bb, you'll like this one. :)
Ah! More of the glories of France....
Deconstructionists inherit directly from philosophes such as August Comte.
According to Comte, there are three phases through which the human mind has passed in history: the theological, the metaphysical, and the positivist. The second is an “improvement” on the first, and the third is the “final improvement” of the first two. Then history just stops.
Of Comte's "philosophy," Voegelin writes: “Man has passed through the theological and metaphysical phases in order to arrive at the present [positivist] state in which he ‘considers nothing but the facts themselves’ as well as ‘their normal relations of succession and similitude.’ The establishment of facts and laws is what we call the explanation of phenomena; questions with regard to causes do not belong in positive science…. ‘Our intellectual activity is sufficiently excited by the hope of discovering the laws of phenomena, by the simple desire of confirming or invalidating a theory.’ In brief: the problems of the spirit and of the interpretation of the universe through a metaphysical system will disappear if you forget about them. Comte’s positive philosophy is in its most intimate essence an invitation, and even a demand, to forget the life of the spirit and the bios theoretikos [Aristotle’s life of the mind, of speculative thought, especially in regard to the consideration of fundamental causes]…. Why should we forget such questions as those of Leibnitz: ‘Why is there something, why not nothing?’ and 'Why is this something as it is?’ We should forget them because Comte is a man whose intellectual desires do not go beyond confirmation or invalidation of a theory; and more profoundly, because he is afraid of having desires beyond this restrictive field…. A deep-seated impotence compels him to surround himself within the walls of phenomena and to deny himself the least curiosity with regard to the freedom beyond the walls of this prison.
“…If Comte had done nothing but lock himself up in his existence as in a prison, he would not have become a figure of historical importance. His impotence, however, was accompanied by a tremendous will to power. He did not want to leave his prison, but he wanted to dominate the world outside. The two desires apparently cannot both be satisfied at the same time. Nevertheless, Comte found the solution: mankind must be locked up in the prison too, and since a normal growth would not fit into such confinement, man must cripple himself in the same manner as Comte; and when he has acquired the impotence of Comte but not his will to power, we will be fit to enter the positive age as [Comte’s] follower. [bold added]
“…We have discussed the monadic character of Comte’s meditation and the enlargement of the monadic process to reduce the history of mankind to an immanent evolution of the monad of humanity. Once humanity is caught in the prison, we see Comte further at work in judging mankind and determining who belongs truly in it and who has to be cast out into the limbo of eternal oblivion; and we see him creating the institutions that will for all time prevent religious and metaphysical miscreants from disturbing the anxieties and opposing the will to power of Comte and his clergy.”
As in the case of the Deconstructionists, there's a whole lot more than a "social attitude" involved here. Voegelin's analysis of the Comtean mind strikes me as profound, penetrating. He terms this sort of positivist exercise "pneumatopathology" -- what the Greeks called nosos, a disease of the psyche or soul....
Anyhoot, the thought has occurred to me that we have quite a few "positivists" here at FR. They shall be nameless, however.
Thank you for the excellent post, shrinkermd; and to you, logos, for flagging me to it. All my best -- bb.
Ah! More of the glories of France....
Deconstructionists inherit directly from philosophes such as Auguste Comte.
According to Comte, there are three phases through which the human mind has passed in history: the theological, the metaphysical, and the positivist. The second is an “improvement” on the first, and the third is the “final improvement” of the first two. Then history just stops.
Of Comte's "philosophy," Voegelin writes: “Man has passed through the theological and metaphysical phases in order to arrive at the present [positivist] state in which he ‘considers nothing but the facts themselves’ as well as ‘their normal relations of succession and similitude.’ The establishment of facts and laws is what we call the explanation of phenomena; questions with regard to causes do not belong in positive science…. ‘Our intellectual activity is sufficiently excited by the hope of discovering the laws of phenomena, by the simple desire of confirming or invalidating a theory.’ In brief: the problems of the spirit and of the interpretation of the universe through a metaphysical system will disappear if you forget about them. Comte’s positive philosophy is in its most intimate essence an invitation, and even a demand, to forget the life of the spirit and the bios theoretikos [Aristotle’s life of the mind, of speculative thought, especially in regard to the consideration of fundamental causes]…. Why should we forget such questions as those of Leibnitz: ‘Why is there something, why not nothing?’ and 'Why is this something as it is?’ We should forget them because Comte is a man whose intellectual desires do not go beyond confirmation or invalidation of a theory; and more profoundly, because he is afraid of having desires beyond this restrictive field…. A deep-seated impotence compels him to surround himself within the walls of phenomena and to deny himself the least curiosity with regard to the freedom beyond the walls of this prison.
“…If Comte had done nothing but lock himself up in his existence as in a prison, he would not have become a figure of historical importance. His impotence, however, was accompanied by a tremendous will to power. He did not want to leave his prison, but he wanted to dominate the world outside. The two desires apparently cannot both be satisfied at the same time. Nevertheless, Comte found the solution: mankind must be locked up in the prison too, and since a normal growth would not fit into such confinement, man must cripple himself in the same manner as Comte; and when he has acquired the impotence of Comte but not his will to power, we will be fit to enter the positive age as [Comte’s] follower. [bold added]
“…We have discussed the monadic character of Comte’s meditation and the enlargement of the monadic process to reduce the history of mankind to an immanent evolution of the monad of humanity. Once humanity is caught in the prison, we see Comte further at work in judging mankind and determining who belongs truly in it and who has to be cast out into the limbo of eternal oblivion; and we see him creating the institutions that will for all time prevent religious and metaphysical miscreants from disturbing the anxieties and opposing the will to power of Comte and his clergy.”
As in the case of the Deconstructionists, there's a whole lot more than a "social attitude" involved here. Voegelin's analysis of the Comtean mind strikes me as profound, penetrating. He regards this sort of positivist exercise as a symptom of a "pneumatopathological" state -- what the Greeks called nosos, a disease of the psyche or soul....
Anyhoot, the thought has occurred to me that we have quite a few "positivists" here at FR. They shall be nameless, however.
Thank you for the excellent post, shrinkermd; and to you, logos, for flagging me to it. All my best -- bb.