The Absolute and Star Trek PDF
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The Absolute and Star Trek GeorgeA.Gonzalez The Absolute and Star Trek GeorgeA.Gonzalez DepartmentofPoliticalScience UniversityofMiami CoralGables,Florida,USA ISBN978-3-319-47793-0 ISBN978-3-319-47794-7(eBook) DOI10.1007/978-3-319-47794-7 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016957406 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2017 Thisbookwasadvertisedwithacopyrightholderinthenameofthepublisherinerror,whereas theauthorholdsthecopyright. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsof translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped. 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Coverillustration:MonoCircles©JohnRawsterne/patternhead.com Printedonacid-freepaper ThisPalgraveMacmillanimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland For Ileanaand Alana P REFACE How can we know the Absolute?—through art.1 The absolute, philoso- phized upon most saliently by Georg Hegel,2 is the driving force behind history.3ClassicistHenryPaolucciexplainsthat“art”(alongwithreligion andphilosophy)“areintheend,forHegel,‘moments’ofabsolutespirit.”4 Similarly, philosopher William Desmond, in A Study of Hegel’s Aesthetics: ArtandtheAbsolute,notesthat“Arthasanabsolutedimension;indeed,it belongs together with religion and philosophy itself as one of the three highestmodesofhumanmeaning.”5ConsonantwithHegelianreasoning, myspecificargumentinthisvolumeisthatthebroadcastiterationsofStar Trek allow us to comprehend significant aspects of the absolute. Therefore,Star Trek isthe highestofhighbrow entertainment.6 Why is art an empirical documentation of the absolute?7 Humans spec- ulate about the absolute—i.e., that which moves history forward and allows people to lead authentic lives. Precisely because the absolute is that which is and which isn’t,8 art/imagination allows for the absolute to be conveyed in an intellectually and emotionally satisfying matter.9 (Notably, the first known philosophy in the Western world [Plato’s Dialogues] was written in the form of narrative art.) Art, therefore, can supersede philosophy, with the latter serving to dissect/amplify what is accessed/depictedthrough the former. AsimplebutnonethelessinformativeexamplebeingtheStarTrek:The Next Generation (1987–1994) episode “All Goods Things...” (1994). The “little pond of goo” from which all life on Earth emanated is con- veyed in the following figure. It is from this pond of goo that the absolute fororganiclifeonEarthwasborn,ashereiswherethewill(i.e.,spirit)to vii viii PREFACE Fig.1 “Everythingyouknow,yourentirecivilization,itallbeginsrightherein thislittlepondofgoo” live/survive/procreateonthisplanetwasspawned.StarTrekaptlynotesthat the destruction of this pond, and all like it, would have prevented humans fromevolving.Itisthroughsuchportrayalsthatwecanseehowtheabsolute operateswithregardtolifeonEarth(ofcourse,includinghumans). TheenduringpopularityoftheStarTrekfranchiseindicatesthevalidityof thespeculationportrayedinthefranchiseabouttheabsolute.Putdifferently, theglobalsuccessoftheStarTrekfranchisevalidatestheideathatthemulti- ple series and movies, to an important degree, “capture” the essence of the absolute.PhilosophyProfessorJackKaminsky,drawingexplicitlyonHegel’s theoryofaesthetics,explainsthat“theartisttriestoshowmenwhatkindof man would be the fullest expression of the Idea” (i.e., the Absolute).10 Therefore, very plausibly, the artistic success of the Star Trek franchise (and its great popularity) is precisely due to the fact that it shows us what kindofperson/societywouldbethefullestexpressionoftheAbsolute.Precisely becauseofStarTrekwecanseeminglybesecureaboutcertainaspectsofthe absolute, and, as a result, Star Trek ostensibly serves as a guide to an authentic life and a stable, thriving society. Parenthetically, the value of PREFACE ix StarTrekisexactlythatittranscendsthepersonalitiesandspecificcontexts within which it was produced. Indeed, this is precisely what makes it effective,elucidatingpoliticaltheoryandphilosophy. Analyticphilosophy,whoseadherentshavehistoricallyridiculedtheidea of the absolute11—without positing any answers of their own for the movement of history12—is an obstacle to knowledge. Most specifically, artandtheanalyzingoftheaestheticareviewedbyanalyticphilosophersas mainly outside of epistemology and ignorable as it relates to science.13 Instead, the humanities is of a piece with the physical sciences14—as they both speculate about the absolute, the latter about its manifestation in matter and energy, whereas the former (in its finer forms) is speculation abouttheabsoluteasitpertainstohumanaffairs.15“Artmaynothavethe precision of physics but, according to Hegel, it has as crucial a role in revealing to us an aspect of the [Absolute] Idea.”16 Because analytic philosophersrejecttheartsasasourceofknowledge,thisapproachserves to block the truth—knowledge of the absolute through art (Chapter 2). Taking the argument further, Star Trek indicates that the purpose of humanity is precisely to speculate about the world/universe through bothscience andthe humanities(Chapter 3). C ONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 2 Analytic Philosophy andStar Trek 5 3 Speculation in Star Trek 15 4 The ProgressiveDialectic of Star Trek 25 5 Star Trek and FalseInfinities 33 6 Star Trek and Language:Daseinor Speculation? 41 7 Star Trek: Prejudice versusUniversalRationality 51 8 Star Trek: Voyager: PragmatismandNeo-Pragmatism as FalseInfinities 59 9 Zombies, Star Trek, andInternational Relations 75 10 Conclusion: The Inviability of Analytic Philosophy, as wellasBad andFalse Infinities 83 Notes 89 xi xii CONTENTS Bibliography 103 Index 113
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