ebook img

Contentment in Contention: Acceptance versus Aspiration PDF

221 Pages·2012·0.88 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Contentment in Contention: Acceptance versus Aspiration

Contentment in Contention AlsobyBeverleySouthgate: ‘COVETOUSOFTRUTH’:TheLifeandWorkofThomasWhite,1593–1676(1993) HISTORY:WHAT&WHY?Ancient,Modern,andPostmodernPerspectives(1996; Secondedition,2001) WHYBOTHERWITHHISTORY?(2000) POSTMODERNISMINHISTORY:FearorFreedom?(2003) WHATISHISTORYFOR?(2005) HISTORYMEETSFICTION(2009) Editor(andauthorofIntroduction)ofDorotheaKrook,JOHNSERGEANTAND HISCIRCLE:AStudyofThreeSeventeenth-CenturyEnglishAristotelians(1993) Contentment in Contention: Acceptance versus Aspiration Beverley Southgate ©BeverleySouthgate2012 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-35459-3 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6–10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentified astheauthorofthisworkinaccordancewiththeCopyright, DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2012by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-34655-4 ISBN 978-0-230-36088-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230360884 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 For Ellen and Thomas, Lily and Hannah, Natasha and Lucy, and especially for Sheila, who gives me much more than ‘contentment’ God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take whichyouplease–youcanneverhaveboth.Betweenthese,asapen- dulum,manoscillates.Heinwhomtheloveofreposepredominates willacceptthefirstcreed,thefirstphilosophy,thefirstpoliticalparty hemeets–mostlikelyhisfather’s.Hegetsrest,commodity,andrep- utation;butheshutsthedooroftruth.Heinwhomtheloveoftruth predominateswillkeephimselfalooffromallmoorings,andafloat. Hewillabstainfromdogmatism,andrecognisealltheoppositenega- tions,betweenwhich,aswalls,hisbeingisswung.Hesubmitstothe inconvenienceofsuspenseandimperfectopinion,butheisacandi- datefortruth,astheotherisnot,andrespectsthehighestlawofhis being. (RalphWaldoEmerson,‘Intellect’,inTheComplete ProseWorks,London,WardLock,1890,p.85) Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements xii 1 Introduction 1 Introduction 1 ‘Twoclassesofmen’ 4 BenthamandColeridge 10 Synthesisandsubversion 12 Conclusion 16 2 Contentmentwith‘Reality’and‘Common-Sense’ 19 Introduction 19 Realityanditsrepresentations 25 History,myth,and‘reality’ 30 Creatingrealities:History,identity,and‘humannature’ 33 Conclusion 38 3 ContentmentwithinCages(i):Science,Ethics,Politics 42 Introduction 42 Cagesinscience 48 Cagesinethics 52 Conclusion:Cagesandpolitics 55 4 ContentmentwithinCages(ii):LanguageandHistory 61 Introduction 61 Thecageoflanguage 62 Thecageofhistory 70 Conclusion 82 5 Cages:DogmatismandEscape 84 Introduction 84 Cagesandthedangersofdogmatism 87 Escape(i):Cage-consciousness 92 Escape(ii):Art,poetry,andhistory 94 Conclusion 100 vii viii Contents 6 AntidotetoContentment:TheSublime 103 Introduction 103 The‘sublime’:Abriefcontextualisation 106 God/Christianity/Transcendence 114 Aspirationinthearts:Poetryandplay 116 Theneedforasublime 122 Conclusion 124 7 EducationforContentment?Utility,Conformity, Dissent 127 Introduction 127 Educationforcontentment 128 Educationandaspiration 131 Individualism,conformity,anddiscontent 135 ArolefortheHumanities:Againstcontentment 137 Knowledgeandwisdom 138 Disturbanceandperturbation,sanityandslavery 141 Gardensandvolcanoes 146 Conclusion 148 8 Conclusion 152 Introduction 152 Contentmentadvocated 153 Discontentadvocated 159 Now,afterthedeathofGod 162 Conclusion:Truth,modesty,andradicalhope 166 Postscript 171 Notes 177 Bibliography 197 Index 204 Preface This book is concerned with the tension between two modes of being, two ways of living: on the one hand, the embrace of contentment by accepting the ‘reality’ (and so the inevitability) of our situation as it is; and on the other hand, the need felt for continual striving towards somethingpreferable(thoughoftenindefinable)thatseemsforeverjust outofreach. Thattensionhasbeenexperiencedandexpressedfromthetimeofthe earliest Western philosophies, and is in certain respects exemplified in thetwomajortraditionsofthoughtrepresentedbyAristotleandPlato, who famously in Raphael’s painting of The School of Athens (1510–11) focus their attention respectively on the earth and on the heavens. As Socrates’ pupil, Plato diverted attention from what we would call the natural sciences to a concern with how best to live; and the basis foramorallifehefoundthroughconsiderationofanidealworld,tran- scending the here and now, to which we should aspire. Aristotle then broughtphilosophybackdowntoearth,hisinterestfirmlyinthephys- ical;andhehimselfdistinguished(atleastbyimplication)betweenthe practitionersofasubjectsuchasHistory,whichwasconfinedtoacon- siderationofwhatis(orhasbeen),andPoetry,whichwasfreetorange imaginativelyoverwhatmightbe–ormightbetterbe. That distinction continues to be seen today in the twenty-first cen- tury, where we daily witness, in both public and private life, a sharp andsometimescontradictorydichotomybetweenpragmaticacceptance andaspirationalidealism.So,forexample,politicians,whileoftencon- cerned to avoid any accusation of visionary idealism, emphasise the ‘realistic’ and down-to-earth nature of their policies, but at the same timerepudiateanyhintof‘complacency’andevidentlystrivetoeffect major transformations in the world at large. And private individuals, withaseeminglyobsessiveregardfortheirownidentitiesandselfhoods, while seeking an unidentified ‘happiness’, demand to be accepted ‘as they are’ (‘take me as you find me’), but simultaneously engage in an endlessquestto‘findthemselves’(anendlesslyelusiveselfhood). The matter of ‘contentment’ has recently become a major political and personal issue, with some seeing the ‘global economic crisis’ as providing a chance to take stock and re-evaluate our lives. Maybe, it ix

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.