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Rationale of the Irrational

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Rationale of the Irrational Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Sagnfræði- og heimspekideild RATIONALE OF THE IRRATIONAL Existential Crises, Conceptual Narratives, Metaphysical Rebellions Ritgerð til MA-prófs í heimspeki Ægir Þór Jahnke Kt.: 250588-2089 Leiðbeinandi: Björn Þorsteinsson Abstract The aim of this thesis is to outline the existential crises facing the modern individual, modern society, and the modern system of thought; crises at once singular and universal, specific and generic, material and conceptual. The underlying mechanisms fuelling these crises are the metaphysical controls governing our thought processes, controls embedded in the human psyche by means of the language employed in relating our narrative myths, a language increasingly technical and divorced from its mythopoetic origins. I argue that this prevailing language has led to a troublesome fracturing of the narrative stories of our lives, and, thereby, our thought. As a result, we’re increasingly unable to conceptualize solutions to modern problems, we’re unable to think outside the box that seeks to describe existence in purely mechanical terms. The result is a dangerous reduction in the power of the human imagination. This development must be resisted. A rebellion must be raised against the tyranny of modern mechanical metaphysics, a rebellion that is a true rebellion and not a revolutionary movement, resistance without its own program, critique which is as critical of itself as of that which it is formulated in resistance to. The most important battlefield of this rebellion is the education system, and the philosophy that grounds this system. It is there that our most basic conceptual narratives first become systematically formed. And it is this systematization that I shall be arguing against. Contrary to the prevailing metaphysics existence cannot be construed as a fully logical-rational construct. To avoid the pitfalls of this illusion I propose to harness the creative forces of youth in search of the logic of the irrational, a rebellious metaphysics better suited to the infinite complexities of our world. 2 Ágrip Markmið þessarar rannsóknar er að útskýra þær tilvistarkreppur sem blasa við samtíðinni, hvort sem er einstaklingnum, samfélaginu eða mennskri hugsun almennt. Þetta eru kreppur sem eru í senn einstakar og almennar, alhliða og sértækar, efnislegar og fræðilegar. Téðar kreppur eru afleiðing af þeim frumspekilegu stjórntækjum sem stýra okkar undirliggjandi hugsunarferlum, stjórntæki sem eru innbyggð í mannlega vitund gegnum tungumálið sem við beitum til að miðla frásögn okkar og goðsögunum sem móta hana, tungumál sem gerist æ tæknilegra og úr tengslum við ljóðrænar rætur sínar í frásagnahefðinni. Ég færi rök fyrir því að þetta ráðandi tungutak orðræðunnar hafi orðið til þess að sú frásögn sem grundvallar líf okkar verður sífellt brotakenndari, með sambærilegum skaðlegum áhrifum á hugsun okkar. Fyrir vikið erum við í vaxandi mæli ófær um að hugsa okkur lausnir við vandamálum nútímans, við gerumst ófær um að hugsa út fyrir kassann sem leitast við að lýsa tilverunni á fullkomlega vélrænan hátt. Niðurstaðan er hættulegur hnignun hins mannlega ímyndunarafls. Þetta er þróun sem nauðsynlegt er að streitast gegn. Við verðum að gera uppreisn gegn einræði nútíma vélrænnar frumspeki, sanna uppreisn sem ekki er bylting, andspyrna sem leitast ekki við að innleiða eigin kerfi, gagnrýni sem er jafn gagnrýnin á eigin forsendur og á það sem hún varð til sem andóf gegn. Mikilvægasti vettvangur þessarar uppreisnar er menntakerfið og sú heimspeki sem það kerfi byggir á. Það er á þeim vettvangi hugmyndir okkar um heiminn verða fyrst kerfisbundnar og staðlaðar, en það er þessi sama kerfisbinding sem ég færi rök gegn. Burtséð frá okkar ríkjandi frumspeki er tilvistin ekki eitthvað sem hægt er að gera fullkomlega og endanlega grein fyrir á röklegan hátt. Til að forðast galla þessarar tálsýnar legg ég til að við virkjum sköpunarkrafta æskunnar í leit að rökfræði hins órökrétta, að uppreisnargjarnri frumspeki sem hentar betur okkar óendanlega flókna heimi. 3 Contents Birth Defects: General Introduction............................................................................... 5 I. The Case Against Society ...................................................................................... 10 1.1 - Becoming Philosopher: Personal Introduction ................................................ 11 1.2 - Myths of Meaning ............................................................................................ 14 1.2.1 - A Modern Frankenstein ............................................................................. 15 1.2.2 - Solid Symbols, Fluid Structures ................................................................ 21 1.2.3 - Icarus’ Metaphorical Wings ...................................................................... 27 1.3 - Existential Rebellion ........................................................................................ 31 1.3.1 - Voices in the Wilderness ........................................................................... 32 1.3.2 - Studies in Pessimism ................................................................................. 37 II. ‘Mind the Gap’ ................................................................................................... 40 2.1 - Simulation, Acceleration, Obsolescence.......................................................... 41 2.2.1 - The Mass Man ........................................................................................... 42 2.2.2 - Hyperreal History ...................................................................................... 48 2.2.3 - Topography of Deserts .............................................................................. 54 2.2 - Shiny Happy People ......................................................................................... 61 2.3 - Education for Rebellion ................................................................................... 71 2.3.1 - Human Containers ..................................................................................... 72 2.3.2 - Anarchist Classroom ................................................................................. 77 III. Posthuman Metaphysics..................................................................................... 82 A Good Story: Concluding Remarks ........................................................................... 91 References .................................................................................................................... 92 4 “There is no other pill to take / so swallow the one that makes you ill.”1 ⸺ Zack de la Rocha Birth Defects: General Introduction This work is a chimera. A hybrid species, in parts philosophy, history, literature, myth. Part theory, part intuition, in large part mapmaking; in all parts: language. This is a narrative of a philosophical procession. My intention is to sketch a picture. The principal motifs are drawn from mythology and literature, along with philosophy and history; the themes are those of critical theory, phenomenology, pedagogy, and philosophy of language; with dabs of structuralism, anthropology, and psychoanalysis; along with occasional splashes from a variety of other sources. This thesis is a bricolage, a creative recombination with mixed media, a kind of academic prose poem, a homage to literature as well as philosophy. My reading of the myriad sources employed is, to borrow a term from Michel de Certeau, reading as poaching.2 It is selective, even idiosyncratic; purposeful but hopefully fair. The reason for this method results from the impossibility of the task. In the introduction to the 1968 English translation of E.M. Cioran’s The Temptation to Exist Susan Sontag writes that “it’s the destiny of every profound idea to be checkmated by another idea which it implicitly generated.”3 These words may be regarded as a warning to the reader. Philosophy – much as history, literature and mythology – is always inherently a work in progress, as, indeed, is language. As a result, any ultimate conclusion is likely to remain elusive as the work will remain in progress beyond the duration of this particular offering. That being said, this is a starting point. Not, mind you, a solid foundation to mighty theoretical citadels. This starting point is more akin to diving into the raging current in order to explore a river. However, it’s my hope to be able, at the end of the day, to provide at least a sketch. Not the kind of finite map (or tracing) that would denude the relevant ideas of their vitality, but a partial etching of ideas and the pathways that link them; a skeletal silhouette whose metaphysical flesh may be left to spontaneously germinate in its unilluminated crevices. This thesis is a groundwork, more an extended meditation on method than a proposal or theory. It is syncretic, perennial even, 1 Rage Against the Machine 1999. 2 To Certeau, reading, by which he means not just texts but society as a whole, is no passive activity but an active production by the user (consumer) of the text (product). See further Chapter XII in: Certeau 1984. 3 Sontag 1968, 13. 5 and vehemently anti-dogmatic, not only in terms of content, but in terms of overall spirit, in ways I hope to explain in the remainder of this introduction. My conviction is that philosophy is (or can/should be) first and foremost a practice with implications relevant to our world. Indeed, it has seldom been more important to review the relevance of philosophy as a practice than in
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