Literature, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences: Essays in Existentialism and Phenomenology

227 Pages·1962·7.095 MB·English

by  Maurice Natanson (auth.)

The ~ssays in this volume have as
their unifying theme the exposition of
existentiali~m and phenomenology as
well as the application of existential
and phenomenological categories to
problems in literature, aesthetics, and
the social sciences. In addition to
introducing the reader to some general
principles and concepts in this domain,
thc author presents existential analy
ses of such writers as Dostoievski,
Kafka, Camus, and Wolfe, and discusses
problems in the philosophies of Husserl
and Sartre. The volume may serve as
a first guide to those interested in the
relevance of contemporary European
philosophy for the disciplines of theory
ofliterature, aesthetics, sociology, histo
ry and psychiatry. Despite this great
range of topics, there is a dominant
theme which informs the entire work:
the attempt to explore in depth the sense
f!.f reali~y which art and social reality
presuppose as well as express. Under
lying the special arguments that arc to
be found in each chapter is a concern
with the sense of reality, and it is in
a phenomenologically conceived ex
istentialism that Dr. Natanson finds the
surest approach to this root problem.
The phenomenologist, it is main
tained, is committed to a study of the
magical modes of existence as well
as to their epistemological delineation.
Terror, then, is as much a part of the
problem ofintcrsuhjcctivity as love, and
the student of social life must come to
terms with both if he is to understand
in what sense it is possible for men to
LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY,
AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY,
AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
ESSAYS IN EXISTENTIALISM AND
PHENOMENOLOGY
by
MAURICE NATANSON
Department 01 Philosophy, University 01 North Carolina
•
MARTINUS NljHOFF / THE HAGUE / 1962
ISBN 978-94-011-8530-1 ISBN 978-94-011-9278-1 (eBook)
DOl 10.1007/978-94-011-9278-1
Copy,ight I96a by Ma,tinus Nijhofl. The Hague. Netheflands
AII,ights ,esmJed. including the ,ight to wanslate Of to
,ep,oduce this book Of pa,ts thweo! in any form
THESE ESSAYS ARE DEDICATED
TO THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER,
KATE NAT ANSON
AND MY UNCLE,
ALEXANDER G. SCHEER
Foreword
A collection of one man's essays in book form tends to be viewed
today with some suspicion, if not hostility, by philosophical critics. It
would seem that the author is guilty of an academic sin of pride:
causing or helping to cause separately conceived articles to surpass
their original station and assume a new life, a grander articulation. It
can hardly be denied that the essays which follow must face this sullen
charge, for they were composed at different times for different sorts of
audiences and, for the most part, have already been published. Their
appearance in a new form will not allay commonplace criticisms: there
are repetitions, certain key terms are defined and defined again in
various places, a few quotations reappear, and, beyond this, the essays
are unequal in range, depth, and fundamental intent. But it is what
brings these essays together that constitutes, I trust, their collective
merit. Underlying the special arguments that are to be found in each
of the chapters is a particular sense of reality, not a thesis or a theory
but rather a way of seeing the world and of appreciating its texture and
design. It is that sense of reality that I should like to speak of here.
Philosophy stands in a paradoxical relationship to mundane ex
istence: it is at once its critique and one of its possibilities. Why there
should be an ordered, coherent (if tortured) reality rather than nothing
at all, to paraphrase Heidegger's version of the metaphysical question,
is as trying a problem as its alternative formulation: why there should
be philosophy instead of the straightforward acceptance of daily life.
The reflexive act which is the initial starting point of philosophical
activity must be accepted as a primordial choice of the living agent.
Whatever its causal conditions, its historical antecedents, its psycho
logical motives, philosophical wonder is a phenomenon sui generis. Its
VIII FOREWORD
valence for the life of the person can be measured only by its givenness,
its magical irruption in the life of consciousness. To speak of "choice"
here is to suggest something less than sifting among alternatives and
something more than volition. To wonder is to transcend what is
problematic about this or that aspect of experience and to come to a
thematic awareness of experience as such, problematicity as such, and
the uniqueness of one's own being confronted with reality in the ad
venture of a single and solitary existence. In wonder the strain of being
thrust into a world reveals itself as a possibility, a condition for self
illumination. Choice is a fundamental predicate attaching to the self, a
subscript in search of its proper integer.
I t is in a phenomenologically conceived existentialism that I find the
surest approach to the sense of reality as the cardinal issue of philoso
phy. The phenomenologist is concerned with the magical modes of
existence as well as with their epistemological delineation. Terror is as
much a part of the problem of intersubjectivity as love, and the stu
dent of social life must come to terms with both if he is to understand
in what sense it is possible for men to share a world. Similarly, the
distance between aesthetics and social science is shortened by the same
concern. Art as an uncovering of the Real is a mode of its presentation,
not a surrogate. The epistemological question the artist asks (implicitly,
most often) is analogous to that posed by the phenomenologist of the
social sciences: What are the essential conditions for there being a
world? As Wallace Stevens conceives of the poet as the "orator of the
imagination," so we may think of the philosopher as the spokesman of
wonder. The problems of literature and the social sciences that are
discussed in these pages tum upon the philosophic concern with the
sense of "what there is" as the most splendid datum. Accordingly,
literature and the social sciences are taken as moments in a philosophic
dialectic.
The names that recur so often in this book are perhaps an index of
my indebtedness to other thinkers and writers: Husserl and Sartre,
Dostoievski and Kafka, Max Weber and Alfred Schutz. Of this dis
tinguished company it was my privilege to know one man in living
directness, the late Alfred Schutz. I hope that what is best in these
essays reflects something of his teaching, encouragement, and phe
nomenological brilliance. Undoubtedly, Schutz would have disagreed
with a number of my ideas and disapproved of many of my formulations.
I would like to think that there is one generic point upon which agree
ment would have been reached: it is the task of the philosopher to
FOREWORD IX
capture, in rigorous form, the essential meaning of man's experience in
the Life-world without denying the complex ambiguity of that world
and without robbing it of its warmth and cunning. For whatever else
it is, philosophy is also the discipline of passion.
Chapel Hill, N.C. M.N.
June 13, 1961
AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Most of the essays which comprise this volume were originally publish
ed as articles in journals or as chapters in books: "Phenomenology:
A Viewing," Methodos, Vol. X, 1958; "Phenomenology and Ex
istentialism," Modern Schoolman, Vol. XXXVII, 1959; "The Em
pirical and Transcendental Ego" in For Roman Ingarden: Nine Essays
in Phenomenology, Martinus Nijhoff, 1959; "Being-in-Reality,"
PhilosoPhy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. XX, 1959; "Jean
Paul Sartre's Philosophy of Freedom," Social Research, Vol. XIX,
1952; "Toward a Phenomenology of the Aesthetic Object," (in
Spanish) N otas y Estudios de Filosofia, Vol. III, 1952; "Phenomenology
and the Theory of Literature" and "Existentialism and the Theory of
Literature" in The Critical Matrix (edited by Paul R. Sullivan),
Georgetown University, 1961 ("Existentialism and the Theory of
Literature" also appeared in Forum, Fall 1959, under the title "Sartre
and Literature"); "Existential Categories in Contemporary Litera
ture," Carolina Quarterly, Vol. X, 1958; "The Privileged Moment:
A Study in the Rhetoric of Thomas Wolfe," Quarterly Journal of
SPeech, Vol. XLIII, 1957; "Albert Camus: Death at the Meridian,"
Carolina Quarterly, Vol. XI, 1960; "A Study in Philosophy and the
Social Sciences," Social Research, Vol. XXV, 1958; "History as a
Finite Province of Meaning," (in Spanish) Convivium, Vol. II, 1957;
"History, Historicity, and the A1chemistry of Time," Chicago Review,
Vol. XV, 1961; "Causation as a Structure of the Lebenswelt," Journal
of Existential Psychiatry, Vol. I, 1960; "Death and Situation," Ame
rican Imago, Vol. XVI, 1959. I thank the editors and publishers of
these pUblications for permission to reprint my writings. Also, I wish
to thank Mr. G. H. Priem of Martinus Nijhoff for his editorial aid.
My wife, Lois Natanson, has helped to bring all of my efforts to their
best stylistic form. Where inadequacies remain it is because of my
obstinacy. My gratitude to Lois is as profound as my indebtedness.
of
Table Contents
Foreword VII
Part I I PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS
I. Phenomenology: A Viewing 3
2. Phenomenology and Existentialism: Husserl and Sartre
on Intentionality 26
3. Phenomenology and the Natural Attitude 34
4. The Empirical and Transcendental Ego 44
5· Being-in-Reality 55
6. Jean-Paul Sartre's Philosophy of Freedom 62
Part I I I AESTHETICS AND LITERATURE
7. Toward a Phenomenology of the Aesthetic Object 79
8. Phenomenology and the Theory of Literature 86
9. Existentialism and the Theory of Literature lOI
IO. Existential Categories in Contemporary Literature II6
II. The Privileged Moment: A Study in the Rhetoric of Thomas
Wolfe I3I
12. Albert Camus: Death at the Meridian 141
Part I I I I HISTORY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
13. A Study in Philosophy and the Social Sciences ISS
14. Knowledge and Alienation: Some Remarks on Mannheim's
Sociology of Knowledge 167
XII TABLE OF CONTENTS
15. History as a Finite Province of Meaning
16. History, Historicity, and the Alchemistry of Time
17. Causation as a Structure of the Lebenswelt
18. Death and Situation