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IRRATIONAL
THE
AND
ARISTOTLE
Thomas Gould
deUvered
Gilbert Murray
which
revelation;
to the welfare
indifference
of
the
a con
state,
sitiveness,
of nerve.
failure
When
ourselves,
is, I suppose,
of nerve'
it is appUed by Murray
that
is,
at
a critical
originally
to a whole
moment
( 1925), p. 155]
taunt.
schoolboy's
civiUzation, however,
in
our
the
past,
phrase
to
what
prejudice,
and
irrational
passion,
and
to
ask
ourselves
consequences
AND
ARISTOTLE
56
of
How
the
each,
are we
THE
standards
of
to
explain
overcome
with
frequently
even
to
to Uve
try
and
evidence
fact
the
the
rationaUy,
men
that
feeUng
that one
it was
that
must
so on?
and
verification,
more
were
and
more
sinful
somehow
and
power,
worship
IRRATIONAL
truths?
Murray's
that
of nerve
failure
or
more
was
less
the collapse
is, of Alexander's
that
ment,
for
explanation
orthodox. After
men
empire,
could
no
orient
longer
his
own
as
life,
as not,
often
in economic
only
uncertain
protect
Greek
taste
the
as a result
Then,
and oriental
civiUzations,
wines
bittersweet
of
of Alexander's
the men
the
to unite
efforts
of the West
East?those
to
began
and
personal
emo
and the
There is surely much truth in this analysis, but there are some
holes in it as well. For one thing, Chaldean astrology, magic,
cults
of
and
other
the Greeks
personal
salvation,
from
rites
of
Asia
and
the
great
phenomena
even before
ismore
age
ecstasy,
to
known
purification
through
were
Africa
well
of Pericles.
one wants
What
mar
insight into the spiritual decay which allowed these
to
and
Economic
of
Ufe
ginal ways
finally
approaching
triumph.
poUtical explanations are not sufficient. For another thing, the
centuries
immediately
not
merely
marked,
following
new
by these
the
of Alexander
conquests
allegiances
to dark
powers,
were
but
in one
were,
of
the
more
word,
rational
than
Plato
and
mediately
peror
or
slave.
to
One
the most
feels
Umited
that
there
man
or woman,
person,
was
a failure
indeed
of
em
some
the
sort in the generation which saw the triumph of Macedonia,
death of Aristotle, and the foundation of the Stoics and Epicu
reans; but just what happened then, and why it took so long to
show its full effect, is far from clear.
Sooner
or
later
someone
was
bound
to offer
a Freudian
inter
Thomas Gould
pretation
successor
ray's
57
at Oxford,
E.
R.
in a
Dodds,
series
of
lectures
darkness:
in
belief
mortem
occultism,
and daemonic
mysteries,
evil
eye
the
the
punishment;
animals,
and
plants,
who would
savior?all
susceptible
'In all
as
poet
good
no mathematician
name
that
the
in philosophy
be
extinct?transcendental
for
this
would
it eventually
no
as
as Archimedes,
represent
he
decline,'
still
world would
scientist
good
and
it
made
succumbed,
of existence
centuries
awaiting
produce
no
as Eratosthenes,
. . . the one
great
Platonism.
long-drawn-out
a mediator
and
the world
weakened
to which
sixteen
as Theocritus,
as
good
theurgy;
at
post
to certain
astrology,
terror
of magical
powers
the adoration
of
stones;
to the disease
Christianity.
possession;
attribution
precious
intercede between
for
look-out
alchemy,
says,
the
understand
'is one
to
reason
of the major
prob
lems of world history' (p. 244). Then, after warning his audience
modestly that the study of men's attitudes toward their irrational
experiences is only part of this larger problem, Dodds offers a
suggestion meant really to explain the whole decline of Greek
rationaUsm.
Dodds'
for
phrase
this
event
is nowhere
near
as
as Mur
good
very
of
the
unconscious
those untamable
especially
conscious
personaUty
can
parts
of
the
human
circumstantial
only
mind,
of which
the
but
evidence,
from which, unbeknownst to itself, it really draws all its fires. This
forgetfulness or suppression by the Hellenistic philosophers could
have been the thing which finally undid them, he argues, for, as
Freud
showed,
can
rationality
be
sustained
by
a man
only
so
long
admits
ownership
to them
as a
part
of his
true
self.
If we
ex
Plato,
for
instance,
spoke
of
a monster
in us
all, whose
1
and Los Angeles,
1951.
2 Berkeley
See Dodds
(New York,
1941).
from Freedom
Escape
p. 252. The
in the lecture which
Freudian
Dodds
calls "The Fear
theory
implied
of Freedom,"
to the mixture
bears
little
resemblance
of
enough
Marxism
in Fromm's
and Romanticism
book.
ARISTOTLE
58
AND
THE
IRRATIONAL
day.
the monster
dreams,
some
fantasies,
sort
of
in aU
satisfaction
and
day-dreams,
its
thousand
paralysis,
uncontroUable
despair,
obsessions?its
revenge
has many
forms. For the id, it seems, harbors two strident and dictatorial
drives, both of which, unless heavily disguised, are utterly ab
horrent to the conscious self: it has a Umitless appetite for camal
a
gratification, and will to destroy?to destroy something outside
itself if it is aUowed the chance, to destroy itself if it is not. It is
no
incapable of responding directly to reason, because it knows
law outside itself, not even the laws of cause and effect. Nor does
it have so much as a sense of time. UnUke our conscious selves it
never rests, night or day. We can relax in sleep, notice, only by
inventing dreams which fool the id, making it think that it is
getting what it wants.
(Luckily it does not know the difference
between an image and a fact. ) But we must fool ourselves at the
same time. If the disguise becomes too thin, allowing our con
scious
3New
selves
to
recognize
Introductory
Lectures
the monster
what
on
Psychoanalysis,
reaUy
wants,
Tr. W.
we
J. H.
wake
Sprott
Thomas Gould
59
clamoring
within
we
whenever
ourselves,
its
deny
exist
ence or underestimate
its power. Consider then, Dodds suggests,
if our whole civiUzation did not make precisely
this mistake
end
the
B.C.
somewhere
about
the
of
fourth
century
beginning
Are not the phenomena of the following centuries classic symp
toms of the revenge of the id?We denied altogether the existence
of the irrational within us, and so eventuaUy we were deprived of
the strength to Uve the Ufe of free, rational individuals.
This thesis is controversial, of course (to say the least!). But it
deserves very careful consideration. Now the basic theory is not
the chief difficulty, I think. Indeed, Dodds has chosen one of the
most successful of Freud's ideas. In fact, since the triumph of
in the 1920's, many forms of hysterical breakdowns
psychoanalysis
have all but disappeared among the educated. We are too aware
of our unconscious now to let things get to that state: we sUp
into
various
neuroses
boring
In
instead.
other
Freud's
words,
theory about the revenge of the id has been verified by the fact
that it has effected a change in the phenomena. Not that HoUy
wood has heard about this yet, to be sure. They continue to show
us "Freudian" thrillers where hysterical
paralysis is inevitably
as
explained
we
the
result
of
sider
this
one
item:
under
personaUty
stress,
childhood
shell-shock,
so common
the
complete
in the First
may
suffer,
and
"traumas,"
the
Uke.
But
a whole
civiUzation
may
collapse
World
War,
that what
suffer
also.
of
the
was
an indi
That
is an
that
the
Stoics
were
by
no means
unanimous
in this
assump
AND
ARISTOTLE
60
THE
IRRATIONAL
really was the last to respect the id, then we will still be able to
assume that the fatal mistake coincided with the traditional date
for the end of classical Greece?the
beginning of the "Hellenistic"
period, the generation, that is, which was just getting under way
when Aristotle died. If, on the other hand, Aristotle turns out to
have denied the reality of the irrational, then we must look for the
error farther back, at least as far as the period of Aristotle's youth
and Plato's old age, and perhaps farther back yet, to the heyday
of classical Athens.
Did Aristotle accept the existence of the id or not? It would seem
that one would only have to look at the texts and find out. It is
not so simple, however. If you collect together all of Aristotle's
on
remarks
madness,
ritual
melancholy,
cures,
dreams,
tragic
pleasures and wild music; his visions of god and cosmic beauty,
individual failure and poUtical stupidity; his analyses of action
under
of war,
stress,
evil
or sexual
drunkenness
anger,
rhetoric,
his
passion;
and
poetry
slavery,
acceptance
to
melodies;
upsetting
intelUgent
factor
this
of
comes
One
reality.
from
away
status
of
more
when
even
in
general,
that Aristotle
covery
in Plato's
motion
and human
chance,
luck,
look at his treatment
of nature
you
cannot
be
struck
the dis
but
by
necessity,
you
simply
leaves no place
undirected
sense?absolutely
working
toward no genuine
universe,
sense
of
to Aristotle,
is
actually
according
at
the word?aimed
unerringly
energy
energy,
in the
All motion
good whatever.
rational
some
real
in
the
strict
advantage
the
whole,
for
the
irrational,
of wolfhood.
perfection
And
anyhow,
irrational
in the
sense
within
passions
are
that they
men's
aimless,
in the universe
as a
trivial event. As
are
they
psyches,
in the sense
but
the wolf's,
Thomas Gould
or
a rock when
like
like
as
tree
it hurtles
ever
it grows
toward
the
closer
to
center
a
of
or
the universe,
its
of
specimen
perfect
61
unpredictable,
in
energy
unanalysable
universe
the
phenomena,
is
to
always
that
show
are
they
not
irra
really
is Plato,
It
rationality.
not
who
Aristotle,
has
us
given
so
many unforgettable
pictures of the undersides of our psychic
before, he speaks elo
energy. In the Republic, as I mentioned
in
vision
id
of
the
his
the
of
quently
many-headed monster which
comes aUve at
some apparently good
night in the dreams even of
and happy men, and in the Phaedrus he Ukens the id to an ugly,
vicious black horse quite capable of wrecking the chariot of our
soul. The desires of this black horse are an obscene parody of our
reasonable
it is a permanent
but
aims;
of us,
part
Plato
argues,
so
we had
just better get used to it and learn how to render as harm
less as possible its hideous tendencies and appetites. In the world
as a whole,
too,
unpredictable
encies
Plato
even
which
the
toward
tending
beauty,
or indeed
universe
essentially
or Chance?tend
could
not
reduce
patterns
perfect
the
of
and
wild
he calls Necessity
designer
entirely
is a similar
there
says,
energy, which
and
splendor?whether
colors,
orders,
powers,
everywhere?toward
strength,
trees or men,
think
of horses,
of every
excellences
dimensions,
you
sort; but you also see that all of the horses, all of the trees, and
all of
the men
exists
no
waste
more
and
are maimed
than
pure
unhappiness
or another,
in one way
and pure water
or the
Confusion,
purely
equal.
or lesser
to a
abso
reign
greater
degree
blue
motion,
"wandering"
as
Plato
says,
incapable
of
being
can
and find,
read many,
really, very
many
pages
in Aristotle,
little appreciation
on
the other
hand,
of the irrationaUty of
62
ARISTOTLE
AND
THE
IRRATIONAL
and
But
as a source
Necessity
of unruly
motion,
a fountain
tion?complex
directly,
patterns:
nature
but
circular
and
motion,
the
as
universe
a whole
is moved
of all things,
beautiful
4
See, e.g. Eudemian Ethics II 1224 a 15 ff. and b 10 ff., also
Posterior Analytics II 95 a 1 ff., and De partibus animalium I 639 b
25 ff.
5 See
Physics
especiaUy
II ch.
9,
and
ch.
9, Cf.
ch.
10, N
cf. Augustine
Mansion,
Intro
4,
and
Physics
I ch.
9. Cf.
Thomas Gould
63
God. Now Aristotle claims that if you could discern all of these
patterns, from the lowliest to the most august, you would have a
complete explanation for every single thing that happens in the
whole universe. This is because the only other thing in nature,
matter, has neither resistance nor any independent energy of its
own, only love and desire for the perfection of these patterns,
nothing else. As he puts it in the clearest of the several passages
(Physics I, ch. 9) where he contrasts his analysis of nature with
the one which he learned from his teacher, while Plato thought
that matter simultaneously
cooperated with and frustrated the
realization
the patterns,
of
saw
Aristotle
was
that matter
motivated
only by desire for these patterns. What failure there was could
all be traced to the effect of mutually exclusive patterns pulling
the same substratum. And the frustrations are trivial, Aristotle
thought, in comparison with the glorious order of the whole
(Metaphysics A ch. 10).
All of this, all that I have said so far about Aristotle's vision of
the universe, is reasonably clear and for the most part, quite
is all there in Aristotle's writings, and accurate
uncontroversial?it
wiU
be
in any decent study of Aristotle's system.
found
analyses
And yet you will also find it said, in handbook after handbook,
after monograph,
that there are really two processes
monograph
at work
in
(sometimes
sometimes
cooperation,
at
cross-purposes)
irregularity
resistance
in
the
stuff
itself,
it from
preventing
a perfect
becoming
example of its kind;9 but in the passages
where he broadens his scope and discusses with rigid precision
the true nature of aU of the factors involved in a natural event,
Aristotle leaves no possible explanation for this apparent resist
8
Eduard
E.g.
B. F. C. CosteUoe
and
ZeUer, Aristotle
and J. H. Muirhead
the
Aristote
(Paris,
1944)
Earlier
(London,
tr.
Peripatetics,
I 355,
1897)
ff.
by
and
15&-158;
Mansion,
cit.
op.
289-90;
104-5.
The
only
exceptions
seem
to be
the
discussions
of
Physics I ch. 9 and the like which merely accept Aristotle's analysis of
matter
e.g. W.
without
D.
Ross'
or not he was
whether
questioning
always
of the Physics,
edition
and Harold
Cherniss,
E.g.
two
Final
20-24.
consistent,
Aristotle's
AND
ARISTOTLE
64
ance of matter
THE
IRRATIONAL
were
at a more
the matter
elementary
pulling
as crude
fied
tissues,
elements,
organs,
already
level?the
patterns
so on?were
not
and
identi
pull
matter?one
unpatterned
we
of water,
would
orate?to
that
behave,
Da
Leonardo
is,
according
Vinci's
as
that matter
to
paintings
out
the
pattern
such
resisted
of water
or a wall.
If
is not
that
brown,
turning
of
a house
of a foundation
are
not
house,
tried to build
the construction
preclude
If we
not
discover,
makes
or bricks.
matter,
tion
the
for
structure
of
natural
constructions,
raw materials
are
the
of an artist or artisan
how
Now,
we
notion
that Aristotle
failure
in the
art? Well,
careless
writing;
to make
quite
But
"irrational."
Indeed,
he
of
persistence
(cf. De
erroneous
this
believed matter
striven
and
for in nature
patterns
own
can
Aristotle's
blame
certainly
in
not
take
the pains
he does
always
particular,
or
he means
"matter"
clear
the words
just how
realization
for
the
explain
about
specifications
a
with
preciseness
the
dictated
one
then
regularly
the
of
thing,
we
is never
Aristotle
a
asks
great
deal
a
writer.
considerate
very
of his readers,
that
namely
reason
for
this
universal
almost
and
misunderstanding,
that
is
us
and
we
see
that
these
we
patterns
should
Uke
nature,
and we
be
unable
ourselves,
indeed
does
any
sense
of
our
that
with
eyes
tions?similarities
these
patterns
our minds,
us
give
only
but no
are
never
not
our
an
actually
eyes, where
infinite
identities
reaUzed.
sequence
our
among
We
are
things
of unique
experiences
have
to
tending,
percep
in this
some kind of
perpetual flux. Surely, we say, this points clearly to
an irreducible brutishness and irrationaUty in the very stuff of the
world: how, we ask, could Aristotle possibly have avoided that
Thomas Gould
65
conclusion?
In
we
fact,
question,
we
man,
Indeed
we
is what
this
a man
and
emptiness,
dream.
as
And
we
are
feel,
must
who
Hobbes'
famous
by
phrase,
could
be
It might
to
than
aware
constantly
as of the orderly
Our
"reaUstic."
being
triviality, absurdity
see
not
with
this, we
capital
is
say,
"N,"
well,
Uving
how
be
as well
mean
does
well
to Plato
closer
and hardships,
nature
for
as we
far
rational universe.
of the appalling
aspects.
as
vision of a completely
on this
that,
a sensible
For
be
argued
Aristotle.
in a way,
are,
today
from Aristotle's
nasty,
"solitary,
and
brutish
short,"
how much less satisfying yet, we feel, must be the brief survival,
say, of a hen, a rat, a weed, a piece of mud or a drop of Uquid?
We could not bring ourselves to take seriously any philosopher
who denied that. Our vision of natural processes has been per
in his films of wild-Ufe: some un
fectly stated by Walt Disney
beUevably hideous rodent, insect, or reptile is forever being shown
an
enemy in long, slow, ugly gulps.
eating
equally unedifying
Our sciences all tell the same tale: physics, medicine,
psy
chology, anthropology?all
catalogue the weird array of unin
telligent drives which we take to be the real world. In fact, we are
always faintly embarrassed to find traces of intelligence, beauty
or
even
excellence,
within
ourselves.
Aristotle
that
suggested
the
plans
the spin
than
and
are
no more
designs
really
our brains
electrons
of which
rational
of
the
meaning
are made.
planless
as
and
destructive
to
counterparts
tendencies
the
we
which
stupidity,
vulgarity,
we
notice,
some
with
ourselves.
a level
was
that Aristotle
satisfaction,
recog
and
instantly
violence,
headed
these
brute
tendencies.
How,
we
ask,
can
one
man
describe
nature
tion
of
natural
physics. We
any
real
actually
drives,
conclude
status
to
to
describe
we
tend
to
turn
our
genuinely
purposeless
a human
or natural
on
backs
his
meta
energy,
event,
when
he
he
must
came
have
AND
ARISTOTLE
66
THE
IRRATIONAL
that matter
was
true
the
such,
author
by
of
and
sluggishness
all
Platonic
of
"To what
imperfection.
assumption
aimlessness
its own,
other
source,
violence
in
resistance
realization
the
of
be
should
pattern
And
means
rationaUty
action
aimed
at a
accurately
genuine
at no
aimed
energy
the universe,
according
irrationaUty,
in
exist
anywhere
does
genuine
good,
to Aristotle.
He
really did deny the reaUty of the irrational, the id, in all of nature
and therefore, a fortiori, inman. The temptation is then very great
to throw up our hands and assume that surely Aristotle could not
in
have kept this clearly in mind throughout his meticulous
of the whole of the universe; but let us resist that
vestigations
make
and
temptation
visuaUze what
existence
of
as
instead
an
brave
famines,
quakes,
and death. Well,
diseases,
storms, earth
things:
of pain
inevitabiUty
to
in
these
things
keep
this
sort, you will
notice,
the
murder,
you have
Aristotle,
and
failures
says
conflicts
perspective:
of
eternity.
to
the
irrationaUty.
the moon.
of
the
can
as we
effort
and
stops
turns
the
God
motion
rectilinear
where
Beyond,
starts
is
unknown,
totally
outermost
he
sphere,
is below
its
with
and
beauty
contact
is in direct
all
is
only with
that, and the farther you get away from him, the more
confusion
you must
the master
household,
But
expect.
must
be
as
then,
in efficient
in any well-run
command
every
or
state
minute
of the day and night, but the lowliest servants can be allowed to
waste a good deal of their Uves just kilUng time (Metaphysics A
ch. 10). And the system works remarkably well, really. The sun
moves north and south every year with a perfect rhythm; and this
creates
seasonal
mixtures
cruder
the
That
thing.
its pattern
onto
his
sperm?and
10
Op.
11 The
here
when
to survive
the
of matter?an
separates
cause
in turn
which
it off
proper
oak
from
the patterns
eternally
season
onto
himself.
then?what
grown,
matter
changes,
down
happy
from
cit.
man?pulls
its environment,
at
shaping
every
despite
arrives,
its acorn,
The
stamps
a man
pattern,
it is to be a full
the matter,
appropriate
utiUzing
is reached
and
until maturity
new
it is
357.
relevant
passages
are
collected
by
Cherniss,
loe.
cit.
above).
(n.
Thomas Gould
time
survival
on
to pass
its pattern
again.
is
of the
species
guaranteed
In
this
eternal
the
manner,
if sooner
even
or
67
some
later
in this manner
to survive
able
forms
or chain,
ladder
perfect
for
nature's
an
produce
inevitable
individual
errors
little
specimen
every
some
of
it
time
species,
to
tries
is not
too
that
is
really very hard to explain, Aristotle thought.12 Conception
to
in
human
he
creative
the
the
arts,
process
precisely parallel
points out: the pattern is realized by being superimposed, as it
onto
were,
the matter
matter,
foreign
as
selected
being
already
that
animals
suggests,
sometimes
men's
minds
on
the
the woman's
pattern;
a 11).
if the man
Now
while
passes
was
to
patterned matter
of differently
I 729
animalium
generatione
they
copulate
who
notice,
Aristotle
job,
thought,
only
supply
when
It is the man,
wander?
does
(De
his
part
the
father
unique?the
Aristotle
The
most
is not
done
outlines
common,
is the female
frustrating
which
side-goals
drew
the
well,
he
various
however,
and classifies
says,
and
he
peculiar
phenomenon
ness,"?"natural"
because,
calls
the most
animalium
(De generatione
an
although
things
these accidents
interesting
may
happen.
in grisly detail.
monstrosity
a "natural
lame
ava-n-qpla ^vo-lkt]
a botched
is indeed
the woman
attempt at realizing the pattern Man (after all, male and female
cannot be two species of the genus Man, because they do not
each reproduce their own kind), nevertheless nature does utilize
12Most
114, ff.
13
but
of
the
relevant
passages
are
X 10, written
Problemata
perhaps
in its
orthodox
entirely
implications,
collected
one
by
I think.
by Mansion,
of Aristotle's
op.
cit.
students,
ARISTOTLE
68
this waste
ing
IRRATIONAL
in a most
product
the next
again
THE
AND
time
in the process
way
then another
whole
ingenious
And
around.
of
class
try
of
monstrosities,
giants, dwarfs, and the like, follow inevitably from
in
which the matter presented by the female is pre
conceptions
formed by patterns other than the most congenial ones. But in all
fairness to nature, it must be said that it really does amazingly
well: look around you and you will see an astonishing number of
really good attempts at reaUzing that intricate pattern known as
In fact, Aristotle points out (Nicomachean Ethics II
Manhood.
1106 b 14-15), nature, which pursues its patterns without con
or deliberation
sciousness
are
beings
in that
is
really much
and
completion
imitation
better
than
we
we
of nature
human
art.14
call
But this brings us to the most crucial point of all in our project
to picture the world as harboring no truly irrational tendencies.
How are we to account for all of these foolish lusts, passions,
fears, hungers, and distracting emotions which are always leading
you and me into stupid, ruinous decisions? If all of the activities
in the whole universe are caused by the single-minded
love of
matter for the perfection of these patterns, whether it be a stone
a
falUng off cliff, a plant unfurling its leaves, or a beast pursuing
its prey, what in the name of heaven is a man doing when he finds
it advisable to go against an involuntary or instinctive drive
within him? Is man, by reason of his intelUgence, the only irra
in the universe?
That would
indeed
be an odd conclu
thing
But consider
for a minute.
It is a fact, after
all, as Zuckerman
err in sexual
rats never
matters
that whereas
showed,15
(isolate
tional
sion.
them from birth, then put them together, a male with a female,
and they will know exactly what to do), an ape, because of his
superior intelUgence, has to be taught by his elders in these
matters. And as for human beings?the
difficulties which they
in
trying
known.
discover
too well
sense
to make
"Congenital
of
their
relations
sexual
ignorance,"
are
Aldous
concludes
all
Hux
mistakes?
means
Protrepticus
fr.
abiUty
15 See
Aldous
to act
13, Physics
1337 a 2, Meteorol?gica
Works
in one
Yes,
the
Huxley,
but
sense,
in more
II ch.
is
that
really
only because
one
And
this
way.16
than
8, also
194
a 21-2,
Politics
VII
Iv 381 b 6-7.
Texts
and
Pretexts,
vol.
17
in the Collected
16
6 ch.
2 and 5. As
for Aristotle's
1-5,
Metaphysics
especially
at
de
and very
absolute
attempts
avoiding
peculiar
unsatisfactory
in nature
E
19 a 6-b
terminism
4, Metaphysics
(De
interpretatione
et corruptione
II ch. 11, De partibus
ch. 3 and K ch. 8, De generatione
a 8-10.
1-5
I
animalium
III ch.
and
640
Ethics
Nicomachean
+
Die
des
also H. Maier,
ch. 3), see Mansion,
op. cit. 315-333,
Syllogistik
Aristoteles
Nicomachean
(Oxford,
1955)
108-11,
also
22-6,
and W.
L.
Thomas Gould
69
over?it
by moving
tireless
futility
to press
on
continue
will
move
and
nowhere.
Plants,
downward
the
with
other
hand,
from
attacks
against
say
from
fox?it
hungry
can
ever
makes
so
far greater
with
pattern
more
many
also means
mistakes,
and pursue
than
precision
that
to the
is open
one
has
of a complex
the perfection
unintelligent.
or
reason,
lust
between
and
for
reason,
instance,
is
what
in the whole
exception
to
experience
is, by a genuine
that
fox. Here
sion when
pleasure
good?as
is our
it vetoes
ghastly
a natural
out
of
our
universe.
must
just
desire
goods,
but
we
save
our
are
skin
that
once
paradox
desire
seems
more.
All
passions,
genuine
to
as rational-motivated,
net
The
be
never
in fact
he
yet; he
suggests,
are
presented
with
one
soli
tary drive within us which we must frustrate for our own higher
benefit: we are invariably presented with two, mutually exclusive,
passions of this sort, and the intelligent decision is to take that
course between them which is aimed most economically
toward
our
the true realization of the pattern Man?toward
highest pos
in
in other words. True, if a man is wanting
sible happiness,
and
has
been
he
will
have
exercised
perception
badly trained,
one of the pair of
conflicting passions to the point where it is far
too strong for him to battle against; but there was theoretically a
time in his Ufe when itwas still possible for him to avoid this state
of affairs (Nicomachean Ethics III ch. 5). The fact that a man
THE
AND
ARISTOTLE
70
IRRATIONAL
Aristotle
surprising,
case
is the
suggests,
than
efficient
course
the man
of
who could have thrown a stone a minute ago but finds that that is
no longer in his power now that he has
dropped the stone out of
his hand. However
little we may be aware of the fact in daily
life, especially after we have been corrupted by bad habits, the
truth is that regrettable desires invariably pull on us in mutually
exclusive
our most
and
pairs,
lies between
always
two.
the
This
infamous, much
tendency
ridiculed
the mean
to take
path
I think,
as a
accounted
for,
incredibly
difficult metaphysical
his
to make
to
for
say,
the
of
It cannot be
to
problem
real
all
one
surely
attempt
desperate
resulting
True,
irrationaUty.
seem
Even
when
plausible.
a desire
simultaneous
with
an
solve
in finding psychological
ingenious
theory
that
instance,
is
blunders.
problem?a
away
explain
is marvellously
Aristotle
ments
to
attempt
except
as a
excellence
extremes
the hardest
from
theory of moral
between
argu
is forced
he
to flee
from
herent
charge of harboring
In
there
fact,
is indicative
and
however,
theory,
in Aristotle's
main
of
to clear
program:
in
the
difficulty
universe
of
the
any
irrational impulses.
are
quite
number
famous
of
philosophical
existence.
For
there
example,
is
the
curious
that
fact
Ari
stotle, who did not have a poetic atom in his body, should have
been the one to defend the rationality of poetry and tragic drama,
whereas Plato, one of the great poets of all time, had found it
necessary to lash out in terror at the power which poetry and
could
tragedy
wield
over men's
minds.
derstood
poet
or
2, ff.,
seem
moved,
something marvellously
the
language;
17 Cf.
also
audience
could
X 619
Republic
a 27, ff., 431
III426
articulate
so
convincing
assumes
that
profound.
the
new
in his
imitations
it must
Not
have
that either
insight
un
the
in rational
anima
II 424
Thomas Gould
tations
the
of
rational
far more
surely
The
language.
of our own
man
literate
in
wisdom
literate
man
felt
that
time,
great
of Plato's
art
like
time,
there
somehow
imaginative
71
was
in rational
than
The
but
so much
not
because
his
was
analysis
in this matter,
or unsound,
unfeeling
drama
see how
that worked.
and
human
as rational
poetry
human
the
world,
and
been
immeasurably
forced him to
are
therefore
in
is that
energy
in the matter
there
right
us
Let
good.
out before,
non-human
patterns
has
and
system, as I pointed
In Aristotle's
between
times
reinstate
ence
in modern
reputation
enhanced
non
the
which
they are pulling?as the pattern of the full-grown oak must be there
acorn from within?while
in human actions the pattern
pulling the
is in some
mind,
person's
him
drawing
on
to
the
reproduce
pat
in his
but
body,
art
his
own,
is
a natural
like
precisely
say
a constitution
speech,
it?
not,
Certainly
One
of
Aristotle,
says
or
more
any
over
system
the mind
nature
at
and
art may
be
to
assumed
embedded
permanent
nevertheless,
propagation
pattern
simply
that
hends
exist
to another
house
a housebuilder
the principle
see
in
exactly
any
the
built
they
by
in
moment
to be
eternal
by
same
perceives
given
survive
way
Z ch.
Plato's,
nowhere
because
to
invents
(Metaphysics
of Aristotle's
advantages
a father
than
the
are we
play?how
of that pattern
another
a man
in which
what
man,
happens
is
compre
72
AND
ARISTOTLE
THE
IRRATIONAL
also
the
pattern
must
Tragedy,
existed
have
forever,
?
passed on from one reaUzation to another (cf. Metaphysics
1047 a 2?of the art of housebuilding).
But tragic drama presented a very special problem, for two
reasons.
First,
was
Aristotle
all
aware
too well
that
were
tragedies
that
was
imitation.
Very
then,
well,
says Aristotle,
that wiU
is best
reaUzed.
When
men
wrote
epics
in the
dim
past,
can
answer
that
an
imitation
of
beauty?in
other
words,
it
an
action
can
be
selective,
the
tendencies
of
Thomas Gould
Nature
and
plays,
reveals
our
case
and
voil?,
prove
the
a
by
we
eternal
careful
have
reinstated
Poetry is rational?imagine
trying to prove that!
of
let us
Now
themselves!
patterns
examination
the most
effective
as a rational
poetry
73
activity.
to
Well, there it is: the world as it looked to a man who denied the
reality of genuine irrationaUty. If Aristotle had not also been a
very great genius, the whole project would have been irritating,
even monstrous. But I suppose we should be
glad that somebody
tried it. Or should we? According
to Dodds' version of the
Freudian
it was
theory,
precisely
our
because
once
civiUzation
tried to argue that the irrational did not exist, that irrationality
finally took over and reigned for centuries. If Aristotle was the
first to show how we might systematically ignore all evidence of
the id, then, according to Dodds' argument, he may have been
one of the chief authors of the downfall of ancient rationaUsm.
Or was Aristotle just a child of his generation, as we say?Was he
perhaps just the cleverest of many people who were thinking
along those lines at that time? Still, the guilt would seem to be
very great on the head of the first man to show just how the
of
suppression
our
awareness
of
true
was
irrationality
consonant
at die
example
of
end
of
same
the
an
reason
of
age
phenomenon.19
and
Perhaps,
hard-won
enlightenment,
this
then,
as
an
pattern?
at many
generations,
exciting
remember
at
levels
and
discovery
that
same
the
whole
individual
time, within
civilizations.
But
let us
to cause
the
age
us
of
to
the
over-simplify
enlightenment
was
lives, nations,
not
allow
this
must
facts. We
also
the
age
of
never
suffer
so violent
a withdrawal
from
reasonableness
as
ARISTOTLE
74
did?
Aristotle
not
really
to
addition
is
else
AND
THE
IRRATIONAL
not
that,
saying
are
if
they
we
Are
irrational
at
all
our
confessing
ownership
contrast
of us: we must
required
over
your
it as no
cepted
versal
law
irrationality
but
anomaly
Is our
of nature?
to
such
the
with
you
just
expression
investigation
of
calmly
of the
us
once
more
is Plato's
way:
pose,
remain
essentially
dence
that it exists,
to Aristotle's
recognize
fatal
that
error?
the
incomprehensible;
that it is immortal,
truly
ac
uni
alternative,
must
irrational
circumstantial
accept
and that it is your
lead
I sup
The
always
evi
enemy;
20 It is true
you
irrationality,
are
drives
In
correctly?20
id, then,
something
it our rational
selves
in a sense,
understood
was
all the
a convinced
to his
duaUst
dying
day, and
meant
the fact that to be irrational
to be
in note
the lecture
cited
above
3, especially
incomprehensible
(e.g.
awareness
this vivid
is meant
to be
of what
) ; but one meets
pp. 98-99
in his followers.
truly irrational
only very infrequently
that
he
often
that Freud
emphasized