ISSN 0020-9635

INTERPRETATION
A Journal
of

Political

Philosophy

Volume 7/1

January, 1978

age

Laurence Berns

Frances Bacon
the

and

Conquest

of

Nature

27

Mieczyslaw Maneli

Three Concepts

of

Freedom:

Kant Hegel Marx

52

George Anastaplo

Notes from Charles Dickens's Christmas Carol

74

George Schwab

Legality

and

Illegality
of

as

Instruments

Revolutionaries

in Their Quest for Power:

Remarks Occasioned Outlook

of

by

the

Herbert Marcuse

90

Chaninah Maschler

The

Seven-Day Story

QUEENS COLLEGE PRESS

INTERPRETATION
A Journal
Volume 7
of

Political

Philosophy
Issue 1

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HUail Gildin

Editors Seth G. Benardete Howard B. White

-

Hilail Gildin- Robert Horwitz

Ann McArdle

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Wilhelm Hennis
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Erich Hula

Arnaldo Momigliano
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Michael Oakeshott

Leo Strauss

(1899-1973)

Kenneth W. Thompson

Managing Editor
Ann McArdle

Assistant Editor Marianne

Grey
a

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FRANCIS BACON AND THE CONQUEST OF

LAURENCE BERNS
St. John's
The

NATURE*

College,

Annapolis

whole prospect and outlook of mankind grew

immeasurably larger,
rate.

and

the multitude of
was

ideas

also proceeded at an

incredible

This

vast expansion stature

man,

unhappily not either in his

The
scale

accompanied
mental

by

any

noticeable

advance

in the

of

more.

of events

faculties or his moral character, but it buzzed the around him assumed gigantic proportions while he

remained about the same size.

By
great

comparison
men

therefore

he actually became
Our

much smaller.

We

no

longer had
array
of

directing
we
man

manageable affairs.

need was to

discipline

an

gigantic and

turbulent

facts.
so

To this task
powers

have
at

far

proved unequal.
created

Science bestowed immense

conditions which

new

on

and

the same time

were

largely

beyond his control. While he nursed in his new trappings, he became the

the illusion
sport and

of

growing mastery
was

and exulted

presently

the victim of tides and

currents of whirlpools and tornadoes amid which

he

far

more

helpless
S.

than

he had been for

long

time.
Churchill1 -Winston

The

so-called conquest

of nature

by

modern

science, the

science

Bacon, Descartes, Galileo and Newton, has transformed human life almost beyond description. The new dependency of human life upon science, or its product, technology, pervades our thinking as well as our practical lives. It might even from the recent suggestion to replace the term technology with seem, that logos too had become outdated. Our the term awareness of the depth of this fundamental dependency should help of in loose anti-scientific talk. us to avoid the hypocrisy indulging
associated with the names of
"technetronics,"

Yet

the

threat

of

nuclear and

war,

overpopulation,

environmental

in the wild, disappearance self-perpetuating nature, and so forth, have all made the problematic character of the great project for the conquest of nature increasingly
pollution,
the

imbalance

of nature

evident,

even to non-philosophic
consequences

thought.
can

But dangerous
way.

be dealt

with

in

more than one

If the

conception of nature

underlying

the conquest of nature

consequent upon the

by

science

is sound, the

remedies

so-called

conquest

of nature

are

for the ills to be found

not

in

less, but

more

*Based

on a

lecture

given at

St. John's College,

Annapolis, April 25, 1975.

2
science,
or

Interpretation

in

fuller

use of science to solve the problems

inherent in

the application

of science

to

practice.

If,

on

the other

hand,

the

the understanding of nature presupposed by directed not only to the correction or reform of modern science, but to a consideration of the fundamental alternatives to it. In either case the fundamental problem turns out to be not only the problem of dangerous consequences, but rather the project, we are

dangers brought on by fundamental defects in

modern science are natural consequences of

understanding underlying the

The This is
worked out

the

truth,

or

adequacy,

of the conception of nature

notion of

the

conquest of nature.
with

modern

project, especially

Bacon

and

Descartes,

was

in

explicit opposition to classical

philosophy

and science.

simply historical accident. The meaning of the conquest of nature cannot be adequately understood without understanding the reasons for rejecting the view of nature it was formed explicitly
not

to oppose, the classical or Platonic-Aristotelian

idea

of

nature.2

The

idea

of

the

conquest

of

nature

cannot

itself be
of

adequately

understood

apart

from

an

understanding

the

fundamental

alternatives to

it.

The

first
.
.
.

word of the

first

aphorism of

Bacon's New Organon is

naturae
of minister

"Man", the interpres,

second
"

"nature":

"Homo,

et

"Man,

the servant and

interpreter

nature,

does just
he

so much and understands

just

so much of the

order of nature as

has observed in the thing or in the mind: he neither knows nor is able to know Man is the servant of nature in so far as he can do or
more."

make

the

nothing except by obeying the hidden chain of causes. Man is interpreter of nature in so far as he does not accept what he
if it
of the

were self-evident, but rather as being results and signs hidden chain of causes. Signs must be interpreted. Man only should distrust both his natural faculties for judgement and the signs which nature on her own provides him.

receives as

It is in the third
nature

aphorism that we

find

the

decisive

phrase:

"For
is
on

is

not

conquered,

except

its

face

by being

obeyed."3

The

phrase

absurd,

or self-contradictory:

the same

thing

cannot

both be
word

conquered and obeyed.

Bacon too

solicits

interpretation. The

Bacon
nature

and

the Conquest of Nature

two senses.

here is
Bacon in

being

used

in

history

provides

us with

contradiction.
conditions

Natural
which

history
and

In his discussions of natural distinctions which resolve the is divided according to the three
the

nature

is found. There is
to

(1)

nature

in its
to the
and

ordinary course, free

terrestrial

left

itself,

as

it

presents

itself

ordinary understanding in

the normal movements of

heavenly
prodigies

bodies,
is

the normal generations of plants and animals; then

(2)

there

nature

wandering,
and

or

in error,

when

and

monstrosities are

produced;

finally (3)
state,

nature

constrained and

vexed,
art and

forced
hand

out of

her

"natural"

pressed and moulded

by

the

of man.

It is from
as

this third

kind

of

history

that Bacon

expects most.

"For just

in

civil affairs a man's

secret sense of

his

mind and affections are

disposition and the better discovered when he

the secrets of nature

is

troubled than at other

times, The

so

likewise

bring

themselves

forward

through

the vexations of art more than when

nature to

they

go their own

way."4

ordinary

course.
of

The

conquest

is

to

be conquered is nature in its be accomplished through the

chain

discovery
What is

and

obedience

to

the

secret

of causes

hidden

within and operative experimental

throughout nature,
and true

which are

to

be

revealed

by

history
to

interpretation.

human cognition in its ordinary course, by nature in its ordinary course, does not provide the clue to the discovery of nature's fundamental structures and laws. We cannot assume, as the ancients did, that there is a natural harmony between the mind of
given

man

and the

world, that

science and

and perfection of the natural

philosophy are the refinement understanding working on what is given

On the contrary,
what

to

human

cognition

by

nature.

is
to

given

by
to

nature to

ordinary
of

cognition obscures and obfuscates man's

way

the

discovery
in

the

fundamental

course
of

of

nature,

nature's

fundamental laws. The first part, then,

nature

is the "refutation
the
this

of the natural
of

way human

the

to the conquest of

understanding."

This

culminates

refutation

those philosophies that

have been
the

based
task

upon

understanding. and

These
which

are,

most

notably,

philosophies of

Plato

Aristotle,
human

take as their

fundamental
of

thinking

through the presuppositions and

implications

the

orientation of

the natural

understanding.5

The
most

refutation of the natural

human understanding is
of the

set

forward
Mind in

fully by
38

Bacon in his discussion

to

Idols

of the

aphorisms

67.

The idols

are

first

mentioned

in

aphorism

23

as

4
"certain empty
mind"

Interpretation
dogmas"

in

contrast

to

"the ideas
and

of

the

divine
on of

which

are

"the
are

true

signatures

impressions

made

discovered."

creatures,
the
as

as

they

What Bacon intends

by

"ideas

divine

mind"

is

not at

first

altogether clear.

The

next

aphorism,

if in

answer

to the question,
remarks

How is

one to

know
is

what

kind

of

principles

to seek?,

that

principles constituted

by

arguments

are not to

be

relied

upon,

since the

subtlety
new

of nature

greater

many

times over than the to

subtlety
to

of argument.

Rather,

principles that

lead

the

discovery
active,

of new are

works,

particulars, that render the

search

sciences

be

sought.

In the

signatures and

impressions

of

the

divine

mind
as

the

divine ideas themselves,

and
was

as

ideas, but
and

for those true one is to look not for forces and laws, as it
creatures.

were, impressed in

shaping
in

governing

This is
or

not

because Bacon
that
the active

more

interested in practice,
theoretical

power

useful

inventions than he

was

truth, but because he

nature
and

thought

principles

governing
what,

are

to

be discovered
conditions

primarily
things can

by determining

how,

under

what

be done, or produced. A theory is not confirmed as because it leads to the production of new works, but simply
is
at

true
new

works are signs or pledges that one

least

on the track of truth.

Bacon's
that
was

emphasis

is

on

light-bearing

over

fruit-bearing
immediate

experiments,

is

on

discovering
of no

causes rather than on

usefulness.

He

fond

work

recalling "the divine procedure, which in its first day's created light only and assigned to it one entire day, on which it
material
work."7

produced

Those
argues,
of

who

confine

themselves too

closely
the

to practical utility,

he

defeat

their own purposes

in

long run;
not

for from
just
of

the

right kind
and

light-bearing

experiments and
will

theories,
whole

occasional

isolated inventions

result,

but
and

"troops"

inventions. The right kind

go
together.8

of

theory
is

inventions,
Human

or

works,

reason as

ordinarily
of

used

in

the
a

study

of nature

called

by

Bacon "Anticipations

Nature,
are

(as

thing

rash and
with

premature)."

Anticipations
Interpretations
assent,
that
"sciences"

of of

nature

contrasted reason

what

he
and

calls

Nature, human
rhetorical
or

rightly
upon

used.

is, for
Bacon's

For gaining
the

purposes,

anticipations
them are

and

dialectic,9

logic, based

far

more

powerful than
as

art of

interpretation.

They

are more powerful

rhetoric

refine those

precisely because they base themselves on and merely universally shared delusions, or radical errors, inherent in

Bacon
the

and

the Conquest of Nature

and notions
which new

5
native

primary

experiences

of

the

human

understanding.

The

analogies

by

things are related to old

in

based on anticipations, like the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, lie in every man's common experience; the way of interpretation, on the other hand, must at first sight seem forbidding and uncongenial. It requires an initial suspension of belief about
philosophies
common experience

itself,

and

its

expositors must

supply

their own

similitudes and comparisons

in

order to gain passage to men's minds.

What

they
or

must

things,

facts,

rely on most, however, is leading men to particular themselves, or to those new experiences based on
the

experiment

which

understanding left
or

to

its

natural

inclinations in the
of

would never come to.

The first
common

class

of

idols,

false

notions,

which are rooted

nature

of the

human

mind

itself,

Bacon

calls

Idols

the

Tribe,
there.

that

is

the tribe or race of men.

The human intellect is

things than
agrees

prone

to suppose there

is

more order and

regularity in

it finds
and

It is

more moved and excited

affirms opinions permeated

already

adopted than

by by

whatever

with

what

negates them. and

It is

by

infusions from

the

will and

affections,

those

wants on

that

foster
all

superstition. or

Without
on to

warrant

especially it restlessly

presses

beyond

ends

limits,
says

the unconditioned, as
and aberration

Kant
of

would say.

"But

the

human

intellect,"

by

far

the greatest

impediment

Bacon

in

aphorism

50,

"proceeds from

In his less dullness, incompetency and deceptions of the popular natural history, Sylva Sylvarum, (paragraph 98), there is an interesting discussion of the subject of this aphorism, given as "touching the secret processes of
the
senses."
nature."

The knowledge
that whatsoever
or

of man

is

invisible,

hitherto hath been determined by the view or sight; so either in respect of the fineness of the body itself,
or of the

the smallness
yet

of

its parts,
any

subtilty
and

of

the motion,

is little inquired.
which

And
you

these

be

the things that govern nature principally; and without true

analysis

cannot

make

indication

of

the proceedings

of

nature.

The

spirits or

pneumaticals, that

are

in

all

tangible

bodies,

are scarce

known. Sometimes they take them for vacuum; whereas they are the most active of bodies. Sometimes they take them for air; from which they differ exceedingly, as much as wine from water; and as wood from earth. Sometimes they will have them to be natural heat, or a portion of the element of fire; whereas some of them are crude and cold. And sometimes they will have them to be the virtues and qualities of the tangible parts which they see; whereas they
are

things

by

themselves. And

then,

when

they

come to plants and

living

6
creatures,

Interpretation

they

call

them souls.
shew

And

such

superficial speculations when

they have;
paintings.

like prospectives,
Neither is this
spirits are a

that

things

inward,
but

they

are

but

question else

of a

words,
natural

nothing
one

but

infinitely material in nature. body, rarified to a proportion,

as

For
and

included in the tangible

parts of

bodies,

in

less
are at

differing
in
all

from

the other, than the

tangible

rest:

and

bodies from them,

. . .

whatsoever,
and

more

integument. And they be no dense or tangible parts; and they or less; and they are never almost
an

their motions,

principally

proceed

arefaction,

colliquation, concoction, maturation, putrefaction, vivification,

the effects of nature.

and most of

Aphorism 50 in the Novum Organon

For the
sense

goes on:

by itself is a thing infirm

the sense

and

erring;

neither can
all

instruments for
truer

enlarging or sharpening the sense do much; but interpretation of nature is effected by instances and
apposite wherein

the

by

experiments

kind of fit and

judges

the experiment only, and the experiment

nature and

the

thing itself.
sense

Distrusting
and

ordinary

experience,

one must

by

careful

planning

subject the things of nature to conditions of all

pressures,

forces,

mixtures,
course
of

and so

on,

which would never

thinking kinds: be found

normally forced to
nature

in the ordinary
secret operations

nature, in

order that

nature's are

"which

are too subtle

for

the

sense"

produce

"some

effect comprehensible

by

the

sense."1

Given

is

contorted and transformed under the guidance of the notions the

to confirm, disconfirm or illuminate, in order kind of experience the experiment aims at. And it is still the senses, but the senses lawfully married to the rational faculty, that are our sources for evidence about the nature of things. Bacon's refutation of the natural human reason is not meant simply to disparage the intellect. The controlled experiment is to judge
experiment

is devised

to produce the

"nature

and

the

thing

itself."

And the

controlled experiment

is the
and

product of
even

mind,

duly warned and chastened, but also

complete separation and

instructed

inspired. "A

nature must

be

made; not

divine

fire."1 1

by

fire indeed, but

"intellectual

In his

solution, therefore, of by the mind, as if by a

revolution"

preface to the second edition of the

Pure Reason Kant

science
on

speaks of this

Critique of in natural

by

men

partly discovered by and partly inspired like Galileo, Torricelli and Stahl.
that
reason

by Bacon
that
which

and carried

They learned

has insight only into

it

produces

Bacon

and

the Conquest of Nature

must not allow

'

according to a project of its own, and that it as it were, in nature's leading-strings,

way.
. .

itself to be
show of reason's

kept,
the
own

but
to
who

must

itself

constraining
.
. .

nature
an

to

give

answers

questions compels

determing.

[like]

appointed

judge

the witnesses to

answer questions which

he has himself formulated.

Bacon takes the

name of the next class of

idols,

Idols

of

the

Cave,

from what he But he speaks

bodies"

once speaks of as
of our spirits

Plato's exquisitely
confined within

subtle allegory.
caves of our
error

being
idols

"the

and restricts these

to those

innate

tendencies to

rising from
the
other

the special nature of

individuals,

and their special of the

habits,
on

education and accidental circumstances.

Plato's image

cave,

be thought of as encompassing the subject matter of all of Bacon's first three classes of idols, idols of the tribe, of the cave, and of the forum.

hand,

could

The idols

of the

forum,

or

market-place,

being

partly innate
are

and

partly
(those idols
all,

acquired

from

without,

are placed

between idols that

innate

of the tribe and the

cave)

and those which are not

innate (the

of

the theater). The idols of the

forum

are most troublesome of

for they stem from the way words and names are formed. Words, being for the most part framed according to the capacity of the vulgar, draw the intellect along the lines and divisions that seem most evident to vulgar intellects. More acute and diligent observers find words standing in the way of communication of what they have seen
in
nature.

The

prudence

of the

mathematicians

in

beginning
the

with

carefully framed definitions is good, but

cannot

cure

evil

in

dealing
form Mover;

with

natural

and material things.

arrangements of
which

What is

required there are

methodical

and

orderly
things

individual instances. Men

the

names
and

for

do

not

exist,
on

they form
of the

confused

names 2

like Fortune or Prime basis of hasty and

of the

unskillful abstractions

The last

from four classes

things.1

of

idols,

the

idols

theater,
are

are

from

the

dogmas,
innate,

or

fables,

or plays

of philosophy. upon

They

not
or

themselves

that

is, they depend

yet

the

acquisition

acceptance of some
natural

philosophy;

basis. The peculiarities of are to be traced back to different special combinations of effects derived from the workings of the innate idols of the tribe and cave. The idols of the forum affect all the philosophies.
Bacon
speaks of three

like everything else they have a the different idols of the theater

prominent

types

among

the

idols

of

the

8
theater.
the

Interpretation

The first is the sophistical, which, to ensnare the assent of greater number, bases itself upon common experience and
notions.

common

The

most

conspicuous

example aphorism
with

is

Aristotle,

who

led

by

the

idol

of the cave mentioned and

in

44

corrupted

his

natural

philosophy
or what
"Old"

his

metaphysics

his favorite study,

dialectic,
logic

Bacon

also calls

the vulgar, or common,

logic, the
of

of the

Organon. Aristotle fashioned

the world out

categories,
with words

he

tried to account

for

sensible

differences
when

and substances

like entelechy
in his
more

and act which are words

describing certain

he did resort to biological works Aristotle framed his questions in such a way that his resort to experience was bound to confirm the positions he had decided upon
kinds
of

thoughts rather than things.

specialized

Even

experiment

physical

and

in advance,
the tribe.

a procedure warned against

in

aphorism

49

of the

idols

of

The

second class of

idols

of

the theater

is

the empirical school of

philosophy,
experience

those who on a narrow

basis

of certain experiments and

fly
else

or

leap

up

to universal principles and the

principles

try

to explain

everything
tions are
which

on

the
great

experiments.

With

basis of foresight
begin

observed

in

their

Bacon

warns that

if his

admoni

heeded
means

he

experiments,

leave sophistical philosophy, by devote themselves seriously to Aristotelianism, kind of idol could become a much greater this
and men

to

to

hindrance
The
the

to sound

inquiry.
idols
of the

third class of
of

theater,

superstitious
of

philosophy,
and

corruption

philosophy

by
more
of

admixture

theology

superstition, is far more widespread, in his times, at any rate, Bacon claims. While contentious Aristotelian, sophistic philosophy ensnares
the

intellect,

this more

poetical,

fanciful philosophy
the

misleads

it

by

flattery. The
to

natural

ambition aphorism

intellect
the

to

fly

beyond
of

all

limits,
against

warned against

in

48,

and

susceptibility

the

intellect

influences from

the affections and

imagination,

warned

in

aphorism

49,

are catered to and

flattered

by

this

kind

of

philosophy.

All idols

are not of equal

rank, and, Bacon explains, this

kind

of

idol is keyed The

3

to the natural

lofty
causes

spirits.

most

important
of

example
error"

dispositions of more noble and here is "Plato and his

school";1

but

Aristotelianism
and

shows itself in scholastic in the introduction of abstract forms, final well, first causes. This unwholesome mixture of religion and

this

"apotheosis

as

Bacon

and

the Conquest of Nature

philosophy
religion.

for fantastic

be stopped, Bacon said, not only because it makes philosophy, but also because it leads to heretical Effecting this separation seems to be one of the most
must successful parts of
of ancient

incontrovertibly
The
the
great

Bacon's

project.

failure
whom

philosophy,

however, a failing even

Plato
and

of

Atomists
natural

Bacon

praises as superior to

Aristotle
quiescent

in

philosophy,

is
of

that

they investigated
they
things
are

the

principles of things out

which

are produced rather than the

moving
received
popular

principles

through
or

which

produced.

The

six

Aristotelian,
and make nineteen

vulgar,

distinctions
into
in his

of motion

are

merely

no penetration

nature.

Bacon

gives

fifteen

and,
of

later,

different
4 natural

motions

own published accounts

the simple

motions.1

The
the

ultimate

or

causes of these

failures

are

dealt

with

in

last of the particular idols of the tribe in aphorism 51: "The human intellect is carried to abstractions according to its own nature; and things which are in flux it feigns to be The fault of abstractions is that feign things in flux to be constant. In they aphorism 52 Bacon provides a further clue to his meaning where he
constant."

idol arising from "the mode of the What he seems to have in mind is that the moving thing makes an impression or impressions which remain constant in what is
speaks of this

impression."

impressed,

that

is,

whereas suggesting that what it is really in motion. The aphorism continues: "But it is better to dissect nature than to abstract; as the school of Democritus did, which penetrated

in the sense, memory and intellect, caused it in the thing itself is also fixed,

thereby

into

nature more than the rest.

Matter

ought rather

both in its schematisms and meta-schematisms, and pure act, and law of action or motion: for forms are figments of the human spirit, unless you are willing to call those laws of action,
to
considered
forms."

be

uses the word form to describe the ultimate objects of because that word had become so venerable for so many of those he wanted to lead down the path of his new science; what he 5 means are laws of The intellect in dealing with things in flux moves towards the constant, but "in nature nothing truly exists besides individual bodies producing pure individual acts according to law."16 The given compounded bodies of nature are to be dissected down to the latent schematisms of more fundamental bodies

Bacon

science

motion.1

constituting them,

the

schematisms,

or

meta-schematisms

of the

10
more

Interpretation

be studied from their especially with a view to the laws of action inseparable existence. The natural appetite of the intellect for constancy is to be
fundamental
simple natures

constituting

them are to

satisfied

by

fixed
with

modes, orders,
natural
of

or

laws

of change.

Beginning
the

history
nature,

and the

naturally
oaks,

given

forms

of

ordinary

course

like lions,
with

men

and

water,

physics studies their material and efficient

schematisms

causes, that

is,

their

latent

and

latent processes,
motions out

a. view to

discover
are says

the

truly

simple

natures

and

of which

they

compounded.

What

simple natures are

is

not yet

determinable,
and

Bacon, but he
like heat
The

speaks of them as and spontaneous

being
that

more abstract and general natures attraction

magnetism.17

rotation,

suggestion and simple

may be

in the

simple natures material configuration

motion coalesce

as

two

inherendy

what we might call

unitary

ordered material

connected factors of dynamisms. 1 8 However

that

may

be,

the simple natures constitute the

"alphabet

nature."

of
with

Metaphysics, in
the
alphabet
natures are and

the

literal
studies

sense of

"meta,"

after-physics, begins
that

and

its

"grammar,"

is how

the the

simple

collected,
the

compounded and combined to

form

bodies
of the

to

produce

operations

of

the

ordinary

course

of nature.

Metaphysics
simple
nature

studies

natures,

the

formal causes, that is the laws of action laws which order and constitute any
The
Bacon
calls
"magic"

simple

in any

subject matter susceptible of that nature.

operative

part of metaphysics
on

suggesting by

the term that

be able to generate before seen in nature and of such a character as to rival in power, fineness and durability the things produced by nature in its
the
of the new natural science men will

basis

things never

regular course.

The

term also suggests that such things

of nature could
seem

being alien to

be of supernatural ordinary origin. Bacon's use of the term metaphysics, like his use of the term form, cannot be understood apart from considerations of his philosophic rhetoric, for it seems to have been designed first to appeal to those who might still be attracted by the traditional name, but only in order to lead them toward a very different notion of the
the
course

to

thing.

"All
and

physics,"

history
of

metaphysics."

Bacon wrote, "lies in a mean between natural Metaphysics is "itself a part of physics or
nature."19

the

doctrine concerning
of

That

is,

physics, in the
and

broad
in

sense

the

word,

begins

with

natural

history

ends

Bacon metaphysics,
with

and

the Conquest of Nature

of action of

11

the

laws

the simple natures. Bacon

knew

be little left of traditional metaphysics, if his were followed. A private letter of 1622, to a Father Baranzano way in Italy, reveals his intention in part: "Be not troubled about Meta
that there
would

physics.

When

the true

Physics have been discovered

there will

be

no

Metaphysics. Beyond
intellect,"

true

Physics is

Divinity

only."

"The human

with

he wrote in the Novum Organum, "must wings, but rather with lead and
weights."2

not

be

supplied

symbols.21

his laws of motion, forerunners of the formulas of Newtonian physics? It is difficult to be certain. He did say that physics should end in mathematics. He did not seem to appreciate what might be accomplished by framing one's initial hypotheses in terms that are representable by mathematical One might say that he foresaw what the goals of
Are Bacon's
mathematical

"forms,"

mathematical

physics

were

to

be,
the

without

mathematical means to those

goals.2

being

clear

about

the

"Inquiries into
physics and end

nature

have

best
The

result when

they begin

with

in

mathematics."

nearer one approaches simple

he said, the easier and plainer everything becomes, as one from the incommensurable to the commensurable, from surds to rational quantities. Again, "everything relating both to bodies and virtues in nature [should] be set forth (as far as possible) numbered, weighed, measured and determined. For we pursue works not
natures,
moves

speculations,
practice."

and

physics

and

mathematics
we
of

well

mixed

generate

And

most

interestingly,
the

must

[forces]
quantity
the

according
of

to

quantity

the

"measure virtues, bodies in which they

subsist and show

how far
.

the mode of the virtue

must proceed to

depends
3

upon the

the

body.

.we

inquire

what proportion

quantity

of a

body bears to
technique
suggest

the mode of its

virtue."2

However,
mathematical

the

of

representing

physical

entities

by
the

symbols,
to

so as to allow what one

undiscovered

already knows from

mathematics
represented

relationships

between
to

physical

entities,

was

evidently

not

known

him.
not
well
ad

Mathematics, he
generate or give

said, "should terminate

birth."24

natural

philosophy,
mathematical

it

He does
of

not seem to

have been very

Yet
the

informed
vances

about

the

being

made

history during his

mathematics
times.2

or 5

own

Baconian

experiment seems to

lend itself to

combination with the approach of

12

Interpretation

symbolic mathematical physics.

Both

methods approach nature with

a view to

devised
menter

discovering the extent to which nature in advance by human reason. Both the
and

is

subject to

laws

Baconian

experi

the

mathematical

physicist,

in

the

Kantian
of

phrase,

"prescribe
seen

to nature

its

laws."

Baconian influence can,

and also

course,

in

other approaches to

physics,

in

other

sciences,
turn

be like
our

chemistry
attention

and

biology. However

this

may
to

be,
be

we

now

to an area where the extent of

Bacon's influence is less

established

questionable:

the new relation

which was

between

science and society.

II
Instauration,"

The "Great
their affairs.

great

renewal,

of

the sciences called

were to

for
on

a radical change

in

the

way

science and

philosophy

carry

the way has been from association of which the labors and industries of labors, and from succession of ages. men (especially as regards the collecting of experience) may with the best effect be first distributed and then combined.

And

then

let

them consider what

may be
. .in

expected

(after

thus

indicated)

from

men

abounding in

leisure,

and

Bacon's way was "not a way time (as is the case with

over which

reasoning)."

only one man can pass at a His way required a vast new

institutionalized science, coordinating

complex,
the

the efforts of

many

men

in

hierarchical
"historical"

organization, that was meant to outlast

parts of

any
was

of

individuals

who were

it;

that

is,

as

we

say, it

to

become
require

and

progressive.

This

vast

enterprise

would

from society at large than science and before. There would come a time, Bacon hoped and expected, when society's dependence on science would be extensive and obvious; but before that time came about, far
greater support
ever

philosophy had

received

and

if

that time were to

come

about, the

powers

that

be, "who
have
to

are

but in very few

won

cases even

learned,"2 7

over

to the new

moderately cause. He devoted

would

be

a considerable amount of

thought and

writing

To

the extent that

understanding of,

this, his rhetorical task. his project has succeeded, the need for, and the his rhetoric has diminished. Yet without some
to

understanding

of

that

philosophic

rhetoric,

what

Bacon

accom-

Bacon
pushed,

and

the Conquest
and

of Nature

13

both theoretically
that

regretted
edifice
of

it

was

science, to

cannot be appreciated. He for him, the architect of the new necessary become herald, recruiter, and even ordinary

practically,

workman as well.

We have already
recruit
new men

seen
of

some

of

the consequences
an atmosphere

science

in

his need dominated

of

to

by

Aristotelian, Platonic
"form"

and

Scholastic
In
one

learning
of

in his

use of the terms

"metaphysics."

and
which

his

interesting
less
colored

unpublished

writings,

are

often

more

open and

by

classical

terminology, he
and transmitted:

speaks about

how his

plans must

be

communicated

inveterate
wit,

errors

like deliriums

of the

insane

must

be

subdued

by

art and

by
use

and are aggravated

by

violence and

opposition.

We must, therefore,

prudence and

contradictions

humor them (as far as we can with simplicity and may be extinguished before they are inflamed.

candor), that

Jonathan Swift in

his Full

and

Last

Friday,

Between the Antient

True Account of the Battel Fought and the Modem Books in Saint Bacon in this
a regard:

James's

Library

pays a certain tribute to

"Then

Aristotle, observing
Bow to the Modern

Bacon
and

advance

with

furious Mien, drew his

.

head,

let

fly

and went

hizzing

over

his Arrow, which mist the valiant his Head; but Des Cartes it hit.
science,"

Evidently
In

Bacon ducked.
to those whom
lamp"

he called "true sons of to whom "the is to be handed on, a new army of assistants, managers and administrators had to be recruited. Appeals had to be made to men who never before would have been connected with science, to induce them to forsake their green fields, humble workshops and profitable businesses to become partners in the hitherto too fastidious, or too exalted, quest for truth. Bacon
addition

encouraged them with the partial truth that

"our way

of

discovering
individual

sciences almost

levels

men's wits

excellence,"

just

as a man with a

leaves but little compass can draw a

and

to

more perfect

circle than anyone and eye

alone.

else,

no matter
will

how excellent,
vast

who uses

his hand

There

be
will

array
of

of

new

technical. and

mechanical

activities

that
was
of

leave little
aware

to

special

intellectual
those who
statements

excellence;

but Bacon
and

more

the

difference between
than
after
are

ordinary
criticize

men

men

talent and genius

pages

him for

ignoring

it. Some four

his

14
about

Interpretation

levelling
except

in the Novum

Organum, he
works

remarks that what

apprehension

he is
the

attempting "cannot be brought down

vulgar

to the

of

by
in

only."30

effects

and

This

should

be
and

considered also

connection

with

the question about the relative

on the one

importance truth, The

on

of

fruit,

works,

or

power,

hand, and light

the other,

for

the Baconian philosophy.

science
of

new

institutionalized

the

future,

Bacon saw,

required a new relation

out

between
He

science and political career

life. Through
after

his

long
in the

and

eminent

political was

he

tried to gain official

successful
Society"

support

for his

projects.

much

more

his

death,

as

Abraham Cowley's
middle

ode

"To

the Royal

of

science,

written

1600s, indicates.
of

From these In

and all

long Errors

the

Way

which our
th'

And like

wandering Predecessors went, old Hebrews many Years did stray,

of small Extent, Bacon, like Moses, led us forth at last,

In Desarts but

The barren Wilderness he past, on the very Border stand, Of the bless'd promis'd Land Did
And from the Mountains

Top

of

his

exalted
it.3

Saw it

himself,

and shew'd us

Wit,

success (and its having been taken for granted) has made it difficult for us to see the problem as he saw it. The relation between political society and science and philosophy is always a more

Bacon's

delicate one: for, he wrote, there is no form does not have "some point of contrariety
edge."

of

polity

or

society

that

towards

human knowl

And conversely,

the arts and sciences are always somewhat

suspect

from

the point of view of civil society:

For surely there is

the

a great

danger from
even a

new

motion and new

truly,
not

change

distinction between civil affairs and the arts: for light is not the same. In civil affairs, for the better is suspected as likely to on
authority, consensus,
and and

disturbances; for

civil affairs rest on

fame

bring

demonstration. But in the arts should be a clamor of new operations

sciences,

like

metal

opinion, mines, there

and

further

progress.

Although working

Bacon

wrote

extensively

on
of

political

subjects

and
can

one's

way

through the

labyrinth

his

political

thought

Bacon

and

the Conquest of Nature

3
we must confine ourselves

15

be
of

fascinating
entitled

enterprise,3

specifically
utopia,
not

scientific politics.

most

important

part of

here to his his treatment

or scientific are

that subject

is found in
the

one

small

book,

the

fable,

New Atlantis. But

there too

Bacon's ideas

art of

view, but become accessible only to a certain simply interpretation. For as he says in the Advancement of Learning
exposed to

beginning
secret and
secret:

his

treatment

of government:

"it is in

a part of

retired, in both

those respects

which things are

knowledge deemed

for some things are secret because they are hard to know, and And in the expanded Latin some because they are not fit to version of this book he begins his discussion of civil or political
utter."

science

by

telling an

old story:

that
of a

many

philosophers

being met together in the

endeavoring
to
make

presence of the ambassador

foreign prince,
might

each

to

give a sample of

his

wisdom, that the

of

ambassador

be

able

a report of the
. .

wonderful wisdom

the ambassador turning to him, said, Greece; one of them remained silent. To whom he answered, "Tell your "What have you to say for me to king that you have found a man in Greece who knew how to hold his
report?"

tongue."

Bacon
on of

goes on to speak of an

"art,"

even an

"eloquence in

silence"

these matters.

There is

also a simpler reason

for

the

indirectness
effect

the political

discussion in

the

New Atlantis. If it is
New
own

the case that

the scientists

control politics

in

the

Atlantis,

Bacon is in

asking
to

the great political men

and support of

of

his

times to contribute to the

founding

institutions

which were

deprive them, or men like them, had surely read, but did not

of

any

real political power.

intended eventually Bacon

tendered
you

need,

the
a

advice and

by
his kill

Machiavelli,
weapons,
you."

that

if

you

intend

to

kill

man

want

you should not

say, "Give

me your

weapons, I

want to

It is

sufficient to

say, "Give

weapons."34

me your

Bacon's New Atlantis is

written

in

explicit correction

of

Plato's

Critias; both
the

works

are

formally

incomplete.35

The

old

Atlantis in

Critias,
was

luxurious,
its
to

technological,

or

society

destroyed do

by

earthquakes; the

mathematically organized, New Atlantis goes back as

to cycles of natural

far,
as

but

thanks to

science

does
what

not

fall prey
account.

catastrophe as

all societies

in Plato's

The Critias

ends

just

Zeus is is

about

speak;

formally
Father

corresponds

to

Zeus's

speech

the

completed speech of

the

from Salomon's House,

16
the
great new
. .

Interpretation

scientific

institute

of

the

future,
The

"the

noblest as a of

foundation.
elsewhere,

that ever was upon the earth; and the

kingdom."

lanthorn [or
speech

description
the
the

"the very eye"] of this of Salomon's House, or as

of
of the

is
6

Six Days Works. The society

they Bensalem, for

prosperity,
and

also call

it,

the

College

so

it is

called3

in

language

natives,

enjoys
good

all

kinds

of

health-

producing fruits

and

foods,

health

medicines

surpassing

most chaste anything in Europe; and most natural, Salomon's House, it seems, is the source of customs.

and most pious all their greatest

blessings. Science is devoted

nature

to the

twin aims of
of

finding out the

revelation,

true

of

things,

to

the

greater

both

prospering of man's estate. Old and New Testaments

God, and the relief and glory The island is Christian, having received
through a special
which

was confirmed by a witnessing Father from Salomon's House true miracle. But Jews, Persians, Arabs, Chaldeans and Indians

as a
also and

live

there and are

left
the

to their own religions, and

Bensalem.3

they

too

love

respect the ways of the nation of

7
who arranges the

It is

Jew
of

with

interesting

name of

Joabin

meeting
of

Bacon's

narrator with the

Father from Salomon's House.

Salomon's House itself was founded

by

Solamona,

the great the

law-giver

Bensalem,

who reigned about

300 B.C. Although

founding of
king,
and

Salomon's House depends

Bensalem is
come
given

upon the political act of a great

called a

kingdom still,
in

into its

own the power of the

by king is scarcely visible. Orders are

the time

Salomon's House has

in
the name of
makes

to the visitors not

the name of the

king, but

the

"state."

When
the

the

Father from Salomon's House

the

his

procession

into

city,

first

such

visit

chariot,

in

the

aspect

described in detail, reminds one of Old Testament. He, as Jesus is often characterized, "had an as if he pitied Fifty attendants of his own precede his
men."

in twelve years, his the Ark of the Covenant

chariot,
other a

and

two

others
staff

directly
a
chariot.

preceding

bear,
All

one

cross, the
and
other as of

pastoral

like

sheephook.

political

officials walk

blessing

the

people,

behind his but in

the
all

silence."

"He'held up his hand as he went, In some of the factories

in
a private and

Salomon's

House,

Father

reports

narrator, they have

kinds
sort

of ordnance
and

meeting with the instruments of war,

are

flying
"a

machines of

of

submarines.

There
and

thirty-six

Fellows

the

College,

under them are

novices and apprentices and

women."

great number of servants and

attendants, men

The

Bacon

and

the Conquest of Nature

'

Fellows decide

which of

their

inventions "take

and experiences should

be
the

published and which not.

They

all an oath of

secrecy,
not."

for

concealing
of

of

those

which we think

fit

to

keep

secret:

though some

those we

do

reveal sometimes to the

state,

and some

What
and

all

this

indicates is

that the ultimate rule

both

of the state

religion, ("which
of

has
of

minds"3

most power over men's

), is in
a

the

hands

the

Fellows
a

Salomon's

House,
of

the philosopher-scientists.
power as

Bacon
quence

envisaged

vast

expansion

human
good,
was

conse

of science's

conquest

of nature.

He evidently thought that

were not to

these

powers,

powers

for

evil as well as

for

be

put

into the hands

of mere who

statesmen;

control

to

be kept in

the

hands
most

of those

would

be

expected

to

comprehend

them, the

powerful and

highly
the

trained philosophic and scientific minds.

marriage

While the

arrangement

of a

between
interest

science

and

society

clearly forecasts
the

a new era of mutual

and concern as

parties,

rule

by

wise

was

regarded

the

between condition for become

success.

The
of

leaders

of science of

apparently

were also meant to

masters

statecraft,

newly discovered powers In aphorisms 127 and 80

Bacon
natural ethics

human philosophy, to guarantee that the would fall into hands fit to use them well.
of

Book One

of

the Novum

Organum
not

makes

clear

that

he is speaking
narrow

about

perfecting
nourished

only

philosophy in the
and

sense,
all

but
to

the sciences of

politics as well; perfection

they

were

be

logic, by, and

new

brought

to

along with,
was meant to

natural

philosophy.

The

science, in its

inception,
to

be

a universal

science.39

human philosophy would failure of Baconian philosophy. Can any philosophy or science which does not take the orientation of pre-scientific and pre-philosophic cognition seriously ever be adequate for human understanding
The failure
to

develop

the

expected

seem

be

the most conspicuous

things?4

However this

may

be,

Baconian

science

wins

the

support
and

of

society
as

and the people at understand

large

by

catering
that
and

to their

fears

desires,
with with

they

those

desires,
man
and

is,

by

providing
and not

them with

protection against

injury from
comforts

especially from
and on

nature,

prosperity,
stronger

with

new

pleasures

especially
always

and

healthier bodies. The

science
and

latent,

antagonism

between
of

philosophy,

the one

latent, hand, and

society, on the

other, is

not to

be bridged

by

mere
of

words,

by

the

flimsy

art

the

Gorgias,

by

the

consolations

philosophy,

by

18
exhortations

In terpretation
to

virtue,

but

rather

by
and

the

tangible

comforts

of

Baconian

charity.

Consolation for
good as

bowing

to

the

ravages

of

fortune are not says, fortune is

the
unstable

as

conquering

fortune; for
which

in truth, Bacon
exist, just
as
variable and

a name

for something
exist.

does

not

theoretical presupposition of

the notion

of

fortune,

matter,

does
their
of

not

excuses,
on

blaming
nature

failure

to

The Ancients produced theoretical radically improve the estate of man

on or

the

especially
matter.4

their

things, rather than ignorance of the forms,

of

their

own

ignorance,
all

fixed laws governing

nature,
or nature

The depreciation

nature,

at

least

of given

in its
or

ordinary course, implicit in

the,
common
culminates

the

idea

of the conquest of nature

is a,

theme of modern philosophy. In

a thorough

Kant

and

Hegel it Hegel

in

disqualification

of nature

for

the provision
and

of ethical and political standards.

Or,

in

other

words, Kant

found
Bacon

the nature uncovered

said

by

modern

science, the
of

nature which
man and

is

to

be obeyed,

altogether

incapable
a

supplying

with ethical and political standards.

As

consequence,

for Kant
spirit
the

Hegel

moral

and

political principles

must

be

traced to some other

non-natural

sources:

freedom,

pure

practical

reason,

and

also in Bacon, as can be seen by considering the difficulty. Men, lake lions and oaks, are not fundamental, following but rather compounded forms of nature in its ordinary course. But of one these ordinary, compounded forms is to become the conqueror and master of all the forms of nature in its ordinary course. There must be something special, or fundamental about this one of all the non-fundamental forms, man. Bacon's division of all philosophy (apart from natural theology) into natural and human is a

history. Something development occurs

which

anticipates,

or corresponds

to,

later

kind
new

of tacit special

acknowledgement,
status
still of man

insufficient

though

it may
unlike

be,

of

the
and

in his philosophy.
morality.42

Yet,

Kant

Hegel, Bacon
to

looked

to nature and

its fundamental laws in

order

discern

the principles of

Sometimes he

claimed to share

the ethical goals of the ancient

neglected about

philosophers, adding
attain

only

the

teaching they
position

how

to

those

goals;
the

but

that

is

not
and

long

maintained.

The
are

discourses of beautiful and

ancients

on

morals

politics, he

said,

lofty, like

"the stars,

which

give

litde light because

Bacon

and

the Conquest of Nature

19 (The

they

are

so

high."4

Bacon,
goals

following
in
order
which

Machiavelli

Prince,

chapter

15), lowered his

one

to guarantee actualization.

This is

way

to understand the so-called conquest of

fortune. A

Baconian
practice
read

might

cannot

reply be regarded

that goals

can almost never

as serious practical goals.

be put into In his widely

of the
which

Good"

Advancement of Learning Bacon divides the "Platform into two basic divisions, Individual or Self Good, itself
with

concerns

virtue,

and the

Good

of

Communion,

or

Social

Good,

which concerns

itself with duty. Individual Good is

Active

subdivided subdivided

into Passive Good

and

Good,

and

Passive Good is

finally
the

into

Conservative

Good

and

Perfective Good. The

first

division is
other

explained as an appetite

twofold nature of good, the one

as

imprinted in everything toward a as everything is a totality in itself,

it is

part of another

body: Iron

moves toward
exceeds
a

the

lodestone
quantity,

in

individual
a good

sympathy,

but if it

certain of

like

patriot, it

moves to the

earth, the country

its

connaturals.

The

conservation of the more general

form,
is

the good of

communion,
the

controls all the

lesser inclinations,

as

emphasized

by
or

Christian
the

Faith,
good

which

more than

exalted

of

communion

any and depressed

.
. .

other sect or

philosophy
private

the

particular good.

"All

other excellences
excess."

are subject to

excess;

only

charity

admitteth
whether

no

This

also or

decides
active

the

question

concerning
preferred,

the

contemplative

the

life is
as

to

be

against

Aristotle.

For

all are

the reasons
private.

he brings forth in
the private

favor
"But

of

the
and

contemplative

life

As far

pleasure

dignity
and

of a man's self

men must

know

that

in
to

this

is concerned, Aristotle is right. theater of man's life it is reserved

on
.

only for God

which

angels

be lookers

for

contemplation

should

society,
and same

be finished in itself, assuredly divinity knoweth it

without
not."

casting beams
much

upon

In his

less

reserved

unpublished,

but privately

circulated, Valerius
with

Terminus,

these

divisions

of good are

discussed
as

no admixture of

Christian

theology
operating
with an

or classical

terminology,
material

appetites,

desires,

and motions

throughout

nature.

Bacon begins this discussion

the

remark, that "if the

of

moral philosophers that

have

spent such

infinite quantity
cast

debate touching Good,

nature,"

and the

highest good,
of

had

their eye

abroad

upon as

to see the
of

"quaternion
might

good"

which

he

presents

laws

motion, then

they

have

20 "saved

Interpretation

and abridged much of their

long and wandering discourses of

(See Figure
the
of

pleasure, virtue,
version section of

duty

religion."

and

1.)

In the

expanded
.

the

Advancement of

Learning,
with

De Augmentis.
simple

.,

the

on

physics,
same

in

the

discussion
still show

or

elementary
and

motions,
obvious

these

motions

different
the
physics.

names central

no

connection

to

morality

up in

places.

Morality, it

seems, is to

be

reduced

to

It is in Bacon's
of modern

thought rather than

Hobbes'

that those two great powers

thought, Machiavellian
are

political

morality

and modern natural

science,

first brought are found by nature, but throughout nature as a whole. But let us try to understand how this works
together.

modified,

The Machiavellian principles, however Bacon to be operative not only in human

out of

in human terms
would

by

trying

to see what the

best,
of or

or

highest,

way

life

be for

Bacon. The Active Good

extending
the

and

multiplying oneself, in
precedence

over the

conformity with the Social Perfective Good and

Communal Good takes

Preservative
and

Internal perfection, contrary to Plato

Good, that is, pleasure. Aristotie, is secondary to

for society. Foreign policy, over domestic policy. In his most popular book, the Essays, (No. 55) Bacon assigns the highest place of honor to founders of empires, states and commonwealths, like
acting relating as it were, takes precedence
upon and

to others

in

and

Romulus, Cyrus, Caesar, Ottoman Organum, however, in distinguishing

highest
goes

and

Ismael.

In

the

Novum

three grades of ambition, the

political ambition

is

assigned

the second place.

to

The first

place

to

him

who

would
of

"endeavor

instaurate itself
over

and

extend

the

power
things"

and

empire

the

human

race

the universe of
speak the
.

through the sciences and the arts.

truth,"

"And yet, to

whole

Bacon

says

later in the
very

same aphorism

".

the

very

beholding
its many
without more

of

the

light is itself
surely
or

a more excellent and

contemplation

uses: so

the

fairer thing than of things as they are

superstition

imposture,
fruits
of

error

or

worthy

than all the

inventions."

confusion, is in itself And at the end of the

First Book
We
see

of the

Advancement of Learning:
the
monuments

then

how far

of wit and
.
.

learning

are more

durable

the images of men's wits hands. and knowledges remain in books, exempted from the wrong of time and capable of perpetual renovation. Neither are they fitly to be called images,
than the monuments of power, or of the

Figure 1 Platform
or

Exemplar

of

the

Good*

Social,
of

or

Good
-

Communion

Duty
Individual
or

Self Good

Virtue

Active Good

Quaternion

of

Good t

Motion

of

enjoying

of approach or assumption

of

affecting

of

consenting

or
*

fruition

or operation

or proportion

From Advancement of Learning, 1605, From Valarius Terminus,

and

De Augmentis

Scientiorum,

1623.

estimated

1603.

22
because they
generate still

Interpretation

and

cast

their

seeds

in

the

minds

of
.

others,

provoking
ters
...

and

causing infinite

actions and opinions

in succeeding

ages.

as ships pass through

the vast seas of

time,
and

and make ages so

let distant
.
.

to participate of the wisdom,

other.
. . .

illuminations,

inventions,

the one of the

Apparently
perfection

Bacon
of

did man, but

most of

conceive

of contemplation of

as

the

highest
contem

kind

politic
or

contemplation, action, the

the

plation

of the

far-seeing
"all

practice,

discloses knowledge
tive
of

operations,"

possible

theory which theory produc

envisaged

the

most

long-range

practice.

He

evidently

highest level. Ambition in the highest sense, the ambition of the founder of the empire of man over nature, who is that founder because he is the first discoverer of the cosmological truth, becomes at the same time the performance of the highest of duties. The ambition of the founder of the greatest of all empires is the highest form of the active
complete coincidence

of private and scial good on the

or

extensive

good; it is

realized

by

means of the

highest

perfective

good,

contemplation.

Since it is

aimed at

securing

the maximum of

relief, comfort,
the

and power

for
as

highest
of

of all

duties,

mankind as a whole, it also constitutes Bacon defined duty, the action of an society.

individual

with

regard to

the

entry himself in

his

natural

history
men

well-being of it is difficult not

In the very last to think that Bacon had

mind:

The delight
subjection

which

have in popularity, fame, honour,

minds, wills,
ends),
or affections
seemeth

submission

and

of other men's

(although these things

without

may be desired for

contemplation of

other

to

be

thing in itself,
as

consequence,

grateful and agreeable

to the nature of man.

This thing
affected

(surely)
forth
that

is

not without some

signification,
else

if all

spirits and souls

of men came

out of one
which

divine limbus;
think
or

with

others

why should men be so much say? The best temper of minds

desireth

good

name and

true

honour:

the

lighter, popularity

and applause: and

the more

depraved,

subjection and

troublers of the world; and yet

tyranny; as is seen in great conquerors more in arch-heretics; for the

doctrines is likewise beliefs of men.

new

introducing of
and

an affection of

tyranny

over

the understandings

As this

quote

indicates,

the

lowest

of

Bacon's

classes of

good, the

conservative

good,

or good of

enjoyment,

men

founder of the empire of man over have in fame, honor and the subjection

be fulfilled for the nature, through the pure delight

will also of other

men's minds.

Bacon

and

the Conquest of Nature

an aspect

23
as

The Father from Salomon's House "had

men."

if he

pitied

As Bacon

says elsewhere:

There is implanted in
compassion,
ordinance
certain

man

by

nature even

itself
to

noble

and

excellent

spirit

of

that

extends

itself

the

brutes

which

are

subject
with

to

his

command.

analogy

that of a prince towards

a soul

This compassion, his subjects. Moreover it is

divine therefore, has a

by

the

most

true,

that the more

worthy

is,

the more objects of compassion

it has.

The true temper

of

Baconian charity,
these

of

the

Baconian scientist,
with

evidently

must

combine snythesis
5

the spirit of compassion

of

the spirit of

domination. A
Promethean

qualities

along

with

Herculean,
the

courage4

would seem to constitute

something like

grand passion of

generosity discussed

by

Descartes in his Passions of

vast expansion
of

the

Soul.
and

Both Bacon
powers to

Descartes believed that the

be

wrought

by

the new science would

have
those

to

be

matched

by

correspondingly
who were

great resources of courage release

and administer

in the

souls of those

men

to

powers.

But

moderation, the ancients tell us,

is

the core of almost all the virtues.

rashness.

And

courage without moderation

is

The beneficence
to

of the

project

for

the conquest of nature seems

increasingly
rashness.

be matched,
and

or perhaps even more than reconsideration alternatives to

of

matched,

by

its

An

open-minded

the

principles

underlying
called
for.4 6

the

project

the

it

would seem to

be

'Speech
The

at

the

Massachusetts Institute

of

Gathering Storm, (Boston,

Life"

Houghton Mifflin

Technology, April 1, 1949. Cf. Co., 1948), pp. 38-42; "Mass

in Thoughts
and

Effects in Modern

and

"Fifty

Years

Hence"

Adventures,
Plato
and

1932.
2

The

common,

Socratic,

element

in

the

philosophies

of

Aristotle is discussed in my "Socratic and Non-Socratic Philosophy: a Note on 14," The Review of Metaphysics, Septem Xenophon's Memorabilia 1.1.13 and

ber, 1974,
3

pp.

85-88.
the
most

Unfortunately, in
other

widely

read

English translation,

Spedding's,
as

among

inaccuracies,

vincitur,

"conquered,"

is

usually

translated

probably misled by the imperatur of aph. 129. See of Liberal Arts Ed., The New Organon, ed. F. H. Anderson, p. 19, lines Library 18 and 19; p. 29, line 8; and p. 39, aph. 3. 4 New Organon, (hereafter designated asiV.O.), I, aph. 98.

"commanded."

Spedding was

sThe

refutation, or

rejection of

the natural

human understanding has been

24
tried

Interpretation
in different
Meditation
ways.

Cf.

Descartes'

"genium

malignum"

aliquem

in Meditation
annihilated''

and

VI, 76
7;

and

77:

Hobbes'

"feigning

the

world

to

be

in De

and Leviathan, chap. 13, where it is shown why the is intolerable: John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book I; and Essay Concerning Civil Government, chap, v, where

Corpore,
of

chap.

"condition

nature"

the part which nature

shifts

(compared

with

labor)

contributes

to the

value of

things

from l/10th

to

l/100th to l/1000th to "the

almost worthless materials":

Spinoza, Ethics, Part I, Appendix: and G. W. F. Hegel, Phdnomenologie des Geistes, Hoffmeister ed., 1952, Einleitung, pp. 66-68; Baillie trans., pp. 135-37. Cf. Jacob Klein, Greek Mathematical Thought and the Origin of Algebra (M.I.T. Press, 1968) pp. 72-74 and 117-21; Leo Strauss, What is Political Philosophy? (Free Press, 1959), "Political Philosophy and and "On Classical Political Philosophy"; and Laurence Berns, "Rational Animal Political Animal:
History"

Nature

and

Convention in Human Speech

and

Politics,"

Essays in Honor of

Jacob Klein (St. John's College

Press, Annapolis, 1976).

.

knowledge

Book vi, chap. 2, represent 6Aphorisms, Bacon wrote in De Augmentis. as and incomplete, fragmentary thereby inviting the reader to
.,

contribute and

nThe

supply what is missing. Great Instauration, Preface; and

N.O.,
in
in

Book

I,

aph.

70. Francis
Bacon"

Cf. Paolo

Rossi,

"Truth

and

Utility
Arts
and

the

Science

of

in

Philosophy, Technology and the Torchbooks, 1970), pp. 146-73;

Theory,"

the

Early

Modem

Era

(Harper

in The Phenomenon
usual term

Jonas, "The Practical Uses of of Life (Harper & Row, 1966), pp. 188-210, esp.
rendered

Hans

section v.

Bacon's

for Aristotelian logic is dialectic, usually

Spedding as
10
and

"logic."

by

Heath,

The Works of Francis Bacon, (hereafter designated Works), Spedding, Ellis eds. (London, 1875, seven volumes), vol. iv, p. 412.
Book

'AT.O.,
In
names

II,

aphs.

16

and

7.
condemns

aphorisms

60

and

15 Bacon
He
the

the use

of certain categories not

generally
in
mind.

accepted

names and notions.

and

seems

to

have Aristotle's
of

But
1

notions

from

category

quantity

are

among

those

condemned.

3Cf. Plutarch's
In Book

Lives.

.,

Nicias, XXIII.
De Augmentis.
.

14

III,

chap.

of the

.,

and aph. and

48

of

N.O.,

Book II.
to search

These
out

aphorisms

dealing

with superstitious

philosophy
never or

the

failure

the

15In
tion."

moving principles of things are at the Valerius Terminus, which

circulated

the center of
was

Book I (N.O.).

evidently

privately, the equivalent,

pp.

Works,
best

vol.

Ill,

235-41. Cf.
what

Ellis'

be

by Bacon, but corresponding term is "direc Preface, ibid., pp. 201-05. This may
published

the

place to

study

Bacon

means

by

the remark
rule."

"that

which

in

contemplation

is

as

the cause

is in

operation as the

Rossi, Francis Bacon, from Magic to Science (London: Routledge and Paul, 1968), pp. 193-201; and Mary B. Hesse, "Francis Bacon," in A Critical History of Western Philosophy, ed. D. J. O'Conner (Free Press of Glencoe, 1964), chap. 8.
Paolo
Kegan

(N.O., I,

aph.

3.)

Cf.

Bacon
16
1

and

the Conquest

of Nature

25

NO., Book II, aph. 2. 7Cf. on "simple NO., Book II, aph. 5 and Descartes, Direction of the Mind (Ingenii), Rule 12. For Bacon's influence on
natures,"

Rules for the Descartes

see

A.
1

Lalande,
Cf. De

"Sur

quelques

textes

de Bacon

et

de

Descartes,"

Revue de Cf.

Metaphysique

et de Morale, May, 1911, pp. 296-311. Augmentis..., Book III, chap. 4, on "Abstract Laurence Berns, An Introduction to the Political Philosophy of Bacon. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Chicago, 1957, Appendix 175-78 and pp. 193-94. Cf. Rossi, op. cit, p. 202. 1 De Augmentis Book III, chap. 4, and Book IV, end; in Works,
.

Physics."

Francis
and pp.

.,

.,

vol.

IV,

pp.

347

and

404.
aph.

20BookI,
But
of

104.
op.
op.

Cf. Jacob Klein,

cf.

cit,

note note

5,

above, Part

Lalande,

cit,

17,

above, pp.
.

I, Introduction, and Part II. 309-11, where Lalande speaks

of

Descartes'

announcement of sensible

(in Rules.

.,

no.

12)
"

the method of geometrical

interpretation

phenomena

in

words which

"reproduce

nearly
and

word

for

word a passage

from

the

Valerius Terminus.
and esp. and

23N.O.,
Preparative
Hans

Book

II,

aphs.

8, 45, 46,
a
and

47;

Book

I,

aphs.

96

98;
vii.

and

[Parasceve]

to

Natural

Experimental

History,

aph.

Cf.

Jonas,
Cf.
..

"The Scientific

Technological

Revolution,"

in Philosophical
pp.

Essays: From Ancient Creed to Technological Man

(Prentice-Hall, 1974),
edition
of

63-65.

Henry Pemberton,
.),

(editor

of

the

third

Newton's

Principia
the

Introduction,
of

where

View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy (London, the importance for Newtonian science of Bacon's
obstructions

1728),
critique

prejudices

and

impeding knowledge
and

and

his

treatment of

induction
2

are stressed.

24N.O.,

Book

I,

aphs.
Ellis'

96

and

80;

De Augmentis in

.,

Book
p.

III,

chap.

6.

5See ibid.,

and

notes to

the same

Works,

vol.

I,

577.

26N.O., 21N.O.,
28

Book
Book

I, I,

aph.

113. 91.

aph.

Thoughts
vol.

and

American Edition

of

Observations, (Cogitata et Visa), translated in the Montagu Bacon's Works (Philadelphia, 1855, vol. I), p. 434; original
p.

in

Works,

Ill,

Bacon
more

(University
literal

of

Chicago Press,
(Liverpool Masculine

589 ff. Cf. F.H. Anderson, The Philosophy of Francis 1948), p. 38. The translation in Montagu is
in The

than the recent translation

Philosophy
and

of Francis
also

Bacon,
of

Benjamin Farrington
translations
of

University Press, 1964),

Birth
Time"

which

contains

"The

of

"Refutation

the

Philosophies."

See A Tale of a Tub, With Other Early Works, 1696-1707, ed. Herbert Davis (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1965), p. 156. Although Swift is, in general, a partisan of the ancients, he seems to have accepted, in this book at least, Bacon's
characterization

29

of
as

Aristotle's philosophy
who,
of

"contentious."

as

Swift may have

"despot"

regarded

Bacon

"valiant"

because he dared
according
to

to challenge the

ruling

of

philosophy,

Aristotle,
"Prince
chap.

Plato's
also

Philosophers"

place as

Swift, had usurped (ibid., p. 144) (Gulliver's Travels, Part IV, chap. 8; cf.

Part III,

8).

26

Interpretation

Cowley (London, 1721). Terminus, cap. 26, in Works, vol. Ill, p. 252: and N.O., Book I, aph. 90. Cf. Aristotle's Politics, Book II, chap. 8; Thomas Aquinas, S.T., MI, Q. 97, A. 2; and Strauss, op. cit., note 5, above, pp. 221-22; et al. 33See Berns, op. cit, n. 18, above; and Howard B. White, Peace Among the Willows: The Political Philosophy of Francis Bacon, (The Hague, Nijhoff, 1968). 34 Book I, chap. 44. Cf. Rossi, op. cit, pp. 109-16. Discourses 3sCf. White, op. cit., note 32, above, the chaps, entitled, "Of Island esp. for the comparison with The Tempest, and "The Old and the New
32

30N.O., 1
3

Book I, aph. 128. The Works of Mr. Abraham

Valerius

.,

Utopias,"

Atlantis";

see

also

Philosophy,
36

eds.

in History of Political White's chap., "Francis Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, (Rand McNally, 1972).

Bacon"

contrast to Hierusalem, (the way Jerusalem is spelled in the New Atlantis), the good-peace in contrast to the holy-peace (from the Greek hieros)? 7These things are said explicitly only of the Jews.

Is it in

8N.O.,
9More

Book
than
and

I,

aph.

89.
after

350

years

the

publication

of

the

Novum

Organum,

Maxwell's

Rutherford's successor, the Cavendish Professor of Physics, writes, "Physics, indeed, should recognise that it is not in any useful sense the
that

fundamental science, since that peculiarity its laws are, we believe, applicable in

which makes

it

fundamental,
of exclusive
such

the

fact

principle to the systems which other

an

sciences

investigate,
on

is

achieved

by

adopting
of

attitude

concen

tration

certain

approved

aspects
which

the phenomena,

as prevents

the

development

of a scheme

by

principle can

be

translated

into

practice."

Indeed,
of

the

claim of

fundamental
with

physics

that

it is

"seeking

out the

Basic Truth

the

Universe"

is found to be

pretentious."

Reconciling
Press, 1972),
Old
science

Physics
pp.

"slightly Reality, an Inaugural

again.

See A.B.

Pippard, F.R.S.,

Lecture (Cambridge

University

35

and

37.

questions seem to

be opening

Is the very

quest

for

fundamental
even old

now even more than

"slightly

pretentious"?

(Cf. F. Nietzsche, Beyond

Good

and

Evil,

aph.

205.)
op.

Or is the way opening for new, and, perhaps,

and

contenders?

cit, note 5, above, pp. 23-25 Liberalism Ancient and Modem (Basic Books, 1968).

40Cf. 41Cf.

Leo

Strauss,

"An

Epilogue"

in

use of the ambiguity of the word fortune in his "architecture (Advancement of Learning, Book II), and his attack on the classical subordination of art to nature, its breeding a "premature despair in human

Bacon's

of

fortune,"

enterprises."

Works,

vol.

IV,
.

pp.
.

294-95. Cf.
Book

also

NO.,

Book

I,

aphs.

75

and

78.

42Cf.
4 44

also

De Augmentis.

IV,

chap.

1.

Advancement of Learning, Book II. Works, vol. I, p. 758. See Bacon's Wisdom of the See notes 5 and 40, above.

Ancients,

no.

26.

27
THREE CONCEPTS OF FREEDOM:
KANT
-

HEGEL

MARX

MIECZYSLAW MANELI
Queens College, CUNY

We have

entered a period when

nearly every
the

political

movement,
to appear
age

every government, every party,

to

and even

churches seek

be

partisans of

freedom. No

one admits

being

its enemy in this

in which, paradoxically,

lack

even

of

motherhood;

the majority suffers from oppression and a basic human rights. Freedom today is like everyone favors it, at least verbally. Nevertheless people

the

today are being persecuted, imprisoned, and tortured in freedom. Five to six centuries ago, the love of neighbor
the tormentors of the Inquisition to
persecution of creative minds.
embellish

the name
was used

of

by

justify
the
world

their cruelties and the

of freedom is used to becomes increasingly as la Rochefoucauld virtue.

Today,
The

idea

the

chains

of

slavery.

hypocritical, but let

observed

us remember

that after

all

hypocrisy is a tribute which evil pays to

be relatively easy
have
it. There
made

It

would

to establish the main sociological and

political reasons which order

it necessary intellectual

to praise

freedom in
it
there to

to restrict

also are

reasons which make

easy for
are so

politicians to pervert and abuse the

notions about

idea is

of

freedom;

many

freedom
are

that there

even confusion as

its elementary
represent

meanings and problems.

and

Kant, Hegel,
three

Marx

three
to

authors

whose
of

philosophies

contributions

the

evolution

the

idea

of

freedom.

Within

less

than

sophisticated

theories of

hundred years these three very freedom were elaborated. They represent
a
of civilization.

three stages

in

the
one
of

evolution

They

are

qualitatively
In

different from
most
writings evidence.

another,
these

yet at

the same time

the

they

are related.

authors,

Hegelian
other,

Aufhebung

is in
other,

Their ideas

complement each

they

deny
in

each

they

are at the same

time precursors and continuators of each other,

because
eternally

the sequence of time

becomes

unimportant and

the case of

dialectical interdependence. Kant, Hegel,

recurring,

Marx
of

fundamental

questions

the

try philosophy

to answer the
of

28

Interpretation
problem

freedom. The
not

did

not originate with

them,

their answers are

add new

way and they list. They arrive at the theoretical limitations queries to the old as Hegel observed, one who approaches previously established, but the frontier has in fact already passed beyond it.
conclusive,
pose

the

questions

in

a new

The three

authors

are

among

the world's most controversial. In

fact,
Marx

Kant's theory
on

of

politics, morality, and

practical

freedom,

generally is
Hegel
and

dismissed

as unrealistic and of no
other

significance.

the

hand

are

among

the

most unpopular philosophers

in Western
are are

academic

centers;
while of

whereas

in Communist

countries

they

acclaimed

officially

being flagrantly

misinterpreted.

They

freedom in the West, as partisans of dictatorship, violence, and bureaucracy. They are accused of every vice inimical to the very foundations of freedom. These three thinkers have made a truly historic contribution to the philosophy of freedom. Without it, the modern, rationalistic concept of freedom would not have developed as it has and the mere notion of freedom would have been poorer. Many contemporary philoso phers will not admit that Kant, Hegel, and Marx have been sources of their intellectual endeavors because such an intellectual heritage is looked upon with disfavor by so many. It is the more urgent therefore to vindicate the historical truth, to a certain extent at least.

branded

as

adversaries

Kant's

concept

of

law,

and morality.

freedom is central to his theories of politics, Many of his ideas are open to various interpre
an

tations,

leading
on of

to

ever-growing
One

philosophical

and

political

literature
analysis

the subject.

thing
of

seems

to

be indisputable: An
start
with

Kant's

concept

freedom

should

his

distinction concerning
that man

the

dual

nature of

the

human being, namely

in

is

a phenomenon and a noumenon at the same time.

The

phenomenal

human

being
As

is

part of the physical world and

of nature.

this world man

is

subject to the

laws

He is

part of the

chain of cause and effect. regarded

a physical

being man

cannot

rightly be

free.
is
"thing-in-itself."

But

man

also a of choice.

He is

a noumenon and as such

he has freedom

This freedom is the

most

important

and

Three Concepts of Freedom

the
most characteristic

29
concept goes so of

feature
man's

of

his humanity. The

Kant

freedom is
as

connected with the existence of reason.

far

to

say
a

that

freedom is

only birthright. All

that

other rights are

acquired.

For

human
any

being

the will of

other

freedom means human being:

of

he is

not

dependent upon

Freedom is independence
tends to exist with the
sole original

the

compulsory
of all

will of

another; and

in

so

far

as

it

freedom

inborn right

belonging to

according to a universal every man in virtue of his

law,

it is

the one

humanity.1

Because

man

is born
to

free,

it follows

that there exists an

"innate

equality belonging every independent of being bound

which

man,"

which consists of

his right "to be

by

others to

anything

more than that to

he may

also of

reciprocally bind
virtue

them.

It is consequently the

inborn quality
own master

by

every man in juris)."2 right (sui

a
natural

of which

he

ought to

be his

Because freedom is
that man also
man
as an

"birthright,"

Kant writes,
justness"

one must assume

has "the
one

quality

of

attributable to a no

unimpeachable

natural

right,
own

because he has done

juridical
actions.

wrong

to

any

prior

to

his

In this

complicated manner a well-known

juridical idea

was rediscovered and

defended,
of

the presumption of
concept of

innocence.

Kant draws the

freedom
on

as a

action what

the

freedom of contract also from the idea birthright: "there is also the innate right of common part of every man, so that he may do towards others
infringe
are
one of

does

not

their rights or take to appropriate

marvelous

away anything
. .

that

is

theirs unless

they
of

willing

it

We

observe

those

coincidences

which

are

so

characteristic

Kant's

philosophy:

He draws

conclusions

corres

ponding

to practical, social, political, and

not

juridical

experience

from

influenced in any way by the external pure reason, allegedly world of phenomena. The ancient Greeks and Romans already knew
that

in

order of

rationally
each

to enter
are

into

a civil contract

the

equality

and

free

will

partner

presumed.

They

also

knew

that an

organized

society

could not

function

well without a presumption of

innocence. In
regimes of

criminal

procedures under absolutistic and

terroristic

course, this presumption is not

to

consistently

followed, but
to

it is
all

never

wholly denied

society

as a whole nor

indiscriminately

its

members.

30
Kant is
right when

Interpretation

he

combines

freedom
in

with

the

presumption of

individual innocence.
procedure,

In

practice,

political

life

and

juridical
together.
pro

however,

these two

ideas do
of

not always appear

which

History

knows many

examples

regimes

officially

claimed their adherence to the

presumption of

innocence, but

at the

same time

democratic liberties
other

were almost reduced

to a nullity.
should also

On the

hand,

Kant writes, human freedom

be

limited because it is subject to reason. As controlled by reason, freedom cannot be identified with license or unbridled desire. rational According to Kant, freedom can be conceived only as

freedom,
Kant
reason.

"laws,"

"requirements,"

that

is,

subject

to

the

and

of

reason; it is the

freedom

to use one's reason at all times.

the mere
calls

calls man

free

by

fact
this

that

he has
of

the power of

Nathan

Rotenstreich

aspect

freedom

the

"cosmological
cosmological

freedom."4

aspect of the concept of

Freedom in the

sense

is independent

of

time and of all sensible

factors.
that

In the Preface to the Critique of Practical

the mere existence of the pure
the
existence of
practical

Reason, Kant
which

writes

faculty
proved

of reason establishes

transcendental

freedom,
of

he

also

calls

freedom in
of practical

the absolute sense.

reason

Freedom

by

the

apodictic

law

is

the

keystone

the whole

system

of pure

reason and even of speculative reason. of pure reason:

There

God, immortality,

and

only idea of speculative reason whose for this idea is revealed in the moral law.
Kant's
To
the
avoid

are three basic elements freedom. But freedom is the possibility we know a priori,

explanation of

this complicated problem

is

as

follows:
when

having

anyone

imagine

that there

is

an

inconsistency

freedom is
reader

the condition of the moral

will only remind the only condition under which that, though freedom is certainly the ratio essendi of the moral law, the latter is the ratio cognoscendi of freedom. For had not the moral law already

law and later assert freedom can be known, I

that the moral

I say that law is

been

distinctly

thought

in

our

reason,

we would

never

have been justified in

But if
encountered

assuming everything like

there were no
us.5

freedom,

even though

it is

not self-contradictory.

freedom,

the moral

law

would

never

have been

in

The
is

most

important
an

conclusion to

be drawn from
and

these thoughts
attribute
of

that

freedom,
also

indispensible

inalienable

mankind,

is the foundation

and source of moral responsibility.

Three Concepts of Freedom

31 imperatives
would

Without freedom
make no sense.

the

categorical

and

practical

A reasonable

he

can

man knows what he should do and once he knows it, do it. This Kantian conclusion has spawned many misunder

standings.
can."

Very
you

often

it is

expressed

in

the sentence,

"ought implies

Kant
If

wanted to express a

very

simple

idea which is basic for his

out.

system:

have
one

duty,

you can

carry it

If, however,

is

ordered

by

contrary to one's consciousness imperative one should reject such

true

legitimate superior to do an act of duty based on the categorical

a
an order and act

duty

instead. He

who acts

according
even

to

his

according to one's duty (based on the

persecuted

categorical

imperative)

is

free,

if he is

by

the

author(s) of immoral orders. One explanation is necessary:

For

Kant,

"can"

means

the

capability
occur

of

the

free
as

will;

it does

not mean that

any

real results will

in

the world of phenomena.

Kant's

freedom,

something

which

belongs
point

to the world of the

of

noumena, is truly
empirical

abstract.

From the

of view

traditional

potential relations.

philosophy, it is also subjective. Kant regards freedom as a existing in every individual rather than as a reality in social

His

concept of

but depends
Freedom

on subjective
of

freedom is independent human thinking.

of

human activity
of

the will

is very far from

the

the true

freedom

the

individual.
was

According

to the tradition of ancient philosophy, which

rejuvenated

during
when

Renaissance

and the

Enlightenment,

an

individual is free
talents.
not

he can act according to his desires, will, True human freedom must be expressed in social activity

and
and

limited to the process of thinking, even the most rational. This is the basic deficiency of Kant's philosophy of freedom: He does not bind freedom to free human activity. His concept of freedom is theoretical, whereas the chief problem of freedom is practical: how to free people to do good deeds. Nevertheless, Kant tries to draw political conclusions from his concept of freedom.
Kant
writes

that

even

the

most

absolute

ruler

is interested in
wants

preserving freedom
the
real
situation subjects.

of thought and speech

because he
and

to

existing in his country

pure
reason requires

the opinions of
preservation
of

know his
the

Therefore,
of

the

freedom

conscience,

thought, speech, writing,

and publication

in

32

Interpretation
and under

every country
the need

every form

of government. reason

Kant deduces Kant's

for

and right to these

This

approach

demonstrates

freedoms from how wholly

people,
the
on

itself.

impractical

thinking
ent

was.

History

knows many
of their of

rulers who were even

wholly indiffer

to

the

true

opinion

though

they may
If despotic

thereby have
other

remained

ignorant

existing
in
such

situation.

rulers want to means

know
to

what

is going

their countries,
as

they

use and

gather

information,
speech

secret

police

informers. Deception, camouflage,

regimes.

and

They fear free

It

and a
argued

lies are inherent in such free press more than they do

that Kant
and

being
a

misinformed.

could

be

is right

that reason

requires

freedom
or

of

thought, speech,

press:

but everybody
in reality only in

knows

that these requirements and

rights

can exist are

more

reason alone.

less democratic In his time, democracy

centuries.

country.

Rulers

not motivated

by
not

was even rarer than

it became in

the

following

His

conclusions

were

logical, but have

been
is

proved until recent times.

can

Kant's belief that intellectual freedom

unrealistic.

balance

political terror

Despotic

and

terroristic

governments

must suppress

intellectual freedom
of control. government

as an essential part of

any

comprehensive system

There

can of course

be brief
and

periods when an oppressive

may

tolerate

free

speech and a press

own

free

press;

such a regime

might

even

tolerate

free

speech

more than

freedom

of

association.

Every

despotism has its

peculiarities and period

ically

may

allow

limited forms

of criticism as a

safety

valve.

But,

as

all experience overthrown

shows,

anti-democratic terroristic regimes will never

alone.

be

by

intellectual freedom
nourished

The belief that

admiration

they
the

might

is

an

illusion possibly

"enlightened"

by

Kant's

for

Prussian ruler, Frederick II.

History

shows that there

have

always

been
his

many

more

unenlightened

despots
an

than

enlightened.

Notwithstanding
on on

impracticality however,

Kant had

impact

development of the theory of freedom individual behavior and attitudes.

the

and

morality,

and even

July 23, 1943, Kurt Huber, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Munich, Germany, was executed. He was condemned
for
the crime of high treason against Hitler's regime.
statement

On

In his final

to the

judges

of

the

People's

Court, he

Three Concepts of Freedom

referred to

33
opposition to

Kant's philosophy

as

the

inspiration for his

the

Nazis:
I deem it to be

...

not

only right, but

also

my

moral

duty to speak
awaken

out against

political

misconduct.

...

It had been my
conditions, to

endeavor
appeal

to

the student

body

to an awareness of
clear-cut ethical of man.
what
...

existing

to moral reflection, a return to

principles, to a politics of right, to a preservation of the dignity I have asked myself with a view to Kant's categorical imperative,
subjective one maxims of mine would were

would

universal

happen if these law. There is but

. .

to

be be

made

answer:

There

be

order, security,
raised

confidence
against
will

in

our government.

Every

morally

responsible voice would

the threat of rule of sheer might over the

right,

of simple caprice over upon

the
of

of

morally

good,

against

the
all

wanton

self-determination

of

principalities

over

trampling Europe, against

the
the

rights

inhuman

fostering

of

relationships

distrust of man against man so that the very foundation of human has been undermined and neither father nor neighbor feels secure

before his

son.

Every

external

legislation

reaches

its

ultimate

limitation

through untruth and

immorality,
return

through overt transgressions of right, through the covert cowardice

which prevents open criticism of such practices and smothers exhortations

to

to the

moral order with accusations of

treason.

am

jeopardizing
my
. .

through
am

convictions

my life with this defense of my inner convictions. I have acted I in accordance with the dictates of that inner voice.
. .

accepting

the

consequences

of

my actions, accepting
restored

the

responsibility

therefor.
released

I demand that freedom be

their
chains
of

to

our

people, that
that

they be

from

slavery.

...

am

convinced
. . .

the relendess

course of

history will vindicate

shows

my willing

and acting.

This
same

example

how influential Kant's ideas

example

still

are.

At the
never

time,

this

moving

indicates that Kant's influence

extended

beyond

a narrow circle of

intellectuals.
the

Kurt

Huber

remained

free in

Kantian

sense

till

the

last
is
of

moment of

his life. He
of

was murdered as a

free human being;

this

the

paradox

Kant's

subjective,

purely intellectual,

view

freedom. follower of the tradition of subjective drew the most amazing political freedom. It concept of subjective freedom: a slave can be conclusions from the freer than his master, provided that he has been liberated from his passions. St. Augustine argues that it is better to be a slave of one
It
would seem was

that

Kant is

St. Augustine

who

34

Interpretation
master

(human)

than

of

many (passions). Such sophistry

throughout the
were told

was used

for immediate
serfs, servants,
reason

political

purposes

centuries:

and the poor who

to rebel against

had no rights their legitimate masters.

ideas
were

Slaves, they had no

Kant's
than

political and social

of

those

his

contemporaries,

different, but more moderate his French, English, and Polish

must

counterparts.

According
foundation

to

Kant,

the

idea

of

freedom

be

placed

at

the

of

the constitution of

by

a government.

The ideal
THE

should

every be: "A

OF

state and of

every law issued

constitution

allowing
TO

THE
with

GREATEST

POSSIBLE

HUMAN

FREEDOM

in
IS

accordance

laws

by

which

FREEDOM

EACH

MADE

BE

do not speak of follow of itselfit is at any rate a necessary idea, which must be taken as fundamental not only in first laws."7 projecting a constitution but in all its Kant understands that this ideal will not be reached without obstacles. These obstacles do not necessarily arise out of human nature, but rather out of previous legislation. No true philosopher would argue that the ideal is unattainable because of adverse previous experience. If there has been such bad experience, then Kant argues, we should be even more energetic in our endeavors to harmonize legislation and government with the ideal.
CONSISTENT WITH THAT OF ALL OTHERS-I
the greatest

happiness, for

this will

Kant

writes a

that

he

would

be

prepared to accept

Plato's ideal

as

his

society in which non-existent. He says that it

own:

punishment
would

is unnecessary and be impossible to achieve

therefore
this

ideal

but he insists

have an archetype, a standard against which to measure all laws and governments. It is possible to existing improve laws and governments. No one after all can say how wide the chasm should be between the ideal and reality. No one can say where the development of human nature and its perfectibility will
that we should
stop.

Because

of

these unknowns, we should agree to pass

"that it is in
limit."8

the

power of

freedom
and the

beyond any

and

every

specified
an

It is

obvious that

Kant distinguishes between

of political

ideal

of political

freedom. The ideal should be an reality absolute between the freedom of each and the freedom of harmony all. But he knows that reality is far from the ideal. Kant distinguishes various levels of perfection of actual freedom. The ideal of freedom is unchangeable; the reality of freedom however is always in a state
of transformation.

freedom

Three Concepts of Freedom

In this way, Kant
prepared the ground

35

for the Hegelian dialectics freedom was easily transformed into the absolute idea; the rest depends on logic and profound studies of the historical realities. This historical task was performed
of

freedom. Kant's

a priori

idea

of

by Hegel.
II

There

are

fervent

adversaries of world.

as well as

in the Eastern

Hegel's philosophy in the Western Even now, a hundred and fifty years

his death, Hegel is still attacked as a living antagonist. Such animosity usually is founded on preconceived ideas and simple
after

ignorance. One
wrote about powerful

might

say
a

the same about Hegel that Jean

Paul Sartre
and

the Jewish people:

and

enemies

They have many few friends who defend

to
the
temper

passionate

them without

enthusiasm.

Bertrand
wrote:

Russell

was

attuned
when

of

Anglo-Saxon
Essays"

prejudices and

ignorance

in

one of

his "unpopular

he

It follows from his

metaphysics

that true

liberty

consists

in

obedience to an

arbitrary
that the

authority, that

free

speech

is

an

evil, that

absolute when

monarchy is good,

Prussian
and that would

state was the

an

best existing at
. .

the time

he

wrote, that

war

is good,

international
misfortune.

organization

for

the peaceful settlement of

were
. . .

disputes

be

What he

admired

order, system,

regulation and

intensity

of governmental control.

Nearly
Hegel's

every

word of

Russell's

evaluation

is incorrect.

reputation was not much

better in Eastern Europe. There

when

was a short period

during

the

1920s

Hegel's philosophy
philosophers

gained
associ

an

officially
with

sponsored popularity.

The Soviet

ated and

Deborin vigorously promoted Hegelian studies. Deborin his friends often quoted Lenin's famous statement that without

serious

study

and

understanding
one
of

of

the

Hegelian dialectic it

would

be

impossible truly
Hegel became
Hegel's dialectic

to understand

Das Kapital.
victims of

the
nor

first
the

Stalinism in

the

1930s.
endure

Neither the right-wing,

and

his

views

left-wing dogmatists about freedom.

the
official

could

It

was

Stalin himself who

gave

interpretation

of

Hegel's

philosophy
expresses

to the socialist world

the spirit of the

in the 1930s. He stated that Hegel Prussian Junkers, militarists, and expan-

36
sionists.

Interpretation

He

considered

Hegel's
the

philosophy

to

be

reaction one

to
of

absolutism,

feudalism,

and

French Revolution.

Every

Stalin's It

views was wrong.

would appear that

of all or

both Russell

and

Stalin

regarded

Hegel

as

the

propounder

very many
and

social and political

evils,

including
almost same

Nazism,
The
the

against which
antipodes

they had been

When
two

struggling.
about

Russell

Stalin spoke
antagonists

Hegel in
to

same

manner.

come

the

conclusion,

usually both many

the

are mistaken.

There

are

good reasons

why
the

the

knights

of

the

kingdom

of

darkness,

in

East

and

in

non-Communist

countries,
closet

wish

to

West, in Communist and in push Hegel, the controversial

Hegel's ideas
and
are

philosopher, into the

of oblivion.

too great

for
East

the

minds

of

present-day

politicians

modern conservative philosophers and political

deep for many scientists, both in the

too
with arbitrariness.

and

in the West.
writes

Hegel

that most people equate

freedom

They
their

think that

they

are

free

when

they

are able to act

according
of

to

impulses. The
to

most

frequently
in
this way,

repeated

definition
ability
those to

freedom,
what we

according
please.

Hegel, is
thinks
of

that

freedom is
Why?
what

the

do

One

who

Hegel argues,

reveals who

"an

utter

immaturity
freedom
of social

thought."10

Because

identify

with

the
of

ability
right,

to

do

they
of

please

disregard

the nature

life,

of

morality,

law,

as well as the needs of with

everyday

life. Freedom
and an

must

be

connected

understanding,

responsibility,

awareness of moral obligation at all stages of

development.
In
this

way

Hegel

approached

one

of

his

most

important

statements, namely, that freedom is necessity understood; hence there are two elements in freedom: the subjective and the objective. Man can be free not from the laws of nature, but thanks to the laws of nature. The more he understands, the less he is subject to the
caprices
control.

of

the

external

world.

When

man

understands,

he

can

The

history
of

of

mankind

knowledge. Hegel
"progress
Idea
of

therefore

the

consciousness

history of describes the history freedom."1 1

the
of of

is

the
of

acquisition

of

the world as the

continues:

He

"The

freedom

...

is

the absolute goal

history."1 2

Whenever Hegel
people

writes about

history, he
their

means the
own

who struggle

for survival, have

history

of the

interests,

passions,

Three Concepts of Freedom

and
what

37

ambitions.

Every

individual

tries

to attain

his

own

goals,

but

he

achieves

political and
architects
material

usually is contrary to his intentions, particularly in social life. People build their future in the same way
use

build houses. They

the

forces

of nature and the raw stands

provided

by

nature.

The

result

is that the house

forces of nature, against the violence of rains, floods, winds, and fire. The situation is similar in society: people develop law and order but ultimately these measures work against them. The
against

the

history
of

of mankind

is: "the

slaughter-bench at which the

happiness

peoples, the wisdom of

victimized."1

States,

and the virtue of

individuals have

been
that

3 of mankind,

Such is the
the

history
of

according

to

Hegel. He

means

freedom was a product of battles in the social jungles, where freedom was hardly a welcome guest. On the other hand, whenever happiness prevailed, history was uneventful. As a matter of fact, periods of happiness are blank pages; they are the periods of harmony. The contribution of these periods to the idea of freedom is minimal. Whenever people feel satisfied and happy, they discontinue struggling and their energy drops; their imagination decreases. Most
idea
energetic are

unhappy

people whose perception of the

prevailing

evil

is

the source of their new

ideas

and their attempts to and realize their

possibilities, to achieve, to augment,

We
which

now

have

approached the problem of the

broaden their freedom. dialectic of freedom

the concept
unison with

is

part of

Hegel's

general

dialectic. dialectic is
in is

The
of

essence

of

the Hegelian and Marxian

antagonistic

the struggle of
antithesis.

forces. A
appear

thesis exists

its

The forces
other.

are

antagonistic,

but

the one cannot exist there

an

without

the

It

would

that

absolute

difference between light and darkness, but in reality the existence of darkness would be impossible without light. One cannot see darkness or in absolute light. It is the anything, either in absolute
same
with good

and

evil.

The

existence

of good

presupposes

the

existence of

evil,

and vice versa.

Without

evil people

the existence of
of

the

good

would

be

senseless.

Without the

existence
of

sin

the

concept of reward would

be

unnecessary.

A kingdom

heaven does
the

not make sense without a

purgatory

and

hell. And
were

finally,
free

idea

of

freedom feel free.

If the

was

elaborated

because
is

people

not

and

did
of

not

history

of mankind

the

history

of

the

development

the

38
idea
the
of

Interpretation

freedom,

then one can

say

with

the same

justification
of

that
of

history

of mankind

is the

history

of various

kinds

slavery,
of

unfreedom.

In every

successive epoch

forms
and

of

slavery,

unfree-

dom, have become

more

sophisticated

refined.

The ideas

of

freedom therefore also became more developed and refined. Hegel feels that in his epoch the people finally began to understand the idea of freedom and that in his philosophy of freedom, the idea

found itself. There are philosophers who argue that Hegel his own system of philosophy as a closed one. They cannot be right. Hegel's dialectical method can never be regarded as closed. Although Hegel did not wish to predict the future it would accord with the spirit of his dialectical method to state that in the future gigantic struggles between the idea of freedom and the forces of

finally

regarded

unfreedom would still occur.

This
of

conflict will never

be
to

resolved.

The already
If

realization of the mentioned

should

idea
to

freedom, according
this

Hegel,
into
the

as we

is the
wish

essence of the

history of mankind.
statement more

one

translate
would

comprehensible acclaimed

language,
and

one

have

to

say

that

individual freedom is
societies,

not a state or a condition enjoyed

highly by
of

individuals,

nations.

Freedom is

always

a process

fighting for freedom, of the struggle for its own expansion in the face of forces which, consciously or unconsciously, oppose it vigorously. Freedom is a way of life and of struggle ; it is the expansion of human
possibilities

and powers.

It is

way

of

operating in

order

to make

maximum use of an

individual's

talents and skills.

find freedom, Hegel argues, in a non-societal state be nonsense to think that savages could be free. Hegel writes: "The savage is lazy and is distinguished from the educated man by his brooding When Hegel writes about savages, the word should not be interpreted in the narrow sense of the savage who lived in primitive
A
man cannot
of nature.

It

would

stupidity."14

"savage"

society
is any

thousands

of years

ago.

savage

is any
In

person who

is

not

educated

up

to the

level

of our civilization.

other

words,

a savage

person who mixes

his subjectivity

with

objective

possibilities,
species
of

his

unreasonable

wishful

thinking

with

reality.

This

disappeared by any means. brooding is in and for itself injustice, for the essence of "Slavery humanity is freedom; but for this man must be When will man mature? According to Hegel, that will happen in the very distant
not yet
mature."15

stupidity has

Three Concepts of Freedom

39
will mature with

future. He will mature and the forms him in an endless historical process.
Will

of

freedom

he

become

happier

when

he becomes

more

educated,

civilized,

and mature?

One
well

could argue that there are misfortunes and sorrows which are

known

to our civilized

society

which were unknown

to savages.

Consequently
alleged

it

would

be better for

man

to remain

ignorant. This

is merely negative, Hegel writes: "While freedom is essentially positive, it is only the blessings conferred by affirmative freedom that are regarded as such in the highest grade of conscious
advantage
ness."16

This

is

one
of

of

the

most

important

contributions

of

Hegel's

philosophy

freedom,
not

that

freedom is essentially
activity
not of

positive, that its

society.
of

blessings
Freedom

consist of affirmative

in isolation from
around

does

consist

erecting

walls

spheres

influence separating one person's sphere from that of his neighbor, as is argued in the Kantian philosophy of freedom. This is the basic

difference between Kant

approach

and
of

Hegel: Hegel insisted that

one should

the

problems

freedom from
any

the positive, affirmative

point of view and not the negative.

The
of

extent of

freedom,

at

stage of the

historical development

society,

is

determined

by

subjective

conditions;
and

by

the

totality of the objective and totality of the economic and social

the
the people, their understand

relations;

by

the

consciousness of

ing, beliefs,

and prejudices.

External superiority in power can achieve no enduring results: Napoleon could not coerce Spain into freedom any more than Philip II could force Holland into
slavery.

This

observation

of

Hegel

either

has been

underestimated

or

forgotten;
life
of our us

it is

key

to

understanding many
this

puzzles of the political

day.

Let

try
the

to

penetrate

observation:

The

reality
a

which

determines
of

historical

content and

limits
the

of

freedom is
of of

totality
of

objective

and

subjective

elements,
plus

that

is,

the

economic,
the

political, people,

and

social

conditions

way

thinking
emotions,

their

inclinations,

their

obsessions,

their

preju

dices,

their experience, and their

ability

to think critically, their

fears

and their civil courage.

Economic

welfare and

poverty

also

influence

40
popular

Interpretation

thinking, but in
and

various

directions, for

and against

freedom,

for

progress

even

more

for conservatism, if not reaction. One could put it bluntly: If the people who are given a free choice in a

universal election

do
will

not use common sense not

they

will end

up

with a

government extend

that

help
and

to create the
people

conditions required

to

the scope of
to evaluate

freedom. If
the

do

not use their powers of

judgment
of

reality be delimited and they must wait a long time for the next step in the historical process that might again foster the dialectical evolution of freedom.

changing

material

possibilities, the

freedom,

its

contents

frontiers,

must

assert that Catholic Spain could not have been be free? The reason is that the people of Spain did not understand and did not want to understand the reality of their own did not think freely and creatively because they had condition; they become accustomed to autocratic dogmas and did not feel the need for change. Every attempt to impose reform and liberty on them was doomed. At the beginning of the 19th century the people of Spain had not been enlightened, they were intellectually and morally

Why

does Hegel

forced

to

primitive.

They
to

were

not

prepared

to

accept

new and

ideas

and

institutions. The French

were unknown

words

"liberty,
to

fraternity"

equality,

them; the

words were

unfamiliar, therefore
them.

empty

and

what

is worse,

perhaps

inimical

People

compelled
or

to use their minds and when

will

they

refrain

be from thinking,
cannot
obstacles

fail

to

do so, they
to accept

have

difficulty understanding necessity, i.e.,

they live; they
on will

the objective conditions

in

which

face

in

attempting
It
was

freedom.
to

not possible

impose slavery
people

the

continued.

Why? Because

a reformation of minds

Netherlands, Hegel had taken place in

dogmas
to

the
and

Netherlands; because
had
started to

had

come to reject the old and

think

creatively
which

critically;

they
be

refused

accept what others regarded as

unshakable,

absolute truths. might applied

The

same

observation
countries

Hegel

made

to

Communist

today. All Communist

countries

today have

authoritarian

governments; the absolute rule

apparatus;

the will of the

security police are differences

in Poland

party party bosses have the force of law; the is omnipotent; censorship is unlimited. And yet there
and

of

the centralized

degrees
There is

of

slavery, servility,

and

freedom in
and

each

of those countries.

an obvious
exists

difference in
the

the atmosphere

from

that

which

in

Soviet Union

East

Three Concepts of Freedom

41 perspicuously more other Communist

Germany. Polish
creative
country.

literature,

art and the press are

and

interesting
of the

than

they
social

are

in any

Why? Because

the

pressures,

the intellectual and

moral standards

nation

do

not allow authors and artists to

be
in

as

dull, faceless,
Soviet Union

and corrupted as are those of their counterparts

the

and other

Communist

countries.

Polish intellectuals

feel traditionally
Russians
corruption government

connected with the regarded

Enlightened
West
as

West,

whereas the of

traditionally
and
as

the

hotbed

moral

liberal

decline.
of

The

Poles

never

viewed

their

a source

inspiration.

Up

to the end of the

18th

century
Austrian

when

government.

they had been free, they had favored a weak, limited Afterwards, when they were under Russian, German, or rule, they regarded it their duty to fight the foreign
national

occupier.

This

tradition, this way

of

thinking, this

rejection
abhor

of political
rence

supremacy
to

bordering

on all

anarchy, the traditional

these
are
reasons

at

having
is

collaborate,

why Polish
the

reality,

although

essentially
is

the same,
or

is

yet

so

different from
A
person with a

Russian, German, Rumanian,

And
what
real

Bulgarian

realities.

also an objective necessity.

votes

the

ability
It is

to choose who

for stupidity is
silk clothing.

not

free but

brooding

savage even
well

if he

be dressed

in

known

that Hegel the state.

is

extolls and praises

His
8

being a philosopher who sentence that the state is the "Gang

accused of

des Gottes in der

Welt,"

incorrectly
limits
any
the

translated as the march of

wanted to express the

God

in the world, is often simple idea with this sentence

would not
of violence

quoted.1

Hegel

that without the state and

very its law it

be

possible to put

to the

brutal
form
state.

passions and

deeds
and

of

the

people.

There

must

be

a ruler whom the people

of

fear. Hegel does not obviously he does not

to

deify deify

specific

the

state
of

Prussian

Every form

the

Hegel, is limited in its efficiency and cannot be state, according eternally reasonable. The best form of the state is the one which
coincides with the social relations.

When these

relations

change,

and

such a process

is inevitable,
was

state

which

once

form of the reasonable, becomes

the
which

state must change. unreasonable

The

and must

necessarily be be rejected and forgotten

new
relations.

"aufgehoben,"

means

that some elements will

and some elements will remain under

of

the
a

Every

form

state,

according
The
state

to

Hegel, is only

moment

in

the

history

of mankind.

is necessary for the

42
realization of

Interpretation

freedom, but when some of its forms become hostile to freedom, then, sooner or later, they must be abolished. The state
must

exist,

but

the

government

in

power

has only

relative

and

temporary Freedom, or necessity understood, differs in every country because the reality differs in each and therefore the process of transformation must differ as well. With every understanding and change the process of freedom gains new friends and creates new freedom continues. adversaries; the eternal struggle to preserve
Ill

importance.

What Marx
of

wrote about

freedom

might

be

termed an

Aufhebung

Hegel's

philosophy.

philosophy.

Marx

was

He affirms, continues, and negates Hegel's particularly impressed by Hegel's view that

freedom

has

a concrete content and as

Marx understands,

Hegel

did,

that

form at every stage of history. limitations on freedom were

necessary in all previous societies. The most important stages in human development, primitive society, feudalism and capitalism, he
regards as

the stages

in

the

development

of

exploitation, oppression,

free human activity within society. These were not, however, as Hegel implies, different stages in the development of the idea of freedom, because Marx absolutely rejects absolute ideas. For Marx the ideas of freedom developed according to the evolution of
and of

civilization,

of the

economic

bases

and political

institutions

which

constitute the superstructures of all societies.

All this notwithstanding, Marx

Hegel
who

and

Engels

still write that

it

was

made

the

greatest

contribution

to

the

philosophy

of

freedom because he had established that freedom was necessity understood. They firmly believe that anyone who disregards Hegel's of freedom will fall into the errors of previous times and philosophy then will be obliged to start from the beginning. They reiterate that neither scientific socialism nor modern times can be grasped without a knowledge of Hegel.
In undertaking an analysis of Marx's theory of freedom, we must define his particular contributions which went beyond Hegel's
philosophy.
of

It is
and

also well to

distinguish between Marx's philosophy

theories
now

freedom

the primitive

being

promulgated

by

Three Concepts of Freedom

"Marxists"

43
own

who

unceremoniously
is especially

falsify

Marx's theory for their Marx. He

political advantage.

The
that

'situation

complicated with

claims that

theory and practice should be one; he proclaims for a philosopher to explain the world but that he should truly seek to change it. There is an obvious gulf between Marx's predictions concerning the future Communist state and the
philosophy,
political

it is

not enough

practical application of

his

theories

in the 20th

century. philosophical article

of

It is

significant

that

the

first

political

and

published censorship.

by
He

Marx
never

his name concerned the disowned the points he raised in it.

under of youthful

problem

They

cannot and

be
the

regarded as products

romanticism were

as

Stalinists

neo-Stalinists
"adult"

usually
to

declare,

for they

many

times repeated

by
of

Marx.

According
on

Marx,

no government should ever

impose

restrictions

freedom

of

thought and publication.

and publication

The democratic freedoms

conscience, speech,

should not

be

restricted under

any

circumstances.

Every

restriction,

every censorship, is

the

cry

of a

conscience,"

"dirty
have
never

according to Marx. Needless to say, these words been quoted in Communist countries and several attempts
in
the Communist

to remind people of them

reprisals against such rash

bloc
was

were requited with

"heretics."

In

a speech

in his

own

defense,
be
the
the

when

he

tried

for publishing
"It is
the

articles

in

the Neue
the

Rheinische
to

Zeitung,
public

Marx

said:

the

function
mouth

of

press

the

watchdog, eye,
the

tireless

denouncer
of

of

the

rulers,
of

omnipresent

omnipresent
guards

the

spirit

people

that

jealously

its

freedom."19

He is
the

concluded

his
the

speech with these words: press

...

"...
those

once and

for

all

it

duty
this

of

to

speak

up for

oppressed

in its

immediate
and

vicinity.

It does

not suffice to
press must

fight

general conditions

the

higher

authorities.

The

decide

to enter the

against

particular

gendarme,

this

procurator,

this

lists district
the

administrator."2

Marx

expressed

these

ideas in March 1849,

regards

one year

after

publication of the

Communist Manifesto. Here Marx. He

of and

speaks the
of

"mature"

Marx,
the

"young"

not

a and

freedom
general.

the press as the

press should of rulers.

guarantor

defender

freedom in
the

The

be

"public

watchdog"

"tireless

denouncer"

The

44
press

Interpretation
should

defend

the

weak

against

the

oppression

of

higher

authorities and

should protect those within

its

purview.

Could Marx have foreseen

that

freedom
the

of

the press could

have
He

been

so

drastically
as a

curtailed

after

socialist

revolution?

characterizes

the socialist society, that

is,

society in
all

the

first
in

stage of

Communism,
"dirt"

society
In

which would

bear

the afflictions, all the

and

of the past.

order to clean out this

"dirt,"

order to

assure the growth of of

freedom,

civil

liberties, free
of

press and

freedom

assembly,

must

be

expanded,

he insisted.

Whatever Marx's

vision of the

dictatorship
He

the proletariat might

have

been,

one

system would
abolition of

thing be accompanied the civil liberties

state would

seems certain:

never anticipated that such a

by
a

the triumph of
under

censorship

and the

enjoyed

parliamentary democ
and Engels believed despotic bureaucracy.
of

racies.

There is nothing to indicate

that

Marx

that the

future

be

centralized,

On

the

contrary, in analyzing the Paris Commune

1871,

Marx

stresses that under that system

every

official

had been
any
its
time:

freely

elected

by the
The
cials,

people and could

have been
safeguard

recalled at

commune

must

itself

against

own

deputies
to

and

offi

moment.

by 1declaring

them

all,

without

exception,

subject

recall

at
>

any

Marx

writes that the

Commune had
acquired and

to protect

itself

against

its

own

servants; the
their own

newly

freedoms had
Commune

to

be defended

against

defenders
means:

the

therefore made use of two

"infallible"

In the

first
at

place, it
the

filled

all

posts

administrative, judicial concerned,

and

educational

by

election on
recall

basis

of universal suffrage of all

subject to the right of

all officials, In this way an

any time

by

the same electors.

And, in

the second place,

...

high

or

low,

were paid

only

wages received

by

other workers. was set up.

. .

effective

barrier

to place

hunting and careerism

22

Unfortunately,
"infallible"

the two

were of

devices which Marx and Engels regarded as doubtful value. Neither has ever been employed

in any Communist country for a long period. Although we have no direct evidence to judge their efficacy, we have every reason to believe that had these devices ever been consistently tried in Communist countries, they would not have effectively protected the
people against the cancer of a centralized

bureaucracy.

Three Concepts of Freedom

45
inhabitants
to

It is impossible in any

modern state with millions of

fill

the

thousands

of

administrative,

judicial, legislative,
Such

economic,

and even educational posts

farce because
candidates.

be a be familiar with so many no one could conceivably Instant recall is even more likely to lead to the same dead

by

election.

an election would

end

as

Recall,
states.
at the

which

is

now

part

of

the

constitutions

of

Western
officials

Lenin did impose the

central

"Party-maximum"

many pay for

the

level did

and

built up his
him

dictatorship

upon

power-seeking
The

officials who served

at modest salaries.

in any highly developed industrial countries, as Marx and Engels predict; it did not European, take place in Germany where the workers had a better understanding
socialist revolution
not take place

interest in theory; instead, it succeeded in a country whose majority was illiterate and did not even understand the word theory.
and

Hegelian freedom

for

them was a meaningless concept.

The

predictions

of

Marx

and

therefore not

had

their

become a reality in Eastern Europe theory been otherwise feasible.

Marx
and

Engels concerning freedom could and in Asia, even

political

The

real attitude of

Engels towards

freedom is

expressed

in

their prediction that the

Communist

state would wither

away, not,
after the

as

Stalin

Communist
to start
of the

process was

declared, many generations According to Marx and Engels this immediately after the socialist revolution. The
and successors revolution.
of the proletariat was to

his

first
of

day

dictatorship
of

be

the

first

day
the the

the

withering away
of

the state.

Each

day,

more and more of the

and

functions
state's

the

state

will

be

eliminated

day by day
Ultimately,
all

interference

by

the state authorities

and

will narrow.

functions
state

institutions

will

be

sent,

as

Engels writes,
the

to the

museum of pre-historic mankind.

The

exists,
that

individuals; freedom is
most
so

is its
It is

Marx writes, solely purpose. When it

one of the greatest

to

limit
of

freedom

of

withers

away, individual

won.

ironies

history

that the

despotic totalitarian states were built in the name of Marx, who carefully developed a theory of the withering away of the state.
no question that

There is
proclaimed

Marx

regards all the

and

democratic liberties

in Western

constitutions

enjoyed

by

the

nations

under parliamentary regimes to be beyond any need of justification. The withering away of the state, for Marx, contains no restrictions upon individual liberties, but rather their maximum expansion. With

46
the

Interpretation
the state, the areas

withering away

of

free

of state

interference

must

inevitably
these

increase.
circumstances,
of

In

political analysis

realized.

An

the political

analysis

of philosophical

the philosophical notion

written

truly human freedom will be freedom is not the same as an freedom. Let us therefore go deeper into of freedom. In Anti-Duehring, which was

by

Engels, but
concept
of

corrected

by

Marx,

the

following elaboration
the appreciation of

of

Hegel's

freedom,

and

especially

necessity, is developed:
Freedom does
the
not consist
of these

in

the

dream
in

of

independence

of natural

laws, but

in

knowledge
them

laws,

and

making
means

work

towards a

possibility this gives of systematically Freedom of the will therefore definite end.
the
.

nothing but
with
. . .

the

capacity to
a

make

decisions

with the real relation

knowledge
to a

of

the subject.

Therefore the freer

so much

man's

judgment is in

definite

question,

the greater

determined.
The first
essentials

Freedom therefore
which

consists

necessity is the content of his judgment in the control over ourselves and

over external men

as

nature

is founded
animals

who separated themselves

unfree
as

the

knowledge of natural necessity. from the animal kingdom were in all themselves, but each step forward in
on
. . .

civilization was a

step

toward

freedom.

This is

clear

continuation

of

Hegel's dialectic

of

freedom,

of

freedom's
subjective

being
and

result

of

the

interdependence
person

of objective

and

elements. choice

An

ignorant
on

cannot
are not

be free because

judgment

free. Ignoramuses decisions quickly and usually freely; they live in a world of their own illusions, but they are not free. In order truly to be free one must know reality and by knowledge exercise control over it. To be free, a person must live in a
based
ignorance
their
are

self-confident,

make

own

society in

which

the

results

of

activity
must

conform

with

reasonable

expectations.

To be

free,

person

live

under

circumstances

which allow personal effort

to

bring forth
the

desired
of

effects.
will

Marx

and

Engels believe that

ideal

individual freedom
state and

only
the

be

attained

in

society

without

without

government,

without
vision

private

property,

and

without

wars.

Such is

Marxian

of

the
and

adversaries as
of

Utopian,

kingdom of freedom, described by his by Marx himself as a scientific prediction

the

future.
own social organization
which

Men's
them
.

has hitherto
act of men

stood

in

opposition

to

will

then

become

the

voluntary

themselves. The objective,

Three Concepts of Freedom

external control

47
under
with

forces
of

which

men

themselves.

have hitherto dominated history, will then pass It is only from this point that men,
their own

the

full

consciousness,
social causes

will

fashion
motion

history;

it is only from

this point that the

set

in

by

man will willed

have,

increasing
realm of

measure, the

effects

by

predominantly and in constantly man. It is humanity's leap from the

necessity into
see,

the realm of

freedom.

As
not

we

for Hegel

and

Marx freedom is

not static.

A free

man

is

he is a social being continually overcoming objective and subjective difficulties along the path of his development. Man is not born free; he may become free. Freedom does not lie in a separation from society; man is not a monad living in a cell separate from all others; he can realize and extend his power over external circum stances only in cooperation with other free people. Freedom is not a subjective feeling, as St. Augustine would have it; freedom is a result
passive;
of

the combination of subjective and objective elements.

Man

cannot

be liberated by a mechanical transfer from the country of bondage to the kingdom of freedom. Mere institutional, social, and economic changes by themselves cannot truly liberate people. Prior to and

during

liberation

the

minds

of

the

people
which

must

be

reformed

and

adjusted to the new circumstances

in

they
of

can make their own

decisions
Hegel

and choices with maximum consciousness. wrote

that

man

used

the

forces

nature

gravity) in order to build nature. Marx and Engels

shelters against the ravages of the

(water, fire, forces of

write that man must use the social

with which
of

forces,
build
a

evolutionary society in which

instead The
and
of

tendencies to serve as the material

an

to

individual
a

can

be
is

the master

his

own

being

like

die

which

being

thrown about

destiny by blind,

inscrutable forces.
man
of the

future,
will social

the

free man,

will

be
not

educated, civilized,
moral regard will

disciplined. He
rules
of will

voluntarily

observe

the

norms

and as a

accepted

burden, they

behavior. He will be self evident for him.

them
not

They

restrict

freedom but be its precondition. In this society man will be able to develop all his natural talents and reasonable inclinations. Not everyone will have the talent of a Raphael or a Leonardo da Vinci, Marx observed, but everyone possessing such a genius will be given an own and the public's benefit. opportunity to develop it for his The gist of Marx's considerations on freedom is:
In Communist society,
where

no

one

has any

exclusive sphere of

activity,

but

48
each

Interpretation
can

be

accomplished

regulated

by

society, thus

another

tomorrow, to

in any branch he wishes, production as a whole is do one thing today and making it possible for me to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in

the evening, criticize

ever

after

dinner,

in

accordance with

my inclination,

without

becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd

prediction

or critic.

Marx's

that

division

of

labor

will

disappear in

the

future

society is
On
the

one of the weakest elements of

his theory; it is

an obvious

Utopian vestige.

theory should not be overlooked: In order to develop his personality a truly free human should be given more opportunities to use fully all his latent being talents and dormant interests. Marx interpreted social freedom as a liberation of the individual. That individual will be conscious of social needs, he will understand that he must work for society, but not in the sense of self-deprivation or asceticism. The liberated individual would nevertheless remain an individualist and a hedonist. An individual in the future Communist society will on the one hand be disciplined, on the other however he will resemble the intellectual. His way of life will constantly change, together with his profession and his artistic tastes. He will lose private property, but he will have the right to satisfy his reasonable personal drives and desires.
other

hand,

one

aspect

of

this

"anarchistic"

IV

Hegel

ridicules

Kant's philosophy
with

of pure reason.

He
to

compares this

kind
swim

of

knowledge

that

of persons who wish

learn how
no
one

to

without

entering

the water.
as

Hegel

writes

that

if

can

know

the

thing-in-itself,

Kant argues, He

then one cannot even

be

sure

that the thing-in-itself exists.

admire

refers with contempt to those who

of

Kant for
For

having
Hegel,
a

taught the art

philosophizing,
to

but

not

philosophy. without

that

is

tantamount

teaching how

to make a

table,

or a

chair,

or a

teaching carpentry door.

And still, Hegel is

freedom. Hegel's
priori

point of

direct continuator of Kant's grand notion of departure is a strange amalgam of Kant's a

and

ideas:

freedom, infinity,
and

God. Hegel's Idea

of

Eternal

Freedom is abstract,
more

it is

God-creator. Man becomes

more and
and more

enlightened, according to

Kant; he becomes

more
and

critical,

outgrowing

the age of nonentity, of

tutelage,

eventually

Three Concepts of Freedom

49
means.

reaching horizons
of

a of

clearer

understanding

of

what

freedom

The

How similar,
the

understanding incessantly broaden, Kant writes. and yet how different, Hegel sounds when he
of

speaks

history

the

Idea is

of

Freedom (which he identifies

authentic

with

the
and

Absolute

Idea).

It

the

conversely, the
tion of the

history
of

of mankind

is

the
so

history history

of of

mankind

the transforma

Idea
of

Freedom. This is

because
the

the

Absolute Idea is
Freedom

the

demiurge
was

history.
way for
the

It

Kant

who prepared the

Pure Idea

of

in Hegel's The

philosophy. world

fountainhead of the idea of freedom is one of Kant's philosophical foundation stones. This notion was incorporated in Hegel's writings and connected with his ideas on dialectical contradictions. The abstract idea of freedom thus became alive and concrete. Hegel ultimately will forget that his idea of freedom once was an abstract notion and whenever he analyzes it,
supersensuous

being

he does

what

true

historian

should

do, he
of a

analyzes
given

the whole

economic, political,
enlightened
reader

and

cultural

situation

society.

The
of

should

simply ignore Hegel's

assumptive

use

the

idea

of

freedom
which

and concentrate on

his

superb analysis of and

how
the
of

societies
manner

struggled

each

in

their
or

own

circumstances

how

in

he

affirms

denies

the

concrete

freedom

historically
notion
of

real

individuals

was realized.

In this way Hegel

prepared

freedom

and

for Marx's sociological became a contributor to simultaneously

the
ground

Marx's

return to

Kant.

Marx begins his considerations on freedom with an analysis developed by Hegel: The notion of freedom has a different meaning in every different social epoch. Hegel asserted that the evolution of the idea of freedom was the cause of the changing social and political relations; according to Marx the ideas of freedom are determined by
those relations,

by

"real,"

"material"

the

basis

of

those relations.
upside

As he

declares,
thereby
to

Marx

turned

Hegel's idealistic dialectic

down

and

made the

idea

of

freedom

come out

feet first. four basic

According
periods:

Hegel

the

idea

of

freedom
Greek

went through

oriental

despotism,
German

the

and

tianity,

and

the

societies.

According

Roman states, Chris to Marx the ideas of

freedom
primitive

were

different

under each of these socio-economic systems:

communism, slavery,

feudalism,

capitalism,

and once again

50
the

Interpretation

future communist society. According to Marx there were two basic philosophies of freedom under every society based on
exploitation:

that of the oppressed exploited masses and that of the

exploiters.

In the future Communist society,

political

lacking

class

antag
wither

onisms

and

oppression,

when

the state and

will

law. will

away, the

freedom
all

of each

individual

be

compatible

with

the

freedom
There
external

of

and

this is the Kantian

"powerless"

(Engels)
will

ideal.

will

be

no

law,

Marx continues, meaning that there

or

be

no

restrictions

commands;

they

will

be

replaced

by

the

conscious and
will

discipline

of

highly
of

educated, enlightened, self-disciplined,

unselfish

members

the communist society.

These

members
of

govern

self-legislation

themselves, ultimately expressing the Kantian ideal (not Hegel's boese Wirklichkeit).
realize

the science of

Communist society will Marx. Kant,

such a

the

Kantian ideals
that

as

forecast

by

however, doubted

his

optimum state

of self-legislation could

For them

be attained. Marx and Engels had no doubts. future was not a speculative ideal of pure reason,
stage which

but
the

the

inevitable
of

iron laws

society must its development. Marx

Hegelian dialectical

reach

in

accordance with were

and

Engels

more

Kantian than Kant himself. What

about

the

contradictions which are the

soul of the social sciences and social

non-political,
vicious

Marx asserts,
the

development? They will become will cease to be poisonous and they

society
is
a can

because
It
would of

free

non-antagonistic

easily

overcome

them.

appear that the

and

Hegelian
always
will

concept that state

process

self-realization and

freedom is a of strife for

place

self-preservation

expansion

also

find its

in

the

"museum

antiquity"

of
of

next to the

state,

law,

and religion.

Hegel's theory
and

Marx,
George

and

freedom acted as between Marx and Kant.

intermediary between

Kant

Tapley Whitney

and

(New York: Russell & Russell, 2 Ibid., p. 257.

3

Inc., 1962),

David F. Bowers, eds., The Heritage of Kant p. 257.

Ibid.,

p.

253.

Rotenstreich, From Substance to Subject (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1974), p. 34. Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, trans, by Lewis White Beck (Indianapolis, New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1956), p. 4.

Nathan

According
a

to

priori,

but

we can

Kant's philosophy we can think the ideas know neither God nor the world. Why

of

God

and

the world
are

not?

Because they

Three Concepts of Freedom

on

51
of

the

other

side.

But the idea

and

of

freedom is "susceptible in itself

of no

no

presentation
possibility."

intuition, (Kant, Critique

Kant,

in

consequently

theoretical

proof

of

its
of

of Judgment, Gulik,

p.

383). This

concept

freedom is obviously
according
to

connected with the concept of man as a noumenon presupposes the existence of

which,
the

logically

freedom

as well as

fact
6

that reason

influences free decisions.

Erwin De

Haar,
pp.

ed., Im Zeichen Der

and
"

Hoffnung,
"Kurt

(Muenchen: Max Huber

Verlag, 1962),
dem
Immanuel
8

333-34. Trans,

abridged

Huber, Schlusswort
Norman

vor

'Volksgerichtshof'

by

I. E. Previti (manuscript).
trans,

(New York: St. Martin's

Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Press, 1965), p. 312.

by

Kemp

Smith

Ibid.,

p.

312.

Cambridge

Avineri, Hegel's Theory of the Modem State (Cambridge: University Press, 1972), p. 239. Hegel, Philosophy of Right, trans, by T. M. Knox (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1952), p. 16. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Philosophy of History, trans, by J. Sibree (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1956), p. 19. 12 Ibid., p. 23. 13 Ibid., p. 21. Shlomo Avineri, Hegel's Theory of the Modem State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972), p. 132. 15 Ibid., p. 99. 16 Ibid., p. 229.
Shlomo
1 7

Georg

Wilhelm Friedrich

Hegel, Philosophie der Weltgeschichte, VI. The

quote

is my own translation from the original German text which reads: "Aeussere Uebermacht vermag nichts auf die Dauer: Napoleon hat Spanien so
als

wenig zur Freiheit, Band "Die Deutsche

translation

Philip

II Holland

zur

Knechtschaft

zwingen

koennen."

Welt"

(Leipzig: Felix Meiner

Verlag, 1944),

p.

932.

Cf. Shlomo Avineri, Hegel's

of

Theory
to

this sentence would

should

have
of

of the Modern State. A correct read "It is the way of God in the
state."

world, that there

was not

be

(literally:

is)

the

What Hegel

meant of

to

say

that the state

is

the

"March

God"

on earth or

anything

this nature,

but that the very existence of the state is human arbitrary artefact. (Pp. 176-77).

part of a

divine

strategy,

not a

merely
ed.

Karl Marx, On Freedom of the Press and Censorship, trans, and Saul K. Padover (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974), p. 142.
20 2 '

by

Ibid.,

p.

144.

Marx & Engels, Basic Writings on Politics & Philosophy , ed. by Lewis S. Feuer (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., Anchor Books, 1959), p. 360.
22 23

Ibid.,

p.

361.

Frederick Engels,

Anti-Duehring

C. P.

Dutt,

ed., trans,
pp.

by

Emile Burns

(New York: International Publishers Co., Inc., 1970), 24 Ibid., pp. 309-10.
25

125-26.

Karl

Marx, Selected Writings in

and

Sociology

& Social

Bottomore

Maximilian Rubel (New York: McGraw-Hill Book

Philosophy, eds., Co., 1964), p.

95.

52 NOTES FROM CHARLES DICKENS'S CHRISTMAS

George anastaplo
CAROL*

Rosary

College

and

The

University

of Chicago

Macbeth:

One

cried

"God bless

us!"

"Amen!"

and

the other,

As they had

seen me with

these

hangman's hands,
"Amen!"

List'ning

their

fear. I

could not

say

When they did say "God bless

us!"

Lady

Macbeth:

Consider it But

not so

deeply.
I
pronounce

Macbeth:

wherefore could not

"Amen"?

I had

most need of

blessing,

"Amen"

and

Stuck in my

throat.

Shakespeare, Macbeth II, ii

A
on

classical

scholar, in assessing the Greek

creative
power that
Dickens."

the

"extraordinary
and

dramatists, has remarked [Aeschylus] shares with

article

Shakespeare
observes

An Encyclopaedia Britannica

that Charles Dickens stands second

only
and

to

Shakespeare in
as

English English

literature,

that

he is

"

[g] enerally
finds
again

regarded

the greatest

novelist."

Thus,

one

again,

in

critical

discussions,
Whatever
of

elevations of

Dickens

to the most exalted

heights.1

reservations one no

may have
which

about the ultimate soundness ever

these

assessments,

English

author

enjoyed

during

his

lifetime

the popular acclaim

and

came

to
so

Charles Dickens.

Only
who

Shakespeare

Lewis Carroll in
now

created

many

characters

(either in their

names or

familiar quotations) have

taken on a

life

of

their own.

*This essay was The Basic Program

(It
was
colleague

prepared
of

originally for the Works of the Mind Lecture Series, Liberal Education for Adults, The University of Chicago.

dedicated on that occasion, December 12, 1976, to the memory of a who had died that week, Professor Arthur Heiserman of The of University Chicago.) It will be included in Anastaplo, The Artist as Thinker (to be published by Swallow Press of Chicago). The reader is urged, as with my other publications, to begin by reading the
text
without reference

to the notes.

Notes from Dickens's Christmas Carol

53 Ebenezer

Among
Scrooge,
author's
without

Dickens'

memorable

characters

is,

of

course,

hero of that 1843 tale, A Christmas Carol, one of the best known books. No Christmas among us is complete
the

its

representation

on

stage,

radio and

television,

as well as

in

the

home. Indeed, for many people,

of

there

are

only

two

Christmas

stories

note, that

of

the

New Testament
even

and that written

by

the

31-year-old Charles Dickens. It has

made

been

said that

Dickens has
and good
time."

the modern

Christmas
a

what

it is,

a time

for

feasting

cheer,

"a
p.

good

time:

kind, forgiving,

charitable,

pleasant

(C.C.,

49)2
___

The story of the conversion of Scrooge is familiar. It is the story Spirits" of "a squeezing, of the instructive "haunt[ing] by Three
sinner,"

wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching,

who was
struck

covetous old
which

a man

"[h]ard

and

sharp

as

flint, from
and

no steel and

had

ever as ari

out generous

fire;

secret,

self-contained,
see our

solitary

hero (on Christmas Eve) disparaging the Christmas spirit in the approaches to him (in turn) of his lively nephew, of two gentlemen soliciting for the poor, of a little boy who tries to sing him a Christmas carol, and of Bob Cratchit (his
oyster."

(C.C.,

pp.

63, 46)

We first

clerk) whom he reluctantly gives the next day as a holiday with pay (but not without the parting injunction, "Be here all the earlier next
morning!"

[C.C.,
few

p.

53]).
one

Within
the

pages,

has

lively
lead

(and permanent)
not yet

awareness of

kind

of

man

Scrooge is. One is

which could

aware,

however,
conversion,
of

of

anything in him
conversion which
of

to

his famous
and

follows
of

upon the visitation to

Scrooge

the ghost
of

his deceased
the

partner, Jacob

Marley,

thereupon
of

Three

Christmas Past, the Ghost Spirits, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Marley's Ghost (who is
almost as

Ghost

Christmas

Present,
of

chilling

as the sombre

Ghost
what

Christmas Yet

to

Come)
he

is

anticipated

for Scrooge

by
.

he
an

experiences when

returns

home

after

"his melancholy
.
.

dinner",

experience which so startles

a

terrible
pp.

sensation

to

him "that his blood was conscious of infancy." which it had been a stranger from
this
"rejuvenating"

(C.C.,
the

53, 55) Since it is

be
the threshhold
the story,
pp.

experience which
of note

proves to

remainder of

for Scrooge to everything else it would be useful to recall the

in

narrator's

account of

it (C.C,
a

54-55):
nothing
at all particular about the

Now, it is

fact,

that there was

knocker

on

54
the

Interpretation

door,
and
as

except

that

it

was

very large. It is
whole

also a

fact,

that Scrooge

had

seen

it

night

morning Let it

had

called fancy about him as any man in the City of be borne in mind that Scrooge had not bestowed one dead partner that thought on Marley, since his last mention of his then let any man explain to me, if he can, how it happened that afternoon. And

during
is

his

residence

in

that place; also that

Scrooge

little
. . .

of what

London.

also

seven-yea

Scrooge,
face.

having

his

key

in

the

lock

of

the

door,

saw

in

the

undergoing any intermediate

process

of change:

not a

knocker, without its knocker, but Marley's

Marley's face. It
yard

was not

in impenetrable

shadow as the other object*

in the

dismal light about it, like a bad lobster in a dark cellar. It or ferocious, but looked at Scrooge as Marley used to look: with was not angry was curiously ghostly spectacles turned up upon its ghostly forehead. The hair
were,

but had

stirred,

as

if by breath
motionless.

of

hot-air;
and

and though

the eyes were wide open,

perfectly
seemed

That,

to

be,

in

spite of

its livid colour, made it the face and beyond its control,

horrible; but
rather

they were its horror

its

than a part of

own expression.

this passage, lays down for us an instructive challenge he says, "And then let any man explain to me, if he can, how it happened that Scrooge saw in the knocker not a knocker, but face." how it happened that Marley's (C.C., p. 54) This Scrooge saw not only Marley's face but also, if I may expand it,

Dickens, in

when

challenge

Marley's

ghost

and

thereafter

three

more

ghosts

this challenge

is

what provides

us,

on this

novelist and

his

art

by

An opportunity is

also

discuss a great occasion, opportunity examining one of that artist's favorite stories. provided thereby to develop further what we
an

to

may know
A

about

how

to read a
of

book.3

simple

explanation
can

Christmas Carol is, it

extraordinary manifestations in A be said, implied by Dickens himself in the

the
tavern"

way he

Cannot everything that happens after Scrooge "took his melancholy dinner in his usual (C.C., pp.
presents

this story.

53-54) be understood

as an extended

dream

by

Scrooge? (This

under

standing may not be essential to my interpretation of it does add at least a diverting, and perhaps instructive,
my composition.)
An early hint
that
and
of a

the book but

grace note to

dream may be
read
all

provided us

in the

observation

Scrooge,
beguiled
to

after

"having
p.

the newspapers
with

[in his tavern]

went

the rest of the

evening

his

banker's-book,
is
reported gone

home

bed."

(C.C.,
after

narrator

only

It is only Scrooge is said

54)

after this

by

the to

to

have

"home

Notes from Dickens's Christmas Carol

bed" that Scrooge is

55
to

encountering
and noises as

the

described as transformed knocker

"actually"

walking up
chambers.

his door,

and then other strange sights

he

ascends to and settles

into his
a

But

to suggest that all this

a

is essentially
explanation

remarkably
response

productive
Dickens'

dream is only
challenge.
what

preliminary
still

in

to
"works"

We have
says

to

consider

how

this

dream

and

it

about

Scrooge in

and,
that

indeed,

about

human beings

generally.

How did it happen

or

experience, whether

not

the

Scrooge had this revolutionary form of a dream? After all, this

Christmas Eve
this night

was

spent

in his

usual

melancholy

manner.

Why

was

different from

nights?4

all other

n A Christmas Carol begins

dead."

with

the stark observation,

paragraphs no
or

"Marley

was

(C.C.,
be

p.

45)

And

few

emphasizes this

This
of

must

by distinctly
I
am we

saying, "There is understood,

further on, the narrator doubt that Marley was dead.

wonderful can come

nothing
the

relate."

the

story

going
are

to
still

(C.C.,

p.

45)

Scrooge's
and

counting-house,
Marley"

told,

bears

sign, "Scrooge

(C.G,

p.

46):

Scrooge
above

never painted out

Old Marley's
and

name.

There it stood,
was called

years

afterwards,
as

the warehouse

door: Scrooge
people new

Marley. The firm

known

Scrooge
and

and

Marley. Sometimes

to the

business
names:

Scrooge

Scrooge,

sometimes

Marley, but he

answered to

both

it

was all

the same to

him.

Death looms large throughout A Christmas Carol,

and

not

only

emphatically in its very beginning. All

for

example, turns

around two a

Third Spirit's visitation, future deaths, that of Tiny Tim and

of

the

that of

Scrooge
an

himself,
(C.C.,

death (in

the

latter case)
in

which

is grim,
on

lonely

and

occasion

for

jesting

if

not even

"serious

delight"

the part of others.

pp.

119-20) But,

a manner of

speaking,

Scrooge had already died at least insofar as he is interchangeable with Marley (in whose chambers he now lives [C.C., p. 54]). Scrooge

has
was

seen someone
come

very

much

like himself,
charitable

with

his

own

interests

and

resources,

to

die. He

was reminded of

Marley's

obliged

to

inform
seven

the

gentlemen, "Mr.
seven
years

he death, Marley has

when

been dead

these
p.

years.

He died

ago,

this

very

night."

(C.C.,

50)

56 A few
minutes

Interpretation
earlier, Scrooge

had had
of

an

encounter

with

well-wishing defended Christmas

the

nephew

in

the

course

which

the

nephew

his had

as

only

time
one

I know of, in the

consent

long calendar
journeys.

of the

year,

when men and women

and

seem

by

to open their
were

below

them as

if they really

shut-up hearts freely, fellow-passengers to the

to think

of people

grave,

and not another

race of creatures

bound

on other

[C.C,

p.

49.]
one of those

Scrooge does

seem

to

consider

himself
of

"creatures
somehow

bound

on

other

journeys" one

those

who

have

transcended their mortality.

His

journey

is in

a substantial chariot

fashioned
died
this
man's

of silver and

gold

but

the recollection of

be very night, journey is at best but

can also

said to a slight and

Perhaps Scrooge

senses

Marley, who had have reminded him that the rich detour on the route to the grave. this the nephew's liveliness may

have impressed upon him that there is something deadly about his own way of life. He may sense, that is, that he has cut himself off from genuine human contact, from a life of breadth and meaning. He
may
made even
of a

sense, especially

at

a season of the year when so much

is

Birth

and

of

rebirth, that

he has

somehow

himself

the

death

which

(it is

evident

throughout

hastened for the book) he

dreads. In short, he has, in his desperate made himself more vulnerable.

efforts to preserve

himself,

Ill

To

speak

of

vulnerability

and
what

of

preservation

is

to

direct

our

attention

(if only

briefly)

to

it is

that

really

moves a miser such

as

Scrooge. After all, what do the avaricious seek? Avarice is an attempt to fence oneself off from death

and

any
It is

lesser,

related vulnerability.

It is

an attempt to save one's

from life by
upon

providing

oneself

the means to

deal

with whatever

may

threaten one.
to

an attempt to

be

self-sufficient rather than to

have

rely

someone else

in

a critical moment.

The helplessness which the miserly Scrooge is determined to avoid lies just below his veneer of worldly wisdom and everyday competence. The first episode that Scrooge recollects, under the aegis of the Ghost of Christmas Past, is of himself as a schoolboy

Notes from Dickens's Christmas Carol

who

57 in his
miserable pp. so

is

abandoned

at

Christmas time, left

this

alone gone

boarding school,
70-73)
much

when all the other

boys have

home. (C.C,

Is there
so

not

about

experience

something traumatic,

that it

is only

natural

that the scarred adult might make

every effort not to permit himself ever to become helpless again? (The plight of a vulnerable child means a great deal to Dickens also,
as

is

evident

in

the

first [and

best]

part

[which is autobiographical]

of David

Copperfield.)
as a

Scrooge
suffered shown to

child

(again, it

from

the

callousness

Scrooge

by

the

like Dickens before him) his father. The second episode Ghost of Christmas Past once again displays
seems,
of

but, on that occasion, he is from his loneliness by his sister, who had interceded with their father. (C.C, pp. 73-75) Scrooge repeats before us, in a more dramatic form, the conversion evidently experienced by his father, who (for an unstated reason) changed suddenly from a harsh parent to a kind one. Indeed, Scrooge can be thought of, at the beginning of A Christmas Carol, as subject still to the harsh father in himself. His
a
child abandoned at

Christmastime

rescued

rescue

on

the

reader's

Christmas Eve is

again

contributed

to

(in

effect)

by

his

now-dead sister.

She

acts this time through

her

son, the
to

nephew

who

had insisted

upon

bringing
on

Christmas

cheer

his

formidable
The

uncle.
unwelcome visit

nephew's

Christmas Eve

to

Scrooge's

begins a series of recollections which can be said to have naturally brought to the surface of Scrooge's consciousness a reexamination of the kind of life he had resorted to.
counting-house

IV

The
critical

problem exchange

with

Scrooge's kind
with

of

life is

pointed

up in
to

one

he has
now

his

nephew.

Scrooge

responds
uncle!

his

nephew's

opening

greeting,

you!",
uncle

with

his

"A merry notorious, "Bah!

Christmas,
Humbug!"

God

save

The disgruntled

goes on to

say,

"Merry
you

Christmas! What
to

right

have

you to

be
To

merry? what reason

which

have

be

merry?

You're

enough."

poor

the nephew replied gaily,

what reason

"Come,
be

then.

What

right

have

you to

be dismal? And,

have

you to

morose?
no

You're

enough."

rich

the narrator adds,

"Scrooge

having

better

answer

ready

on

58

Interpretation
'Bah!'

the spur of the moment, said,

'Humbug'

again; and

followed it up
a

with

"

(C.C,
which

pp.

47-48).
Scrooge does
not

It is

significant

that

have here

ready

answer

(something
with

he does have in
and
with

dealing immediately
the

thereafter

the

two
right

solicitors

Bob Cratchit). He had himself

appropriateness

invoked

and

reason

in challenging

of

merriment standards

in

his

and himself. He evidently cannot deny that he is dismal and That is, he tacitly concedes, when it is wealth. this despite his implicitly pointed out to him, that his wealth has not insulated him from childlike misery, from that vulnerability of which death is the
morose

by

which

nephew: he had thereby indicated the poor he judged others and was prepared to be judged

most

lives and

dramatic form. Scrooge is practically dead in this the nephew's argument brings home

the to

way he

his

not

unperceptive uncle.

This may be brought home as well by the aborted Christmas carol whom he sung to Scrooge through his keyhole by the little boy

drives

off

(C.C,

p.

53):

God bless

you

merry

gentlemen!

May
This has been "the
London
said

nothing

you

dismay!

by

the editor of the

most popular of streets rest

"keep,"

Christmas
of

carols."

Oxford Book of Carols to be The version usually sung in

changed

in

the time
to

Dickens has been

you".

in

this

story
(in

from "God
this

you"

"God bless

"Rest",

which means

context)
merry.
of

would

be inappropriate for Scrooge. He

the
connotation of of

cannot

be kept

"Bless", however, has

something,

done for

one.

The

being changed into something, boy can be considered providential in making this
well as other appropriate

being made having something

what

vital change

(as

changes) in
dismay or

he

sings.

Perhaps he

senses what
you use

Scrooge is in
dismay!"

need of.

"May
somehow

nothing
(to

It

is

dismalness

or

moroseness

the

nephew's

language) which

Scrooge has
wealth.

accumulated with
an

(not necessarily because of) his

And,
he is

being
aware

eminently

practical man of considerable

intelligence,
This

that

his

state of affairs
an

really does
up
this

not make sense.

and

awareness

is

put

together, in

imaginative

hence instructive
Eve.5

manner,

by

the visitations

he

conjures

Christmas

Notes from Dickens's Christmas Carol V

59

Critical to one's understanding of what does happen to Scrooge is how the nephew regards his Christmas Eve encounter with his uncle.
The
nephew's
opinion

is

shown

to

Scrooge

by

the

Ghost

of

Christmas

Present, when he hears the nephew explain to his Christmas Day guests what had happened the evening before upon visiting his uncle's counting-house (C.C, pp. 103-104):
[T]h.e
consequence of
,

his taking

dislike

to us, and not

making merry
which could

with us

do him he loses pleasanter companions than he can find in his own thoughts, either in his mouldy old office, or his dusty chambers. I mean to give him the same chance every year, whether he likes it or not, for I pity him. He it I may rail at Christmas till he dies, but he can't help thinking better of defy him if he finds me going there, in good temper, year after year, and saying Uncle Scrooge, how are you? If it only puts him in the vein to leave his poor

[today] is,
harm. I

as

I think, that he loses

some pleasant

moments,

no

am sure

clerk

fifty

pounds, that's something;

and

think

shook

him,

yesterday.

The

narrator then adds

(C.C,
now,

p.

104),

It

was

their turn to

laugh

thoroughly laughed at
merriment,

good-natured, and not

any

rate,

he

his shaking Scrooge. But being caring what they laughed at, so that they [Scrooge's nephew] encouraged them in their
at the notion of
much

and passed

the

bottle, joyously.
be laughed
very
end

Such
which

willingness to

at anticipates
of

(in
to

the

happens (at
p.

the

the

story)

nephew) that Scrooge himself

(C.C,
.

134):

Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he
.
.

thought

it

quite as well

that

the

malady in less

attractive

they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite

enough

for him.

Thus, both
more
associates.

uncle and nephew are revealed and

to

be

more

perceptive,
of their

discerning,
Is
the

hence
of

perhaps even wiser than most

nephew

correct

in

better"

believing
finds

that

Scrooge "can't

help

thinking

Christmas if he

the nephew

visiting

60

Interpretation

him,
for
the

"in

good

temper,

year after year"? are not told.

How

often

has

the nephew

gone there

before? We
to

Even so, the

one

nephew

does
in

stand

the

gentlemanly

proposition

that

should much

persist

doing

what one

believes

be

right,

without

being

concerned about

likely futility
"I
it
on

of one's efforts.

The

central question

in

our analysis of

this

to the observation

by

the nephew which

laugh,
what

think

shook

him,

yesterday.

story may well relate had moved the guests to I have already suggested
the nephew's

was

that

may have

shaken

Scrooge,

meeting

him

his
to

own ground with respect to the supposed correlation of

poverty

misery

and of wealth to at

happiness. We have
in
response

noticed that nephew's

Scrooge had been

deadly
you to

query,

loss for "What right have

a

words you to

to

his

be dismal?

what reason

have
in
the

be

morose?

You're

enough."

rich

(C.C,

p.

48)
effectiveness

More

significant,

perhaps,
attack

than

the

nephew's

checking

Scrooge's
that

on

Christmas

merriment

is

that

nephew noticed

been

shaken.

Scrooge had indeed been checked, that he had But even more significant, however, is that Scrooge
the nephew noticed that

himself may have noticed that been shaken. For, it has been
understood

Scrooge had

suggested, this narrative

may best be
in
which

as

Scrooge's

dream an

introspective

reverie

Scrooge is

able to

step back
in

and see what

he has really been up

to all

his life.
The
central question our analysis of the

story is, then, What is

there about
even

Scrooge in his

circumstances which accounts

for,

perhaps

his salvation, it has also been suggested, was his perceptiveness, his awareness of what his life past and present meant and what that life was tending to. It was no accident nor the ministrations of Jacob simply due to Marley (for
conversion?

justifies, his

Critical

to

what,

after

all,

moved

or

permitted

Marley

to

intervene?)

that

salvation came to part of others

Scrooge, but

rather as the result of efforts

on the

(such as his nephew). These efforts prompted Scrooge face up to what had become of the vulnerable child abandoned decades before in a lonely schoolroom.
to
about this view of the matter something hopeful and for it rests on the proposition (does it not?) that virtue is somehow dependent upon wisdom, that one can somehow learn to be good. Thus, cause and effect can be discerned and relied upon in

There is

reassuring,

the moral

as

in

the physical

universe:

the conversion and salvation of

No tes from Dickens 's Christmas Carol

61
one

Scrooge
wonder,
It is
the

are,
was

therefore,

not

mere

Scrooge

really

capable

happenstance. But, of the kind of

of

might

perceptive

soul-searching I have
said

conjured

by

the narrator,

up here? in his account

that

the transformation of
as

knocker into Marley's face,

"Scrooge had
the

little

of what

is
p.

called

fancy
and

about

him

as

any
as
of

man

in

54)

Does

not
or

"fancy"

City

London."

of

(C.C,

refer,

in

the words of one

dictionary,
an

to a
one

capricious
thing

delusive
an

sort

imagination? Such imagination is

to that.
and of

Scrooge is

not

subject
of

But
the

imagination
or

informed

by

awareness

things,

implications
pp.

tendency

of one's

life,
not

is

quite another matter.

(C.C,
nature

117, 124,
attested to real
of

126)
That Scrooge is in in Scrooge's
characters

simply

unimaginative

by

is

the course of the

first

episode presented

in Christmas Past. As

recollection as

his former
as

schoolmates are the

images

in books he

read as a neglected

child,

characters who came

to him then (for his solace) him now (for his

recalls

Marley
[C.C,

and the other ghosts come to

"reclamation"

p.

69]). Notice how Scrooge

those

storybook

characters

of

Christmas Past

(C.C,

pp.

72-73):
The Spirit
touched

him
a

on the

arm, and pointed to

his

younger

self, intent

upon

his
to

reading.

Suddenly

man, in

foreign

garments:

an ass

look at: stood outside the window, laden with wood by the bridle.
Ali
Baba!"

with an

wonderfully real and distinct axe stuck in his belt, and leading

Scrooge exclaimed in ecstasy. "It's dear old honest Ali know! One Christmas time, when yonder solitary child was left here all alone, he did come, for the first time, just like that. Poor boy! And Valentine," said Scrooge, "and his wild brother, Orson; there they go! And what's his name, who was put down in his drawers, asleep, at the Gate of Damascus; don't you see him! And the Sultan's Groom turned upside-down by the Genii; there he is upon his head! Serve him right. I'm glad of it. What business had he to be married to the

"Why, it's
Baba!

Yes,

yes, I

Princess!"

To hear Scrooge expending

most

extraordinary

voice

and excited

face;

would

all the earnestness of his nature on such subjects, in a between laughing and crying; and to see his heightened have been a surprise to his business friends in the city,

indeed.
"There's
the
Parrot!"

cried

Scrooge. "Green
of

body

and yellow

tail,

with a

thing

like a lettuce growing out of the top he called him, when he came home

his head;

there

he is! Poor Robin Crusoe,

around the

again after

sailing

island. 'Poor

62 Crusoe, where have dreaming, but he wasn't.

Robin
you

Interpretation

been,
the

Robin

Crusoe?'

The

man

thought
goes

he

was

It

was

Parrot,

you

know. There
Halloo!"

Friday,

running for his life to the little

creek!

Halloa! Hoop!

Then,
said,

with a

rapidity

of transition

very foreign to his

boy!"

usual

character,

[Scrooge]

in pity for his former self, "Poor

much moved

and cried again.

Scrooge is
alone":

by

"yonder solitary
of

child

left here
"

all

twice

in
says,

the

course

this

recollection

of

storybook

characters,

he

recollection,

which

This "in pity for his former self, 'Poor has the effect of reviving that "former self

boy!'

buried
tears

deep

within the singleminded

businessman,

moves

Scrooge

to

(C.C,

p.

73):
and

"I

wish,"

him,

after

Scrooge muttered, putting his hand in his pocket, drying his eyes with his cuff: "but it's too late
matter?"

looking

about

now."

"What is the
"Nothing,"

asked

the

Spirit.
was a

said

Scrooge. "Nothing. There I

should

boy

singing

Christmas Carol
that's
all."

at

my door last

night.

like

to

have

given

him

something:

This is, in
reform

the

book,
it

Scrooge's first in

articulation

of a

desire

to

his former way

and

of

life. It is his first

the
of

explicit repudiation of

past
with

conduct

consists

identification
the

by

him

of one

boy
the

another,

the

identification
time

abandoned

child

in

schoolroom at

Christmas

singer of a
wish

Christmas

carol

before with the chased-off many the before. Scrooge expresses the evening
years

to act more

kindly

to such a child as the caroller.

to reenact toward that child
ago of

Should he

not

be

taken as now

wanting

(and

to other
the

children)
youthful

the

role

long
the

the

converted

father

toward
on

Scrooge himself? (The first

part, the Christmas

another

morning

after

generosity his fateful night, is

whom

act of

Scrooge's

toward still

little

boy,
for
the

youngster

he

rewards
whom

liberally
turkey

for
will

serving

as a messenger to the

Poulterer's from

the

be

purchased

Cratchit
to

family.)
in

The importance
to speak,

of

the revived child

Scrooge,

battered

child so

is

attested

by

the emphasis given

more

in the book
about

to

Tiny
in

Tim. I dare say

that
than

Scrooge feels

deeply

that rather
see

trying
the

youngster

many

readers

but then, Scrooge may

return

crippled

child

something

of

himself. We
when

to

Scrooge's

relation

to

his

mysterious

father

we

notice

the report that

Notes from Dickens's Christmas Carol

63
p.

Scrooge became "a

child

father"

second

to

Tiny

Tim

(C.C,

134),

thereby from impending death of the body just as Scrooge himself is saved from impending death of the spirit. I return for a moment to Scrooge's first expression of repentance, the desire to have given something to his Christmas Eve caroller. The
saved
narrator then

adds, "The Ghost

as

smiled

thoughtfully,

and waved
"

its
p.

hand: saying

it did so, 'Let

episode

Christmas!'

us see another

(C.C,
(but

73)
This is
the

already

referred

to,

of

an

older

still

youthful) Scrooge
than the time

again abandoned at school. was not

Things

are even worse and

before. "He

reading now, but walking up

down

despairingly."

(C.C,

mournful
door."

shaking
p.

of

73) Scrooge watches the scene "with a his head, glancfing] anxiously towards the
p.

whence his deliverance will for the despairing boy, the schoolboy he feels deeply come, so burdened by dismay that he no longer takes refuge in imaginative

(C.C,

73)

Scrooge knows

even as

reading.

In this way, too, the Scrooge

moroseness
nephew

of the reader's noted

Christmas Eve
the pattern of

has within him both the deliverance begun by his

that

by

his

nephew and the

thereby repeating

Christmas
to release
are

episode when the nephew's mother

(Scrooge's sister)
scenes,

came

her

despairing brother from his holiday bondage.

then, in
these two
schoolroom we come to
of

There

prefigured,

essentially
caroller,

what

happens
to

to the
repent

"mature"

Scrooge

know.

When he is

moved

for his
on

treatment
way.

the

youthful

his

redemption

is

decisively
VI

its

The first
might

steps

in Scrooge's
sincere can

conversion are

the

hardest, just

as

they
of
of

be in any

repentance.

Indeed, Scrooge's
in
one

night

intense soul-searching
obliged

be

considered equivalent

to a program
session.

thoroughgoing therapy,
his

all

compressed

long

He is

to unearth, put together and

an enterprise

face up

to

diverse

elements of

life,

initiated

by

the self-realization pressed upon

conversations.
again as a motif at

his
in

consciousness

by

his Christmas Eve

Scrooge, in going back to childhood, becomes an appropriate enough order to be "born

again,"

child

Christmas

time

(C.C,

pp.

55,

128). He has to
adopt a

see whether

he

can

become helpless again, in order to course different from that adopted by

64

Interpretation
the

him
with

first

time

around.

That
the

course of

is

suggested

to

him

by
well

the

third episode presented

by

Ghost

Christmas

Past,
pp.

the episode

Mr.

Fezziwig,
course

an employer of

Scrooge's

youth who

does

by

his
sion:

associates,

Fezziwig's

especially is the one Scrooge does

nephew's

at

Christmas

(C.C,

75-77).

Mr.

pursue upon

his

conver

he

throws

himself into his

not taken

done); he becomes
But Scrooge had
around

a generous employer

party (as old Fezziwig had of Bob Cratchit.

generous route the

Fezziwig's

first

time

and the reason

is

given

in

the next episode, that

and

in

which the

parting
The
He

of

the ways

is

shown

between Scrooge

his fiancee, Belle.

narrator reports of

Scrooge
in

(C.C,

p.

79):

was

older
of

now;

man

the prime of

life. His face had

in

not the

harsh

and

rigid lines
There
that

later

years

but it had begun

restless motion

to wear the signs of care and avarice. the eye, which showed the passion

was an

eager, greedy,

had

taken root, and where the shadow of the

growing

tree would

fall.

idol had displaced her. And, she says to him in a benevolent spirit, "if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to
a golden
grieve"

Belle tells him that

(C.C,

p.

79). Scrooge justifies his

the
even-handed so

acquisitiveness
of the world!

in

this

fashion: "This is
nothing
on which

dealing
poverty;

There is

it is

hard

as

and

there

is nothing it

professes to

wealth!"

condemn with such

severity

as the pursuit of

Her reply is
You fear the
of

(C.C,

p.

79),

world too much. All your other hopes have merged into the hope beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you.

being

Have I

not?

That

which

the

girl

had

tried to

to

experience

has
avoid

moved

Scrooge

learn

ness of the approach

effort

to

the

recollections, there

he had taken out helplessness of poverty. At this point in his is an exchange between Scrooge and the Ghost

him in her gentle way, hard way, the fruitlessof fear of the world and in his
tell the

(C.C, 81):
"Spirit!"

said

Scrooge, "show
me?"

me

no

more!

Conduct

me

home. Why do

you

delight
"One

to torture

more!"

shadow

exclaimed

the

Ghost.

Notes from Dickens 's Christmas Carol

No
more!"

65
it. Show
me
no

cried

Scrooge. "No

more.

I don't

wish

to see

more!"

But

the

relendess

Ghost

pinioned

him in both his

arms,

and

forced him

to

observe what

happened

next.

What he is
night

shown

next

is

an

episode

of seven

years

before,

the

Jacob

Marley
But

died.
sat

Marley had,
alone

in effect,
office as

replaced

Belle for

Scrooge and

Scrooge

in his

his

partner

died.

(C.C,
nor

p.

83)

the episode shown to the

him is

neither about

himself

about

Marley's death but (for

never

previously had come to sense that he could not bear to fruitful life enjoyed by Belle and the man fortunate
her. The
And
now

Scrooge had

witnessed

first time) about something but which (it would seem) he

contemplate

the

happy,
marry

enough to

narrator reports

(C.C,

p.

82),
than ever, when the master of the

Scrooge looked

on more

attentively
on

house, having his daughter leaning fondly mother at his own fireside; and when he
quite as graceful and

him,

sat

down

with

her

and

her
a

thought that such another creature,

spring-time

in

the

full haggard

of

promise, might

winter of

have called him father, and been his life, his sight grew very dim indeed.

Had

not

Scrooge,

a man not without an

ability

to calculate, come

to the realization that

effort to protect
years

he had

himself
was

before, he
alone

bargain in his life? Already, seven (as he has Belle's husband report to her),
gotten the worst of the against the vagaries of

"[q]uite is

in

world."

the

(C.C,

p.

83)
I

It is

at this point that

Scrooge insists

to the
of
of

Ghost, "Remove

me!

cannot

usually

true

dreamers, he
his
dream as
the

controls

the

bear And, as duration of his

and
an

it!"

dream this part

presses
effort

he
the

seizes an

extinguisher-cap
a past which

it down
to

upon

head

of

Ghost

of

Christmas Past in

hide

the

light

which

had illuminated
terms with

he had

come to see the

misery
can

of.

Once Scrooge has

come to

his past,
other

by

recognizing it
to

for

what

it is, he

then

bear

to consider the present and, even

more

formidable,
course

the

future. He
of

can,

among

things, face up
others

the death the

present

death

himself

and the

death

which

of life tends to. to death (that Having he dreads as the extreme of helplessness), he is prepared

death of so faced up

which

his

for

a radical reclamation.

The

most
of

difficult thing Scrooge has

to

do,

when

he

returns

to the world

the

living,

is

to go to

his

nephew's

66

Interpretation
on

house
it

Christmas Day: "He

he had
"
...

the courage to go

(C.C,

p.

door a dozen times, before knock. But he made a dash, and did up 131). It had proved far easier to be generous to the
passed the
and

messenger-boy
gentlemen who and

sent

to

the

Poulterer's

and to make amends to the

had

solicited

money for
(the

the poor the

evening

before;
his

it

was to prove

far

easier

following

morning)

to reform

relations with

Bob Cratchit.

Scrooge's marked hesitation before the visit to his house confirms what I have suggested about the impor tance of his encounter with his nephew in the counting-house the evening before. It had been in that encounter, more than anywhere else, that Scrooge had had to face up to the fact that his way of life, of which he had been so confident, had not produced for him the results he had bargained for. It had been the nephew, in his comment Perhaps
nephew's
on

Scrooge (as
made

presented

by

the

Ghost

had

the

decisive

assessment of

Christmas Present), who Scrooge's way of life (C.C, p.

of

102):

He's

a comical old

fellow,

that's the truth: and

not so pleasant as

he

might

be.
say

However, his against him.

offences

carry

their own punishment,

and

I have nothing

to

And, the nephew goes on to say (echoing his decisive exchange with his uncle the evening before), "His wealth is of no use to him. He don't do any good with it. He don't make himself comfortable with it. He hasn't the satisfaction of thinking ha, ha, ha!-that he is ever (C.C, pp. 102-103). going to benefit Us with To speak thus is to account not only for Scrooge's deliverance but also for the form it takes. Otherwise, that deliverance may seem
it"

mysterious,

perhaps even unjust

(in that he is

permitted to escape the

misery he deserves). This, then, is

one rooted and

not a miraculous

deliverance but
of the world and with

in Scrooge's character, in his understanding

in

calculations

having

to

do

with what

he fears
the

how

to

achieve

that

which

he longs for. No doubt,

engaging
me,
who

appearance

of a

miraculous
with

story

contributes to the

character of

this

story
the

the

multitudes

have

enjoyed

it for

more than a century.

But

even more

interesting, it
works

seems to

has been

to see

how

dramatic
of genius

miracle works

and this

has

shown us as well

how

an artist

and

what

he

understands about

the movements of

the

human soul, waking

and

dreaming alike. Indeed,

it is because

the

Notes from Dickens 's Christmas Carol

artist
senses what souls are

67
chord

like, thereby striking

have

a responsive

in

soulful

readers, that works such as this

effect.6

an

enduring

VII But to say that

course, that what

an

artist

has

an

he does

should never

enduring effect is be questioned.

not to say, of

It may be
such as
think

somewhat

a matter
rather

of chance

whether a presentation

Dickens'

becomes

sentimental.

At times,

some

will

particularly in
or at

the treatment of the

goes

Cratchit

family,

especially

of

Tiny

Tim Dickens

corrected,

far. But the unduly pathetic is least moderated, by the humor employed, much of it
too
of

exaggerated,

some

it

fairly
few

subtle,

all

of

it

good-natured.

It is

corrected as well

by

the reader's

tendency
We

to regard
are given

Scrooge

as more of

memorable as a rogue than as a saint.

converted Scroogejust a about

pages.

very little After all, what is there

variety,
and

the

to

say

him
in

then?

There is

not

much

hence

poetic

interest,
A

question should

thoroughgoing goodness. be raised, if only in

of

passing,

about the status of

of

death in

the stories

Dickens. Is

not

Scrooge's

terror

death

made

too much of and

reflect

in

effect

legitimated
an

by

this story?

Does

not this

the modern
of

attitude

attitude

of

deep-rooted anxiety in

death, of that death which threatens the continuation of the self, of the individuality, we make so much of today? This considerable concern about death, which Dickens repeatedly puts to
the

face

dramatic use, may be seen food and drink in this and

The
virtue
of

as well other

in

the remarkable role assigned to

Christmas-season tales

by

Dickens.

liberality

is

endorsed

but

at

the cost of at
accounts

virtue of temperance so much so

that

Dickens'

the most exuberant accounts

of what

Christmas

feasting

least the do remain should be

like.
Does
not

really

alive?.

glorying in food and drink assert, in a way, that one is May it not be for many, and perhaps even for Dickens

himself,

an effort to repress the terrors of

death?
and

There may corrupting in

be,

in short, something
attitude toward

corrosive

perhaps

even

Dickens'

death.7

68

Interpretation

VIII

I have
a

been touching

upon the question of what

Dickens in

considers

truly

good man.

Virtues
to the

such as temperance sometimes seem

to

be

sacrificed

by

him

fellow

feeling
of

evident

an

enthusiastic

liberality.
One
another should

pose

the question

the status this

for Dickens

of still

virtue, that

of justice and

naturally

leads,

in turn,

to

the question of what

Dickens

considers a good

community,

another

question which we can

do

no more than touch upon.

self-centered

One
that
can

effect

of

Scrooge's

avarice, it

can

be

argued, is

he does
also

accumulate the wealth required argued

for be

effective charity.

It

be
if

that

the

thriftiness

practiced

by
and

Scrooge is

desirable,
capital

not even

necessary, if there is to

available as well the

required

for steady industrial development

thereby

systematic alleviation of old-fashioned poverty.

Scrooge does have (before his conversion) that ability

of

which

many

defer desires. "[D]arkness is cheap, and Scrooge ordinary liked (C.C, p. 55). "External heat and cold had little influence on (C.C, p. 46). He can live a simple life and be satisfied with it or, at least, be reconciled to it. He can be depended upon to live up to his bargains, to deliver what he promises to deliver, to pay what he promises to pay (C.C, pp. 45, 133). He believes in minding business his own and, it turns out, is open to reconsideration of
the

poor, it seems, simply do

of

not

have,

the

ability

to

gratification
it"

Scrooge"

what

is truly

one's

business (C.C,

pp.

Scrooge is, in his way,

of

a reliable

man

51, 62, 115). and we depend

on the

likes
upon as

him for

the

remarkably high
unconverted political
with

standard of

living
an

to which we are
emphasis

accustomed.
social

The

Scrooge

places

reforms,

upon

efforts, to
the

deal (as efficiently

of modern

economy permits) life (C.C, pp. 51, 108-109). Dickens himself, if not also Scrooge after his conversion, seems to have been skeptical about the value of political endeavor. He may have come to political endeavor from too low a level to appreciate its genuine scope (C.C, p. 49). He much
preferred, in

sound

inevitable ills

industrial

dealing
we

with problems of the

day,

to

rely

upon personal
of
Dickens'

influence. (This may To say

as

help
do

account

for

the

dependence

stories upon remarkable coincidences to make things work out

often

that

commercial

right.) industrialization may be

Notes from Dickens's Christmas Carol

the
most efficient

69
exploitation
of

way

to

organize

the

economic

natural and
of

human
a

the people caught

stunted.

Such

say many up in such an impersonal enterprise may not be life easily degenerates into a frantic pursuit of private

resources

is

not to

that the character of

pleasures, into
Dickens'

a more and more

desperate

concern about one's self.

remarkably modern-day
corrective.

popular melodrama about

of

Ebenezer
provide

Scrooge,
a

Faust

the

marketplace,

can

salutary
repeated

Among

the

salutary

efforts

made

by

Dickens

are

his

endorsements of

festivals,
a

particularly Christmas,
with

which prompt men

to commune to
mobile

from

time to time

their

"fellow-passengers
others

to the

grave,"

establish

humanizing
ordinarily

contact with

in

highly

society
made

which

tends toward anonymous

associated with

isolation.

Dickens

a great

deal

of

festivals
of

family life,
of
of

however,
modern

perhaps

inadvertently
much

reinforcing thereby
our

life

to make too the

private

tendency lives (and hence

primarily

the

death?). That is,

occasions.

festivals he does

promotes are not

patriotic

Even
centered

so,
are

Dickens

condemn

self-centeredness.
of grace

The

self-

characterized

by

lack

and

of graciousness.

They
they

are too

much concerned with

themselves, especially

with what

take to

be

their preservation, to
should

be really

open to or to care

for

others.

Christmas Carol

promote

among

commercial and

people good-natured compassion and a useful

cheerfulness

may

help death-defying nationalism.

guard against

that

patriotism which

degenerates into

ruthless,

IX

of English life in the doubt contribute to the century enduring charm of A Christmas Carol. So does the simple fact that Dickens can write. Besides, his heart is, as we say, in the right place

Its

graphic
of

descriptions

of

London

and

middle

the

nineteenth

no

as

he

appeals to children and to the childlike

can

in

us.

That Dickens
of

these remarks,
the past
and

by

really the high

I

write

is suggested,

as we saw at the outset

praise

he has

again and again received

during

century.

return

to the comparison of

Dickens
enough)

with

Aeschylus

Shakespeare

provided us

(providentially

by

classical scholar.

70

Interpretation

The

best known
and

stories

of

redemption
well

and

rehabilitation

by

Aeschylus

Shakespeare
of these upon

may

Tempest. In both

tales

be The Oresteia and The redemption can be understood to

depend ultimately
not upon

political

(including divine)

rearrangements,
Dickens'

family

circumstances or personal

inclinations. In

stories,

on the other
or more

tamer,

hand, virtues, misconduct domestic, variety.

and

and remedies are of a

The move, then, from Aeschylus

as

Shakespeare to

authors such

Dickens may
that the

reflect

shift

from

political

concerns

to

private,

from finds

a concern with

justice

to

a concern with personal salvation.

One

petty

and the common often

do interest

moderns more

than the grandiose and the noble.

Are

we to understand

that the

deep-rooted
once and

concerns

of, say, The

Oresteia
we

have been taken care of, all, devote ourselves to promoting benevolence and safely charity? Or have those once all-consuming concerns merely been to erupt in ever more destructive forms concealed from view, only from time to time because they have not been properly tended to by
so much so that
can

for

moderns

dedicated
and

to a

determined
were

pursuit of private
otherwise

happiness?

Dickens is

more

sentimental,

and

more

limited,

than

Aeschylus

Shakespeare
to

or were

permitted

by

their more

discerning publics
the generous
the

become. Yet,
of

cannot much

festival

case,

we should not permit

Christmas as "unhallowed

be said among us for Dickens fostered it? If that is

hands"

(C.C,

p.

45)

to

mishandle the

salutary

parable

he has

endowed us with.

'See
706.

Eric T.
p.

Co., 1952), See,

also,

Owen, The Harmony of Aeschylus (Toronto: Clarke, Irwin 102; Encyclopaedia Britannica, Macropaedia (15th ed.), vol. 5,
Wilson, "Dickens:
The Two
Scrooges,"

&
p.

Edmund

in The Wound

and

the Bow
Dickens,"

(Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1941); George Orwell, "Charles in Inside the Whale, a Book of Essays (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.,
to

1940).
Citations
Charles A Christmas Carol
are

designated
since

"C.C."

and

are

keyed
vol.

to

Dickens, The Christmas Books

available

(Baltimore: Penguin
this

Books, 1972),

I.

There has become

to

me,

Annotated Christmas Carol, Clarkson N. Potter, 1976), a

edited

by

essay was prepared, The Michael Patrick Hearn (New York:

useful reference work

for

readers of

A Christmas

Carol. See

e.g. p.

64,

on

the number seven.

See,

on

how

to read a

book,

Leo

Strauss, On Tyranny (New York: Free

Notes from Dickens's Christmas Carol

Press
of

71

Glencoe, 1963);

Hill: North Carolina

Jacob Klein, A Commentary on Plato's Meno (Chapel Press, 1965). See note 7, below. An entertaining, as well as
"literary"

instructive, application of this approach to Strauss, Socrates and Aristophanes (New York:

texts

may be

seen

in

Basic

Books, 1966).

by

See, for citations to readings of literary texts by various scholars influenced Mr. Strauss, A Contemporary Bibliography in Political Philosophy and in Other Areas (1976), ed Harvey Lomax (4215 Glenaire Drive, Dallas, Texas
75229). A
the
more obvious use

by

Dickens

of a

dream may be

seen

in his

next p.

Christmas

Season, The Chimes. The Christmas Books,

vol.

I,

story of 149. (One

can

be

reminded
of

by

the

way "went to
of
of

Carol,

the

two

accounts

Creation in Genesis.

"Revolution

and

the Formation
at

may have been used in A Christmas See also, Hilail Gildin, Contract," Political Society in the Social 5
"work"

bed"

Interpretation 247

248

[1976] .)
how dreams
and

See, for
their

suggestions

about

in

the

Lewis Carroll stories,

Anastaplo, "On Art, Calculation

Alices,"

Carroll, C. L. Dodgson and 68 University of Chicago Magazine (Winter 1975), p. 26. It is

or

Dreams: Lewis

instructive
nature of

to

notice

dreams

how solidly grounded A Christmas Carol is in at least a dreamlike recollection, in the nature
in
the
"nature"

nature

in

the

of certain assures us

vices,

and perhaps

even

of

Providence. This grounding

and

that the

story is

deeply
Thus,

"fancy,"

realistic,

not mere can sense

of serious when

study.

Scrooge
the
not

hence something worthy ("I know it, but I know not how.")
a close.

the

is,

what

final episode with happens to him is

Ghosts is

drawing to

(C.C, 57] )

p.

123)

That

arbitrary but

rather complete and purposeful.

(Scrooge had heard

stories about the ways of ghosts.

[C.C,

p.

See, for indicated

tionalist: Notes
on

interpretations
of

of various

literary

texts

which

provide

backgound for my reading

A Christmas

Carol, Anastaplo, The Constitu

the First Amendment (Dallas: Southern Methodist

University

Press, 1971), pp. 651, 798-99 (Antigone), 30-32, 436-38, 651, 687, 725, 772 (Hamlet), 278-81, 552-53, 690, 791-92, 807-08 {Iliad), 790-91 (King Lear), 581, 707-08, 817 (item 1) (Little Orphan Annie et al), 439, 503, 793 (Nathan the Wise), 278-81, 546, 552-53, 612, 690, 719-20, 791-92, 797 (Odyssey), 642, 783, 798-99 (Oedipus), 510, 779, 787 (Remembrance of Things Past). (Corrections for The Constitutionalist may be found in L.P. deAlvarez, ed., Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address and American Constitutionalism [Irving, Texas: University of Dallas Press, 1976] pp. 130-32. In The Constitutionalist, as in my
,
"cf." "compare"

other

publications,

means

and points

to a qualification of or

something different from what has just been said or cited.) 5 Scrooge had been told by Marley (Prodromos?) that he
to three
nights of visitations.

would

be

subjected

(C.C,
This

p.

63)
be

But

all

three

visits were accomplished

in

one

night.

(C.C,

p.

128)

can

considered a

Trinitarian
(in

element

in

Christmas story in

which explicit religious references

are

a rationalistic

prudently muted (as can be seen even in how far the boy is permitted to singing his carol [C.C, p. 53]). See C.C, pp. 49, 56, 65, 87, 91, 94, 104, 120, 131. See, for the Trinity in still another form, Harry V. Jaffa, The Conditions of

age) go in

72
Freedom:

Interpretation Essays in Political

Philosophy
carries

(Baltimore: Johns

Hopkins

Press,
its

1975), Scrooge,
p.
"logical"

153.
as

he looks

ahead,

the carol

sung

by

the

boy

through to
said

conclusion:

When he dies in Christmas Yet to This

of

his business

acquaintances,

Come, it is "Old Scratch [i.e., Satan] has got his

the

by

one

own at

last,
the

hey?"

(C.C,

p.

112)

tends to confirm the grim alternative

indicated in

lines

subsequent

to those

sung
our

by

boy:

Remember Christ Was born To

save poor
on

Saviour

Christmas Day, souls from Satan's

power
.

Which had

long time

gone

astray

Oxford Book of Carols (London: Oxford University Press, 1928), p. 25. Be that as it may, fragments of the Christmas Eve conversations in Scrooge's
counting-house are worked
episodes

into his nightlong

either

recapitulation

of

his life. Various

taken or
realize

in

that

recapitulation

challenge

positions

Scrooge has

illustrate
that even

what

has been

said

seemingly trivial "blessing" in the Consider the use of

him by others. Scrooge himself comes to purpose. (C.C, p. 113) details serve his
to
Ghosts'

epigraph

to

this

essay

taken
put

from
of

Macbeth.
humour"

(Also muted, if
with

readers

are

not

to

be permanently

"out

their comic
pp.

capable of.

[C.C,

hero, is the 41, 110-20])

realized

ugly

evil that an unrepentant

Scrooge

was

Had

the

inspired Dickens
of a

the extent to which

Scrooge's

experiences

have left us more clues toward the solution of such puzzles as how Scrooge knew (if merely dreaming) about Topper and "the plump sister in the lace at his nephew's house on Christmas Day.
took the
might
tucker"

form

dream, he

(C.C,
It

pp.

103, 105) See Plato, Apology 22B-C.

be
noticed, in
as

should

considering
original

this

and other

anomalies, that the printed

editions space

(as

Dickens'

well

the

before the final two paragraphs book). (C.C, p. 133) Perhaps we should entertain the possibility that the dream continues almost to the very end of the book. (It is not unusual to have a dreamer dream that he wakes up.) Thus, the ingenious Scrooge can be understood to have extended his dream to include his immediate acts of reformation, permitting him to provide the Cratchits a huge turkey for their Christmas dinner, to run into the charitable solicitor, to visit his nephew (where he can meet the guests earlier conjured up by him), and to Cratchit come in eighteen and a half minutes late to work (something highly unlikely for the clerk to do?) on the day after the Christmas holiday.
"have"

manuscript) do happen to show an extra of A Christmas Carol (and nowhere else in

all this may be, the final two paragraphs Scrooge has been permanently reformed by his Christmas Eve. What more should be expected? That

However

of

the

book do

assure us

that

experience of this

fateful

the nephew's prospective

child, if

boy,
of

should

be
. . .

named

Ebenezer? And

that

Scrooge
nephew's

will

have "the
with

satisfaction

thinking

that

he [will] benefit [his

family]

Notes from Dickens's Christmas Carol

[his Is
what wealth]"?

73

(C.C,

pp.

49, 102-03,
Scrooge

112. See, also, Plato, Republic

328C-D,

331D.)
not the reformation of
effected more

by

his

pained realization of

is

happening to him than by

men

a selfless

dedication

to virtue

for its

own sake?

Compare Plato, Republic 588E-589C, 591A-E, 619B-D. Does not death remain for Scrooge, as for Dickens himself, too great a concern? See note 7, below.
Modern

have

allowed themselves to act as

One

need

or to that in Plutarch's Lives (to say nothing of that in Plato's Phaedo) to realize our decline. Compare Plato, Republic 386C, 516D-C; The Constitutionalist, pp. 278-81. Or is it that we are to believe that we have somehow become more sensitive

popular

only Ivan Ilytch to that in Homer's Iliad

compare

the

attitude

toward the prospect

if they have discovered death. of death in Tolstoy's

"situation"

than

our

predecessors
am

to the

of

man

in

the

universe?

What

we

certainly do have, I
considerable

afraid,

is considerably

more

anxiety

than

they

as well as

hostility
on

toward those who are not anxious or who are otherwise

superior.
reinforces
can

See,
seen

Martin

Heidegger, ibid.,

p.

815.

"Anxiety"

reflects relativistic

and

self-centeredness.

(Self-centeredness [with its

preference

tendencies]
over

be

in

the
or

contemporary
"substance"

for

"authentic"

the

"good"

old-fashioned

or

"true.")
Aronson) by
Leo

See,

on

death,

the

funeral

talk

(for Jason

Strauss,

reproduced

University
on

death,

in Anastaplo, "On Leo Strauss: A Yahrzeit 67 Chicago Magazine (Winter 1974), pp. 30, 38. See, also, the essays of on the Apology, on natural right, on the Crito and on Mr. Klein's

Remembrance,"

Meno in Anastaplo, Human Being and Citizen: Essays on the Common Good (Chicago: Swallow Press, 1975). See,
of

Virtue, Freedom
as

and

well, the

discussion

Edwin Muir's "The

Animals"

On

Becoming

and

Being

Human,"

in Anastaplo, "The Public Interest in Privacy: 26 DePaul Law Review, No. 4 (Summer 1977);
,_see

W.B. Yeat's

note 3, above. On Mr. Klein's Meno See, on avarice, New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1, p. 1122; Plato, Phaedo 66C-D, 68B-C. Compare the Andy Capp comic strip for June 15, 1977: the

"Death."

importunate hero

observes,

in

response

to

his

long-suffering wife's
but it 'elps
you

reminder

that

"money
a

can't

buy

'appiness,"

"True,

pet,

true

to

look for it in

lot

places."

more

Compare,

also, Plato Republic 591E.

(One is

reminded of the

role assigned

by

Aristotle to

"equipment"

in the

happy life.)
he has
chosen.

One is induced to

wonder whether

(C.C, pp. 86, 90, 93, 94-96) thoroughly if he continues to deeds," on 115, 126) "Good

any villain in a Dickens story eats well. In any event, Scrooge is shown that he will die
the course

pursue

(C.C,

pp.

Ill,
p.

the

other

hand, imply

"life immortal"?

(C.C,

118)

74

LEGALITY AND ILLEGALITY AS INSTRUMENTS OF

REVOLUTIONARIES IN THEIR QUEST FOR POWER:

REMARKS OCCASIONED BY THE OUTLOOK OF HERBERT

MARCUSE*

George Schwab
The

City College and Graduate Center,

CUNY

In the 1960s Herbert Marcuse

to conduct their activities

counseled

New-Left
of

revolutionaries

ouside

the

limits
to

the established

legal
the
of

order,

because, he declared,
and
overpowered

the

legal

means are

inadequate for
their
share

oppressed

minorities or

"achieve

humanity."1

place

in his
a

By allocating ideologically inspired writings,

extralegal

illegal

tactics a prominent
catapulted to the

Marcuse

forefront
West. His

topic which

had for

some years

been dormant in
instrument

the

decision

to

opt

for

illegality

as

an

by
the

which

revolutionaries

could

achieve

power might

easily be
the

understood

if

liberal democracies had

participating in mentary
then
process.

continued

to

exclude

masses

from
parlia

the

electoral

system,

and

hence from
as

Legality
an

as an

instrument

of revolutionaries would

have been
of

entirely
of

abstract

question

it

still was

in

the

days

Marx
and

and

Engels

the period of

The Communist Manifesto

(1848)
Yet,

the Address of the Central Committee to the Communist

League (1850).
as everyone

knows,
of

much

had happened
in the

even

in

those

days.

Under the impact

the

Industrial Revolution the

resulted

drastically
and

enlarged.

This

franchise was disappearance of some of

uprooting
this

the traditional

factions
of new

or parties and

in

the growth of other parties

the

birth
to

ones

including

some that aimed at

and the

existing
on option

systems.

The emerging reality,

utilized

implications

tactics

be

by

revolutionaries

who

formerly
at

had had no
was

but

to operate outside the established

legal

framework,

*An

earlier version of
and

this paper
at

was presented

in April 1975

the Seminar on

Legal
would

Political Thought
to thank

Columbia University. For Mr. Frank D. Grande.

valuable suggestions

like

my

colleague

Legality
quickly
grasped

and

Illegality

as

Instruments

75
example, Marx

by

Marx

and

Engels. In

1872, for
.
.

noted that revolutionaries

goal requires everywhere

"do

not assert that means.

the attainment of the

identical
as

and we

do
.

not
.

deny
This

the the
was

existence

of

countries,

America

[and]
goal

England.

where

workers could

[conceivably]

attain their

peacefully."2

stated more

succinctly

by

Engels in 1895.

According
accomplish

to

him,
the 'subver-

The

irony

of world

history
better

[is that]
on

we, the
to

'revolutionaries,'

sionists,'

thrive much

legal
as

means

the overthrow than

are ruined nous

illegal

means.

The

parties of
...

order,

they

call

themselves,

self-created

legal

order.

In despair they cry

this same
of

out

'la legalite

tue'

by their legality

is

our

death,

while we with

legality

acquire

swelling

muscles and red

cheeks and

look like

the picture

health.3

The

recognition
of

of

legality
the
quest

as

potent
of

instrument,
weapons

and

the to

incorporation
revolutionaries

it

into

arsenal

available

in

their

for

power

in liberal

democracies,
of weapons

constitutes a

breakthrough in
and

what

may be
not

"tacticology."

called

Though Marx
available to
would ever

Engels had

enlarged

the

arsenal

revolutionaries,
abdicate

they did

truly believe
even

that the state the

its

powers

willingly

in

face

of

revolution.4

politically and in America

peaceful

Hence,

to reach the

goal

in England

some

the emphasis should

two, depends on in the ongoing revolutions in

form of illegal work was unavoidable. Whether be on legality, on illegality, or on balancing the the concrete economic level a country has reached
the modes
of production and exchange.

This, in turn, is reflected in the intensity of the political antagonisms between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat and in the growth of the latter.
From
this

ongoing

process

emerges

definite

role

for

the

Communist Party. Its task, according

the

to the

Manifesto, is
to

to

instill in
a neces

ever-growing
prerequisite

proletariat

revolutionary
revolution

consciousness

sary

for

a successful
and

help

to push the old

order

into

oblivion,

to

guide

the

revolution

in

positive

direction. The
the
moment political

overthrow when

of the

bourgeois
matured

state occurs at

precisely
and

the

party

recognizes

that

the

economic

forces have sufficiently

of

for

the revolution to

be

implemented.

At

the turn

the century, the means of

gaining

the end

became
revolu-

perhaps

the

most

widely discussed

and argued

topic

among

76
tionaries.

Interpretation

In the face of the drastic enlargement of the franchise, distinct schools of thought gradually emerged: those who believed that the end should be achieved solely by legal means, those
three
who

refused

to

compromise

about

the

necessity
illegal to

of

illegality
who

as

revolutionary instrument,
qualms
goal.

and

the

political

realists

had

no

about

using any

tactic

legal

or

gain

the

desired
their

Lenin,
economic

as

the

heir

of

Marx

and

Engels,
ideas

embraced not on the need

only

assumptions,

but

also their

for

instilling

revolutionary consciousness in the masses, and expanded on the party's role in overthrowing existing systems. On the last point,
a

Lenin

went

considerably beyond his

revolutionists.

mentors

by

necessity
in Marx

of professional

What

seemed to

advocating the be implicit

of

and

Engels

became
argued

quite explicit

in Lenin's "What Is To Be necessity

of

Done?"(1902).
cohesive
engaged

He

here for

the

building

organization

to

consist

"chiefly
and

people

professionally
revolu
only.

in revolutionary
who

activity,"5

he

attacked those

tionaries

approached tactics

from

preconceived notions and

The

need

to analyze

historical

circumstances

to exploit these
abstract

accordingly precludes, he maintained,

mulas

following
and
of

"all

for

and

...

"Marxism
whatever

doctrinaire from mass leams

all
.

recipes."6

If anything, Lenin
makes

insisted,
claim

practice,

no

to

teach

the

masses

forms
of

struggle

invented

'systematizers'

by
to

in

the

seclusion

their

studies."7

Consequently,
who

Lenin mercilessly
abandon

denounced
and

orthodox

Communists for refusing

Not
to utilize

illegal tactics,

right-wing deviationists
"to
combine

had hoped

to gain the end

by
of

legal legal

means solely.

tactic, namely
with

the unwillingness

every possible illegal forms of struggle

every form

struggle"

wherever

necessary,

is, according
for
revolu

to

him,

characteristic of

"poor

revolutionaries."8

Though he
tionaries to

subscribed

to and

underlined

the

need

keep

open all options

in

their struggle to overthrow the

not

bourgeois

order,

Lenin, like his

predecessors, did

think

that

peaceful and

legal

revolution could succeed.

out of the question-even

in America

and

This, in his opinion, was in England. He asserted in

early 1870s the
remote

1917

that ever since

of a

Marx had imagined in

revolution

the

possibility
acquired

legal

succeeding there, these

and

countries

had

powerful

military

complexes,

their

bureaucracies had

Legality
also grown and

and

Illegality

as

Instruments
entrenched.9

77

In short,

had become thoroughly Lenin's doctrine was that revolutionaries

should combine

both

tactics simultaneously, the expense

but
of

at times

it

might

be

expedient to

emphasize one at

the other.

II

Hitler
work.

fully
of

grasped and exploited the possibilities

inherent in legal

The

precise extent to which

or whether

he

was

influenced

by

Lenin

and

his
the

companions,

he had

arrived at

his

plan of action on

basis

the concrete situation

in Weimar
that

Germany,
succeeded

must

here

remain

unanswered.

The

mere

fact

he had

in gliding
to

into

power
road

by

ostensibly legal

means

is

sufficient

reason

study

Hitler's

to success.
unconcerned with analyses of the economic modes of

Completely
intellectual German

production and of

exchange,

and not a philosopher of

history in the

sense

of

the word, Hitler

scene

exclusively;

focused his attention on the he exploited every discontent to enhance

his chance of success. As is well known, three phases are clearly discernible in his quest for power: from 1919 until the Munich Beer
Hall
on

putsch of

November 1923,

during which Hitler relied exclusively

in
the

illegal methods; the period between his release from prison for his role in the putsch and his appointment as Chancellor of Germany in

January 1933, By his

putsch, he
own

and

the

phase

which

culminated

Reichstag
abortive
of

passing (in March

1933)
of

an unprecedented

enabling
that

act.

admission

Hitler
else

claimed

until

the

thought

little

but

the violent overthrow

the

legally
cracies

authorities.10

constituted

In opting

for

this method

apparently failed
operate.

to

appreciate

the rules to

by

which modern

he had bureau
of

Moreover,
local

unable

secure

the

support

the

Reichswehr
was

and the

"responsible

for

police, it was the wrecking Hitler's

state's

machinery
1

which

action."1

Realizing his
in

amateurishness,
the

he purportedly

stated while

still

a prisoner that

future his party

or movement would

have

to resort to

legal

means

as well:

Instead

of

working

to achieve power

by

an armed

coup,

we shall

have

to

hold

Interpretation
our noses and enter

the

Reichstag
than

against

the

Catholic
them at

and

Marxist deputies. If
the results will
. . .

outvoting

them takes

longer

guaranteed

by

their own
a

out-shooting Constitution. Any lawful

and after that

least
is

be
or

process

slow.

Sooner

later

we shall

have

majority

Germany.1

Hitler's incorporation
accord with

Weber's
Of the

legality into his arsenal of weapons was in analysis of how a bureaucracy operates in a
of
rule

modern state.

three types of legitimate

rule
a

legal,

traditional

and

charismatic

Weber discussed legal

not emanate

according
rules

to

him, does
come
3

from

first. This form of rule, person but from a set of

the

which

into

force

through

legally
must

constituted

authorities.1

Whether Hitler

was aware of

Weber

here

remain

unanswered.

But

given

the constitutional order

in

Germany, Hitler,

like his arch-foe Lenin,1 4 was adamant on the necessity of exploiting the legal avenues available. Yet the illegal operations of Hitler's
cohesively
organized

Storm Troopers

continued

simultaneously.1

Overtly, however, it became his primary objective sufficiently large parliamentary representation in order

to to

gain

legally
to

bring
for

about

laws

which

the

bureaucracy
articles

would

then

proceed
not

implement. He
the

might not

have

resorted to this tactic

had it

been

phraseology
or

of certain

in

the constitution, and the

of

purely legalistic
which

formalistic interpretation
thought.

the

constitution

had dominated Weimar

framers of the Weimar constitution had intended it to be a liberal democratic document. But it turned out to be a truly document of political engineering in a country void of a liberal democratic tradition. To function properly, such a constitution requires a fair consensus of a country's electorate on the nature of a liberal democratic state. Yet this was not the case in Germany. Its political heritage in general, Germany's defeat in World War I, and
The
the terms of

Versailles,
was,
as

converged to undermine

the

credibility

of

Weimar.

It

many

then

believed,

eine

Republik

ohne

Republikaner.
was not

Exploiting parliament and the constitution for revolutionary ends difficult, for, with the possible exception of Article 48, the

document provided no safety valves for its own preservation. trail-blazing discussion of some of the constitution's articles which played into Hitler's hands is Arnold Brecht's Prelude to Silence.16
Weimar A One
point

he has overlooked, however, is

the crucial

Article 76. The

Legality
pertinent

and

Illegality
of

as

Instruments
read
as

79

first

two sentences
amended

Article 76
process of

constitution

may be

by
the

follows: "The legislation. But acts of

the
constitution
are

the

Reichstag relating
only if
two-thirds

to

the
of

amendment

of

are
and

effective
at

two-thirds

legal membership
parties

present,

least

assent."

of those present give their

This article, in
resort to

fact,

inspired revolutionary
With the
parties,
could

in

Germany
such a

to

legality
in
or

as a tactic.

required

majority

party

alone,

or

coalition with other

destroy,

infuse

an alien spirit

into

this

document,1 7

fundamentally
of the

amend,

leading
shared

constitutional

lawyers
and

and

commentators

because the document

or

Richard

Thoma's

Gerhard Anschutz's

formalistic

legalistic interpretation of the constitution, that it is at the disposal it.1 8 of the legislature and not above As Jasper has pointed out, since the constitution did not account for unconstitutional objectives, the sole requirement of parties to achieve fundamental revisions was to
proceed
legally.1 9

Although no friend of republican ideas or the Weimar republic, Hindenburg, on assuming the presidency, swore, in accordance with Article 42, to uphold this document. No one really doubted the
seriousness
with which

Hindenburg

understood

the

oath.20

But

because he was also strongly influenced by the formalistic or legalistic interpretation of the constitution, it appears that he was never certain about how far he could legally use Article 48 to meet
crises.

The discomfort he felt

oath and

with

Article 48

his

predilection toward the

constitution.
decree,2 :

For

fear

of

violating

this

can thus be ascribed to his legalistic interpretation of the document he loathed ruling by
procedures.2

and yearned to return to

parliamentary
to constitutional rule
Reichstag.2

This

longing
insisted

was reinforced on

by

many supposedly
of

responsible citizens who

the

necessity

returning

in

the

sense of a government supported

this meant two things:

and

thereby his
since

oath,

by By (a) Hindenburg was violating the constitution and (b) it became necessary to appoint Hitler
the

implication

Chancellor
Despite the

he

controlled

the

largest party in
a

the

Reichstag.

fact that Hitler did not possess he promised to find one by calling for new
end

elections.24

majority in that body To gain his

and

he

again

vowed

to
all

respect

the

constitution,25

simulta

neously he denounced
dictatorship.2

those whose

intention it

was to establish a

military

80 As

Interpretation

long

as

the

constitution

did
were

not

recognize about

unconstitutional

objectives

provided that

they

brought
on

legally it prob

ably

never occurred
of

to

Hindenburg
as

what great

danger lurked in his

1933. What

appointment

Hitler

Chancellor

January 30,

Hindenburg,

and

others,

failed
was

to understand was

operate on various levels his long-range intentions

and

simultaneously. responsible

Hitler's ability to Hitler's success in clouding

it

also explains the

calmness with which

for Hindenburg's blunder, the anti-Nazi press had

to

received

Hitler's
7

appointment.

According

Dorpalen,

their

edi

torials showed that

imminent.2

they

were not aware

that

revolutionary

changes

were

III

Having
operates

reviewed

the

political
of

framework

within

which

Marcuse

on

the question
on

turned

his back

tactics, it is now possible to ask why he legality in his ideologically inspired writings.
systems

After all, parliamentary

entrenched as

in liberal democracies

are as

solidly

before,
only

and modern

bureaucratic
most and

and

military
are

machines

in

such systems still

legality, i.e.,

those

function, for the laws, orders,

part, in

accordance with

decrees

implemented

which emanate

from the legally constituted authorities. then has Marcuse opted for illegality ? In his view, has Why something happened in the liberal-parliamentary structure which is distinct from the days of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Hitler? In
speaking
of advanced

industrial

societies

in general,

and of

America

in particular, Marcuse
economic change

notes a profound quantitative and qualitative

which

has

had

definite

repercussion

where

parliamentary
Because
of

systems are concerned.

technical, scientific,

and mechanical

advances,

partic

ularly

since

World War

II,

the traditional proletariat,

according
themselves

to

him, has
split-level

reached a point at which workers

"recognize

in

their commodities;

they find

their soul

in
8

their automobile,

hi-fi set,

home, kitchen
society,

equipment."2

He

proceeds to argue that

the

traditional

proletariat

has

not
of

capitalist

but "in

some

only become synchronized to the technically most advanced

a
vested
of

establishments,
establishment
pation'

the
a

workers

even

show

interest in 'workers

the

frequently

observed
9

effect

partici

in

capitalist

enterprises."2

Legality
Based
classical stitutes
on

and

Illegality

as

Instruments

81
to
abandon

these

observations, Marcuse is
argument

forced

the
con

Marxian

that the traditional

capitalism.3

laboring
But in

class

the actual gravediggers

of

view of the

traditional proletariat's
virtue of

"basic

position

in

the production

process,

by

its

exploitation,"

numerical weight and the weight of

this
agent
of revolu

force,
tion."3

Marcuse observed, "is still 1 But as this force does

the
not

[potential]
now

embody revolutionary

consciousness, Marcuse is
of

compelled to search

for

other actual agents

revolution,

and

he finds

these

in

the national and racial minorities

"do not occupy a decisive for this reason cannot be considered potentially revolutionary forces from the viewpoint of Marxian theory. [the underprivileged] really are the mass basis of These masses can perhaps now be the national liberation struggle.
the world over.
place

Though

these minorities
process
and

in

the

productive

considered

the

new

proletariat

and

as

such
2

they

are

today

a real

danger for the world system of As for the United States, Marcuse laments
capitalism."3

the

fact

that racial
their allies
the

conflicts
outside,3

not
3

only

separate

the ghetto

population

from

but,

even

worse, the

considerable conflicts
Ricans"34

raging "in
impede

large

between blacks and Puerto development of a cohesive force. As neither

cities

the

the traditional prole

tariat

on

the one

hand,
so

nor what

Marcuse

considers to

be

the new
and

proletariat on the other, now constitutes a

revolutionary

force,
of

because
global

there

has
of

far
is

not

occurred

critical

weakening

the the

economy

capitalism,
not
5

he

concludes that the situation

"prerevolutionary"

in

centers

of capitalism

yet

but

still

largely

"nonrevolutionary."3

the advanced

As already observed, the profound changes in the economies of industrial societies have, in Marcuse's view, had a deep
on

impact

advanced

parliamentary institutions in the technically most liberal democracies. He strongly implies in this context
to the

that,

prior

technical, scientific,

and mechanical

explosion,
succeeded

Madison

Avenue

advertising

techniques
outer

productivity had not yet

well

as

in engulfing man's totality his his inner freedom to such an

beliefs
that
to

and actions as

extent

he has been
the
needs
of

absorbed advanced

into, dominated by,

industrial
complexes.

and

synchronized

But gradually

these techniques

have

become

so refined that

Marcuse

echoes a thought

already

expressed

82

Interpretation
the

by
not

late Walter Benjamin in 1934,

namely, that
powerful

even

in

the

face

of

opposition, the

highly

efficient

and also

bourgeois
.

medium

is

only

able

to assimilate

but

to

"publicize.
either
6

.revolutionary

notions

without

throwing into
or

question
it."3

its

own

basis
7

or the

foundation
speaks
of

of the class that controls

In

a similar vein
opposites"3

Marcuse
and

the

"unification

convergence of

the

antagonism"38

"flattening
vested of

out of

by

the

"manipulation

of needs

by

interests."39

And precisely this is

reflected

in

the proceedings
*

liberal democratic parliaments. Just as for Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Hitler, so also for Marcuse, the liberal democratic parliament is a farcical institution. To him
parliamentary
order representatives are victims of opinion

the established economic

and

and

manipulated public

machinery,

hence

their

spokesmen.4

But

whereas the others saw

in
to

this

institution

a means

to reach the end,

on the part of

Marcuse

slams the
1

door

revolutionaries.4

The Left,
can

with

parliamentary activities its meager financial

to

resources,
voice

according

to

Marcuse,

never

hope

have

an

equal

in

the

halls

of parliament and also

"no

equal access to the mass

media and their

facilities."4 2

He is
when

convinced
can

that the economic system

the

in America

will

falter

it

no

longer satisfy

rising
etc.4

expectations of ever-larger

strata of the

population,

including salaried employees

3

as,

engineers, educators, researchers,

urges the political

But in in

the meantime,

for example, he
phase to
4

Left in

the still

largely

nonrevolutionary
the
at
masses.4

instill

and raise

revolutionary
impact
of

consciousness

Under

the

student

rebellions

leading
split

American

colleges and of

universities,

Marcuse, in 1968, believed

resided

that the strength

the political

Left actually
and

in its

being
of

ideologically.
argued,

The "small contesting

could

groups"

competing

the

Left, he

thus

easily spring into

and,
wherever

action and exploit

"specific

grievances

in different localities
rebellions,"45

by fomenting and directing "riots [and] ghetto possible, deny to political opponents
called

what

Carl Schmitt had

suppress

in 1932

an

"equal

chance."46

To

political

opposition

wherever

possible,

even

in the

nonrevolutionary
violence.

phase,

Marcuse is

not

adverse

He justifies

this on the ground that the

to resorting to historical record

seems to

indicate "that
classes
and

the

oppressed

cruelty,

silence

the violence emanating from the rebellions of broke the historical continuum of injustice, for a brief moment, brief but explosive enough

Legality
to achieve an

and

Illegality

as

Instruments

83 justice.
7
.
.

increase in

the scope of

freedom

and

Yet he His

cautioned the

Left in America

not to

be

too

hasty

in resorting

to mass violence at the present time.

hesitancy
been

is based

on

his

assumption

that the

critical point

has

not yet

reached

here,

partly because the economy is

still able to

satisfy the economic expectations of the masses, and partly because there is a lack of revolutionary consciousness. Hence, he does not

believe in

the

imminence
phase

of revolution

in

America,
He

nor

(in

the event

of such an

occurrence) in its ability

to succeed.

argues that

in the

nonrevolutionary
continues

here

the

legally
his

constituted
support.4

government

to

enjoy strong military

to
political

and police

8 of

Though

continuing

maintain

thesis

on

the

necessity
in 1972

suppressing

opposition wherever possible

in the

nonrevolu on

tionary

stage, Marcuse

did, however,

change

his

attitude

the question of organization.

reaction which

He feared that the

powerful political

had recently set in might succeed in destroying "any for an indefinite Because of the revolutionary conservative reaction, he no longer argues that the strength of the Left is in its being split. To meet the new situation, he now urges the split and weak radical Left to resolve its differences and organize
potential
time."49
effectively.50

Marcuse is
mechanical

convinced

that
so

because

the

productivity is
the
economic

highly

rationalized

technical, scientific, and in the industrially

a profound

advanced

societies, there

will

inevitably be

transforma

tion

within

process.

And, according
about

to

him,
and

over-

rationalization

will

certainly

bring

breakdowns,

a mere

"disruption
a

at one

key

place,"

dysfunctioning
will

of the

whole."5

Marcuse maintains, "can easily lead to J The revolution, he

forthcoming
sectors

argues,
set off

differ profoundly from

"a
not

all previous ones. other

It

will not

be

by

laboring
'wage

class

against

of

the

working
will

labor'

population,
classes

versus

capital,

but

rather all

dependent

capital."52

against

The revolution, in Marcuse's view,

therefore come

'"from

below.'"5 3

With the

economic

system

faltering, i.e.,

the

economy

unable to

satisfy
in the

the

expectations of

the masses, and the masses

hopefully then
exploit

possession of a

revolutionary
goal.

consciousness, the situation will

have
to

emerged which

the

organized radical

Left

must

carefully

reach

the

desired
every

For

Marcuse,

this

means

gearing

the

revolution

by

means possible

toward the realization of a true

84

Interpretation
which

society "in
uals,

'the

people'

.[will]

become

autonomous

indivi-

freed from
interest
of

the repressive requirements of a

struggle

for existence

in

the

domination, and as such human beings choosing their

life."54

government and

determining their

IV

By opting exclusively for illegal

Engels
of

tactics,

Marcuse, like

the

Marx
of

and

the

"Manifesto,"

fails

to recognize the

possibility

the

capitalist

bringing
easily
of

economy overcoming bottlenecks and, thereby, possibly about further technological breakthroughs. The latter could
in
a condition similar to the one which arose at the
of

result

time

the

introduction
traditional

assembly-line

techniques

of

production,

namely, the availability

to the

of ever greater quantities of consumer goods

proletariat.

Though

npt

solving
the
a

the

alienation

question, the mere

to
purchase

supply

of more goods and

these

had,

as

Marcuse realized,

ability severely depressant

pro

of workers

impact on the revolutionary consciousness of the traditional letariat. In Marcuse's ideologically inspired writings he fails to into
account

take

the

possibility
with

of this

happening
impact

again

and, therefore,

appears unconcerned

the possible

which technological
proletariat."

breakthroughs may have on what he calls the "new In other words, the destruction of the established order hinges primarily on Marcuse's economic determinism. Conversely, should the course of history deviate from his rigid line of thought, then his entire
construction collapses.

Contrary
for illegal

to

Marx, Engels, Lenin,

exclusively, is

and

Hitler, Marcuse,
unwilling
or

tactics

either

by opting incapable of

confronting the historical process realistically. Hence, he boxes himself into a corner. What he has neglected to take into account from the immediate past is the fate which befell the orthodox
Communists
who

had

opted

from
of

the

scene,

whereas

in

for illegality. In due time they vanished the liberal democracies only those
prepared,

Communist

parties survived who were

from

the viewpoint

tactics, to adapt to ever-changing circumstances. tell if the reformism of the sophisticated and

Only

time

will

Communist

legally

inclined
and,

parties of

Italy

and

France, for

example, is

genuine

therefore, may

not pose the greatest

internal threat

to the established

Legality
bourgeois
Aside
resilience order of

and

Illegality
or

as

Instruments

85
more

things,

whether

it is nothing
to take
and of

than a

tactical maneuver.

from Marcuse's
of

unwillingness

into
the

account

the

capitalist

modes

of production

impact these "new

prole
of

may have
tariat,"

on

the

and
orthodox

his failure
without on

revolutionary consciousness to learn from the trials

another

the

and

tribulations
as

Communists,
merely

argument

of

his is just
evidence,

cursory.

For example,

providing any

concrete

he debunks

legal

his assumption that the New Left does not financial resources. He concludes, therefore, that the New Left is unable to compete with bourgeois parties inside and outside of parliament, nor can it hope to have equal access to the
work

possess

sufficient

mass

media.

Has Marcuse
with

ever

asked

himself,
when,

to what extent was

of

Marx

concerned

this

problem

cognizant

the

new

reality,

he brought had

legality

into the

arsenal of weapons available to

revolutionaries?
situation

What Marcuse fails

to

realize

is

that once a new

and

presented

itself, Marx, Engels, Lenin,

with

Hitler
on

were

not

concerned

primarily

technical

details but, instead,

an end.

how

best
the

to exploit new opportunities to gain

was

The Nazi party, for

example,

in financial difficulties for

and
on

most of

its

existence

during

Weimar period,

the eve of

financial disintegrate, nor did its activities appear to suffer. Had Hitler not controlled the largest party in the Reichstag and, instead, relied on illegal tactics solely, he would not have become Chancellor of
circumstances.55

catastrophic

Hitler's appointment, was in Yet the party did not

Germany
views
on

in

January 1933, and illegality it may be

ideologue,

possibly

never.

Because

of

Marcuse's

concluded

that

abstract political

and therefore cannot

the

foremost

revolutionaries

thinkers regarding the in liberal democracies.

tactics

he is primarily an be included among to be utilized by

Herbert Marcuse,
2

"Repressive

Tolerance"

(1965), A Critique of Pure

cited as

Tolerance (Boston: Beacon Press, 1969),

Karl

p.

116. Hereafter

A Critique.

Marx-Engels Werke (Berlin: Marx, "Rede iiber den Haager Dietz Verlag, 1964), Vol. 18, p. 160. Hereafter cited as Werke. In an interview on July 3, 1871, Marx put it as follows: "In England. the road is open to the
.
.

Kongress,"

working
would

class

on

how it

wants

to achieve political
more

power.

An uprising there
and more

be silly because the end can be reached peaceful Ibid., Vol. 17, p. 641.

quickly

surely

by

agitation."

86
3

Interpretation
Friedrich

Frankreich,"

Engels, Introduction to Karl Marx's "Die Klassenkampfe in (1963), Vol. 22, p. 525. 4See Karl Marx's letter to Ludwig Kugelmann, April 12, 1871, Werke Werke (1964), pp. 160, 730 n. 182; (1966), Vol. 33, p. 205; "Rede iiber.
Werke
. .

Engels'

also

preface to

Marx's first English

edition of

Capital: A Critical Analysis

of Capitalist Production, trans, from 3rd German ed. by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling (London: Swan, Sonnenschein, Lowery, 1887), Vol. I, p. xiv. V. I. Lenin, Collected Works (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing

House, 1961), Vol. 5,

6

p.

464. Hereafter
are

cited as

Works.
p.

"Guerrilla
pp.

Warfare"

(1906), Works (1962), Vol. 11,

Lenin's.
Disorder"

213.

''ibid.,
Vol.

213-14. The Italics

8"'Left-Wing'

Communism, An Infantile
are

(1920), Works (1966),

31,

context

Illegalitat"

Lenin's.) For a discussion of tactics in the of Communist revolutionary doctrine, see Georg Lukacs, "Legalitat und (1920), Geschichte und Klassenbewusstsein (Berlin: Luchterhand,
pp.

96-97. (The Italics

1968), Vol. II,

"Manifesto"

pp.

432-47. Although Marx occurring solely

and

Engels

conceived

in

the
need

of
not
or

the

revolution

by

violent

means,

illegality

necessarily be equated with mass violence. Variations on a theme of civil war insurrection are terror, intimidation, assassination, strikes, demonstrations,
.
.

so and forth. See Lenin, "Guerrilla. Trotsky, Terrorismus und Kommunismus: 1920), p. 43.

Works

(1962),

pp.

214-16;

Lev

Anti-Kautsky

(Hamburg: Carl Hoym,

pp.

9"The
quite

State

Revolution,"

and

Works

(1964), Vol. 25,

415-16.
confess
a

In commemorating the

calmly that d'etat." Quoted in

"Der 'Staat

1923 uprising Hitler stated that "I can from 1919 to 1923 I thought of nothing else than Volkisher

coup

the
an

Beobachter,

November

10, 1936.

sich'

Hofmann,

Der

Hitlerputsch:

hat Hitlers Aktion scheitern lassen." Hanns Hubert Krisenjahre deutscher Geschichte, 1920-1924

(Munchen: Nymphenburger
See Kurt G. W.
the Blood

Verlagsanstalt, 1961),
I Knew Hitler: The

p.

266.

is it

no

of a Nazi Who Escaped Purge (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1937), pp. 234-35. There reason to doubt the credibility of this passage if it is compared to Hitler's

Ludecke,

Story

subsequent pronouncements on the same topic.

as

For example, in 1930 Hitler

put

follows:

our different weapons today we exploit parliament, this does not mean that parliamentary parties are there for parliamentary purposes only. Parliament for us is not an end, but only a means to an end. We are. parliamentary party. .only out of necessity. We do not battle for parliamentary seats for the sake of such seats, but in order to liberate one The constitution prescribes only the day the German people ground on which the battle has to be fought, not its aim. We enter into the
... .
.a

"When among

...

constituted

bodies

legally

and we shall thus make our we shall then

of constitutional

rights,

forge

the

party the decisive factor. Once in state into the form of which we

possession

approve."

Quoted in the Frankfurter

Max

Zeitung,

September

26, 1930.

&

Weber, Staatssoziologie, Humblot, 1956), pp. 99-101.

See Lenin's "Political Report

ed., Johannes Winckelmann (Berlin: Duncker

Committee"

of the

Central
. . .

(March 7,
pp.

1918),

Works

(1965),

Vol.

27,

p.

99;

'"Left- Wing'

Works

(1966),

58-59.

Legality
As
suppose.
.

and

Illegality
aptly As
a

as

Instruments
it: "It
would

'

Frederick M.
.that

Watkins
of

put

be

mistake

to

the

adoption ends.

electoral

methods of

involved
private

the

abandon

ment.

.of

revolutionary
throughout
. .
.

matter a

fact,
quite

armies

were

maintained extremist

this

period
private

on

quite
. .were

unprecedented

scale

by

the

parties.

These

armies.

ready

to use violence

for

the accomplishment of their purposes. The total result of their activities was

to make

illegal force

a problem

hardly

less

serious

in

the

later

than

in

the earlier
under

days
See

of the

republic."

The Failure of Constitutional

the German Republic (Cambridge: Harvard

also

Emergency University Press, 1939),

Powers
pp.

54-55.

1934),
6

pp.

Die Memoiren des Stabschefs Rohm (Saarbrucken: Uranus-Verlag, 147-50, 169-83.

new

particularly
Carl
1

(2nd printing contains pp. 138-44.

preface; New York: Howard

Fertig, 1968),
Duncker &

Schmitt, Legalitat
pp.

und

Legitimitat, 2nd
cited as

ed. und

(Berlin:

Humblot, 1968),
Deutschen

48-51. Hereafter

Legalitat

Legitimitat. Handbuch des

See Richard

Thoma, "Die
,

Funktionen der

Staatsgewalt,"

J.C.B.

1932), II, pp. 153-54; Gerhard Anschiitz, Die des Deutschen Reichs vom 11. August 1919, 14th ed. (Berlin: Georg Stilke, 1933), p. 405. The foremost exponent of the latitudinarian interpretation of the constitution was Carl Schmitt. For a discussion of his views see George

Staatsrechts, ed. Mohr [Paul Siebeck]

Gerhard Anschiitz

and

Richard Thoma (Tubingen:

Verfassung

Schwab, The Challenge of the Exception: An Introduction to the Political Ideas of Carl Schmitt between 1921 and 1936 (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1970), pp. 37-43, 49-51, 77-89, 94-97.

Jasper, Der Schutz der Republik: Studien zur staatlichen der Demokratie in der Weimarer Republik 1922-1930 (Tubingen: J.C.B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck] 1963), pp. 11, 14-15.
Gotthard

Sicherung

Heinrich
sanstalt,

Briining, Memoiren,
p.

1918-1934

(Stuttgart:

Deutsche

Verlag-

1970),

387.
Schleicher,"

Eschenburg, "Die Rolle der Personlichkeit in der Krise der VierteljahrHindenburg, Briining, Groener, shefte fiir Zeitgeschichte, Heft 1 (1961), p. 6. See Hindenburg's letter of February 25, 1932 to Friedrich von Berg. Heft 1 (1960), Doc. I, p. 81. Also, Karl Reprinted in Vierteljahrshefte. Dietrich Bracher, Nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung und Reichskonkordat (Wiesbaden: Hessische Landesregierung, 1956), p. 31. Hereafter cited as
Theodor Weimarer Republik:
.

Nationalsozialistische Mach tergreifung.

23See,
party, to

for

example, the

January

26 letter

of

Prelate Kaas, head

existence

of

the Center
state of

Chancellor Schleicher. In it Kaas denied the Instead he

accused

of a

emergency.

the government of

wrongdoings and

for

having
for
the to
on

"tolerated
need

others."

and even encouraged the mistakes of

Hence he

argued

to

return

immediately
one

to "methods provided

coalitions."

bring
des

about

viable

government

for in the constitution This letter was made public

January 29, 1933,

offentlichen

day

before Hitler's

appointment.

Reprinted injahrbuch

Rechts der Gegenwart (Tubingen: J.C.B. Mohr [Paul

pp.

Siebeck]

1934),

Vol.

21, 1933/34,

141-42. A copy

of

the

letter

was also mailed to

88

Interpretation
on

Hindenburg Morsey

January
der

26. Die Protokolle der Reichstagsfraktion

und

des

Fraktionsvorstands

deutschen

Zentrumspartei,

1926-1933,

ed.

Rudolf

(Mainz: Matthias-Grunewald Verlag, 1969), p. 609. Bracher, Nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung, pp. 31-32. Hans Otto Meissner, Harry Wilde, Die Machtergreifung: Ein Bericht uber die Technik des nationalsozialistischen Staatsstreichs (Stuttgart: J. G. Cotta'sche

Buchhandlung, 1958),
See the
ministers

p.

170. Reichskanzlers Hitler

und und

"Unterredung des
mit
. .

des

Reichsinnen-

(January 31, Heft 2 (1961), Doc. I, p. 186. 1933), Vierteljahrshefte. Andreas Dorpalen, Hindenburg and the Weimar Republic (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964), pp. 443ff. For the swiftness with which Hitler solidified his power after his appointment see Eliot Barculo Wheaton, The Nazi
,

Frick

den Zentrumsfuhrern Kaas

Perlitius"

Revolution 1933-1935: Prelude to

pp.

Calamity

21 Iff.;

also

the essays

by

Karl Dietrich Bracher

trans. John

(New York: Anchor Books, 1969), and Helmut Krausnick in

The Path to
2 8

Dictatorship, 1918-1933,
Books, 1966).

Conway, introd.

Fritz Stern

(New York: Anchor

One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the

Ideology

5th printing (Boston: Beacon One-Dimensional Man.

Society,
29 30

Press, 1968),

p.

of Advanced Industrial 9. Hereafter cited as

Ibid.,
An

p.

30.
on

Essay

Liberation (Boston: Beacon Press, 1969),

p.

53. Hereafter

cited as

An Essay. 31 Ibid., p. 16.

32

Beacon
34

Lectures, trans. J. J. Shapiro and S. M. Weber, 2nd printing Press, 1970), p. 85. Hereafter cited as Five Lectures. 33 An Essay, p. 57.
Five
An

Five

(Boston:

Lectures, p. 85. Essay, p. 57.

of

The

transition

from
a

the

nonrevolutionary
weakening
extension
of

to

the

prerevolutionary
economy
work: radical

situation

"presupposes
the

critical
and

the

global

capitalism,

and

enlightenment."

intensification Ibid.

of

the political

(Frankfurt A. M.:

Benjamin, Versuche iiber Brecht, ed. Rolf Tiedemann, 3rd Suhrkamp Verlag, 1971), p. 105. 7Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, p. 19. 38 Ibid., p. 57. 39 Ibid., pp. 3, 104. 40"Postscript A Critique, p. 118. 4 1 "Repressive A Critique, pp. 116-17. See also An Essay,
1968," Tolerance,"

Walter

ed.

pp.

63-66. Although Marcuse

to gain power,
abandon

closes the

door
and

to

parliamentary
that
within

activities as a means

he,

nevertheless,
of civil

warned revolutionaries

"it

would

be fatal

to

the

defense

rights

liberties

the established

framework."

[legal]

Ibid.,

p.

65.

A Critique, p. 119. Herbert Marcuse, Counterrevolution and Revolt (Boston: Beacon Press, 1972), pp. 10, 12, 22. Hereafter cited as Counterrevolution.

42"Postscript

1968,"

Legality
44

and

Illegality

as

Instruments

89

An

Essay,
ed.

p.

57.
"On the New
Left,"

4sHerbert Marcuse,
History,
471,472.

The New Left: A

Documentary
pp.

Massimo Teodori (New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1969),

the
notion

Whereas for Schmitt

the

of

the

"equal

chance"

had
a

meant

driving
of

the extreme political movements

from

the political arena

pp.

in

order

to safeguard

Weimar

state

(Legalitat
of

und

Legitimitat,
chance"

30ff. For

discussion
entails

Schmitt's

concept

the

"equal

see of

Schwab, The Challenge of

tolerance"

the

Exception,
withdrawal
which

pp.
of

94-97.)
toleration

Marcuse's idea
of speech and

"repressive

"the

assembly from

groups and movements

promote aggressive policies,

of race and

armament, chauvinism,

discrimination
A

on the

grounds social

religion, care,

or which oppose the extension of public

etc."

services,
p.

security,
grateful

medical

("Repressive

Tolerance,"

Critique,
study

100).
K. A.
on

am

to

G. L. Ulmen,

the author
attention

of a

forthcoming

of

Wittfogel, for
Marcuse.

having called to my
Tolerance,"

the

impact Schmitt's

concept

had

47"Repressive
4 8

Critique,

p.

107.

Counterrevolution, 49 Ibid., p. 29. 50 Ibid., pp. 28, 42. 51 Ibid., p. 42. 52 Ibid., p. 39.
53

p.

43.

Ibid.,

p.

42.
Tolerance,"

"Repressive
paradise see

Kurt

von

schaft
55

(Berlin: Walter

A Critique, p. 105. For a critique of Marcuse's Fritz, Grundprobleme der Geschichte der antiken Wissen de Gruyter, 1971 ), pp. xxiii-xxvii. (Pittsburgh:

See Dietrich
of

The

University

Pittsburgh

Orlow, The History oj the Nazi Party, 1919-1933 Press, 1969), pp. 287-88.

90
THE SEVEN-DAY
STORY*

CHANINAH MASCHLER
St. John's College
That

which

is

concealed

belongs

to the Lord our

G-d, but
may do

that
all

which

is

revealed

belongs
torah.

to us and our children

for

ever, that

we

the words of this

Deut. 29:28

According
made

to

an

ancient

story, the
as

grandest

music, the

music

by

the

not

heard

heavenly by us because,
birth
It is
and

bodies
never

they

trace out their proper paths,

is

its

sound

being
we

in

our

ears

from
to

the

moment

of

failing,
text

cannot
mean

attend

it. Our
is

condition

with

respect so

to

the

we

to

study
says.

together

comparable:

familiar,
is

even to those who

have
it

never turned to

it,

that a special effort that we move

required to

hear

what

I therefore
the

propose

very slowly, curbing

notice
our

docilely, noticing
impatient impulse

especially
to

formal

features,
thing

and

construe,

appraise, summarize.

The first

we

is that the

most

frequently

repeated

unvarying
count.

word

in the seven-day story is G-d: thirty-five

saying, seeing, separating,

times

by my
calling

Most
out

verbs

hovering,

calling

or

making, placing, creating, blessing, giving, completing, hallowing attach to G-d as their subject. Yet some abstaining from,

to,

of these

verbs

to say,

"shared"

dividing
22, 28);
on and

(vss.

6, 14, 18), making

shared word

(vss.

1,

12)

are,

so

between

the Creator and

fruitful,
creatures

multiplying, filling are

his creatures; between different

"rule,"

others

being

types of

(vss.

one, the

though not

shared

the

between, fourth day,

the one
on

hand,

the greater and the

strictly lesser light of

of the
sixth

the
and

other, the

last

creature

day mankind

masculine

feminine yet
word also

seems

almost

shared

because
to

"dominion"

(a different
though
of

in the

Hebrew)

is

assigned

the

latter. Finally,

this shines through the

King

James
a

version

only by way peculiarly intimate connection between

alliterative
pages

phrasing, in

certain

verses

noun and verb

is suggested,

In these

adhere to

the

custom of not

writing

out

G-d's (third

name unless

he is

addressed

(second person)

rather

than

being talked about

person).

The

Seven-Day Story

91

sometimes through the use of a grammatical construction

known
waters

as

the
to

cognate

accusative.1

commanded

"grass

grass"

technically Thus, in vs. 11 the earth is (tadshe haarets deshe), in vs. 20 the
swarms

are

commanded

to

"swarm

[of] living
fowl

creatures"

(jishretsu hamajim
to

sherets nefesh

chajah)
and

and

are commanded expanse

fly

in

the

region

between

earth

the

heavenly

(of

jeofef al

Thus far I
much

haarets alpne rekia hashamaim). have spoken of nouns and verbs. Next we more blatant feature of the text, its use of certain
chief

observe

phrases as

punctuating refrains,
and

among

these

being "and there was evening

day,
third

there

was

morning,

one

day,
a

second

day.

although

the recurrent sequences of

G-d's seeing the

name,
the
or the

goodness of curious was

his

creature,
so"

setting it apart, giving it (vajehi chen), which set

second are

"and it
. .

was one

off

"and it

evening.
not

day,

day,

equally

day deserving of notice.

third
.

precisely because they do

the

cumulate,2

Let

us now

focus
is

on the work of

first day, postponing for

while consideration of what might

be

meant

by

the

opening

verse.

G-d's

prime act

no-things

lack
yet

of

light into being, other things, lack of fullness, darkness, and form,
to call

or perhaps

water

having

been

mentioned

(vs.
to

2)
be

and

being

mentioned
as

6ff, 9ff),
In the
one

if

understood

subsequently (vss. 4, "creatures," dealt with as

which'

complementary
case

creatures.

of

light (that 'in

the

light

of

we

discriminate
holds
true

thing from

another?), G-d's imperative is tantamount to the

indicative

without

any mediating

act or

process,

but

this

for

the creature of the

upon

day

called one alone.

G-d looks

his first

creature,
while

light,

and notes

the

fact

that

it is

good, as though to

say that,

he

made

it,

its

goodness

is

seen

by

him
dark

as

inherent.
after

Only

that

he has found it to be good does he separate it from the had been on the face of the abyss. Thereupon the dark's
shrunk

domain is
creature,

to

night-time.

Nevertheless,
"day"

strangely, the

new

light,

to

which

G-d

called out

as though to assign

it

its province, is

said to

be
of

one

only after,
new

or perhaps as a result with

of,
old old

first, the (dark) at

and old

commingling

the

(light)

the

seemingly

the evening and, second,

new at morning. refrain

from

discerning
and

of the new

from
. .

While the

"and it

was

evening

it

was morning.

is

92
what makes

Interpretation
the
a
with

seven-day story
is
of

story

beginning,
as

middle,
of

and

end, the refrain

creation:

sounded with a small variation on the

day

light's

instead
as

being

referred to

ordinally,

first,

it is

spoken

one.4

of

cardinally,

Why?

One

plausible

reason,

to

which

the

medieval

exegetes

called

attention, is
unit

counting ordinally has been fixed upon. To put this

can the

that

presupposes that the somewhat

paradoxically,
as

in

retrospect

day
to

"one"

called

be

recognized

recurring only first in a

creation

series.

But there may be

an additional reason:

The

day
to

of

light's

may be

"one"

called as

indicate

that the
vss.

work of

that

day
in

is

to

be
as

understood

paradeigmatic:
beat"

2-5

are

be
Just

registered
as a

furnishing
meaning
good;
not

the

"basic

of the creation story.

poem,

divergencies from
sought

the

if the

basic beat would not be heard nor their beat were not reverberating in the hearer, so

divergencies from

the sequence "let there

be;

and

it was; seeing

as

dividing

new

from

old;

calling

of new and old

by

name"

could

be

noted and their sense appreciated

if that

sequence as

it

occurs

in

description of the one day were not remembered and taken as standard for comparison. Umberto Cassuto, from whose Commentary on Genesis5 I learned
the the

reading to which I'm seeking to win you, after making a list of what was done on each day and studying the list, proposes something like the following arrangement of the
slow-motion,
emblematic
seven
days'

works:

1. light

2. sky as separator between waters above

and waters

3.

earth with

its

skin of vegetation

below 6. land
the
completed animals and man

4. luminaries

5. fish 7.

and

fowl

completion of

through abstention
and

from

work

the

hallowing of the day

to

of abstention

This

setting-out

calls

attention

the

fact

that

the

work

of the

fourth

day

pairs with that of the

first,
of

the work of the the sixth

fifth

day

goes

with that of the

second, the

work

day

with

that

of

the

The
third:

Seven-Day Story
the

93

On

the

second made

betweens")
not

was

locale for fowl (the birds as "goand, although the water below the sky does

day

become
earth

fully

itself

until the third

day,

when

the

opposite of the

wet,
still

as

dry,

emerges as the result of the wet's concentration,

locale for fish is already about-to-be on the second day. Similarly, the third day's work furnishes the locale for the sixth day's creatures, animals and man. The luminaries of the fourth day clearly go with the light of the first day, although the principle of affiliation between them is not the same as that which binds the second to fifth
the
and third to

sixth,

unless

following

the clues to genesis eis

ousian6

furnished
and

by

the tadshe

deshe
the

of vs.

11,
of

jishretsu

sherets of vs.

20,

of jeofef
to

of vs. 20 these

seeming
pattern

mere regions of

sky, sea,
of

land

are

be
via

understood on

light,

as

form

energy

which,

verb, is to

concresce

into

nouns.

Wild

as this

sound,
animals

vs.

24,
of

where

the

earth

is

commanded

to

"send

reading may land

out"

after vs.

12 had

shown that
and vss.

it

could

not, strictly, obey the

command

"grassing

grass,"7

the sequence

light (or), lighter

support

(meora),
it.

to

light (lehair) in
Cassuto's

3, 14, 15
little

respectively, may

Mulling
the

over

schema a

longer,

it begins

to

look

as

if

seven-day story
three

should

be

read as

falling

into three

portions: the

first

days,

the second set of

three, the

day

of abstention

from
be

work.

The

principle or

that rules over the

8

first

set of three appears to

distinguishing. It remains with us to the end, since the separating seventh day of abstention from work which concludes the work of creation is as distinct from the nothing before creation as the beats of rest in a musical composition are from the silence of no music
the minimal may be meant by Biblical idea of holiness is that the holy is something set apart from the Yet, prima facie at least, it seems as though another
"hallowing,"

and,

whatever

else

common.9

principle

gets 10

added

from

the

fourth

and

pivotal

day

on, that

of

movement. and
small

It is

by
day

their recurrent patterned motions that the

"signs"

big

lights

and the stars serve as and when the creation of

of

days,
land
both

and

seasons,

and years

(vss. 14ff);

the

water animals and

birds
man

of the

fifth

is described

and that of the

of verbs

animals and

on

the next, a

creep,

tread

down)

great variety is used, as if

works

of motion

(swarm, fly,
that

to

emphasize

it is

as

moving beings

that the

of

fourth, fifth,

and sixth

day are

akin

94
and that

Interpretation

they differ
continue

as their species of movement

differ.
on p.

if
you

you

to

study

the Cassuto-inspired pattern

also

92,
and

may find
and

that

there third

are
and

important
sixth

affiliations

between

second
seventh

fourth,

fifth,

and

seventh,

first

days. And

this prompts a major question:

Could it be that

seven-day story with which Genesis opens uses time intervals and sequences musically rather than chronologically? Is the intent, perhaps, to convey orders of affiliation among the constituents of happened"
the the visible
t3....?
world rather

than to tell

"what

at times

ti

t2

When,
music

at

the

beginning by
dint

of this

essay, I

said the

Bible, like

the

of the

spheres, is too

familiar for
of

us to

hear it, I meant, for

non-Hebrew tales of of such a musical

example, that

"research"

only

into

Beginnings

could

the strongest argument

in favor

reading

of the

Everybody
Sometimes

seven-day story be appreciated. knows that the Bible is chock-full

who,
and

of

genealogies.

whole chapters are given over to

begat
sexual

so-and-so

marrying
ancestral

this
or

other, in turn

recording begat.
relations are

that so-and-so
. . .

But

affiliation
and
as

sibling
In

reserved
with

strictly for

only for human

clans,
or
as

beings,

whether

dealt

as of

individuals,

nations.

non-Biblical

stories

Beginnings, however, the most prevalent method of conveying order relations is, precisely, genealogy. Some other symbol for connection,
sequence,
sub-

and super-ordination and

had
the

to

be

chosen

by

the Bible.

Temporality
sexuality
might

hearing

seem

in

Bible

to

play
J

the role of

and
a

be

seeing in, for instance, Greek better choice of words.

tales.1

But musicality

Let
to

us now

try

to move

from
the

the

preceding

text

phenomenology
about

interpretation. What does

(or

reader

hearer,

since the text

seven-day story is to be chanted)

mean to teach the

G-d,

man,

and world?

G-d is the
are

prime grammatical

subject,
are

but his

nature and attributes

not

explained.

Only

his deeds

reported.

Not only
not

are

the
ab

theological epithets
extra

which

the modern reader

brings

to the text

(omnipotence,
features
of

omniscience,

benevolence)
I have

mentioned;12

some

the text to

which

called attention seem to

block
says

their application. For example, when on the second

a

day
.
.

G-d
this

"Let there be
be,"

firmament.

.and

let it be

dividor.
made"

"let there

unlike the

first,

is

mediated

by

"G-d

before it

The

Seven-Day Story
and

95

issues in the designated creature,

creative word spoken on

the same

holds

true

for

the the

seventh.

Does this

not

every day except the first and, perhaps, indicate some stay to the divine power?
saw that

Again,
the sixth

the refrain

"and G-d
of the

it

good,"

was

culminating in

day's seeing
to

totality

of

his

creation and

finding
upon

it

"very

good,"

seems to suggest that even

G-d

must
good

look back
and

his

work's

outcome

learn
of

whether

it is

whether

it is
the

complete.

As

for

the

attribute

benevolence,

we

may,

indeed, by

Gospel
that

principle of
after

it is only

inference (Matthew 7:16f), conclude to it, seeing G-d has found the issue of his work good that he
of

permits the

evening

commingling

of new with old to

set;

but

this

is

a conclusion.

We are, perhaps,
relation

to

until after

given one further hint as to G-d's nature in his creation: G-d did not choose to abstain from work he had made a being that was to be his image. Apparently,

not until after there was

in

creation

big

and

little light

and

stars1

stand to

something that stands to G-d as Light did he regard creation

as complete.

Yet

what

exactly G-d
the

image,
to

after our

likeness,"

and to what extent

in saying "Let us make man in our he intended man to be or to become, bi-sexual that comes to be is true
meant what
creature14

G-d's

plan

we

are

not

(yet?)

told.

We

are

explanatory

apposition

to the

beginning
but
this

of vs.

told, apparently in 26, that man is to

down"

have dominion (from a over sea, air, and land creator that we learn
something puzzling
Another
strange

root that means

"tread

or

"govern")
but
as

animals,
of

since

it is

not as ruler

G-d in

opening chapter,

there

is

about this respect of

likeness.
noted

feature

of vs.

26 has been

for

as

long as the
It has

Bible has been studied, namely, that G-d says: "Let us make man in likeness." The plural can not betoken majesty our image after our
since
classical

Hebrew lacks this type

suggested

of

construction.15

therefore

been

that the plural verb and pronouns are the

result of the

fact

that the Hebrew word

a plural

for G-d consistently

and

used

in

the
of

seven-day story has

the
noun

form (the
Speiser

standard masculine plural

being

-im).

E.

A.

others,

pointing

to

analogies

between
"us,"

the Akkadian creation epic

6
elaborate

Enuma Elis

and the

Biblical

story,1

creation

this

hypothesis
of the

to mean that

G-d,
the

in saying

is addressing

the

Council

Gods. Yet

as

96
medieval

Interpretation
Jewish
exegete

Rashi

points out a

(in

response

to a pious

reading
modern make

which

seems to
one),17

me

just

different form
as

of words

for

the

impious

verse

27 (where

the verb create rather than

Using

is used), reverts to the singular, what I observed earlier (p. 90)

do

the
the

succeeding

verses.
of

shared"

about

"being

verbs, it makes better sense to understand this odd plural expressing G-d's invitation, addressed to his preceding works,
certain

as

to

collaborate with

him in
as

their

ruler.18

It is

urging his

creatures to

making of the creature which is to be though, from vs. 11 on, G-d is continually burst into further fulness but helps out their
the
vs.

insufficiency. Indeed, even earlier, in like G-d in vs. 4 end, a "dividor"?

6,

was not

the

sky

to

be,

Many
in the

of the things we are taught about man

course of the attempt to

discern have

what

is

G-d. But two features

explicit

of the text

not as

have already emerged to be learned about yet been brought into

(in

focus.

The
the
us

first,

to

which

Leo Strauss among

others called attention

lecture
that

mentioned

in footnote

10)

is

this:

Though
of

vs.

31

assures

"all"

that

G-d had made, the "system

yet two members of this good.

creation"

if

you

will,19

is

"very
are

good,"

system, the sky

and

mankind,

not
and

each

separately

called

Does

this

likeness
of

between sky
about

man

in

terms of a shared

lack

tell us

something
the
waters

man?20

And

are we to
"up"

infer that the indeterminateness

"down"

creature
on

that
apart

high

divides from the

waters

from down

(the sky

as

holding

below)

and the

indeterminate

ness of

the creature that

is

to acquire

knowledge

of good and

bad is

somehow a condition whole?

for

the

outstanding
the

excellence of creation as a

The

other requires

registering

implications

of vss.

28

and

29

being juxtaposed. Verse 28, as mentioned earlier, seems to say that one ingredient at least of man's being made in the image of G-d is
that

he

and

creatures creature

he below
share

alone

is

assigned

the

sky.

authority over Verse 29 tells us that

"subjects"

the other

moving

this authoritative

is
to
to

to eat none of
the

his
!

but,

as vs.

30

continues to

say,

is

food

of

these

subjects.

Man

and

beast

are

designed
nature

be

vegetarian.2

Is

not the

implication that,
G-d's
original
2

whatever the

of

the

authority
to

which

G-d
out

assigned to

mankind, however

difficult it may be
authority

make

design,
so

human

was not meant

to

be

exploitative.2

Further,

long as we

The
adhere to the
at

Seven-Day Story

97

seven-day story, it appears that G-d's original intention light" and was, most, for mankind masculine to be the "big light," mankind feminine to be the "little both rulers, but not of one
another nor even of

the stars.

What
occurs.

are we told about the world?

Note, first,

that no such word

alone

The dyad heaven-and-earth

not always

seems to take

its place, G-d

being one.
They have
populated,

been

as

we now

know them, articulated,

to tell us,

and and

integrated. Yet

vs.

1 is

quick

it is

not

Father

Sky

Mother Earth to whom,

as original

Begetting Pair, we
of the

owe chief gratitude

for fulness
"natural Bible

of

being. There is One beyond them.

I take to be the true intent
I belabor the
which

This warding
verse

piety"

off of

with which the

begins.2 3

point to prevent

the

common

first

things
.

G-d

misreading according to created were heaven

a

the

story

runs:

"The

and

earth.

Then he

created

light. later on
.

Such
we are

reading obviously makes nonsense of the fact that told that the earth does not become distinct until the

third

day,

while the

heavens,

as

separator, had been

called

into

being
G-d

on the second

day.
and earth not

Not only
as

are

sky

the primordial couple,

they

were

themselves not

begotten,

not

did they

and their parts emanate

from

in

some philosophic

theories,

nor

did they gradually

come to

be
of

by

the chance collision of atoms or what-nots.

They
but
are

are the result

deliberate divine
are

planning,

differentiating,
only
as a

making.

As

a whole

they

"very

good."

And

not

whole,
world

also considered

severally, the

subordinate wholes

in the

good,

with

the the

possible exception of those things

creator

in the

world most

nearly like

himself,
question

sky

and mankind.

The

text,

and

why G-d created this world is nothing in it suggests that we ought to

in the world,
work

never raised
ask

by

the

the

question,24

but
and

each

being
of and

not

only mankind, is
is
commanded

assigned a station

job

the

earth

to

bring
does

forth its

stationary
Often the

moving
stars

population; seas their

fish;

the

sky its

fowl;

sun, moon,

and

have

their

function,
is

and

so

mankind.
which

assigned

job

of work until

self-perpetuation

merely,

may
In

seem

disappointing,
G-d
words,

it is

realized that

the

seven-day
whoever

story's

theme

is

that

seeks perpetuation of

variety of kinds.

other

according

to the

Biblical narrator,

he be,
to

effort and

blessing

are required to prevent what

is from reverting

98
that

Interpretation

homogenized

state
no

of

being

which

might

as

well

be

called

non-being because it is

longer

or not yet

any definite

being.2 5

owe much

to Robert Sacks

and

to

his unfortunately

as yet unpublished

book The Lion

and

the Ass.
effect of the
wonderful

2Contrast

the

recurring lines in Homer's

Illiad,

"wine dark sea", "pitiless

bronze", "they

put their

hands

to the good things

before them", but above all, "rosy-fingered dawn". C. S. Lewis, in his Preface to Paradise Lost (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), p. 23, described the
effect of

the

Homeric lines
in

to

perfection:

What is really in
up,
as watchers

our minds when we

a sickroom or as

first

catch sight of

the sea

after a

long

absence, or look

doubtall manner of

hopes

and

sentries, to see yet another daybreak? Many things, no But under all these, like a bass so deep as to be fears.
.

scarcely audible, there is something

"same consoling fact that

sea"

old

or

experience and

might very lamely express by muttering "same The permanence, the indifference, the heartrending or whether we laugh or weep the world is what it is, always enters into our plays no small part in that pressure of reality which is one of the differences
which we
morning."

old

between life

and

imagined life.
the

It is

as though were

Biblical

narrator each

time
as

he lets dusk
always,"

set

in

and

morning

break

awareness which adds

catching that, along

up,
the

the reader
with

saying "same
yet

only
is

to shock

him into

cyclic recurrence there

the newness of

history,
5
as

conspires to

something

to

become.
etymological comment on vs.

give an expanded version of

Ibn Ezra's

reported

in

Soncino Chumash (edited

by

A. Cohen, London: Soncino

eliminates

Press,

1969),
I

p.

2.

cannot

fathom why

between
6
7

echad and rishon

the New Oxford translation in its English rendition.

the contrast

Jerusalem: Magnes 1 lift the It is

as

Press,

English

edition

1961.
the the
see

phrase

from Plato's Philebus.

expulsion were

if

the pangs of

thematic word of
cabalistic

Exodus)

theme of expulsion

(the word here used is the same as felt as early as the third day of creation. On or departure as the very process of creation,

Gershom

Scholem, Major Trends in paperback edition, 1961), chapter 7.

Compare
p.

Jewish Mysticism (New York: Schocken

the prayer said at the conclusion of the

of

Sabbath,

the so-called

Havdalah,

223

Ben Zion Bokser's

edition of

the

Prayer Book for

Weekday,

Sabbath, and Festival (New York: Hebrew Publishing Company, 1961). 9See Leviticus chapters 19 and 20.
I
1
owe

the suggestion to

lecture

by

Leo Strauss

given at

the

University

of

Chicago in

January, 1957
Hans

and circulated

in

manuscript
of

(in The Phenomenon of Life, New York: Harper and Row, 1966), Father Ong's Ramus and the Decay of Dialogue (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958), and Auerbach's

1Compare

by some of his students.

Jonas'

essay "The

Nobility

Sight"

famous study of the contrast between the style of Homer and that of Genesis in Mimesis (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953). Whether my suggestion
that the seven

days

should

be

understood as though

they

were

the seven notes of

The
a musical
an

Seven-Day Story
day being
"a
return

99
to the

scale, the

eighth note and

beginning and yet

of

advance,"

is something

read out of or read

into

the text

is,

course,

hard

to

determine. Much

depends,

obviously,

upon what sort of

scale,

a pentatonic or a

heptatonic,
addressed.

in the
a

was in use among the people to whom the seven-day story was first While it used to be thought that they had a pentatonic scale, a snippet New York Times of March 10, 1974 (iv., 5:3) reports the decipherment of

clay
and

tablet

from Ur (Abraham's city)

as

as

yielding

our

heptatonic

scale,

with

to

to

half-steps.
Bloch, 1972) for
of at
an
philosophers'

12See

Max Kadushin's The Rabbinic Mind (New York:

unusually helpful setting out of the Compare Joseph's second dream

distortions

and

its interpretation
of

Torah. Genesis 37:9ff.

the

It
to to

can

hardly be ignorance
and

of

the

facts

life

that

leads

the Biblical narrator

identify

man alone as masculine and

feminine,

although all creation

is

urged

be fruitful

to

become

many.

In 7:19 (the story

of

of the
flesh."

flood) bi-sexuality

is emphatically seen as a mark of "every living thing Just as it lacks the tu/vous distinction. For an
what goes with

illuminating commentary on its elimination, see "The Pronouns of Power Solidarity" and Seboek et al, Style in by R. Brown and A. Gilman in T. Language (Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, 1960). See his translation and commentary on Genesis in the Anchor Bible series
this

distinction

and

,A.

(New York:
7

Doubleday, 1964).
G-d
was

According to the pious reading,

Compare

addressing the

angels.

Publication
earth

Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews (Philadelphia: Society, 1909-38), i, 50: "G-d now bade all beings in heaven
. .

Jewish
and on

to contribute to the creation of man.

This interpretation
to the

of the words

"all that he had

contains

made"

goes

back

Renaissance

commentator

Sforno. It

in

nuce
one

Leibniz'

at least famous

thought that ours

is

the

best

possible

world, that

is,

the

best

the constituents

of which are compossible.

"Compare Maimonides, Publications, 1956), p. 215.

21

Guide

for

the

Perplexed

(New
the

York:

Dover

Not

until this or the

is

recognized can the grim sternness of

opening verses

of

chapter
again

9,

meaning
the

of the

Prophet's

vision of an era when

the wolf will

lie down
caught

with

22I

myself

lamb, be appreciated. thinking in terms of the Marxist

that

word,
about

and

let it

stand sound

because it seems to me strangely like a new telling

23

Marx's

early

writings

alienation

of the tale of creation througn exile.

Just

as

the

second

Biblical

story cycle,
and

which

begins

with

Abraham,
normally
ask

detaches him
concretizes

from land, birthplace,

to me that
when

father's
after
.

house all

that

"ancestral
seems

piety."

24Thus
is
there

it

Leibniz (and
nothing.

him

Heidegger)
are

"Why
the

something, which,

why

not

rather

they

violating
the
would as a

prohibition chapter's

according

to

an

old
at

story, is
the

contained

in
you

creation see a

opening letter: Ifyou letter that looks like this, 3_ , the motion suggested is headed

looked
towards

Hebrew text,
Looked
at

as an opener.

merely

drawing,

the

left

which, in

Hebrew, is forward

100
along
the

Interpretation
writing
and

reading line. According to the story, this beginning letter be no probing into the antecedents of G-d's creative act. "That which is concealed [what lies to the right of the first "! ] belongs to the Lord our G-d. But that which is revealed [all that follows it] belongs to us and
shows

that there

is

to

our children

for

ever, that

we

may do
cit,

all

the
and

words of

this

Torah."

2sCompare Ginzberg,
970ff.

op.

i, 52

Milton's Paradise Lost, Bk 2 lines

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