over
war

by fictions legal

others, e.g.,

by

the

belief that

one can abolish

military forces punishing him

war*

ministries of defence* or

by pacts not backed by breaks the pact, or by calling ministries of by calling punishment sanctions, or by calling
the

capital punishment

das hochste
also*

Strafmass.5

to the closed

society

because

society is morally inferior former is based on hypocrisy.

open

The

The

conviction

underlying
with

the protest against modem civilisation

with

has ba for

sically nothing to do

bellicism,

love

of

war;

nor with nationalism:

there were closed societies which were not nations;

it has indeed something to

German Nihilism
do
the
with what

359

is

called the sovereign

state, insofar as the sovereign

state offers convic

best

modem example of a closed

society in

the sense

indicated. The
love

tion I am

trying
love

to

describe, is

not, to repeat, in

its

origin a

of war:

it

is

rather a

of

morality,

a sense of

responsibility for
or

endangered morality.

The historians in Plato's

our midst

know that conviction,

above

passion, from

Glaukon's,

brother's,

passionate protest against the

noble virtue.

They
the

know it,

city of pigs, in the name of all, from Jean- Jacques Rousseau's passionate

protest against

taste,

and

easy-going and somewhat rotten civilisation of the century of from Friedrich Nietzsche's passionate protest against the easy-going
century
of

and somewhat rotten civilisation of the

industry. It turned, if in

was the same a much more

passion

let there be

no mistake about that

which

passionate and

tion of

infinitely less intelligent form, against the alleged or real corrup post-war Germany: against "the subhuman beings of the big cities (die
Grossstadt),"

Untermenschen der
etc. shown

against

"cultural bolshevism

(Kulturbolscheas

wismus),"

That passion,

or conviction

is then

not

in itself nihilistic,

is

by

the examples of Plato and

Rousseau, if

examples are needed at all.

(One may even wonder whether it was not a sound demand, remembering, e.g., the decision of the Oxford students not to fight for king and country and some more recent facts.) While not being nihilistic in itself, and perhaps even not

entirely unsound, that

the

conviction

led however to

nihilism

in

post-war

Germany
suffi

owing to a number of circumstances. Of those circumstances, I shall mention in

survey

which

follows, only

those which, to my mind, have not

of this seminar nor

been

ciently

emphasized

in the discussions

in the literature

on

the

subject.6

4. One

would

have to

possess a gift which

you who

reporter, in order to give those of

post-war
ism.7

I totally lack, the gift of have not lived for many

lyrical

years

in

Germany,
me

an

adequate*

idea

of the emotions

Let

tentatively define
a

nihilism as

underlying German nihil the desire to destroy the present

world and

its potentialities, develop. be

desire

not accompanied

by

any

clear conception

of what one wants to put

in its

place.

And let

us

try

to understand how such a

desire No
racy
with

could

one could

satisfied with the post-war world. seemed

German liberal democ

of all

descriptions

to many

people

to be absolutely unable to cope

the

difficulties

with which

Germany

was confronted.

This

created a pro

found prejudice, liberal

open.

or confirmed a profound prejudice as such.

democracy
One
about

Two

articulate

already in existence, against alternatives to liberal democracy were

was simple

reaction, as expressed

by

the Crown Prince

Ruprecht

of

Bavaria in The

these terms: "Some people say that the wheel of

error."

history

cannot

be turned back. This is

older ones

an

The

other alternative was more

interesting.

in

our midst still remember

the time when certain people as

serted that the conflicts

inherent in the
or

present situation would another

necessarily lead
a

to a revolution, accompanying

following

World War

rising

of

the

proletariat and of the proletarianized strata of

society

which would usher

in the

360

Interpretation
of the

withering away
tion and

State,

the classless society, the abolition of all exploita

injustice,

the era of

final

peace.

It

was this prospect at

least

as much as

the desperate present, which

without rulers and

led to

nihilism.

The

prospect of a pacified

planet,

ruled, of

planetary society devoted to

a

production and con

sumption
rial

only, to the production and consumption of

was

spiritual as well as mate

positively horrifying to quite very decent, if very young, Germans. They did not
merchandise,
cause
were

few very intelligent

to that prospect

and

object

be

they worrying certainly in that respect they had no longer anything to lose. Nor did they object to it for religious reasons; for, as one of their spokesmen (E. Jiinger) said, they
knew*

about their own economic and social

position; for

that

they

were

the*

sons and grandsons and great-grandsons of godless

men.

What they hated, was the very prospect of a world in which everyone would be happy and satisfied, in which everyone would have his little pleasure

by day
beat

and

his little

pleasure

by

night, a world in

which no great

heart

could

and no great soul could

a world without

fice, i.e.
Germans

breathe, a world without real, unmetaphoric, sacri blood, sweat, and tears. What to the communists
of the

appeared to

be the fulfilment

dream
of

of

mankind, appeared to those young

as the not

as the greatest

debasement

humanity,

coming

of the end of

humanity,
they
put quel:

as the arrival of the

latest
a

man.

They
clear

were unable to express

in

tolerably
were

really know, and thus language, what they desired to

or se certain was that the present

did

in the

place of the present world and

its allegedly necessary future

the only

thing

of which

they

absolutely

world and all

the potentialities of the present world as such, must

the otherwise

be destroyed
final
the

in

order to

prevent

necessary coming
the chaos, the

of the communist

order:

literally

anything, the

nothing*

jungle,
they
which

the Wild

West,

Hobbian

state of

nature, seemed to them

future.8

infinitely

better than the

communist-

anarchist-pacifist more than:

Their Yes
proved

was

inarticulate

were unable to

say

No! This No

however

sufficient as the preface to action, to

occurs

the action of
whenever

destruction. This is the

expression

phenomenon
nihilism.

to me

first

I hear the

German

It is

question.

lution

hardly necessary to point out the fallacy committed by the young men in They simply took over the communist thesis that the proletarian revo and proletarian dictatorship is necessary, if civilisation is not to perish.
rather more

But they insisted

room

than the communists on the conditional character

not

of the communist prediction

((/"civilisation is

to perish). That condition left

for

choice:

they
of

chose what

according

to the communists was the only

alternative ment was

to communism. In other words:

in favour

communism; but
called
was

they admitted that all rational argu they opposed to that apparently invinc
decision."

ible

argument what

they

"irrational

Unfortunately,
based
on

all rational

argument

they knew of,

historical argument,

or more precisely: statements

about the probable

future,

predictions,

which were

analysis of the
social

past, and above all, of the present. For that modem astrology,

predicting

German Nihilism
science, had taken hold
emphasized
of a

361

very large

part of the academic

people.9

youth.

I have

before that

the nihilists were young

5. One
was

or

the other modem pedagogue would perhaps

nihilism.

feel that

not

everything
are

bad in that

For, he

might

argue, it is

not unnatural

that the intel

ligent

section of a

young

generation should

be dissatisfied

with what a

they

told
a

to believe
new

by

the older generation, and that

a word

they

should

have

strong desire for

word, for

expressing

their

longings,

and, considering that moderation

is

not a virtue of

youth, for an

extreme word.

Moreover, he

would

conceivably

say, it

is

not unnatural
new

that the young people,

are unable

discover that

word,

to express

constitutionally unable to in articulate language more than lover

of paradoxes

being

the negation of the aspirations of the older generation. A

might

be tempted to

assert an essential

affinity

of youth to nihilism.

should

be far

the to
as

last to

deny

the

juvenile

character of that specific nihilism which

I have tried in
so

describe. But I
I

must

disagree

with the modem pedagogue all the more

am convinced that about the most

what

dangerous thing for these young

men was

precisely teachers,
to

is

called progressive education:

they

rather needed old-fashioned

such old-fashioned teachers of course as would

be

undogmatic enough

understand

the

aspirations

of

their

pupils.

Unfortunately,

the

belief in

old-fashioned
which great

teaching declined considerably in post-war Germany. The inroads William II had made on the old and noble educational system founded by

by
of

of the early 19th century, were not discontinued, but rather enlarged Republic. To this one may add the influence of the political emancipation youth, the fact frequently referred to as the children's vote. Nor ought we to

liberals

the

forget that

some of

the young nihilists who refused to undergo severe intellectual

discipline*

were sons or younger

brothers

of men and women who

had

under

gone what

may be described

as the emotional

discipline

of the youth

movement,

of a movement which preached the emancipation of youth.

been

century of the child: in Germany Needless to say that not in all cases the natural progress from adolescence to senility ever interrupted by a period however short of maturity.
called the

Our century has once it proved to be the age of the

adolescent.

was*

The decline
I have
speaking,

of reverence

for

old age

found its
of

most

telling

expression

in Hitler's

shameless reference to the alluded to the

prior

imminent death

the aged President Hindenburg.

fact that the young nihilists were atheists. Broadly to the World War, atheism was a preserve of the radical left, just
atheism was

as throughout

history

had been

connected with philosophic material

ism. German philosophy

were theists or pantheists.

predominantly idealistic, and the German idealists Schopenhauer was, to my knowledge, the first non

materialist and conservative atheism.

with

German

philosopher

who

openly

professed

his

But Schopenhauer's influence fades into but indispensable

insignificance, if

compared

that of Nietzsche. Nietzsche asserted that the atheist assumption is not only

reconcilable with,

and anti-pacifist policy:

according to

for, a radical anti-democratic, anti-socialist, him, even the communist creed is only a

362

Interpretation
form
of theism, of the belief in providence. There is no other phi influence on postwar German thought is comparable to that of

secularized

losopher
I I

whose

Nietzsche,
am

of the atheist

Nietzsche. I
of the

cannot

dwell

on

this important point, since

am not a theologian.

gentleman who

is

much more versed

Professor Carl Mayer

Graduate

Faculty
it

will

in theology than certainly devote to in

an article to

this aspect of
published

German
I

nihilism all the attention

requires

be

in Social

Research.

The
plain

adolescents

am

speaking of,

were

in

need of teachers who could ex not

to them in articulate language the positive, and

of

merely

destructive,
in that

meaning

their aspirations.

They

believed to have found

or

such teachers paved the

group Hitler (Spengler, Moeller Heidegger). If

we want

of professors and writers who

van

knowingly ignorantly way for den Bruck, Carl Schmitt, [illegible], Ernst Jiinger,
Hitler, but
of

to understand the singular success, not of

those writers, we must cast a quick glance at their opponents who were at the
same time the opponents of the

frequently
the

a grave mistake.

young nihilists. Those opponents committed They believed to have refuted the No by refuting
not

Yes, i.e.
did

the

inconsistent, if
try

silly, positive assertions of the young

not

men.

But

one cannot refute what one not even

has

thoroughly

understood.

And many op

ponents

to understand the ardent passion underlying the nega

tion of the present world and its potentialities. As a consequence, the very
refutations confirmed the nihilists

in their belief;

all these refutations seemed to

beg

the question; most of the refutations seemed to consist of pueris things which the young people knew already

decantata,
Those
or meth

of repetitions of

by heart.

young

men

had did

come to

doubt seriously,
of modem

and not

merely methodically

odologically, the
civilisation would who

principles*

civilisation; the

great authorities of that

longer impress them; it was evident that only such opponents have been listened to who knew that doubt from their own experience,
no

through years of

hard

and

opponents

did

not meet

that condition.

independent thinking had overcome it. Many They had been brought up in the belief
and a

in the is

principles of modem

civilisation;

belief in

which one

is brought up,

apt to

degenerate into
nihilists

prejudice*

Consequently,

the attitude of the opponents

of the

young

tended to become apologetic. Thus it came to pass that

the most ardent upholders of the principle of progress, of an

sive

principle,

were compelled

to take a

the mind,

taking

defensive ideal

stand

essentially aggres defensive stand; and, in the realm of looks like admitting defeat. The ideas of
generation to

modem civilisation appeared to the

young

be the

old

ideas;

thus

the adherents of the

of progress were

in the

awkward position that

they
with

had to resist, in the

called the wave of

manner of

conservateurs,
made

what

in the

meantime

has been

the

future.

the
the

heavy

burden

of a

tradition

movement

young nihilists, not and in the wars

They hoary with age and hampered by any tradition,

the
of the mind no

impression
had

of

being

loaded

somewhat

dusty,

whereas
of

complete
real

freedom

less than in
nihilists

wars, freedom of
all the

action spells victory.

The

opponents of the

young

had

advantages,

German Nihilism
but likewise all the
the

363

disabilities, of the intellectually propertied class confronted by

intellectual proletarian, the sceptic. The situation of modem civilisation in general, and of its backbone, which is modem science, both natural and civil in
particular, appeared to be comparable to that of
emergence of methods and scholasticism

shortly before the

perfection of

the new science of the 17th century: the technical

the

terminology of the old school, communism included, appeared to be a

For technical
perfection

strong basic problems.

only*

argument against the old school.

is

apt

to

hide the its flight

post-war

Or, if you
is

wish, the bird of the

goddess of wisdom starts characteristic of

when

the sun

setting.

It

was

certainly

German

thought that the output of technical

reached astronomic proportions.

terms,

at no

time negligible

in Germany,

young nihilists, had to be

given

The only answer which could have impressed the in non-technical language. Only one answer was have impressed the young
period nihilists

given which was adequate and which would

if

they had heard it. It was not however given by a German and it year 1940 only. Those young men who refused to believe that the
the

was given

in the

following
have been defeat in

jump

into liberty,

following
in
were,

the communist world revolution, would be the

finest hour impressed

Flanders

of mankind

general and of

Germany in

particular,

would

as much as we

by

what

Winston Churchill in the life

said after the

about

Britain's finest hour. For

one of their greatest teachers

of

had taught
which was

them to see
ancient*

in Cannae the

greatest moment

that glory

Rome."

6. I have tried to it for

circumscribe

the intellectual and moral situation in

which a

nihilism emerged which was not granted

in

all cases

base in its

origin.

Moreover, I

take

that not everything to which the young nihilists objected, was

unobjectionable, and that not every writer or speaker whom

respectable.

they despised,

was

Let

us

beware

discretion. And let

or

us not

of a sense of solidarity which is not by forget that the highest duty of the scholar, truthfulness no

limited

justice,

acknowledges

limits. Let I

us

then not

hesitate to look for

one

moment at

the

phenomenon which

called

nihilism, from the

point of view of

"Nihilism,"

the nihilists themselves.

who

they

would

say, is a

slogan used

by

those

do

not understand

the new, who see merely the rejection of their cherished

ideals,

the destruction of their spiritual property, who judge the new

by its

first

words and expression.

deeds,
How

which

are, of necessity, a

caricature rather than an adequate adequate expression of

can a reasonable man expect an

the

ideal

of a new epoch at
when the sun

its beginning,
setting?

considering that the owl of Minerva starts

said about

its flight

is

The Nazis? Hitler? The less is

him,
tool
new

the better. He will soon be forgotten. He

of

"History": the

midwife who assists at

is merely the rather contemptible the birth of the new epoch, of a

nothing
of the genius at whose

spirit;

and a midwife

usually

understands

birth
new

she assists; she

is

not even supposed to

be

a competent gynaecologist.

reality is in the making; it is transforming a fertile nothing. The Nazis there is: nothing, but
clouds; the sky is hidden at
present

the whole world;

are as

in the

meantime

unsubstantial

as

by

those*

devasclouds which announce a

364

Interpretation
storm, but
at

tating

the same time the long-needed rain which

and

will

bring

new what

life to the dried up soil;

which

(here I

am almost

quoting) do
end of an

not

lose hope;

appears to you the end of the

world, is merely the

epoch, of the epoch

began in 1517

or so.

frankly

confess, I do

not see

how those
and the

can

resist the voice of that siren who expect the answer to the question

first

last

from

"History,"

from the future

as

such*

who mistake analysis of the

present or past or

goal which

future for philosophy; who believe in a progress toward a itself progressive and therefore undefinable; who are not guided is
and stable standard:

by

known

by

a standard which

is

stable and not change

able, and

which

is known

and not

resistance to nihilism seems contempt of

merely believed. In other words, the lack of to be due ultimately to the depreciation and the

reason,

which

is

one and unchangeable or on

it is not, forces
will

and of science. which cause

For if

reason

is changeable, it is dependent is
arbitrary, between

those

its

changes; it is

a servant or slave of the emotions; and not

noble and

it

be hard to

make a

distinction

which

base emotions,

once one

has denied the rulership of reason. A German intimate intercourse with the superhuman father
as*

who could

boast

of a

life-long
us
origina

of all nihilism,

has informed

reliably,

as we were ever

informed

by

any inspired author, that the

tor of all nihilism admitted: "Just despise reason and science, the very highest
power of

man, and I have got you

completely."12

7. I had to
and read

condense a number of recollections of what

I have heard, seen,

re

while

was

living

in Germany, into the

an

foregoing fragmentary
irrational

marks, because I had to convey

the

impression

of an

movement and of

frequently
however,

irrational

reactions

to

it,

rather

than a reasoned argument. I have

now,

reached the point where not without

can venture to submit a

definition

of

nihilism.

I do this

trepidation. Not

because

the

definition

which

going to suggest, does not live up to the requirements of an tion (for I know that sins of that kind are the ones which are
am
nor

orderly*

defini

more easily because it is in but for the opposite forgiven); any way novel, precisely It will seem to most of you that it is a commonplace and that it
reason.13

consists of commonplaces.

this: I expected to

find

The only thing which I can say to definition of nihilism as a matter book.

justify

myself, is

of course

in Mr.

Rauschning's in that book,

triviality, if
I A
a

well-known gives
me

Only

the courage to

my failure to discover such a definition indulge in what you will consider a

shall then say:

necessary triviality. Nihilism is the is then

a man who

rejection of the principles of civilisation as

civilisation, if only in is not a nihilist. This is savage, the difference between Ariovistus, the Teutonic chieftain whom Caesar de feated, and Hitler who otherwise have the characteristic qualities of the perfect
principles of
a a superficial way.

such.

nihilist

knows the

A merely

uncivilised

man,

barbarian (arrogance
turbed the circles of civilisation, and not:

and

cruelty) in

common.

The Roman

soldier who
a soldier.

dis
said

Archimedes,
culture.

was not a

nihilist, but just

For I have

noticed that

many

nihilists are great

German Nihilism
lovers
of

365

culture,

as

distinguished from,

and opposed

to,

civilisation.
which

Besides,
culti

the term culture

vated

leaves it

undetermined what

the

thing is

is to be

(blood

and soil or the mind), whereas the term civilisation

designates inhabitant

at
of

once the process of

making

man a

citizen,

and not a

slave;

an

cities,

and not a

mstic; a lover of peace, and not of war; a polite

possess a

being,

and not

a ruffian.

A tribal community may

culture, i.e. produce, and enjoy,

dances,*

hymns,

songs, ornament of their clothes, of their weapons and pottery,

fairy

tales and what not;

man

it

cannot

however be

civilised.14

wonder

whether*

the

fact that Western

pride, of his

lost

much of not at

his former pride,

a quiet and

becoming
resis

being
to

civilised, is

the bottom of the present lack of

tance to nihilism.

shall

try

be

somewhat more precise.

By

civilisation,

we understand

the

conscious culture of

humanity, i.e.

of

that which makes a human

being

human
all, in

being, i
can

e. the

conscious*

culture of reason.

Human

reason

is active,

above

two ways: as regulating human conduct, and as attempting to understand whatever

be

understood

by

man; as

practical

reason, and as theoretical science, and both

and thus

reason.

The

pillars of civilisation are therefore morals and

without morals scientific effort

united.

For science
of the

degenerates into cynicism,

destroys the basis

itself;

and morals without science

cruelty.

degenerates into
philosophy; it is

superstition and

thus

is

apt to

become fanatic

Science is the
with

attempt to understand the

not

universe and

man; it is therefore identical

modern*

necessarily

identical
noble

with

science.

By morals,

we understand

the rules of decent and

conduct, as

nature applicable to

that not all

conduct.

them; those rules are by their although we human being, may allow for the possibility any human beings have an equal natural aptitude for decent and noble
a reasonable man would understand

Even the

most violent sceptic cannot

or

help from time to time despising,

or even

or

at

least excusing, this

that action and this or that man; a complete analysis of

what

is implied in

such an action of

despising,
I

excusing,

would

lead to that it
will

well-known view of morals which

sketched.

For

our present purpose

suffice
remote

if I illustrate decent from

pain.15

and noble conduct

by

the remark that it

is equally

deriving pleasure inability noble conduct has to decent and remark that other Or by the from inflicting
to inflict physical or other pain as

from

do, not so much with the natural aim of man, as with the means toward that aim:
view

the
of

that the end sanctifies the means,

is

tolerably

complete

expression*

immoralism. I
"art"

deliberately

excluded

from the definition

of civilisation. of art and

Hitler,
is

the

best-known

champion of

nihilism,

is famous for his love

even an

artist himself. But I never heard that he had anything to do with search for truth or with any attempt to instill the seeds of virtue into the souls of his subjects. I
"art"

am

confirmed

in this

prejudice

concerning

by

the observation that the

founding
are, did
and the

fathers

of civilisation who art as

taught us what science

use since about

is

and what morals

nor

not

know the term

it is in is

180 years,

the

term,

discipline,

aesthetics which

of

equally

recent origin.

This is

not to

366

Interpretation
rather to

deny, but

assert, that there

are close

relations

between

science

and

morals on the one

hand,

and poetry and the other imitative arts on the other; but

those relations are

and morals as well as of pillars of

civilisation.16

bound to be misunderstood, to the detriment of both science poetry, if science and morals are not considered the
I suggested, has

The definition
which

which

another

implication,

or

advantage,
nihilism as

explicit.17

must make

1 tentatively defined,

at the

beginning,

the

desire to

destroy

the present civilisation,

modern civilisation.

By

my

second

definition I intended to
modern civilisation as

make clear that one cannot call the most radical critic of

such, a

nihilist.

Civilisation is the
not

conscious culture of reason.

or

This

means that civilisation

is

identical

with

human life

human

existence.

There were,

and there

are,

many human beings who do not partake of civilisation. Civilisation has a natu ral basis which it finds, which it does not create, on which it is dependent, and
on which

it has only
poetic

very limited influence. Conquest

of

nature, if not taken

as a

highly

overstatement,

is
in

a nonsensical expression.

The

natural

basis

of civilisation shows as
well

itself for instance in the fact that

need

all civilised communities

which

as uncivilised ones are

of armed

force

they

must use

against their enemies

from
not

without and against

the criminals within.

8. I presume, it is

necessary to
e.g.,

prove that nihilism

in the

sense

defined is
more

dominant in Germany,
than any other country.

and that nihilism characterizes at present

Germany

Japan,

cannot

be

as nihilistic as

Japan has been

nihilism

much

less

civilised

in the

sense

Germany, because defined than was Germany. If

is the

rejection of

the principles of civilisation as such, and if civilisa

tion is based on recognition of the fact that the subject of civilisation is man as man, every interpretation of science and morals in terms of races, or of nations,
or of

cultures, is strictly speaking

or

nihilistic.

Whoever

accepts

the

idea

of a

Nordic

German

or

Faustic science, e.g.,

rejects eo

ipso the idea

of science.

Different
one of alist

"cultures"

them can

may have produced different types of "science"; but only be true, can be The nihilist implication of the nation
science.**

interpretation

of science

in

particular can

be described

somewhat

differ

ently in the following terms. Civilisation is inseparable from learning, from the desire to learn from anyone who can teach us something worthwhile. The na

interpretation of science or philosophy implies that we cannot really learn anything worthwhile from people who do not belong to our nation or our culture. The few Greeks whom we usually have in mind when we speak of the
tionalist

Greeks,

were

distinguished from the

even

willingness

to learn

Greek barbarian
are solved would

as well

by,

or on the

barbarians, so to speak exclusively by their barbarians; whereas the barbarian, the as the Greek barbarian, believes that all his questions basis of, his ancestral tradition. Naturally, a man who
from
non-

limit himself to asserting that

one nation

may have

a greater aptitude to
not

understanding

phenomena of a certain type than other

nations, would

be

German Nihilism
nihilist: not

367

the accidental fate

of science or

morals, but its

essential

intention is

decisive for the definition 9. The German

begin
nihilists

of civilisation and therewith of nihilism.

in general,

and the

German
question

nihilists

in

particular reject of what

the

principles of civilisation as such.

nihilists reject

The

arises, in favor

do the
to

those principles? I shall

of

try

to answer that

question

with on

the

basis
has

Mr. Rauschning's

book."

This

will give me an oppor

tunity
Mr.

to elucidate somewhat more the

foregoing

definition

of nihilism.

Rauschning

called

the foreign and domestic policy of the Nazis "the

nihilism."

revolution of

This

means:

the

making,"

but "the

wasteful and

it is not, as it claims to be, "a new order in destructive exploitation of irreplaceable re

of

sources, material, mental, and moral, accumulated through generations

labor"

fruitful
not

(xi). This

would mean

that N.S.

is

nihilistic

in its effect, but it does

necessarily

mean that

it is

nihilistic

in its intention. What conceivably

so
be*

Rauschning
said of the

says

in this

passage quoted about the

revolution as well.

Nazis,

might

Communist If in its
nihil object

And yet,

one cannot call communism a nihilist movement.

the communist revolution is nihilist,

it is

in its consequences, but

not

intention. This

reminds me of another remark of

Rauschning's: he identifies
standards"

ism

with

the "destruction of all traditional spiritual

use of the term
traditional*

(xn). What I

to, is the

in the definition

of nihilism.

It is

evident

that not all traditional spiritual standards are,

even rejection: we seek what

by

their nature,

beyond

criticism and

is good, and not what we have inherited, to quote Aristotle. In other words, I believe it is dangerous, if the opponents of National Socialism withdraw to a mere conservatism which defines its ultimate goal by a
specific
tradition*

The temptation to fall back from

and

an unimpressive present on

an

impressive
ought not,

past

every

past

is

as such

impressive

is very

great

indeed.

We

however,
in

cede to that

temptation, if for

no other

reason, at least
appear as

for
as

this that the Western tradition

one

is

not so

homogeneous To

as

it may

long

is

engaged

polemics or

in

apologetics.

mention one example out of reconcile

many: the great tradition of which

with

Voltaire is

representative, is hard to
even

the tradition of which Bellarmine

is

representative,

if both traditions

should

be equally hostile to National

Socialism.20

Besides, I

wish, Mr.

Rauschning

had

not spoken of spiritual

standards; this savours of the

view

that materialism is

essentially nihilistic; I believe that materialism is an error, but I have only to recall the names of Democritus and Hobbes in order to realize that materialism is
not

essentially

nihilistic.

Not to
of

mention

the

fact

that a certain anti-materialism or

idealism is lack

at the

bottom

German

nihilism.

Rauschning
of

operates on somewhat safer ground when

he

stresses the

Nazis'

any

settled aims.

He

understands

then

by

German

nihilism

the "permanent

destruction"

revolution of sheer
sake"

for the

sake of

destruction,
of the

"revolution for its

says that

own

(248). He

"aimlessness"

stresses

the

Nazis; he

they
calls

have
their

no program except
revolution

action; that

they

replace

doctrine

by

tactics

(75); he

"a

doctrine"

revolution without a

(55); he

speaks of the

"total

368

Interpretation

rejection"

by

the

Nazis "of any

doctrine"

sort of says:

(56). This

appears

to be an

exaggeration. not: a

For

elsewhere

Rauschning
Yet it has
a

doctrine
while

philosophy."

or philosophy.

"One thing National Socialism is (23). Or: "the fight against only in
material con
(22).21
doctrine"

Judaism,
Their
even

it is beyond

question a central element not

siderations, but in those

anti-Jewish were

of cultural

policy, is

part of the

party

policy does

seem

to be taken seriously

by

the

Nazis. But party be at

if it

true, that no single point of the original party

a

program or

doctrine had
a

a more than provisional and tactical meaning, we still should

loss to

understand

party, a government, a State

without

not

program or

doctrine

but

any

aims.

For it

seems

merely without a hard to conceive how

any human
no

being

can act without

having

an aim.

program, but he doubtless had an aim.

John Dillinger probably had In other words: Rauschning has not

aims, then he defines a non
without a program or

considered

carefully

enough

the difference between program and aim. If he

defines

nihilism as a political movement without nihilism

entity; if he defines

as

a political

movement

doctrine,
As

then

he

would

have to

call all opportunists nihilists, which would

be

too uncharitable to be
a matter of

true.22

deny that the Nazis have aims: "a permanent revolution of sheer destruction by means of which a dic (xif). Here, Rauschning tatorship of brute force maintains itself in states the aim of the Nazis: that aim is their power; they do not destroy in order to destroy, but in order to maintain themselves in Now, to keep them
not always
power"

fact, Rauschning does

power.23

selves

in power, they depend, to

a certain

extent, on their ability to

make their

subjects, the
mans.

Germans, happy,
as matters

on their

ability
of

to satisfy the needs of the Ger

This means,

stand, that, in order to maintain themselves in

power,

they

must embark upon a

policy

aggression,

policy directed toward

world-dominion.

Rauschning
"the German
Their
"goal"

corrects

his

remark about the aimlessness of the

Nazis

by

indefinite to-day only because they are is "the world-wide totalitarian (58). They have
aims are
empire"

infinite"

saying (275). only

not

aims, their
principal
scribed

aims

form

even

hierarchy leading

up to a principal aim: "the

as

aim, the redistribution of the

world"

(229). German nihilism,

de

by Rauschning,
who are

is then

the aspiration to world-dominion exercised

a

by

by German elite; that aspiration becomes nihilistic, because it uses any means to achieve its end and thus de stroys everything which makes life worth living for any decent or intelligent
being. However low
an opinion we may have of the Nazis, I am inclined to believe that they desire German world-dominion not merely as a means for keeping themselves in power, but that they derive, so to speak, a disinterested

the

Germans

dominated in their turn

pleasure

ruling the I should even go one step further and say that the Nazis probably derive a disinterested pleasure from the aspect of those human qualities which enable
nations to conquer.

from the

prospect of that glamorous goal

"Germany

world."

am certain

that the

Nazis

consider

any

pilot of a

bomber

or

German Nihilism
any
submarine commander
salesman or

369

absolutely

superior

in human

dignity

to any travel

ing

to any

physician or

to the representative of any other relatively

nihilist much more stated:

peaceful occupation. more educated than who

For,

German

intelligent

and much

Hitler himself has

much

"What kind be

of minds are

those

do

not even

know this

that no mind can

more profound and more

knowing

than that of any soldier who

fell

anywhere at the

Somme

or

in Flan das fiir

in

ders? This is the

standard of which we are

in

need."

("Was

aber sind

Geister, die
kann
als

noch nicht einmal

wissen, dass kein Geist tiefer

an

und wissender sein oder

der jedes beliebigen Soldaten, der irgendwo

wir
1.)24

der Somme
sind."

Flandem fiel? Dies ist der Massstab, dessen

bedurftig
a

Junger, Der

Arbeiter, 20
preference

The

given

German
what

nihilism:

type, the unconditional to the warrior as warrior, is however not only genuine in it is even its distinctive feature. Our question: in favor of
admiration warrior as
nihilism reject

of the

does German

the principles of civilisation as such must

therefore be answered
of

by

the statement: that

it

rejects

those principles
must

in favor
mind

the military virtues. This is what Mr.

Rauschning
war

have had in

when

speaking War is a destructive business. And if

and not

of

"heroic

nihilism"(21).

is

considered

more noble

than

peace, if war,
purposes

peace, is

considered the

aim, the aim is for

all practical

nothing
of

other

than destruction. There is reason for

and
and

believing

that the

destroying, killing, torturing is a source of an almost disin terested pleasure to the Nazis as such, that they derive a genuine pleasure from
business
the aspect of the strong and ruthless who subjugate, exploit, and torture the
weak and
helpless.25

10. German

nihilism

rejects

then the principles of civilisation as such in

of

favor

of war and

conquest, in favor
militarism.

the warlike

virtues.

German

nihilism

is

therefore akin to German

militarism

This

compels us to raise the question what as the view expressed a

is. Militarism

can

be identified
peace

by

the older

Moltke in these terms: "Eternal

one."26

is
a

To believe that

eternal peace

is

dream, dream, is not

and not even a

beautiful
perhaps

militarism,

but

plain commonsense;

it is

at

any

rate not

But to believe that

eternal

peace

bound up with a particular moral taste. is not a beautiful dream, is tantamount to

is something desirable in itself; and to believe that war is desirable in itself, betrays a cruel, inhuman disposition. The view something good in that war is itself, implies the rejection of the distinction between just and unjust wars, between wars of defence and wars of aggression. It is ulti

believing

that war

nations. mately irreconcilable with the very idea of a law of but it is German akin to is nihilism militarism, 11. German with

not

identical*

it. Militarism

always made at

least the

attempt*

to

reconcile

the ideal

of

war with

Kultur;

nihilism

however*

is based

on

the

assumption

that Kultur

is

finished. Militarism

always

recognized

that the virtues of peace are of equal

dignity,
rules of

or almost equal

dignity,
be

with the virtues of war.

When

denying

that the

decency

cannot

applied

to foreign policy, it never denied the validity

370

Interpretation

rules as regards home policy or private life. It never asserted that is essentially national; it merely asserted that the Germans happen to be the teachers of the lesser breeds. German nihilism on the other hand asserts that of those science

the military virtues, and

pain, the virtue of the red

pain

in Blatter

und

ability to bear any physical is the only virtue left (see Jiinger's essay on Indian, Steine). The only virtue left: the implication is that we live
particular courage as the

in

decline, of the decline of the West, in an age of civilisation as distinguished from, and opposed to culture; or in an age of mechanic society as distinguished from, and opposed to, organic community. In that condition of debasement, only the most elementary virtue, the first virtue, that virtue with which man and human society stands and falls, is capable to grow. Or, to ex
an age of press the same view somewhat

in

differently: in

an

age of utter

corruption, the

only remedy
and to return
potential*

possible

is to

destroy

the edifice of corruption

"das

System"

to the

uncorrupted and

incorruptible origin, to the

condition of

and not

actual,

culture or civilisation: the characteristic virtue of that culture or

stage of age and

merely

potential*

civilisation,

of the state

of nature, is

cour

nothing

else.

German

nihilism

is

then a radicalized

form

of

German

militarism, and that

tion the romantic

radicalization about

is due to the fact that

the whole modem

during

the last genera

and therefore

judgment

development,

in
it

particular about ever was even

the present, has become much more generally accepted than

Germany.*11

in 19th century
which

By

romantic

judgment, I

under

stand a order of

judgment

is

guided

human things

existed

by during some

the opinion that an absolutely superior

period of the recorded past. militarism and

12. However
nihilism

great the

difference between German

German

may be: the kinship of the two aspirations is obvious. German militar ism is the father of German nihilism. A thorough understanding of German
nihilism would therefore require a thorough

ism.

Why has Germany

explain

such a particular aptitude

understanding of German militar for militarism? A few, ex

to refer to the

tremely sketchy
To

remarks must

here

suffice.
not

German militarism, it is

sufficient

fact that

German
Western

civilisation

nations, that

is considerably younger than the civilisation of the Western Germany is therefore perceivably nearer to barbarism than are the
For the
civilisation of the

countries.

Slavonic
do

nations

is

still younger than

that of the
as
are*

Germans,

and the

Slavonic

nations

not appear

to be as militaristic

the

Germans. To discover the

prehistory*

root of

wiser

to

disregard the German

of

German civilisation,
reached the

German militarism, it might be and to look at the

history
and

of

civilisation

itself.

Germany

hey-day

of

her letters

her thought

during
ideal,

the period

the ideal of
revision of

modern civilisation

1830; i.e. after the elaboration of had been finished almost completely, and while a
to

from 1760
to that

that

or a reaction and

ideal,

took place. The

not of

ideal

of modern

civilisation

is

of

English

French origin; it is
course,
the
a

German

origin.

What the
am not

meaning

of

that

ideal is, is,

one can

of

highly

controversial question.
of the

If I

greatly mistaken,

define

tendency

intellectual development

German Nihilism
which as

371

it

were exploded

in the French Revolution, in the

moral

following

terms: to

lower the

moral

standards, the

claims, which previously had been made

by

teachers, but to take better care than those earlier teachers had done, for the putting into practice, into political and legal practice, of the rules of
all responsible

human

conduct. of

The way in

which

this was most effectually achieved, was the

identification

morality lightened self-interest, or the

tion of the conflict

with an attitude of reduction of common

most

claiming

one's rights, or with en

or

honesty

to the best policy;

the solu
means of

between

interest

and private

interest

by

industry
and no

and trade. no

(The two

famous
where

philosophers:

Descartes, his

generosite,

justice,

duties; Locke:
of

there is no property, there is no

justice.)
of a of

Against that debasement

morality,

and against the concomitant

decline

truly

philosophic was

spirit, the thought of

Germany

stood

up, to the

lasting

honour

Germany. It century

which

however precisely this reaction to the spirit of the 17th and 18th laid the foundation for German militarism as far as it is an intellec

tual phenomenon.
of enlightened sisted on the

Opposing

self-interest

morally good with the object however enlightened, the German philosophers in
good and

the

identification

of the

difference*
the*

honestum insisted

and

utile;

between the morally they insisted on

self-interest, between the

and
self-denial;*

self-sacrifice*

they

on

it

so

much, that

they

were apt to

forget the

natural aim of man which

is happiness; happiness
came almost
noble and

and

bad

names

utility as well as commonsense (Verstdndigkeit) be in German philosophy. Now, the difference between the

the useful, between

duty

and self-interest

is

most visible

in the

case of

one

virtue, courage, military

virtue:

the consummation of the actions of every

pays

other virtue
munificent

is,

or

may be, rewarded; it actually

one's

to be

just, temperate,
it is
the

urbane,

etc.; the consummation of the actions country, is

of

courage, i.e. death on the

field

of

honour, death for

never rewarded:

flower
In

of

self-

sacrifice.28

Courage is the only unambiguously

unutilitarian virtue.

defending
were

menaced

morality, i.e. non-mercenary morality, the German

philosophers

tempted to overstress the

dignity

of

military virtue, and in very important cases,

succumbed to that temptation.

in

the cases of
and

Fichte, Hegel,
for

and

Nietzsche, they

In this

in

various other

ways, German philosophy created a peculiarly Ger

commonsense and

man tradition of contempt

the aims of human

life,

as

they

are visualized

However phy of itself

period. overrun of

by deep

commonsense.

the difference between German philosophy and the philoso

countries of

the Western
as a

may be: German philosophy ultimately

conceived

synthesis

the pre-modem ideal and the ideal of the modem

not work:

That

synthesis

did

in the 2nd half in

of

the 19th century,

it

was

by

Western positivism, the

natural child of

the enlightenment.

Germany

had been
meprise

educated

by

her

philosophers of

contempt of

Western philosophy (Je

that the synthesis

Locke, is

saying

Schelling's);

she now observed

effected not

by

her philosophers,

of the pre-modem out except

ideal

and the modem

ideal did

work; she saw no way

the

to purify German thought completely

pre-

from

influence

of

the ideas of modem civilisation, and to return to the

372

Interpretation
ideal. National Socialism is the
most

modem

famous, because

the most vulgar,

was a

example of such a return to a pre-modem

return

ideal. On its highest level, it

real pre-modem

to what may be called the pre-literary stage of philosophy,

pre-socratic

philosophy.

On

all

levels,
as

the pre-modem ideal was not a

interpreted*

ideal,

but

a pre-modem

ideal

by

the German
of the

idealists, i.e. interpreted

17th
and

with a polemic

intention

against the

philosophy

18th century,

and therefore

distorted.29

Of

all

German philosophers, influence

on post-war

and

indeed

of all philosophers, none exercised none was more responsible

relation of

a greater

Germany,
was

for the

emergence of

German nihilism, than

Nazi*

Nietzsche. The
to the

Nietzsche

to the German

revolution

is

comparable

relation of

Rousseau to the
of the

French

revolution.

That is to
one

say:

by interpreting
to

Nietzsche in the light

one

German revolution,
unjust.

is very

unjust

Nietzsche, but
is

is

not

absolutely

It may

not

be

amiss to

quote one or the other passage

from Beyond
race,

Good

and

Evil,

which are related

to our subject: "That

attack on

no philosophic

these Englishmen. Bacon represents an

the philosophic spirit as such.

Hobbes, Hume
cept of and stood out.

and

Locke

are a more

degradation

and

debasement

of the

very

con

"philosopher"

for

than a century. Against

Hume, Kant
of nature

stood

up

It

was

Locke,

of whom

Schelling
were

was

entitled*

to say Je meprise

Locke. In the fight

against

English
and

mechanist

interpretation

[Newton], ideas,

Hegel

and

Schopenhauer

Goethe

unanimous

"That

what one calls

the modem
that

ideas, or ideal, in a word,

it is
of

the ideas of the 18th century, or even the French

against which

the German spirit stood up with profound

can

disgust

English origin, there

and

be

no

doubt

about that.

The French
their

have merely been the imitators

actors

of those

ideas, besides

best
(aph.

soldiers, and also, unfortunately, their first and most complete

victims."

252 f.) I believe that Nietzsche is substantially correct in asserting that the* German tradition is very critical of the ideals of modem civilisation, and those ideals are of English origin. He forgets however to add that the English almost
always

had the very

un-German prudence and moderation not to throw out the

baby

with the

bath, i.e.
which

the prudence to conceive of the modem

ideals

as a

reasonable adaptation of

the old and eternal ideal of

decency,

of rule of

law,

and of that

liberty

is

not

license,

to changed circumstances. This

taking

through, this crossing the bridge when one comes to it, may have done some harm to the radicalism of English thought; but it proved to be a blessing to English life; the English never indulged in those
radical

things easy, this muddling

breaks

with

traditions which played such a role on the continent. What

with

ever

may be wrong

the

peculiarly

modem

ideal:

the very

Englishmen tradition,

who

originated

it,

were at

the same time versed

store a

in the

classical

and

the

English
poison.

always

kept in

substantial amount of the

necessary

counter-

While the English

originated the modem

was no where

ideal

the pre-modem

ideal,

the classical ideal of

and
Cambridge.30

humanity,

better

preserved than

in Oxford

German Nihilism
[Editors'

373

note:
of this

following

this, the
A
"

sentence

"Whatever may be the

who

outcome an

war, it are the

English,

and not the

Germans,
above

deserve to have

empire"

has been

crossed out.

"

sign

it

refers

to a handwritten
as a re

paragraph at

the bottom of the page,

indicating

it

should

be inserted

placement at this point

The

present

in the text.] Anglo-German war is then No

of symbolic significance. are

In defend
the

ing

modem civilisation against

German nihilism, the English

one can tell what will

defending

eternal principles of civilisation.

be the

outcome of

this war. But this much

is

clear

beyond any doubt:

which

by

leader in the

crucial

moment, in

the question

choosing Hitler for their of who is to exercise mili have any rightful and not the Ger
[Editors'

tary

rule

became the
more

order of the

day,

the

Germans

ceased to

claim

to be

than a provincial nation;

it is the English,
imperial
nation:

mans, who deserve to

be,

and to remain, an

note: at

this point the handwritten the

insertion ends,

and the typescript

continues] for only

deserve*

English,

and not the

Germans, have
regere

understood that
one

in

order to

to
a

exercise

imperial rule,

imperio populos,

must

have learned for

parcere

very long time to jectis et debellare

spare the vanquished and

superbos.*'

to crush the arrogant:

sub-

NOTES

1. The typescript indicates the

"morbid"

reads

"and to describe,
reversed.

on the

basis

of that

definition":
The

handwritten
before the

sign

order should

be

2. The typescript

reads

"I

could not call that

desire

morbid,"

"a"

words

word

"desire"

and the word

following

it have been

added

by

hand.

see Henri Bergson, Les deux 3. For the distinction between "closed society and open sources de la morale et de la religion, chaps. 1 and 4. The Two Sources of Morality and Religion

society,"

(Notre Dame, IN: University 4. Preceding "Moral

Hollywood."

of

Notre Dame Press, 1977).

a sentence

life"

is

beginning

with a

few illegible handwritten

words and

continuing in typewriting with "the typical representation of the open society is believed to be Both the handwritten words and the typewritten sentence have been crossed out.

The

"

words after words

the

flag

and the oath to the

flag

"

have been inserted hand.

added

by

hand.

Comma 5. The

"existence"

inserted

by

hand.

", it is

asserted,"

have been inserted

the word

by

"recognized,"

"faced"

Above the
alternative.

word

has been

by hand,

possibly
to"

as

an

spade."

The inserted

typescript reads "generations who called a spade a

The

words

"used

have been

"e.g."

by hand, while the last two added by hand to replace

end of the

letters
"i.e.,"

"called"

of which

have been

crossed out.

has been calling

crossed out.
Strafmass"

At the
added

sentence, the

words

"or

by

capital punishment

have been

by

hand.
state"

6. After "insofar

as

the

sovereign

the typescript includes "[.

crossed out.

.],

the

perfect

society

which

does

not

have

superior, [.
"is,"

which

has been

"offers'

replaces

which

has been
added

crossed out.

example,"

"the best
ple,"

modern

by hand,

replaces

"the only important contemporary

the sentence

exam

which

has been

crossed out.
morality"

In the typescript, "endangered

is followed

by

"If there

should

be

a cynic

374
in
our

Interpretation
love."

midst, he probably would call that love of morality an unhappy or

and crossed out reads

unrequited

which

has been bracketed The typescript

"the"

by

hand.
"I"

"But the historians [.

"But"

has been
inserted

crossed

out, while the

in

has been

capitalized

by
see

hand.
"passion,"
pigs"

Commas
Rand

"conviction,"

after

and

"city

of

by

hand.

For Glaukon's protest,

McNally

and

Republic, 372c-d; Co., 1964), pp. 93-96.

was the same

see also

Leo Strauss, The

City and

Man (Chicago:

turned,"

In the typescript, "It has been

crossed out. after

is inserted hand

preceded

by

"The

same passion

which

Comma bolshevism The

"less intelligent
have been

form"

by

hand.
Grossstadt"

Quotation

marks

added

by

around

"the

subhuman

and

"cultural

(Kulturbolschevismus)."

all"

passage

"as is

shown
at

by

the examples of Plato and

Rousseau, if

examples are needed at

has been

added

by

hand

the bottom of the typescript,

with a sign

indicating

it

should

be inserted

at this point.
"was"

added

by

hand to

"is,"

replace

which

has been

crossed out.
sound,"

"a

demand"

sound

was added
around

by

hand to

Parentheses

"One

facts"
.
. .

"basically have been added by hand.

replace crossed out and

which

has been

crossed out.

In the typescript, Page 5

"sound"

has been

replaced,

by hand, by by

"not entirely

un

sound."

of the typescript carries the title

"German

Nihilism,"

followed

two paragraphs which

largely bly

repeat

the first two paragraphs above. Both the title and the two paragraphs have been
this

crossed out.

Presumably,
first four
"4,"

is

where a

first draft

of

the typescript began. Professor Strauss proba

added the

pages

later

on: after the two

deleted paragraphs, the text skip

the original

continues with a and continue the

paragraphs

paragraph marked

suggesting that he intended to

a view to

beginning

lecture below:

at

this

point.

With

completeness, the editors have included the two

German Nihilism

phenomenon?

1. (crossed out) What is nihilism? And how far can nihilism be said to be a specifically German not indeed to answer these questions, but to elaborate them a little. For I shall try

the phenomenon with which I have to

deal, is

much too complex

to to

permit of an adequate scratch

descrip
thank

tion within the short time at my disposal. I cannot

advance

do

more than

the surface.

in

the

discussion

speakers who will, no

doubt, help

me and the passive part of the audience

toward greater

clarity about a phenomenon which is so important to all of us. 2. (crossed out) When we hear at the present time the expression "German naturally think at once of National Socialism. It must however be understood from the

nihilism,

most of us outset that

its lowest, most provincial, most unintel National Socialism is only one form of German nihilism ligent and most dishonourable form. It is probably its very lowness which accounts for its great, if appalling, successes. These successes may be followed by failures and ultimately by complete defeat. Yet the defeat For that
crossed nihilism of

National Socialism

will not

necessarily

mean the end of

German

nihilism.
("First"

has deeper

roots than the preachings of

Hitter, Germany's defeat in

the

7.

"4."

out) World War and all that. inserted by hand.

added

"emotions"

by

hand to

replace the word

"feelings,"

which

has been

crossed out.

Under

lining

added

by

hand.
"backward,"

8. The typescript has

Above
"interesting,"

with

the

latter

part crossed out.

the word

"alluring"

has been

added

by hand,
which which

possibly

as an alternative.

"spiritual"

"the withering away of the has been inserted has been added by hand to replace
"material"

State,"

by

hand. has been has been

crossed out. crossed out.

"material,"

has been

added

by

hand to

"spiritual,"

replace

"Wir
sind.

aber stehen mitten und

Sonne, Enkel

im Experiment; wir treiben Dinge, die durch keine Erfahrung begriindet Urenkel von Gottlosen, denen selbst der Zweifel verdachtig geworden ist,

marschieren wir

rohen."

durch Landschaften, die das Leben mit hoheren und tieferen Temperaturen bedErnst Jiinger, Der Arbeiter; Herrschaft und Gestalt (Hamburg: Hanseatische Verlaganstalt,

German Nihilism

375

1932), pp. 193-94; Werke: Essays II (Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Verlag, 1963), Bd. 6, p. 214). ["We, however, stand in the middle of the experiment; we are attempting things that have no foundation in experience. Sons, grandsons and great-grandsons of godless men, to whom even doubt has become
suspect, we
march

through landscapes that threaten

life

with

higher

and

lower

temperatures"

(our

translation).]
Above
"the" "latest,"
"last"

the word
language"

has been
added

added

by hand,
which

possibly

as an alternative.

Comma The

after

"clear

by

hand.
"its"

before

"potentialities"

added to replace

has been

crossed out.

"-anarchist-pacifist"

words

have been inserted

by

hand.

9. The underlining of the first "if has been crossed-out. Colon after "in other inserted by hand.
words" admitted"

"they
After "all
argument,

inserted

by

hand.

argument"

rational all

the typescript continues

"[.

] they knew
has been

of,

i.e.

all

historical It recurs,
crossed

i.e.

statements, based on analysis of the previous development and of the present

situation, about the probable future

with some modifications,
"was,"

[.

This

part of the sentence

crossed out.

in

the next sentence.

argument" "were,"

after out.

"all

rational

added

by hand,

replaces

which

has been

The The
of the

words

"For that

modern,"

together with the previous sentence,

have been inserted in the

hand
the bottom

typescript

by

hand. reading

sentence

"astrology [.

youth"

.]

academic

has been inserted

point

by

at

page,

with a sign sentence should added

indicating

it

should

be inserted
hand
at

at

this

in the text.
"

This last

has been inserted

added
"3."

by

the bottom of the page, with

+ "-sign

indicating
10.
"as"

it

be

to the previous sentence.

"5"

"un-"

by hand to replace after by hand to inserted by hand to replace

"able"

"constitutional."

added

"who,"

which

has been
fact"

crossed out. added

The
section

section

reading "of the

results of the
vote"

political

[.

.]

the

has been
"suffrage

by

hand

to replace the

was,"

"on the

elections, of what
added

which
replace

has been

crossed out. which

children,"

"children's
crossed out.

has been

by

hand to
"in

of

has been

"not in
"ever"

all"

added added

by

hand to
after

some,"

replace

which

has been

crossed out.

by

hand

"senility"

never,"

to replace "was

which

has been

crossed out.

"however

short"

inserted

by
it

hand.
.]

The

long

passage,

"I have [.

Social

Research,"

has been

added

by

hand

at the

bottom

of

the

page, with a sign

"asserted"

added
"more"

indicating by hand

should

be inserted

"Hindenburg."

after
which

"showed,"

to replace

has been

crossed out.

is

a surmise of the

editors, as the word is difficult to read.

of

Carl Mayer, "On the Intellectual Origin

225-47.
"Schmitt"

National

Socialism,"

Social Research 9 line.

(May

1942):

1 1. Illegible

word

following
"Juenger,"

added

by

hand

above the
uses

The typescript have

changed the
"seemed"

reads

but

as

Professor Strauss

"Junger"

further on, the

editors

spelling

throughout.
of which the

"seems,"

replaces

last letter has been

have been

crossed out.

The
"be,"

words

"consist

of pueris

decantata,

of

added and underlined

by hand,

to replace

which

has been

crossed out.
"principles" "s"

The The

typescript reads
sentence

before "of

progress": the

has been

crossed out. added

reading "For technical

"For,"

perfection

[.

.].

Or, if

wish,"

you

has been

by

hand

to replace the

single word

which

has been
only

crossed out.
dusk."

"The

owl of

Minerva

spreads

its is

wings

with the p.

falling

of the

(Hegel, Philosophy of

Right [Oxford: Oxford "after the defeat in

"Their Finest
then
Hour"

University Press, 1975],

Flanders"

13.)
insertion.
of Commons and
pp.

a typewritten

(a

speech

delivered first by Winston S. Churchill to the House

and

broadcast, June 18, 1940), in Into Battle (London: Cassell

Company, 1943),

225-34.

376

Interpretation

risse einer

Professor Strauss is referring to Oswald Spengler. See Der Untergang des Abendlandes: UmMorphologie der Weltgeschichte (Miinchen: Oskar Beck, 1923). Bd. 1, p. 49 |Einleitung,

13]; The Decline of the West (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1939), p. 36 [Introduction, sec. 13]. At Cannae, located in Apulia, the Romans suffered a crushing defeat in the Second Punic War against
Hannibal (216 B.C.).
12.
"6."

inserted
added

"History"

by hand. by hand to

replace

"the

mind,"

world replace

which
"which,"

has been

crossed out. crossed out.

"who"

"midwife"

after

added
"History"

by

hand to

which

has been

The The
sign
"it,"

"H"

in

has been

capitalized

by

hand.

sentence

"For if
should

has been
at

added

by

hand

at the

bottom

"

of the added

page, with a

"

indicating
which

it

be inserted

this point in the text, with

"reason"

by hand,

to replace

has been

crossed out.
man,"

"the very highest power of Goethe, Faust I, 1851-55.

13.
"7."

has been inserted

"5."

by

hand.

inserted

by
"a"

hand to

replace
"an"

The
"

In the typescript, has been words "for I know [.

.

changed to

before

"orderly."

forgiven"

.]

have been

added

by

hand

at

the bottom of the page, with

"

sign

indicating
for

it

should

be inserted

at this point

in the text. Parentheses have been inserted

by

the editors

reasons of clarity.

Caesar, The Gallic Wars, I, 30-54. Livy, The History of Rome, XXV, xxxi, 5-11.
Commas preceding and following the words "and 15. The typescript reads "[man]'s place in the "the
man." enjoy"

14. See

have been

added

by

hand. in favor
of

universe,"

which

has been

crossed out

universe and
time"

"from time to Semi-colon In

the

is

a typewritten
or that

insertion. inserted

after

"this

man"

by
"to

hand.

"inability"

typescript,

is followed

by

bear,

and,"

which

has been

crossed out.

"or

other"

is

a typewritten

insertion. is followed
"assert" "disinterested,"

16. In the typescript,

out.

"with"

by

the word

which

has been

crossed

Commas
18. The
"or"
"8."

"discipline"

after
after

and
"advantage"

inserted

by

hand.

17. Comma

inserted

by

hand.
has been

inserted

by

hand to

"6."

replace
Germany"
.

sentence

reading "Japan

added

by

hand

at the

bottom

of the

page,

with a sign

indicating where it should added by hand to replace

reading "Different

be inserted in the text.

which

"and,"

has been

crossed out,

before both "of

nations"

and

cultures."

"of

The 19.

science"

sentence

cultures

has been

added

by

hand

at the

bottom

of

the page, with a sign

"9."

inserted

indicating by hand to

where

it

should
"7."

be inserted in the text. West (New York: Longmans,

replace

Green

Hermann Rauschning, The Revolution of Nihilism: and Co., 1939). 20. "and
"
rejection"

Warning

to the

even

has been inserted

by
"

hand.

Aristotle, Politics, II,

and

vii, 1269a.
as such
added

every

past

is

impressive

has been inserted

"Bossuet,"

by

hand.
has been
crossed out.

"Bellarmine"

has been

by

hand to

replace

which

21. Comma

"Judaism"

after reads

added

by

the editors

22. The typescript

reversed.

"had

probably": a

in conformity with the text of Rauschning. handwritten sign indicates that the order should be

The typescript
reversed.

reads

"had doubtless":

handwritten

sign

indicates

that the order should be

John Dillinger "a

(1902-34)

was a

famous American bank

has been
added

robber

in the twenties

and

thirties.
of,"

without"

political movement
crossed out.

by

hand to

replace the words

"lack

which

have been

German Nihilism
"non-entity"

377

has been

added

by

hand to

"chimaera,"

replace added

which

has been
"lack

crossed out. which

"a

without"

political movement

has been

by

hand to

of,"

replace

has been

crossed out.

"would

have"

has been

added

by

hand to

"had,"

replace

which

has been

crossed out.

23.

":"

has been

"aims"

added after

by

the editors

for

reasons of clarity.

Comma inserted

by

hand

"destroy."

after

24.

"form"

has been

added

by

typewriter to replace
"salesman"

"have,"

which

has been

crossed out.

The typescript
which

continues after
crossed out.

with "with the possible exception of their

foreign

minister,"

has been
"For"

Comma
"even"
"Das"

after

inserted

by

hand.

is

a typewritten of
p.

insertion.

instead

"Dies"

in the German text (see Ernst Jiinger, Der Arbeiter, 1932,

after

p.

201;

Werke, Bd. 6, 1963,

corrected

221).
"destruction,"

25. The typescript has

"the business

of with the

latter

part crossed out and

by

hand.
ewige

26. "Der

Friede ist

ein

Traum,

und nicht einmal ein

schoner,

und

der

Krieg

ein

Glied in
und En-

Gottes Weltordnung. In ihm

entfalten

sich

die

edelsten

Tugenden des Menschen, Muth

tsagung, Pflichttreue und Opferwilligkeit mit Einsetzung des Lebens. Ohne den Krieg wiirde die Welt im Materialismus ("Permanent peace is a dream, and not even a beautiful one,
versumpfen."

and war

is

law

of

God's

order

in the world,

by

which the noblest virtues of

man, courage and

self-

death, are developed. Without war the world would deteriorate into materialism.") Letter to Dr. J. K. Bluntschli, 11 December 1880, in FieldMarshal Count Helmuth von Moltke as a Correspondent, trans. Mary Herms (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1893), p. 272. German text: Helmuth von Moltke, Gesammelte Schriften und Denkwiirdigkeiten (Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn, 1892), Bd. 5, p. 194.
denial, loyality
and

self-sacrifice, even to the point of

27.

"made"

"recognized,"

replaces the word

Schmerz,"

which und

has been

crossed out.
pp.

"Uber den

in Blatter

Steine (Hamburg: Hanseatische Verlaganstalt, 1934),

pp.

154-213, in
particular p.
""

particular p.

213 (Werke: Essays I [Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Verlag, 1960],

has been inserted
explain

151-98, in

197).
""

das System
after

by

hand. inserted

28. Comma
"militarism,"
"civilisation,"

"To

German

militarism"

by

hand.

in "To discover the

has been

"

root of

is

a typewritten

insertion, replacing

the word

which

crossed out.

"the

history

of

has been inserted

"best

by

hand.

Semi-colon In the

policy"

after

inserted

by

hand.
"The two
most

typescript

only the

parenthesis at the end of

famous

is

printed.

The

lapidary
remark. most

style of

the sentence,

however,

suggests that

Professor Strauss intended this to be

an aside

For this reason, the

there

famous,"

is

a sign

also

More's

"hedonistic"

have added the opening parenthesis. Above the words "The two referring to a handwritten note at the bottom of the page, reading "Cf. Utopia =t Plato's austere
editors
Republic."

entirely:

In the typescript, "honour of "But the way in which this

object of

Germany"

is followed

by

a sentence which

has been

crossed out

reaction was effected, was

too much determined

by

the polemic

attitude against the

enlightened"

"the

has been inserted

by

hand.

(Verstandigkeii)"

"as

well as commonsense margin of

has been inserted

by

hand.
there
example

philosop

In the

the typscript, next to the sentence

"Opposing
reading "An amusing

is

a sign

referring

to a handwritten note at the

bottom
p.

of the page,
1."

in Grote's

History

of

Greece,

vol.

8, Everyman,
"fine"

342,

n.

The

editors were unable to trace the reference to

Grote's History Before

29.

of Greece.
the word

"flower,"

has been

crossed out.
"Western,"

"modern"

"civilisation"

before
"return"

has been

added

by

typewriter to replace

which

has been

crossed out.
"real,"

Before

the word
"i.e."

has been

crossed out

in the typescript.

"interpreted"

after

has been inserted

by

typewriter.

378
The been

Interpretation
words

"and therefore

distorted"

have been

added

30. The
The

words

"It may [.

from"
.

.]

have been inserted

by hand. by hand

his,"

to replace "In

which

has
has

crossed out.
words

"which [.

subject"

.]

have been inserted

read,"

by hand,

to replace "we

which

been

crossed out.
"Newton"

Brackets
"in
a

around

have been

added

by

hand.
"therefore,"

word"

has been
added

added

by hand,
hand to

to replace

which

has been

crossed

out.

Commas have been

"stood
up"

by

the editors.

has been inserted

and

by

"arose,"

replace

which

has been

crossed out.

Nietzsche,
Above the
alternative.
"-"

Beyond Good
word

Evil, 252-53.
the word
"profoundness"

"radicalism,"

has been

added

by hand,

possibly

as an

has been inserted

"the"

by hand,
before

to replace

a comma.

In the typescript, 31. Following

be
an

"classical"

is followed

by

"ideal

of,"

which

has been

crossed out.

"doubt:"

the sentence "it are the

crossed out.

English,

and not the

Germans,

who

deserve to

imperial

nation"

has been

"populos"

has been inserted "to

spare

by

hand. See Virgil, Aeneid, VI, 85 1

The

words

the vanquished and to crush the

arrogant"

have been
the

added

by

hand

beneath the text

Augustus is the

with a sign.

See Virgil, Aeneid, VI, 853. After

"superbos"

following

handwrit

ten words have been crossed out:

road

";

not

the way of

Ariovistus, but only

the way of Caesar and

empire."

to

Tractatus Liquorico-Philosophicus,

by Sigmund Steinkopf
Joseph J. Carpino

Interpretation is publishing this work in honor and memory of Professor Joseph J. Carpino (1930-1998). He is already known to readers of this journal as an able author and translator. His gift for humorous philosophical parody has
also

been

long

known

to the circle of
gift will now

his friends. With

the publication of

this work, that

delightful

become known

to the readers of this

journal

as well.

Hilail Gildin, Editor

L*

A drunk is

anyone who

has been drinking.

1.1 1.11

A drunk is the

sum-total of

drinks,
the

not of alcohol. and

The drunk is determined

by

drinks,

by

their all

having

been
1.12

swallowed.

For the totality of drinks determines what kind of drinking has been going on and also what the hangover will be like. The drinks in the
nervous system are the

1.13 1.2 1.21

drunk.

The drunk dissolves into drinks. An individual

can

be

drinking
drinks

or

hung

over while

everything

else remains the same.

2.

Having
tion.

been

drinking

makes

for

a state of

intoxica

2.01 2.011

Intoxication (drunkenness) is It is
tion.
essential

an assimilation of

booze (alcohol). intoxica

to alcohol that it be a

possible cause of

2.012

In life nothing is accidental: if alcohol can result in intoxication, the possibility of intoxication must be ascribed to the alcohol itself. It
would

2.0121

be

most peculiar

if it turned

out that

intoxication

could

result

from

alcohol

that remains still in the bottle.

a state of

If
must

alcohol

can produce

intoxication,

this possibility

be in it from the beginning.

interpretation,

Spring 1999,

Vol. 26, No. 3

380

Interpretation
If I know
tion of
about

2.0123

booze I

also

know

about all

its

possible produc

intoxication.
of these possibilities must

(Every one the booze.)

There 2.01231
If I
not

be

part of

the nature of

are no new ways of

getting drunk. from

a

am to

know

what to expect must

bottle

of

booze, I

need

know the brand but I

all

know its

alcoholic content.

2.0124
of

If

booze is present, then

are also present.

at the same time all possible states

intoxication
Booze

2.014 2.0141

contains the of

possibility

of all a

inebriation.
state of

essence of

The possibility booze. Booze is

its producing

intoxication is the

2.02 2.0201

straight

liquor.

All discussion
what went

of mixed

drinks

can

be

resolved

into

listing
cannot

of

into

them.

2.021

Booze
separated.

makes the

drunk

what

he is. That is why they

be

2.0271

Booze is how fast is

what remains what

the same

in drinking; how

much

and

is different.
and

2.0272 2.03 2.04 2.05

How

much

booze

how fast is

what produces

drunkenness.
of a chain.

In intoxification drinks follow

The totality
of actual

one another

like links

inebriation

constitutes the also

drunk. determines the

The

sum-total

of separate

intoxifications

number of

hangovers.
a

2.05 1

Continuous intoxication,

binge,

therefore gives the

illusion

of

fewer hangovers.
2.06
Actual intoxication
and subsequent

hangovers is
are

the reality.

(Drinking is
2.062 From the
pain of a

pleasant and

hangovers

painful.)

pleasure of

drunkenness it is impossible to infer the

hangover.

2.0621 2.063 2. 1 2.101

2.12 2.121

Also The

vice versa.

sum-total of
choose

liquor is the drunk.

ourselves.

We

drinks for
11
you a

As in
A

"What'

have?"

"choice"

is for

kind

of

liquor.

But

when

someone else
all:

is

buying

we'll

drink

whatever

he's

pouring.

After
a

2.141

A drink is

drink.

Tractatus Liquorico-Philosophicus
2.151 1 it. 2.221
2.2211 2.2212 That is how
a thirst

381
out to

is

attached to

liquor; it

reaches

right

What the

need

for

drink indicates is
others

a time.

Some times

are

better than

for drinking.
is the
worst.

When the liquor

stores are closed

2.225 3.
3.01 3.02

There The

are no needs

that can satisfy themselves.

vital need

for

drink is

a thirst.

The totality

of satisfied

thirsts is the need of the drunk.

which

A thirst implies the potability of the beverage for thirst. What is thirst-worthy is potable too. Not
that

it is the

3.021

everything that is potable is worth come in coconuts, with leaves hanging out

drinking.
of

Drinks be

them,

are to

avoided.

(They

won't

kill you, but they're embarrassing.)

as

3.022 3.0221 3.031

Water is potable, but

Fields

pointed

out, fish
not

make

love in it.
drinkers.

Sometimes
It
can
used

people make

love in water, but

heavy

to be said that a good the reason

bartender

can make

name

being

that you can't ask

any drink you for a nameless

drink. 3.04 If
a

thirst could quench itself it would be a thirst that

found its

satisfaction

in the

mere objective

potability

of alcohol.

3.05

actualized a

A self-quenching thirst is a desire not to drink, and it can be only in the continued anguish of sobriety (without even
now and

shot,

then, to
a

relieve

it).
shot

3.14

What

constitutes
a

"part")
3.1401

standing in
or a shot a shot

slug or a determinate
a

is that it is

an

element

(a

relation

to others of the same.

A slug When

is

drink.
back,"

is "knocked

never

touching
when

the

tongue, it is

is the

sign

of serious

drinking.

Especially

the drinker

standing.

3. 1402

When
also

a shot

is

"part,"

as

in

martini, it is

never alone and can

beginning of some serious Especially when the martini is

with

be the

drinking.

"up."

3.14021

Martinis
profanation.

ice in them are, like

have

scotch

with

ginger

ale,

"known"

martini must

the

ice, but it may

not

cohabitate with

it. drunk
on

3.14022

Even so,

you can get

them,

so

be

careful.

382
3.15

Interpretation
The formula,

by

the way,

for "a

good

(as in "tee

mar-

toonis please") is a matter of

some controversy.

Originally

proba

bly

two parts of gin

(G)

to

one of vermouth

(V) a ratio preserved

"classically"

in the
+ V

standard manhattan

(SM)
who

it has become

3G

or

AG + V.
are

3.151

There
stand

those, however,

feel

that the vermouth should

approach

ing They
The

optimally in an asymptotic relationship to the gin, but never quite achieving presence in the glass.
argue as

follows:
should

primal

formula

be
,

expressed not as

2G + V,

as

is
the

2 G commonly supposed, but

gin, making it taste like
mutandis, to the
as

the vermouth

in fact

diluting

wine.

(The

same argument applies, mutatis

addition of an

olive, with its

brine.)
is:

Thus, they

say, the
=

proper

formula for

a martini

V M
with goodness nG

approaching
a

greatness as n error

increases indefinitely.
becomes
apparent when concretely.

3.152

This, however, is
we approach

fallacy. The

the relationship

intuitively

and, as it were,

This

representation allows

for

an

indeterminate but finite

limits
set

addi

tion of more

G's inserted

within the

by

the vermouth
gin on

which, after all, defines the martini and the rocks

distinguishes it from

(GIG)
be

or straight gin

(GIG).

3.153

It

will

noted that

in

addition to

being

essential

for tradition,

an olive can

that when

be extremely useful for keeping tally (on the principle the olives have filled the glass it's time to taper off).
peel

3.1531

The lemon

in

a so-called

dry

martini would work the

same,

but the little

3.2 In

pearl onions

in

a gibson require a articulated

lot

of arithmetic.

a mixed

drink the thirst is

in

such a

way that the

"parts"

component

correspond to the complexities of the thirst.

Tractatus Liquorico-Philosophicus
3.2011
3.323

383

By

such an accounting, scotch and soda

is

a mixed

drink.
same word

In everyday language it has different meanings. Thus the

coolant,
as word

frequently
means

happens that the

"alcohol"

booze; but it
do

also

figures
in

as a

in "alcohol

rub,"

as

well as

a solvent,

as

shellac.

These
rub.

usages must not

be

confused: we

not speak of a

booze

(In the

proposition

"Gin is

gin"

where the an effect

first

word stands

for "bar

gin"

and the

last for

these words

have only

different meanings; they

3.3231

are the same

thing.)

What is
the

essential to ethanol:

formula for
must

booze (grain alcohol) can be expressed in C2H5OH (also known as CH?,CH2OH).

with wood

This

not

be

confused

alcohol

or

methanol

(CH3OH), however
3.3232
+

similar their symbolic representations

may

seem.

Methanol is readily oxidized to produce formaldehyde (2CH3OH 02 > 2CH20 + 2H20), which is why drunks are sometimes
to as
"pickled."

referred

3.3233

The differences among these alcohols for example, must never be swallowed. In that way the (the detoxification
A
nents. mixed most

are crucial.

Wood alcohol,

3.324

fundamental illnesses hospitals up

are

are

easily

produced

wards of made

full

of them).

3.34

drink is

of essential and accidental compo

Accidental

components are those entailed

in the

particular

way
are

in

which the

slug

or shot

is disguised. Essential drink

components

those without which the mixed

could not achieve

its

purpose.

3.341

So

what

is

essential

to a

mixed

drink is

what all mixed

drinks it's

have in

common.

And similarly, in general,

a place to put the mixture.

what

is

essential

to a glass

is

that

3.341 1 1
3.3412

Glasses, in
But

other

words, are essential

for

holding

a mixed

drink.

without

alcohol,

it's

all

just fruit

punch.

4.
4.001 4.002

social

drink is

drinking from drinking

a glass with others. a glass

The totality Men

of such

from

is

a party.

possess

the ability to have a party with almost anybody, so

present.

long

as

booze is

Parties every

day

are what the

heavy

drinker wants, but the hu

man organism can't take

it.
to gather

It is

not

humanly

possible was.

immediately from it

what

the purpose of the

party

384
4.003

Interpretation
Most
of

the excuses and objections to be found in discussions of

drinking

are not

swer objections

false but irrelevant. Consequently we cannot of this kind but can only establish that they
from their failure to
understand

an are

irrelevant. Most
about

of the excuses and objections of people who talk

drinking

arise

the

dynamics food is

of a party.

(They belong
more or

to the same class as the question whether than sex.)

analyses of

less

enjoyable not

And it is

surprising that the deepest

drinking

are

in fact 4.01
An An

not analyses at all. excuse excuse

is is

thirst for liquor.

an occasion

for liquor to be drunk.

4.13 4.1301

People drink to lose This is

what was

consciousness.

nerves,"

to steady my
get so

implied in Fields's insistence that "I only drink with its corollary that "Sometimes my nerves
move."

steady I
a total

can't even

4.131

But
coma.
coma

loss

of consciousness

is

at

Sleep

can

be desired

and

is

even a reason

best sleep and at worst a for drinking. A

is very dangerous
of

and the result of severe miscalculation. of consciousness

4.132

Another form
also

loss

is the hiatus,
of

which

is

very dangerous and also the result of atus is a portion of time (and presumably there is no record in the memory banks.

miscalculation.

The hi
which

drinking) for

4.133

This is

not

to

be

confused

with

not

common component of

hangovers (of
moves,

which more

wanting to remember, later).

some

4.134

In the hiatus
culty)

one

lives,

and

breathes (with

diffi drive

and even responds to stimuli

with no awareness of what's

some guys can even

home!
then

going

on.

That's bad. What

is

good about the

loss

of consciousness which

is

sought

in

drinking? 4.135
What the drinker
seeks

is loss

of

^//-consciousness,

an

un-

awareness of the self as an object.

Look
sorbed
regard

at

drunks.

They

are monadic

consciousnesses, totally

ab

in the playing out of their perceptions for their own perceivability.

of course

and volitions with no

4.1351
of

This

is

what the

Athenian Stranger
epistemological
a

refers to

in Book I

the Laws

(649), but it has

is

implications beneath
and analysis of the

the political. The drinker

living

solipsist,

drunk is 4.1352 his

discussion

of the soul as monad.

Leibniz himself
problem.

was

Besides, it

probably never drunk in his life, but that's makes his testimony all the more useful.

Tractatus Liquorico-Philosophicus
4.136
4.1361

385

In

vino Veritas

is

another

half-truth. The thing

which

Or rather,

a complex of truths.

is

revealed

in

drunkenness is
untrammelled vious

the thrust of the soul naked,

considerations
per

by

of

its inner entelechy objectivity. This much is ob

reason

again, as
guys

Laws I. And it is the

drink."

why

we

say,

"Some

just

shouldn't

But there is

also a

truth

within

the drunk.

4.137

The

soul

is

something

which

interacts

with

the other, and

debris, us, of prior among interactions. (Thus the temptation, working back in the series of accretions, to speak of the soul at birth as a tabula rasa.) But in
these others are the residues and
within

drunkenness the
about

soul

is freed

of

this

baggage harness

and
of

is

able to

flit
so

among its

perceptions without the

the past.

Or

it
4.138

seems.

There

are of course other modalities of of the past and the

disengagement from the

the present.

baggage

limitations

of

Any

violent

do it (and they are sometimes chosen for that very reason) and dreaming is perhaps its purest form, with sleep the least expensive intoxicant.
passion will

4.1381

But in dreams the dreamer is

a member

soul

is hidden. We

cannot observe

them and the

of them. And when he later remembers them

it

is 4.139

always

in terms

of a

nondreaming Poetic

system of objectivities.

There is
gagement

"inspiration"

also poetry.

also entails

disen

from the given, from the brutish objectivities of life and the received formalities of language itself. But poetic inspiration
can produce a result

the poem

independent
of

of

itself. The

maun

dering
4.14

of

drunks is

shrivelled

in the light
pure

day.
consciousness
or

In any case, drunkenness is

monadic

the closest we can come to it with still some hope of getting out. It

is the working

out of

the will's intentionalities without the limita

tions of anything

extrinsic.

4.141

That is why booze is so helpful at parties. Windowless monads don't impinge on one another, and the sociability of social drinking

is

grounded

sciousness.

precisely in the isolated character Inebriation is a chosen madness,

of the a

drinking

con

temporary idiocy,
the walls of time.

and the

successful

party

a careful

Bedlam

within

4.15

Two things

emerge clearly.

First, drunkenness is
drunk. Mud
ple get

of

the

soul.

Only

animated

things
nous.

get

and sand

do

not get

drunk
but

and neither

does

Peo

drunk

and maybe animals,

not machines. of verification.

And

second:

Time is the basic dimension

386
4.151

Interpretation
For
what

is

hangover but

the

realization

that

it is the
last

same
night?

organism

this morning which said all those

you can't remember what you

stupid things

4.152

And if
stupid.

said, be

assured

it

was

4.15304

Indeed, if
sures

an a priori thought

is

thought whose possibility en

its truth, there is

no greater self-evidence than the

revelation of our

hiatus.
through

4.16

The hangover, in short, is the

change,
and

being

its

anguish a paradigm of the temporal character of

verification.

(Cf. the throbbing in the temples.)

can
mimic

4.161

Machines
need of

verification,
verification

and

nous

(or

logic) has

no

it. But

we

have

imposed

on us

by having

to

take the responsibility now for what "seemed like a good

then.

idea"

Thus 5 is P is true if

and

only if S is
of

still

P.

Truth, in

short, is a function

living
with

through change, not of

comparing a this (thought, Drunks do that all the time, 4.162 One
of

inside)

a that

(thing,

out there).

and there
or

is

no truth

in them.
of

the reasons

for this

manifestations

it

is the

timelessness of drunken consciousness.

pass more

quickly (as cigarettes punctuate moments, in the free spontaneous flow of

are not connected.

Drinking it) precisely

monadic

makes the time

because its

consciousness,

That is the

consciousness which we seek to

lose,
and

the connectedness of the

web of objective change.

(See 4.13

1.21 above.) The

rest

is

secondary. of

4.163

Drunkenness breaks the bonds is

what

memory

and perception.

This

it has in

common with poetic

insight,

this disengagement.

But its
next

"creativity"

is illusory; its
poetic

bond-breaking
inspiration

only

negative.

The

day

there

is nothing;

might result

in

some

thing
4.17

new. solipsism were

The

then of

drunkenness
if

refutes would

itself. Or

rather:

if

"true,"

solipsism

drunkenness
yet:

be indistinguishable

from

sobriety.

Or better

we make the rules

(solipsism), why

change them

only for the

sake of a

hangover?

4.171

And if

nominalism are of

temology, why of dissociation

4.172

(or empiricism) provided an adequate epis drunks so foolish? Is there in alcohol a principle

ideas? but instances

or

And if
of nous mad

men were

of the

logos,

mere embodiments

(a la Stoicism
a

Descartes), why

would

they

choose

to

be

for

time?
of

5.

An evening of drinking is a time-function (An individual drink is a time-function of

individual drinks.

itself.)

Tractatus Liquorico-Philosophicus
5.01

387

Individual drinks
of an

are

the atomic time-cancellings

(Aufhebungen)

evening

of

drinking.
can

5.1

Time-cancellings

be

arranged

in

series.
of controlled

That is the foundation 5.101

of

the

theory
on

drinking.
time-

"Controlled
consciousness

drinking"

proceeds
remains off.

the assumption that

the same

while

drinking,

and

that you'll

have time to taper

T T T T
=

Thus:

the whole evening.

=

D D D D D TD T

continuous consumption. controlled

drinking.

Unfortunately
DTD D

what

or

usually happens is: DTDTDDD etc.,

. .

because time-consciousness is the primary drinking. (Cf. 4.13 ff.)

5.102

and essential

casualty

of

but that is

Sometimes eating (F) or coffee (C) not to be relied on:

etc.

gives the

illusion

of

control,

DTDFDDDFCdD... 5.103 The truth ply little S

. .

(A

cordial after

dinner.)
means sim

of

the

matter

is that "controlled

drinking"

or no

drinking.

Sobriety

is therefore

hard thing indeed,

=

and promises a
=

long

night. or

D +
F +

T+T+T+F+C,
C.
representation of

better still,

77

5.125

The

symbolic

inebriation (in

complicated than the above concatenation

would

(/) is in fact more 5.101) of drinks (D)

imply. Other factors

consumed.

of

booze

involved besides the total quantity Time itself is a consideration, along with body
are variable

size and an

intrinsically

moment, the

fear (/)

of

seeming to

be drunk.

5.126

A preliminary formula, therefore, by which to dictable level of intoxication would be as follows: I

s"

represent a pre

(t)
time

f,

the number of shots swallowed the

(s) in

a given

period of

(t)

minus

fear (J)

of

seeming to be drunk (/).

(Body
out.)

size remains

something

of a constant and therefore

factors

5.127

Unfortunately / varies inversely with the number of lowed, and if s is too great for the t involved, paralysis
sciousness will

shots swal
and uncon

supervene,

making

inoperative. This happens

inexperienced and can usually only to the young and

gerous.

be very dan

5.1271

On the

other

of the other

hand, / also varies inversely with the level people (O.P.) with whom one is drinking. (These

of

equa-

388

Interpretation
tions apply only to "social
medicinal
drinking."

Solitary drinking
implications to

is solely
of.)

and

has

no

epistemological

speak

Thus:

/ {O.P.),

and of

by

substitution, I
shows

s"

(t

(O.P.)

which

is circular,

course, but it

why it's

more

fun to drink

with other

drinkers.

5.128

As

a matter of

fact,

we might

lay

it down
other

as a general rule:

Never drink

except alone

or with

drinkers. (Unless,

of

course, somebody has to

drive.)
unfortunately,
of

5.129
5. 135

Essential to There is
of an

drinking,

is
an

the subsequent hangover.

no possible

way

making

inference from the

jollity

evening

of

drinking

to the pain of the next day's hangover.

(Cf.

2.062.)
no thought sequence that can contain

5.136 5.1361

There is

both

conditions.

We

cannot

imagine the

pain of tomorrow

morning in the

midst

of tonight's

hilarity.
connection

Belief in the 5.16 There is

consumed

is

abstention.

some correlation
and

between the total

amount of alcohol

(B)

the size of the

H
with some modification

hangover; B,

thus:

in terms

But

by

far the

greatest single effort of

hangover (pH) is the

you said
pH
=

of the time spent sleeping it off. factor contributing to the pain of a trying to forget the stupid things (cr0)

the night before. Thus:

cr0
=

or,
. . .

more
,

precisely,

pH

B (a0), drink the

more

(cr0)B

or even pH

since the more you

stupid things you're

likely

to say.

5.161 (as

Not
per

being
4.152

able

to remember what you've said is no

help

at all

above).

In its purity the hiatus

constitutes the worst

kind

of

hangover,

the abyss of time

lost,

of self surrendered

to the

memories of others.

6.

The basic

constituent of

booze is

alcohol

[C2H5OH].

This is the basic

constituent of a

drink. how
you

6.001

What this

means
3

is that

no matter

dress it up it's

all a

matter of proof:

(B).

6.0012

There is

some

difference between
and

alcoholic

beverages resulting

from fermentation
of

interest only to
extrinsic to

pletely

resulting from distillation, but this is connoisseurs and the like, and is besides com the intoxification process itself.
those

Tractatus Liquorico-Philosophicus
6.0013
As
wood a matter of

389
and

fact

all these

fancy

additives an

(like

grape

juice

smoke) do is to provide congeners, factor in the production of a hangover.

important contributing

6.0014

Did

you ever get

drunk lot
of

on

wine, for

example?

Or

champagne?

It's 6.2301

expensive and a

fun,

but

watta

head the

next morning!

The important thing is to try to had to drink. One

the
method

keep

track of how much you've

6.24

for

figuring

out whether or not you're

drunk is

by

method of counting. after a

Unfortunately
fudge
let
a

few drinks
can

we

tend to forget and even to

bit,

so the

tally

be

represented

glasses

(or whatever)

overturned on the

concretely with bar (if the bartender

shot
will

you).

6.241

Thus

a proof of

intoxication
(N + 1

would

be

as

follows:

too much.)

fl+fl + fl+fl
=

a. solid

buzz
=

Bz)
and

Bz

+
(=
=

fl

fl

fl+fl

weaving
=

incoherence

Wi)
Wi + n+il + '?
=

paralysis

P)
you've

P +

ft'

N + 1. rug

Q.E.D.
you

6.242

Of

course

if

you've thrown

up

on the

know

had

too much.

6.2421
6.54

And that At this

who

you're not

in

bar.

point the

analysis

has
a

ceased

to be functional: anyone

has been reading this as probably still sober. (He must, He

must

substitute

for

actual

so to speak,

forget he

ever read

drinking is it.)
will see

dig

beneath talk

about

drinking,

and then

he

the soul

for

what

it is.
longer
speak

7.

When

we can no

coherently, we must

stop drink

ing.

NOTE

The decimal

numbers assigned comes after

to the several

propositions

indicate their
of

sequential

interrela

tionships (thus 2. 1
no case

2.0

and so

forth)

or the

insertion

is numbering to be

construed as an

index

of objective

something importance.

out of sequence.

In

Book Reviews

David Bolotin, An Approach to Aristotle's Physics: With Particular Attention Role of His Manner of Writing (New York: SUNY Press, 1998), pp., $44.50 cloth, $14.95 paper.
the
vii

to

156

Susan Meld Shell

Boston College

David Bolotin's extraordinary book opens physics, a physics that Bolotin takes seriously
em natural science.

a new

way back to Aristotle's

as a genuine alternative to mod

Unlike the

authors of some other recent attempts to under

we entertain

stand

Aristotle's

physics

sympathetically, Bolotin demands that

the

possibility that Aristotle's (even

one

teaching is

true without requiring us to check reason

honed

by

modem natural

science)

at

the

argues that a number of

which

doctrines conventionally

associated with

door. Specifically, Bolotin Aristotle and

Aristotle himself explicitly asserts, e.g., that species are eternal, that many if not most natural motions tend toward pregiven ends, and that the earth is at rest at the center of the cosmos, are not his considered views but conces
sions to popular opinion

meant, in part, to
political

protect natural

science as an en

terprise

from the dangerous

in

situation

in

which

it found itself. The

conventional view of

Aristotle's

natural

science, in this account, was deliber

of natural science
situation that
hopes"

ately
are

set

place as a compromise

between the true findings

about the

and certain

"religious

or quasi-religious

human

Bolotin

indispensable to ordinary political life. makes his case through a series double level

of

ingeniously

and

rated studies meant to reveal a

of argument.

One

of these

carefully elabo levels is

devoted to establishing some popularly (and humanly) attractive claim, e.g., that human beings have always existed and will always exist, that at least some natural motions are directed by causes oriented toward what is best,

flawed

yet

that the earth whose stability we feel beneath our

emerges as
and

feet is

as

it

seems.

The

other

genuinely according to
what

reason

and, at the same time,

the human situation,

more austere

less comforting in

it

reveals about

including

the

extent to

which genuine

knowledge

of nature

is

possible.

The

view of genuine natural science

that emerges from a study that

a certain superficial

is, by its

own admission,

only

first step, has

teachings of

Kant,

who also

Bolotin's Aristotle

and

famously urged the finitude of Kant deny that man can know the ultimate
natural science

similarity with the human reason. Both

causes of the
reasons

beings,

and

both insist that

is limited (albeit for different

interpretation,

Spring 1999,

Vol. 26, No. 3

392
and

Interpretation

in different ways) by the boundaries of human perception. But these super ficial similarities make the obvious differences all the more striking. For Kant,
the

finitude

of

human

reason
not

is

expressed

in the
are

well-known

claim

that we
as

know

"appearances"

but

things "as
of

they

in

themselves."

For Aristotle

revealed

by Bolotin, by
we perceive
which

way
them"

contrast, there is

no

disjunction between "the

inasmuch
as

beings

as

and

"the beings

themselves,"

the

former is that
of science

by

the

latter

is, if I

understand

properly Bolotin correctly, to

philosophy,
can

we

mean

(p. 150). To demand hopes

and

more
more

express

fears

properly

addressed

by

political

where religious

and moral claims

that support those

hopes

and

fears

be adequately

examined.

That is,

a phys

ics limited to the

ral

perceptible

(hence

unable

to speak authoritatively about natu

beings beyond

the range of the perceptible)

is

not

only
an

all we can

have, but

all

that is required, given that prior study,

of the

for

such

inquiry

to count as

knowledge
part,

beings themselves. Kant's

that knowledge of
or
themselves"

from his

view

contrary arises, in the beings themselves would be knowl

opinion to the of the conditions of space and

edge of them

"in

independent

time that

inform human knowledge

order or

of the world.

This

view

is linked, in turn, to
an object of

his denial that the

science can

necessity

characteristic

of nature as

be

given

through perception, which can register that something

genuine science of nature

exists, but not, as, it is alleged, a

requires, that "if

something study do

exists

something

else

necessarily

exists or

is

canceled."

Bolotin's

advances the suggestion that the sort of

and other modem philosophers associate with and with

necessity or certitude that Kant demand of science has less to

the genuine requirements of reason than with certain unacknowledged

moral and religious will

ghosts, threats posed

by
not

an omnipotent god or gods who and

be

what

they

will

be, for,

as

both Kant does

Jacobi, following Hume,

ac

knowledged,
son

a mode of

inquiry

that

nature as a whole cannot rule out

grasp in its necessity the order of the possibility of miracles. The primary rea
thus

for Aristotle's
for

exoteric

teaching
order

lies in showing possibility

what would

have to be its
own

the case

natural science to vindicate the

of science on

(p.

152). Whereas Aristotle, in

against the claims of

"to

vindicate

the possibility of natural science

theology,"

turns to political philosophy,

reason,"

Kant, in

an effort an exer

"to

faith"

protect

by "limiting

asks

"how

science

is

possible,"

cise that takes

for

granted what

Aristotle

seeks to establish.

inadequate

reflection on

the significance of

This very brief and Bolotin's study for students of later

also

philosophic and scientific thought of

is

meant to suggest the richness and promise

his project,

not

light it

sheds on

only for a better understanding of Aristotle, but the difficulties facing the study of nature as such.

for the

Steven B. Smith, Spinoza, Liberalism, and the Question of Jewish Identity (New Haven: Yale University Press: 1997), xvii + 270 pp., $35.00 cloth, $16.00 paper.
Paul Seaton Graduate Student, Fordham

University
"How to

Leo Strauss began his

Treatise"

ologico-Political
sons"

introductory essay on (1948) by raising the

Study

Spinoza's The
"rea

issue

of the motivation or

that ought to prompt the

Strauss the importance

most and
larist'

of

study of this seventeenth-century work. For the book lies in its consideration and treatment of "the issue
raised

fundamental issue

the

by

revelation."

The Treatise is "the belief in

discussed"

classic

conflicting document of the For

reasons

the

claims of

'rationalist'

philosophy or 'secu

attack on the

revelation."

left unspecified, Strauss

again of

claims that center of

"the issue

in Spinoza's book "is

one might

attention"

(in large part,

add, because

approaching the Strauss's own ef

forts). A in
order.

reconsideration of

this work, once thought

definitive

and now

ignored, is
on

Strauss's

motivation reveals

book, Steven Smith

What these His

for reading was of the highest order. that he wrote his book on Spinoza

Early

in his Theo

and the

logico-Political Treatise "from

reasons are can

reasons."

a combination of personal and academic

various audiences

be inferred from the

he

addresses.

principal

audience, the one closest to

his heart, is "modem

Jews,"

those

who cannot adhere to a traditional or orthodox view, and practice, of the

Torah,

the original source of Jewish identity. More specifically

em

he

writes

to those mod
individuals."

Jews

"emancipated"

who consider themselves

or

"liberated

This group has reason, or rationalism, as their "star and ism as their secular creed, with toleration (of Difference
moral

compass"

and
or

liberal
as

the

Other)
aims to

its

lodestar. Spinoza, in Smith's account, Jews

are

was

the first modem

Jew,

and

emancipated

his intended

progeny.

Smith's book thus

be

contribution to contemporary Jewish self-awareness, especially insofar as the contemporary options of political Zionism and assimilation in the bosom of

liberal

societies

originally

were articulated and advocated

by

Spinoza. "And if

he [Spinoza] tion to the Jewish Question, he

Zionism"

was an advocate of a religiously tolerant liberal state as one solu

was also a

founder,

perhaps

the

founder,

of

political

(p.

xvi).

exclusively devoted to exposition rather than critique or evaluation, Smith does allow himself to raise the poignant question, What is the downside to Spinoza's oft-accepted proposal to Jews to become modem Jewish

In

book

almost

men and women,

individuals liberated from the authority

of

Jewish Law? That

the proposal a

there

is

a negative side
bargain"

he indicates

somewhat end of

darkly by terming
reveals
Judaism"

"Faustian
such a

(p. 21). At the

his book he
to

bargain is "at

the cost of what

[is]

specific

his worry that (pp. 204-5).

interpretation,

Spring 1999,

Vol. 26, No. 3

394

Interpretation
also wants

Smith been

to

speak

to

surprised and taken aback

"contemporary by recent resurgences

liberals."

Many

of them

have

of sometimes vociferous and abroad.

expressions of religious

belief

and sentiment at

home

They

cher

ished their
problem

own

dogmatic belief that

the political order

the modem (i.e.,

posed to

by

insistent

religious

liberal) solution to the belief, the "sacred

settled this great

liberal

state"

separation of church and plane of

(p. 151),

definitively

question, both on the

thought and, especially, of action. Smith claims

that the conceptual architects of the modem their settlement was not so
would

disposition, in

contrast, knew that

definitive (pp. 2, 6).

Contemporary

liberals

thus

do

well

to return to the

founding

arguments of the

liberal, religiously
and

tolerant regime. Chief among these are Locke's Letter on Toleration

noza's

Spi

Theologico-Political Treatise (1670).

expects

What Smith

liberals to learn is

a somewhat open question.

On

one

hand, he
that all

asserts solutions

plausibly in my view, but without to "the theological-political

politics,
or vice

explanation or argument

problem,"

in its

most

general
or

form,

whether religion should rule

versa,

are

defective

im

perfect

(p. 2). On the other, he

of these

consideration)

anything other the liberal solution. Most

that a rereading (or first influential arguments will do historically politically than confirm liberals in their original belief in the superiority of
nowhere and suggests

likely

he hopes that
will

a more thoughtful adherence to one that

this cardinal tenet of liberalism

and

be the result,
and

is

more sympathetic

believers. In any event he himself accomodating asserts that the proposition "that liberalism has provided the only decent solu tion to the theologico-political problem is (p. 203), and in his own
to religious
defensible"

belief

name

he

professes
manifest

his belief that "the liberal for

solution

to the Jewish

Question,

despite its

imperfections, is, I believe

all the

alternatives"

the worst solution except

echoing Winston Churchill (pp. 204-5).

The liberal

solution

to which Smith subscribes

of

is the

classical

liberal view,
autonomy of out, puts him

premised on the

dignity

the

individual

and the value of personal

thought, conviction, in
conflict with

and action.

This allegiance, he

rightly

points

today's multicultural

liberalism,

or the politics of

He

deftly

employs
and

Spinoza,

who strove religious

mightily to

group identity. liberate the individual from

show of

oppressive

conformist

group-identities, to

the tyrannical

darkside

of multiculturalist politics and the relative as such

superiority

respecting the

individual

(pp. 200-205).

There is
(and

a wider

group to

which

men and women. secular

According

to

contemporary liberals belong: we modem Smith Enlightenment is essentially

"modernity"

progressive and a

rationalistic) in its

orientation and

intent (pp. ix, 2,

(p. 6)
of our

86-88). As
selves,

necessary

exercise and

in attaining

"self-understanding"

our chief

institutions,

leading

opinions,

a return

to and reconsideration

of the modem political philosophers who our regimes of

intellectually
is in

conceived and advocated order.

a

launch

us

into

liberty deep and

and us

qua modems

Smith here
of the

would

dark

waters.

Widespread today is

loss

founding

Book Reviews
"faith," "optimism"

395

confidence,

and

connected with

liberal modernity; Habermas

is right to
of

assert

that liberalism and liberal societies are experiencing a

deep

crisis of

legitimacy,

one connected with the privatization of religion and the

resources"

lack

credible

"intellectual

to articulate our common

life. Our

search

for

self-knowledge

thus occurs

during

troubled time.

Here, too,
lectual

what

light Smith

expects us to

find

when we consider our

intel
two
as

progenitors

is

somewhat unclear.

In

fact, Smith himself indicates

thoughts
of

fundamental

reservations

he has

with

the

founding

modernity

originally for the variety

conceived.

genuine

liberal, he
not

states, has

"appreciation"

genuine

of ethical and religious

beliefs

and ways of

liberal modernity, he asserts, did

(pp. 4, 6).

life; the founders of Unfortunately, Smith does not

one

tell us what the grounds of this respect are. I

as such

for

do

not see

why

diversity

is respectable,

nor

how

one can respect particular

beliefs

and modes of

living
most

without

judging

them

in the light

of some universal standard that some or

may fail to live up to. More seriously, the founders of liberal modernity whom Smith considers all attempted to divest religion of its "transcendent and
characteristics;

other-worldly"

they

aimed to tame the

biblical

religions and

to

deflect their dane

adherents

from

aspirations to a

"world-to-come"

to primarily mun
and

considerations

and

endeavors.

"Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz,

establish

Kant,

to name just the most

called secular

famous, helped
.

the genre of political

writing
truth"

theology
ad
seculum

the fundamental questions of the genre

than individual salvation and
aim

concerned

the world

rather

divine

(p. 2). Smith,

(cf.
pp.

on the
with

contrary, judges this

both

unfeasible and unde

sirable

202-3

205). And

with respect

to Judaism in particular, at

the very end of his book he asserts

remains a

boldly

that "the spiritual core of Judaism

revelation.

belief in the reality

of a supernatural

The fundamental
on

Jewish
...

experience extent

in

history

was the revelation of the

urges

Torah

Mount Sinai.

To the

that the liberal Enlightenment

will always

the abolition of a particu

lar providence, it
nity's as

be

Judaism"

at odds with

(p. 205). Liberal

moder religion

deep

secularism

is false

to the biblical

religions, even

"revealed

such"

(p. 105),

and to man.

Modem man, Smith intimates,

of

should repent of and the

his intellectual
religions that

and public

denials

human desires for transcendence

to them.
another

provide objects and shape

More academically, Smith does

prevenient opinions about

expect

Spinoza. This is

group to be changed in its group of Spinoza scholars, espe

cially
and

in philosophy departments. In Smith's judgment, the understanding presentation of Spinoza as a philosopher tout court, a metaphysician who
some

considered all things sub specie aeternitatis

(Spinoza's

own phrase,

to be sure!),

has unduly

privileged

his Ethics
and

over

his

other writings,

especially his Theo

portrait of

logico-Political Treatise,

left

an unbalanced and resists this

misleading

Spin
was a

oza's concerns and thought.

Smith

bias. In his
and

view

Spinoza
or

Jewish thinker

and author

(in

a sense to

be explained)
revealing
of

his

"central"

"core"

book,

the one most

in

keeping

with and

his intent, is the Treatise.

396

Interpretation
central question or

Spinoza's
Jewish

concern, according to

problem"

theological-political
Question,"

Jews

and

Smith, was quite literally "the of his day. And Spinoza, says Smith, made "the Judaism, central to its resolution, by asking what
society)
must

Jews (and Christians

and political

become in

order

to

lay

claim to

the title of enlightened and

by drawing

from Jewish

sources and

employing Jew

ish lessons in his

answer to the problem.

resolution of

Essential to the
social-political

the theological-political problem

a

is

a new

kind

of

order, the "free

was

republic,"

democratic

and

liberal

order.

Spinoza,

Smith affirms,

the

first form

philosopher

to advocate

democracy

legitimate
that

or

tolerable

of

government, but

as the

merely as a best form. Smith thinks

not

Spinoza's

arguments

for,

have been
modem

underappreciated

and advocacy of, a version of liberal democracy, "The Treatise ought to be considered a classic of

liberal democratic

theory"

(p.

25)

and political theorists would

do

well

to study Spinoza's thought on these matters, at least to set straight the historical
record and

to give
no

him his

"due."

The reader,

doubt,

will notice

the rather wimpy claim, giving

attributes

Spinoza's

democratic theory its due. For all the importance Smith advocacy of and arguments for liberal democracy, he studiously

to Spinoza's

avoids endors

ing

any

of

Spinoza's

key

claims. of

Smith does
"might

not want

to be associated with
even more

Spinoza's
less"

natural-right

doctrine
than

makes

right": it is

"ruth

"immoralistic"

and

Hobbes's. He

observes

Spinoza's

oscillation

be

tween "fear and

without

hope"

in the ruling

capacities of the

democratic

"multitude"

venturing

ter of the

demos;
question.

and

concurring or dissenting judgment on the essential he knows that Spinoza's arguments for liberty based
on versions of nature and

charac of con

science and thought are calls

Scripture he himself

into

At the end,
argument

one wonders

if Smith

would endorse or propose

today any Spinozistic

principle.
new society:

concerning any liberal democratic institution or He certainly has fundamental reservations about the core of Spinozas
the emancipated,

i.e., deracinated,

abstract,

individual,

as well as

the civil

theology
what

that Spinoza crafted to serve as the religious-moral glue of

position

the society (p.

116). And he keeps his distance from Spinoza's

that

justice is
ist,"

Be that
"one

as
of

the majority says it is (pp. 131, 133). foremost" it may, Smith's Spinoza is "first and "a
the

political theor
such

founders

philosophy."

of modem and

political

As

he

was

"someone
political

who

thought

long

deeply

about the

fundamental
In its

problems of

life."

These

problems

may be

summed or

up, or their core "might be

most general or vice
post-

problem"

called the theological-political

"predicament."

form,
versa?

this reduces to the vital question,

Should

religion rule

politics,

Spinoza, however, confronted this question in its post-Christian, Reformation, form, i.e., in the seventeenth-century situation of the fragmenta
tion of

Christian doctrine

and the proliferation of ecclesial communities and

attendant civil strife.

Thus the

"relation between

church and

becomes essentially one of the proper (Smith does an espestate, theology and
problem
politics."

Book Reviews
cially fine job
versus of

397

articulating the specifics of the Dutch situation: monarchical republican factions or parties, established Calvinist clergy versus dis
"colleges,"

senting

sects and

pro-

and anti-Cartesian

schools, and showing how

this configuration of various audiences

helped to

shape

Spinoza's

rhetoric and

teaching in
perforce

the Theologico-Political
to

Nonetheless, according
did touch
upon

Treatise.) Smith, Spinoza's

and

thought and

teaching,

while

they

Christian belief

Christian

ecclesial

communities,

principally Jewish. In Smith's mind Spinoza above all was concerned with "the Jewish Question the main theme of Spinoza's reflections from very (p. xii). "Spinoza put Jewish concerns and problems at the forefront early
were
...
on"

of

his

thought"

(p.

xiii).

By

this

he

means that

Spinoza personally

was most

concerned to reshape
secular

Judaism

and

Jewish

lines

and to show that this new a new

along Jewish individual would have

political order

identity

new rationalistic and

rightful,

humanly

satisfying, place in
various

liberal democratic
(p. 25). "The

devoted to
Am

"freedom in its

dimensions"

commercial republic of

sterdam"

is

exhibit

A for

Spinoza, "where

the effects of
new

liberty

are on

display
and

for its

see"

all to

(ibid.). In

order

to construct this

liberal home for Jews (and

Christians) Spinoza,
account of the

says

Smith, drew substantially from Hebrew Scripture

commonwealth and

Jewish

Jewish history. The Hebrew

on external

Scrip

ture's emphasis on Law and the

character,"

latter's

emphasis

behavior ("its

orthopractic

p.

23)

were models and

inspiration,
of the

affirms

Smith, fol
state
which

lowing
enacts

Joel Schwartz, for Spinoza's

or

construction

liberal

laws equally governing havior, not ideas or opinions

Jews'

all religious groups and which concern

only be

beliefs. In this

account

Spinoza is

doubly

Jewish thinker:

central concern and the amples and political

security in the dawning Jewish Scripture and polity provide him historical ex lessons from which he derives his political teaching about
condition and modem age are

his

the liberal democratic state.

Smith, however, did

a
concern

not convince me with

provides no

his

characterization of

Spinoza

as

Jewish thinker. He asserts, but in the Treatise I have

evidence, that Spinoza's primary

was the secular salvation of no clue as

of

Jews

by transforming

them

and their religion.

to Spinoza's disposition towards his fellow the work

Jews, but the

clear

implication Jews
and

is that Spinoza, the philosopher,

to the
wide

wanted to transform

Christians
polities

alike and to contribute

spread establishment of all

liberal

that would protect and foster

liberty in

its forms, especially Spinoza's favorite, libertas philosophandi. And as for Spinoza's purported reliance on Jewish sources for his doctrine, Smith's own "Liberal government equivocation on this score begins in his
"Introduction."

and

institutions derived, in Spinoza's view, from Jewish

thesis.

sources":

this is the

Yet, in the next sentence, "For Spinoza, Juda hard-or-direct-continuity because it was a body of ism served perhaps as a basis for liberalism and "a basis": why the hesitation, why the qualification? He con
. . .

law."

"Perhaps"

tinues: "The priority of

law in Jewish

ethics

made

it

ideally

suited to

serve

398

Interpretation
even while

liberal ends,
dent

liberal

ends required that

now

it be divested

of

its

transcen

status."

and revealed service of other

Jewish Law

is

means, a

shorn means, pressed and

into the
sources

"ends,"

themselves derived from

justified

by

other

(p.

xiii).

These

sources are not

far to

seek:

"the

account of natural right

and the social

contract,

which provides

the groundwork for Spinoza's political

no

proper"

theory
either

(p.

xv).

(Later Smith asserts, "There is

basis
of

whatsoever p.

in

these,"

the Jewish or Christian theological traditions

at most a

for any

122.)
one

In short, Jewish Law is

We

secondary

model or source

for Spinoza,

that must be tailored to requirements dictated

will

by

nature and reason. of

have to

wait

until

we consider

Smith's treatment

the last four

chapters of the

Treatise before

we can conclude the question of

Spinoza's debt
appeal

to or use of Jewish Scripture and models.

We

will see that

Spinoza's

to

things Jewish

and

his

use of them at the end of

his

work

by
and

the use

his opponents, Dutch Calvinist clergy, made its account of the Jewish Commonwealth and his need to
particular

is principally dictated of Hebrew Scripture

counteract

them,

rather than

lesson Spinoza uniquely drew from the Hebrew by any Bible. Strauss, I think, has it about right: in other circumstances, say, in fifthor

century B.C. Athens,

seventeenth-century Turkey, Spinoza

would

have dis

pensed with this scriptural appeal.

As I
with
show

wondered

which

he

so

why Smith would little agrees, two

of

write a

book

about a man and

his

thought

"reasons"

loomed largest. Smith

wants to

modem

Jews the thought

the man who contributed the most to the

construction of their

secular, hyperliberal identity. He clearly is dissatisfied with

this result, yet he remains oddly reticent about

come to grips with the

helping

his Jewish
and

readers to

fundamental issues in these for

of

Torah, Judaism,
in

that a conscientious reconsideration of traditional versus modem

requires.

philosophy Jewish identity In any event,

theory."

let's

call

in my two this Smith's

I
will put

cents

matters writing.

a moment.

"personal"

reason

His

"academic"

one concerns

his

view of

his discipline, "political

am afraid of

being

too

harsh, but I find Smith's

of

presentation of the character

a

and tasks of political

story,"

theory

to be inadequate. Smith the theorist wants to "tell

the "larger

story"

Judaism, Jews,
its first
from

and

liberalism Of

as a

doctrine

and as

the

leading

vector of the course of modem political

history.

Clearly
is

Spinoza is

central to this

story; he

wrote

chapter.

course this

a worthwhile

focus,

and not

just for Jews. But there is

obtained
a

a matter of proportion.

"Perhaps the
would

greatest compel

benefit to be

recovery

of the

Treatise is that it
of

us to reconsider greatest

22). "The
ested

many benefit"? Political theorists, it appears,

of our standard

liberalism"

genealogies

(p.

are above all

inter

about politics?

in telling stories, reconstructing genealogies. What about seeking the truth Or the truth about arguments concerning political principles or

fundamentals?
Smith does

Certainly

this was

Spinoza's

ultimate view of political theory. several

a wonderful

job

of

placing Spinoza in

intellectual

contexts:

Book Reviews
first
with

399
the

Maimonides;

then

Machiavelli, Hobbes,

and

Descartes; finally
is
comparison

seventeenth-century Dutch scene. But usually, contrast, but no evaluation, or

what we are given even much guidance view of political

and,

towards judgment.
would

Assuming
liked
a

that this

is

not

Smith's full

theory, I

have

few

words about

its

additional elements. stated

The dom do

general

intent

of

his book is
and the

by Spinoza

himself in his

"lengthy

"piety"

subtitle": of

(or "tme

religion"

or

philosophizing,"

"state"

"Theology") allows, even endorses "free itself, sovereign political authority, like

wise should allow

freedom

of

thought and speech, as well as religious belief. Not

to

so

religious

is detrimental to both piety and civil peace. Spinoza's topics are grand: belief (and practice); freedom of thought, including philosophizing; and limits
of

the authority and

sovereignty

or civil

authority;

and

he has discerned its imple

their proper natures and rightful conjunction. Positive goods: civil peace, tme religion, and
mentation.

free minds,

are the promised results of

his teaching

and

How he

executes

his design,

what

his

arguments are to these conclusions,

accordingly are the commentator's first task. Smith initially, and most broadly, divides Spinoza's text into two main parts: the first part, chapters 1-15, con
siders

"theological

conceived"

matters

broadly
are

(p.

119)

and consists

in "biblical for truth

exegesis."

Its

chief results

(1)

to separate sharply the status of scriptural the

teachings

from

philosophical claims:

former

are not candidates

or
are

falsity

(although Spinoza
are and the

makes

clear

his

view

that

they,

by

and

large,

false); they God, man,

"meaningful,"

i.e., they

are understandings of and claims about

world that emanate

from,

and are

accommodated

to, the belief

rationally very limited capacities of or of this form of mind is that the

"prejudice"

"vulgar"

"imaginations."

The

chief

a superintendant nations

deity

who cares

is teleologically for individual human fates, as well

world

ordered

by

as those of

(pp. 29-30). Philosophy,

causes of the work of

on the other

hand,

seeks and

knows the lawful,

ture

necessary is the
no

Whole

and thus of

the human mind. Given that

Scrip

is

vividly imaginative prophets, not rational philosophers, there identifiable speculative content to Scripture that its adherents must accept;
open the widest

in fact Scripture leaves

ual minds

latitude to the naturally tenets,

varied

individ

to determine for

themselves the

and their meaning, about

God,

man, and miracles, to

which

they

subscribe. maintain that

On

the other

hand, (2) Spinoza does

and
"religion,"

there

is

"theological"

teaching consistently
"universal
faith"

universally taught essentially

by

all the prophets and apostles: a

or

a moral

teaching,

whose chief

injunc laws

charity"

tions are "justice and

versal tolerance of

understood

in

an unprecedented manner as uni

"obedience"

others'

religious convictions and

to the

of

the

sovereign state.
religion"

"piety,"

In short, "tme
room

or of thought and

according to Spinoza, both leaves concerning its

great

for freedom

its

expression

subject matters

400
of

Interpretation
world, and man, and requires its practitioners to
others'

God,

respect enjoins

consci upon

entious

beliefs,
results

whether

religious

or

philosophical,

and

them

wholehearted subordination

to the secular civil authorities.

These
ture.

flow,

says

Spinoza, from
be
stands or

the correct method of reading

"Spinoza,"

Scrip

It is here that the

aware that the

expositor should

most alert.

avers

Smith, "is

keenly
he
more

Treatise

falls
of

on the

proposes therein

for the interpretation

Smith's
claim

Scripture"

viability of the method that (p. 59). This issue is even

Scripture"

important
to,

given

that

Spinoza's "critique

of

is funda

mental

and paradigmatic expression cf. p.

for,

the Enlightenment as a whole. "Spinoza gives

uncompromising radical (p. 10;

form"

to the Enlightenment's critique of Scripture in its most

13). What Smith indicates

("Only

after

discrediting
p.

the

claims of prophecy and revelation can

rational principles on which

Spinoza present a new

set of purely secular or

state,"

to ground the democratic-republican

89), but

does

sufficiently stress, is the following: for any autonomous politics to be well grounded, the alternative authority, in this case scriptural religion, must be addressed
not and refuted.

Otherwise, autonomous politics have an Achilles heel: they are based on

leave
an

a petitio principii that must plague conscientious reason and

opening to
method

believers

aware of this crux.

and

I distill Smith's clear, accurate, into two formulas: Scripture (Spinoza's Principle few
own version must

helpful

presentation of

Spinoza's

be interpreted
and

"solely

from

Scripture"

itself
the

of sola

Scriptura)

"Interpretatio
word about

naturae

as

of

Spinoza's Biblical
the second.
made

Hermeneutics."

the

first,

then a

more about

Leo Strauss
nowhere ciple

the

decisive

observation

in Scripture itself is the

exUa-biblical.
not

principle of sola

is itself

Moreover,
adhere

as

concerning the first principle: Scriptura asserted; this prin both Strauss and Smith note, Spinoza
philology,"

himself does
cism,"

constantly

to it.

Smith does
or principle.

make clear that

Spinoza's "historical
(pp.

"historical

criti

"historico-genetic "Spinoza's

method"

56-57) finally is
for
of

rooted

in the latter
be

use of nature as a model

interpreting
Scripture

Scripture is the
must sought accord
text"

basis for his later

statement

that "all

knowledge

only from Scripture itself ing to Scripture is emblematic (p. 63). The
official version of the

Spinoza's
of

principle of

reading Scripture

his

attempt to secularize or naturalize the

interpretation
into their

of

Nature

principle

is that it

pro

vides the model of the

for how to

approach and to read

Scripture:

one collects the

data

texts, then
as

organizes them

most general

teachings

and princi of the

ples, as well

identifying

the more particular or

and

idiosyncratic teachings
one must note

individual books, prophets,

philosophical approach to

authors.

Again,
for

that using a
an

Nature

as the model

scriptural

interpretation is legitimacy.

importation;
There is

one can and must wonder about more

its

warrant or

involved in

this principle and

its

application to own

Scripture,
of the

though. I mention two instances. Spinoza

invokes his

understanding

Book Reviews
natural order

401

to

interpret

the miraculous events or reports of Scripture.

Miracles

are unexpected natural occurrences that

tend to the advantage of someone (p.

33). It is but

a vulgar prejudice

to see, or to think that there

is,

a real

distinction
therefore
with

between God's
divine

supernatural power and

Nature's infinite

power and

that the natural order and

agency.

its laws

can

be,

and

have been, interfered

by

Likewise, Spinoza's reading

is the
and

of prophetic utterances

is wholly naturalistic; it
the natural order
not

application of a rationalistic

framework, concerning both

on the

human psychology, that is brought to bear

spoke to a series of natural and

text,

derived from it.

prophet'

"Statements like 'God

to be explicated

prophet'

'God

commanded a

are

by

causes,

including
knowledge;

the prophet's own

disposition"

mental state and emotional

(p. 91).
of

An extra-biblical,
philosophical naturalistic

philosophical of

model

an an

extra-biblical,

doctrine

the Whole or Deus

sive

Natura;

extra-biblical,

reading

of

psychology or anthropology: the implication is clear. Spinoza's Scripture is utterly prejudiced; he, we know not how or with what
arrived,

justification, has
turns to

independently
its

of

Scripture,
Then

at a view of

the Whole
view

and man's nature and proper place therein.

on the

basis

of

this

he in

Scripture,

to decode

utterances and

to bend them to ends he has

not

arrived at and

justified from

other sources.

One is

being

uncharitable

detecting
questions

a Procrustean bed that Scripture is made to lie in. In any event, two of the utmost importance thus emerge. First, what is the legitimacy of

Spinoza's

own

criterion, his

philosophy?

Until

one engages and

determines this

question, its

application could

to Scripture and the results it generates are merely

hypothetical. One
equal

give, for example, a Platonic

or a

Kantian reading

with

warrant until one evaluates the

presupposes an

soundness or truth of the philosophies.

philosophical reconstruction of

This task in turn

exact,

the phi
pre

losophy in
sents
of

question.

On this

score

Smith is competent, but inadequate. He

affinities

Spinoza's philosophy in and differences

and

a series of summaries, of conclusions and claims,

with other

thinkers, Maimonides, Machiavelli,

consider

Hobbes,

Descartes especially, but he doesn't decisive initial

atheistic

Spinoza's philosophy concerning Spinoza's These principles are (rather than "synthe

philosophically.

Strauss,
arrived sis").

again,

made

the

suggestion

principles

"real starting
at,

point,"

"his

concealed

"analysis"

averred

Strauss, by

philosophical

Strauss invited his

readers

"to

see

whether

there are not anywhere

in

Spinoza's writings indications, however subtle, of a strictly atheistic beginning p. 189). Richard Kennington took up ("How to Study or
approach"

Strauss's invitation in his "Analytic

ics"

and

Synthetic Methods in Spinoza's Eth

There he

shows that

the Ethics has two beginnings: the merely asserted,

very beginning of the book and a second, somewhat hidden, one in book 2. The latter focuses on Spinoza's physics, which begin experience of natural bodies (not natuwith a scientized version of prescientific
stipulated

definitions

of the

402
ral

Interpretation
points to the

kinds). Kennington, in turn,

physics of as a

late David Lachterman's

treatment of this
Ethics"

work on

Spinoza's

further, complementary
(see his "The Physics

truly basic
and

Spinozistic line

inquiry
show

of

Spinoza's
of

"Lay

ing

Down the Law: The Theological-Political Matrix

the

Spinoza's Physics"). In

my judgment they

highly

questionable character, even untenability, of

question the cogency of Spinoza's natu Scripture. In any event, these readers of Spinoza try to take reading philosophically the measure of Spinoza's standard, the step Smith points to but does not take.

Spinoza's

physics and thus call of

into

ralistic

Yet, in
confronts

some

sense, even this

rational

or philosophic consideration of the

Spinozistic philosophy would be inadequate. Its validity is not secure until it its religious rivals. As part of this confrontation, before the reader can
of Scripture through the lense of validity of Spinoza's his philosophy, he must consider Scripture, its means of communication, its of the
"reading"

judge

teachings,

on

its

own terms.

This,

of

course, is a herculean task. But the task of

interpreting Spinoza,
or

the task of reconsidering the soundness of autonomous,

of

liberal politics, the task Jewish

judging

the

legitimacy

pointing us to their enough through Spinoza's and a clear reworking of urgency providing roadmap difficult tasks. Scripture. But he stops short of the most important and
readers service

identity all tasks Smith assumes and inexorably require this. Smith does us a

merely to which he

of a

secular

Judaism
various

calls

his

by

Since I do
what

not want

to be accused of
most

what

I impute to Smith, let

to take in this
view of

me

indicate

I believe to be the

contemporary

scholars prescind
yet reject

promising from the orthodox

path

regard.

Many
merely
These

Scripture

as

divinely inspired,
less incoherent
scholars as

the Spinozistic assumption that Torah

men's

is

a more or

compilation of various as

imaginative

outpourings.

diverse

Umberto Cassuto, Leo Strauss, Robert Alter, Meir Devora Steinmetz, among many oth in the Bible and find its modes of communi
and commentaries restores

Sternberg, Leon Kass, Robert Sacks,

ers

discern

exquisite of the

literary

art

cation

worthy

highest human intelligence. In their

perplexed modem

they

provide guidance

for the

Jew (and others) that

unimaginable

Scrip

ture to a place of
assault.

Where this line

intelligibility and credibility of inquiry might lead is

criticism

after

Spinoza's

anyone's

guess, but it has the

advantage of

taking Spinoza's biblical

to
raise again

its target be
read?

and

seriously enough to reconsider the questions, What is Scripture and how should it

The

second part of the

Theologico-Political Treatise is the last five

chapters.

Their overriding purpose, according to Smith, is to demonstrate one main propo sition: that religious bodies (especially clerically ruled ones) must be subordinate, strictly subordinate, to civil authority. In this second part Spinoza continues and
concludes

his

defanging

and

domestication be

various grounds that the state must

sovereign over religion.

primarily

extends to external

behavior

and

by arguing on This sovereignty cult; individual belief and its verbal or

of

biblical

religions

Book Reviews
written expression ought to recognize

403

be free from

control.

The

sovereign state also should

its

need

for

widespread tolerant religious

the

"universal

faith"

should receive some sort of official sanction.

"patriotism"

belief among the citizenry, so This faith, in

"civic
duty"

turn,

maintains that

or correct

performing
of

one's

"obedience"

or

to the state's

laws is "the

God"

worship

(p. 153). Smith finds this to be

"perhaps the

most remarkable piece of secularization

in the

work."

entire

Smith

subdivides

this part in terms of the grounds upon which Spinzoa

makes the case

for

political

superiority to

religious

bodies. Chapter 16

presents

the

"theoretical,"

naturalistic case.

Then "in the final

problem of
history"

chapters of the

Treatise

[17-20]
the

Spinoza turns from the

the optima Respublica and the best way of life to the real world of

politics and

(p. 145). This

history, in

first instance, is "the

. .

political

history

of the

Bible"

("significantly

mediated

by

Tacitus

and the

Roman

historians");

the "real

world"

politics are those of chapters of the

seventeenth-century Holland.
reads the current
Scripture."

The two interact: "In the final

Dutch debates

Treatise Spinoza

over church and state

back into Hebrew

The

Calvin-

ists

must

be

shown that

Israel

was at

its best

when religious and political au with

thority
of the

were one

(with

Moses)

and that

its decline began

the establishment

Levites,

a separate sacerdotal order that assumed moral

superiority

and

authority That this lesson

ral

over rulers and people alike and of

Jewish

history

(if

such

authority is not the sole preserve of Spinoza's concomitant survey and analysis its initial
to be
appearance of

ceaselessly body it be) concerning spiritual and tempo Jewish insight or sources is indicated by
agitated the
politic. of

historical Christianity,
chapters of this

beginning
are also

with

as

private

sect

in the Roman Empire, then the

subsequent said

development

"Christian states";

history

illustrative,

even paradigmatic.

For example, "Spinoza draws

all"

also on

the recent
which

history

of the conflict

between the German

emperors and the pope,

he

says will

be

"paradigm"

a
case

for

(p. 155). Christian

history

would

suffice

for making his

did ish

not appeal to the example and

prophets.

according to Spinoza, if his immediate opponents authority of the Hebrew polity and the Jew

Christian

history
ends

not

authorities to the secular,

sterdam.

only exhibits the necessity of subordinating spiritual it also has produced a precious, exemplary fruit: Am
consideration of

Smith

his

Spinoza's

argument with a

report of the

latter's

preference

for "the

republic."

modem commercial

summary "The

commercial republic was not

model

of

society

more

exactly a creation of Spinoza's, but he saw in this humane and practical alternative to the two great
civilization

alternatives under whose

dispensation European

bored,
ment

namely, the regimes of civic and Christian

of

virtue"

had previously la (p. 163). In this judg had

caused such

Spinoza follows the lead

a

his
the

philosophic

mentor, Descartes. "I retired

of the war

here [Holland], to
orders to

country

where

long

duration

be

established, that the armies maintained there seemed to serve

only

to

allow

one to enjoy the

fruits

of peace with so much more

security,

and where

404

Interpretation
mass of a

among the

very

active great

people, other,

one more concerned with

without

its

own

affairs than curious about those of the modities that are

retired as

in

the most visited cities,

deserts"

in the
as

most remote

any live as solitary and (Discourse, Pt. 3, ad finem). Spinoza, I

was able to

lacking

of the com

however,

Smith shows,

was more concerned to articulate the character of

this

tolerant regime and citizenry.

In assessing Smith's achievement, I would venture the following. In a way very compatible with but more accessible than Strauss, Smith exposes the main

lines

of

Spinoza's "biblical

criticism"

"exegesis"

and

for

our

inspection. He

differs from Strauss in choosing to leave his reader there, although he notes from time to time a few of the fundamental differences between orthodox inter
pretations of

Scripture

udices"

and as a

Spinoza's dual reading universal, liberal faith.

and
sympathetic

of

Scripture

as

"ancient prej
on and pro

Secondly, Smith is clearly

tection of the individual and

to liberal

politics'

focus

his autonomy; he thus is

somewhat sympathetic to

Spinoza's

aim to

identities."

cal-political
price of

liberate individuals from their communally imposed "theologi He is also clearly hesitant to endorse the product and

this emancipation, the deracinated or autonomous

appears

individual, however.

Smith, it
after the

to me, expresses the situation of

acids of

doctrinal

many of us today. Living liberalism have loosened the bonds of authoritative

traditions
our souls.

in

social and political we

life,

we recoil

from the dissolution it

without

works

in
to

Thus

hyperfree

men and

women,

desiring

a return

premodern
nect with

arrangements,

attempt

to reconsider and, if we so choose, to recon

the premodern authorities that once commanded our lives. These lat

ter remain standing today, chastened but

needs we experience

beckoning, remarkably speaking

discontents.

to felt

in

our

late

modem

C.

Bradley Thompson, John Adams and University Press of Kansas, 1998), xix +
Christopher Flannery
Azusa Pacific

the

Spirit of

Liberty (Lawrence:

the

340 pp., $39.95.

University
sent

You

and

I have been
would

into life,

at a time when the greatest

lawgivers

of

antiquity

have

wished to

have lived.
John
Adams'

Many
may

great and good men

sufficiently

qualified

ever

be found,

whose ambition would aspire

for any task they should undertake, to nothing beyond a seat in but
you
such

Congress,

a gubernatorial or a presidential chair;

or

belong

not to the

family
an

of the lion,

the tribe of the eagle.

or a

What! think

these places would

satisfy

Alexander,

Caesar,

Napoleon? Never!
Abraham
Lincoln2

The
and

character of a

Legislator has in

all ages

been held
or

above that of

hero. Lycurgus John

Adams'

Solon

are ranked

higher than Alexander

Caesar.

political men of

It is difficult today to understand, and therefore duly to honor, the great America's past. Several causes conspire to create this difficulty.
politics,

Greatness,
objects of

America,

the past, and even men are suspect categories or

derision to many be
a

of our most privileged and vocal sophisticates.

For
and
a

some of these elites, admiration

elitism would crime and

for

what

is

"elitism,"

admirable smacks of elitism

sin, if

they believed in God. As it is,

disease. For others,

is practically

certainly

a social

relativism reduces

of greatness to a value, that conception of ourselves

is to say,

nothing.

And then,

so privatized so to

any notion has our

become that

our political nature

is,

speak, erased

from the picture, and with it any possible idea of political greatness. Political history is no longer merely replaced by social and economic history; it has been reduced to gender, racial, and ethnic studies: Goodbye politics, goodbye Man.
Alongside
that
all

this,

a vague

but nearly irresistible

were so

notion of

Progress teaches
we are superior

us

in

decisive

respect

and with no effort on our part!

to

all who

have

come

before; they

dreadfully

reactionary.

These

obstacles

to understanding the
prevent us

most wise and noble political men where

or

standing distorted

the

from giving honor full dimensions of

so

in our history not only honor is due, they prevent us from under American politics, which must remain obscure John

long

as

its

peaks are not visible.

C.

Bradley

Thompson has
extent

set out to recover a view of the greatness of

Adams. To the
the

that he succeeds,

he does

us

the service of

illuminating
politics.

heights

and

thereby bringing
Spring 1999,

into focus the

nature of

American

interpretation,

Vol. 26, No. 3

406

Interpretation
specific obstacles to our

Thompson identifies two

ness; both obstacles, as it turns out, were

ago

understanding Adams's great erected at least in part a generation

xv).

by

the

influential historian Bernard Bailyn (p.

The

obstacles are meth

ods adopted

by

Bailyn

and

subsequently
political

by

other scholars

for explaining,

or

explaining away, Adams's

a

thought. The methods will be

one explains other

familiar

to
as

readers of modem professional

historians. The

Adams's thought
as
a

byproduct

of certain

nonrational

inner forces, the

Thompson

byproduct

of

various external

influences. The

"psychoanalytical"

one

calls a
school.

ap The
psycho most ambitious

proach, the other is generally known as the

analytical approach political

"ideological"

leads

a recent

treatise as "a reflection

approach

biographer to study Adams's of his disordered

persona

(p.

xvi).

The

ideological

leads typically to explaining Adams's

political thought as

a reflection of the social and cultural contexts within which

he lived: Massa

chusetts,
ever else

Puritanism,

the eighteenth century. Neither of these approaches, what

claim
truth"

it may accomplish, can shed any light on the most important Adams made for his own thought, that he had discovered the "infallible
about the greatest political questions

(p.

xix). examine

Thompson takes Adams's

poses a

claim

seriously, and to

its

merits

he

pro

different

methodology.

He does

historians'

not propose to abandon the

concern with the exegete's

psychological

or social context of
with

Adams's thought for the

writings.

unadulterated

concern

the text of Adams's political

Instead, he
he

proposes, in effect, to be a better psychologist and historian than his

which

predecessors; he proposes to be a better contextualist. The context within

proposes

to study Adams's thought is not that of subconscious urges within

of the time without.

or the

discourse

Thompson

aims

to understand this thought

in the

context most

important to Adams himself, namely, its "philosophical

context of

context"

(p.

xviii).

This is the

Adams's

own

internal

and external

observations, his

lifelong

self-examination, experience, reflection, and study. In

particular, the most decisive context

with

for Adams's

thought

is his "confrontation

the Western political and philosophical

one of the

tradition"

(p. 92).

Reestablishing
claims

this context is

important into

accomplishments

Thompson
of

for his

book. "Unless I
thought

mistaken,"

am

he writes, "no
account

account

Adams's
Rousseau"

political

has

ever

seriously taken

his

confrontation with or

Plato, Aris
(p. 298

totle, Machiavelli, Bacon, Hobbes,

n.9).

Locke, Montesquieu,

To

examine

Adams's

confrontation with

the great minds of the Western

most relevant

tradition, Thompson charmingly proposes to place him in the surroundings by "returning him to his (p. xviii).
library"

Thompson tells between

right)
what

us

that Adams's political

he

called

"principles

liberty"

of

philosophy pivots on a distinction (related to questions of political

(related to
political

and

"principles

architecture"

of political of

constitutional
thought,"

design).
revolu

The
tion
and

actual

"historical development

Adams's

from

making to constitution making, parallels this theoretical distinction (p. ix), Thompson accordingly divides his study of Adams into two parts. The first

Book Reviews
part
a

407

(chapters 1-4) concentrates on Adams's early development and his role as revolutionary statesman in the 1760s and 1770s. In this part, Thompson draws upon Adams's diaries and early correspondence for insights into the young
man's

remarkably self-conscious preparation for greatness. Of Adams's formal writings, Thompson considers primarily two in this part of his book: "A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal (1765), which was Adams's
public
Law"

"first
son,

major political

essay";

and

his

"Novanglus"

essays praises as

(1775),

which

Thomp
of the

challenging scholarly consensus,

peripheries"

"a

comprehensive

study

constitutional

lonial
on

relationship between (pp. 36, 66, 294

lawgiver
of and

the center of the

n.2).

British

empire and

its

co

Part two (chapters

5-12)

concentrates offers
an

Adams

as

teacher of

lawgivers. Here Thompson

extended

A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America (1787) and the so-called Discourses on Davila (1790-

discussion

1791),

with some

backward

glances at

Thoughts

on

Government (1776).
with a longor

In his study
Far from
was

of

established view

Adams's early years, Thompson takes issue that Adams's thought was essentially Puritan

Calvinist.

it,

says

Thompson;

even

in his early twenties,

when

young Adams

vinced not of

energetically seeking by the local pieties

Puritanism"

the truth about the nature of things, he was con

of

Braintree but

by

the philosophic arguments

John Locke. Adams Bacon

"consciously

repudiated the orthodoxies of

of nature and

New En

gland

(p. 5). His understanding

and and most

human

nature

drew

heavily

Newton, especially Essay Con cerning Human Understanding. In thinking about moral questions in these (p. 17). He relied early years, Adams "had little if any need for
on on

Locke's

theology"

confidently in this
salvation

on unaided reason

to understand "the proper

other

business

of

Mankind
of

life,"

and reason
grace

led him, among

and
original sin

things, to reject
18). "In the

doctrines

by

alone

(p.

end,"

Thompson
not

concludes, "the

religion of

John Adams

was

little more, but certainly

these subjects as

less,

than a religion of civic

morality"

throughout his
citizens.

treating book, Thompson is apparently not writing for

account of

(p. 23). In

he does

an audience of

Thompson distinguishes his

from the

errors of the progressive and an exercise

Adams's revolutionary statesmanship ideological schools, which reduced the fit

of paranoia

American Revolution to

in

propaganda or a

(p. 44).
to

"For John Adams, the controversy

end,
as a whole
cient a

with

Great Britain was, from

was

beginning

constitutional,"

and what was tme

for Adams

true

for the Revolution insuffi

(p. 66). Once Adams determined that lesser

constitutional rights

measures were

for restoring the

colonists'

(around 1774), he became

principles"

revolutionary republican directly appealing to the "revolution human equality, natural rights, and natural law (pp. 61-62, 86). These,

of
wrote

Adams,

were

the principles of "Aristotle and

Locke."

Plato,
"the

of

Livy

and

Cicero,

and

Sydney
eternal

and

Harrington
(p. 62).

and

They

were

principles of nature and

reason"

408

Interpretation
and

The American Revolution

and

American

revolutionaries

claimed

fidelity,
The

insisted

upon

fidelity,

to these principles of nature and

political career came when

eternal reason.

great

tragedy

of

John Adams's

he

was convicted

in

the court of public opinion of

infidelity
was

to these principles, of

American Revolution. Adams

republican, or

first indicted

on the charge of

infidelity being

to the
anti-

harboring

"conservative"

reservations about the

American Revo

his Defence of the Constitutions of Government of lution, the United States in 1787. Adams himself expected the Defence to be unpopu
upon publication of

lar,

and the accusation that

treatise

has

continued of

common

view

proposing aristocracy or monarchy in this day (pp. 91, 298 n.3). But, contrary to the historians, Thompson maintains that the Defence by itself

he

was

until

our

"rather than

diminishing
of

Adams's

it"

public reputation,

greatly

enhanced

among his immediate

contemporaries.

Adams

was convicted of
and

betraying
and

the
of

Revolution,
the

being

"defender

monarchy

of

aristocracy

not

because

his Defence but because

of two episodes

occurring between 1789

titles
Highness,"

1791. In
new

first, he
of

took the lead in advocating "regal

of

sounding"

for the

office

President

the United States:

President"

"His

"His Most benign

soon

Highness,"

"His

Majesty
"Duke

the
and

(p. 266). Such titles

was

became

ridi

culed

in

republican

America,
of

Adams

Rotundity"

Braintree."

and sound

ridiculed along with them as "His Although Thompson gamely shows the
pretentious

reasoning behind Adams's advocacy of these that Adams's prudence failed him here (p. 268).

titles, he

admits

fiasco, Adams published anonymously what was, in ef of his Defence, a series of essays appearing in John fect, Fenno's Gazette of the United States between April 28, 1790, and April 27, 1791, called Discourses on Davila (p. 269). These essays were written to warn

Following
the

the titles

fourth

volume

Americans

and advise

Frenchmen

about the

French Revolution. Just

as the se

ries was concluding, in April, 1791, Thomas Paine's Rights of Man appeared, with a famously unauthorized preface by Thomas Jefferson recommending Paine's work as an antidote to certain "political The heresies were
heresies."

quickly
which

understood

by

all

to

be the

supposed aristocratic and monarchical senti

on

ments contained

in the Discourses
was

Davila. A

national uproar

followed,
he

after an

"John Adams

never able

to shake off the charge that

was

intellectual traitor to the

rians

republicanism"

cause of

(p. 271). "In

our

time, histo
(p. 91). his

have rarely differed from his [contemporary] partisan Thompson acknowledges that it was a failure of Adams's own
purposes could

opponents"

rhetoric that

enemies.

successfully But Thompson also bitterly

be

so

misrepresented

in his

own time

by

political role

resents

Jefferson for his dishonorable

in calling into question Adams's fidelity to the Revolution that owed so much to him. Much of the second part of Thompson's book is devoted to demonstrat

ing how,

why, and to what extent Adams always remained tme to the cause of

the American

Revolution. Adams's thinking

could

That the

scope and substance of

be

so

misunder-

Book Reviews
stood

409
of

may have been due

and

initially

to his own

imprudence,

failure
of

his

rhetoric,

deliberate

partisan misrepresentation.

Misunderstanding

Adams

has endured, however, in part because of a failure of scholars to recognize the different levels on which Adams wrote, the different purposes he intended to
serve, and the different audiences he intended to address in his various writings
and often
ences

in

a single writing.

Among

the

different levels, purposes,

and audi

that Thompson calls to our attention: Adams sometimes appealed to sen

timent to prepare the

liberty"

on

behalf for

of

way for ideas; he might, for example, arouse the "spirit of the "principles of liberty"; he descended to history so that up to reason; in
or a single

he

might

draw his

reader

writing

or

in several, he

might write

patriotic citizens of

Massachusetts,
absolute

thoughtful citizens of Amer

ica, free
cal

citizens of

Europe

European

monarchs, enlightened citizens

philosophi

generally, citizen-statesmen, enlightened statesmen, ambitious and students, student-lawgivers, American and European

constitution

makers,
should also a

and present and continue

future lawgivers. That Adams's

imaginations. It is

thought and

intentions

to be underestimated or misunderstood for two hundred years

historians'

is

failure

of

an

understandable

failure, because

greatness

in any form is not readily grasped by ordinary minds. But to begin to understand John Adams, we must be able to imagine ambition beyond even the
and capac

astounding ambition warned against in Lincoln's Lyceum Address ities to match the ambition (pp. xvii-xix, 52-55, 240-42, 258).
Thompson demonstrates, beyond question, that from his
earliest

to his latest

days, John Adams was driven by vaulting ambition, ambition which, anticipat ing Lincoln, aimed above the family of the lion and the tribe of the eagle. From
the early time that he

fixed

upon what

he

regarded as

the highest manly aspiration,

and a teacher of

he

strove with all that was

in him to be
the

lawgiver

lawgivers.
undertook

Adams's

steadiness of purpose and

demanding regimen of study

modem

he

to equip himself for this high calling do exhibit, as Thompson says, "a kind of
resolute

determination that

almost

boggles

sensibiliti

This determina

tion
of

is

all the more remarkable

aspirations

in light of Adams's keen

on

awareness that

fulfillment

his

depended

decisively

the gift of fortune. It was part of

was profferred and

his
to

genius to accept

recognize

that rare gift when

it

to be

prepared

it (pp. 42-43, 159, 3 1 1 n.28, 229-33).

himself
a

To

make

lawgiver

and a teacher of

lawgivers, John Adams

It
of was

thought

it necessary to

undertake

the broadest and deepest inquiries.

consider

go to the root of

things, to

for himself "what kind

necessary to beings men

are,"

springs"

to "unravel the the human

secret

of

human action, to fathom the "constitution

course of

of

mind"

(pp. 148-49). In the

"America's finest eighteenth-century

student of

the

his studies, Adams became (p. xiii). political

sciences

He

studied ancient and modem

political

history
is

extensively

and was

the great

thinkers of antiquity and

was when all
said and

modernity.

indebted to many of But Thompson is em He was,

perhaps
argu-

phatic that
above all

Adams
other

done his

own man.

things,

fiercely

independent. He

accepted

and rejected

410
ments

Interpretation
from
ancients and modems alike synthesized what

ment, and
often

he

he did

according to his own independent judg accept into what Thompson regards as

original,

highly

sophisticated,

and significant teachings. and original reformula

One finds in his writings, for example, "an important

teaching"

tion of the modem natural-law

tion, Adams departed

(pp.

most

decisively

(p. 156). In arriving at this reformula from Hobbes and Locke in concluding

that the primary datum of human nature

olence

is the desire for

called

a reputation

for benev
which

154-55). This desire Adams "Let

us

"spectemur
passion

agendo

means

literally
the

be

seen

in

action."

This

is "the

great

leading
passion

soul."

passion of

"[T]he

history by

of mankind

is little
natural

more than a narration of

its

effects"

operation

and

(pp. 155-56). The

nature social.

primacy

of

this

meant

to Adams that man is

we

When

take into account the clues that

gone unnoticed

Adams, himself,
are

gives

us,

which

have previously thought,

world,
not

by

scholars, "we
used

introduced to

an

intellec

tual world entirely different from the one to mention that of the

by

scholars

to explain Adams's

founding

period

in

general."

In this different

we

see, for example, that "Adams

attempted to synthesize ancient and

modem who see

thought in a way that brings into question the views of those scholars the

founding

period

from the

perspective of either classical republican

n.23).

ism

or

Lockean

liberalism"

(pp. 308-9

Thompson occasionally draws

thought and the thought of others
comparisons are one measure of

comparisons

between the quality

ranked

of

Adams's

among the sages. These Thompson's estimation of Adams's greatness.

traditionally

but Thompson

Adams is, for example, typically associated with the idea of a mixed regime, maintains that in this as in many other respects Adams is usually misunderstood and underestimated. "[H]is theory of the mixed constitution [is]
unique

in the

thought."

history

of political

Though he learned

about categories

and cycles of regimes

from "Aristotle, Polybius, Cicero,

Harrington,"

and their modem stu simplistic teach

dents, Machiavelli
ing"

and

he

rose above their

"rather

on these matters. of the

Not

content

to "repeat the shallow and rather timewom

own

formulas
cal"

classics,"

Adams developed his

"deeper,

more philosophi

understanding

of mixed and

balanced

government

(pp. 217-18). "A De

fence of
very

the

well

be the

Constitutions of Government of the United States of America may most important reformulation of the mixed and balanced gov
Aristotle's
Politics"

ernment since oric to

(p. 228). It does

not

distort Thompson's

rhet

he

views the

say that, compared with the seriousness Federalist as "political

(pp. viii, 259).

of purpose of

propaganda"

"panderfing]"

Adams's Defence, to the low pas

sions of the multitude

Those

who can

secret springs of
and

may judge for themselves whether Adams illuminated the human nature and the mysteries of state with a light as bright
cast

penetrating as that aries. We are indebted

to

by his most illustrious predecessors and contempor C. Bradley Thompson for making a convincing case
profitable

that, if philosophy begins in wonder,

inquiries in

political

philosophy

Book Reviews
and

41 1

in the

nature of

American

politics might

begin in wondering

anew about

John Adams.

NOTES

1. John Adams

and the

2. Lincoln continues,
plored.

"Towering

Spirit of Liberty, p. 43. genius disdains

beaten

path.

It

seeks regions

hitherto

unex

It

sees no

to tread in the memory of footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction; and, if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves, or enslaving freemen. Is it unreasonable

distinction in adding story to story, upon the monuments of fame, others. It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief. It scorns

erected to the

then to expect, that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition

sufficient

to push

it to its

utmost

stretch, will at some time, spring

Our Political Institutions: Address to

1838. Founder's Library. The 19th
www.founding.com/.

Abraham Lincoln, The Perpetuation of up among the Young Men 's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, January 27,

us?"

Century Speeches,

Letters

and

Writings of Abraham Lincoln, http://

most extensive

and the vastest views and

3. Adams continues, "The most profound and have been always considered

sublime

genius, the

information
Science

as

indispensible. A
laws."

consumate master of

literature,

long

experience

in

affairs of government, travel through all the

known

world were

among the

ancients thought

little

enough

for

founder

of

Thompson,

p.

231.

Robert

Goldwin, From Parchment

paper.

to

Power: How James Madison Used

the

Bill of Rights To Save the Constitution

(Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1997),

$24.95 cloth, $14.95

Michael Zuckert

University

of Notre Dame

Among its
the chief

many

virtues

Robert Goldwin's From Parchment

to Power

brings

to its readers a keen sense of the ironies surrounding a bill

of

rights. Perhaps Americans

on

irony

is this:

although public opinion polls show that of

the

whole

deem the Bill

drafted it

Rights the

most valuable part of

view.

the

Constitution,
days'

those who

were

far from this

of

The Constitutional Convention

turned to consider the

Rights only very late in its long summer and then work resoundingly rejected adding one to their draft constitution by a vote of ten states to none. The failure of the Convention to include a Bill of Rights then became
one of the chief arrows

Bill

in the Anti-Federalist
over ratification.

quiver of
re

anti-Constitution arguments

during

the

battle

As Goldwin

counts, the Constitution won

out

ratification

in important

states where and

only because a formula was worked Anti-Federalist sentiment was strong (especially

Massachusetts, Virginia,
ratified with

New

York)

whereby the Constitution

with

would

be

the

"expectation"

that it would be quickly amended. The state

suggested amendments

conventions

obligingly included

along

their certifi

cates of ratification.

The
of

ultimate result of

this campaign for amendments, of course, was the Bill

showed no more enthusiasm us

Rights, but Congress

Anti-Federalists,
and the

Constitutional Convention had. This brings

the

for adopting it than the to the second of the great ironies:

the amendments, both in Con
of

the men who pressed hardest for amendments, who decried

loudest the
gress

absence of a

Bill

of

Rights,
makes

opposed quite

States. Goldwin

clear, moreover, that the Bill

Rights
the

would most

likely

never

have been

adopted

(or

not

in that era) if

not

for

relentless pressure of

the great James

man almost

Madison,

and this points to the third of

great

irony: Madison, the

had himself been

one of the major

solely responsible for the Bill Federalist opponents of including

Rights,
in the

one

first

place.

Goldwin
about came

to think afresh only leads us to see these ironies, and thus stirs us the Bill of Rights, but he also allows us to understand how these ironies to be. As he concedes, his book is not based on any striking new discov
not

eries of

fact resulting from Herculean

of

struggles

in Augean

reinterpretation

mostly

well-known

facts

and

It is mostly a documents, but he puts it all

archives.

together so as to tell the most satisfying

version yet of

the making of the

Bill

of

Rights. Goldwin tells his story lucidly,

engagingly, even

leisurely. The

leisureli-

interpretation,

Spring 1999,

Vol. 26, No. 3

414
ness

Interpretation
is
perhaps

its

most

endearing quality, for it

allows

him the

space and pace

for

rewarding

ruminativeness.

Indeed, among

the best

features

of the

book

are

three sets of

"reflections"

that close off the book's three sections.

In rerendering the story of the Bill of Rights Goldwin dissents, more or less, from the three predominating themes in the standard literature. He does not

follow the "civil liberties

mafia,"

who

teach that the Bill of Rights

is indeed the judici

most meaningful part of the

Constitutional

system and who cheer on the

ary in their effort to apply, extend, and add to the rights protected in the ments. He takes too seriously the original position of the Federalists Bill does
of

amend

that a

of

Rights is unnecessary
as a
mistake.

and perhaps

even

dangerous

for that. Yet he Bill

"antirights-talkers,"

not go over

to the side of the

who seem to see the

Rights

and

Goldwin takes too seriously Madison's sponsorship big arguments for the Bill of Rights for that. Finally, he dissents from the
who

"cynics,"

argue

not

so

much

against

the intrinsic value of the Bill of

Rights, but
the

who

find the lowest

political motives

for Madison's

conversion

to

the project, and (given Madison's crucial role)

for

the ultimate willingness of

Federalists,

who controlled the

rejecting these three paths of chete in the jungle hacking out

work

first Congress, to adopt the amendments. In interpretation Goldwin is not alone with his ma
an altogether new path.

Rather, he here follows

1978 essay), Jack
(in his Sacred Fire of

already done by Herbert Storing (in his Rakove (in his Original Meanings), and Lance
Liberty). Yet Goldwin
which

well-known

Banning

adds

much

to these earlier accounts, even

Storing's,

he

claims to
not

follow

most closely.

only makes the Federalist reservations about the Bill of Rights very plausible, but following Storing's lead, he shows quite clearly that most of Goldwin
the sound and
ments

fury

about the amendments was not

really

about the sort of amend

that ultimately became the Bill of Rights at all. Those at the convention to sign the Constitution (like Elbridge to ratify it (like Patrick

who refused who

did

not want

Gerry), and those in the Henry), were more concerned

its lack
of a

states about

structural elements of

the new Constitution than about

principles and

bill

of

rights,
and

that

is,

statement

of general

reservations

of specific

popular

rights. Anti-Federalist leaders

were rather much

in

agreement with

Madison

his Federalist
barriers."

allies when

they

snubbed the

Bill

of

Rights

as

"mere

parchment

most

It is testimony to the sophistication in political science on the part of participants in these debates that they saw structures as most important for
political were

determining
pendent

outcomes, rather than high-minded proclamations. Thus the

Anti-Federalists

interested in curbing the new government's inde judiciary, its dangerous openness to standing armies, than they were in
more

far

proclaiming the inviolability of the freedom of the press or speech. Madison and his Federalist allies were quite definitely opposed to
of that sort.

all changes

Indeed,

the Anti-Federalist structural amendments would,

in Mad

ison's opinion,

undo the great advance

in the design

of

federations he had discov

new order.

ered and which

was, for the most part, embedded in the

That

advance

Book Reviews
consisted most operated

-415

in the

critically in the insight that federations could never succeed if they old federal way of one level of government (the general or federal
on

government) operating

the

units at

the other level (the member states). The

federation
relation via the

government needed to operate

in the

"national"

manner,

directly

in

to its human citizens. The

federal

character of the whole

is

maintained

division

of

responsibility

Anti-Federalists
as

were

authority between the different levels. The open to accepting Madison's innovation, but, surprisingly
and

Machiavelli

might

say,

they

were

dangerously
and wanted

given to

halfway

measures.

They

feared to trust the

new

system

to

build back in

safeguards

reminiscent of the old more potential

federal

mode of

operation; that
of the states

is, they
in the

wanted

to

have
the

intervention his friends

and presence

operation

of

general government.

Madison

and

they

also at

first

resisted the

of-right type ought

adamantly opposed to all such changes, but less challenging notion that reservations of a billto be added to the Constitution. Here the concern was rather
were
out well

different, however. Goldwin brings

of rights

in the

proper sense superfluous

at

why Madison thought best. Madison was just as

bill

much

Anti-Federalists (here Goldwin deviates, perhaps, from Storing), but the argument was about how to do so. Madison
concerned with

securing

rights as the

believed, famously,
ture
separation of

that the extended republic, coupled

with the

internal

struc

powers,

etc.

would serve as the most effective means of

securing rights. Those devices make a Bill of Rights superfluous. Moreover, Madison believed, even if the Constitution did not in itself

serve

to secure rights, a Bill of Rights would be particularly ineffective. Goldwin

skillfully highlights Madison's analysis, a particularly striking example of Mad ison's astuteness as a political analyst. The problem is not merely that bills of
barriers,"

rights are so.

generally "parchment

but that in

republics

they

are

doubly
major

In

a system of
point

nonmajority rule, a declaration of rights can have efficacy as

stronger element of

rallying

ity,
bill
out

against

for the naturally the depredations of

power, and

the community, the

king

and

aristocrats.

But

when

the majority

wields effective of

is itself

the source of depredations of

rights,

then a

rights has

no purchase on

the situation.

Goldwin, in

other

words, brings

very clearly (against lingering Beardianism, if there is any) that Madison's skepticism about a bill of rights derives from the depth of his commitment to led the

majority rule. Despite his

rights,
and

misgivings,
so

Madison turned

round and

charge

for

bill

of

did

in the face
allies and

of resistance, opposition, even

intransigence from

both his Federalist

count

Anti-Federalist
was

opponents.

fairly

standard ac

holds that Madison's hand

forced

by

his

constituents.

His
and

political

enemies

in

the Virginia legislature

had kept him

out of the

Senate,

in

order
an

to win a seat

in

the House (against

his formidable

opponent

James Monroe,

Anti-Federalist), Madison had to

Goldwin's
stance toward

pledge

this standard

himself to supporting a bill of rights. Banaccount is very like that of Lance

416

Interpretation

ning in his recent excellent study of Madison: "The problem with the standard is that it has been served up so commonly in such a heavy sauce of modem story
...

disillusionment

with politicians that much of the authentic says

flavor has been

lost"

(Sacred Fire of Liberty, p. 280). For one thing, in Virginia "had never been that seriously at
and

Banning, tells
Madison

Banning, Madison's standing (p. 280). Goldwin, like Storing a more subtle story, part of it very political indeed, of Madison's
risk"

shift. points

recognized

that unease about the Constitution had two

focal

the structural concerns of

or

Henry

and

others, and the concern about a

declaration

bill

of

rights

on

the other. He recognized,

concern was more

particularly that of Anti-Federalist

further, that the former leaders, while the latter was

and

more a

worry

of the common people.

Madison thought to "divide

conqu

provide amendments of the

rights-securing

sort to reconcile the people

to the

Constitution

and

thus as a way of winning them away from the Anti-Federal

leaders

who would of

do

violence

to the structure.

The Bill

Rights

can thus

do

real

good, win the hearts

concedes

and minds of

the

public, and not do any real

harm. Goldwin

this

is

political, but
not

it is

statesmanship of the highest sort. It distinguishes Madison Henrys and the Lees, who would disfigure the

"beautiful"

only from the (Madison's term)

won and

Constitution, but
view of

also

from

other

Federalists,

who

believed they had

were under no obligation

to make concessions to their opponents, especially

in

of

they held in Congress. Goldwin argues, moreover, that Madison may well have come to see the Bill Rights not as a (superfluous) completion to the institutional structure, but as
to it. For in the latter's discussions of the extended republic
spoken of a

the very large majority

a useful supplement

he had

"will independent

society"

of

as a possible solution to the

problem of
responsible

nonmajority tyranny. Such a will in the forms heretofore known, officers, like kings and nobles, were unreliable and lacked demo

cratic

legitimacy, but, Goldwin

act the part of

wonders, might not the people

rights of as

itself,

attached

in
of

an essential

Rights

way to their (and everyone's) the "will independent

proclaimed

in

Bill

society?"

In probably the most interesting and original element of the book, Goldwin takes that last point and extends it beyond what Madison and the others seem to
have
seen.

Goldwin is impressed
people

with

how

successful the

Bill

of

Rights

proved

to

be in reconciling the
heart"

to the Constitution. "There

must

be in [the

amend

ments] something that

mind and

spoke

with remarkable persuasiveness a

to the American

(p

177).

Following
they

hint in Storing, he

suggests that the

Bill

of

Rights

might

be

seen as the

"people's article"; the

people are mentioned

in the

Preamble, but

thereafter

are ushered offstage to make room

for the legisla

the official organs of governance. tive, the executive, the judiciary, the states But with the Bill of Rights the people make a grand reappearance. Just as the
other parts of the

Constitution
Rights

grant powers and

thereby

recognize

the

legislative,
recognizes

etc., so the Bill

the people.

of

reserves and affirms the

rights

and

thereby

And therein

the people recognizes

itself in the Constitution

"bone

of

Book Reviews
my bone, flesh of my Goldwin maintains, does
part of
flesh,"

-All

guardian of our rights and

liberties. Not only,

the

Bill

of

Rights

recognize the people as a constituent

"portrait"

the political order, but

it

supplies a

of

this

particular

people,

through the rights affirmed and the popular qualities trayed

implied. "The

people por

in the Bill
of their

of

Rights

are

religious, tolerant,
the

public

spirited, self-sufficient,

jealous
scious

rights
are

and respectful of

rights

of

others, and responsibly con

use

that

they

the 'fountain of all

power'

and

therefore must

that power

restraint"

with prudent

(p. 183). It is

a portrait

this people, or any people, could then and certainly

now

be

proud

of, and even if it is a bit

serve as a standard

idealizing

it

still

can and

does

to be held as a mirror of aspiration before the

sovereign
eignty.

people, to remind them of what

Goldwin thus

concludes with a great

they must be to deserve their sover deal of enthusiasm for the Bill of

Rights,
be

more even than all these

Madison

at

his

most enthusiastic.

Despite

raised about

many virtues, there are still some questions and doubts to Goldwin's account. His focus away from all concerns related to
area, where

federalism is
sive

one

I, for

one, have doubts. Federalism

passes

was a perva

issue

and

Goldwin

most

often

it

over or gives

it only glancing

attention.

Federalism

played a much

the Federalists to attach a Bill of

larger role, for example, in the failure of Rights to the Constitution in the first place.

One

aspect of this

argument

by

is treated only slightly by Goldwin: the very widespread the Federalists that since this new Constitution establishes a gov
powers

ernment of not

limited

only, and since concerns

about

bills

of rights against

have it. If
to

been delegated to it, there is

no power

no need to reserve these on religion, there

rights

Congress has
do
so.

to legislate
and others

is

no need

to tell

it

not

Indeed, Madison

said, it

might

be

pernicious to

do

so

in that

the reservation of the rights not included in the purview of the delegated powers
could well

lead to the inference that

government

has

powers

beyond the

enu

merated ones.

More significantly, I think, the fact that the

to be the Constitution of a federation

new

Constitution

was understood

contributed

mightily to the impression a

new system

Bill

of

Rights

was

unnecessary

and

inappropriate. Even though the

operated

in the
and

national

manner,

it

was still a

federation,
These

that

is,

a union of pre

existing
units

in

some sense more main

primary
of

states.

were

the fundamental

to which the

business
made

were the units

in

which

it

securing rights was entrusted, and these the most sense to declare the grounding princi
rights, and so on. We
eyes of
need

ples of the social contract, natural

to appreciate more

than we do

now

that

even

in the

Madison,

the United States was a

derivative Perhaps
the

and secondary, although still more

important,
almost

entity.

surprisingly, Goldwin

amendment

Madison

proposed and which

entirely omits from his narrative he thought the most valuable of

conscience, nor the

the lot. "No

of

state shall

infringe the

equal rights of

freedom The

speech,

or

the press, nor of the right of trial that amendment,

by jury

in

cases."

criminal

House

accepted

but tme to Madison's fears

of an

institution

418

Interpretation
Senate was, the latter killed this
protection

constituted as the states.

of rights

in the

To

appreciate

fully

Madison's

commitment to this proposal one would

need to reconnect power over state

his

extended-republic argument with

his

proposal

for

a veto

legislation. Goldwin, however, does

perspective of

not enter

this range of

issue

at all.

Finally,
notices

and, from the

today,
of

most

curiously, Goldwin

hardly
in his

and

mean

hardly

notices about a

a point

that Jefferson emphasized

correspondence with

Madison

bill
of

rights,

and that

to as the most signal contribution a

a mere

bill

rights

could make

Madison built up (why it needn't be

"parchment

barrier"

even

in

a republic):

"If they

are

incorporated into
themselves in a
an

the

Constitution, independent
against

tribunals of

justice rights.

will consider

particular manner

the guardians of these

They

will

be

impenetrable

bulwark

every assumption of power in the legislative or executive. They will be naturally led to resist every encroachment upon rights expressly stipu lated for in the constitution by the declaration of Madison clearly looks
rights."

to

judicial be

review as a, or even the main mechanism

by

which

the Bill of Rights

will

rendered effective and good.

Goldwin finds its

effectiveness and good

ness elsewhere.

What he

adds to our usual obsession with

worried

judicial

enforcement

is

all to the good,

but he has

too much, perhaps, about giving aid and

comfort to the civil-liberties mafia and worried too much, perhaps about offend

ing
and

the antirights-talkers. The Supreme Court

is

legitimate

part of the

story,
the

Goldwin's fine book

would

be

yet

finer if it

were part of

his

version of

story too.

Modern Enlightenment
and

the

Rule

of

Reason

EDITED BY JOHN C. McCART HY

An

extensive examination of

the historical and philosophical

character of the

CONTRIBUTORS:

Enlightenment.
the
question:

PaulJ.Bagley
Nicholas Capaldi
F. J. Crosson

The
was

essays

in this

volume pose

"the

Enlightenment"

truly enlightened
clarity

Richard Kennington
Alan Charles Kors

or enlightening?

The

collection seeks philosophical

Pamela Kraus Robert P. Kraynak Terence E. Marshall John C.

of modernity's enlightenment

by beginning

Bacon, Descartes, and Hobbes. of Pascal, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hume, Rousseau, Lessing, and Kant all
with

Consideration
philosophical

McCarthy

Philippe Raynaud Kenneth L. Schmitz

John R. Silber

critics,

or

reformers,

of

the

study of its its diversity. Finally, legacy by displaying

the book assesses the Enlightenment's

Enlightenmentfurthers the

vitality by outlining ways it continues to hold philosophical sway in this century.

"The book
as a whole
and a

displays both

breadth

of

focus

depth of critical
and

Philosophy and the History of Philosophy Series, Volume 32

1998

Studies in

exposition.

It contributes significantly to
in turn to the

Enlightenment studies,
current
and

308

pp.

/ ISBN

0-8132-0904-,

discussion concerning the nature

modernity."

$59.95

cloth

foundations of

Timothy

Sean Quinn, Xavier University

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY

OF AMERICA PRESS
P.O. Box 4852 Hampden Station, Baltimore, MD 21211
www.cua.edu/pubs/cupr

410/516-6953

VERLAG

J. B. METZLER

LEO STRAUSS COLLECTED WRITINGS IN SIX VOLUMES

Edited

by Heinrich Meier

ISBN 3-476-01222-0

This

critical edition will

include

all of

Strauss's
and
will

publications

through 1937 in

the original languages

(German, French,

previously unknown writings and letters. It study of Strauss's philosophy in the future.
Volume 1: Die Religionskritik Spinozas
-

English) many important, be indispensable for all serious

and

und zugehorige

Schriften
Bibel-

1996. XIV, 434 pp., cloth with dust jacket, DM 90 (subscription price: DM 78,-). Contains the critical editions of Die Religionskritik Spinozas (1930), Cohens Analyse der
Wissenschaft Spinozas
Das

(1924),

Zur

Bibelwissenschaft Spinozas
marginalia

und seiner Vorlaufer

(1926),

Testament Spinozas (1932). The

from Strauss's

personal copies of

these writings

are published

here for the first time.

und

Volume 2: Philosophie
1997.

Gesetz

Friihe Schriften

XXXIV, 635 pp., cloth with dust jacket, DM 90- (subscription: DM 78,-). Contains the critical editions of 29 essays from the years 1921 to 1937, more than
are published

a quarter of which remarques sur nach

here for the first time: de Mai'monide

0n

Philosophie

und Gesetz
Der

(1935),

Quelques

la

science politique

et

de

Farabi

Maimunis

(1937),

Abravanel's Philosophical

(1936), Tendency
Eine

Ort der Vorsehungslehre

and

der Ansicht

Erkenntnisproblem in der

philosophischen Lehre Fr. H. Jacobis

(1929),
The

Religiose

Lage der Gegenwart

(1932),

(1937), Das (1921), Der Konspektivismus Erinnerung an Lessing (1937), and more.
are published

Political Teaching

marginalia

from Strauss's personal copies of these writings

politische

here for the first time.

-

Volume 3:

Hobbes'

Wissenschaft

und zugehorige

Schriften

Briefe
politische

Contains, among
Wissenschaft

other

writings,
with

critical editions of

the German manuscript of

(1935) along

the variants of the English translation of 1936 as well as the book-

length

manuscript Die numerous

Religionskritik des Hobbes (ca.

unknown

1933-1935), published here for the first time.

philosophical correspondence with

In addition,

previously

letters from his

Jacob

Klein, Gerhard Kriiger, Karl Lowith, Gershom Scholem,

and

and others

in the

original

languages (German

English).

Volume 4: Politische Philosophie Contains the first publication of the essay

with various

Studien

zum

The

Living

German translations.

theologisch-politischen Problem Issues of German Post-War Philosophy along

Volume 5:

Ober Tyrannis

Contains the German translation along with the correspondence between Leo Strauss and Alexandre Kojeve (1932-1965) in the original languages (German and English), published here for the first
time in its entirety in this

form.

Volume 6: Gedanken iiber Machiavelli

Each
volume contains a

foreword

by the editor of the Gesammelte Schriften which introduces the

as well as

reader

to the circumstances surrounding the composition of each text

its central

concerns.

volume may be purchased separately. The prices for subscribers to the entire edition are approx. 15% less than the current list price. Choosing the subscription price obliges one to purchase all six volumes. Subscribers receive the following at no extra charge:

Each

Heinrich Meier
Die

Denkbewegung von Leo Strauss Die Geschichte der Philosophie und die Intention des Philosophen 1996. 66 pp., DM 16,80 (ISBN 3-476-01504-1).
The essay is the
contains
result of a

the

most comprehensive

long and intensive involvement with Strauss's philosophy. bibliography yet to be presented of Strauss's writings.
copy
of

The

appendix

Please

use

dealer

or when

or college

placing your order with your book recommending that the books be purchased by your university library.
or a when
subscribe to the entire edition of the and

this ad

it

1. ? I

would

like to

Leo

Strauss, Gesammelte Schriften

Die 1
and

in

sechs

Banden

at the reduced subsequent prices of

price.

Volumes 1

should

be

sent

immediately along with

of volumes

Denkbewegung von
78,-

Leo Strauss; the

they appear. The price subsequent volumes has yet to be determined.

volumes should
as

be sent

2 is DM

(approx. $46.00 each). The

the

2. ? I

would

like to order the following volumes

at

the individual prices:

? Volume 1: DM 90- (approx. $53.00). ? Volume 2: DM 90- (approx. $53.00). ? Heinrich Meier: Die

Denkbewegung von Leo Strauss: DM 16,80 (approx. $10.00).

Name

Dept.

Address

Phone/Fax

Verlag J.B.
Fax

Metzler

Postbox 10 32 41
*

D-70028 Stuttgart

+49711/2194-249

Internet: http://www.metzler.de

INTERPRETATION
A JOURNAL OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY Queens College, Flushing, NY 11367-1597 U.S.A. (718) 997-5542 Subscription rates
per volume

(3 issues): individuals $29 libraries and all other institutions $48 students (four-year limit) $1 8
.00

Postage

U.S.: Canada $4.50 extra; elsewhere $5.40 extra by surface (8 weeks or longer) or $1 1 by air. Payments: in U.S. dollars and payable by a financial institution located within the U.S. or the U.S. Postal Service.
outside
mail

Please

print or

type

ORDER FORM FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS

(NOT I
wish FOR RENEWALS CURRENT SUBSCRIBERS WILL BE

BILLED)

to subscribe to INTERPRETATION.
name
address
,

D
?

bill

me

?
ZIP/postcode

student

payment enclosed

air mail

country (if

outside

U.S.)

GIFT SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Please

enter a subscription

to INTERPRETATION for
. .

name

student

address

ZIP/postcode

air mail

country (if

outside

U.S.)

? bill
?

me

from: name
address
.

payment enclosed

ZIP/postcode

RECOMMENDATION TO YOUR LIBRARY

to: the

Librarian,
that our library subscribe to INTERPRETATION, a journal of polit [ISSN 0020-9635], at the institutional rate of $48 per year (three

recommend

ical philosophy

issues).
signature
.

name

date.

position

INTERPRETATION, Queens College, Flushing, New York 11367-1597, U.S.A.

ISSN 0020-9635

Interpretation, Inc.
Queens College

Flushing

N.Y. 11367-1597
U.S.A.

13

X
3

C
13 O
S3"

6d

Z
o 3
-t

C
r
70

3
o
f^

O
< CO

TO
CI

o
PJ
q3