Interpretation, Vol 22-2

I
Interpretation
A
JOURNAL
A OF
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Number 2
Winter 1994-95
Volume 22
157
Yuval Lurie
The Cultural Predicament in Biblical Narrative
181
Paula Reiner
Whip, Whipped,
Camus'
and
Doctors: Homer's Iliad
and
The Plague
191
John C. Kohl, Jr.
Design in the Iliad Based
on
the
Long
Repeated
Passages
215
Judith A. Swanson
The Political
Philosophy
of
Aeschylus's
Prometheus Bound
247
John C.
McCarthy
Pascal
on
Certainty
and
Utility
Discussion
271
Will
Morrisey
Strengthening
Justice
and
Social Contract Theory:

Modern Moral
Philosophy by
,
Jeffrey
Book Reviews
Reiman
283
Leslie G. Rubin
A Companion to Aristotle's
"Politics,"
edited
by
David Keyt
and
Fred D. Miller, Jr.
285
Will
Morrisey
The World of the Imagination: Sum Substance, by Eva T. H. Brann
and
289
Robert Sokolowski
Possibility, Necessity,
Abbagnano
and
and
Existence:
by
295
Stephen M. Krason
His Predecessors, Nino Langiulli
The American Presidency: Origins Milkis Michael Nelson
and
Development, 1776-1990, by Sidney M.

and
Interpretation
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Interpretation
Winter 1994-95
Volume 22
Number 2
Yuval Lurie Paula Reiner
157
Whip, Whipped,
Camus'
and
and
The Plague
on
181
the
John C. Kohl, Jr.
Design in the Iliad Based Passages
Long
Repeated
191
Judith A. Swanson
The Political
Philosophy
and
of
Aeschylus 's
Prometheus Bound
215
John C.
McCarthy
Pascal
on
Certainty
Utility
247
Discussion
Will
Morrisey
Strengthening
Justice
and
Social Contract Theory:

Modern Moral Philosophy,
by
271
Jeffrey
Reiman
Book Reviews
Leslie G. Rubin
A Companion
David Keyt
to
Aristotle's
"Politics,"
edited
by
283
and
Fred D. Miller, Jr.

and
Will
Morrisey
The World of the Imagination: Sum Substance, by Eva T. H. Brann
285
Robert Sokolowski
Possibility, Necessity, and Existence: Abbagnano and His Predecessors, by Nino Langiulli
The American Presidency: Origins
and
289
Stephen M. Krason
Development, 1776-1990, by
Sidney
M. Milkis
and
Michael Nelson
295
Copyright 1995
interpretation
ISSN 0020-9635

YUVAL LURIE
Ben-Gurion
University
to the Romans.
as
We
owe our concepts of culture and nature
They
set them
up
of
by
contrasting between two different realms,
in
reference
to two dissimilar
plots of
land,
one cultivated and
the other uncultivated. But the concepts

and
culture and nature are more more
multifarious,
the relationship between them is the historical

origin of
intertwined in in
and complicated.
Moreover,
deeper.1
this
dis
tinction in Western thought is

cepts
ways
much more
ancient,
and the roots of these con

what
our
thinking
penetrate much
In
follows I discuss two

as
on
which
the contrast between
what we
today distinguish
on a
"culture
and
nature"
was once predicament of
drawn in
ancient philosophical reflections

so
the cultural
human beings. I do
by focussing
narrative.
Biblical narrative,
consider which
discussing
first the
philosophical conceptions about the cultural predicament of
human beings
which emerge out of
this
I then turn to
the this
problem encountered when narrative
trying
to
bring
the form of
discourse in
is fixed back into
philosophical use.
I. TWO EDIFYING STORIES ABOUT THE FIRST HUMAN BEINGS
The
ture"
ancient
or
"nature."2
Hebrews lacked terms corresponding either to our term "cul They had one important word, however, which in English is
and verb
translated
"Creation,"
as
in Hebrew is
rendered as
briah:
a unique
Hebrew
word, derived from the
bara,
which
is
used
in the Bible to describe the

ex
way in
cept of
ture"
which
in the
beginning
God
created
things,
nihilo, out
of
nothing,
and which connotes all
Creation.*
of Creation that they turned to reflect on what we today refer to as "cul and it is in the context of this concept that they also con and
"nature,"
It is
against
the background of this con
templated what we are apt to call "the cultural predicament of human
beings."
Their
reflections on these matters were pursued

particular about
by thinking
be
what
about are.
being
and
becoming, in
led them to
and
how things
came to
they
This in turn
contemplate things on
to reflect
them
by
in terms pertaining to a creator and his creation, adopting a discourse having the form of a narrated
support one another
story.
Content
and
form tend to
in this kind
of
discourse.
For reflecting on things through the narrative of a story naturally leads to think ing about how they came to be what they are, while thinking about how things
came
to be
what
they
are
leads to telling
stories about
them.
interpretation, Winter
1994-95, Vol. 22, No. 2
158
Interpretation
The Plot Recast The story of creation, and of the told twice in the Bible: one time in
chapters
another.
creation of
chapter
human beings in particular, is
of
Genesis
and another time
in
and
of
that book. The two stories are quite different
from
one
The first story begins

and
literally
at the
beginning,4
with
God creating the
heavens
creation,
the earth on the first day. It continues up to the sixth

of what
day
of
telling
God
created on each
day. It tells how God
separated
light from darkness, land from water, how He made grass and trees grow on the land, how He stoked the water with living creatures and the sky with birds. On the sixth day, God made the earth give life to all sorts of animals. Finally,
contemplating all that He had done, God created human beings. Human beings, like all other creatures, were created sexed, male and female. Unlike all other
creatures,
however, human beings
were created
in God's
own
image. This
ends
the act of creation in the first
story.
From here time begins to unfold, and the way is open for human beings to do whatever it is that is natural for human beings to do: i.e., to act in accor dance
with
the
(human)
come
predispositions refer
bestowed
on
them
by
God. In the Bible So

to
what we
have
to
to
"nature,"
as
whether
the nature of a particular to God's Creation.

ways
creature or all of
nature, is
often
described
by
his
reference nature
that for a creature to act in accordance with
is to behave in
that
flow from the

act
predispositions
fixed
on
his kind
by
God. It is therefore
"character,"
also
in
ways
that may be described
as
fulfilling
to
call
what one was
destined to do
whether
by
one's creator.
Thus
"nature"
what we are apt
or
the nature
whole
or character of an animal or a particular reveals
human
being
or even a
people,
its destiny. The
destiny
on
(or nature)
them
of created
beings is
or
determined
a curse.
by
their creator and is bestowed
by
means of a
blessing
In this first story God blesses all creatures, telling them that they are to multiply and inhabit the earth. He blesses humans in the same way, adding that
they
are
to conquer the earth

ends with
seventh
and make use of
its
plentiful vegetation
for their
bounty. The story

the sanctity
of
God's
of
satisfaction at all week as
that He has created, and

of rest.
the
day
the
the
day
very different story is told. This is not a story that unfolds literally from the beginning of all things, but one that begins only after the creation of the heavens and the earth, which at this stage is said to be barren
chapters and a of all grass.
In
His
own
The story opens with God's creation of man. He creates him not in image, but as a single creature molded out of earth and into which He
plants a garden
breathes life. After that God
in Eden
and places man
inside it.
In this story (which places man's beginnings in what we have come to call "the Garden of Eden") God does not bless man. He commands him, telling him that he may eat from all the trees of the garden, save from "the tree of knowledge
evil."
about good and
Following
these events,
God
creates all
the different
species of animal
life,
and man gives
them names.
He then
constructs a woman
The Cultural Predicament in

out of
the
Bible
159
the man's rib. The end of the story is narrated in chapter 3. The snake entices the woman to eat from the tree of knowledge. The woman and the man
eat,
realize that
they
are
naked, and commence to clothe themselves. Subse

garden"
and attempt to hide. quently they hear "God's voice walking about the God admonishes them for having disobeyed His command and banishes them
from His garden, accompanying their departure about the hardships for which they are destined.
with various pronouncements
Edifying Narratives
The first thing that
And Their Symbolic Interpretations
should
be
noted
is that they
provide
whether
are a part of an
incorporated,
regarding the Biblical stories of Creation religious discourse which strives to
comprehensive
of
Weltanschauung.
Edifying
stories
of
this
sort,
in the form
myths, religious narratives, historical epics, allegories,

more expressive
fables,
and
parables, just like their rituals,
but less
articulate spiritual
relations,
wrapped
social
and religious
rites,
are cultural artifacts which come with
in
fanciful, illustrative
ideas
accounts,
bearing
human
them powerful images
and pivotal
about matters of ultimate
concern.
It is typical
of such
edifying
counts,
narratives
to embody their messages and insights in figurative ac

sometimes mundane
depicting
concrete,
but
more often
dramatic
and
stirring sequence of events. As these narratives tual heritage of a culture, the figures and the
them acquire
profound
are
incorporated into the into
spiri
events which are
described in
significance,
cherished
as
they
are rendered
symbols which and
provide sustenance
for
values,
shared
beliefs, hopes,
fears,
as
well as common attitudes and ways of who prize
them a
life. When this happens they framework of reference for beliefs supporting
offer
those
and values
from
they can confront the world, experience things, and find in course of events around them. the meaning for Thus, example, the figures depicted in the Bible throughout its various
within which
stories
become for those
various possible man nature are
who are brought up on them instructive prototypes of human beings. Through them several striking features of hu
displayed
by lending
them a tangible
incarnation through the

and
behavior
of concrete, three-dimensional
human beings. In this way worthy

manifestation,
representation:
abhorred traits of character are given a personified

values acquire a
and cultural
jealous
wife
and
very her
powerful and reaction
dramatic
e.g., Sarah
as the
Abraham
as the embodiment of
her rival, Hagar, and her son Ishmael; unquestioned human faith in God; Jacob as the
to
conniving who manipulates people for simpleton who is better at hot-tempered as the Esau hunting and gain; and reasoning. The political situations de than at family toiling in the field scribed in such a narrative become enlightening paradigms for thinking about
personification of someone clever and
personal
relationships
to parents, children, siblings, spouses,
friends,
compatriots,
and
160
Interpretation
e.g., Rebekah's
preference
adversaries:
ence of
for her
younger son and
Isaac's
prefer
for the older; Jacob's devoted love for Rachel, for hardship; the envy aroused in Joseph's older brothers
which
he
endures years
over
with
their father's love
for
him;
David's fear
of
his
son
Absalom,
examples
intermingled
his love for him.
The dramatic
wise
events which engulf and
these figures become insightful parables,
allegories,
instructive
for
determining
right and
wrong
ac
tion. Through them
present events are perceived and evaluated and morals are
drawn
about the ends of
responsibility for
killing
life: e.g., Cain's devious attempt to cast off personal his brother Abel in a fit of envious rage; the trials and
as
wanderings of a people
in the desert
the unavoidable route to the promised
land; Gideon's exemplary way of personally leading his men into battle; the way in which power corrupts as evidenced in David's lustful behavior toward
Bathsheba
other ways
and
his betrayal
of
her husband Uriah in battle. It is in these

come
and
that
.
such stories
eventually
to encapsulate in them a whole
Weltanschauung
connection with
Another striking way in edifying
which
human beings
make use of symbolization
in
narratives
is
by
seeking to interpret them. In this

view
capacity edifying
narratives offer
their users reflective points of

concern.
for
con
templating
perceived
matters of ultimate
human
When
so used
they
are often mean
by
those who
read
them to be
pregnant with
deep
and
hidden
ings,
which
they
then seek to uncover. It
is typical
of
the way in
which
the
all
Biblical
stories
are
read, just
perhaps
as
all ancient and sacred
texts of
people are whose
read, that
they
are perceived
to harbor in them important
messages of
meaning is
such
manifested
in the
events which are
described,
the nature
the
characters who
play
parts
in them,
and the specific words used
to tell about
them. As
voke
these stories acquire the role
of symbolic narratives which pro
in their
reflective
listeners
and readers a response

which
in the form
of
elaborate,
and
hermeneutical
symbolic
ing."
commentaries
in
these stories are interpreted
their
meaning is
of
displayed, in
also
what we
have
one.5
come to refer
to as a "read that
It is,
course,
typical
of
edifying,
than
symbolic narratives
they
can
be interpreted
or read
in
more ways
Edifying
as
narratives and their symbolic

and at
interpretations
go
hand in hand, just
hand in hand. The first endeavor, that laughing of relating an edifying, symbolic story, provides for a very powerful, tangible, primary mode of thinking; the second, that of interpreting it, provides for a
them go
and sophisticated form of reflection regarding those ideas. Together, edifying narratives and their symbolic interpretations may form a constantly expanding and shifting cultural discourse in which a interpretation" "rich is used to uncover a "deep In the case of the more
telling jokes
refined, articulated,
same
meaning."
Biblical
stories of
creation,
they
are
distinguished
by
providing
an
edifying, cosmos,
religious,
symbolic narrative
for thinking
and
about such topics as
God,
being, becoming, human

so
existence,
the relationships between all these. In
doing
these
stories
also offer reflective points of view
for contemplating
The Cultural Predicament in the Bible

what we
within
161
today
are apt
to refer to as
"the
cultural predicament of
human beings
the natural scheme of
things."
One
difficulty
reading
often encountered of
by
commentators
pretative
the Biblical
narrative of creation about
seeking to offer an inter is that it does not seem to
provide a
single, consistent narrative
the
creation of
two different ones. Faced with this
difficulty,
much
human beings, but hermeneutical ingenuity in
the
past
has
gone
into trying to
show
that the two stories of creation in the
Bible,
other. of
though seeming to contradict each other, actually complement one an One way of doing so is to read the first story as describing the creation human beings only in broad outlines, and the second as undertaking to fill in
the
details. While this way

of
of
way
reading
this narrative, there are certain
conjoining the two stories provides an ingenious inconsistencies between the two
for in this fashion. Moreover,
read
read
stories which are
difficult to
account
as
shall
show, it is philosophically two separate and different

creation of
more
insightful to
As I
the narrative as comprising
stories.
the Biblical narrative about the
each of which a
human beings, it provides two different philosophical stories, in different attempt is made both to understand and to account for
of
the human predicament in the context

can
God's Creation. Read this way they

beings"
be
seen to provide
two different
philosophical conceptions of what we
today
called
call
"the
human
and
"nature."
what we call
The two different

stories of
conceptions coincide with what and
its relationship to I have

told. It is
here the two different
creation,
they
are propounded and are
articulated
by
means of
the details through
which
these stories
therefore to the details
of each
story that we need to turn
first.
H. A READING FOR THE FIRST STORY
One striking feature about the first story is that, unlike the second, it ends (as it starts) on a contented note. God looks upon all that He has created and finds it good, even very good. This judgement which is attributed to God does not seem to express a moral evaluation, as it is pronounced even after the act of
creation on
the first
day,
when
only the heavens He has
and
the earth had been created.
I like to
see
in this
pronouncement upon what
the expression of an aesthetic attitude of

created and
satisfaction.
God looks
in
which
an artist might observe with satisfaction
in the way his finished artifact. The

good of art
finds it
analogy between God's Creation and a humanly created work a central feature in the philosophical conception of the human
comes out of this story. about
brings
out
predicament
that
It is that there is something aesthetically satisfying God's Creation. This aesthetic attitude of satisfaction on the part of God
Creation in
general and with
both
with
the creation of human beings in particu

to come across
lar may be
connected with a central point
from the first
story:
namely, that the first story deals
with
the human predicament
only in passing,
162
in the
Interpretation
context of a much
larger,
overall came
things came
into being. All things

nothing
story that is being told about how all into being in the same way: they were
specific modes of
created out of
stowed on
by God,
and
their
behavior
were
be
them
by
the grace of God.

assertion which
curious were
beings
puzzling feature in this story is the image."6 This metaphor, created "in God's
and
that
human
connection with mean
the
creation of
human
beings, has
often
is only used in been interpreted to

the earth, are en
under
that human beings alone, out of all the

with a
creatures of
dowed
divine,
spiritual essence which provides
them with both
standing and free will and so enables them to be either (morally) This interpretation of the story encourages those who put it forward to
conception which emerges
good or
bad.
the
view
from this story
about
the cultural predicament of

reason given
essentially a moral one. From the Biblical text for the creation of human beings in God's
human beings
as
being
in the
image, however, it
in the Bible is that
appears
that something
else
is
meant
by
it. The
reason given
in this way human beings will "replenish the earth, dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl
earth"
and subdue of
it;
and
have
the air and over every

appears
living thing
created and
that moveth upon the
(Genesis
1.26) It
that to be
in God's image is to be
and subdue
endowed with an
ability to rule over the earth

seen a
dominate
its
creatures
in
way
to be similar to God's.
spiritual
Being
in God's image does
not
lend human beings
privileged, moral, the

rest of
essence that transcends what provides them
is bestowed
by
God
on all
Creation. It
only
with an
ability to dominate
all other
beings: to hunt
down,
the
conquer, subjugate,
of what
husband, domesticate,
for their
gather, pick,
harvest,
This
and make use
God
created
own needs and pleasures.
conception of
human
predicament coincides with the overall
hunting
and
food-gathering
per
spective on
human life
with
pictured
in this
story.7
From the
examples given
in the
text in connection
of techniques of nature. and
domination, it
seems
to stem
from the
creation and use
for mastering and controlling natural creatures as well as parcels We may imagine that these have to do with taming animals, hunting
strategies,
and
or with
fishing
techniques and skills
for making tools, fashion

and
ing ing
we
clothes, constructing To describe how human beings

them is to describe how
shelter. relate
to things
of
by subjugating
dominat
they do
so
tend to look upon as "the cultural

things"
wielding power. Thus, what predicament of human beings within the
in terms
natural scheme of
the
role
they
are
is described in the first story only in the context of destined to play in a power relationship of domination over
Human beings
are creatures created
things and other
creatures.
by
God
with an all
ability to
subjugate and
dominate
all other creatures and
to make use of
that
the earth brings forth for their own
power, to
grows and
within
conquer
desires. So that it is in the broad use of the earth, subjugate its creatures, and dominate all that
that the special, cultural predicament of
lives
on
it,
human
existence
the order of Creation is defined and the resemblance of

expressed.
human beings to
God is

Maimonides'
163
Interpretation
One, very
tive is
suggestive and
very
different, way
of
provided
it.8
by Maimonides,
Maimonides'
who makes use of
reading this Biblical narra Aristotelian metaphysics to human him to

The
interpret beings
that
mean
In
reading, the two

parts of a
stories of creation of
unified story.
are
interpreted
as
being
single,
assertion
human beings
were created
in God's image is then interpreted

with an
by
that from the very
in
rational thought.
contemplative point
earth and
ability It is this ability to comprehend things from a rational, of view that distinguishes them from all the creatures of the
enables
beginning they were endowed
to engage
ultimately
them to transcend their natural existence and natu
ral perceptions about
the world
into
metaphysical reflections
that provide true

story"
understanding.
"the
story"
second
On this reading, both what I describe a state of human in the form
referred to as existence
"the first
prior
and
that is
to the emer
gence of social norms
of conventions and customs of
human
cul
tures. And what both stories provide is a

count which reveals
rational
single philosophical account: an ac
how human beings
were endowed
by
God
with
abstract,
thought,
and
they
have
created cultural
how they came to lose it through their social follies when customs for themselves. In this view, when social norms do
not cloud
in the form
a
of conventions and customs of
their minds,
human beings
an
unique, Godlike capacity

and universal
contemplating things from

sub specie aeternitatis ,
untainted,
abstract,
physical
perspective,
that allows meta
insight
of
ishment
thought
knowledge. The story about the ban human beings from the Garden of Eden tells about the replacement
and gives access
to true
in human lives
which
of rational
thought
by
conventions and customs.
The
result
is
is
clouded
by
the
influence
of social norms and a subsequent
loss
the
of
of
true
knowledge in the form

of
of metaphysical
insight
about reality.
On this reading
the text rationality is not an essential
ingredient in from
either
either
cultural or natural predicament of
human beings. It
stands apart
them. Therefore three
possible modes of existence
for human beings

And
while
can
now
be distinguished:
rational, natural, and conventional.
humans
in the
were once affiliated with
God in the first
mode of
being
and with animals
second, through their

themselves
only:
own social misdoings
they
created a third
one,
unique
for
to
a mode of
being
provided
for through
social norms
in the
form
as
of conventions and customs and through which much of what we refer
"culture"
takes shape.
By
adhering to social norms in the

an
form
of various
conventions and
by
making them
attain
integral
part of
their
thinking, human be
rational
ings lost the ability to

which, Maimonides
metaphysical
insight through
thought,
ing
their
believes, thinking from the influence

with
only true philosophers, who are capable of free

of
the conventions of their culture, may
still attain.
difficulty
this reading of the Biblical narrative

of
is that it
calls
for
very inventive interpretation
the text. The idea of rationality put
forward
through this reading, as a form of metaphysical contemplation, seems to have
164
Interpretation
common with
little in
the
concept of subjugation narrative
of other
to
creatures and
domi
nation which
is
used
in the
to describe the
required
explain
human beings. If
which
a concept of
rationality is
the way
in
humans
a more
manage
to dominate
natural creatures and master
their
environ
ment,
nal
fitting
concept would
be
an
instrumental
one which equates ratio
ability to devise proper means for attaining desired ends. It is tempting therefore to interpret the ability given to human beings by their creator to dominate their environment as an innate ability referred to by philos
thought
with an
In this way it may be easily identified with an innate talent for calculating or for perceiving the world from an instrumental perspective. In either account of rationality, however, this whole line of reason
ophers as
"Natural
Reason."
kind of thinking used by human beings to dominate tures is foreign to the form of the Biblical narrative. Explanations
ing
about the
other crea which seek
to place the cultural predicament of human beings in the context of fundamental

principles of
existence,
such as
those that
emerge
in the form
of natural
cause,
reason, and convention, are
inherently
metaphysical.
They
are grounded
in
form
as
of philosophical one considered
discourse
which supplements symbolic
narratives,
them.
such
the
here,
and so should not
be
confused with
A Power-Oriented Conception
An important distinction
which
does
emerge
from this
narrative
is
one that
differentiates between beings, being, and it does so in two

creation,
as when
rather
than between metaphysical principles of
particular ways.
One is through the

of all
concept of and created as
differentiating
between
between the Creator
beings
beings. Another is through the

when
concepts of subjugation and
domination,
differentiating
subjugated and
share with what we refer to as
"natural
creatures"
subjugating beings. Human beings a common feature, in that
They share a common feature with God, in that they occupy subjugating dominating posture in their relationship to some other their various beings through hunting skills and technological innovations. As God subjugates and dominates all beings by determining their behavior when He creates them, whereas human beings subjugate and dominate by the use of
they
are all created a
and
beings.
their skills, crafts, and technological

and
innovations,
explain
y
the concepts of subjugation
domination symbolize,
rather
than
the way in which

and
human beings
resemble
God. The
resemblance
drawn between them

perceived existence
God
suggests that the
human beings is
sort of
to constitute a state of exis
tence that transcends the

other
(natural)
that is created
by
God for
all
beings. Symbolization is both for
an
important
method
in this form in
of philosophi
cal reflection
displaying perceived differences between

differences. With the
provide a symbol
things and
also
for enhancing
perceived
case
point the concepts of
subjugation and
domination
both for the way in
which
human

beings differ from in their ability to
perspective
165
God
are
other creatures and
for the way in

and
which
they
resemble
wield power.
Subjugation
domination,
it may be said,
a symbolic representation
for
a power-oriented relationship.
They
provide a
from
within which an
important difference is
to humans
and
perceived
between the
to
(cultural)
ways of existence given
the
(natural)
ones given
other creatures.
importance of first turns the relationship of subjugation and domination into a feature which is intrinsic to the relationship between God and all created beings, and then places
emphasize the
narrative
To
this difference the
human beings
on
the same side of this relationship
domination
and
are rendered
God. In this way the into a symbolic represen

as respective power relation
"nature."
tation for the place both of
God
humans in their
ship to
all created
beings, i.e.,
through
what we are apt
to call
Displaying
with
the
cultural predicament enhances
a concept which equates
human beings
God
the difference
perceived
and that of all other created
between their (cultural) mode of existence beings, as well as the importance of the distinction
provides a
thus made. At the same time it also

spective
striking,
to
power-oriented per
for the way in
which
human beings
relate
the way other creatures do. In so

on
doing
it
provides a within
things, in contrast with very insightful perspective

natural order of
the cultural
predicament of
human beings
the
things.
DI. A READING FOR THE SECOND STORY
A very different
underlies placed at
conception of
the cultural predicament of human beings
the second story. Unlike the the center of God's
first story, in this

as
one
human beings
are
Creation,
the creation of
man comes
before that
at
of all other
living creatures
or even of
vegetation, placing him in this way

animals are
will call of
the
very heart of the narrative. Moreover, when they are brought before man to see what he
creatures
finally
created
by God,
on of
this is final. One implication from this turn
them, and his decision events is that the division

perspective.
into different kinds is

in the
thus
a case of
oriented on a
human
Another is
or, as it is
land."
that
without man
there would be no point to the rest of plants, "without

man
Creation;
explained
there is no one to work the
The
reason
given and
the ordering of Creation in this way around
man
provide
for
domesticated
were
perspective on
both human life
and
Creation. It is
as
though both
being
reflected upon
from him
an agrarian point of view.
This
way
of
contemplating things is vividly

man's
exemplified
following
creation, God
surrounds
with a garden.
in the story by telling A garden is
how,
not a
raw and wild piece of nature.
It is
a parcel of nature
that has been subdued and
domesticated. Another telling difference between the two stories pertains to the way in which God creates. In the first story God creates by generating things into out of nothing, and He does so by word of mouth, thereby turning words
being
166
Interpretation
mentioned
into deeds. As
creation
earlier, the
second
word used what
to describe this
no
unique act of
is bora. But in the
story,
God does is
longer described
out of nothing.
through the use of the verb
bora,
as
generating things into

use of
being
Rather,
denotes
what a
God does is described through the

of
the
verb
yatzar,
which as
way
constructing things out of
basic
raw materials.
Sometimes,
her is
in
the case of the creation of man and animals, this is
out of man's
earth,
and
sometimes,
as
as
in the
case of
woman,
by by fashioning
used
done
molding them
out of
men
rib. Sometimes,
in the
case of
vegetation, no act
and
of creation
in this story are tioned, only that of planting. The imagery typical of those which are used to talk about work, mostly the kind of work which goes into agriculture and craftsmanship. The description given of the language
creation of
the Garden
of
Eden, channelling
upon
the flow
used
of water and
planting
animal
trees
goes and
and
vegetation, draws
the vocabulary
to talk about work that

creation of
human life is
into cultivating land. The description given of the reminiscent of how a good craftsman description
of an artisan who
both
goes about
his
work.
It
is
not unlike a
fashions
a vessel out of clay.
Another striking way in which this story differs from the first is that in it God does not bless human beings. Rather, He commands them to refrain from
certain
types of
not
behavior
and permits
them to
perform other
types of behavior:
namely,
to eat from the tree of knowledge

garden.
about good and
evil,
and
to eat
from
all
the other trees in the
destiny of creatures are conjoined God's blessing or curse, it would

certain
Given the way in which the nature and in the Bible and are given expression through
seem
that human
beings
are created with a

with
inherent deficiency: they
are not endowed
by
their creator
any
particular, inner, self-activating (human) nature, for the blessing (or curse) that God eventually bestows on them and which fixes their destiny for all times
comes
only
later,
after
they
are
driven
out of
the Garden
of
Eden. Instead, they
are provided with an
ability to obey commands. Now the ability to obey com

with regulations
mands, follow rules, comply

to
disobey
commands,
defy
rules,
evade
regulations) is
(just like its corollary, the ability not an ability that is

nature.
manifested
in the behavior
on
of wild creatures
in
For it is
an
ability
which
is dependent
compliance
and
acknowledging authority, and it is in an attitude of submission. To
manifested
in
a posture of
act on command
is to be
tamed, just as to follow regulations is to be domesticated. Animals in nature do not live by command or regulations. They live by their basic natures. Given the fact that in this story human beings require no breaking-in period or training to
obey God's command, it would seem that they are envisioned created as domesticated creatures from the very start. In this inclination to
nature submit to
as
having
been
the
conception
authority is
what
forms
an essential part of
of
human
present even as
in the
primeval existence
in the Garden
It is they
Eden
just,
human
apparently,
is the inclination to in this

story. with
defy
authority.
of
who are
the subju
gated creatures
This description
the predisposition of
beings
contrasts
sharply
the description given in the first story, where the

prominent
167
trait to come across is the
possession and use of power
for
subjugat
ing
other creatures and
for
dominating
the
earth.
The Emergence of Ethical (Forms of) Life In Christian theology it is common to interpret the story about the banish ment of human beings from the Garden of Eden in connection with a "primor dial God which, supposedly, brought about the "Fall of in the context of the present discussion the "primordial Nonetheless,
against
sin"
Man."
sin"
de
scribed
in the story is the fall is the
of
human beings into
a cultural predicament
creation
through the creation of

of such norms
"ethical"
social norms of
behavior for themselves. The
creation of what
we,
following
the
Greeks,
are apt
to call
(forms of) behavior. It is
manifested
in the story
by
the
creation of
certain self-inflicted strictures of
dress, pertaining
are
perhaps to norms attempt
regarding
sexual
behavior. Although in the story human beings
to cover them
selves after cept of of
they
realize
that
they
naked, the two
go
being naked makes sense only in a context where being dressed. So that to realize that one is naked is an indication that one has a conception of what it is to be dressed. It is interesting to note that such
norms of
together; for the con it makes sense to talk
behavior
emerge prior also
to the banishment of human beings from the
Garden
of
of
Eden. It is
interesting
to
note
that the description of the Garden

contrasted with
Eden,
as a place of abundance and
security, is
the
descrip
human
tion of the world outside, as a place of misery and
hardships,
where
beings have to
toil and
leam to
use
their wits
and
develop
various skills and

one practical
crafts to survive.
Thus, in
the
contrast with the
first story, in this

after
skills and technological norms.
innovations
arise
only
the emergence of social

one:
This
view of
cultural predicament
is
developmental
and
basic
social norms
herald the
emergence of a cultural
predicament,
technological
innovations
and practical skills
then arise to support a mode of existence in it.
One way of interpreting the story about human existence in the Garden of Eden is to read it as a description of what the philosophers of the Enlighten
On this reading the ascent of human beings from natural (forms of) life into cultural (forms of) life results from their eating of the tree of knowledge about good and evil, an act which enables them
ment referred
to as a "state of
nature."
behavior. One difficulty with this reading of which existence in the Garden of Eden is de in the text is that in the way scribed, it appears to be a somewhat tamed state of existence, rather than a wild state of nature. In answer it may be said that human existence in the Garden of
to create and
adopt social norms of
Eden is described from the

nature.
perspective given
to human beings in such a state of
Lacking
and with
any
social
norms, they do
and
behavior
civilized
behavior,
distinguish between wild, savage thus do not see it as unruly. Another

not
difficulty
this reading of the
story is that
as
human
existence
in the Garden
168
of
Interpretation
Eden is
described, it is
not
devoid
of all norms of
behavior. Since
seems
man
is
able
to give names to animals
in this
state of
existence, it
that
it already innova
includes normative, linguistic practices. The cultural from this state of nature are social norms alongside
and
practices
that are missing
various practical
in agriculture, husbandry, craftsmanship, cooking, sewing tions clothes, constructing shelter and so forth, which in human (forms of) life often
skills
accompany Although in the Biblical story eating from the tree of knowledge about good and evil results in the creation and adoption of social norms, there have been different
ways of and
these.9
interpreting
the significance of the symbolism embodied
in
both this tree

of these
the act of eating
from it. Martin Buber has
argued
that
most
interpretations divide into three different
readings of what
human be
ings
gain
thereby: namely, the acquisition of sexual

and
desire,
the acquisition of
own
moral view
consciousness,
the acquisition
of actual
knowledge. In Buber's
the
world."10
the knowledge
of good and evil which
is
embodied
in this tree is "aware In the way in
ness of the opposites

which
inherent in
all
being
within of
read the
story, eating from the tree
knowledge
about good and evil
results
in the
creation and adoption of an ethical
fested in the
edge
emergence of social norms of sort of
(form of) life which is mani behavior. Thus, whatever knowl

makes
is in this tree, it is the

a of
knowledge that
it
possible to create
and adopt such norms.
There is
way
reading the story

promotes
about
about good and evil which
illuminates both
eating from the tree of knowledge what sort of knowledge is meant

and adoption of ethical
thereby,
as well as
how it
the creation
(forms
of) life through the emergence

create and adopt social norms
of social norms. seen
In this reading the ability to

result
is
in the story to
from the form
acquisition
by
human beings
the kind
of
deep
sentiments
toward each other in the

emotional ties.
of
affection,
respect,
sede and
and concern of
that breed strong

sexual attraction
These
sentiments super
raw,
that prevails between the sexes in nature,
it is they that underlie human, approved sexuality in cultural (forms of) life. In the Bible sexual intercourse between men and women is usually de
scribed as either
the latter
lying with a locution, as opposed

a sexual act
embodies
woman or
knowing
her. It has been
argued that
always) to signify
act
former, is used predominantly (though not which is sanctioned on ethical grounds. A sexual
to the
thus described
also a
strong
emotional
in it not only the discharge of lustful emotions, but bond between the partners and the exchange of deep
In this interpretation the
act of
sentiments toward each
other.11
tree of knowledge
about good and evil
is
a symbol
for
a sexual act
eating from the in which a The ability life to

each
of
strong emotional bond is invoked between the man human beings to experience such sentiments as
provides
and the woman. part of
their natural, sexual ties between
desire
other.
them
of
with a
richer
and more committed emotional
Emergence
deeper
sexual sentiments and stronger sexual
human beings than those typically found between the
sexes
in
nature makes
it

both
possible and
of
169
dards
such
necessary to orient human (forms of) life toward ethical stan behavior in the form of social norms. In this reading it is the advent of
richer
emotional
stronger and
ties
between the sexes,
rather
than the
growth of
their
intellect
and their
ability to reason, that precipitates the emer
gence of
ascent
normative,
natural
from
social practices among human beings and enables them to (forms of) life into cultural (forms of) life.
The Emergence of Self-Consciousness
One way or another, the ascent of human beings from into cultural (forms of) life is symbolized in the story
ethical
natural
(forms of) life

emergence of
by
the
(forms of) life
which
is
exemplified
through the
creation and adoption of
social norms
regarding
nakedness.
preting the
connection made
A philosophically attractive way of inter thereby between the emergence of social norms
and awareness of
being
naked
is to
read
it
as a symbolic
illustration for the

are not and
appearance of self-consciousness.
In this reading human beings
ban
ished from the Garden

so
of
Eden
as much as
they
emerge out of
it,
they do
attaining self-consciousness through the realization that they are naked. There is an intrinsic but complicated relationship between self-consciousness
and
by
the culture-nature distinction. The intrinsic to be a form of

underlaid consciousness which
part
is that
self-consciousness related
seems
is
inherently
to
cultural
(forms of) life

self-conscious animals
can
by
social
norms, as it is not
of uninhibited
clear what would count as
behavior in the kind The
in
nature.
complication stems
(forms of) life given to wild from the fact that self-consciousness from functions to
be looked
upon as either a psychological phenomenon which results
the
emergence and adoption of normative practices or as one which
bolster
them up and render them accessible to

cover
in seeking to ability
this case
themselves with clothing,
humans. One way or the other, human beings demonstrate an

which
to operate with the culture-nature
distinction,
is
symbolized
in
by distinguishing
social norms of
between
being
adopting
the
behavior, they
cultural side of the equation over

shame and
By creating and demonstrate that they have chosen the natural side. Lastly, they demonstrate
clothed and naked. also
both through their
their subsequent behavior that
they
are well aware
of their affiliation with the natural species and thus of their true
nature,
which
they try
both
cultural
to hide behind the

and
clothes
doing
realizing
to
read
all
they devise for themselves and put on. By this they emerge out of natural (forms of) life into
from the tree
of
(forms of) life.

common
It is
this part of the story as though eating
knowledge
the form
about good and evil produces self-consciousness
that is expressed in
In this way both the emergence of self-consciousness and the emergence of human beings into cultural (forms of) life are accounted for through the phenomenon of shame. This is a very suggestive reading, but it
of shame.
170
Interpretation
difficulties. One
also poses a number of
actually say that eating from the tree of Another difficulty is that the Hebrew about
shame.12
is that the story does not knowledge about good and evil brings
difficulty
word used
to describe how
human beings knowledge

rassed, shy,
reacted
to their
can
which
being
be
naked prior
to eating from the tree of
yitboshasho
translated as either
feeling
ashamed,
embar
self-
or
bashful,
leaves it
open which of
these modes of
is actually meant. Unlike fear or anger, all of these are feelings manifesting forms of self-consciousness expressed as social inhibitions regard ing public exposure. Shame and perhaps also embarrassment are akin to guilt,
consciousness
however, in
dards
of
that
they
are
forms
of self-consciousness which arise
in
response
to
a self-inflicted
judgement
about one's
shyness,
behavior regarding how one they are forms of self-consciousness
transgressions, in the context of stan should (or should not) behave. Unlike
which are
intrinsically
related
to
awareness of oneself
in the
context of social norms of
behavior. The
difficulty
incurred
guilt
when
trying
of
to conceive
of natural creatures as
feeling
either shame or
which result
is that it involves thinking

awareness
of
them as succumbing to
on
feelings
from
transgressions
their part against norms which provide
standards of
behavior in
a social context.
This
with
suggests
two possible readings of the story about shame in connection

culture and nature. creation and
the relationship between that

underlies of
In
one
reading,
shame
is
an
emotion
both the
the acquisition
of social norms.
This reading
culture and
the story may be supported
non of shame plays
in
domesticating
its ways,
a certain
cultured we
learning
a
to adopt
noting the role that the phenome beings. When growing into a first leam to participate in such basic
and
by
cultural practices as
sitting in
posture, walking, grasping
handling
things, using
language,
as well as various strictures
dressing, basic, normative
and cleanliness.
It is only
and
after we
eating, regarding have learned to participate in such
ways of
practices,
only
when we are
further introduced into the

what
demanding
ashamed
ways
of social conventions
regarding human interactions
psychologists refer
to as
"socialization"
that we acquire the propensity to feel
them.
for mismanaging normative ways of behavior or transgressing against Shame is a social emotion. But it can spread through the soul so as to
all normative ways of
implicate
afflicts
behavior.
By functioning
as an emotion which
human beings with self-induced inhibitions, it tames them and hinders from transgressing against acquired norms. In so doing it chains them to their culture. It is thus an emotion which functions to support tradition, as it turns cultured beings who succumb to it into docile, conformative beings,
them
rather than
the
creators of new ways of
behavior.
normative ways of
Linking
behavior
shame
to
awareness
of transgressions against
of
accounting for the place of shame in the way about how understanding of the normative as read it narrative. It is to telling rather than how this form of behavior nature of cultural behavior comes about, itself comes about. In this reading, cultured beings are initiated into normative
suggests another

patterns of
-171
behavior
by
kind
of
free-wheeling,
carefree childish
they
engage with their surroundings and their elders. cultural practices of
play in which This is how they leam the

and talking.
basic
sitting, walking, grasping things, eating,

are
Nonetheless,
in
so
doing they
acquiring
rudiments of normative
by learning
that
to submit to the personal authority of their educators.
behavior, Later, as
longer
submission to personal
authority
matures
into
social
conformity,
which
they discover
can no
they have been
chained to a
form
of
behavior
they
shake off without feeling ashamed. Shame, it may be said, is a very rudimen tary way in which the sway of normative patterns of behavior is felt and re
flected in the human

the
power and
soul as self-consciousness. of norms
It is
way
of
acknowledging
authority
by
means of emotions
and, thus, a very basic
way through which understanding of the is manifested.
normative nature of cultural practices
Hegel
and
Freud
on
Self-Consciousness reading the text in these may be
One
suggestive
way
of
ways
enhanced
through Hegel's discussion of the emergence of both self-consciousness and

social which
norms.13
In Hegel's discussion the idea
of subjugation and
domination,
way to
relate
in the first story of the Biblical narrative is used in represent how human beings relate to nature, is used with
and social connotation
a symbolic a
literal,
a
political,
to describe the basic way in
which
human beings become into
to one another. In this manner domination and subjugation

of
basic form
human interaction
out of which self-consciousness emerges

existence.
being
and
social norms come
into
The idea is that
when
human beings
place
allow
themselves to be
a subordinate
subjugated and
dominated
by
others,
they
themselves in
relationship of bondage to others and elevate those others to a stature of lordship. It is out of this relationship of subordination which is estab lished between human beings and in the context of the desire of some to subju
gate and the willingness of others
to submit, that
social norms emerge
into
being
way is
and are reflected
in forms
of self-consciousness.
social
Once this happens, the

of of
also open
for overcoming
transgression. In this view

existence which are
cultural
inhibitions through revolutionary acts self-creation and domestication are modes
dialectically
related
to one another, providing together for
the onward, spiritual,
epic movement of cultures. of
Another,
nection with
curiously similar, way

the
reading the
second
Biblical story in
of
con
emergence of self-consciousness
psychoanalysis.
in the
context of social norms
derives from Freudian

Garden
count
of
Eden
and subsequent
In this reading, the story banishment from it provides a beings is

we
life in the human

repre as
symbolic ac
of and
in
which
both the
ontogenetic and phylogenetic
development
entertained
beings from
sented.
natural
creatures
into
cultural
As
an ontogenetic
account
it tells how
come
into the
world
172
Interpretation
live only by desire; how, when trying to rebel against behavior laid down for us in the form of social norms, we incur our fathers; how we learn the meaning of authority and norms
which
creatures of nature who
the the
strictures of wrath of
through feelings of guilt and shame

against
arise
in
us
when
we
transgress
re
them; how,
are
press our natural

which
desires
fearing (creating in
and
the loss of love from
our
parents,
we
leam to
this way the very unconsciousness them through refined cultural

never
in be
they
submerged)
to
sublimate
havior;
was
how in
us a
doing
all this we are

of
banished,
to return again,
from
what
for
Garden
Eden:
a mode of pleasurable
existence,
not weighted
down As
by
the
social norms which are
incarnated in the
emergence of a superego.
a phylogenetic
account, the story is seen to
provide a symbolic narrative
which
tells about the

of
emergence of normative practices
in human
communities
as a
byproduct
the shame and guilt incurred from overthrowing the rale of

which
the primordial
tribal-father-leader,
in this story is
none other
than
God.14
The Wonder of Culture
Unlike the natural, power-oriented description of human life given in the first story, there is a dreamlike quality to the story about human beings and
their doings in the Garden of Eden.
surrounded
They
seem
to lead an enchanted life
there,
by
magical
trees, encountering extraordinary

a supernatural turn of cast out.
creatures with which
they
converse, partaking in
with
events,
leading
to a confron
It is very tempting, therefore, to read the being about from the forbidden tree of knowledge and the subsequent story eating banishment from the Garden of Eden as a magical narrative which undertakes
tation
and
God
to
to provide a
supernatural account of
the emergence of
humanly
created cultural
(forms of) life

magical,
out of
God-created
supernatural powers
(forms of) life. In this reading, the inherent in the tree of knowledge about good and
natural
evil are symbols which stand

non-natural
for
what
is
perceived
through this story as the
forces
embodied
in the very
concept of cultural norms
pertaining
to right and wrong

possible.15
out of which social customs and conventions are made shed off
In creating them human beings

not out of
their submissive behavior
and
take
on a creative role
norms of
of
behavior
God, in that they create entirely nothing. Their achievement in transcending the order
unlike that of creation
and adoption of normative
things created
by
God through the

perceived
patterns of
behavior is
herein to be
such a stupendous event that
it
merits a
magical,
supernatural account.
very
concept
of
normative
In this way the problem of how the behavior could have been envisioned prior to there
any norms is solved. Human beings create it unintentionally! By eating from the forbidden tree of knowledge, human beings are able to use the super
being
natural power of creation
that God possesses
so as
to
unintentionally
create
for
themselves a non-natural predicament in the form of normative ways of
life.
The Cultural Predicament in the Bible One
173
reading the story is that it tends to overlook the fact that eating from the tree of knowledge is an act of defiance on the part of human beings. It shows that they have already cast off their God-created
difficulty
with this
way
of
roles of
domesticated
creatures.
To
defy
the Creator
ings in
are
non-natural, self-creating
predicament.
already places human be Another difficulty is that from

self-creation which
the events narrated in the story, it
seems
to be an act of
they
lured into perpetrating through their God-given (natural) passions, curi osity, and cunning (which the snake symbolizes). It would seem that something
in the very
nature of
human beings,
as
they
were created
by God,
disposes
their
or
them to this way
of acting.
Whether God intended them to
revolutionize
initial
state of existence
whether against
this form
of
from the very start and to recreation is a revolutionary act

symbolizes the
are of
recreate of
themselves,
on
defiance
their part
their
Creator, it
way in
which
human beings become the
cultured creatures that
they
way
through their own doing.
A is to
more naturalized see
interpreting
the magical
feature
of
of
the narrative the

emer
in it
a symbolic representation cultural
for
an expression
awe at
gence of
normative,
tree of knowledge and

narrative
(forms of) life. In this reading, the story the expulsion from the Garden of Eden is a
the enormity
of
about
the
symbolic
from
within which
the transformation of human be
ings from
natural creatures
following
beings is
expressed and contemplated. attitude
into cultural, self-conscious, rule-creating and ruleIt is a way of reflecting on this

of wonder,
as a
transformation from an
kind
of awesome
transforma
tion, providing for phosis is a concept

regularly take
acquire
an place
an ontological metamorphosis.
of wondrous
The
concept of metamor
becoming. It
through
pertains
to transformations that
one
in
nature and
which
beings lose
identity
and
another, transformations which are awe

of wonder.
inspiring
when perceived
from
attitude
It is
prior
a concept of natural change
that belongs to a
concept of nature that or metaphysics.
is
to that which we acquire either through science

are transformations which are still perceived as
Metamorphoses
"the
tion
miracles of nature": the

at
dawn
of night
blossom opening in early morning, the transforma into daylight, the acorn which sprouts and becomes a
huge tree, the hot summer which turns into cold winter, the wild child who grows into a rule-following, cultured being, fresh youth that becomes wrinkled
old
age, life that is turned into death. All these
are natural changes perceived as

perspective
which,
of
when viewed
from
To
a perspective of
wonder, may be
instances
metamorphosis.
perceive natural change
from this
with
is to
of
perceive
the
as
miraculous not as
something which In this reading of the story, the
something which contrasts is an integral part of it.

wonder
the course
nature, but
of
becoming
that is
expressed
through
it is
a wonder at
the
emergence
(forms of) life:
a metamorphosis of
(forms of) life out of natural of human beings from created creatures into
cultural
self-creating
ones.
In this insight the transformation

cultural
of
human beings from

that
natural creatures
into
beings is
seen
to be
such a stupendous event
174
Interpretation
recreate affiliates
it is likened to utilizing the instruments of the Creator himself to selves. Such an act of recreation on the part of human beings
with
them them
the Creator
even
as
they
transgress against
him,
as
it turns them into
creators
in their
own
right,
i.e.,
the creators of human
cultures.
nature
in this way they become the self-creating,
cultural
In overcoming beings that they are.
IV. TWO ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF THE
CULTURAL PREDICAMENT
The two
stories about
human beings
set out
in this Biblical
narrative provide
for two
fundamentally
and at what
different
philosophical conceptions of
the
cultural pre
dicament
looking
into the
or
prominent
its relationship to nature described as God's Creation. When joins these different conceptions together, three philosophically features stand out. The first is that they both seek to provide insight human beings
by distinguishing
it in
another
from
a noncultural predicament of all other created

conceptions
one way beings. The

and
second
is that both
draw
a resemblance
between human beings

domination
and
God: the first through the

ond through that of
symbols of subjugation and creation.
the sec
(self-)
conceptions of the cultural narrative.
The third is that, although different, both predicament of human beings are included in this
tural predicament of human
In summarizing the differences between these two conceptions of the cul beings, it may be said that the first focuses on the
of
ability
human beings to
master
their environment, whereas the second
fo
cuses on their
ability to both
on
adopt and create social norms of
behavior for
themselves, i.e.,
provide
technological skills and ethical practices, respectively. In this way on different aspects of human life which that two
deed, it is by focusing in
for the
through the symbols
cultural predicament
different
in
conceptions of
it
a
emerge
power-
of subjugation and self-creation.
As the first is
to a
oriented conception of
culture, it describes
other
culture
reference
God-given,
in this
innate ability to master The distinction between

conception
beings
and
to control parts of the environment.

nature"
what we call
"culture
and
is
exemplified of
between two different

within
postures
in
a power
tion. Thus human beings
their cultural predicament
relationship and God
domina
who
is
devoid
power
of
of
any
such predicament are
relationship
to created
the cultural
predicament
both characterized as standing in a similar beings. It is tempting to look upon this conception of human beings as somewhat naive, as a concep
normative
tion that is
not yet attuned
to differences between the
behavior that
their
human beings
engage
in
when
following
nature.
the
practices
and customs of
culture and the causal
interactions between things
and power
relationship be
in that it is
not
tween creatures that take place in

attuned
to the fact that skills need
It may also to be developed
seem naive and
technological innova-

tions need to be
175
one
nor
discovered,
all of which
have then to be
passed on
from
generation to another through mative
training
and education.
Hence, they
too are
in nature, and they too emerge within rule-following practices which provide for a cultural tradition. But then it is also possible to look upon it as a very insightful conception,
nation symbolize one
in
which
the
domi
the ability of human beings to overcome their natural plight
by
shaping and transforming their environment into a cultural habitat. The second conception provides insight into the cultural predicament
on
by
fo
cussing It suggests that this is done in the form

ness.
the way a culture operates
inward,
on
the beings who partake
in it.
by
of social norms
providing its participants with ethical standards which determine behavior through self-conscious
It
also suggests
that the way a culture operates
inward,
on
the beings who
participate
in it, is a way of determining behavior that goes against the grain of (God's) Creation, as it determines the behavior of beings in a completely differ
ent manner
from that
a
allotted
of
to them
by
their
initial
creator.
As
of
such
it is
likened both to God

both It is
call
form
transgression against
which underlies
God,
a
and to a
way
emulating
the
matter which
as a creator.
The insight
this way of
looking
at
is that the
creation of a cultural predicament
is
form
of
self-creation,
is
an act of revolt on
the part of human
beings
and an act of
of
self-chaining.16
a revolt against
the rule of God set out in the ways

self-creation of
Creation (which
we
"nature"),
and
it is the
the rale of human beings through the

underlie
what
emergence of normative practices
(which
we call
"culture").
Both
come about
by
creating the
concepts of and
life in
cultural customs and
practices,
wrong which are given the emergence of both is symbolized

evil.
right
and
by
the act of eating from the forbidden tree of knowledge about good and
phylogenetic
Given this
reading
of
the
emerge out of a
(natural)
all
state of existence created
text, human beings for them

the
can
be
seen
to
by
God into (a
them
cultural)
selves
one
that is
their own
and
doing by
customs.
creation and adoption of norma so
tive practices, conventions, this time in their

on
In
doing they
conception
recreate
own
image.
tends to
creates.
Reflecting
attention on of
the cultural predicament from this

create
focus
the way humans
in
contrast with the
way God
For,
course, the way in which a cultural predicament is created by human beings is not the same way in which the natural predicament for all beings is created
by
God. The
creation of a culture
by
human beings is first

In the
conception of
of all
the
creation of
a cultural predicament
for
themselves.
God
which
is drawn
in this Biblical narrative, God stands in an external relationship to His creation. Human beings stand in an internal relationship to the social norms, conven
tions,
fined
shared
habits, linguistic
art, rituals,
rules,
practical
skills,
common
judgements,
re
practices of
and technological achievements which underlie
their cultures and which

nature
they both
create and observe.
Unlike the
creation of
by God,
the creation
of cultural practices
by
human beings is
always a
natu-
form
self-creation.11
of
Human beings
transform themselves
from created,
176
Interpretation
into self-creating,
reshape
ral creatures
cultural ones
by doing
things
which act upon
themselves so as to
themselves. For the
creation of cultural ways of
behavior behavior
As
by human beings by human beings.

before, both
human beings
and
is
always
also
the
adoption
of cultural ways of
noted
conceptions
differentiate between the

is
cultural predica
ment of
the
natural predicament of all creatures. unique
In both
of
them the
cultural mode of existence which
to human beings brings out

conception own
a certain resemblance
between them humans
and
God: in the first
through
so
God's
that
own
action,
as when
are created
by
God in His
image,
they
can subjugate all other creatures and
dominate the earth; in the

emulate
second
conception
through the attempt

of
of
human beings to
God, by eating
and
from the tree

to
knowledge
about good and evil created
by
God
forbidden
them,
and
then proceeding to recreate themselves
tion
of social norms.
powerful symbolism
by the creation and adop Either way, the association with God (coupled with the invoked by these stories about self-creation and domina
philosophical
tion)
provides
for
profound
insights into the
ways
in which,
so as
through their cultural predicament, human beings are set apart from all other
created creatures.
In
so
doing
this narrative
in both its
stories
functions
modes
to
articulate and enhance a perceived

which we
difference between two
of
being,
nature."
today
refer
to as "culture and
The Virtues of Diversity
As
nect
mentioned stories
earlier, there have been
various philosophical attempts
to con
these
on
into
single,
unified narrative. not commit
Nonetheless, it is
itself to
offers
worth re
flecting
on about
the fact that the Bible does

predicament of
a single perspective
the cultural
human
beings,
as
it
two
different
stories
it and,
hence,
two different insights into it.
Indeed,
other
than the fact
that these
stories exhibit a complete about
disregard for
each
other, the
most notewor
thy feature
to
them is that
they
are
drive home the
point that neither
both included in this narrative, as though suffices on its own to elucidate the cultural human beings merely in the
predicament of
human beings.
cultural predicament of context
To describe the
of
their ability to dominate all other creatures and their surroundings
is
of
course
to offer
very
partial and even
impoverished description
of culture.
It is
to
offer an
insight into the in nature,
cultural predicament which
the differences between the

of animals as
lives
of
completely disregards human beings within a culture from those

which a culture molds
it disregards the way in
the
lives
of
those
who partake who are
in it
the creatures
who partake narrative
by domesticating them. (Indeed it may be said that dominated the most by a culture are the human beings
even
as
in
it.)
Yet
it does so, this
neglect on
the part of the
does
not
fault it. For it is precisely
by disregarding
all other aspects
in

the cultural predicament
of
ill
human beings if it
and
focusing
on
this aspect alone that to
this narrative acquires its forceful perspective and
manages
bring
also
an
impor
tant insight into sharp
focus,
even
misses much else not
that
is
true.
Being
the
only
a symbolic
story the
deficiency
is
deplorable. Other
as
stories about
human
predicament
in
a culture can
be told
well, for it is in the
nature of a
symbolic narrative
that it does not set out to
display
the
insightful
aspects
cultural predicament who partake
but merely to of it. Thus a completely different story is told when is contemplated by reflecting on how it affects the
exhaust
its
subject
beings
even
in it
and who are
immersed in its
as
normative practices.
Yet
here the story does not to go so far between what we call "culture and
to articulate the
difference
perceived
nature"
into
a metaphysical
difference in
metaphysical
kind,
as
it does
not
try
to explain it
by
recourse
to some abstract,
principle of
being.
Being
only
story, it merely
reveals and underlines the

natural and cultural
importance
of) life
of a
difference thus
perceived
between
(forms
by
providing it
with a profound and
highly
suggestive symbolic repre
sentation.
V. SYMBOLIC NARRATIVES AND PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION
All this said, the
claim
that the Biblical narrative
under consideration
har
bors in it profound philosophical insights may still be met with incredulity. For even if judged to be philosophical, it may seem to many today to provide a
reasons
very rudimentary effort in this direction. I believe that there are two main for not seeing in this narrative (as well as in other symbolic narratives)
a valid philosophical
discourse
which can
harbor in it
profound
with
insights. Both
method em
have to do
ployed
with
the nature of symbolic narratives and
the
in them to
articulate a
bring insight. Symbolic narratives, even when they strive to philosophical point of view, do so in a figurative and very oblique
a
fashion, by telling
division
which which
fanciful
strove
story.
They
are
forms
of
discourse in
which
the
Plato
to enhance between poetry and philosophy, and
today
underlies
the
philosophical
discourse in the West, is
not main
tained. Rather than

are
communicate
their insights through

such narratives
abstract claims which
backed
by
reasoned
arguments,
"pure"
fanciful
to us to
stories to express their philosophical

speak not with
rely on striking imagery and insights. In so doing they appear philosophy

cherishes
the
voice of reason which
but
with
that
of
the imagination. The second reason is that this narrative does the
cultural
not offer
are not of
any
to
metaphysical claims about reference
predicament, as
principles of
its insights
to
formulated in
explicate
to any fundamental
the cultural
seeks
being. Instead
recourse
trying
the
essence of
predicament
by
some
fundamental
principle
of
being, it
to
display
it,
a particular
aspect,
concrete and insightful providing in this way goal and in the method used to this striving for
perspective on attain
it. In both its
this form of discourse
178
is
Interpretation
to the way in which philosophy has evolved in the West in the form of the
alien
metaphysics.
And yet,
attempt
given
dissatisfaction
voiced
in
our
time
with metaphysics as an
to propound fundamental explanations, it may be worth while to reap praise the merits of the symbolic narrative as a way of both articulating and
gaining
philosophical
insight. For the

insight
nice
that,
ular,
unlike metaphysical
explanations,
thing they are
about symbolic narratives
is
not committed
and
to
telling
the
whole
truth.
They bring
by displaying
truth,
that from a very
partic
by
tangible, and, therefore, limited perspective. They promote understanding providing insightful descriptions into a philosophically perplexing issue, not unlike the way in which a good simile, a striking metaphor, or an entertaining
parable provide understanding.
They demonstrate,
so as all good
rather than
explain,
what
an
something is like, and they do insightful example to focus our

gain through so
demonstrations do,
the
by
using
attention on a particular perspective on
aspect, enabling us to
matter at
it
a unique and
illuminating
hand. In
doing, they further understanding in

to
capture all of
which aim
the truth through a
way in which metaphysical claims, fundamental explanation, do not.
Not trying to exhaust the truth about the cultural predicament, an insight articu lated in this way is only one among many possible insights. Symbolic narra tives do not commit those who are swayed by them to a single conception of
the matter. Before
provide
they
also
are turned
into
religious
dogma,
symbolic narratives
for
and
tolerant form of philosophical discourse
which allows
different
different conceptions, as well as different interpreta tions, to reside by each other. And yet, being symbolic narratives, and as such stories which aim to articulate important insights, they are not merely entertain
stories,
thereby
ing stories, just as

exhaustive of of view.
parables are not subject
their
matter,
merely entertaining stories. For although not they express an important and general point
Nonetheless, it seems that despite all its charm and insights, for most of us today this form of discourse no longer provides a viable avenue for reflective,
philosophical of the matter
insight
is that
about
the
human beings. The fact
most of us can no
longer
return without
embarrassment to reflect on the cultural predicament

stories.
The
difficulty
they
incurred in this
connection
any intellectual way of either of these does not derive merely from
by
the fact that
provide us with a
God-oriented
perspective on culture and used
nature, for the concepts

to
of self-creation and
domination,
in this
narrative
bring
insight into the

own rights.
nature of social norms and
technological skills, have

perception of
merit
in their
Nor does it derive from the fact that the
wonder at
the existence of cultural (forms of)

confounds
our
life
alongside natural
(forms of)
normative
life
no
longer
thinking. For it may be argued that what we

as a
apprehend through
metaphysics,
difference in kind between the
behavior
which underlies cultural
which underlie natural
(forms of) life and the causal interactions (forms of) life, is no more than a metaphysical way of
wonder.
giving
expression
to this very same perception of

Our
179
a
difficulty
in
all
this is one of
form,
as a
not content.
It is
one of
using
symbolic
narrative,
of whatever
content,
form
of
discourse for
able
philosophi
cal reflection.
The fact is that
most of us
are no
longer
to pursue our
craving for philosophical insight by means of symbolic thinking, such as is given in mythical stories and allegories, regardless of their content. We are not
able
to do so any longer for the

comfort
same reason new ones.
that we are no longer able to
find
con
intellectual
nection
by
is
symptomatic of
creating fundamental
years,
The
difficulty
we
incur in this
changes
that have taken place in the
human
spirit through the
and as a result of which no amount of
inter
pretation of
seem
these narratives
can recharge
them
with
life for philosophy

and
as
they
re
to have outrun their usefulness in providing

our
philosophical
insight for
flective human beings in

ments,
we are not
day. For despite
all criticisms
disappoint
initially
satisfied
in philosophy with anything less than what really metaphysical explanations held in promise for us. Having tasted of
content
their powerful
brew,
our philosophical
by anything less,
worth
as we want
to
gain
craving for insight will no longer be insight and achieve understanding into the
essence
through a fundamental
matter.
and comprehensive explanation
of the
It is
remembering, therefore, that once,

what metaphysical explanations
when we were
settle
for less than
hold in
promise
willing to for us,
important
philosophical
insights
were still
gained.18
NOTES
1. Claude Levi-Strauss has

concepts underlies all cultural
claimed
that the contrast expressed and perceived through these

various
qualifications,
since we
(forms of) life. As I shall show, such a claim requires have inherited several but different distinctions in this context.
2. The Hebrew
a people.
word used
The Hebrew
word used
word used
today for culture, tarbut, is used in the Bible to mean the majority today for nature, teva, does not occur as such in the Bible.
of
3. A first
metaphoric use of this verb pertains to
4. The
word
creating things out of sheer imagination. in Hebrew, Brashit, connotes a beginning to which nothing is prior. It is the in the Bible, and like the word which follows it, bara, has no equivalent in English.
a
5. There is Coded
tendency
to
confuse symbolic narratives with coded messages.
This is
a mistake.
messages require without
derstood
before they can be understood. Symbolic narratives can be un interpretation. What the interpretation of symbolic narratives brings with it is a
decoding
deeper understanding of them. 6. The term used in Hebrew, zelem, may mean shadow, shape, or figure. 7. There is a tradition of interpreting the text here according to which it was only after the deluge that human beings began to eat meat. If accepted, it would be wrong to describe them at this hunters. 8. See Moses Maimonides, The Guide of the Perplexed, trans. S. Pines (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), part 1, chap. 2. Maimonides, of course, was not the first Jewish scholar to interpret the Biblical stories of creation by way of Greek philosophy. Philo of Alexandria preceded first the intelligible world when he explained that creation took place in two stages. In the
stage as
him,
corresponding to the Platonic logos

ated.
was created. of
In the
of
second stage
the visible world was cre
An
altogether
different tradition
interpretation
the stories of creation unfolds from Jew
ish
mysticism.
9. The
Bible
of
state of nature
described in Hobbes's Leviathan
resembles
the description given in the

social norms.
the Garden
of
Eden, in that both
are states of existence
lacking
Hobbes
also
180
Interpretation
as a state of war of
describes it description
resembles
between human beings
and of overall misery,

on
however. Rousseau's
Origin of Inequality Biblical description, save for the issue of language. He describes human beings in this state as wandering up and down the forests, without industry, speech, and home, strangers to war and to all ties. Locke, in his Essay Concerning the True Origin, Extent, and End of Civil Government, describes this state as including in it both linguistic and social norms.
existence a state of nature
human
in
in The Discourse
the
the
in On The Bible, Buber, "The Tree of York: Schocken Books, 1968), pp. 18-21. 11. Indeed, immediately following their dismissal from the Garden
engage
10. See Martin
Knowledge,'
ed.
N. N. Glatzer (New
of
Eden, human beings

bond between them
in
sexual
intercourse
referred
which
is described
as a
form
of
knowing. It is here that for the first
time the
woman
is
to
by
her name, suggesting
perhaps a more personal
than that which exists in a state of nature.
12. Earlier in the text it is

ashamed,
so this
said that although man and woman were
naked,
they
were not
reading seems reasonable. 13. See G. W. F. Hegel, The Phenomenology of University Press, 1977), pp. 111-19. 14. For
examples of an ontogenetic account see
Spirit,
trans.
A.V. Miller (Oxford: Oxford
The Standard Edition of the Complete Works of Sigmund Freud, don: Hogarth Press, 1963); also "The Sexual Life of Human
Sigmund Freud, Three Essays vol. 7, trans. J.

Beings"
on
Sexuality, in
(Lon
of
Strachey
vol.
and
"The Development
Moses
and
the
Libido
and
the Sexual
Organizations,''
in
Introductory
Totem
and
Lectures
on
Psycho-Analysis,
and
16. For
examples of a phylogenetic account see
Taboo,
vol.13,
Monotheism
a
(New York: Vintage 15. One

supernatural
Books, 1955).
can
difficulty with such an account is in seeing how cultural conventions being who is outside the realm of any particular culture.
derive from
16. The relationship between cultural self-creation through revolt has been noted in many dif ferent traditions: e.g., in Jewish mysticism of Kabbala, in Hegelian dialectics, and, lastly, in
Kuhn's
account of revolutions not
in
science.
17. It does
follow that
a culture
is
always conceived as a
human
creation.
The
original title
for The New Science of Giambattista Vico suggested that it sets natural law of Gentile nations, inasmuch as the cultural rules on founded Yotam
were given wish
out principles which
concerning the the Hebrew nation was
by
God.
18. I
to thank Ruthi
Manzur, Alan Zaitchik, Norton Nelkin, Haim Marantz,
and
my sons,
and
Guy, for
their helpful comments.
Whip, Whipped,
Camus'
and
and
The Plague
Paula Reiner
Butler
University
gives a
Albert Camus in The Plague

plague
conditions:1
pressing, pitilessly
a city.
clear
description
closed.
of
We
are
all
locked in
The
gates
are
The
plague rages
inside. The only

town of
question
is, Who
will
die first? This is the
situa
tion in
Camus'
Oran; it is
also the situation of the

life.2
Trojans in Homer's
Iliad. And
finally, it is
of such
the situation of human

what
In the face
ness of a
conditions,
to do? In
what would consist
the
worthi
human life? Camus

of
constructs an answer carefully.

one of
is
at
the core
The
Plague, is
it is
more
the conclusions
not
His answer, which which Homer invites in
the Iliad
ness of
one of
the conclusions, but than a
the only one. It
is
part of
the great
also
the Iliad that
moral
document,
although
at
it is
that.
If Homer decries the destractiveness

mire violence
of
violence, he can
the same time ad
for its purity and intensity. In The Plague Camus consciously outlines his
narrative.
the system of valuation which
underlies
This is something he
can
do
more
for he has the

out
legacy
a
of centuries of self-examination
easily than Homer, following patterns laid providing immedi

set of values
by Socrates,
for
and also
he is freed from the

audience.
necessities of
ate charm elucidated

of
listening
and
It is
the
illuminating
to use the
in The Plague to
examine
Whip, Whipped,
Camus'
Doctor
us
(Camus'
Iliad, especially the threefold division To fleau, victime, and

medecin).3
know
position
helps
to deepen
and to
our
understanding
of
the
miracle of
Achilles'
final
scene with
with
Priam
grasp why it is wholly
appropriate
for
the Iliad to end
the burial of Hector.

gives a
In The Plague Camus

narrative of what most
thorough
exposition of plague
conditions, a
happens to
an
some
individuals human
caught
in those conditions, and, in

plague
important,
examination
of
options
conditions, an
examination which provides a sort of moral

use
the term
"moral"
with and
underpinning for the narrative. I hesitation. Camus steers clear of such normative
"right"
"wrong,"
terms as
character
"good"
"bad,"
and
no
doubt because,
as
his
Tarrou
would put
it,
such
terms might provide ammunition

who
for the
host
of wouldbe executioners.
Dr. Rieu,
is
revealed as
job"
the narrator at the
end of the
151;
cf.
book, speaks simply of "doing pp. 120, 146) and of "human

"the decent
one's
(faire
son
metier,
p.
pp.
44,
are
decency"
(V honnetete ,
p.
151),
while
person"
Tarrou
speaks of
(I'honnete
homme,
228). The two
interpretation,
Winter 1994-95, Vol. 22, No. 2
182
Interpretation
Dr. Rieu disclaims any wish to be a hero and says that to combat the is simply a matter of human decency, which consists in doing one's job
emphatic about
equated.
plague
(p. 151).
Dr. Rieu is
trying
to be
human,
no more and no
less. When
later in the
that
narrative
he
seeks a sort of secular sainthood without
Tarrou brings forward the possibility of sainthood, saying belief in God, Dr. Rieu re
of
sumes
his disclaimer
as
heroism,
this time adding sainthood: "I have
no
taste,
ambi
I know, for heroism or sainthood. What interests me is to be To which Tarrou responds: "Yes, we seek the same thing, but I'm less
as
far
human."
tious"
cance.
(p. 230). There is humor in Tarrou's response, but It is harder to be fully human, without the bolstering
also of
deep being hailed
signifi
as
hero. Also, if we put the matter that way, there is less excuse for it down. It is one thing to say, "Not me, I'll not fight the plague, I'm turning no But it is another to say, "I'll not fight the plague, I'm no
a saint or
hero."
human."
Camus is trying to them irresistible. "Human but

the
a
on
present
his
values
in
such a
way that
all people will
find
decency"
consists
in
this one point he is truth

of
clear.
fighting the plague. Dr. Early on he states that he

it
yields
Rieu insists
on
little,
is
path of
"by fighting
is"
against creation such as
he is going on (p. 120). And later,

sure conclusion:
discussion
was
"it
Dr. Rieu, Tarrou, and friends necessary to fight the plague one way
to prevent
as
the
following
or another and not
bow down to
(p. 126).
it. The
whole question was not
many deaths
possible"
as
Dr. Rieu turns down it is in the

way.
only heroism and sainthood, but even knowledge if When Tarrou presses the doctor to continue exploring some
can't cure and
ideas, Dr. Rieu

cure as
responds, "You
as we can.
know
at
the same time. So let's

on
quickly
than
as
That's
pressing"
more causes
(p. 191). This insistence

admit
helping
human"
above all
is probably what himself (p. 188).

not
Tarrou to
that Rieu is "more
Hard
it is
to see this
"humanism"
as
the very
"heroism"
which
Rieu
disclaims, it is important to remember that ceeding but of struggling. Although Rieu speaks
fact the
normal condition was well
"humanism"
is
not a matter of suc
as
if he
can cure
(p. 191), in
for him to be
able not
to cure but merely to
diagnose (p. 176). It may

Camus'
"humanism"
gives
be the very hopelessness of the endeavor that its stature. To straggle when victory is absurd and
and
impossible is illusion
Don Quixote
the windmills. To straggle when vic
tory is beneficial and possible is simply rational. But when the victory would be most beneficial yet defeat seems inevitable, action becomes a bold, existen
tial
declaration,
puts
a self-affirmation
in the face
of emptiness.
Camus
which
his
system of
human
valuation
into
a philosophical
framework
is
offered
by
Tarrou
the
a metaphysical scheme which

possibilities of
is
meant to give an
exhaustive account of
long
conversation which
is
at the
heart
of
human life. This is developed in a the The Plague (pp. 222-30). Tarrou
plague"
begins
suffers
by telling Rieu that he has long since realized that the whole world and what he means by "the from "the is the causing of
plague,"
Whip, Whipped,
human death. (We
plains might enlarge this to
a
and
Doctors
183
include
his
own
background. As
young
man
human suffering.) He ex he had become sickened watching

all
his father,
side of
who was a
judge,
condemn a criminal to
death. He then took the

up involved in illegal him as
"plague-ridden"
the anti-judges, namely the radicals, but
wound made
secret execution. as
Ultimately
vowed to
he
realized
that this to
anyone,
and
he
do his
utmost
refuse ever
to be
us
"plague-ridden"
again.
According
to
Tarrou,
fall
the seeds of plague are

victim.
in
all,
and
it takes
constant vigilance not to
So far Camus has

third. At the
"flail"
mentioned
end of
Tarrou's
only two choices, but he soon arrives at a long account Camus introduces the image of the
a manual
"scourge"
or
"whips"
(le fleau
chaff):
threshing device, by
on earth
which
one
wheat
from
tims, and that one must, as important to Camus is this point that he has Tarrou
I say, there
are
"I say only that there are far as possible, refuse to
flails
and vic
side with the
flail."
So
so
repeat
it
soon after:
"And
flails
more."
and victims and
he
admits
the possibility of a third that

of
choice:
nothing "It
But
almost
immediately
there is
also a third category:
true
doctors."
be, for sure, that To be a true doctor, he

must
says, is
difficult,
229).
and
for this
reason
he has
chosen
simply to
side with the victims
(p.
It is clear that Rieu is a doctor not only in the literal sense that medicine is his profession, but in the larger sense that he has chosen to devote himself to alleviate human suffering. At the conclusion of The Plague, after finally reveal
himself to be the narrator, Dr. Rieu gives his reason for writing: to bear to what had to be done and to what, no doubt, would have to be done, against the terror and its relentless onslaught, by men who "not being able to be
ing
witness
saints and
refusing to be
to
flails,
nonetheless put their effort
into
being
shall
doctors"
(p. 279).
I
term
with with
Camus'
wish now
"Doctor"
apply for
threefold division to the Iliad. I
keep
his
(capitalizing
because it is
ease of
reference), but I
and
shall replace
his
"flail"
"Whip,"
more
familiar
far
more
vivid,
and
his
"victim"
"Whipped,"
because it is
more concrete and corresponds as passive to
the
active
"Whip."4
about
Before proceeding, I pause to remark on Dr. Rieu's mother: "She reminds me

most
a comment which
Tarrou
makes
diary. "What I loved Camus

seems
of my he writes in his in my mother was her self-effacement (p. 250). to be offering here a fourth option: to be self-effacing, to be a
.
mother,"
quiet support
for others,
and
which seems not quite
the same
as
any
of
the three
categories mentioned above.
It is
significant
that the position of self-effacement

rather
belongs to
women
is
not
developed, but
is
offered almost as
an
afterthought.
The Plague, like the Iliad, is
centered on
the roles and relation
ships of men.
The category of the Whip is fully developed in the Iliad. In fact it is present force from the first words and is the very essence of the excitement of full in
184
Interpretation
the entire Iliad. As Simone Weil recognizes to her
dismay,
of
and
Rachel
force"
Be-
her appreciation, the Iliad is a poem of statement, "The true hero, the true subject, the center
spaloff to
force.5
Weil
opens with
the
the Iliad is
(p.
3). She
remarks on
the
"bitterness"
of the spectacle
to "a picture
of uniform
Bespaloff,
yet note
on
the other
horror, hand,
of which
force is the
in Homer (p. 4), and (p. 27). sole

hero"
refers
can
lament the losses forward for
which
force
generates she
how Homer brings its

a
beauty
admiration.
Force,
says,
"reveals itself in
which
of
kind
of supreme
leap,
murderous
. . .
lightning
stroke, in
calculation, chance,
and power seem
to fuse.
Herein lies the

.
beauty
(p. 44). Speaking force, which is nowhere so well shown as in Homer of Achilles, she notes, "The perfect conformity of his nature to his vocation of destroyer makes him the least free person there is; but it gives him in return a
.
bodily
of
freedom
which
is in itself
spectacle"
a magnificent
Achilles'
(pp. 99-100). And
she goes on to
force"
say how Priam delights in (p. 100).

wrath which put
beauty,
upon
which
is "the
beauty
With "the
opening And soon
of
ten thousand pains
the
Greeks"
at
the very
the
Iliad,
we are
already in the
presence of
presence of one
Whip, Achilles.
many-
after we are
in the
another,
Apollo,
sender of the
arrowed pestilence.
But the
main
Whip,
whose presence can never
be forgotten
the entire
for
more than a
moment, is
Ares,
god of war.
And his
agents are
Greek army, who will be victorious. Were the Greek army merely the reluctant
which
agents of
war, it
would
be harder
to cast them in the role of Whips. But there is a clear
enthusiasm
for war,
part
is the very stuff of the Iliad. We must assume a relish for violence on the of Homer's audience (if not on the part of the singer) to account for the
attention shown
lavish
in the
to death and
injury
in battle. And the

"furious"
same relish
is there
your
numerous exhortations
valor!"
to battle throughout the Iliad. "Remember
furious
these
(VI 112). The very term

gives the clue.
throisko, to
or win
leap forward)
there
still
(Greek thouros, related to Although it could be suggested that

to Menelaus
or
warriors are
simply
All
out of allegiance
to
gain
booty
honor, simply by those

If the
there is
an eagerness who
for battle
forth"
which cannot
be
explained
embodi
motives.
"leap
to battle are willing
ments of the
Whip. Greek army is made of Whips, Achilles is its supreme if Achilles were denouncing the principle of the Whip (XVIII 107-8). But
even sweet anger
victorious
Whip. It
when
might seem as
he
wishes that strife and anger would perish
here he
a
remarks on
how
startling insight on the part of observation that humans are always
is, and how we nourish it in our breasts Homer, and one which may underlie Tarrou's
so
possessed
fact Achilles does

been
seen.
go on
to
become
ready to become Whips (p. 228). And in by a greater fury than has ever far from it. His ordinary
absorbed
of
Achilles does
anger over
not go on to make an end of anger
dishonor is dissolved, but only because its energy has been

anger,
a
into
greater
basic, annihilating
rage over
the
inescapable fact
Whip, Whipped,
death. If
and
Doctors
185
"leaping
to
battle"
is
a sign of
the
Whip,
there could be
no one more and
eager than
Achilles
after
the death of Patroclus. He turns down food
drink
saying,
and
"My
heart has
no care
the grievous groans of
men"
for these things, but for slaughter, (XIX, 213-14). like

a
and
blood,
Achilles becomes less

ground
and
less human. "There

the
was a clatter as
flame"
his teeth
365-
together,
and
as
his two
if he
eyes glowed
lightning
himself,
(XIX,
66). Finally, it is
were
god of war
death."6
or
rather, in Cedric
a climax of
Whitman's phrase, "the very slaughter, bloodying the river

you,
an evil
angel of with
We find him in
of
the bodies
those he kills:
"Die,
all of
death,
until you
pay for the

on
slaughter of
. .
Patroclus
and your
blight
(loigos,
sometimes used of
plague)
the Greeks
(XXI, 133-34).
Achilles is, in Tarrou's terminology, as as a human can be. Far from putting up any resistance to the plague, he is assisting it in every way he can. As Dr. Rieu remarks, "The soul of the murderer is (p. 124).
blind"
"plague-ridden"
Such is the
"payment"
soul of
Achilles. Even
after
to act the part of the
Whip, dragging
of
Hector's
he has killed Hector, Achilles continues body in a futile attempt to exact
for the death
Patroclus.
the supremely Whipped. He is old be taken, his loved ones killed or captured. Troy Yet he is not utterly defeated for all that. There are virtues which even a whip ping cannot take away: dignity is one, and courage another. Although Priam
supreme
and
If Achilles is the
Whip, Priam is
will
bereft. He knows that
has
and
rolled
in the dung,
and enters
when
he
comes
to Achilles he has the care of Hermes
Zeus
the admiration of Achilles.
When Priam
he takes the knees

and
of
Achilles
and
kisses his
hands,
his"
had killed many sons of mankilling, (XXTV 478-79). With this act the supremely Whipped appeals for pity from reaction goes beyond pity. In this final scene the supreme Whip. But
are
hands that
"fearful
which
Achilles'
between Achilles
heart. And
when
and
Priam, Homer
have
shows us a
true meeting,
meeting
of
the
two people
oneness.
such a
meeting,
with all veils
lifted,
Priam
what
they
awe,
experience oneness
is
This
as
is first indicated in
arrived as
a subtle way.
Achilles looks
at
with
if Priam had
an
exile,
having
murdered someone
in his
homeland (XXIV, 480-83). This subconsciously establishes a kinship, for it is Achilles who is actually the murderer. Achilles wonders as he looks on "god
like"
(theoeides) Priam (483), and Priam then addresses Achilles as (theois epieikelas, 486), the responsion of the two adjectives adding
impression
of oneness and mutual respect.
makes an overt appeal
"godlike"
to our
Priam then
if
not
to oneness then to
age
identification, by
end
re
reminding Achilles that

of
he, Priam, is like in
to
Achilles'
father. At the
his
speech
he
calls attention
to his position as supremely Whipped

what no other man
by
minding Achilles to the hand of the

Reminded
that
he has done
of their
has done,
put
his
mouth
one who slaughtered
his
children.
responds
by
Priam
bodily
alignment, Achilles
by taking
186
hold
Interpretation
of
Priam's hand
and
gently thrusting him
away.
The
hold"
"taking
taken
(hap-
samenos) puts Achilles

and
on a par with
Priam,
who
has just
of
hold
of
him,
is
one more
hint
at oneness.
reflects
The juxtaposition
ambivalence
"gently,"
eka,
never
and
apos-
ato,
"thrust
so
away,"
the
which
entirely leaves
never removed
Achilles,
that for
all
his
compassion and
from the possibility
of
acting the
Whip
compliance, he is (569, cf. 586).

the death of
Eventually
curled at over
the two give way to a passion of grieving, while Priam
lies
now
Achilles'
feet. Priam
sorrows over over
Hector, Achilles
a
the death of
Patroclus,
We
now
his father. There is

of
merging
there
vessels.
of sorrow.
are made
to feel the commonality
watery human grief, as if
kind
of
were one common ocean of sorrow
into
which we all
dip
our private
When Achilles
grieves when
like his father. But for Achilles form

and oneness of their
Achilles
for his father, sympathy is suggested, since Priam is grieves for Patroclus, oneness is suggested,
loss: the loss
of
Priam
share the same
their
most
beloved. The
"they
grieving is further suggested grammatically. There is the dual both (to de mnesameno, 509) and also the shared
remembered"
sound of
whole of
their grieving: "their

the
dwelling"
moan
(a
collective
singular)
rose
through the
(512).
point of
Their human
common
through Priam's eyes.
mourning softens Achilles to the He raises Priam up by the hand

of godsent suffering.
seeing himself
the the example of
and generalizes about gives
lot,
which
is full
He then
who had only one child who is not there to care for him, "since I sit here in Troy, far from my homeland, a trouble to you and your This is a key statement in the Iliad with regard to threefold division
Peleus,
children."
Camus'
of
Whip, Whipped,
in
caused
and
Doctors. The
shift
in
Achilles'
heart has
also
become
shift
consciousness.7
For the first time Achilles feels his

in siding
regret over
the loss he
has
the Trojans. It is as if he sees the plague

role
with
conditions upon which realization
Camus
elaborated and regrets
the Whip. This
by
Achilles leads us to the crowning realization offered by the Iliad: that Death is the only true Whip, and in the end we are all Whipped together. For Achilles this is the beginning of humanity. He no longer has the "blind
soul"
of a
murderer; he
the possibility
of choice.
least the
Iliad is
choice of not
clearly for the first time, and with clarity comes Though he may never be a Doctor, Achilles has at siding with the Whip. In this sense the ending of the
sees
"redemptive."
Seth Schein
ship)
as about
and
asserts that
the Iliad is as
Achilles'
much about
philotes
(friend
to
his
minis
(wrath).8
He
states
that the ending shows a
return
that Achilles offers Priam human solidarity "his philotes once humanity dominant" again (p. 99). But this is not a restoration of Achilles' old philotes.
His
original philotes was
in the
"us"
context of
versus
"us"
"them":
one enjoyed
his
strong friendship distinction between
(and
fairness) by being
"them"
in the
group.
In Book XXIV the

"us,"
"us"
and
is dissolved. All human beings
are
Whip, Whipped,
and
and
Doctors
187
of
Achilles has
a glimpse of a
the
pointlessness of
doing
violence
in the face
any
this truth. This is
fundamental change, the Iliad would be a lesser work. way,

So far
also the
we
a new vision.
If it
were
other
have
considered the of
Iliad in terms
of
Whip
and
Whipped. There is
of
category and Whip in order to grasp the full unity The Iliad begins with the word
Achilles'
wrath.9
Doctor. It is helpful to
"wrath"
understand
the relation
Doctor
of plot of
the Iliad.
(minis)
that
and
is
We
see
see
the birth
Achilles'
of
anger
wrath
a perfectly told tale of in his humiliation by
Agamemnon. We
embassy. and one
the
maintenance of
through the visit
by
the
And then
we see
the death of that wrath,
which
is
simultaneous
with,
with, the birth

of
the face
mightily
of
rather
as
larger wrath, the human, impotent wrath in death. This wrath, bom with the death of Patroclus, is maintained Achilles fights on the battlefields of Troy. Its death is the true death
of an even anger
wrath, because this time the
is
not supplanted
by
a greater anger
but
is truly, if precariously, dissolved.10 If the Iliad is a perfectly told story of

of
of
Achilles'
anger, why does it

who
ending.11
end with
the burial of Hector? For
those, like James Redfield,
find in Hector the true Hector is

not
hero focus
the
Iliad, his burial should make a fitting the Iliad, however. The story centers on Achilles,
for both his
excellence
the
who
as a model excellence.
in battle
and
his
passionate
of
may be taken insistence on that Camus:
Why, then, does
the Iliad end
with
the burial
Hector? I believe that

of
seen.12
the
answer
Hector is the
lies in Homer's intuitive grasp of the threefold division vessel by which his respect for the Doctor figure can be
Like Rieu, Hector is an active, positive, and responsible person. In Book VI, when the battle is going poorly, Hector goes to Hecuba to tell her to offer a robe to Athena. He turns down Hecuba's offer of wine lest it dull his fighting
capabilities and
leaves Helen because he Hector is
senses
his
soldiers'
need
for him. In
of a
Book XII he
sign.
refuses to accept
Poulydamas'
pessimistic
interpretation
bird
In
general
a resolute
commander,
dutiful son,
and a
loving
father his
and
husband. And his job

as a
what
is
all of
this if not Hector's "human
decency"
doing
human (faire
pleads with
son metier
d'hommef.
out of
When Andromache
Hector to stay
battle, Hector
shows
himself
a reluctant warrior:
These things
most
mean much
to me, lady. But I am ashamed,

women
terribly, before Troy's men and long-robed if I shrink back, far from battle, like a coward. And my
spirit
does
not tell me to
do this, for I've learned to be brave
(VI, 441-45)
It is
the
as
if Hector
rues
having
learned to be
hero because
now
he
cannot avoid
being
one,
although side of
"soft"
his desire is to stay with his wife and child. In this we see Hector, the part of him that has no taste for being a Whip.
188
Interpretation
continues with
Hector
his
well-known pessimism about the
Trojan
prospects:
For I know this

the
and
well
in my heart
and
my
will
spirit:
day
will come when sacred and
Troy
perish,
Priam,
the people of Priam of the great ash spear.
(VI
447-49)
And
later,
not
when
the
dying
Patroclus
does
deny
it but
responds with a
Hector's iniminent death, Hector knows?" noncommittal, "Who (XVT, 860).

predicts
Here, too, there is a link with Dr. Rieu. To the extent that Hector plays the role of Doctor, he fights neither for love of glory nor love of killing nor even in hope of victory. Like Rieu, he makes the straggle with full knowledge that his
efforts
may
come to nothing.
with
By
Hector
speak
ending
the funeral of
Hector, Homer is
able
to
set the and
seal on
as an admirable and cherished
human being. Andromache
Hecuba
mainly of the disaster that will come upon themselves as the result of Hector's death. But Helen, with less to fear, gives us a last piece about Hec
tor's character:
was
he
was
kind. She
says
that his
words were always gende and
he
the only person in
Troy
who was
kind to
her,
even
chiding
others who who
spoke
when
harsh
words
(XXIV 766-75). 13 In short, he
was a
Doctor,
healed
he
could.
If the human
est sense of
choice which
Homer holds highest is to be
Doctor in the broad
the term
to give one's all to alleviating human suffering, as one then
performs one's
human tasks
it is
tribute to the
man who most exemplified
surprising that he would end with a this quality. But is this a break in theme?
not and
Not being.
ate
at all.
For the Iliad is
about
the life
death
of anger.
It is the story
of
the transformation of
Whip heart, while being

a
Being
Achilles, from is the eclipse of

a
unconscious
Whip
to conscious human
human side, of one's compassion Doctor is its fullest expression. What more fitting way
one's
to end a story about eclipse than
by
paying tribute to the shining
of
the
sun?
NOTES
1
version of
this paper
was
delivered
at
the annual meeting of the Classical Association of
the Middle West and South in
Classical Text,
the
author.
and that
Columbia, Missouri, in 1990. The text of the Iliad is the Oxford of The Plague is La Peste, Gallimard edition, 1946. All translations are by
to
2. As
that"
a patient remarks
Rieu, "But
what
,
does it mean, 'the

there
are and
plague'?
It
means
of
life,
and that's
(p. 278). Irma M. Kashuba, S.S.J.
states that
three levels
plague:
(1) literally,
as a
disease, (2)
as a metaphor
for life,
(3)
as a
understanding the metaphor for the German
occupation of
France ("A Method
of
Teaching Camus's The Plague, edited ciation, 1985]). On level 1 we have resemblance to
where plague and war are
in Approaches to Presenting Albert Camus's The by Steven G. Kellman [New York: Modern Language Asso
Plague,"
Thucydides,
with
as
Kashuba
notes.
On level 3,
of
connected, there is
Camus'
kinship
Homer.
come
3. One
wonders whether
ideas
could
possibly have
from his reading
the
Camus
mentions passages of
the
Iliad, including Priam's
statement about
kissing
Achilles'
Iliad. hand in
Whip, Whipped,
Book XXTV, in his notebook of March 1942, at which time he debt to Greek sources in general, see Paul Archambault, Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1972).
Camus'
and
Doctors
189
was
Camus'
working on The Plague. For Hellenic Sources (Chapel
4. Another
choice would
be
"scourge,"
whose
development
of
meaning
a
matches
that
of
fliau,
and
including
midecin
plague, famine
and war.
But
"scourge,"
like
"flail,"
is
bit
precious.
I believe that if
Camus had
used more vivid, common,

categories would
and
appealing terms
for
example
fouet, fouetti,
his
have become
part of popular speech.
PA: Pendle Hill
5. Simone Weil, The Iliad or the Poem of Force, translated by M. McCarthy (Wallingford, Pamphlets, No. 91, 1957), and Rachel Bespaloff, On the Iliad, translated by M.
(New York: Pantheon, 1947). 6. Cedric Whitman, Homer and the Heroic Tradition (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Press, 1958), p. 207.
McCarthy
University
York: Viking, 1990), Priam's point of introduction

8. Seth
and
7. As Bernard Knox states, in his introduction to The Iliad, translated by Robert Fagles (New p. 60, "That last phrase is a new view of the war; [Achilles] sees it now from
view."
(After completing the
original
draft
of
this paper, I read Bernard Knox's
found that it
Schein,
I had made.) The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer's Iliad (Berkeley:

contained several points
University
and
of
California Press, 1984), p. 98. 9. As Seth Bernadete remarks ("Achilles

John's Review
and
Hector: The Homeric

not advance our
Hero,"
Parts I be
II, 5/.
his
[Spring
and
Summer 1985], Iliad

as
pp.
31-58, 85-114),
the Iliad
must
more
than the
and
Achilles'
story
wrath
of
wrath,
since so much of
it does
knowledge for
war:
of
Achilles
(p. 33). He
sees the
tracing
a progression of motivation
from
revenge over
Helen
(personal)
to the desire for fame (impersonal ambition), to revenge over Patroclus
(personal)
(p. 94).
10. This is
nent
not
change,
at
and
to say that Achilles will be a reformed man. For Tarrou insight made a perma he is ever more reluctant to play the Whip: "If I should become a Whip
...
myself,
return
least I don't
consent.
to his
old enthusiasm
I try to be an innocent for battle. And here Homer
murderer"
parts
(p. 229). But Achilles may well company from Camus. Achilles will
be
an
"innocent
murderer"
because his
killing
but then again, he has always been one, not because of reluctance but is natural. He kills with the innocence of a lion mangling its prey or an ocean
of
pounding the
spaloff refers
This is the "perfect conformity (p. 99).

shore.
his
nature
to his
vocation"
to which Be
University
ending.
11. James M. Redfield, Nature and Culture in the Iliad: the Tragedy of Hector (Chicago: of Chicago Press, 1975). Redfield states that he will consider the Iliad as the story of
Hector (p. 29), and so one would expect him to view the burial of Hector as the Iliad's natural But in fact he treats the ransom as the closing, and not the funeral. He distinguishes the
resolution of action
which
involves the
extinction of motives and
demands in the
characters
from the form, which involves completion on the aesthetic level. But where does the funeral fit in? Although Redfield has much of interest to say about funerals, this question is not answered. It seems that the motives are extinguished when Priam leaves shelter, and the form may be as well (pp. 219, 221-22). 12. This is a different reading of Hector than Benardete's, cited above. Benardete sees Hector
Achilles'
mainly as an Achilles He treats Hector's burial
as a
(and Achilles, double for his
by
the end, as a hero who
has fallen from heroism).

of
Achilles'
burial.
"
. .
Achilles becomes the image Hector is

mortal
Hector,
and
whose
funeral
own"
can represent
(p. 109). "The
corpse of
Achilles,
(p. 1 10). His presentation of Hector, while not it is he as well as Hector who is buried at wrong, is partial. Homer created in Hector a worthy antagonist for Achilles, yet a lesser man, and in this sense Hector is an Achilles manqui. But Homer also created in Hector a man of quiet virtues, who knew how to value peace. In this respect Hector surpasses Achilles and is worthy of burial in his own right. 13. For Hector's courtesy to Helen, see Iliad VI, 360-68. Compare the violence of "You greedy-hearted man, cloaked in words to Agamemnon (I, 149) and "You (I, 225) with Hector's mildness. Though drunkard, with the face of a dog and the heart of a he told his mother he wished the earth would swallow Paris (VI, 281-82), he addresses Paris with {daimonie, VI 326, 521), a term by which Hector and An nothing worse than "amazing dromache address each other (VI, 407, 486).
Achilles'
shamelessness"
Troy"
deer"
fellow"
Design in the Iliad Based
on
the
Long
Repeated Passages
John C. Kohl, Jr.

Thomas More College
Merrimack, NH
INTRODUCTION And just

as
in the
and
case of
under-
the
lodestone,
so also a
mighty
chain of choral
dancers,
masters,
teachers is
hung
down
with side
branches from the

we
Muse. And
name all of
some poets are
hung
from
one
Muse
and some
from another, but
them as
being
are
possessed, for it
resembles
that because each is held.
From the first from another,
of these
rings, the poets, others are suspended, some from one, some
and
they
inspired,
some and
the majority are possessed

and are possessed
by by Homer,
Homer
held
from Orpheus, some from Musaeus, but by him. Of which you, Ion, are one sing the
works of another
and when someone might
poet,
you go
to
sleep
and are at a
loss
what
to say, but when somebody might utter

your soul
the strain of this poet, straightaway you are awake,

able
dances,
and you are
to contribute something, for you say what you say not

of
knowledge
Homer but through divine dispensation
and
by by possession.
virtue of art nor
by
Ion, 536 A-C

In the
meric
Platonic dialogue Ion, one of the earlier surviving bits of Ho criticism, the rhapsode Ion is shown under Socratic questioning to have
short
of
little direct knowledge

not
any
of
the arts in
which
Homer's
poems engage us
nor of seaman
the art
nor
of
chariot-driving,
nor of
medicine,
nor of
fishing,
ship,
wool-spinning, nor even the
leading
of armies and
military
strategy.
Ion's ability comes not through art (techne), (episteme). Ion and other rhapsodes as well
mysterious chain of
whose
are
touchstone is knowledge
the
intermediate links in
the
iron rings,
so
Socrates likens them, running from Muse to
poet to
listener
and
held together
by
the magnetic
possession
power of
Muses,
and
whose
marks are
divine dispensation (moira),

effort
(katokoche),
inspiration
(enthusiasmos). Considerable how the Cycle

Muses'
among
which
magnetic power operated
preliterate societies
were
in
originally
crafted
has gone into reconstructing in Greek antiquity, particularly in we may suppose that the poems of the Homeric and dispensed. It is that in the original
modem
scholars
arguable1
oral or aeodic tradition of
these
epics
the
singers of
the poems, although from
1994-95, Vol. 22, No. 2
192
the
Interpretation
standpoint of
tradition imitators and thus liable to
charges of thoughtless
repetition
by
a reflective
questioner,
exercised considerable
discretion in their
of metri
poetic recitations
by drawing
integrity
of
upon and
deploying
an
inherited treasury
cally
and
"formulae."
semantically
set phrases or was
By
this means, recitation of
the poem in its
combined with yet
a measure of with
flexibility in its
particular
recitation; the
work was
transmitted,
the Iliad and
imparted
the
stamp,
style,
and
distinction
texts
its individual
performer.
The
received
of
Odyssey
and
are
thus
as
marked
by
numerous
repeated phrases
(e.g.,
epithets), half-lines,
lines
the traces of this origi there are also longer
nal work of composition-recitation. repeated

where
But in both
or
poems
passages,
passages of
fourteen feet
more,
repeated at
the second passage
is
an exact
duplicate
of
the first or
least once, differs at most in
are 102 such repeats, metrically lines.3 in from length 3 to 36 The intrusion of ranging long blocks of verse to be rerecited verbatim later obviously narrows the scope of interpretative virtu one or two equivalent
words.2
In the Iliad there
osity
of
the
performer and suggests
that the presence of such repeated longer
passages might
have
an added significance
beyond the technical

the tales
requirements
and artistic possibilities of performance.
Such
a significance might
be traceable
ears of
mean
to the requirements
of
Homeric
interpretation;
as
sound
in the in
the listeners
ing.4
of
the poems,
aural associations
may
prompt associations
The
present
inquiry
seeks
to explore this question.

poet
In 45
of
these 102 repeated passages in the Iliad the
is speaking to
the
us
directly, they may be said, therefore, to comprise description of the poem. The remaining 57 parallels are
and
part of
narrative
portions of
speeches,
those
either of gods or of men.
Of these
repeated
dictions 41
are portions of
messages:
instructions
or
information
given
by
one person
(in two instances
by
the poet
or
himself) (in three instances)

These
even
which are repeated
by
another person
to yet a third person,

as a
are carried out verbatim
by
the second
direct
com
mand.5
message
(and/or
declaration)
listener
repeated passages are
easily recog
nized
by
the most casual
or reader.
They belong
generally among
the longest repeated passages in the
longest
of a
repeats are messages.
Iliad; eight of ten and thirteen of the twenty Secondly, the message is relayed within the space
of
few
verses of
its origin; 37
Achilles'
the 41
repeats are
found
within
the same
book her
of the poem. complaint to
When Thetis takes

son
Zeus
and asks
that
he do honor to
the
(I
493-516)
and the cloud-gatherer agrees
(I
517-530),
king
of
gods and men assumes
direction
below. It is
order, the 41
maintained
the events unfolding on the Trojan plain in this paper that when studied in their consecutive
of
repeated messages
dictate successively those
principal events
in
the plot of the Iliad whereby son is accorded honor. Thus it is affirmed that the action of the Iliad turns about these messages, particularly about those
Thetis'
originating
with
Zeus,
that
and
that within their context most
of
the other 61
long
an
repeated passages
in the
must
poem also
find their
and
places.
Accordingly,
it is the
message repeats
be investigated
to which we must
first turn if
Design in the Iliad interpretative

significance of
will
193
Homer's iterative
come
style
is to be located. This sig

Zeus'
nificance, conversely,
primarily
to light in
reflection upon
designs for Achilles
as a whole when
the plan is fulfilled.
A description of the message chronology follows. The 41 messages, origi nating in the first twelve books, books XIV through XVI, and books XVIII and XXIV of the Iliad, are grouped into 24 stages below. Forty-eight of the other repeated passages in the poem, both in diction and narrative, can be related to
the
plan established
through the messages, and
they
are
so related
in
each
appropriate stage.
STAGES IN THE NARRATIVE AND THEIR INTERPRETATION
First Stage: Two
significant passages
. .to
in the
poet's proem are repeated
by
Achilles later to Thetis: ".

som and
ransom
his daughter
bearing
boundless
ran
having
in his hands
garlands
from far-darting Apollo
with the golden
scepter, and he beseeches
all the
Achaeans, but especially

.
.
the two sons of
Atreus,
non,
the two commanders of the people
but it did
(I 13-16
not please
=
Agamem
I
22-
son
of Atreus,
and
he
badly
dismissed
him"
372-375;
of
25
ransom
I 376-379). This first for

a
stage
establishes a
basic theme
the poem,
its refusal, and Agamemnon's refusal, in the declaration of the Muses, now emerges on the originally sung prefatory lips of Achilles himself that is, within the drama and as an element within the
hostage
(homeros)
and
action of
the
poem as a whole.
The
continuance of this
theme in the
decisive, early
prayer
stages of
the tale is
revealed
by
the fact that

repeated
Chryses'
invocation in his
I
to Apollo to call off

and
you
the plague is
might to
in
part
in
Achilles'
Patroclos: "Once then

me and
when
honored
wish"
did greatly harm the XVI 236-238). The (I 453-455

=
give glory heard my word and Achaean people. Now also grant me prayed you
invocation to Zeus to
this
connection
between Apollo
ransom and and
the
of
rest of
the poem is
after
also revealed
Chryseis'
in that the
sacrifice to
feasting
as
the Achaeans
return
is described in the A
same words
the
Achaean
=
sacrifice
to Zeus and
=
feasting prior to
427-432).6
the renewal of
battle (1 458-461 is
also re
peated
II II 421-424; I 464-469 in describing the Argive feast

and
significant portion
after
the inconclusive single combat of

=
Ajax
Hector (I 317-320
and of
I 428-431
VII 317-320). The

are
petitions of
Chryses to Apollo
plague on
Achilles to Zeus here

now
ironically
rather
unfulfilled: the
the Argives continues,

which
through battle
than
disease, in
upon
lengthy
Argives fulfilled.
ordeal, in
Achilles becomes, in effect, the

Achilles'
"plague"
the
not
and whose relief will commence when
petition
to Zeus
is
Second Stage: Zeus
gives
a message
to
Oneiros,
who
then relays
it to
Agamemnon,
who, in turn, tells it to the
council of
Achaean leaders (II 11-15
194
=
Interpretation
=
II 28-32
II 65-69): ".
about the
bid
you arm with all speed the
Achaeans,
ones
with
head, because now you may seize the broad-aveflowing nued city of the Trojans, since the immortals having Olympian abodes no longer are divided in counsel, for Hera in beseeching has inclined all, and
hair
over the
Trojans."
doom hangs
which
Oneiros
adds a prologue
to this exhortation,
=
Agamemnon
also repeats
to the council
one
(II 23-27
II 60-64): "You
a man
sleep, son of Atreus,

counsel must not
horsetaming
night
of thoughtful mind, but

one to whom the people
bringing
I
sleep the
through,
have
given trust
and whom so much care
troubles, but let
you now understand me promptly.
am a messenger of Zeus to you, Zeus who, though being far away from you yet cares greatly and takes pity on And Oneiros will also add to Zeus's
you."
message
the short epilogue,

=
which
Agamemnon
repeats to
the assembled (II 33

mind."
[in part]
passages
II 70 [in
part]):
".
.from
Zeus, but bear this in

an
The three
taken together comprise a message,
exhortation
to renew the
Argive
offense on
the Trojan citadel, and this comes at a most
inopportune
assembly,
time,
since a rupture
has
occurred puts
between Achilles
an
and
Agamemnon. Not
general
unexpectedly, Agamemnon
this to
ironic test in the
expecting
a ratification
for the attack, the

"
reverse of what
he
advocates.
Third Stage: "Zeus, son of Cronos, Agamemnon laments to the Argives, "has greatly bound me in oppressive delusion (ate), Zeus less one,
an evil who
assembled
the merci
before
promised me return
and nodded me
again.
his
assent
that,
having
wasted well-walled
Ilium, I
home dear
But
now
he has
counselled me
deceit,
and
he bids infamous
as
me go to
Argos
after
I have destroyed
many
people.
Thus is it destined
to
Zeus,
the one with great might, who
has
unloosed the
supreme."
heads of many cities and will yet unloose them, for his rule is To this lament, an ironic one here but which will later appear un-
ironically
and
decisively
in both
us retreat
in the in
ninth
book (II 111-118 "But come, let

to our
non will also add

might say.
assemblies:
our ships
Troy"
us all
be
DC 18-25), Agamem convinced of what I

we will not
Let
dear fatherland, because

=
hereafter
seize
broad-avenued
(II 139-141
TX 26-28). Athena concerning Aga general have ap

=
Fourth Stage: Hera

memnon's counsel
will now utter a reproach to a retreat which
for retreat,
the Argives in
to
proved.
Athena, in turn,
will pass on
will
this
reproach
Odysseus (II 158-165
to their dear fatherland over broad back of the sea, and they will have abandoned Argive Helen for the boasting of Priam and the Trojans Helen, for whose sake many of the Achaeans are lost at Troy far from their dear fatherland. But come now to the the
people
II 174181): "So the Argives
flee homeward
of the bronze-clad Achaeans
and with your
kind
words restrain each
man and
do
not allow them to
drag
their versatile ships
into the
sea."
Odys
seus will then turn the minds of the
Argives back from thoughts
of withdrawal
to the
offensive.
Design in the Iliad

Fifth Stage: The
original causa
195
belli
reasserts
Alexander declares: "...
and put me
in the
middle with
itself. At Hector's chiding Menelaos, dear to
Ares,
to fight over
Helen
and all
the goods, and whoever of the two might

the woman to
be
victorious and seized the
the stronger, let
him lead
his home, he
having
Argives
goods."
Hector
will
then put this proposal verbatim to the

=
and
Trojans drawn up along the battle line (in 69-72 III 90-93). Alexander also continues: "And the rest, cutting friendships and credible treaties, let them
all
with
dwell in fertile Troy its beautiful
and those return to
horse-grazing
Argos
and
Achaia in
women."
Idaios
will
=
be dispatched to deliver this

IE 256-258).
and
proposal
so
many words to Priam (HI 73-75 There is a parallel between

and
Menelaos'
Alexander's
and
combat over
Helen
here in the third book

troclos'
that between Menelaos

=
Euphorbos
over Pacases
corpse
Menelaos'
in book XVH (HI 348-350
XVII 44-46). In both
adversary casts his spear first, "but the bronze did not break through but the point was bent back from him in the stout shield; and next Menelaos,
ther."
son
of Atreus, roused himself with the bronze, In the latter fray over the dead Patroclos
having
prayed to
Zeus the fa Alexander
we seem
to be reminded, how
and
ever over
briefly,
Helen.
of
the
original occasion
for the battle: Menelaos
Sixth Stage: Agamemnon in his

agreement above combat:
prayer
to Zeus at the
notion of
conclusion of of
the
has
a somewhat
different
the terms
the single
if Menelaos
and all
back Helen
He
slay Alexander, "then the Trojans are to have given the goods to the Argives and to make requital to the Ar
might
also turn out
gives, whatever is seemly and might

will repeat
seemly for
come."
men yet
to
=
these terms to the Trojans
after
the combat (III 285-287
III
458-460), prefacing them,

to
Ares, is
first
manifest
of the
sentence
significantly, with "The victory of Menelaos, dear (although nobody was killed) and changing the sense above to an imperative: "Give back Argive Helen and the
goods with
her.
Agamemnon has here
enlarged
the private
dispute,
what
had been
single
conceived as a contest over
the woman and goods to be settled
by
combat, into a public matter, a war; Agamemnon wants reparations to all the Argives. The enlargement of the combat is reflected in two parallels be tween the Menelaos-Alexander
encounter cases
in book IE
and that of
Ajax
and
Hec
tor in the seventh book. In both

proceeds
the contests are announced when Hector
openly to the middle of the ranks and stops the fighting with his spear VII 54-56). In both contests the Argive held in the middle (III 76-78
=
combatants miss
similarly
pierce
the
shields of
=
their Trojan antagonists and narrowly
wounding them (HI 356-360
VH 250-254).
Seventh Stage: Athena breaks the trace. She first-born
counsels
Pandaros, "Pray
Zelia."
to
Lycian-born Apollo, famed for the bow, to perform

sheep,
splendid public sacrifices
of
having
returned
to the city of sacred
In the
same
196
words
Interpretation
(IV 101-103
=
IV
119-121) Pandaros
Menelaos.
vows these things to
Apollo,
and
then he launches the arrow at
Eighth Stage: Agamemnon

chaon, the physician, "... in
commands
order that
the herald Talthybios to
summon Ma-
he
might see warlike

or
Atreus,
and
whom someone well
knowing
=
among the Trojans the bow, has hit: for him,
Menelaos, son of Lycians, having shot an arrow on the one hand, fame (kleos ); for
Machaon (IV
195
stricken
sorrow."
us,
on
the other,
Talthybios
relays this message to
197
IV 205-207),
who comes
to assist the
leader.
Ninth Stage: Athena

the war, you are to
challenge
counsels
Diomedes: "You
are not to fight
directly
with
the other immortal gods, yet

wound
if the daughter
with
her is
the sharp
of Zeus, Aphrodite, might come to bronze" Diomedes does, in fact,

Diomedes'
Apollo thrice
reflected
and
warned off.
threefold challenge of
Apollo is
=
later in
Patroclos'
threefold challenge of
Troy
(V 437-439
XVI 703, 705-706) and XX 445-448). (See also the
Achilles'
threefold challenge
of
Hector (V 436-439
remarks about
the twenty-third stage

sees
below.)
fight
130-
Diomedes then
retreats
before Ares. When Athena

repeats
the latter and con

are not to
fronts Diomedes, Diomedes
her
earlier counsel:
"You
directly
132
=
with
the
other
immortal gods,
yet
if
the daughter of Zeus,
Aphrodite,
(V
might come to the
war, you are to wound her with the sharp

will now rescind
bronze"
V 819-821). Athena
at
the earlier admonition and
join Diomedes
the
reins
Aphrodite. In both
cases
in the chariot, where he will wound both Ares and where Ares and Aphrodite are wounded through
Athena
=
Athena, Hera
second victim
alerts and arouses
with winged words
to go after the
been
and
(V 711, 713-714 XXI 418-420). In book V Aphrodite has Ares is about to be wounded; in book XXI Ares has been and Aphro
to be victimized
dite is
about
by
Athena.
Tenth Stage: As Hector (and Athena's temple
Diomedes'
a result of
Aeneas)
and
to persuade
"
...
Athena's exploits, Helenos urges Hecuba to gather the elder Trojan women at
and on the
delightful,
the
largest,
pity
to promise sacrifice to
seeming to her the most knees of the fairhaired Athena and her of twelve, ungoaded, yearling heifers in the temple,
to place a gown, one
and
dearest,
if
she
might take
on
the city,
wives,
and
infant
children and restrain

Ilium."
Tydeus'
son,
Helenos'
wild spearman and
message
-
bold deviser of rout, from sacred is delivered in these words by Hector to Hecuba (VI 90-97
to
VI 271-278).
Hector's
this I
foreboding
well
Andromache
and
know
might
in my
mind and
Ilium
be destroyed
after Athena's refusal: ". because in my breast: there will be a day when sacred Priam and the people of Priam, good with the
. .
ashen spear
repeats
Agamemnon's
and
oath of
destruction in book IV (IV
163-165
VI 447-449). Hera's
Athena's
oath not to
help
the
Trojans,
not
Design in the Iliad

even
197
if Troy is laid waste, is forced from Scamander under duress by Hephaistos in book XXI (XX 315-318 XXI 374-377). There is no longer
=
any way
will
out of the
and
conflict,
either
for
men or
gods;
one
side, Trojan
or
Argive,
prevail,
the other, conversely, will be destroyed. This clearcut alterna
tive comes to be represented
by
the scales
which
Zeus
will
Ida (see twenty-fourth stage, below); the sinking quite precisely by the rise of the other.
Eleventh Stage: Nestor
all parts struct
of one
hold up on Mount pan is accompanied
counsels the
Achaeans:
"Having brought
earth
from
of the plain,
ramparts,
we should raise a single tomb upon the pyre and con a protection for the ships and for ourselves.
lofty
And in them
we will make well-fitted gates so that through them there
is
traversed
by
chariots, and outside
near
it
we will
dig
deep
ditch"
way fit to be (VH 336-
341). Meanwhile, Priam advises the Trojans to speak with the Achaeans to leam if they might wish ". cease from ill-sounding war so that we might
. .to
burn
our corpses.
We
will fight again
later
so
that the
divinity (daimon)
other''
should
choose
among
us and grant
Priam's
as
proposal
(VH 376-378). victory to the one or to the is announced by the Trojan herald, Idaeos, to the Argives in
=
many words (VH 376-378 This allows Nestor's plan to be
VH
395-397),
and
the proposal is accepted.
carried
out, whose accomplishment is described

=
in nearly the same words in which it is proposed (VH 336-341 VH 435440). The mutual agreement thus permits the Argives to fortify themselves so
as
to
produce a
mutually complementary
situation:
two fortified
towns,
one of
ships and
the other of
houses,
will now
stand opposite one another on
the
Trojan
plain.
Twelfth Stage: Zeus
extracts
the promise from Hera
and
Athena
not
to
inter
fere in the war, but Athena
adds
"... but
on
the whole we
measure
lament the Danaan

evil
spearmen who should perish,
having
from
had the full

war as you
of an
doom. But
to the
truly
we will restrain ourselves

whatever
bid, but
we will suggest
Argives
at your
boule
will
benefit them, lest Athena
all
of them might
and
have
perished
grievance."
Hera
and
disobey, however,
(VIH 33-37
=
Hera is later in large
com
pelled
to
vow again
to Zeus not to interfere in the war, using

used earlier
part the
same words that
Athena
VIII 464-468). This dis

the Trojans
enter
obedience and continued evils and stratagems
hostility
are
to the Trojans is reflected in the fact that the
the two
goddesses mutter against
before break battle

of
ing
the truce in book IV

command
found
=
again
later
when
they
the
against
Zeus's
(IV 20-23
armies
VIH 457-460). The description

and after
the
initial
single
clashes of combat
the two
repeated chariot
before
the abortive settlement
by
is
the
(TV 446-451
VIH 60-65). The
preparation and mount
ing
of
by
the two goddesses in book VHI repeat those in their

=
previous entry into the battle in the fifth book (V 719-721 VHI 389-396). VHI 384-388; V 745-752 733_737
=
VHI
381-383; V
198
Interpretation
goddesses
When Zeus discovers the two

their chariot, he sends them the
following
will
secretly threat in
about
to
enter
the
a message relayed
fray in by Iris
(VHI 402-408
and for
VHI 416-422): "I
lame
the two swift horses to their

shatter
chariot and will strike them
from
their two-man car and
the chariot;
ten years the two of them will not recover from their
wounds which
thunderbolt might administer.
The
gleaming-eyed one
ought
to
my know better
say."
than to
fight
with
her father. At Hera I

is
am not vexed nor
do I
I
take anger as
much, because
she
always accustomed to
interrupt
what
might
Thirteenth Stage: With the

part
gods prohibited
by
Zeus from taking
an active
in the war, there is a resurgence of the Trojans under Hector. Having encouraged the Trojans with prospects of victory, Hector bids his troops retire for the
night:
"Drive
cattle and
goodly flocks from the city, furnish

words
wine
for
your spirits and
food from
wood."
your chambers and gather much
The
poet
describes the Trojans

as
doing
so
in these be
(VHI 505-507 later in the
VHI
545-547)
ex
they fulfill Hector's

The Trojan
command.
resurgence
here
will
echoed
poem.
Hector's
hortation to his troops, "Trojans and Lycians and close-fighting Dardanians, given here (VHI 172be men, dear friends, and call to mind furious
valor,"
174)
after
Diomedes has been brought to

more
stop
a
by
Zeus's thundering, is
re
peated
three
times,
each
time
after
Zeus-assisted triumph: Teucer's
after
Agamemnon is
(=
wounded (=
XI 285-287),
after
bowstring is
snapped
XV 485-487), and after Patroclos is killed (= XVH 183-185). Further invitation to Nestor in the eighth book to get in the chariot more,
Diomedes'
behind the
captured
horses
of
Aeneas
repeats
that of Aeneas
himself to
Pan-
daros
earlier
(V 221-223
VHI
the later invitation is not to attack but to flee.
105-107), but with Similarly,
a significant nine
inversion:
are
Argive leaders
described
tor's
as
earlier challenge not
answering Agamemnon's cry in the eighth book as they did Nes in the seventh book (VH 164-167 VHI 262-265), but
=
it is
in
answer
to Nestor's triumphant invitation to single combat

of
with
Hec
tor but the cry to stem the tide
the Trojan onslaught.
Fourteenth Stage: Another
council of
the Argives is called. We
note
in
pass
ing
that
both this
Nestor
council and
that in
book VH (see
same words
over
by
and
introduced in the
proposes
eleventh stage) are presided (VH 323-326 IX 92-95).

=
Here Agamemnon
where
gifts to
of
=
Achilles
and sends
an
embassy
to
him,
Odysseus
repeats
the list
riches
offered
by
the son of Atreus to the
Myrmidon leader (IX 122-157

. . .
IX 264-299):
seven unfired tripods, ten talents of gold, twenty fiery cauldrons, twelve firm, prize-winning horses who have gained trophies with their feet. A man should not be poor, one to whom so much has come, nor should he be poor in as much
gold,
as
these horses have
won
in
prizes.
And I
shall give seven women
works, Lesbian
women whom
I took from Lesbos
knowing
good
and who
have
won over others
Design in the Iliad

in
contests of
199
beauty. After them I did

not
also she whom with
I seized, the
maiden of
Briseus,
to
and
shall swear that
lie
her,
which
is just for human beings, both
men and women.
All these things I

of
shall
give,
and moreover
if the
gods grant us
sap the city
of
Priam
bronze,
my
and when we
after
its strength, let him heap up his ships with gold and divide up the Trojan women, let him take the twenty most
we should return
beautiful
Argive Helen. And if I

shall are
to Achaean
Argos, he
will
be
son-in-law.
opulence.
There
honor him like Orestes, my only-begotten son, dwelling in three daughters of mine in my well-wrought chambers:
of
Chrysothemis, Laodice,
wishes
for the house
Iphianassa, Peleus, offering

and
of whom
no
he may choose whomever he bride-price in return. And I shall endow

seven well-inhabited
her
with such as no man
has
yet endowed
his daughter:
cities,
Cadamyle, Enmope, Hire, abounding in grass, holy Pherae, Anthaea with its beautiful Aepeia, and Pedasos, rich in vines. All these cities are deep meadows, near the sea, and in them dwell men with many sheep and cattle, men who will
and
honor him like
a god with gifts and who will are
fulfill the his
conformable rights under
his
sceptre.
All these things

of
his, if he
ceases
anger
(cholos).
the order
of
The impressiveness starting

to
with
the
detail, the
size
enumeration,
most
and
the gifts,
the
the
smallest and splendor
progressing to the
of
magnificent,
award
are
designed
Achilles.
magnify Agamemnon had
and
Agamemnon's
to
prefaced
=
above, H 111-118
not
this offer by repeating the thought (see third stage LX 18-25) that Zeus counselled "an evil It has
deceit."
been
possible
for the
allied effort
to succeed against
Troy
without
Achilles.
Agamemnon,
on
who
has held
entire
his
part
holds the
Briseis captive, now finds that Achilles Achaean war effort hostage in return. Not only must dispute arose, be restored, but much more of importance. All of these things
Achilles'
Achilles'
the girl,
must
over whom given
the
original
be
in
addition
in honor
Odysseus
repeats
to
Achilles, changing only IX 134

either
to a more personal note:

of still
"which is just, lord,

more
women"
of
men or
of
(IX 276). 7 But it is Agamemnon for
importance
what
Odysseus does
Achilles'
not repeat of
benefit,
namely, Agamemnon's
words which subdued
immediately
follow his
offer
(IX
and
158-161): "Let him
[Achilles] be
he is
me, inasmuch
Hades indeed is implacable
unsubduable, wherefore
and
also the most as
hateful of all
the gods to mortals
let him
in
submit to
"
am the more
kingly and boast to
be the
older
years.
Fifteenth Stage: Achilles

sadors should
Agamemnon's offer, saying to the ambas Odysseus, Ajax, Phoenix, Odios, and Eurybates that he (Achilles) return to a long life without kleos rather than a short, glorious one.
refuses
"And I
ought to exhort others to sail
the end of
over
lofty
away homeward, since you won't learn of Ilium, because far-seeing Zeus much holds his protecting hand
heart."
it,
and the people
Agamemnon
by
in
of Troy take Odysseus upon his
These
sentiments are repeated

=
to
return
(LX 417-420 in
LX 684-687). his dear
Achilles,
him
"
concluding the embassy,

.
.
also asks
that Phoenix remain behind with

ships tomorrow to
'.
order
that
he
might
follow
me
200
Interpretation
fatherland
and
if he
(anangke).'
so wishes.
But I
won't
lead him
by force
Thus he
spoke, everybody became quiet, admiring his word in silence, for stoutly indeed did he speak These words of Achilles are also carried back to
out."
Agamemnon Agamemnon
earlier.
by
Odysseus (LX 428-431

his
council
LX 691-694),
silence as
and
they similarly
put
and
into admiring
they did the
ambassadors
These
which will
parallels point up the choices open to Achilles and the resolve to his wrath, his menis, forces him. No worldly offer of goods and honors now satisfy him; his wrath, provoked by the injustice of Agamemnon, is not
unbounded,
to be
return
satisfied.
In this he differs from
other mortals.
But does
he
of
or that simply his former allies, and with the detachment of a god? Neither is this course of action open to him. Menis, wrath, is directed against somebody. Here it is now
unconcerned about either
home,
the
fate
of
Troy
directed Argives
course:
against
Agamemnon
and
in its
unbounded extension against all
the
who are now seen
he
remains where
in complicity with him. Instead he follows a third he is, neither in the war but not apart from it either
which
an epitome of pression
his half-divine, half-human nature,
finds its
unique ex
in his menis, rooted in the affairs of men and directed at them, yet boundless and of godlike proportions. Achilles, who will receive the undying
kleos lives
of a of
god, finds himself
also
dependent for that fame, that kleos,
on
the
men.8
Sixteenth Stage: Both
sides now resort
to
trickery (dolos). Nestor
asks
the
Argives if there is any man willing to venture forth as a spy to leam of the Trojans "... what counsel they might have, whether to remain far off by the ships or to withdraw to the city, since they have beaten the Achaeans. Odys
"
seus will repeat
these words (X
208-210) later in questioning his

learn
captive.
At
the same time, in the Trojan camp Hector promises reward and honor to the
man who
is "...
to go near the swift-faring ships and
therefrom whether
the swift ships are guarded as

our
before,
or are
they,
hands, counselling flight among

do
words
themselves and,
them."
having having
now
been beaten
their
by
had
fill of
terrible weariness,
not wish to guard when questioned who
Odysseus'
captive will repeat
these
which
(X
308-312)
take
the
place on the same

other will
night, are
he is. The two spy missions, important; each side wants to leam
are whether
whether
retreat, the Argives to leam whether the Trojans
intent
on
driving
of
them into the sea, the Trojans to leam

out at
the Argives
intend to battle it
that both
the ships. That both camps have sent spies indicates
the questions above can be answered in the affirmative.

and
Diomedes
Odysseus,
as
spies
Dolon. With the deceptive

Dolon to declare to them his (X 208-210
tion
=
promise of
mission and
for the Argives, trap the Trojan spy, releasing him unharmed, the two get
same words
in the
he heard it from Hector
409-411)
they
to furnish them the answer to

same words
Nestor's
put
ques
(above),
which
put to
Dolon in the
Nestor
it to them
Design in the Iliad

(X 308-312
=
201
put a Greek pun, Dolon is now a slave (doulos). The only way out for a slave is to be ransomed, bought out by an exchange of goods. The trapped Dolon promises much ransom to Odysseus and
X 395-399). To
Diomedes in the Menelaos

will
same words
that the ensnared Adrastos had earlier beseeched

=
and
Agamemnon (VI 48-50 later

more
X 379-381).
Adrastos'
supplication
and Hippo-
be
repeated
lochos,
trapped
by
extensively by Agamemnon (VI 46-50

is that
ransom
the brothers Pisander

=
XI 131-135). In
and are
all
three cases
peculiar
the Trojan captives fail to persuade their captors
killed. The
dynamic
of
this
war
is denied:
none of
those
captured on of
the
battlefield
are ransomed.
Odysseus
also
tells Dolon that the horses
Achilles
will
he had been
remind
promised respond to no mortal save

of
Achilles
=
himself; Apollo
lured
Hector
this in the same
words
(X 402-404
XVH 76-78). Thus
Dolon has been
caught
in
trap (dolos) in
the enemy.
a twofold sense:
by
the unat
tainable and then trapped
by
Because
will
of
this stratagem
Dolon has indeed been

the exact locations
of
made
into
doulos: he
reveal, in fear for his

set
(dolos), life,
the Trojan
positions and
thereby
the stage for further
trouble
at
the hands of the two Argive warriors.
Seventeenth Stage: Zeus

sending the
now sets
in
motion
the next part of his design

=
by
following
message through
might see
Iris to Hector (XI 187-194
XI
202-
209): "While he [Hector]
Agamemnon,
the shepherd of the people,
rushing among the foremost fighters and killing ranks of men, so long then draw back and fight others and combat hostile men there in fierce battle. But
when
he [Agamemnon]
I
the
might
have leapt for his horses,
having
kill
been
struck
by
spear or arrow, then

reach
will grant
[Hector]
the command to
so that
he
might
well-oared ships and
the sun sink and sacred
darkness
come."
Zeus,
column
then, wants Hector unscathed at the head of a victorious Trojan beseige the Argive ships defended by leaderless men.
As
Iris'
to
a result of
message, Hector leaps from his
chariot
to the ground and,
brandishing his spear, goes everywhere about the camp rousing his troops for battle. Earlier Sarpedon and then Helenos had roused Hector to do the same (V
494-497
=
VI 103-106
side
XI 211-214). is
sent
On the Argive
Eris
now
to stand in the
center of
the Argive ships

=
XI by that of Odysseus where Agamemnon had once stood (VIH 222-226 5-9) and exhorts the Achaeans in part with words once used by the now-absent Athena (H 452-454
war and
=
XI 12-14): ".
in their hearts unceasingly to

war sweeter
make
to fight.
to their fatherland in their
became than to return And to them straightaway hollow Nevertheless, the Argives are beaten
ships."
back. Ajax's
of a
retreat and off
flight
at the
hands
of
Zeus
are
described in the
simile
lion driven
by
men and
hounds in the
=
Menelaos'
same words with which retreats at
retreat
is described later (XI 550-555

of
XVTJ 659-664). Menelaos

Patroclos'
the
behest
actions
Ajax to find Antilochos,

are
who will report
death to Achilles. All
here
thus traceable
directly
to the action of Zeus.
202
Interpretation
who
now sends
Eighteenth Stage: Achilles, forth his own

progress of
has
withdrawn to
his tent
during
the action,
"spy,"
Patroclos,
to leam
of
the Argive
and
wounded and
of
the
the battle. Like the night-spies Diomedes
Odysseus,
be
who
see without
being
seen,
so
here Achilles is
able to see yet not
present. and
Nestor tells Patroclos "... for the best lie in

Tydeus'
the ships
having been hit
son, Diomedes, has been hit, while Odysseus, famed for the spear, and Agamemnon have also been wounded, and Eurypolos has Patroclos will faithfully report these been hit in the thigh with an
wounded.
stout
arrow."
words
to Achilles later (XI
659-662
XVI 24-27). He
will also report what
Menoetios, Aktor's son, had suggested in the tent of the wounded Machaon: "If you would become a light to the Danaans, let him [Achilles] give you the
beautiful
armor
to wear, so that the

and the wornout respite
hold up from that there be

men
war,
a
Trojans, supposing you to be him, might Achaeans might recover their breath, so
You
untired ones should our ships and
little
from
war.
easily thrust
toward the
carries
having
toiled under the

=
battle-shout from
not
huts
city"
(XI 797-803
XVI 39-45).
step further:
will
Menoetios'
suggestion, then,
Achilles'
stratagem one
only
might
Achilles
see without
being
This
present, but he
might also appear
to others without actually
being
with
present.
development, see, death, the disappearance, of Patroclos, as discussed in the twenty-third stage below. Patroclos, arming for battle, is described in detail and in part in lines identi
as we shall carried
be
to its end
the
cal
to Alexander's arming before

=
combat with
Menelaos in the third book (HI
XVI 131-133, 135-139). Part of this arming descrip 330-332, 334-338 tion is also applied in brief to the arming of Agamemnon in book XI (HI 330-
332 XI 17-19) and will later figure in the arming of Achilles in book XLX (HI 330-332, 334-335 XIX 369-373). The first three men are subsequently destined to be vanquished in widely varying ways Alexander, rescued;
= =
Agamemnon,
tinction of
mate stage of
wounded;
a
Patroclos, killed. Only Achilles has

and
the
particular
dis
being
victor,
this distinction is explored
later in the
penulti
this discussion.
Nineteenth Stage: At the

came upon them while eagle
center of the poem
is
an apparition:
"for
bird
they
were
yearning to traverse
[the wall],
high-flying
enclosing the
people on the
left
and
bearing
in its
claws a monstrous
blood-red
words and gets
will
serpent alive
Polydamas
=
reports
this apparition in so many

serpent strikes the eagle
to Hector (XH 200-202
XH 218-220). The
Polydamas'
off, but Hector discounts similarly get off from the Trojans.
of
interpretation that
the Argives
Hector's denial
the
interpretation, "Polydamas,
are
"
things dear to me, and you know how to
no longer are you saying have another, better word in mind
(nous)
than this.
But
if you
really saying this in earnestness, then the
gods
have destroyed
suggestion
your
senses,
repeats
Alexander's
earlier
=
to return Helen to Menelaos (VH
357-360
Antenor's XH 231-234). Hector

of
denial
Design in the Iliad

will prosecute
clos'
203
the attack
ever
and will mind
later reflect,
upon
failing
to recover Patro
body,
"But
is the
(nous)
and
fight,
clos'
easily puts to flight a man of valor in words identical to those

"
of aegis-bearing Zeus stronger, who removes victory when he himself stirs to

the poet earlier describes Patro
=
with which
disobedience
Achilles'
of
instructions (XVI 688-690

we are
XVII 176-178).
reminded of
By
tion
the sign and its
deliberate ignorance Hector's

shame at
thus
doubly
the
power of
will
Zeus,
and
having
Polydamas'
rejected walls
interpreta
alone.
later lead him to
stand outside the
Trojan
to face Achilles
Twentieth Stage:
ships,
Menestheus,
Ajax
the Argive lookout from the tower
by
the
sends a message to
summon
by
way
of
Thootes (XII 344-350

this would
XH
357-
363):
down
Ajax, "or
leaders
rather
both, for
be best of all,
since a
great end will soon come

upon
here, because
also, then
the Lycian
leaders have
so weighed
us,
who come
forth furious in fierce battle. But
if toil
in
and
strife are great over there
let Telemonian Ajax

him."
come
alone,
and
let
Teucer, knowing
relation as
well the
bow, follow
the Trojans
This
passage stands
similar
the
eighteenth:
and
their allies under Hector and Sarwar
pedon continue to prosecute
the attack, and the Argives are desperate for
riors to
bos'
stem the tide.
be taken in
a chariot to
But Hector, now wounded by the summoned Ajax, has to the city in a description that repeats, in part, Deiphoafter
removal
from battle
his wounding
by
Meriones (XHI 536-538
XTV 430-432). Twenty-first Stage: Hera, desperate but undaunted, resorts to another strata gem: since the gods cannot escape Zeus's notice on the battlefield, Zeus him
self must
be
removed
from the love
scene
by
distraction
by
a seduction.
For this
am
purpose she extracts a
potion
from Aphrodite
Oceanos
by
telling her: "... for I Tethys,

genesis
going to the ends of the earth to see

gods, who raised me well
when
and
and mother
far-seeing
Zeus
set
brought me up [they having Chronos beneath the earth and barren
of the taken me from Rhea

sea].
am
going they have held back bed

cause anger
to see them and will
loose
their
and affection
indiscriminate strifes, for already now from one another for a long time, be
breasts."
Hera will repeat this tale (cholos) has fallen into their XTV 301-306) to Zeus (omitting the two lines, (XIV 200-202, 205-207 203 and 204, which refer to the casting out of Chronos).
=
As a result of Hera's seduction of Zeus, Poseidon is able to get back into the battle temporarily on the Argive side. In a curious inversion, Poseidon's depar ture in his chariot for the lower depths (whence he will issue forth to help the Argives) is described in the same terms as Zeus's prior departure from
Olympus to Ida to
oversee
the
war
(VHI 41-44
XHI 23-26). With Poseidon

across
back in
on the Argive side, the flight of the Trojans mirrors
the ditch and stakes
in reverse) the description of the surrounding the ships repeats in part (and XV 1-3). earlier flight of the Argives in the other direction (VEI 343-345
=
204
Interpretation
But the
king
of gods
and
men, awakening,
cease
sends
Poseidon
message
through Iris: "Command him to
from fighting
sea.
and war and
to go either
among the tribes of the

words and
gods or
.
into the divine

.
But
if he
to
will not
obey my
disregards
and
them
to remain, since I
claim
be
much mightier no concern
than
him in bia
by
birth
the first, then
his dear
etor
(heart) has
dread"
to claim
=
himself equal
to me, whom even the other gods

=
(XV 160-162
XV 176-178; XV 165-167 Hector reenters the battle in the Hera's trick

an
XV 181-183). With Zeus back in control, same simile of a horse bursting its stall applied
=
before to Alexander (VI 506-511

succeeds
XV 263-268).
glad
because Aphrodite is
and
to get rid of Zeus's consort,

potion.
when
ally he leams
of
her opponents,
of
willingly
gives
her the love
Zeus, then,
These de
Hera's
impending long
absence,
grows amorous.
furthermore, mm upon the fact that eros (love), on the one hand, is from and, indeed, secluded from eris (strife), which by nature is public. Zeus will cast a dense, golden cloud around their love-making so that Thus, none may see in, but conversely and by the same token, none may see out, and he becomes oblivious to the battle raging below, ultimately surrendering to sleep (hypnos). Hera's ruse, at best, can only be a temporary one, however;
vices,
remote
Zeus
will
eventually awaken,
and eros will
dissolve
again
to
eris.
On the
other
hand,
over
the
specter of another sort of comes
absence,
another sort of
remoteness, hangs
stage.
these passages, and it
to attention in the
cast out and
following hang
In the
case of the
gods, Chronos has been

and so also
down into deep,

of
faroff, black
the disobe
Tartarus dient
by Zeus,
does Zeus's threat

mortals
this
over
gods and goddesses. awaits.
For
Hades,
the
realm of
the unseen, sim
ilarly
Twenty-second Stage: The death

scribed
and
fall
of
Zeus's
son
Sarpedon is de
to
Asios'
by
the simile of the tree
felled
by
=
woodcutters earlier applied
fall before Idomeneus (XHI 389-393

erupts over
the
possession of
his body. Zeus
XVI 482-486), and a fierce battle commands Apollo: "Bearing him
very far away from them, bathe him in the streams of a river, rub him with ambrosia, clothe him in immortal robes, and deliver him to be borne by the
escorts, the twins, Hypnos and
Thanatos,
who will
speedily
as
set
him in the
rich
land of broad with which Zeus

Thanatos
Lycia."
The
poet will
describe this
=
done in the
same words
commanded
it (XVI 669-673
XVI 679-683).
(death),
the twin of
Hypnos, is
also remote
unlike the relaxation

no
in love
and
sleep, there is
no return
from Eris (strife), but in the case of death,

of
reentry to the battle. It is notable in passing that the manner Sarpedon, who is pierced through the midriff with a spear
remind us
slaying
of
by Patroclos,
may
briefly
of
the slaying
=
of
Phegeus
at
the
hands have
both
of
Diomedes in the
fifth book (V 16-18

(Zeus
and
XVI 478-480): both

and the
victims
of no
privileged parentage
Dares, respectively) (Apollo and Hephaistos, respectively)

ransoming takes
place.
bodies
that
are abducted
by
gods or
so
despoliation,
mutilation,
Design in the Iliad

Twenty-third Stage: Hera 41-43
prevent
=
205
will now send a message
by
Iris to Achilles (XVI
XVIH
199-201)
that Achilles show himself to the Trojan forces to

Patroclus'
the Trojan seizure of
body. It is
urged
for the
most part
in
the same words that Menoetios suggested to Patroclos and Patroclos to Achilles that Patroclos show himself (see the eighteenth stage above) with one signifi
cant change: eikontes
in XI 799
and
XVI 41 becomes hypodeisantes in XVHI

you, might
199. Thus: ".

the wornout
so that the
Trojans, fearing
Achaeans
might recover their
breath
hold up from war and The death of Patroclos

and
has
marked
the disappearance of the appearance of
Achilles,
Hera,
through
Iris, has
Here
above.
now removed we compare
his
actual presence.
the presence with the appearance in the eighteenth stage
The arming of Achilles is described in many of the same words used to describe the arming of Patroclos earlier (XVI 131-133, 135-136 XIX 369XI 17-19) and Alexander ( HI 373) and also the arming of Agamemnon (
= =
=
330-332,
also
334335). Achilles
of
in the arming
Pelian ash, Patroclos (XVI 141-144

wields the
whose
description
appears
XIX
388-391)
to
wield
heroes.9
with
the
specific point spear.
that,
unlike
Achilles, Patroclos is
apart
unable
the
ashen
The Pelian
a
ash
thus sets Achilles
from the
other
It is
dreadful
presence.
Dressed
neither
in his
old armor
(lost to Hector
by
in
Patroclos),
fire
nor yet
in that
which
Thetis
will request
from Hephaistos, but
with
the borrowed aegis of Athena thrown about his shoulders and transfigured
and a golden
cloud, Achilles shouts three times. The Trojan
ranks
are
thrown into
confusion
by
this man on fire. His cry penetrates the minds of the

Achilles'
Trojan horses themselves, who throw their chariots. What do shouts represent? A declaration of his wrath and vengence against the enemy, obvi ously, but also finally a realization now of the end which Zeus has designed for
him. is framed, so to speak, by the lament of Thetis, first to her Nereid companions, and later to Hephaistos (XVHI 56-62 XVHI 437-443): His
presence
=
"... outstanding among heroes and he shot up like a sapling; him I raised like tree on the knoll of an orchard and sent him forth with the crooked-beaked
Ilium to fight the Trojans, but him I
while shall not welcome
ships to
home
sun,
again to
the
house of Peleus. And
he lives
and sees the
light of the
him."
he
trou
The only help that bles me, but in going I am not able to be of help to Thetis can give her son, in fact, is to help accomplish the design that Zeus has
set
in As
motion
for him.
Hector
continues meet on
long
as
to enjoy the the
favor
of
Zeus,
Achilles'
attacks are
futile. When the two

Trojan
elaos and
with
mist,
as
battlefield, Apollo covers and rescues the Alexander during the combat with Men rescued Aphrodite
XX 442-444). Achilles
as
rashes at
(HI 379-381
upbraided
this cloud three times
is
by
Apollo
Patroclos
rushed at
the walls of
Troy
at
in book
=
XVI
and as
Diomedes did
=
at
Apollo himself in book V (V 436-439

Achilles'
XVI
703, 705-706
escape repeats
XX 445-448).
of
angry
Hector's
escape
and vain
boast
Hector's
=
that
Diomedes
at
in book XI (XI 362-367
206
Interpretation
XX 449-454).
Nevertheless, it is
of
now clear rather
that Achilles has been
granted
the
of
initiative
Achilles'
and
direction
of
the battle
than Hector. The
horrifying
image
horses trampling
corpses and
his
gore-spattered chariot repeat
the ear
534-
lier description 537

= Thetis'
Hector's horses
and chariot
in the
eleventh
book (XI
XX 499-502).
appeal
to Hephaistos for armor, therefore, is of a most
unusual
sort,
signalled perhaps
by
=
the greeting
which
both Charis
and
Hephaistos
give
her
and
(XVHI 384-386
spoke
XVHI 423-425): "And
she produced
her hand to hers

before.'
forth
a word and addressed you revered and
to
our
house,
her: 'Why, long-robed Thetis, do dear? You do not frequent us

threefold cry expressed his
you come
"10
Twenty-fourth Stage: If
rected against
Achilles'
new menis
di
and
Hector
and
the Trojans in vengeance of
Patroclos'
death
expressed also a
deep
awareness of
his
own
destiny,
is
then
it is
clear also
that the
former just be
now obscures
the
latter,
that his
wrath
blinding
him to the ultimately
Zeus. Now Zeus is angry and commands him by message to Iris (XXIV 1 13-1 15 XXIV 134-136) to release the mutilated body of Hector to
plan of
=
ransomed
by
Priam: "Tell him the
gods take anger at
him
and that
I,
out
standing
with
above all the senses
raging
immortals, have been put in anger (cholos), because (phrenes) he holds Hector by the crooked-beaked ships and
Achilles
relents.
has
".
him."
not released
Then to Priam
on
=
the other side Zeus
issues instructions delivered

.
by
Iris (XXTV 147-158

gifts which might warm go.
XXTV 176-187):
.to
bear
gifts to
Achilles,
alone, and let no
other man
among the Trojans

city the
An
his heart, you going older herald should
follow
should
you, one who should guide the mules and well-wheeled cart and who
lead back
again to the
corpse which
divine Achilles killed. Let because

an
not
death
nor fear
be of concern
to you in your mind,
escort, even
might
the slayer of Argus, will accompany you and will
lead
you until
he
have
drawn
you
near
Achilles. And
will not
when
he leads
you
Achilles
indeed
himself
kill
you and will prevent
into the hut of Achilles, all others from doing so,
because Achilles is
The justness
of
not without sense

heartily."
(phren),
nor
heedless,
nor wicked
but
will spare a suppliant
the outcome is indicated in three repeated passages surround
ing
the death
whether or not
ated
Hector in the twenty-second book. First, Zeus deliberates on impending death, just as he had deliber in book XVI whether or not to set Sarpedon free. Athena here, as did
of
to set Hector free from
Hera there,
responds against
it (XVI 441-443
XXH 179-181): it
would
be
contrary to the aisa of the mortal and would not be approved by the other gods. Next, Zeus takes out the golden scales, weighing the keres of Achilles against
Hector here
eighth
Achilles'
as
he
weighed
those of the
Argives
against the
Trojans in the
209-212); here Hector's side falls and rises, contrary to the earlier weighing. Finally, the departure to Hades of Hector's psyche, lamenting its fate, is described in identical terms to that of
=
book (VHI 69-72
XXH
Patroclos (XVI 855-858
XXH 361-364).
Design in the Iliad

But Hecuba is
a
207
eagle,
still unconvinced of
Zeus'
intentions: "Let him
send an
swift messenger, one of the eagles who is to

your mind
him the dearest
and whose
dominion
in
(kratos) is the greatest, on the right so that you yourself, marking him (nous) and with your own eyes, might go trusting in him to the
Danaans."
ships
of the fast-horsed 292-295 = XXTV 310-313).
Priam
will put
this request to Zeus (XXIV
Only
bought
when
at
the price of his
Achilles realizes, as he slowly does, that his kleos has been own life does he relent. The bargain with Zeus has
ago,
and
been
struck
Hector's focus.
long body is
there is no longer any further just cause for

Achilles'
menis.
ransomed,
and
own
debt to Zeus
now comes
into
Achilles'
psyche will enter
Hades. In
far deeper
and
darker
sense
beyond
over
Hades, Chronos is in Tartarus. Perhaps

Chronos into
a and
the significance of
while almost all
Zeus'
victory
his banishment there is that
things
inevitably
and
flow
the
misty,
lost, dark
vastness of
time
(chronos),
some yet persist against
current, immortal
sense
and ageless.
Such
are
the Olympian gods,
in
larger
the entire
generation
work of
the poet,
preserved
orally
and
in
written characters over
from
to generation,
is the very
celebration of
Zeus's victory
Chronos fame
wrath
and a memorial
to all the Olympians. Our story
gains significance
when we recall
(kleos)
hold
on one who
all
a tale in which Zeus confers a glorious and undying had been wronged, Achilles, by having Achilles in his the Argives hostage before the Trojans, resurgent under Hector.
that this
is
The Argives
against
are
released
from this for this

at
oppression
only
of
when
greater wrath
Hector
seizes
Achilles to
a price
avenge
the death
Patroclos. But Achilles
himself
will now
pay
by
meeting
an
early
death,
just
settle
ment which
he
realizes
fully
the end when
he
surrenders
Hector's
body
to
ransoming Priam. The

tion.
poem ends with
this
realization and with
this expecta
FINAL OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
To
execute
his
design, Zeus
must
intervene in the
events at a number of
decisive stages, first in moving Agamemnon to restart the war (second stage, above), next in allowing Hera and Athena to spur on the Argives and frustrate a
by prohibiting Hera, Poseidon from aiding the Argives in battle (twelfth and twentyfirst stages), next by advising Hector to allow the Achaean leaders to be wounded before starting his assault (seventeenth stage), by the sending of the
negotiated peace
(fourth,
seventh,
and ninth
stages), then
Athena,
and
omen of eagle and
snake, ignored
remove stage).
by
Hector (nineteenth stage), followed
instructions to Apollo to Patroclos (twenty-second

Achilles'
the
body
at
Zeus'
of
son
Sarpedon,
slain
by by
The interventions
continue with
Hera's urging
of
presence
before the Trojans

commandments and
the wall (twenty-third stage) and
conclude with
Zeus's
instructions regarding the ransoming
208
of
Interpretation
Hector's
body
(twenty-fourth
stage).
All
of
these interventions take the

central portion of
of
form
of messages
primarily from Zeus in

repeating
verbatim
which
the
the command
is
reported
by
the words of or sign
the divinity.
and
Zeus's
instructions, by
consequence,11
lead to Agamemnon's doubts

(third stage), the
and sixth stages
testing
of the success of
the Argive
mission
attempted resolu
tion of the conflict

ment of of
by
single combat
(fifth
above), the treat
the
wounded
Menelaos (eighth stage), the
unsuccessful
Trojan
petition
Athena (tenth stage), and the burial of the dead on both sides (eleventh stage). After Zeus has prohibited the gods from battle, there is the Trojan re
surgence
(thirteenth
and
and twentieth
stages)
the
and and
Agamemnon's
proposal of gifts
to Achilles
resort to
with
their rejection (fourteenth

at night with
trickery, first
spies
fifteenth stages), followed by the (sixteenth stage) and then by day

armor
the appearance
of
Patroclos in how
Achilles'
(eighteenth
stage).
These
consequences also other.
largely
have
take the form
of messages repeated
from
one to an
Finally,
we
noted
most of
the other
long
repetitions, the ma
rather than above.
jority
of which
belong
to the poet's
own narrative
description
to
portions of
dialogue,
are related
to the
principal stages as set
forth
From from
one
a general
standpoint, there is little latitude for relaying instructions
by an intermediary messenger except by repeating the party to instructions. Nor can the fulfillment of the commands of another be guaranteed
another
except actions
by
carrying them out as issued, in effect repeating them. If the principal in the Iliad leading to honor are dictated by Zeus through
Achilles'
intermediaries, then such tandem repeats pected. Here, however, we also see that
in the story to the essential initial directions and to the interpretation: that
actions
of
his instructions
of
are not to
be
unex
this mode
dictation
carries
through
Zeus'
dictated
by
others and
inspired This
by
narrative of their ramifications.
suggests an
find these repeats, a divine intention, and above the intention of must be at work. In fact, it would seem that the all, Zeus, manner by which Zeus specifically inserts his direction into the affairs of the
where we
tale is through messages

peated
and
signs,
whose emblem
is
a portion of verse re
exactly directions then divine

divine
and
in tandem. is
Secondarily,
Athena does
so as
well.
These
The
motivate a chain of events and speeches whose also signified
thread in the
plan of action
through portions of
repeated verses.
associations with such aural similes might not seem uncommon
if it is
recalled that the attentiveness with which served
the words in these passages are pre
intact,
en
bloc,
and uncorrapted mirrors
in human longer
speech of
that immor
tality
and agelessness which are
the principal characteristics

repetition of the
of
the gods them
selves.
The Homeric
of
style
in the
passages
is, then,
the
very imitation
thus icons
of
the penetration
the
divine into the
mortal and corruptible sense are qua
world of nature and of
human
affairs.
the
divine,
a
where the
Repetitions understood in this icon is a sign which by its quality

shares a
thing
deserves to become
represents.12
representamen; it
quality
with
that which it
Design in the Iliad

But there is
a
209
in the
dark
side
to these iconic
as
repetitions as well.
We
come
last book
action of
of
the
poem
the events
has Achilles, that Zeus has guided the to its final denouement and that the design of the whole has
to realize,
formerly
as
been
revealed
imperfectly
and
consequents, through which the action

to be the
only piecemeal. Each message and its has advanced, has therefore concealed
characters
much, if not more, than it has revealed. The emblem of divine origin also
mask of
proves
divine intention. That Homer's

such manner
may have
understood
of
these repetitions in some
is illustrated
where
by
the treatment
many
of
the repeated passages in those instances

accept
the actors in the

repeated passage
poem are
disinclined to
the
message at
face
value.
by its very integrity has a certain artificial materiality about it, something that has been put together and has a history. It does not stand on its own in its own
self-evidentiary nature and is, therefore, open to suspicion as such. There is a distance between artifice and artificer and hence the possibility for interpreta tion, reconsideration, and, indeed, deliberate deceit. Thus Agamemnon is sur
prised when
the
assembled
Argives interpret his dream

Odysseus'
as a
deceit (see third
stage,
offer
above).
Achilles, despite
refuses
(fourteenth stage),
diplomatic editing of Agamemnon's to be bought off; however, his threat to leave
Hium entirely (see fifteenth stage) is never carried out. Hector rejects the omen in book twelve (nineteenth stage). Hecuba in the last book (see twenty-fourth
stage)
wants assurances
requires
still
from Zeus that the ransoming is not a trap, and this further sign. Hera and Athena (see twelfth stage) and Hera
produce set speeches which
(twenty-first stage)
continue
belie their
real
intention,
to
to aid the Argives

over
In the fight
Patroclos'
directly body
in battle. Menelaos
warns
oppose
Euphorbos: "/ bid you,

me,
drawing back,
Even
a
to go into the crowd and
don't
lest
you suffer evil.
fool [nepios] knows what has been XX 196-198), warning to Aeneas (XVH 30-32
=
done."
Achilles Aeneas
will repeat will
this
and
answer, in
part:
[nepution],
things."
"Son of Peleus, don't hope to alarm me with words like a foolish one since I also know clearly how to utter cutting remarks and impious Hector
will
=
shortly give the same answer to Achilles (XX 200-202 XX 431-433). Throughout the Iliad the term nepios and its cognates, aside
from the
the
specific and a victim
literal
uses as applied and
to children,
emerges
metaphorically
not
to denote
hapless
which
defenceless because
of a
lack
of awareness of
circumstances which
in
he
or she
is
situated.13
nepios
does
know the
circum man
dangers in
he finds himself: he has ignored

He
or
has
misread
his
stances and situation.

unarmed
is, therefore,
use of
a potential
victim, equivalent to a
in battle
on
or
inept in the
his
armor and weapons.
As the threats
and
boasts
the battlefield
cited above
illustrate,
there
is
a general
hurling
of
words as well as of weapons on plain of phrase
both
sides
throughout the encounters on the
Hium. The
"winged
words,"
frequently implying
occurring (61 times in the

well-feathered arrows
Iliad)
that
and well-known
find their marks,
further brings to light the analogy between the
exchange of missiles
(belea),
on
210
the
Interpretation
one
hand,
and
that of
words
(eped),
on
the
other.14
The vulnerability
to
understand
of
nepioi comes
from their
inability
of
to handle the
of
words and
the
and
actions of war and their consequences that
lack
discernment
the possibilities,
intentions,
lie behind these
utterances and actions.
More generally, the patterning of exchanges in the battle scenes, whose typicality has been noted and extensively studied, may imitate the patterning of In this connection thirteen short exchanges in speech throughout the
poem.15
parallels of
four lines
or
less, including
the two of the Achilles- Aeneas-Hector
encounters
introduced above, have

with
come
to light. These repetitions

major
have
noth
ing
to
do
directly
those which have illustrated the
themes,
repeated
nor with
their
derivatives, but
pertain
directly
to the battle. In addition to the two boasts
already mentioned, there is one Odysseus,16 the Argive side by

occasions
men are
additional
boast
by
Sarpedon
later land
the
on
and one exhortation shouted on two

troops.17
different
of
by
an
Argive leader to his killed in

combat.18
The be
parentage and native

repeated
introduced in three instances descriptions
and will of
later
when
re
spective men are

repeated
All
the remaining
six parallels pertain
to
of various aspects of protection of
falling
To
upon the
earth, the
fighting: killing, evading missiles, stricken and fallen

warriors.19
return now
to the topic
with which we
began,
the poetics of the longer
repeated passages
principal stages of
in the Iliad, it is instructive to reconsider briefly the various Zeus's design in light of some of the observations on the
the exchanges made above. The demand for
ransom
deceptive
character of
(stage one) is never fulfilled; Achilles is not finally recompensed as he expected for his loss, and the attendant prayers, sacrifices, and other rites to call off the
plague
starts
bring
about
instead
different
plague of mortal
dimensions. Zeus
re
the
war
(second stage)
by deceiving Agamemnon,
react
who, in turn (third
stage), lies to his men, who, in their turn,

non's
intentions. This brings Alexander's

proposals
about
way opposite to Agamem the intervention of Hera and Athena (fourth

a
in
stage).
bat
and
(fifth stage) to resolve the conflict in single com Agamemnon's terms for its resolution are unfulfilled. The general bat
tle is restarted
by
Pandaras'
arrow, but
Pandaras'
counselled prayer to
Apollo
(seventh stage) goes amiss: Menelaus is wounded, not killed, and Machaon (eighth stage) is summoned to help heal the Spartan king. Athena's counsel to Diomedes (ninth stage) not to fight with the gods is disobeyed and finally
rescinded
by Athena,
entreated
who
joins the fight.
Helenos'
plan
(tenth stage) that
Athena be
refuses
to spare
Troy
is frustrated
by
the goddess
herself,
of
who
to grant the prayers, and, conversely,

and people
Hector's
foreboding
destruc
tion of the city
burial,
truce, (eleventh stage) are brought to pass, but the repeated pro mises of Hera and Athena to Zeus not to interfere in the war (twelfth stage) are lies and lead to threats by Zeus. Hector's repeated exhortations to his troops
and ramparts
turns out to be true. Nestor's plans for a
(thirteenth stage),
while
in the
short run
triumphant, in the long
run are
in
vain.
Design in the Iliad

The
repeated offer of gifts
and
211
to Achilles in
exchange
for his
help
to
(fourteenth
return
stage) is refused,
his
advice
because Zeus
won't allow
to Agamemnon. In the spy mission or Doloneia (sixteenth stage) both spies, Odysseus and Dolon, repeat their orders to one another, but Odysseus (the captor) to Dolon (the captive) uses a question
nix remain with and
him is
Troy duly reported
(fifteenth stage) that they to fall is false. But
ought
home Phoe
Achilles'
request that
Dolon
uses an answer
to Odysseus. In this subtle
reversal
Dolon, in
effect,
becomes the spy on his own comrades and allies. Zeus now directs the battle (seventeenth stage) through his intermediaries
Iris
and
Eris to further Trojan
victories.
Patroclos
as scout and messenger
to
Achilles (eighteenth stage) repeats the account of the principal Argive wounded to Achilles and repeats also the fatal suggestion of Menoetius, namely that he
(Patroclos)
might appear
in the
action
in
Achilles'
armor.
Patroclos thus bears

mark of
to Achilles the seeds of their own destruction.
At the high-water
the
Trojan surge, Hector (nineteenth stage) rejects the omen of the eagle and snake which Polydamas reports and interprets and continues the attack. Menestheus (twentieth stage)
wounds
sends a
hurried
message to
Ajax,
who responds and
Hector, temporarily halting
the Trojan
surge.
Hera
repeats a
eventually false story
(twenty-first stage) to Aphrodite and to Zeus in her seduction of the latter, and Zeus later recovers and commands Poseidon to cease aiding the Argives. Sar
pedon
is killed
by Patroclos,
and
the father
of gods and men commands
Apollo
(twenty-second stage) to remove the body, bathe and anoint it, and have it buried in its native Lycia. Hera now moves (twenty-third stage) the actual ap pearance of Achilles in battle, framed by the laments of Thetis that her son will
never return
home
and
alive.
Finally (twenty-fourth
stage)
we
have Zeus's
orders
to
both Achilles
of
Priam
and the attendant petitions and signs
for the ransoming
Hector's body.
It is
clear
that the
overall
design
of
have been
executed through a series of grand
Zeus involves and, in fact, could only deceptions. A good number of the
repeated statements above prove

and so on
empty
lies, false
promises,
rejected
offers,
short
statements whose collective consequences climax and glory.
in
Achilles'
life
and
long-lived fame
Repetition itself
emerges as emblematic of
the deceptive
of
character of
speech, for
imitation, including
the verbal imitation
only convince its witnesses of its facticity by the very mode of its re-presentation but also opens that ironic distance between imitator and imitated whereby misrepresentation and conscious deception may be put
repetition, may
not
These results, then, have a meaning for our interpretation Iliad's iterative style. The longer repeated passages, whose repetition
into
play.
of
the
seems
most routine and whose performance seems most routinized to
us,
serve
to set
their authors at
gest that
a remote are
distance. The
attendant possibilities
these
sleep but to
which we should
precisely the passages whose familiarity be most attentive and of which
for deception sug must not lull us to

we must
be
most
212
Interpretation
For this is
action
one of
suspicious. presents
the ways in
which a poetic tradition not
only
its
but
also
harbors its
originality.
The richness
of
the surprises
revealed continues
magnetically to
attract us and
fill
us with awe.
NOTES
1. The
shorter
collection of papers
formulae (half-lines, lines, etc.) by the late Milman Parry, The
are reviewed
in this
respect
in the
seminal
Making
(Oxford: Oxford
examined as
University Press, 1971), among other places. "typically'' (i.e., repeatedly) in the seminal study of Walter Arend, Die occurring typischen Scenen bei Homer (Berlin: Weidmann, 1933). The role of both formula and typical theme
in
epic
of Homeric Verse, ed. Adam Parry Whole scenes and their elements are
is
surveyed
by
Albert Lord in The Singer of Tales

of
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University

Monro's text
used of
Press,
1960).
2. One hundred two in the 15,689 lines (Oxford: Oxford 113
Allen
and
the
Iliad, 3d
edition
University Press, 1920)

are supplied
which
has been
Greek
throughout and from which my

are transliterated.
edition
literal translations
other
here. Certain
key
words
(italicized)
of
An
repetitions of similar
lengths
are
found in the 12,111 lines
Monro's 2d
(Ox
ford: Oxford
Roman
University Press, 1917)

in Bekker's
oder editions of
alter
of the
Odyssey,
of
whose
books
are cited
here in lower-case
numerals
to distinguish them from those
the Iliad. An index to all repeated passages six

was compiled
feet
or greater
Iliad
and
Odyssey
by
Carl Eduard Schmidt in

Van-
Parallel-Homer derhoeck I
and
Index
homerischen Iteati in lexikalischer

the 1885
edition.
Anordnung (Gottingen:
and
Ruprecht, 1965), Dallas,

when
a reprint of
appreciate conversations on
of
this
paper with
Professors David Sweet

the College of
David Davies
of
the
University
Texas.
was associated with
St. Thomas More, Fort Worth,
3. I have included in this

match
collection
five
exceptions where exceptions
the two parallel passages would

=
exactly
save one
interpolated line. These
131-133, 135-139; III 330-332, 334-335 = XVI 703, 705-706; V 711, 713-714 XXI 418-420. 369-373; V 437-439 The distribution of the 102 collected parallels by line length is as follows: thirty-six
= =
include HI 330-332, 334-338 XIX 369-373; XVI 131-133, 135-136
XVI XTX
lines-
1;
twelve
lines-1;
eleven
lines-1;
eight
lines-6;
is
a
seven
lines-4;
six
25;
three
lines-45. In 97
one
are
cases of
the above, the repetition is a

"triplet"
lines-7; five lines-13; four lines(repeated once). Of the

"doublet"
remaining five cases, the four-line repeats XI 211-214

=
five-line
repeat
(II 11-15
=
II 28-32
"triplets"
(I 465-468
II 428-431 is
VTJ 317-320
=
and
EI 65-69); two V 494-497

=
of
=
VI 103-106);
one of the three-line repeats

"quadruplet"
"triplet"
(XI 799-801
=
XVI
41-
XVin 199-201) and one is a (VIII 172-174 XI 285-287 XV 485-487 XVII 183-185). 4. Some steps in an interpretative direction have recently been taken in Herbert Bannert's Formen der Wiederholens bei Homer: Beispiele fur eine Poetik des Epos (Vienna: Verlag des Oesterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1988), as well as by Laura Slatkin (The Power of Thetis: Allusion and Interpretation in the Iliad [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992] and
= =
43
Mabel
in Approaches to Homer, ed. Carl Mythology in the University of Texas Press, 1983], pp. 140-164. The comparisons of Bannert, following Arend, concentrate primarily on repeated scenes and actions; those of Slatkin and Lang figure mythological allusions. 5. There are four instances among the 41 messages where the same utterance is repeated by the same person or by two individuals on separate occasions (n 111-118 IX 18-25; III 139-141
and
Lang
and
("Reverberation
Iliad,"
Rubino
Cynthia Shelmerdine [Austin:
IX
instance where the same greeting is given by two different persons to the same person (XVm 384-386 XVHI 423-425). These five might best be characterized as proclamations or declarations rather than messages but have been included with the latter for the sake of simplicity of the presentation. The distinctions will become
and one
=
26-28; XTV 200-202, 205-207
XTV
301-306)
clear subsequently.
Design in the Iliad

6. I
note
213
the
that part of the
description
cattle
of
this sacrifice in the Iliad

=
is
repeated
in
=
describing
xii
=
disastrous
sacrifice of of
Helios'
in the
The description
feasting
is
also repeated
and
II Odyssey (I 459-461 in the Odyssey (I 467-469

all
422-424
=
359-361).
xvi 478-
II 430-432
480),
where
Eumaios, Telemachos,
may
the disguised Odysseus feast prior to their return to Ithaca. the more
7. The
personal note
remind
Achilles
directly
that Agamemnon's abstinence
from the
I,"
See Seth Benardete, "Achilles and Hector: the Homeric Hero. Part St. John's Review, 36, No. 2 (1985): 36. 8. As C. H. Whitman remarks, this is probably the most central issue of the Iliad,
maiden was admirable.
"
.
namely, the
status of
problem of
the individual
hero, isolated by his
own greatness and aspiration
to the
divinity,
versus
his
understanding"
maintain relevance and
University Press, 1982],

9. James [1958]:
p.
may (The Heroic Paradox, ed. Charles Segal. [Ithaca: Cornell 75). Wherever men aspire to be best, whether in battle, games or other
present.
need to remain a member of
humanity
so that
his
greatness
contests, the gods are manifestly
Armstrong
("The
Arming
Motif in the
Iliad,"
American Journal of Philology, 79
337-54) discusses the four arming scenes, in part, as follows: "Introduced in its simplest form in the arming of Paris, the formula is next expanded, thereby magnifying the arming of
Agamemnon
and at
the same time suggesting the tone of anxiety and discouragement pervading the to its basic
Achaean host. It
repeated and
mood. and
returns
form
with
Patroclus,
now with
the quasi-lulling effect of a
familiar
chorus
from
which
there is a carefully designed transition to a reversal of

armings."
The arming of Achilles is the climactic appearance of the formula. It derives its tone its meaning both from its context and from the inevitable association with previous 10. In the Odyssey Calypso gives the same greeting to Hermes, come to set Odysseus free:
you come to me,
"Why have
frequent
is to be
us
Hermes
with
the golden rod, you revered and
dear? You do
able to and
not
before.
Say
what you
have in
mind. v
My heart bids me wrap
it up
if I am
of
if it
up'-
wrapped
(XVUI 424-427
eleven
87-90). primarily to books EQ to VII

the
11. Stages three to

events which
here,
which relate
Iliad,
comprise
delay
the
main action of
the poem, centering on Achilles. Books in through VII
collectively
belong
and
unitary, cyclic structure and chronologically narrate events which seem to primarily to year one rather than year nine of the Trojan War (see C. H. Whitman, Homer the Heroic Tradition [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958], pp. 264-270; The
exhibit a
Heroic Paradox, p. 77). Dramatologically, however, these early books are not out of place where Homer has situated them. They thematize the motive of revenge (Helen) in the war; with the wounding of Ares (ninth stage, above) the principal motive for doing battle shifts to the winning of fame alone, and later back to revenge (Patroclos). See Seth Benardete, "The Aristeia of Diomedes
and
the Plot of the
Iliad,"
AGON, No. 2 (1968),
p.
38.
Signs,"
in The Philosophi C. S. Peirce, "Logic as Semiotic: The Theory of cal Writings of Peirce, Justus Buchler, ed. (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1940; reprinted New York: Dover Publications, 1955), pp. 98-119. 12. In the
sense of
Griffin ("Homeric Words

used
13. See Susan Edmunds, Homeric Nepios (New York: Garland Publishing Co., 1990). Jasper Classical Quarterly, 106 [1986]: 36-57) finds the word and
Speakers,"
by
the poet himself to comment unfavorably on his characters and in the vocative
an unfavorable manner.
Words,"
by
the
characters themselves
referring to one another in 14. See J. A. K. Thomson, "Winged 15. See Bernard
Classical
Quarterly 30
(1936): 1-3.
Fenik,
Typical Battle Scenes in the Iliad: Studies in the Narrative Techniques
of Homeric Battle Description. Hermes. Zeitschrift fur klassische Philologie. Einzelschriften Heft 21 (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1968). XI 443-445: Sarpedon boasts to Tlepolemos: "But I say that here murder 16. V 652-654
=
and
black doom (ker)
will
be for
you from me on this
day,
and that you, subdued a
by my spear,
will
will
give me a triumph and will give
Hades,
renowned
for foals,
shouts
psyche."
Odysseus
later
make
this same boast to Socos. Both boasters
make good on
their promise.
17. V 530-532
will
XV 562-564. Agamemnon but of those fleeing,
the
same advice
to
his troops that Ajax

showing reverence,
later: "And let
you show reverence for one another
in fierce battle.
Of
men
more return safe

forth."
than are slain,
neither fame
(kleos)
nor valor
(alke)
is
roused
214
Interpretation
cases show
18. The first two
this pattern directly:

and
U 831-834
who
XI 329-332. Adrastos
and
Amphius
are
introduced
as
the twin sons of
Merops,
tried, unsuccessfully, to dissuade his sons from battle, because the keres of black death drove them on. This identification, first made in the catalog, is repeated verbatim just before they are killed by Diomedes in book XI.
knew divination
XHI 694-697 homicide is
XV 333-336. Medon's
identity as
the bastard son of
Oileus
slain
and an exile
for
given when we meet
him in book XIII
and repeated after
he is
by
Aeneas in book
XV.
In the third (nor do
we
case
of
the description is transferred from
a victim
to a second man who
is
not
killed
learn
his fate thereafter). XV 549-551. Teucer

slays
XIJJ 174-176
versatile ships
Imbrios,
who
lived in Pedaeum. "Yet
when the
like
son."
Danaans came, he went back to Troy and dwelt with Priam who esteemed him In book XV the same lines are said of Melanippos, an oxherd from Percote, whom
of the
=
Hector
chides and urges on.
19. IV 459-461
VI 9-11. Diomedes kills Acamas (book

and stuck the spear
VI) in
the same manner that

the ridge of
point
Antilochos killed Echepolos (the first death described in the Iliad): "Him he hit first in his helmet
with
its
bushy horsehair
=
in his forehead,
chariot
and the
bronze
and
traversed the
bone within, and darkness covered his VHI 122-125 VHI 314-317. Hector loses first
eyes."
one
driver
(Eniopeus)
of
later
another
(Archeptolemos) by Diomedes
grief
and
Teucer,
respectively.
The fall
the two
men and
Hector's
but
abandonment of
=
their bodies are described in identical terms.
XVI 412-414
stone,
and
XVI 578-580. Patroclos kills Euryalos
he falls
headlong
=
by cleaving his head in two with a in the dust. Later, in book XVI, Hector kills Epigeus in an identical
Aeneas'
description.
XVI 610-613
will
XVII 526-529. Meriones ducks

escape
and escapes
spear as
Automedon
a stone
at
later
and
identically
=
Hector's.
shouts and wields a stone at
V 302-304
XX 285-287. In book V Diomedes
Aeneas,
that two ordinary mortals could not lift. In book XX Aeneas will also shout and wield a stone
Achilles in the
same manner.
=
Vm 331-334
Xm 420-423. Antilochos bestrides

and
and protects with
his
shield
the
wounded
Alastor then bear the groaning man away to the ships. The same description is applied to Ajax's protection of Teucer, whom Mercisteus and Alastor also bear away to the ships in book XHI.
Hypensor,
and
Mercisteus
The Political
Philosophy
of
Aeschylus 's
Prometheus Bound:
Justice
as
Seen
by Prometheus, Zeus,
and
lo
Judith A. Swanson
Boston
University
Although the
view that
Aeschylus is
a retrograde religious playwright
has
largely
his
plored.
been One
put
to rest to the
contribution of
by arguments that he is a progressive philosophic poet, history of political philosophy has not been fully ex
exploration.1
the purposes of this article is to advance that

a poet of
Arguments that Aeschylus is

rational
ideas generally
contend
that he is a
humanist,
with
optimistic about the power of reason
to improve human life.
Compared
"the
most
Sophocles
optimistic"
rationality"
the cult of
etry,"
and Euripides he is, according to Walter Kaufmann, (p. 193), and Leon Golden calls Aeschylus "a priest of (p. 12). Like Plato's more critical "philosophical po
Acschylus's philosophical poetry aims, therefore, not merely to enter but to educate. Contrary to Hugh Lloyd-Jones's view that Aeschylus's tain, purpose is "not educative but and beyond E. E. Sikes and J. B.
dramatic,"
Wynne Willson's
opinion
that
Aeschylus
was
"a
teacher"
great religious
in his
time, Werner Jaeger, E. R. Dodds, Harold Chemiss, Leon Golden, and others, argue that Aeschylus's thought in particular and ancient Greek literature in
general
have universal, humanistic
relevance.
The
discovery
of
"the
essential
which
humanistic significance, universal in application, of that should be the ultimate goal of scholars, is made possible by "an
literature,"
essential conti
nuity of human experience from the Classical world to our Aeschylus's play Prometheus Bound is an example of literature from the Classical world that has humanistic significance because it raises universal hu
own."2
man questions. god who
By dramatizing
punished
the
ancient
Greek
myth of
Prometheus,
about a
is severely
by
the chief god

and
divine
privileges of
intelligence, fire,
the play
for giving the human race the the arts, Prometheus Bound questions
to
it.3
the nature of the divine

pological
world and man's relation signifies
The theological-anthro
content, inasmuch as
setting
or
of
its
philosophical nature of
theology
mate
metaphysics,
inquiry
into the
the
divine,
or of
the
ulti
cause, is the fullest

and
extension of
philosophy,
inquiry
into the
nature of
things
their
causes.4
Testimony
it.5
to the
philosophic content of
this theologi
and
cal-anthropological
drama is its
attraction
for
philosophers:
Plato, Marx,
Nietzsche, for example, discuss
1994-95, Vol. 22, No. 2
216
Interpretation
philosophic content of political
While the
edged and
political
Prometheus Bound has been

and not
well acknowl
discussed, its
content,
particularly its philosophically

or perhaps even
relation of
content, have
not.
The drama is
only
the
about man's relation to each cerns
the
divine, but
about
primarily human beings to
other,
or
human community;
out
one of
the play's universal messages con
the ethical
of
requirements of government.
The
nature of
justice
the gods, turns
to be only one of three
kinds,
justice presented; the
question of man's relation
to the
divinity, or the dimensions, of divine becomes, as the

or
play develops, the question of the extent to which human beings should heed or While the essen incorporate that relation into their relations with each
other.6
tially political character of Aeschylus's poetry has been acknowledged since Aristotle, scholars have not explored the substance of that character as much as dimensions.7 In a survey of secondary literature on they have explored its other Aeschylus published during the years 1947-54, Alexander G. McKay con
had been done that is anthropological, moral, religious, psychological, statistical, technical, historical, poetic, and of the "new genre, "there is still need for closer scrutiny of the plays with refer
cluded
that although
much work
criticism"
ence
to
choral
behavior
and political
Thinker,"
"Aeschylus
...
as a
Political
footnote to his 1952 article, Franz Stoessl writes: "A complete inquiry
In
a
Aeschylus'
allegory."
plays, but into only into one or another political allusion in the way he puts political problems and tries to solve them in a general and
not philosophical
manner,
has,
so
far
as
1). Another survey by McKay of 1955-64 does not even include, as does his
on the
I know, not yet been Aeschylean scholarship

previous
made"
(p. 115
note
published
during
1947-54 survey,
and
a section
"political in the
thought"
of
sixties of
Aeschylus (p. 79; Stoessl). With the
increasing
fifties,
have
that
pro
acceptance
the view,
launched in the forties

note
Aeschylus is duced
a rational
humanist (see
2),
the last
thirty
years
considerable work on the political content of

on
the effort has been spent less
Aeschylus's work, though Prometheus Bound than on the other, more

and
overtly political,
on
plays
the
Suppliants, Seven Against Thebes,

interpretations
of
especially
are
the
Oresteia.'
Furthermore,
historical
most of
the political
Prometheus Bound figure
rather or more
than
they
are philosophical.
Such
political-historical or
interpretations hold that

active
each character represents a political which
party
during
own
the
age
in
Aeschylus lived,
and
that their interrelations
symbolize
from his
after
of that age. Presupposing that Aeschylus drew immediate experience, such treatments argue, for example, that spending time in Syracuse under Hiero's mle, he modeled Zeus after him,
the political dynamics
characterizing that ruling god as tyrannical. who supports Zeus is understood to be
Accordingly,
a
the character Oceanos

of
typical courtier
Hiero's,
and
Hermes, Hippias,
messenger of
Zeus,
a spy.
Yet
on
such
interpretations
on
also suggest that
Aeschylus based bis

and/or
portrait of
Zeus
the statesmen
Pericles, Peisistratus,
oligarch or Alex-
Xerxes; his
portrait of
Oceanos
Cimon the
Aeschylus's Political
ander
Philosophy
217
I;
and
Prometheus
Zeus
represents
on Protagoras Another interpretation puts forth that Cimon the oligarch; Prometheus, Themistocles the democrat;
and their gods
struggle, the
fifth-century
B.C.
political climate.
Stasis
amongst
the
in Prometheus Bound is thought to depict the Athenian

and so on.
revolution of 463-
61 B.C.,
The
results of efforts to match or connect art
to historical
case of
reality highly Prometheus Bound, those efforts

are apt more
to be
speculative, however. Furthermore, in the

are made more
difficult,
and
the connections
speculative,
by
the uncertainty about its years of production and date of

of
publication, to say nothing
the uncertainty about the

of
play's
authorship.9
The few
political
interpretations
Prometheus Bound that
are philosophical
fall into two categories, those that derive theoretical, universally valid infer ences from possible connections between the drama and the historical political
situation,
phy.10
and
those that
on
refrain
from suggesting
on
such connections
virtually
alto
gether and
focus
the text to ascertain
universal
insights
or a political philoso
The
method adopted
here focuses
the text of Prometheus

when
Bound,
making
tion.11
reference
to general historical developments only
the meaning of
the text suggests such a connection,
plausibly
bolstering
trying
the textual interpreta
Although this study
shares the goal of
to ascertain Aeschylus's
as will
philosophical or universal political
views, it does not,
be
noted
through
out, share all of the conclusions of existing tions. For example,

presented
some of
political-philosophical
interpreta
them argue that the central political problem

power and
in Prometheus Bound is that between

rather
intelligence
justice.12
or
knowledge,
than
The broad
aim of
this study
between competing forms or dimensions of of Prometheus Bound to ascertain its "political

mean
philosophy"
is understood, then, to
the
discovery
of
the universally
applicable ethical requirements of government
it
recommends.
INTERPRETATIONS OF PROMETHEUS, ZEUS, AND 10

IN THE LITERATURE
In ascertaining the meaning

conclusions about the about which what other
of
Prometheus
Bound,
the
scholars come
to various
significance of each of
personae.
Their
conclusions
the dominant persona,
Prometheus,
answer
the three main questions to
his circumstances, enchainment to a boulder by Zeus, give rise: (1) To extent is Prometheus guilty? (2) Of what, if anything, is he guilty? or, in
words, What sin, if any, does he over,
are
or submit
represent? and
(3)
Does he ultimately
prevail
to, Zeus, his

scholars
punisher?
There
interpretations that
not
argue
that Prometheus is guilty, and those that

about
argue that
wants
he is
guilty; to
disagree
how Aeschylus judges,

of
and
his
audience which
judge, Prometheus. The

not
most accepted view
Pro
metheus,
supports
mirability, is
put
adonly his innocence but his goodness and forth in its most developed form in Eric Havelock's The
218
Interpretation
Crucifixion of Intellectual Man. According to Havelock, and also to Jaeger and many others, Prometheus represents scientific intelligence and civilization. Aeschylus transforms the
"into the figure
of mythical
figure
of
the Fire-Stealer and
Fire-Giver
the great
inventor
and teacher and a
thinker"; Prometheus the
Thus, although searching he demonstrated compassion in giving the arts to man, the suffering Pro metheus himself deserves compassion. He is mankind's intellectual hero: his
no
huntsman "is
thief or
deceiver, but
intelligence."
struggle with
Zeus
represents
the
perpetual conflict
between
power and creative order
intelligence,
shared
mired
between brute
strength and genius.
Jaeger believes that "In
to make Prometheus impart his enthusiasm to us as he
does,
the poet must

and
have
ad
in these
lofty
aspirations
[to
progress and
genius."13
civilization]
himself
the greatness
Prometheus'
of
In this view, the greatness of Prometheus 's intellect is inseparable from its intractability. Prometheus is at once the eternal victim and the hero because he
does
not succumb
to Zeus. Some accounts confirm his triumph
the play foreshadows his liberation
by
as
by arguing that Zeus. In any case, according to this

the champion and giver of reason to
view, Aeschylus
presents
Prometheus
grateful.
whom mankind should
be
But there
who argue
are
that
those, such as Sikes and Willson and P. A. Vander Waerdt, Aeschylus does not present Prometheus in a favorable way.
Aeschylus
that Prometheus is guilty of much: (1) of theft from the gods, (2) of pride, willfullness, or arrogance (hybris), and (3) of trying to make man immortal, ah of which his rationality assists and encourages. The severe and indefinite, if not eternal, punishment he suffers is meant to suggest the con sequences of radical impiety, the source of which is lack of moderation (soph
shows
rosune)
or overconfidence
in the
power of
intelligence
or cleverness.
Aeschylus
is championing
not science and
civilization, but
moral character and religious
orthodoxy; the play
promotes conservative rather

now
than progressive ideals. In
less popular, interpretation, if Prometheus pre vails or is liberated, then it is because he sees the error of his ways and changes, and Zeus is A third, less common, interpretation, advanced by Gilbert Murray and An C. for identifies Prometheus 's chief Yu, trait as neither intel example, thony
this,
once
conventional,
merciful.14
lectuality
nor
willfullness, but compassion

real
or pity.
Prometheus is
or
the first phi
lanthropist. He is the first

gave mankind
Friend
the arts
of survival and
both practicing compassion and ence), Prometheus teaches compassion. Barbara Hughes Fowler points out that Prometheus 's greatest gift to mankind is not reason per se but the art of
by
simply mainly because he but because he suffered for us; progress, eliciting it from human beings (the audi
of
Man,
not
healing
(see especially how to wound,
174). Zeus, this third interpretation suggests, knows only not heal; Prometheus's inordinate suffering at the will of Zeus reveals the defect of divine justice. According to Yu, "no moral justification can be found for the treatment of Prometheus, because that punishment is a
p.
payment of evil
metheus moral
Philosophy
219
for
good"
to
be the immoral
of
or
(p. 34). Aeschylus, then, judges Zeus not Pro guilty party and holds out the promise of the
own
suffering.15
transformation
God through His
Although the text,

compassion or
as will
pity
more than
be shown, indicates that Prometheus represents he does intellectuality or pride, and that his
the defect of Zeus's
compassionate nature
highlights
justice, Zeus's
understand
ing
as well as the character Io's understanding of justice, Prometheus's sensibility to be excessive. The chief immoderation char acterizing Prometheus is not rationality or arrogance but, it will be shown, too of
shows much
pity.16
justice, in turn,
If Prometheus has
a character
flaw,
then Zeus's
punishment of
justified. The
not
question of
Zeus's justness is
complicated
by
the
him may be fact that he is
actually
a character
hearsay,
plays. and
and
in the play; everything the audience leams about him is the portrait painted differs from his portraits in Aeschylus's other
as
The Suppliant Maidens, for example, presents Zeus the protector of mankind; the Oresteia presents him at
morally
neutral and an
just,
merciful,
"saviour"
once as
and a
"accomplisher"; but Prometheus Bound

mankind.17
portrays
him
as
tyrannical
enemy to
Scholars have
offered three main theories to account
for Aeschylus's differ

pp.
ing
portraits of and
Zeus.
According
to Lloyd-Jones
(especially
64-67), J. D.
Denys Page (pp. xii-xvi) for example, Zeus simply exercises arbitrary power; he appears contradictory because, subject to no law or stan dards of justice, he may or may not uphold law or justice as he pleases. The
Denniston,
existence and power of
Zeus,
unlike
the existence and power of the Judaic-
Christian God, do
(especially
Hesiodic
and also
pp.
ultimately benefit man. According to Sikes and Willson xxiv-xxvii), J. A. K. Thomson, and Eirik Vandvik, for exam
not stem
ple, Aeschylus's Zeus is

and
but
not
arbitrary;
modeled on
the
traditional,
the guilty
Homeric,
portraits of
Zeus,
will
Aeschylus's Zeus
punishes
and rewards the
innocent. Zeus's
is thus
immediately
morally beneficial
ultimately good for man, in that under it he will meet a higher destiny. A third, large camp of commentators, including O. J. Todd, Gilbert Murray (especially pp. 80-110), Havelock (pp. 89-109), Finley (pp. 220-33), Dodds (pp. 28-63), A. D. Fitton-Brown,
and
Yu is
(especially
evident
pp.
31-42)
argue
that
Aeschylus depicts Zeus's

and
evolution
from tyrannical
just. Some
argue
that Zeus's
evolution
arbitrary to merciful in the Prometheus trilogy:

and
Prometheus Bound foreshadows

to release Prometheus in The
the moral transformation that motivates
Zeus
that
Unbinding
of Prometheus,
a transformation
although
human beings
celebrate
in Prometheus
on
the
Fire-Bearer,
the
theory is
extant.18
admittedly conjectural in While the evidence may be

the
second
that only fragments of the last two plays are
the side of the evolutionists, it also supports

not arbitrary.
view, that Zeus's mle is
In
other
words,
although
Prometheus Bound may foreshadow a future moral transformation in Zeus, it does not present him as immoral and unfathomable, a wholly primitive god. If,
220
Interpretation
changes
then, he
works
later in the Prometheus trilogy

this
or
in Aeschylus's is
other
a question
inquiry
out
will not pursue
that
change
not as radical as
the evolutionists make it
to be.
arise over
Other interpretive difficulties

who visits play?
the character
lo,
is
the mortal woman
Prometheus. To
studies of
what extent and
in
what ways
she
important to the
Few
Prometheus Bound
maintain
that lo is central to the play

studies
give
or a conveyer of
Aeschylus's
messages.19
Prometheus
attention
generally
give
some attention to no
lo, but
nowhere near works
the
they
to
Zeus,
who
has
lines to
analyze.
Both
that
figure lo centrally
main
and
those that do not
present one or a combination of

metheus
four
theories about her purpose
in Pro
Bound. The first is that her
punishment
by
Zeus
she was exiled
from
her home for refusing to submit to Zeus's lust further illustrates his tyranny and helps vindicate Prometheus. Second, her desire to know about her future from Prometheus
powers and
represents
provides
the opportunity for him to
show off
his
prophetic
knowledge, giving testimony

a
to the view that he champions and
the intellect. Since Prometheus predicts that a third
descendant
to
of
Io's
will
liberate him,
events eousness of
approach to
to come in the
theory trilogy
argues that and
her dramatic function is to foreshadow
her
philosophic popular
function,
reveal
the right
Prometheus. A
the
problem of
fourth, less
lo,
theory
takes
a psychoanalytic relation
arguing, for example, that her
to the
father focus
who was compelled on what
to exile her is oedipal. All

and what will
with
four
of
these theories
not on
all
has happened to lo
happen through her,

enhance
who she
is, in
the present, in her encounter

maintain
Prometheus.
Furthermore,
but the last theory

all of
that Io's
not
function is to
convey the
Prometheus. While lo.
these are plausible,
they do
substantive significance of
None of the theories explaining the purpose of lo gives her philosophically political weight independent of Prometheus The main purpose of this essay is to show that Aeschylus in fact endows lo with as much philosophically political
.
significance as
he does Prometheus
and
Zeus.20
of
In sum, my contention is that the text as it unfolds reveals that the chief trait Prometheus is pity, that the mle of Zeus does represent a higher destiny for
and
man,
that the figure
of
lo,
together
with
the figures
of
Prometheus
wants
and
Zeus,
lo,
conveys a universal message about
justice that Aeschylus

taken
alone.
his
audi and
ence to
heed. That
message conjoins
the perspectives of
when
Prometheus, Zeus,
which are shown
to be
deficient
THE OPENING SCENE
In the opening
scene of
Violence,
a
oversee
Hephaestus,
explains
Prometheus Bound, two servants of Zeus, Might and the god of fire and crafts, nailing Prometheus to
that Zeus has charged
god
boulder.21
Might
Hephaestus
with
the task
of
nailing Prometheus because he is the
from
whom
Prometheus
stole a spark
to give to mankind. The comment does
assign not explain
Philosophy
motive:
221
Zeus's
Does Zeus
keep
good guard over
Hephaestus the task because he wants to punish him, too, for failing to fire? Or to toughen Hephaestus? Or because Zeus be
victims execute
lieves that
anticipates or
justice best, because most passionately? If Zeus hopes that Hephaestus will execute the task with vengeance, then
the silence of the servant Violence in this scene is

supposed
justified;
Hephaestus is
to express violence. At the same time, Zeus may have sent Violence
to
remind
Hephaestus
of
the nature of his task,
fearing
that Hephaestus 's broth

will under
erly love for Prometheus

mine
they
are
both Titan
or old-order gods
the
passionate execution of
the deed. Aeschylus
does
not
here
provide sov
insight into the ereignty

of
motivations or mind of
not
Zeus. Perhaps he believes that the

In
Zeus is
to be
understood.
fact,
the
question of
the extent of
as
the god's
knowability
is
"hook."
a philosophical/theological
Although,
Mark
Griffith
points
theological
discussion"
out, Zeus in Prometheus Bound is "not an object of abstract (p. 251) he is, as R. P. Winnington-Ingram observes,
solved"
"a mystery to be investigated himself a problem to be (pp. 183 84. Snell remarks that in Aeschylus, "man begins to ponder the mystery of the divine," p. 109).
. . .
The
ment
audience
leams from Might that the

disposition"
purpose of
and
Prometheus's
punish
is
rehabilitative:
to teach him "to endure
and quit
his man-loving
like the sovereignty of Zeus (10-11). Raised now is the political/theo

indifference to
"philanthropos"
logical
world.
question of whether
love
of god necessitates
man or
this
Furthermore, Aeschylus
"human-lover"
"man-lover"
or
sonality
or ethical
meaning describe Prometheus, as if to identify a per type in preparation for its critical examination. Immediately
to
"philanthropy"
coins
the
word
not toward his divine noteworthy is that Prometheus directs his equals but toward radically inferior beings, suggesting that he is motivated by The sight of Prometheus being nailed to a rock at the command of Zeus
pity.22
If god does not condone the expression of pity toward human beings? Equally, though, the audience is compelled to mankind, question the justice of Zeus; How just can god be if he punishes greater beings
thus raises the
question:
should
for
helping
lesser
ones?
If there is divine
justice, it
appears
to be harsh
and
tough.
After Might speaks, Hephaestus observes that "the command of Zeus has its perfect in Might and Violence (12-13). The remark heightens the
fulfilment"
Zeus: Is force Zeus's objective, or the means that perfects, in the sense of realizes, his objective? To use Aristotelian terminology, Is force only the efficient cause, or the first cause and end, of divine mle? Hephaestus ex
mystery
of
plains to of
Prometheus that he (29). Might

all"
suffers
because he did
not
fear the
god
anger
(cholos)
gods
the
gods
concurs
that Prometheus
is the
"whom the
hate
most of pleases
and reminds
Hephaestus that Zeus Zeus is

free"
can express that
hate in any
way he
because
"only
(37, 50).
Throughout the play, the

times that Prometheus is
personae,
including
Prometheus
himself,
repeat nine
222
Interpretation
the enemy of the gods
(67-68, 119, 159, 864, 920-22, 973, 975, 978, 1042).

punishment and
The
thus
explanation
for Prometheus's
passion.
the
essence of
Zeus's
mle
seems
to be
On the
other
hand,
. .
the opening scene provides other
clues
to the essence or
objective of
divine
.
mle.
"you,
which
god,
gave
Speaking in disbelief to Prometheus, Hephaestus says, honors to mortals beyond what was just \pera
Might
grasps and
dikes]"
(29-30). The
his
otherwise mindless
defends the
principle
by
master governs and
pitying
remark about see
he himself benefits. Responding to Hephaestus 's Might Prometheus, "You see a sight that hurts the
eye," epaxion]"
retorts, "I
dently
thy
of
(69-70). Zeus evi getting his deserts [ton rules according to the principle of desert. Judging human beings unwor divine privileges, he is punishing Prometheus for giving them to man.
this
rascal
(Might's
acute
jealousy
of
divine privileges,
expressed
in his
anger
toward
Prometheus
Hephaestus for pitying Prometheus, may be due to his awareness that only his immortality separates him from mankind [36-38, 8287]. Lest Hephaestus question his worthiness, the insecure Might, before exit
and toward
ing,
points out
that Prometheus's alleged
cannot extricate
him from his

to be
predicament.
forethought [the meaning of his name] Might is worth something.)

to use
What Zeus
appears
passionate about and
the principle of desert. Like Hesiod's and Homer's

presents
Zeus,
force to effect, then, is the Zeus Aeschylus
is angry and harsh, and in these respects primitive and anthropo morphic, but his mle is not arbitrary. Nor, therefore, is it mysterious, at least not entirely. The principle of desert is comprehensible. Contrary to Irwin, the
Zeus
of
Prometheus is
not
like the God
of
Job. (I
suggest as
.
.
later that Zeus's
justice
might
be partially
obscure
to man.)
Possibly,
Benjamin Farrington
.
speculates,
"[Aeschylus's]
purpose
in the Prometheia
would not
was to offer
to the the
Athenian Ionian
public a conception of
Zeus that
be incompatible
observes
with
enlightenment"
(p. 70).
a
Anthony
p.
J. Podlecki
that Aeschylus
science and
thereby
religion
prepared
the way for
new, democratic
synthesis
between
(Political Background,
to suggest
may
want
114). More to the point, perhaps, Aeschylus that the intelligibility of divine justice indicates its rele
as
vance or salutariness purpose climate

and
. . .
to political mle. In sum,

contemporaries out of
Dodds explains, Aeschylus's

religious
is to lead his
the dark and oppressive
by casting doubt on its reality through intellectual moral argument, but by showing it to be capable of a higher interpretation transformed into the new world of rational justice" (p. 40. See also
.
"not like Euripides
Jaeger, Paideia,
selves
pp.
338-39
on
the historical moral and that human

of the
intellectual
climate.).
Prometheus's implicit
worthy
of
skepticism of
prediction or trust
and
beings
gods,
will prove
them
divine gifts,
thus
friends
contrasts with the
Zeus, who cares more for justice 27). Aeschylus, like Plato but in contrast to the
makes clear
god.23
than for
friendship
hope for
mle
(cf.
of
226-
author of
the Gospel
Mat
thew,
with
that the human race should not hold out

passions are not soft
friendship
an
Zeus's
but hardened
by
their alliance with
unbending
mind that enables
him to
resist appeals and
thus to
according to
the principle of
Philosophy
223
Prometheus
shall
mercy and compromise. As Hephaestus informs him: shackling "Many a groan and many a lamentation you but utter, they shall not serve you. For the mind (phrenes) of Zeus is hard
without
while
mler
desert,
to soften with prayer and every
is harsh
whose mle
is
new"
(33-35,
cf.
1 60-68).
time.
This is the first

or
speculation
that Zeus might
"evolve"
mellow or
with
After this hint

perennial and
hope that divine
mle might
mellow, Aeschylus
poses
the
dilemma, familiar
to the Greeks through myths, between
kin, loyalty familarity with Prometheus hold him back from

Hephaestus's dilemma
to Prometheus
appears of
to the gods and state. Hephaestus claims that

the
loyalty to kinship and

feel
job
at
hand (39). Yet
to be more complicated; he seems to their

"blood"
less because
ties
their
divine Titan
loyalty kinship
must
than because of their
"philosophical"
ties
their shared view that

p.
justice
be
rooted
in
compassion
(see
also
Hogan,
vain?"
277).
When Might
asks
Hephaestus, "Why
always
are you
pitying in
of
pitiless,
always
full
ruthlessness"
Hephaestus responds, "You are (36, 42). Later Hephaestus alludes

save
to his shared philosophy
with
Prometheus: "No one,
Prometheus,
can
that is, only Prometheus can justifiably judge him a justly [endikos] blame hypocrite (63). When Hephaestus declares to Prometheus that he groans for his
me,"
enemies of
groaning for the be day may pitying (66-68). Through Hephaestus, then, Aeschylus may hold out the hope or pro mise that Zeus will mellow by incorporating pity in his rale, lessening the
sufferings, Might
barks, "Are
a
you
pitying
some
again?
Are
you
Zeus? Have
care, lest
yourself'
you
conflict
between
loyalty
to
kin,
and
loyalty
to gods and the
state.
THE APPEARANCE OF THE CHORUS
Appearing
nymphs, the
shortly
after
Hephaestus
upon
and
Might leave is the
chorus of ocean
seeing Prometheus, announce themselves as friends and feel both frightened and sad (126-29, 144-48). Expressing conflict between loyalty to Zeus and pity for Prometheus, their speech weaves lamenta tion with chastisement. Although they go on to scold Prometheus, as if Zeus
who,
were
Oceanids,
shortcomings.
in the right, they note Zeus's nature and mle, The new customs (neochmois nomois)
as
if to
acknowledge
his
by
which
Zeus
rules are
not yet established who
(athetos),
mind
feels
no sorrow over
Zeus is the only one, the Oceanids claim, Prometheus's pain; he "malignantly always cher
and
ishes"
his unbending
159-66).25
(nous),
which
is passionately determined to he
claims
mle
(149-50,
need
The Oceanids first
scold
Prometheus
that
after
that someday Zeus will
him,
to foretell the
events
conspire
to depose Zeus (168-88). Pro

reciprocal or equal
metheus almost
of needs:
declares here that justice is the
fulfillment
needs
he
will not tell
Zeus
what
is fated
until
Zeus fulfills his

The Oceanids
by
freeing
him
and
compensating him for his
suffering.
are shocked
224
Interpretation
challenge
by
a
Prometheus's
will
to divine authority. He
will soften
acknowledges as
that Zeus
said
has
firm
but
assures
them that he
it,
apparently,
to
he
earlier,
suggesting Zeus's vulnerability: join in amity and union with me
by
"hastily he'll come one day he shall

justice.
meet
come"
my haste, to (189-95). Pro
metheus seems convinced that confrontation with one's own possible neediness compels one
to see the true
nature of
After asking Prometheus to tell, and hearing, his side of the story, the Oceanids again express sympathy with his suffering, and he acknowledges their
friendship
(196-248). Although ih&

prefaces
chorus asks with
predicament, Prometheus
it
the
only for the story behind his history of his relationship with
Zeus, explaining that,

joined Zeus's
rather
when
the Olympians challenged the to no avail to

mother persuade
Titans, Prometheus
use guile
side after
trying
far
the Titans to
than
force, because his

even goes so
had
prophesied that guile would win.

of
Prometheus
were
as
to point out the ingratitode
Zeus: "These
the
services
rendered
to this tyrant and these pains the payment he has

relates
given me
in
requital."
He then
Zeus's intention to
destroy
mankind and
his apportioning powers only to the gods. Won over, at least momentarily, the Oceanids express their pity. Prometheus sighs, "to my friends the sight is Pity thus seems to be the defining sentiment of both justice and
"Yes,"
pitiable."
friendship, according to Prometheus. Indeed, much as friends give each

sowed
other consolation or
hope, Prometheus
of
"blind
hopes"
in human beings.
Blinding
the
man
to the nature
a
death is
to man,
the ultimate
expression of pity.
Calling
gift of
hope
"great
help"
the Oceanids may, like tension

of
Prometheus, pity do, then they recognize that a notion of justice based on pity is at odds with divine justice, for, after hearing Prometheus declare that he pitied human beings more than himself, they ask, "Did you not perhaps
regard such extreme as a part or ex
justice, ff they
transgress yes, he
even somewhat
beyond this
offense?"
to which Prometheus says,
audience would
after all
man (240-53). In other words, he gave as the Greek have known from myth, the only thing left in Pandora's jar the evils had escaped into the world (noted, with reference to Hesiod's
gave
hope to
Works
and
Days
96, by Rose,
p.
262,
and
by Hogan,
not
p.
284). The giving
of
hope
to man suggests that
Prometheus does
solve man's
have
complete confidence
in
the power of
intelligence to
woes,
and that
his pity for
man over
rides that
confidence.
Yet Prometheus does not subsequently, as Michael Gagarin (p. 134) and Richmond Lattimore (p. 53) argue, admit the failure of his own intelligence when he stole in order to help mankind. Nor does the choms, as H. J. Rose from passing moral judgment and only tell Prometheus imprudent. Aeschylus poses in the next lines, through the exchange between Prometheus and the choms, not only the moral conflict between divine jus
argues
(p.
263),
refrain
that he was
tice
and
the
(Promethean)
regard
intelligent to
for human progress, but the question divine justice as opposed to human progress
wish of
of whether
it is
or well-being. choms
Pursuing
the theme
the extent
of
Prometheus's transgression, the
tells him in effect
Philosophy
as to give
225
them
that,
since
he
of
pitied
human beings
relieved
so
far
hope, he himself has
no
hope
being
by
Zeus from his
suffering:
"What hope is there? Do
wrong 60). The choms also denounces Prometheus later, when it is once again alone with him after Oceanos leaves, perhaps exhibiting its own justice or pity in chastising Prometheus
Oceanids'
you not see
/ that
[hamartia]?'
you were
(259-
when
no
one
else
is
seeming
right, making the
response
self-righteousness raises
reader undecided about
around. At the same time, the doubts that they are in the moral Prometheus and eager to hear his
to the accusation of wrongdoing.
He
replies:
man
"I knew
when
I transgressed
on
[hamartia]
nor will
deny
it. / In
out,
helping
I brought my troubles
or
eyes"
me"
(266-67). As Rose
points
Prometheus scornfully with open "I

'erred'
sarcastically quotes the choms 's language, as if to say (p. 263). In other words, Prometheus believes that
"erred"
his
actions were
perspective of
morally right; he divine authority. As Sikes
from confessing himself in the laws of conventional

conceptual and
wrong."
only from the and Willson note, "Prometheus is far He "admits having transgressed the
or
"acted
mistakenly"
orthodoxy,"
which
he believes
are unjust
and
(p. 84). The
linguistic distinction between law
(nomos)
justice
(dike)
that the ancient Greeks made allows Prometheus to believe that he is morally
right
and
thus to
admit
meant either positive manmade
his transgression. In the fifth century B.C., nomos law, or divine or religious law (see Ostwald,
pp. of
Sovereignty,
scene when
pp.
84-136, especially
87, 91, 110, 133). Prometheus

divine law. Both before
and after
can
thus raise the question of the justness
this
Prometheus indicates his belief that malice, not justice, motivates Zeus, he calls Zeus's bondage of him spiteful or shameful (aeike) (97, 525). In
under
the scene
consideration, Prometheus complains, just

the severity
of
after
admitting his
not think
transgression,
with such
about
his
punishment:
"but
yet
I did
that
tortures / 1 should be
malice motivates
cliffs,"
wasted on
his belief that
anticipate the costs of

of
correctly his actions, then might he also not misperceive the nature Zeus? Far from portraying Prometheus as a master of forethought or intel
raises
these airy which Zeus (268-70). If Prometheus did
accords with not
lect, Aeschylus
doubts
makes
about
bis judgment.
in
which each
In sum, Aeschylus
his
audience witness an exchange
party believes it has
right on
its side,
right.
indicating
The
that both
suggesting that
neither
is in the
choms and
be right, and Prometheus may both be

cannot
wrong because, in taking sides the they believe that divine and human may
not
one
with, the
other against
divine
order
order are
two opposed sides. Zeus's mle
be contrary to justice
and
the interests of human beings.
THE VISITOR OCEANOS AND THE CHORUS
The father
next
scene, between Prometheus
and
Oceanos,
myth
moves the philosophical
content of
the play in
the direction of theological
conservatism.
Oceanos, both
of the
Oceanids and, according to Greek
but
not reported
by
Aes-
226
Interpretation
grandfather of
chylus,
to
Prometheus,
than
appears, like
members of older
generations,
be
more conservative
his
grandson and even
his
Zeus-fearing daughters.
Unlike his daughters, he is respect for Zeus. He does

metheus and metheus
not
torn between his love for Prometheus and his

a
not see
conflict
between his devotion to Pro
his
obedience
to divine authority, apparently because he sees Pro

who
less
as an
individual
philosophy
of
justice than
as a
is challenging divine authority with a new descendant and thus part of the divine world.
to divine authority as is loyalty to has apparently come to terms with the line. He advises Prometheus to recognize the
Loyalty
recent
to Prometheus is as
a
much
loyalty
Zeus. Oceanos is
integration
of
"family his family
man,"
who
new order and

ways"
himself
as a part of
it: "Know
yourself and reform your ways
to
new
(309-10).
even offers to appeal to
Oceanos
Zeus to free Prometheus.

me."
Rejecting
this
help, evidently because Oceanos respects Zeus's authority, Prometheus snaps, "Now let me be, and have no care for Prometheus, the no no does not include wants false care that caregiver, care, sympathy for his beliefs. In other words, he does not want to be loved as a Titan or grandson, out
counsel and offer of of
lieves that his
familial obligation, but for his convictions. This younger-generation Titan be grandfather does not care what he thinks, and so does not care about
same
justice. At the
in his anger, keep himself from caring and says, "take care lest coming here to me should hurt (332-36). softened his offer to go to Zeus, Pro Apparently by repeating
time, he
cannot,
even
you"
Oceanos'
metheus
thanks him for his
loyalty
and answers conflict and
that, for
Oceanos'
own and own
good,
he
should not get
involved in the
between him
Zeus (337-98).
Advertising his
metheus says
compassionate
would
nature,
his belief in his
innocence, Pro
that he
became
"unlucky"
be bogged down in pity and heartache if Oceanos too. Although Oceanos says that he is undeterred by the
risk, he gives up trying to persuade Prometheus to let him ask Zeus for mercy when Prometheus assures him that that would only make Zeus angry at Oceanos. Oceanos is perhaps then induced to leave by what induced him to
prospect of
come, namely,
respect
for "him that
now sits on
the throne
power,"
of
for
divine justice (299).
Following
the
Oceanos'
departure is the
that Zeus mles
second of three private exchanges
be
tween the choms and Prometheus. Although the choms 's first strophe
earlier observation
with
repeats
it does not, as 149-50). The
his own, new laws (idiois nomois), David Grene's translation states, call Zeus a "tyrant" (403-6, cf.
seem using any form of the word careful not to impugn Zeus's justice but rather lament the consequences of Prometheus's violation of it. As Everard Flintoff comments, "at no point do
Oceanids,
not
"tyrannical,"
they
even
vaguely
suggest
that there is anything
illegal,
or even
unjust,
about
Zeus'
possession of or exploitation of power.
Zeus is
all-powerful and ever use
deserves
respect
or
If anything, the reverse. To them just because of this. At no point

...
do they
the words turannos
turannis."76
Philosophy
227
In the remaining five stanzas before Prometheus responds, the choms as sures him that the whole world the people of Asia, Colchis, Scythia, Arabia,
and even
the sea, rivers, and Hades
to
man.
Perhaps Aeschylus
omits
laments his suffering and the honor lost the Greeks from the list because he hopes
through Prometheus Bound to encourage them to
deliberate, independently
an excessive
of
the world, the

pitier
ethics of
pitying
next
an excessive
(Hogan
notes the absence of
pitier, especially Greeks from the list, p. 288).

as
self-
Indeed, Prometheus's
world, begins
myself
speech,
if to
exploit the
pity
of
the whole
see
with an expression of
insulted he
as
am"
and
self-pity "my subsequendy details the

that he found
men
heart is
eaten
extent of
away to his
"goodwill"
to
man
(436-71).
Recounting
"mindless
and gave
them
minds,"
makes a point of
explaining that he is not
man, "but to set forth the goodwill of

goodwill gifts.
[his]
gifts."
telling Apparently,
this to reproach
the depth
of
his
is
function
of
the extent to
which mankind was
In
other
words, Prometheus seems
inadvertently
was.27
to expose the
undeserving of his belief that

witless-
gifts or privileges should go to ness goes to show
the deserving. The fact
of man's utter
just how
provides
generous
he
This implicit
recognition of
the
principle of
metheus and
desert
Zeus.
some grounds
for
a reconciliation
between Pro
In
addition to minds,
Prometheus
also gave
human beings
fire, both
words,
of which
enabled
and
them to invent things
and arts
endlessly it
all:
numbers and
carriages
boats,
agriculture, carpentry, mining, medicine,

one short sentence understand
and prophesying.
Thus, he
who
boasts: "In
every
art of mankind comes
from
Prometheus"
(254-56, 439-506). By distributing
the arts to men,
lived primitively, in poverty, Prometheus gave them the resources or means to help themselves. Apparently, in his view, a just god perceives and attends to
neediness,
as
if justice is the fulfillment

gave
of needs or gifts
the equalization of means.
Unselfish Prometheus
human beings
why give the needy gifts? What, in other fined as the fulfillment of needs? The premise of,
because they were needy, but words, is the premise of justice de

or rationale
for,
such
justice
"I
give
is,
apparently,
to
compassion or pity.
Prometheus
explained
his
actions earlier:
gave
mortal man a precedence over myself
in pity
[oiktoi]"
(241). To
privileges out of
mankind,
ardly,"
who
pity under Zeus is daring; according to Zeus's rules of desert, "dragged through their long lives and muddled all, haphaz
would
beings
extends
have had to be destroyed (448-50). Prometheus's pity for human so far that he gave them not only self-sufficiency but hope
preventing them from foreseeing death or Hades (250-52). If Pro metheus esteems intelligence or forethought above all, then why did he circum scribe man's forethought and allow himself to be motivated by pity? According
itself,
to
Havelock,
Prometheus
was not motivated
by
sentiment
but
by
science.
Aes
chylus's point
is to dramatize that philanthropy is

the
expansion of altruism realm.
the product of
forethought.
of
Science
compels
beyond the boundaries
Christian
charity, to the public
Prometheus is
a proponent not of sentimental or
228
Interpretation
intuitional philanthropy, but of utilitarian ethics. While this explanation accords with Greek ethics, it does not explain Prometheus's self-pity. Furthermore, if,
as
of
Havelock contends, Prometheus gave hope to man to raise him to the level the gods, then Prometheus the alleged scientist gave man a nonrational mo
tive for rationality (pp.
53-54,
at
90-94).
Prometheus less for privileging the undeserving than for privileging them with mind or the power of reason. For mind enables the perception of regularity, such as that of the days, seasons, number, and lan Zeus may be angry
guage, and
plan. with such perception as
comes
the ability to anticipate, order, and

points
Moreover,
Martha C. Nussbaum
out, the ability to
measure
is
the foundation
of ethics: good
"what is
. . .
measurable or commensurable as there
is graspable,
knowable, in
order,
insofar
practice, there is grasp, therefore
precise
control;
where
is numbering and measuring in numbering fails there is vagueness of

mankind can govern
guesswork."28
With reason, then,

gives
itself,
effectively usurping Zeus. Furthermore, because reason

selves
choices,
men can choose
to govern them
in
way
antithetical
to divine justice. The perception of number yields

of
the perception
men can
not
only, for example,

order
proportionality but
also of
equality;
therefore choose to
themselves not according to their
differences
but according to their similarities they can distribute power democratically. No wonder Zeus is angry. He entrusted Prometheus with Mind and Prometheus
gave
it to
fledgling
race without experience
in self-government,
a race
that
could not
note
know the essentiality of hierarchy to order. Lloyd-Jones is correct to that "the fifth-century Zeus was not a democratic god, who could never,
of losing his job, do anything not in the best interests of the human (p. 65). Nonetheless, while Zeus does not care about man, the principle of justice about which he does passionately care yields order and can thus serve
for fear
race"
man
if he
makes
it the basis
of political order.
resist
Zeus may be angry as well because mankind now has not only the ability to the dictates of divine justice, but the confidence to ignore the gods alto If
men
gether.
become self-sufficient, they
will
become
possessive of their self-sufficiency.
stop worshipping the gods and The paradox of acts of unselfish

require, and thus encour
ness such as
age,
selfishness.
Prometheus's is that they Givers need takers.
presuppose or
During
choms
Prometheus's
long
speech a
about
the
benefits he has
gave
man, the
interjects that he is "like

cure
bad
doctor"
who
not yet of
discovered the
self-
drugs to
sacrifice
his
own
disease (472-75). The disease
Prometheus is
not
(507-8). His
act of self-sacrifice committed
injustice
only
against
gave
himself, however, but

us
also against
human beings. After all, he
knowingly
By putting into our possession goods stolen from the gods, Prometheus put us in a morally uncomfortable position toward the gods. Con trary to Havelock's characterization, Prometheus is not "a Greek Adam"; he
"hot
goods."
knew that he
was was
Philosophy
229
the
stealing
precious goods
he himself
was endowed with
intelligence he
of sin more severe
giving away (p. 52). As Nietzsche observes, the Semitic idea is passive, the Aryan, ff guiltier than Adam, then he deserves a
active.29
punishment,
not
death but
eternal pain.
Furthermore, Adam
was not of
acting justice
altruistically. as
Aeschylus
appears to anticipate the
Socratic understanding
good.
minding
one's own
business,
which
is
predicated on the argument that
selflessness and
total devotion to
others causes more of
harm than
After counseling Prometheus to think hope that he "will be no less strong than
as always
himself,
after
the choms expresses the

release
Zeus"
his
(510-11). Tom
as
between Zeus
and
Prometheus,
matters of
the choms
of view
representing,
tradi
tional scholarship argues, the Athenian point

sion
perhaps wants compas
to play as
much a role
in
justice
as
does desert. Aeschylus thus

to compassion
raises and
the problem of how
political order can give equal weight
desert,
making the audience anticipate a resolution later in the play.

offended
Seemingly
by
the choms 's
hope that Zeus
will retain
power, Pro
metheus reminds
them that Zeus is weaker than Fate and

response
indicates that he
I
knows Zeus's fate (511-25). As if in

choms now
you
to Prometheus's arrogance, the

shiver when see
highly
praises
Zeus
and criticizes
all
Prometheus: "I
you
wasted with ten
thousand pains, /
because
did
not
tremble / at the
name of
mortal
Zeus:
your mind
was
yours,
not
his,
and at
its
bidding
not
you regarded
/ too high, choms 's chastisement. Aeschylus

men
Prometheus"
(539-43). This is
the
last
of
the
makes certain
that his audience questions
Promethean justice
and considers
the wisdom of obeying

audience was
festival"
Griffith claims,
"every
Athenian in the
familiar
and
divine justice. If, as with Prometheus
as a cult-figure and as
the patron of the torch
"they hardly
needed
to be told that he had regained
his
position of respect
they
of
might need
their
enthusiasm of
among the Prometheus tempered (p. 249). A
gods,"
then
purpose
Prometheus Bound may be to induce
critical reflection about a cult
figure
and the
policy that opened wide Closing Prometheus's second

are
Athens'
doors to needy foreigners.

choms, Aeschylus
anger
private exchange with the
also gives a clear
justification for Zeus's
toward
beings
too short-lived and
feeble to be
choms
able
to
Prometheus: human repay divine favors, even if reciprocity

the human to the aid
of
they
were
inclined to do
so.
The
thus seems to assume that
or a measure of self-interest
is built into divine justice. Proof

of
inability
of
to repay divine favors is the failure

cannot
human beings to
come
Prometheus: "Kindness that
in that, my friend? What succor Prometheus's failure to perceive the doubts

about
be requited, tell me, / day?" / in creatures of a The

nature of
where
is the
help
choms also notes
human
beings, raising further

held in
as
bis judgment: "You did

a
prisoner?"
not see
/ the feebleness that draws its

the race / of man is
breath in gasps, / bondage, a blind

what
dreamlike feebleness
by
be
which
(544-50). Perhaps Prometheus's judgment

should not
to
is just
and
unjust, then,
accepted uncritically.
230
Interpretation
THE VISITOR 10 AND THE CHORUS
The
seven
character
lo, Prometheus's
in the
third visitor, asks the
most questions of
the
speaking
asks
characters
play:
Hephaestus
asks
none; Hermes (the last
visitor)
speak one
choms, eighteen;
two; Oceanos, four; Kratos, eight; Prometheus, seventeen; the and lo, twenty-five. Furthermore, Prometheus and the choms
have far
more
in
all eight scenes and
lines than
lo,
who speaks
scene, meaning that she is much more

ask a question.
likely
than
they,
when she
in only does
speak, to
At
one
point, she fires ten in
a row at
Prometheus,
who answers each relative
in
one sentence
before
she asks
the next (757-74). Io's
inquisitiveness is
even greater
than these numbers
indicate, inasmuch
as the questions of the other characters tend to
be
rhetorical more often than
hers,
and she also requests

me,"
information
or explanations
saying "tell
for
example
(583, 607, 608, 618,

words and
in the imperative, often 622, 625). Io, then, is a

more
relentless seeker of
information. Her
to the usual
nature
actions,
obviously than
Prometheus's, contrary
As if to impress Io's
interpretations,
on
champion enlightenment.
immediately
of
see
the audience, Aeschylus makes
her
enter
the
scene with a
barrage
questions,
beginning
with:
"What land is
bondage?"
this?
what race of men? who
is it / 1
can
here tortured in this rocky
(560-62). Before Prometheus

mation and explanations.
answer, she
makes nine requests
for infor
She
wants
to know not only her
whereabouts and
Prometheus's identity, but why she is being chased all over the earth by a stinging gadfly. She assumes that she has done something to offend Zeus: evi
understanding that desert is central to divine justice, she asks, "Son of Kronos, what fault, what fault / did you find in me that you should yoke me /
dently
to a harness
of
driven in fear
able
of
misery like this, / that you should torture me so to madness / Her lack of knowledge of her sin is more unbear the
gadfly?"
to her than
for
answers
tortures; she begs the (577-84). Perhaps trying to rival the god to
are physical
"King"
to grant her prayer
whom
Io is appealing,
of
Prometheus lets her know that he knows
who she
is: the
(mortal) daughter
Inachus, lusted after by Zeus and driven over the earth by the hatred of Zeus's wife, Hera. Io's curiosity, at any rate, aroused, she fires more questions, but this time at Prometheus: Who is he? What does she still have to suffer? Pro
metheus, characteristically, obliges, explaining that he is Prometheus
who gave
fire to
men and will
tell
her
all she wants
to
know,
"as it is just to
open
lips to
friends"
by Aristotle, who quickly treat others as friends, despite the fact that friendship takes time (Nicomachean Ethics 1156b24-32). He is at any rate betraying his "philan
his propensity to treat
mortals as
subscribes of
(589-612). Prometheus is clearly among those, identified
thropy"
to complete openness among
friends. Furthermore, he clearly friends, indicating another dimension

punished
his liberality.
Io
next asks
Prometheus why he is
being
(613-14). After Pro

she repeats
metheus says
that his
being
nailed
to the cliff was
Zeus's plan,
her
question, this time more
punishment?"
Philosophy
for
which
231
this is
precisely:
"What
was
the
offense
Even if Io infers
that Zeus must have

of
considered men undeserv
ing of fire
and
Prometheus undeserving
the authority he
assumed
in giving it
to them, she evidently does
not think that
Zeus's justice
gives sufficient reason
for punishing Prometheus's benevolent deed. If incredulous that Prometheus is being punished for helping man, then she too may believe that justice consists
of
taking pity on the needy and fulfilling their needs. She is, in her ignorance her sin, after all more needy than Prometheus and seeks his pity in soliciting his knowledge of her fate. She regards his granting of her request not as a
of matter of
justice
or
right,
however, but
as
as a
favor
or gift
(dorea)
(616). More
over,
when
Prometheus says,
if
having
it
second thoughts about
tell her all she wished to

extent of should
know,
that
would
be better for her
not
agreeing to to know the
suffer"
her future suffering, Io insists: "Do not hide from me what it is fated I (624-25). He says that he is not unwilling to grant her favor, but her
mind
(phrenes).30
fears
breaking
of
Apparently
the extent of
not
unfortunate should
be
pitied even to
sharing his view that the keeping them ignorant of the

more
gravity have be
their condition, she instructs: "Do not care for me
than I would
you"
(626-29). Io, then,
unlike
the Oceanids and

or
a partisan of either
Zeusean, desert-based,
Oceanos, seems not to Promethean, pity-based jus

he
gave
tice. She thought Prometheus blessed mankind
when
them fire appar
ently because he
In
not so much gave
because he fulfilled
a need of
theirs,
or provided
charity, but
them a gift of
illumination. led to her

in
present
response
to the choms 's request to let Io explain what

about
"sickness,"
before Prometheus tells
her
future, Prometheus
fortune"
concurs, but
to "win
a
tells Io that "To sorrow and make wail tear from those who
for [her] ill
order not
listen,
/ is
worthwhile."
well
If he does
believe that
Zeus listens to self-pity, then (and the audience)
perhaps
will comfort
Io
when
he hopes that pity won from the choms he tells her her difficult fate. Seem
responds:
want
ingly
not
me"
owning up to her own standard of accountability, Io how I should distrust you: clearly you shall hear all you (631-42).
"I know
to know from
Responsive to Prometheus's urging, Io includes in her story appeals for pity. She notes, for example, that she is bitter about the min of her beauty (642-44). The
and
comment
evokes,
at
the
same
time,
distinction between her

soul.31
appearance
her being; Aeschylus indicates, in effect, that Io has a the audience sees a cow-faced figure her lack of beauty
tion on her
even
speech.
Furthermore,
is
concentrates atten
Io is
a woman of substance whose speech

self-pity.
chamber"
important,
if
she
laces it
with
Promethean-style
She
explains
that at home
that
in her "maiden
was
she was
haunted nightly
and
by
a voice
telling her
in
Zeus
stricken with
lust for her
that she
should appear
a meadow and not
her dreams he, "seeking God," as Io later seeks illumination,
disdain him. After telling her father about to discover what deed or word of his might please the
sent embassies to
Pytho
and
Dodona.
232
After
Interpretation
hearing
many
riddling
orders
oracles, Inachus
finally
as an
obeyed
threatening
compels
to cast Io out of
see
understood and reluctantly his home (645-83). Aeschylus
thereby
us, the audience, to

herself.32
Io
individual,
who must
take
responsibility for Perhaps Io's forced autonomy explains her insistent questions, directed first at Zeus and then at Prometheus: in order to take responsibility for herself, she
needs enlightenment and make sense of
information
about
her
situation
and avoid
her past, present, and future, to repeating her mistake. Although she
might surmise that
Zeus had
grounds
to punish her
by
exile
because,
from
as
king
of
the gods, he deserves
whatever
he wants,
she cannot surmise
what she
has
been told why may
she now
seek an account of and alone
Wandering
me,
and
a cow and has a gadfly pursuing her. She Prometheus's suffering to gain insight into her own. now, unable to depend on her father, enlightenment is
looks like
more precious to
her than
ever:
"If
you can
tell me what remains
do
not out of
me than words offer me not
pity cozen with that to be kind must

then withhold
kindly
lie"
lies: there is
no sickness worse she pleads:
for me, tell for

"Do
not
(683-86). Later
the
it"
gift and
(775-77). She
wants
the honest
truth,
paternalistic,
pity-filled refer
lies from Prometheus.

a virgin
By having
signals
symbol of
Io
to herself as
(588, 608, 646, 648), Aeschylus

source and or
the incompleteness of her perspective. Her virginity is both
her
naivete.
If
she
felt herself,
knew through experience, the
power of sexual
then she
might
would
desire (as did Helen) and of jealousy (as did Clytemnestra), not insist on an explanation of her punishment by Zeus, and
the cause of the min of her beauty.
innocence"
figure
out
According
to Jacquelin
Duchemin, Io's "total

her
and perfect
her
unblemished character and
makes Zeus's and Hera's treatment of her seem nothing (p. 6, my translation). But to refuse to satisfy lust, and particularly the lust of a god, is a provocation, as is beauty, especially in the eyes of a wife (see also Havelock, pp. 45-46: The provocation has been given
having
provoked
all the more odious
by
the dangerous attraction
of
her
sex").
Io's
naivete
is
almost unbelievable.
In
sum,
by
asking for
a rational explanation of
rance of the nonrational and thus the
incompleteness
her situation, Io reveals her igno of her perspective.

remains,"
choms expresses disbelief of, and sympathy for, the extent of Io's Prometheus "Wait till you hear what as if all pain suffering, says, should be disclosed (687-97). If justice is the fulfillment of needs or the cessa
When the
tion
of
pain, then needs,
or
pain,
pain
must
be
made
known,
less
of
how
much
further
the
disclosure itself
may
suggest
apparently regard causes. That Io herself

extent of
and
pressed to
ment
hear
about
her remaining
pain
the
her
commit she
to accountability and of her self-knowledge. What if she leams that
is
aimlessly for life? Without knowledge of her future she at least has hope. Her preference for enlightenment over hope suggests what her
sentenced to wander
judgment
of
Prometheus's
gift of
hope to
man might
be:
such an expression of
pity deprived human beings
of complete self-responsibility.
To blind human
beings
gift of
Philosophy
233
with
hope
was an act of paternalistic
intelligence
and preempted
lightenment. Thus, Although Prometheus

can
pity that diminished Prometheus's his playing the role of the champion of en Aeschylus gives the role to the far-traveling Io.
claims
that he
will
tell Io about her
fate
so
that she
know the limits
of
her journey, his
detailing
the agonies of the

and
journey
seems
intended
more to prove the unjustness of

completes
Zeus
thereby
to vindicate
Prometheus (700-735). 33 Prometheus
the first part of his prophecy
by
calling Zeus a hard, indifferent tyrant who has even more in store for Io (735-41). When Io cries out in response, Prometheus scolds, as if to make her
the horror of divine
will:
confront
"Again
you
cry out,
again you
lament? What
to the
sea of
then /
will you
do
when you
leam
sufferings?"
your other
In
response
chorus's
disbelief that there

min,"
are
which makes agony and that Prometheus has made Io and the
more, Prometheus guarantees "a wintry Io feel suicidal: "Better at once to

choms see the
die."
Now
harshness
says
that Io has it easier than he since she has the refuge of

set
divine will, he death. There is no

of of
limit
for his pain,

pity
seems
save when
Zeus falls from
power
(742-56). All
Pro
metheus's
into self-pity; at any rate, he does not appear able to sustain the level of pity he once showed mortals. Convinced now that she suffers from Zeus, again revealing her susceptibility to Prometheus and a possible liaison between her and Pro
coalesced
"cruelly"
to have
metheus's
views, Io helps Prometheus rum the conversation to Zeus's fated

the subsequent exchange,
demise. be
During
Io
seeks assurance
that Zeus
will not
able to preempt
against
his doom, and Zeus's will. To find out if

gives
wants to she
know
who will
free Prometheus
seems,
or
is indeed
about
as won over as she
Prometheus
her the
choice of
learning
the rest of her
journey
the
identity
that, if
But
of
of
the descendant of hers
she
is
convinced of
free him: Prometheus may predict Zeus's wickedness and has no hope for herself, she
who will
will want
to hear
about who will
help
make possible
the vanquishing of Zeus.
such a prediction assumes not enlightenment.
that Io wants to hear about her

who
future in
search
hope, Zeus, lost hope for herself,
It is Prometheus
and
is hopeful that Io has indicted
hopes only for the fulfillment of his needs. become Before we can leam if Io has exemplary of Promethean justice, the Io's fate, to her, and his deliv choms asks Prometheus to tell both stories
erance, to them. Prometheus obliges, proceeding first with the remainder of Her travels will be no better in Asia than Io's "sad wanderings, rich in
groans."
in Europe. Though Prometheus mentions that Io will eventually return to her homeland, he does not dwell on her future happiness but instead proceeds to
tell the details of her
past
wandering
but again,
of
perhaps also
to
complete
allegedly to prove his power of insight, his condemnation of Zeus. The remainder
that Zeus will one
Prometheus's last
which will
speech
to Io
relates
day
touch her with
his hand, her. Evidently, Zeus

make
both
relieve
her
of
her induced
madness and
impregnate
approach grounds
will either change or
simply try
different
to
her his. In any case, he
makes
her
rational
again, establishing
for
234
Interpretation
between them. From the
be
a girl who son
an alliance
which will
Io bears
will come
chooses,
out of
love,
not
to
generations, among kill her incestuous lover as

of
have
generations of women raped
by
their kin (the story
Hypermestra in
them will
Aeschylus's Supplices). From this free Prometheus. Prometheus love Prometheus

showed
will
union will come
kings,
and one of
of
defy Zeus,
then, because
violates
the same
kind
and
of
human beings: love that

news
divine law
the
integrity
of
the beloved. The
that selfless Promethean
justice
will prevail
because of irresponsibility may be what drives Io away in a frenzy (757-886). If Io deems Promethean justice lacking in accountability, then Aeschylus
may want his audience to appreciate her insight and thus realize the importance if not centrality of accountability to justice. On the other hand, does not Aes
chylus
mad?
undermine, rather than affirm, Io's perspective

madness
Her
indicates that
to the
she
does
not even
by portraying her as hold her own, let alone

with
triumph. Her
failure to hold her
own or remain of
in
dialogue
Prometheus,
however,
points
contributes
tragedy
Prometheus Bound. As Alain Moreau
out, Io's
cosmic chaos without
madness represents not only internal but external disorder, or (p. 110), but more precisely, the chaos that results in a world accountability. Aeschylus suggests the importance of accountability to
justice, then, by indicating

In
other
that the absence of accountability is tragic.
words, Io is
an
Apollonian figure
who
turns Dionysian (and back

nature which
again, though not within Prometheus Bound). The

attributes
dual
Nietzsche
more
to Prometheus is
resembles
more
accurately
and of
attributable
to Io.
Io,
than
Prometheus,
the god Apollo:
beautiful, morally
just
pure, self-knowing,
and an exemplar
"of individuation
boundaries"
(p. 72). In Pro
metheus's charitable
tice,
reached out
bequest to mankind, he disregarded the boundaries of jus to man, and sought to bring together into one community,
gods and men.
rather than cover the
to separate,
of
Io,
alienated and
alone, seeks to dis
as an indi meaning vidual, distinct and apart from all ties of family and friendship. Her Dionysian delirium is especially tragic to a Western audience because, although she is
justice through
speech and account
for herself
non-Greek,
she embodies
the ideals
of self-awareness
it.34
and self-reliance.
She
knows
she needs
knowledge
and
and she seeks
After Io leaves entirely innocent

eous, the
thus behind her back
the choms hints that

up."
she
is
not
that she aspired to that
"marry
Characteristically
the bed of a god
or escape
self-right
choms says
they
would never share
and
believe
that partners should

god
be
"equal,"
since one cannot
fight
the
anger of a
some truth in the chorus's remarks: perhaps Io hard to get, miscalculated the outcome and consequences, and is now portraying herself as the innocent victim. On the other hand, perhaps the
(887-906). Perhaps there is
played
Oceanids
their
are
through the choms
just envious, prudish, or both. In any case, by raising doubts about Io's self-knowledge and honesty, Aeschylus indicates
accountability.
importance to
The
choms next expresses shock at
Prometheus's declaration that Zeus
will
suffer more not afraid
Philosophy
responds
235
he is
than he
when
he falls from
the choms
power.
Prometheus
that
to say such things because he is immortal
and expects
to withstand
even greater
pers of
pain, to
which
can
only mutter, "Wise are the worship
Adrasteia"
ship him, / for balance
Zeus"
(the Inescapable). Untempered, Prometheus mocks: "Wor pray; flatter whatever king / is king today; but I care less than nothing (907-46). Prometheus does not pity the pitiless. In a just world, the pity
when
pitiless will not receive

of neediness.
they
themselves need
it, for justice is
the
THE VISITOR HERMES AND THE CHORUS
Prometheus's last
visitor
is the
god
Hermes, Zeus's
messenger,
who claims
that Prometheus's obstinacy led to his "self-willed

an ordered
anchorage."
calamitous
In
world, according to
Hermes, only
resistance
brings
calamity.
By
ad ob
contrast, according to Prometheus, not to resist order is slavery. Hermes vises trust and passivity, assuming that justice will exist unless willfully
structed.
Prometheus
advises
distrust
must
and
action, assuming that injustice pre
vails unless
corrected; justice
be
constructed.
Preventing
Prometheus from
acting, the
gods are
obstructing justice, returning "ill for

mad
good."
From
Hermes'
perspective, only the

whereas
interfere
with order and advocate such
interference,
(944according to Prometheus, obedience to divine order is childlike 88). Prometheus's pride, according to Hermes, keeps him in foolish ignorance
of
the
wisdom of subjection
with
to the highest
new
broken,
the bit / clenched in
its teeth,
divinity (999-1013): "You are a colt fighting against the reins, / and
bolting. You
are
obstinacy / standing
not possessed
far too strong and confident / in your weak cleverness. For alone is the weakest of all things / in one whose mind is
the role of prophet, proceeds to tell
wisdom."
by
Prometheus that he
punished
Hermes, assuming
will
be further
again
in Hades for his obstinacy before he sees the light (1014-35). The choms agrees with Hermes that Prometheus is obstinate, Hermes
orders
but
when
the Oceanids away, their piety prevents them
from
deserting
Oceanids'
one of their own
kind, however impious he may be (1036-70).

allows
Somehow divine desert-based justice

conduct
for
personal
loyalty. Perhaps the pity

or com
implies that divine justice does
accommodate
"strangers."
passion as
long
and
as
it is directed toward
kin is
consistent are criteria of since
"friends"
not
Compassion
as
toward friends
and
with
desert-based justice inasmuch
kinship friendship According to Hermes,

vine
desert.
Prometheus knows that he has transgressed di
order, he
can
challenge
divine
order.
only blame himself for his troubles, like all activists who Thus he points out the moral lesson to the choms and
you are you
the
audience:
"when
that Zeus has brought
don't blame fortune: / don't say to calamity / that you could not foresee: do not do
trapped
by
min
236
Interpretation
yourselves"
this: / but blame
champions accountability.
(1072-76). Hermes, then, messenger of Zeus, Through Hermes, Aeschylus thus exposes the neces
accountability to desert-based justice: worthiness entails accountability. Io, then, prepares the way for Hermes: she underscores the importance of ac countability to justice, of character to accountability, and Hermes suggests that sity
of exposes the
accountability is integral to desert-based justice. Hermes thereby inadvertently shortcoming of his master. Adherence to the principle of desert
mandates accountability.
Despite
metheus's
Hermes'
counsel, and as if to drive home his
own
character, Pro
are self-pitying:
final
words amidst a violent

unjustly"
earth-breaking storm,
"how I suffer, how
(1093).
CONCLUSION
In sum, by way of his portraits of a pitying Prometheus, a judgmental Zeus, inquisitive Io, Aeschylus presents three perspectives of justice, their merits, defects, and the bases for their harmony. Prometheus teaches that with
and an out
pity, the
weak
may
must
perish and
survive, then pity
only the gods survive; if the human race is to be integral to the notion of justice by which it abides.
Zeus, by judging
crimes,
reveals
punishing and rewarding individuals for their merits and the basis for an understandable moral order: the principle of
and
desert. Regulative principles, or laws, preempt chaos and do so more effec tively if they have a moral rationale. The persona of Io teaches that without knowledge
of
pede
one cannot account

such as
for
oneself and act responsibly.
knowledge, then,
the refusal to account
for
one's
The withholding actions, can im
the accountability of others. Responsible conduct, and thus any

accountability.
s view of
persona'
kind
of
justice, is impossible without a measure of Aeschylus presents the defects of each
justice in
part
by
juxtaposing
methean
the
views.
Next to Zeus's
the
principled
justice, Prometheus's
on
pity-
based justice
pity Prometheus's
appears arbitrary.
Next to Io's insistence
accountability, Pro
seems
forgetful
of
integrity
of
the self and of others. In
turn,
sense of justice
induces the
audience to notice that
Zeus's
rational
desert-based justice does

of
not accommodate
pity,
and
Io's
speech-based notion
justice
makes us notice
that Zeus
never
speaks,
never of a
himself
explains
the
justice
by
which
he rules,
the
depriving
human beings
full
account of
divine
justice. In light
on
of
partial mysteriousness of
divine
justice, Io's insistence
even
accountability looks naive, as if human beings can command accountability from the gods. Finally, Prometheus's exposure of the vast inequality of
among beings
suggests
means and of attributes
that Io's ideal
of complete ac
countability may the best possible Aeschylus
not
bring
about perfect
justice. Aeschylus thus

all
suggests that
conception of
justice integrates
three perspectives.
or reconciliation of
gives
dramatic
grounds
for the integration
the
three perspectives
of justice.
Philosophy
237
desert
on
by indicating
human
race.
the vastness of the
Prometheus betrays sympathy with the principle of liberality he showed by bestowing gifts
the
giver
the
He
also reveals ethical potential as
to
man of
the
capacity to
measure.
Zeus,
through the
Oceanids'
loyal
support of
their Titan
worthy.
kin,
shows evidence of
shows a
ciple of
Io allowing pity for in and a for the prin capacity pity self-pity capacity understanding divine justice in her quest to leam what she has done wrong. Finally,
or compassion
toward the
Prometheus's prophecy that Zeus will allow may symbolize the hope that all three notions
the same
descendant justice
will
of
Io's to free him
of
be harmonized. At
and underscor
time,
by
raising doubts
about
Prometheus's judgment hope for
ing
through Io the importance of speech and accountability, Aeschylus may that human beings not simply
wait and a
recommend strive to
harmony, but
bring
it
about
themselves. the human

or political effort
Perhaps to
encourage
to harmonize the three
perspectives of
justice, Aeschylus
reveals also
their philosophical and practical
intersections. As Prometheus understood, meting out justice according to the principle of desert in a human context requires confrontation of the fact of the imbalance
calculus.
of means.
While
absolute neediness
Justice according to desert must figure neediness into its is an observable fact, pity or compassion
may enable its perception in practice. If the integrity of the principle of desert is to be preserved, however, then desert must not be redefined as neediness.
Only
reason,
not
compassion,
can
distinguish between
need and
desert. The
test of the justness of a system that proposes to compensate for neediness and
maintain
the principle "to each according to his

and reward can
merit"
compensation
be rationally
accounted
is, then, whether acts of for, in speech. Only

in
matters of
through accountability can pity
legitimately
play
as much a role
justice
as
desert.
By
placing Io,
the mortal and champion of accountability and
speech,
speech
near
the end of the play, Aeschylus may suggest that accountable

means
is the only
to a complete
notion of
justice,
and
thus the essence
of our ethical nature.

nature segregates as a
As Hegel it
explains:
"Tragedy
order not
its inorganic
nature
(in
in this, that ethical to become embroiled in it),

consists
fate,
and places
outside
itself;
is
and
by
struggle against
both"
it,
ethical nature
reconciled with the
acknowledging this fate in the Divine being as the Io

use speech
(p. 105). unity of An examination of how Zeus,
Prometheus,
and
indicates that
only Io, putting about her character,

nality.
aside
her susceptibility to Prometheus
and other reservations or alliance with ratio and
preserves speech's ethical
integrity
All
who understand
that "it is a dangerous

of
divine justice, like Hephaestus thing to treat the Father's words
Hermes, know
for "the
mouth
lightly,"
know how to lie, but every word brings to (17, 1032-33). From the point of view of divine justice, the only legitimate speech is that which declares Zeus's will. Conversely, all other speech is suspect and Zeus does
not should not
fulfilment"
be taken
seriously.
Actions
should
be trusted
over speech.
Oceanos
238
Interpretation
Prometheus's urging him to leave by suggesting that Prometheus freely for one who is enchained, and explains that he takes his
not words as
responds to
gives advice too cue
from deeds
"sin in
of
(338-39;
cf.
295-99). The
choms
hopes that it
the
will
word"
never
Prometheus does
(526-36, 933). Not only
authori-
tativeness
ommends
metheus's
Zeus's speech, but the possibility of his overhearing speech, rec reticence. The theme of Oceanos 's only speech, for example, is Pro
boastfulness; he
warns
Prometheus three times that Zeus
will
hear
his angry and arrogant words, and exhorts: "do not talk so (301-31). Oceanos thus abides by his belief that words should be used only to correct a vain tongue or doctor a diseased temper (379-80).
much"
While divine justice

methean
encourages on
reticence
and
suspicion of
speech, Pro
justice depends
in
of
liberality
be
of speech
for its
execution.
The fulfill
ment of needs requires needs to
made
known. Prometheus's but
own speech and and
the speech he
clarative
urges
others
is, then,
not responsive
declarative,
de
especially fortune" tion, that I would have you hear") and encourages Io to declare her "ill (442-43, 637-39). Perhaps he gave mankind the art of writing, the ability to "hold
all
injustice. He declares
man's neediness
("man's tribula
in
memory,"
to encourage the recording of all
injustice (460-61). In
any case, before telling Io why he is
being punished, he says that it is just to speak openly to friends, suggesting perhaps that justice depends on friends sharing grievances (609-1 1). Speech can also serve justice, even in the form of
lies, by showing or eliciting pity or concern. Prometheus shows concern for Oceanos by telling him to leave, for Io by eliciting pity for her, and for human beings by, in effect, lying to them about death. He is also tempted to conceal or
lie
about
Io's fate to
avoid
deranging
her.
Unlike Promethean justice, Ionian justice depends on speech not to declare injustice, but to give and seek accounts, or to enlighten and seek enlighten
ment.
Io
exchanges accounts with
Prometheus
not
and seeks account
from Zeus.
search
She its
complains about
her circumstance,
not
give or
to
declare it unjust, but to
for
cause.
She does is
seek
metheus not to cozen

of speech must
her
out of
pity
with
pity through speech, instructing Pro lies. In her view, because the purpose
render accounts or
not
to judge or assuage, but to
enlighten, it
be honest, direct, dispassionate,
and reasonable.
Such
speech presupposes
equanimity and the ability to reason. Thus, Io's punishment, which includes her ignorance and her madness, is unbearable. Being left in ignorance of one's
own alleged crime
vous god.
god
is unjust, the work, in her view, of an arbitrary, mischie that does not answer or enlighten must be unreasonable, for a defend himself. A
commitment to enlightenment thus
god with reason would
indicts
will
speech
that obfuscates or conceals. The oracular obfuscation of than her madness, which makes
divine
at
frustrates Io only less
her lose,
her
departure, mastery of her speech: "I run / out of my course by the madness driven, / the crazy frenzy; my tongue ungoverned / babbles, the words / in a muddy flow strike on the waves of the mischief I hate, strike wild / without aim
sense"
or
(883-86).
As Aeschylus's
other
Philosophy
239
rational speech as a means
works, notably the Oresteia, convey his advocacy of to justice, Prometheus Bound continues to explore
the ethical capacities

ethical
and
limitations
of speech.
Aeschylus discovers that the
function
of speech
is to
reconcile
the quintessentially
human,
and
the
quintessentially divine,
reconciliation can
sophical poetry.
notions of place
take
in the polis, his
justice. While his hope may be that such gift is that reconciliation in philo
NOTES
1. For the
view
that Aeschylus merely endorsed

and
ancient religious orthodoxies
see, for example,

an
avantIdeas"
Welcker, Solmsen, Lloyd-Jones,

garde poet of
Denniston
and
Page. For the

chap. who
view
that Aeschylus is
ideas see, for example, Gilbert Murray, esp. (which explains that Aeschylus is "one of those [poets]
philosophical
3, "Aeschylus as a Poet of derive their inspiration in a large

of
3-
degree from their
beliefs
speculations"
or
[p.
72]); Jaeger, Paideia: The Ideals
Greek Culture, pp. 237-67; Snell, esp. pp. 94-112; Dodds, pp. 28-63; Gladigow; Golden, pp. 30 for a summary of the debate over Aeschylus's achievement; and Kaufmann, pp. 191-227. 2. For the
characterization of
Plato's
works as philosophical
poetry, see
Stanley Rosen's
pp.
"Zeus,"
excep
p.
tional The Quarrel Between
Philosophy
Sikes
and
102-18. For Lloyd-Jones's

and
and
and
Poetry: Studies in Ancient Thought, esp. Willson's remarks, see their respective,
page pp.
1-26, 66,
In
The Prometheus Vinctus of Aeschylus, p. xxiv. Quoted remarks are from Praise; pages 21-30 discuss Jaeger, "Classical Philology and pp. lOff; and Cherniss, pp. 289ff. See also Jaeger's Paideia, p. 239.
If Aeschylus did indeed
might
write philosophical
22
of
Golden's
Humanism,"
371ff; Dodds,
poetry, then Plato
and some of
the Presocratics
be in his debt. For the
(Paideia, Plato, or
cludes
Aeschylus influenced Parmenides, see Capizzi. Jaeger pp. 239, 248-54) and especially Snell (pp. 94-112) suggest Aeschylus's influence on on the development of philosophy. In opposition, Lloyd-Jones observes that Plato in
argument that condemnation of pioneered an
Aeschylus in his
the poets in Books II and m of The
Republic,
would
and
speculates
that had Aeschylus
influential
philosophical
rationalism, Plato
even
have
in
acknowledged
the fact "with gratitude and
admiration''
(pp. 64-65). But
if Plato is
correct
his
assessment
poets,
epic
failing
that Aeschylus's Zeus is nonrational, he may have unfairly lumped together the to see the advance toward philosophy that the playwrights, in contradistinction to the
made.
lyricists,
As Snell
explains:
concrete situation.
The human
situations which or
"In tragedy myth severed its connexion with a particular it expresses are no longer, as in the archaic lyric,
fixed in time
this
and place
of
by
victory, marriage,
marks a
broadening
the
the perspective
they are tendency toward

cult;
concern of
universal situations.
It is
evident
that
philosophical generalization.
Before
long
problem of
human
action which
is the
tragedy
was
to become a matter for

of
intellectual cognition; Socrates insists on solving the problem through knowledge is the ultimate abstraction of the real, its transformation into a teleological
the good. That
concept"
(p. 112).
Similarly, Jaeger
myth
writes:
"Until the
appearance of
and
tragedy
no
type of poetry had ventured to use
merely as the fitness for that

the
vehicle
for
an
idea,
p.
to
choose or neglect myths
in
accordance with
their
purpose"
(Paideia,
253).
marshaled against
3. Considerable
myth was
evidence
has been
the assumption that Hesiod's
rendition of
Aeschylus's source; see Duchemin, who argues that the myth originated from an epic time, called the Arimaspees, by a little-known writer, Aristeas; poem, well known in see also Seated (pp. 1-26) who argues that the myth was shaped primarily by ideas put forth by the Presocratics. In light of this evidence, I try neither to resolve the debate nor to examine the
Herodotus'
Aeschylus allegedly altered the Hesiodic version of the myth of Prometheus. remarks that "tragedy can be appreciated only if we start with the conviction that it is the highest manifestation of a type of humanity for which art, religion, and philosophy still form an It seems as if poetry, which the Greeks were the first to raise to such a indissoluble unity.
ways
4. Jaeger
difficult height
of technical excellence and spiritual
significance, had
wished
to reveal all
its
beauty
240
Interpretation
before it left this
earth and
and power and wealth once more

p.
journeyed back to
Olympus"
(Paideia,
notes
246).
that than
still
more
"Poets
5. See Plato, Protagoras 320c-323c; Marx, p. 15; Nietzsche, pp. 69-72. Jaeger and philosophers of all nations have for centuries loved Prometheus Bound far any other Greek drama, and they will always love it, as long as a spark of
soul"
Prometheus'
fire
burns in the human
(Paideia,
p.
263).
6. In light
ular attention
of
tragedy's universalization of human problems (see note

problem of
2)
and
Aeschylus's
partic as
or
to the
justice,
courses on
the early
history
of political
plausibly begin
with
Aeschylus
often
the Oresteia or Prometheus Bound
as
philosophy might with the Presocratics

speak
Thucydides,
as
they
do.
where
7. See Poetics 1450b7,

not rhetorically.
Aristotle
says
that characters of early
tragedy
politically,
8. This
corded ceased
assessment
is
made on
the basis of my
perusal of
the publications on Aeschylus re
in
L'
Annie Philologique
during
the twenty-year period 1971-91. The
Classical World
the publication of its
9. See, for example, About Davison,

technique."
bibliography, with helpful surveys such as McKay's, in 1978. Deratani, Davison, Stoessl, Baglio, Meautis, and Thomson, pp. 317-46.
"Few
are as prone
McKay
writes:
to find contemporary allusions so
directly
ex
pressed and personal
identifications
on such a scale seem more appropriate
to comic than to tragic

never shirks
About Baglio's work,
McKay
exclaims:
"This
radical
inquiry
historical
(p. 82)! There is a body of secondary work attachment, however misty or elusive the on the controversy surrounding the date and authenticity of the Prometheus trilogy, the most per
connection"
suasive of which argues for its authenticity and production circa 457 B.C., making it Aeschylus's last work; thus I will not trace interpretive difficulties to these uncertainties. 10. In the first category are Stoessl; and Podlecki, The Political Background of Aeschylean
Tragedy,
Waerdt. 11 ideas
upon
.
pp.
101-22; in
the second are
Havelock; Finley,
pp.
220-33; Fowler; Ewans;
and
Vander
of
As Lionel Pearson remarks, "It would be absurd to pretend that the ethical and religious Aeschylus are a mere reflection of popular morality, and yet it is equally wrong to look
time"
(p. 90). At the same time, isolated individual completely independent of his just because he wrote during a particular age does not mean that he was compelled, somehow
him
as an
unconsciously, to include the ideas

exists p.
of
that age in his work;
he
was an artist and
"a
work of art
independently
of
its
author and of
the accidental circumstances of its

"justice"
production"
(Cherniss,
The
289).
12. See Havelock
and
Stoessl; Stoessl does
not mention
once
in his
article.
view
that the essential than Aeschylean.
conflict
between Prometheus
and
Zeus is that
of wit and power
is
more
Hesiodic
13. Yet Jaeger

science, and
against the
and
Havelock believe that Aeschylus

Jaeger
remarks
was not
entirely
uncritical of
rationality,
civilization.
that Prometheus is
gods, but
responsible
deep
tragic
imperfection."
for giving a gift While Jaeger suggests that intellectualism

not
merely guilty of a property offense the benefit of which is "connected with some
not
authority
reason
of the
divine, may
but to
as a
be wholly
good
to
impiety
power and
the uses
or rationality, in rejecting the for man, Havelock does not trace the corruption of to which it puts reason. That Aeschylus presents the
Prometheus drama
wiser
tragedy
not a romance
indicates, Havelock
notes, that he
was
"not
little
among the modern philosophers, the Positivists, the Marxists, or the Instrumentalists" who link scientific knowledge directly to prosperity, liberty, and equality. For the quotations from Jaeger see Paideia, p. 264; see also pp. 262-67 and p. 241, which characterizes
counterparts
than his
but also "self-renunciation, only "soaring aspiration and The preceding quotation from Havelock is on pp. 15-16 of Intellectual humility, Man; quotations from Havelock in this paragraph are on pp. 15, 52, 56; see also esp. pp. 86-87, 104-9. Another proponent of the view that Prometheus is the champion of intellect, technology,
as not
reverence."
the "spirit of
Aeschylus"
power"
and
and civilization
14. As Sikes
unmerited
is Golden, esp. pp. 18-19. and Willson point out, "The

would
spectacle of a
wholly
good man
adversity
have been
repugnant
to
Greek.
According
to
Aristotle,
struggling against the ideal tragic

not
hero is
one whose general character
is noble, but
who
has fallen into misfortune,
from
vice or
depravity, but from
Poetics 1453a). See 15. See Gilbert
some also
Philosophy
241
fatal
frailty
error"
or
(p. xxvi;
see also pp. xxiv-xxvii and
Aristotle's Zeus
Vander
pp.
Murray,
Waerdt, esp. pp. 35-36. 89-110; Murray suggests
in
contrast to
Yu that the
rule of
may nonetheless be good for man in a way man cannot discern (likening Zeus to the God of Job). Fowler reveals the connections between medical and political theory in the play and shows that Prometheus as well as Zeus is sick or imbalanced. In accordance with the third interpretation
summarized
here, Finley
notes without
developing
that "Though
[Prometheus]
has become
of
figure
was
of mind,
he is in fact
largely
figure
of
feeling. His
loyalty
view
to man, the source
his pains,
impulse"
such an emotional
(p. 224). in the literature the

that Aeschylus
16. I have
not come across
both
condemns
Pro
metheus, as the second
sion,
as
interpretation holds, the third interpretation holds.

observes that of all of
and presents
Prometheus's
chief attribute as compas
17. Lloyd-Jones
metheus
Bound supply the
most evidence about
Aeschylus's works, the Supplices trilogy Zeus (p. 57).
and
Pro
18. See also Ewans, p. 11, and Vander Waerdt, esp. p. 29. Other evolutionists are Ludolph Dissen, U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, M. P. Nilsson, and A. J. Festugiere, cited in LloydJones, p. 56. Golden summarizes the controversy over Aeschylus's Zeus and puts forth his own evolutionary theory on pp. 100-126. 19. Of
all
the publications about Prometheus Bound
recorded
in
L'
Annie Philologique
during
twenty-year period, from
four-year
period
in the title, all were published within a 1971-91, only five contain (1976-79), and none is in English; only two other publications, appearing in
enough
"Io"
"Io"
1985-86, feature Io prominently

thermore,
one of
to warrant mention of her in the UAnnie abstract. Fur
the five works with
in the title is
Prometheus Bound but investigates the
sources of
not primarily an interpretation of her Aeschylus's knowledge of the myth of
role
in
an
Io,
investigation Danaids
only by the Prometheus Io, but by the Suppliant Woman Io. The figure centrally in that play are her fifth-generation descendants (see Duchemin). In my view, Io is as important, albeit in a different way, in Prometheus Bound as she is in Suppliant Women, which makes puzzling the lack of a book on Prometheus Bound comparable to Robert
motivated not
who
Duff Murray, Jr.'s The Motif of Io in criticism of Murray, that "the allegorical
parallel
Aeschylus'
"Suppliants."
My
aim
is to
counter
A. F. Garvie's
use of
the myth of Io as the central motif has no real

evidence
in the
plays"
other extant
(p. 71). Additional
indicating
Women,"
the general lack of
atten
tion to Io in Aeschylus studies

which gives one sentence
is
"Aeschylus'
an article entitled
by Anthony J. Podlecki,
to the subject of Io (p. 43).
about Io; the first three Bound, the remaining works are in chronological order: Albini; Masaracchia; Moreau, esp. p. 110; Kitto, pp. 61-63; Irwin, pp. 91-92; Havelock pp. 45-46, 61-62; Baldry, The Unity of Mankind in Greek Thought pp. 18-19; Yu, p. 29; Griffith, p. 248; Duchemin, p. 6. For psychoanalytic interpretations of the character and myth of Io, see Kouretas; Devereux, pp. 26-56; Gourevitch, pp. 263-79. Ewans offers other specula tions about Io; comparing her to both Cassandra and Odysseus, he suggests that she represents the
20. The
following
works advance one or more of the
first three theories
articles
devote the
most attention
to Io in the Prometheus
tenacity
Dindorf
of
humanity
(pp. 11-12). Prometheus Bound

used
21. The Greek

reprinted
version of
in
preparation of
this article
is the text
of
in The Prometheus Vinctus of Aeschylus. All quotations are from David Grene's translation in Aeschylus II. Citation numbers refer to lines, not pages, and all emphases are mine. 22. Aristotle was the first to coin the abstraction philanthropia to mean mutual fellow feeling
between
and p.
equals
on
(Nicomachean Ethics 1155a20). See Le
Deaut, especially
pp.
256-57
on
Aeschylus
280
Aristotle. "though the Zeus

of
23. Snell
retired
remarks:
Aeschylus is
an unassailable guardian of
justice, he has
pressing realities. Instead of guiding the course of events through his actions or his words, he has as it were attained to the status of an ideal: Zeus and the (p. 108). idea of justice are about to merge into
to
a plane
high
above the world of
one"
24.
According
and
to David
Sansone,
the characteristic
functions
of
the phrenes are cognition, thumos
intellection,
speech, though Aeschylus sometimes uses the term
loosely when
(spirit)
or
kardia (heart)
would
be equally
appropriate
(esp.
pp. 16-25).
William G. Thalmann, however,
goes
242
Interpretation
further than Sansone, arguing that in Aeschylus phrenes "nearly always carries the notion of ratio nal thought and intellectual and that the passages in which Sansone says the term is
understanding"
ambiguous passage
"make
sense"
good
when read with
this stricter
connotation.
The Prometheus Bound

not comment on
in
question seems
to support Thalmann's case. See esp. pp. 491-94.

pp.
25. Martin Ostwald (Nomos, Ostwald's

establish)
proper earlier
43-44)
and
Everard Flintoff (who does

"athetos"
work)
of
and
make
compelling
associates contradict
cases
instead
"athesmos"
(lawless)
at
drawn from for reading line 150. Ostwald translates

"nullification."
tithemi (to
"athetos"
"without
enactment,"
Flintoff
the word with their later
that Zeus rules
lawlessly, they
"ordered
[harmonia]."
translation)
note
or rule as
24)
again suggests
that he does not
description, at Furthermore, Zeus's unbending rule haphazardly; Thalmann notes
If the Oceanids say at 150 551, of Zeus's law (Grene's

nous
(or phrenes,
see
that Aeschylus rarely

as opposed
uses nous and uses emotional
it always,
or all
with perhaps one
exception, to signify a mental
to
disposition
faculty
(p. 510).
of the characterizations of and
26. As Flintoff notes, Prometheus. The two

word are
but two
324"
Zeus
as
tyrannical come
from
from Kratos
cf.
Oceanos
the latter "who seems to have caught the

"nothings"
from Prometheus in 305

also notes
(p. 370).
to show the depth of
compassion
27. Yu
that Aeschylus depicts human beings as

argues
Promethean compassion, but 38-39).
that Aeschylus
fully
endorses
Prometheus's
of a
(pp.
28
She
continues:
"This Platonic
argument
. . .
is the
natural
development
long tradition of reflec

(pp. 107-8).
tion about the arts and human progress
developed in the Prometheus

notion
Bound'
from the Semitic, according to Nietzsche, is the dignity the Aryan confers on active sin, which he calls "the characteristically Promethean Regarding Prometheus as symbolic of defiant, artistic genius, Nietzsche explains that, with
virtue."
29. What further distinguishes the Aryan
the sublime view of active sin,
"the
ethical
basis for
pessimistic
tragedy has been found:

entails"
the
justification
human evil, meaning both human guilt and the human suffering it (p. 71). In my reading, the active sin of Prometheus is against man as well as god, inasmuch as it promotes the kind of selfless slave morality Nietzsche finds in Christianity and attacks in his "On the Geneal
of
ogy
of
Morals."
30. Grene translates
"spirit,"
phrenes
"mind"
but this
seems
to be another instance that supports
Thalmann's
(see is
note still
argument
that reading
notes
for phrenes in
some passages
in Aeschylus
makes sense
24). Sansone
that articulate speech
of which
Io, despite her
proclaimed
madness,
requires the phrenes (pp. 51, 82-83). clearly capable 31. Snell observes that Aeschylean drama marks the beginning soul
of the acknowledgment that the
human
of
life (p. Ill; see also Thalmann, p. 510). 32. Dodds notes that "the liberation of the individual from the bonds of clan and family is one the major achievements of Greek (p. 34, see also pp. 45-48; Dodds cites G. Glotz,
real seat of
rationalism"
is the
La Solidariti de lafamille
of world pp.
en
Grece,
pp.
403ff, 604ff).
have proposed, be demonstrating his knowledge See, for example, Jaeger, Paideia,
33. Prometheus may also,

geography,
one of
as several scholars
the achievements of civilization.
252, 262-63; Baldry,

. .
pp.
18-19. Havelock
writes:
"This
geographic motif also supplies one of
the reasons why the dramatist included Io in the play at all"; "Her role when examined is not really hers at all. The main point is that she is not an actor at all, but a symbol of persecution and a
prediction"
vehicle of
(pp.
46, 61).
that an inlet of a sea will be called
perhaps notes
"Ionian"
34. Prometheus
of
reveals as
as
"a
memorial
to all men
[Io's]
journeying,"
honorary
Persians
if to say Greek (839-41). Jaeger
that she will be remembered in
Greece,
or considered an
that Aeschylus makes self-knowledge a major theme in The
(Paideia,
p.
257). Snell
points out that
Aeschylus's heroes, in
contrast to
Homer's,
are
self-reliant agents
(pp. 103-4).
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Translated
by David
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University
of
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The Prometheus Vinctus of Aeschylus,
and
edited
Philosophy
243
by
Dindorf. London: Williams
Norgate, 1870.
Prometeo."
Albini, Umberto. "La Funzione di Io

studi antichi
nel
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Rivista di
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'Prometeo'
Baglio, Gaetano. //
sione
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all'inva-
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Capizzi, A. "Eschilo
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Deratani, N. F. "La Figure du

rendus
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and
Denniston, J. D.,
1957.
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Roman
Ewans, Michael. "Prometheus

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Flintoff, Everard. "Miszellen Athetos
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Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture. 2d University Press, 1945.
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page nos. unavail
Lattimore, Richmond. The Poetry of Greek Tragedy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univer sity Press, 1958. Le Deaut, Roger. "Philanthropia dans la litterature grecque jusqu'au Nouveau Testa
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Marx, Karl. "Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right: In The Marx-Engels Reader, edited by Robert C. Tucker. New York: W. W. Norton &Co., 1972. Quaderni urbinati di Masaracchia, Agostino. "Per l'interpretazione del Prometeo.
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McKay, Alexander G. The Classical World Bibliography of Greek Drama and Poetry. New York: Garland Publishing Co., 1978. Meautis, George. UAuthenticite et la date du Promethee Enchatne d'Eschyle. Geneva: Universite de Neuchatel, 1960. Moreau, Alain. "Transes douloureuses dans le theatre Cahiers du groupe
d'Eschyle."
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Aeschylus' "Suppliants."
Murray, Gilbert. Aeschylus: The Creator of Tragedy. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940. Princeton: Prince Murray, Robert Duff, Jr. The Motif of Io in ton University Press, 1958. Nietzsche, Friedrich. "The Birth of Tragedy Or. Hellenism and In The
Pessimism."
Birth of Tragedy and the Case of Wagner. New York: Vintage Books, 1967. Nussbaum, Martha C. The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Ostwald, Martin. From Popular Sovereignty to the Sovereignty of Law: Law, Society, and Politics in Fifth-Century Athens. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
Nomos
and the
Beginnings of
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Pearson, Lionel. Popular Ethics in Ancient Greece. Stanford: Stanford University Press,
1962.
Podlecki, Anthony J.
"Aeschylus'
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Helios 10 (1983):23-47.
The Political Background of Aeschylean Tragedy. Ann Arbor: Michigan Press, 1966.
University
of
Rose, H. J. A Commentary
on the Surviving Plays of Aeschylus. Amsterdam: N. V. Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1957. Rosen, Stanley. The Quarrel Between Philosophy and Poetry: Studies in Ancient
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1975.
Seaford, Richard. "Immortality, Salvation,

sical
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Sikes, E. E., and J. B. Wynne Willson. The Prometheus Vinctus of Aeschylus. London: Macmillan, 1912. Snell, Bruno. The Discovery of the Mind: The Greek Origins of European Thought. Translated by T. G. Rosenmeyer. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1953. Transactions and Proceedings Solmsen, Friedrich. "The Erinys in
Aischylos'
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Stoessl, Franz. "Aeschylus

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Thalmann, William G. "Aeschylus's Physiology
of
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American Journal of
Philology
107 (1986):489-511.
Thomson, George. Aeschylus and Athens: A Study in the Social Origins of Drama. 2d ed. New York: Haskell House, 1967. Harvard Thomson, J. A. K. "The Religious Background of the Prometheus Studies in Classical Philology 37 (1920): 1-37. Prometheus Classical Quar Todd, O. J. "The Character of Zeus in
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Aeschylus'
Bound."
terly 19 (1925).
Vander Waerdt, P. A. "Post-Promethean Man and the Justice Studies in Greek and Roman Literature 6 (1977): 26-47.
Zeus."
of
Ramus: Critical
Vandvik, Eirik. The Prometheus of Hesiod and Aeschylus. Oslo: Norske Videnskaps Akadimi, 1942. Welcker, F. G. Die aeschylische Trilogie Prometheus und die Kabirenweihe zu Lemnos. Darmstadt, 1824. Winnington-Ingram, R. P. Studies in Aeschylus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Yu, Anthony C. "New Gods and Old Order: Tragic Theology in the Prometheus Journal of the American Academy of Religion 39 (1971): 19-42.
Bound."
Pascal
on
Certainty
University
and
Utility
John C. McCarthy
The Catholic of America
In
come
what was
to have been An the
Apology for
father
the
Christian Religion, but has

useless and uncer
down to This
us as
Pensees, Pascal
of the
writes
"Descartes:
tain.'"
mordant
dismissal
of modem
Descartes'
cent of
cogito
own mentions
treatment of his predecessors.
philosophy is reminis Just as the teacher of the
so
rarely Pascal leaves
the ancient and mediaeval traditions

unstated
he
seeks
to replace,
largely
a
the substance of his quarrel with Descartes: to his opponent in the entire
relation
there are
oeuvre of
so
perhaps
dozen
explicit references
Pascal. Little wonder, then, that Pascal's
to Descartes should
frequently
The
have been
a subject of
principal reason
for
Descartes'
scholarly hesitation to
concern. speak
openly
and at
length The
against
his foes
was
his desire to
avoid
controversy,
which would
have im
peded
both the
private execution and
the public acceptance of his

seems
project.2
relative absence of philosophic
disputation in the Pensees
to have been
and an
due to
death
more accidental considerations.
As is
well
known, illness
early
other sister
prevented and
hand,
Pascal from realizing his designs for that work. On the despite his youthful delight in polemics, we know from his
reasons
Gilberte Perier that for dialectical

moreover,
ample evidence
he
came
to distrust eristic. There
is,
from the Pensees themselves that Pascal thought it
indirection.3 The orderless necessary to make his case to the nonbelievers by order that has resulted (532/373) suggests the following methodological princi ple. The fragments Pascal left to posterity must not be read in a fragmentary
way;
so
far
as
is possible,
each must
be interpreted in light
of all
the rest (cf.
199/72). Accordingly, Pascal's

quarrel with
we are required
to consult a wide range of texts in order
to make sense of those explicitly devoted to Descartes. A reconstruction of
Descartes is
unavoidable.
No contemporary scholar questions the necessity of approaching the Pensees in this way. Nevertheless opinion is far from unanimous as to how Pascal's
case against
Descartes is to be
was
assessed.
In the
main scholars
have
have
agreed
argued
that
that
Pascal's intention Pascal

ments was closer
fundamentally
about
anti-Cartesian.
But
some and a
to Descartes than
advanced
he, Pascal,
realized;
of
variety
of argu
have been
which
the degree
their kinship. The scholarly
debate,
view of
has
gone on
for the better
part of a
century, has
yielded nu
merous precisions.
Descartes'
Yet
Pascal have generally taken too restrictive a intentions. Consequently the full range and depth of Pasreaders of
1994-95, Vol. 22, No. 2
248
cal's
cause
Interpretation
dispute
with
Descartes has
remained somewhat
hidden from
neglected
view.
Be been Sim
with
Descartes'
rare statements of purpose
have been
there has
useful.
little
attempt
to specify
what
Descartes himself
Descartes'
understands
to
be
ilarly,
commentators
have
construed
method rather
narrowly,
the result that the

obscurity.
precise
meaning
of
In short,
of
comparisons of opposition
Pascal
Cartesian certainty has been left in some and Descartes have, typically, un And this limitation has
of
derstated
vented
Descartes'
to his
predecessors.
pre
students
Pascal from considering many fragments

Descartes'
the
Pensees
has
relevant which
to the question of his stance towards his compatriot. The extent to

call philosophic revolution
the Pensees
into
question
not
been sufficiently There should

remark.
appreciated."
never and
have been any doubt

"certainty"
about the
sweep
of
Pascal's wry
most
"Utility"
are
the two
Descartes'
watchwords of
programmatic
writing, the Discourse

the
on the
Method. Indeed if Hegel is correct,
"Enlightenment"
they
characterize
whole period of condemn
Descartes helps inaugu

root and
rate.5
Surely
Pascal intends to
Cartesianism
branch. But in
third
order
to evaluate that
condemnation we must confront yet a
often
overlooked, besides the
fragmentary
and
indirect
style of the
difficulty, Pensees,
and the need
for
an accurate
first to last the Pensees That is to say, his

markably
are stamped
understanding of the position Pascal rejects. From by Pascal's experience of Christianity.

not altogether
Apology is
bis
Socratic. Since Descartes is

man6
re
properly theological investi gations would he that he be more than a it would require, says, they seem obvious why Pascal should have been so hostile. As most commentators
candid about
unwillingness
to pursue
have noted, for Pascal the meaning of and God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Apart from His measure,
"figure" "folly"
"certainty"
"utility"
are set all else
by
the
is
either
or
(cf. 267/680). One is then his adversary
compelled to wonder whether
Pascal
ever meets
on common ground.
Is their
logomachy
of
anything more than doxographical interest? The Pensees abjure any philosophical defense fidei.
of
the traditional
to
praeambula
Philosophy
in that
sense
has
ceased to
be
a protreptic
theology,
as
it
had been for the form
great medieval
theologians. Thus the nearest

nor
literary
precursor
to the Pensees is neither the

of
"confession."7
disputatio,
the summa;
it is the Augustinian
In keeping with this form Pascal is ever mindful that he God's abiding presence (99/536, 627/150, 931/950), so much so that at times he even presumes to speak on God's behalf (149/430, 919/553). Like Augustine before him, he posits his own life as a clue to the
writes
in
and out of
whole
(418/233). In the
and
(418/233, 689/64), and so does not hesitate to lay bare his heart same breath, he insists that his person be forgotten (396/471), would cultivate a love of hidden virtue (643/159, 719/788). Yet precisely
the Pensees prove to be the work
mean
of
as confession
cf.
the "whole
man"
(848/806;
12/187).
They thereby
to
leave
out of account no
experience.
It is in this way that they
prove
to
important human be addressed to believer and
Pascal
unbeliever alike.
on
Certainty
and
Utility
249
this
From the
standpoint of unaided
reason, then,
what unifies
Apology
is
an old question:
What is it to be
human being? The fragments
Pascal left to posterity have aptly been described as an anthropologia ancilla theologiae^ in this respect Pascal continues the line of inquiry initiated by Socrates
pends,
after
all.9
But
Descartes'
teaching
on
finally,
on
biographical
"method"
form
his understanding of of the Discourse

a
utility and certainty also de the human things. As the peculiar auto
on
the
Method Descartes
indicates, Cartesian
the
can and
derives from
comprehensive,
premethodological reflection on
with
human
situation.
In sum, Pascal's debate

of
indeed
must
be interpreted in light
The
present
their common anthropological question.

Descartes'
account of
essay falls into two parts. The first proposes that utility issues from a revision of the traditional view of the human
speaking, that
revision
good.
Loosely
involves
a reconsideration of the relation

opposition
between
tion are
and
mind and
body. Although
Descartes'
echoes of
to the tradi
of mind understand
found in the Pensees, Pascal ultimately rejects the body implicit in the Cartesian doctrine of the good. In Pascal's
to address the real split in our the essay
"dualism"
ing, Cartesian utility fails

"soul."
being,
which occurs
within
Descartes'
The
second part of
begins
with
the observation that

the relation between
prin
method presupposes a novel mind and world. ciples and cure certain
understanding
of
Human intelligence is
displaced;
the availability of "first
causes"
"foundations"
is thrown into doubt. Method, accordingly, is meant to se in the absence of any natural access to the being of
as aware as
beings. While Pascal is
Descartes
of
the
difficulty
we
face in
knowing
problem.
the things
themselves, he disavows any methodical solution to the His teaching on the is meant to indicate the way to such
"heart"
certainty
anticipate
as
is
available
to us. But the heart's promptings can only be taken
seriously if the human
soul
is, for
all
slightly, then,
view of
we
hope to
show
its divisions, disclosive of the whole. To that for Pascal Descartes is useless
and uncertain
because his standing

of
the good
useless.
is uncertain,
because his
under
the tme is
No
to
reader of
Descartes
could
fail to
observe
that he proposes to
replace
"the
speculative philosophy taught in the

make
schools"
with a
"practical
one"
its
adherents useful
"masters
nature."
and possessors
of
promising Cartesian science
pledges to
be
enabling has Discourse asserts, penses with final causality.

"nature"
men,"
us to put all of nature to use.
in the highest degree, useful like no other teaching, by This is possible because, as Part V of the
no real uses of
its
own:
Cartesian "the
physics
dis
"Utility"
now comes
to
mean
general good of
all
of each
and
this
good common
to all is understood to be the private interest
in
pleasant,
healthy
and
lengthy
life. At
stroke, the "common
good"
250
has
Interpretation
ceased
to be common in the old sense. This is not to say that the interest that moved Descartes to think and to publish wholly coincides with the interest the public
makes
has
or ought
to
have in reading him. As Part VI

the
charter statement of as
of
the Discourse
clear, the
public and
philosophical uses of reason are at
best
mum-
ally beneficial. That said, the scribes the "laws of
mechanics"
the
"important"
most
Cartesian philosophy de truths discovered by looks to be

practical
the method, so even the substance of
Descartes'
science
in
bearing. For surely mechanics cannot elevate the knower in the way traditional philosophy had claimed to do, namely, by enabling him to contemplate the first and highest things, the divine things. Quite consistently, then, the Discourse
characterizes reason as a
"universal
instrument."10
Pascal
agrees with
Descartes that the
scholastic approach to nature
is gravely
with
flawed. His
own scientific writings
frequently betray
his impatience
the
tendency found in the Schools to

observation of natural phenomena. over
of
substitute speculative
dicta for thoughtful in the controversy
Witness his
all
engagement
the
vacuum.11
Nevertheless, he is
but
silent about
the practical potential
his
own mathematical and physical writings.
particular mathematical
discovery
"useful,"
as
Once in passing he refers to a but its utility is clearly no more
than
heuristic.12
Descartes'
like
In any event, there is nothing to be found anywhere in Pascal proclamation of a universally beneficent science. On the other
Descartes'
hand,
blanket
condemnation of
practical
intentions is
also absent
from his
writing.
In
fact,
we
know that Pascal
approved of
the application of
theoretical principles to practical problems. Throughout his life

siderable
he devoted his
con
energy
to various attempts to make human life easier;

efforts.13
celebrated
is only the first of many such In order to gain an accurate understanding of Pascal's argument against Cartesian utility it is there fore necessary to join the issue at a deeper level. That in mm requires consid
calculating
machine eration of an
shall mon
important
accepts
point of agreement
between the two thinkers. As

Descartes'
we
see, Pascal
good."
in
large
measure
rethinking
of
the "com
The mastery of nature teaching, tists alike, involves a two-pronged

conceived,
phers.
addressed as
it is to
scientists and
nonscien-
critique of
the
good as
it had hitherto been
a critique of conventional
Against the
philosophers
genuinely
the
common good of
morality Descartes argues that they have never known a because they have never held anything in common:
a
and a critique of the philoso
history
philosophy is
history
of endless
disputation. Should
one would
one
inquire
into the
pride,
ground
of philosophical
parricide"
differences
find "insensibility,
parading as noble theorizing. The possibility of a of an interest in truth for its own sake, is cast into suspicion. But does not such suspicion poison the well for Descartes' own philosophy? Not at all: the promise of utility both affords an indisputable crite rion for scientific and shows how it is possible for an interest in the
all
"success,"
despair, or philosophic detachment,
truth
and self-interestedness
to meet in
one.14
Descartes'
argument against common
life is
similar.
According
to the
self-
Pascal
on
Certainty
and
Utility
251
understanding of all premodern regimes, not narrow self-interest, i.e., the ac quisition of honor or external goods, but some articulation of justice is the
proper measure of whole nor were
the polity and its citizens. Granted that neither the city
as a
in its
parts acts with perfect
justice,
the city's origin and continuance

of
thought ultimately to depend
on some
divination
the good
beyond
mere
utility.
In this The
philosophers after effect of
citizens.15
Descartes'
variety of moral and political are a function of purely arbitrary

tive nearness to or
can count on
ordinary hyperbolic doubt, which stresses the great opinions, is to intimate that all such differences
convention and not of a given regime's rela a
Socrates had tended to
agree with
distance from
With
truly just
always
political order.
The only thing

or at
one
is that human beings
vainly
suppose their own opinions
to
be the right
opinions.
prescientific opinion
thereby dispatched,
least
disarmed,
points useful
informed polity Descartes to in the Discourse, Part VI. To conclude, Cartesian science will be to the ordinary citizen despite or rather because it ignores the ordinary
good.16
the way is cleared for the scientifically
citizen's
understanding of the Pascal is close to Descartes

like
on
both
counts.
As
regards
is,
Descartes,
and again
struck
by
the number of
different
moral codes
ordinary morality, he found in the
world;
trariness
change
all
like Descartes, he takes this variety to be a sign of the arbi "[W]e see nothing just or unjust that does not in character with a change in climate. Three degrees of latitude reverses
of political authority. a meridian
jurisprudence;
range of
decides the
truth."
He
mentions
the view that
common or natural
it: the
laws may be seen to underlie such differences only to reject actions deemed moral by the world is too extreme (60/294). He
concludes with a candor

warrant
his Port Royal
editors
found
shocking17
for
obedience
just"
to the
law is that it is customary

cf.
and
that the only "not because it is
reasonable or announces
(525/325;
what
9/29, 25/308, 51/293, 61/309). He hereby

utters
guardedly.18
for
all
to hear
Descartes
only
And this dif
ference is instructive. For

the strictures
while
Descartes is
until
prepared
of conventional refuses value
morality
his
scientific reform
provisionally to accept is fully in
place, Pascal
an
to see in any merely
moral or political arrangement even

good.19
instrumental Pascal is
also
in realizing the tme human more forthcoming than Descartes his

criticisms are
about
the failure of philoso
phy,
although again
for the
most part
the same. Several times

a
he
observes
that "the
cf.
philosophers
split
themselves into
thousand different
sects"
(281/613;
"sect"
76/73, 456/618, 479/746, 507/363). It is
tme that he
some
times attributes their
inability
to reach some common
understanding to the fact

reality
at
that
each
overemphasizes some particular aspect of
the expense
(127/415, 131/434, 398/525, 449/556). This explanation will prove to mark an important divergence from Descartes, as we shall see. In the end, however, Pascal appears to accept the Cartesian reduction of philosophical dif of the philosophers (142/463, 627/150); they are as ferences to the
of another
"vanity"
much governed
by
base interests
as anyone else
(145/461). Cartesian utility means, to
Still
more
striking is
another point of agreement.
252
Interpretation
promotion
repeat, the
terested
by
science of
theorizing
to
seek a
or civic virtue.
bodily well-being rather than either disin The Discourse on the Method may therefore
Descartes'
be
said
liberation
of self-interest.
cessors, human beings

must
need
an
For according to prede to be educated in a kind of self-forgetting; they

political and suprapolitical whole when such
be taught to take
interest in both the

even or rather
of which
they
are
members,
especially
being.20
interest is
at
the expense of their individual or

Descartes'
bodily
well
What is decisive
about
utilitarianism, then, is the
suggestion
that the
interest
the
of
the human
parts not
whole
is furthered precisely
by
advancing those interests
of
human
concerned with
the whole. As Leo Strauss describes this

good or rational political
the career of self-interest, the
dramatic peripety in order is now seen to be

"All
brought hate
of
about
by
forces he
which
do
not
themselves tend toward the good or the

men
rational.21
Surprisingly,
another,"
Pascal
seems to endorse this notion.
naturally
principle
con
one
observes quite serenely.
Accepting
adds
the
leading
The
cupiscence as
Cartesian utility best

"use"
as an accomplished we could
fact, he
serve
that "[w]e have used

good."
to
make as
it
the public
result of political
this
of concupiscence
is not,
the ancients may
have supposed,
(210/451). And far from being scan fragmentation, but "an image of dalized by such arrant Machiavellianism, Pascal describes its workings as proof of man's greatness (106/403, 118/402, 211/453). Nowhere else does the Pencharity"
sees come so close
to approving
Descartes'
view of
the
"common"
good,
and
therewith, Cartesian utility. Yet it is precisely at this juncture that Pascal's

gins to come
opposition
to Descartes be
into
view.
Enlightened
a
concupiscence
charity but it is, manifestly,

why.
"false
image"
may well be an image of (210/451). We must now consider
As the textbooks instruct us, Cartesian mind is strangely disembodied, out side the world. On closer inspection, the separation of mind from body, never
"metaphysical" satisfactorily defended by Descartes in exactly what is required by mathematical physics, which
terms,22
proves to
be
or of
can explain
body,
the
nature, only
apart
from
soul and
its
purposiveness.
Hence the dismissal
formal
physics
and
final
causality. service
is, by its
to
reunion of sorts
between
and
by bodily needs and desires, able to effect in turn a human body and human soul. Prompted by the "teach
new our of pleasures and
The
rational conquest of nature achieved
ing
To
nature,"
of
its language
order
pains, mathematical physics
dissects human life in

speak somewhat and soul
lem"
to
benefit the
composite or whole
human
being.23
in
order to
hyperbolically, Descartes radicalizes the overcome it. This understanding of the

Descartes'
is
duality of body "mind-body prob

saying
natu
es-
at
the
nerve of
teaching
on utility.
The Pensees
that
Pascal
in precisely the opposite direction. It distinguishes soul from body (108/339,

move also stresses
goes without
115/349,
418/233). But he
ral,
161/221,
no
their unity. "The nature
of man
is entirely
omne animaF
(630/94;
cf.
664/94b,
372/483). There is, therefore,
Pascal
caping
our embodiment and all
on
Certainty
and
Utility
mean
253
that
that it entails. Yet this does not
rationality is subjugated to the body. To the contrary, reason necessarily ele vates human bodiliness beyond worldly categories. In his celebrated turn of
phrase, "Man
...
is
reed"
thinking
(200/347). The human
being is
thus a
being between,
must not
worldly being believe that he is equal

a
not explicable
wholly in worldly terms. "Man to the bmtes or to the angels, nor be ignorant
of
either, but he must know
both"
(121/498;
cf.
522/140). It follows that hu
man what
life
be lived in tension, in the stretch between what is above us and is beneath us (678/358). Any attempt to overcome or even reduce this
must
will result
humanity"
only in a distortion or destruction of the human being. "To depart from the middle is to depart from (518/378). util
tension
Descartes'
itarian
account of
the goal of science must, for
Pascal, be just
such a
departure,
aiming nism is
at once too
"useless."
high
and
too low. It is for precisely this reason that Cartesia-
Not that Pascal

reasons we sense
advocates a
full-scale
restoration of
the theoretical life. For
have already indicated, he doubts whether philosophy in the ancient is able to perfect the human being (cf. 926/582, 545/458). Nevertheless
of reason never prompt as
the limits
mental;
he
cf.
(759/346;
scured
him to reduce rationality to something instru it is reason that "constitutes man's repeatedly, 756/365). Nor is the dignity of the human being ob 111/339,
says
greatness"
by
the baser aspects of our nature. Awareness of how low we can sink
only
of
underlines our
inherent
grandeur.
Otherwise stated, it is only in the light
the high that the low can be understood as such

author of not
(53/429, 117/409, 470/404,

only
526/408). For the something given,

pineal
the
Pensees, then,
and
the unity of soul and
achieved;
appeal
it is
explicable
by
soul,
not
body is by the
(cf.
gland,
nor
by
to the
teaching
of
of our
natural
appetites
957/512). It is
also soul which explains the
supposes
duality
the
to Descartes. When Pascal
that human
"nature"
human being, again contrary is irreducibly dual he

body. He
means rather
is
not
referring to
or
division between
mind and
the
duality
or
of nature as our end or perfection and nature as
the principle of the class
kind
multitude,
i.e., how
of we
149/43). "This
who
duplicity
ordinarily find ourselves to be (127/415, the human being is so visible that there are those
we
souls"
have thought that
have two
means pulsed
for Pascal that
we are at odds with
(629/417). To say that we are dual ourselves, both drawn to and re

whether
by
our
tme
good.24
The abiding
passions most
duality
of
the human
submit
being
leads Pascal to doubt

scientific
those
polity can be taught always to prevail over other, more volatile, human urges. "The sweetness of fame is so great that, to whatever object we join it, even death, we love
disposed to
to
it"
Descartes'
(37/158;
love
cf.
470/404).
Indeed, "[a]ny
strong
and so
opinion
natural"
of which appears so
may be preferable to life, the (29/156). Of course, Descartes
was well aware of
the dangers
associated with
the passions, and seems to
have
254
called
Interpretation
for
a sentimental
education, for the correction
of passion of
by
passion.25
Pascal, however, is
more
much
less
sanguine about
the possibility
reforming
our
truculent impulses.
of our us
Accordingly, he
expresses grave reservations about

marvelous
the
ment
dependability for blinding
self-interest, at one point calling it "a

fashion"
instru
in
an agreeable
(44/82). To
sum
up,
although
he
that society may well be founded upon concupiscence, he insists that human life both individually and communally is permanently feverish, alternat ing between sweats and chills (27/354, 771/355, 56/181). Descartes, then, was
concedes
mistaken
good.26
to
identify bodily
health
as
the
"first"
because the
Pascal's
most
basic human "diver
The "reason for these

sion."
effects"
surfaces
with
remarks
on
These
remarks suggest
that the subordination of science to the passions
is
self-defeating.
Without simply
dismissing
the desire for a pleasant,

problem would
healthy
brought
only be into of such life. focus the attainment a His argument sharply by is not simply that human desire is restless (362/472); Descartes was well aware of the potentially infinite character of the Rather, he considers the at
and more
will.27
lengthy life, Pascal believes
that the true human
tempt to satisfy the

tion
from their
real significance.
explained not
by
in the terms they themselves dictate as an abstrac Most human appetites are ultimately to be their putative objects but as a means to avoid something else,
passions
namely,
an
unsettling
emptiness no
worldly
object could ever
fill.28
We do
not seek that soft and peaceful employment which permits us to think of our
. . .
unhappy condition diverts us. (136/139;
but the bother
which steers our
thinking away from it
and
cf.
70/165b, 137/142, 139/143)

to
and consequent
The
state
both
antecedent
from diversion in its

would compel us
manifold
forms is
"boredom"
which, were it confronted,

existence.29
to raise dis
concerting
enment
this aspect of the human problem.
Yet surely Descartes was aware of could be argued that the Enlight Indeed, that looked back to him was designed largely to keep the people dis
questions about our
it
tracted and to
keep
controversial, that is to say, theological questions
at
bay.30
Still, if Pascal's
Enlightenment
critique of enlightened
could never
be
more
hedonism is correct, the victory of the than Pyrrhic. On his reading even the most
consuming diversions are only temporary. Unease continually breaks in upon us (410/413). Moreover, it is by not means clear why peaceful distraction
should
be
preferred
to the
diversionary
Descartes
charms of war
over
(cf. 136/139).
contingency in human be had from overcom "fortune" (552/107): Despite his admiration for ing this or that aspect of our Epictetus, Pascal was no Stoic. He even professes admiration for the "extraor
affairs.
Pascal is
also at odds with
the place of
pleasure to
With Descartes he acknowledges the
dinary
greeted
soul"
greatness of cf.
necessary to
perform rare
deeds
of good and evil
(526/408;
157/225).
sympathetically
Nevertheless, by the author of the Pensies
the bid to overcome
is not (788/486). His restatement
all of nature
Pascal
of
on
Certainty
and
Utility
to
255
com
the doctrine of a cyclical fortune
(27/354, 705/180) is
as
not enough
mand
acquiescence,
of
course, because
Descartes had observed, it is surely
unwise
to submit to unhappy circumstances before we have made a rational

of what
determination
is in
our
power.31
(750/176)
action
and
Cleopatra's
nose
Similarly, Cromwell's kidney stones (413/162) prove only that traditional political
reversal;
is particularly
of
susceptible to accidental
they do
not prove
the
fragility
the new, practical philosophy. More pertinent is Pascal's observa

moral and
tion that our

upon others colored
intellectual formation is to
also
of our earliest
years.32
high degree dependent

our
(814/6). But Descartes
knows that
judgments may be it
with
by
the influences
Pascal's
position comes more
clearly into
view when we compare
the
teaching on self-mastery advanced especially in the third part of the Discourse on Method, Part IV of the Meditations and the last part of The Passions of the
Soul. This
in
obscure
doctrine
virtue
culminates
in
"generosite,"
an account of
dis
tinctively Cartesian
ments secured
mitment
cartes'
an audacious new
combining Aristotelian, Stoic and Epicurean ele whole. We have indicated that the common goods
Descartes'
by
to
the scientific mastery of nature do not explain
own com
account
his
project.
The
expansiveness of generosite
others"
does
for Des
the
willingness
to "do good to
by initiating
the public
works of
Enlightenment,
enjoy.33
works
the many fruits of
which
he knew he
would not
live to
In the end,
however,
his
generosite proves
to be essentially self-regarding,
the
excellence of a man who and power of
takes pleasure in esteeming the
freedom,
he may
resolu
tion,
good will even apart

science
fortune."
Viewed in this light, "beyond the power of
Descartes'
from any manifests his
actions
perform.
self-satisfaction
in
being
condi
His
virtue
appears, then, to be both the
tion for and the conclusion of the attempt to master nonthinking nature. Not for
nothing does Descartes write that the self-mastery of generosite "renders us in a To summarize, generosite is the most powerful embodiment of way like
God."
Cartesian
to be
"wisdom,"
"use"
whose principal
is
said
in The Passions of the Soul
that it teaches us to render ourselves
master of our passions
to such
to manage them with such adroitness, that the evils

and even that we
they
cause are quite
degree, and bearable,
derive
joy
from them
stratum of
all.34
Here,
surely, is the deepest

one
Cartesian
"utility."
Were
to
search
the Pensees for a counter to the radical

struck
generosite,
one would
be
first
by
autonomy of Pascal's insistence that "it is not in our

means
power to control our
heart"
(100/467). He
by
this
not
primarily that
our
desires take
means
us places we
would not go
only or even (149/430). More
fundamentally, he
that human beings
are
bom
into,
or constituted
by,
longing longing
"hateful
which would
me"
is
on
that account not of their own choosing. This unalterable

us
lead
(597/455) behind. Although its very
beyond ourselves, to transcend ourselves, to leave the existence is a sign or trace of
256
Interpretation
which would
that alone
satisfy
our
hearts, it
cannot of
itself
assure our satisfac

"outside"
tion; consequently it
us
spells our essential
dependence
to
complete us
(136/139, 143/464). Secondly,

than would
says of
something Pascal believes that
on
of
even our
thoughts
are more adventitious
be
allowed
by
Cartesian
self-mas
god"
tery. "What an absurd turbed
he
the creature whose reasoning
is dis
no
by
fly buzzing
humble
round state
his
ears
(48/366). Less
even our of
egregious
but
less
to
indicative
of our
is the fact that
best thoughts
come
to us
so
largely
unbidden, and, owing to the
fallibility
memory, are
likely
depart (542/370, 656/372). Finally,

gent character of our sufficient ever.
and most
decisively,
the radically contin
is
selfvery being persuades Pascal that the desire to be delusion. The rhetoric of his argument can be misleading how
Consider the
following
passage:
When I
comes
consider the short
duration
the
of
my life,
absorbed
in the eternity
which
before
and after
...
tiny
space which
I fill
and even see swallowed
up
in the infinite
immensity
of
the spaces of which I know nothing and which know
nothing of me, I am unnerved and astonished to see myself here rather than there, because there is no reason at all why here rather than there, now rather than then.
(68/205;
Fragments
enough
cf.
135/469, 154/237, 194/208, 198/693, 201/206)

as
such read
this are
scattered
throughout the
Pensees,
awaken
and
it is easy
readers'
to
them as a symptom of neurotic anxiety. On closer analysis

proves
Pascal's intention
to be dialectical: he seeks to
quite
in his
minds questions which

with our
contingency.35
he believes follow
Cartesian self-mastery,
no matter
naturally from a confrontation how successful in the
term, could never overcome the obscurities attending our being in time. Seen from Pascal's perspective, Descartes is to be faulted for having silenced
short
prematurely what are legitimate because unavoidable human questions. This brings us to the nerve of Pascal's quarrel with Descartes about The Pensees do
alternate our good not
utility.
really
oppose the
Cartesian teaching
on the good with an
theory. Pascal
holds,
we
rather, that
while an adequate
is truly needful,
do
not possess such an understanding.
understanding of The prob
lem is twofold, involving a failure both of intellect and of will. Specifically, we neither know what is truly in our best interest nor, by and large, do we make
much of an effort
to find
out.36
In effect, the
problem
is
not
for Pascal that
human beings
excessively self-interested. Rather, we are not self-interested enough (418/233, 427/194, 749/456). Should it be objected that some human beings at least have caught a glimmer of the good, and do strive to attain it,
are
Pascal
would
reply that it is do
nevertheless not
in their
power to secure
it for
themselves
claim
(141/509, 148/425, 269/692). The

we
evidence
he
adduces
for his
that
not possess the good
falls
under
the general rubric of "mis
ery,"
aspects of which we stitutes a ratio
dubitandi for the
have already discussed. Human misery in turn con goodness of the Cartesian project. If Pascal's
at all
analysis of our condition
is
plausible, then
on
Descartes'
own
terms
we
Pascal
ought not
uncertain
on
Certainty
and
Utility
257
is
to
to accept the Cartesian doctrine of utility:
a science whose purpose would seem
is
unscientific
in
decisive
sense.
To conclude, Pascal
have
less"
shown
that the mastery of nature is useless because it is

a neutral term
uncertain.37
"Use
is
hardly
Descartes'
ness
philosophy is a it diverts us from the

We begin to
see
in Pascal's vocabulary, however. In his eyes terrible distraction. In the guise of offering us happi
urgent task of should
discovering
resolved cf.
and
pursuing
our
tme
good. who
why Pascal
have
"to
write against
those
deepen the
unduly"
sciences
(553/76;
23/67, 164/218, 496/714,
687/144).
Pascal
man as
provides reasons
for
doubting
whether
Cartesian
science
truly
serves
he is, to say nothing of man as he ought to be. But the charge of project; uncertainty is meant not only to impugn the goal or goals of it also expresses Pascal's dissatisfaction with means. In a word,
Descartes'
Descartes'
Pascal
questions
the
Descartes'
"method."
worth of much greater cannot
What is
at stake
in this
quarrel,
however, is
Method
than the proper

understood
"technique"
to be
employed
by
science.
itself be
methodologically.
Because
the rela
Descartes'
teaching
on method
and
issues from
a sustained meditation on
tion between the knower

once again to concern
the world, Pascal's disagreement with him proves

of
the nature and place
the human being.
It is in
some of
Descartes'
Regulae,
unpublished
during
his
of
lifetime,
that
we
find
be
to
his
most suggestive remarks on the

"rales"
meaning
the new method. The
first
several
explain argues
why
methodical
direction
of the mind should of
required.
Descartes
that
while as
the "natural
shown
light"
the
mind
is
able
attain simple and certain
truths,
of
is
nevertheless the
"intuitive"
power of
the
mind
paradigmatically by mathematics, is naturally hobbled by our man

and
ner of proceeding.
Instead
moving patiently
truth, "blind in the absence

ence"
curiosity"
prompts us of methodical
to venture too quickly
assuredly from truth to into obscure matters;
discipline,
such
we set our course our respect
by
vague
"experi
and
hasty "conjectures";
on
is
excessively
made to
"the
ancients"
writings of
the
for authority that we rely despite their manifest failure to

such
advance systematically.
For
all
these reasons,
discoveries
as
have been
date
must
be
considered a matter of
dumb luck. Method,

science's
by
the
mind's native
ability to grasp truth,

we
inward.38
will eliminate
ordering dependence
upon
fortune. As
have already indicated, the mastery

Descartes'
of nature
doctrine
looks both
The
outward and
method is the claim, evident al startling premise of that first in the thinking may rightly be ordered independently of ready mind to the sun the Regulae upend the traditional the its objects. In likening most
"mle,"
solar metaphor
for knowledge:
not
being but
mind
lights up the way to the truth
258
Interpretation
known.
of the things recourse
By
supposing that the

the
world
mind can possess truth without
to the
world's
self-disclosure, the
method
is
able to
bypass the
seem
ingly
obvious articulation of
into kinds. This
means
in mm that
method almost
is universal, the same for all of study. Thus Descartes is able, miraculously, it must have seemed, to establish method on a scientific
method
"objects"
footing
lished,
will ple of
wholly in advance of any scientific is itself able to certify any
encounter with the world.

such an encounter.
So
estab
the Discourse on the Method propose Descartes himself as

philosophy."39
Not for nothing "the first princi
A be
reader of
Pascal
who confined
himself to De V esprit
geometrique might
pardoned
for
believing
that Pascal accepted the notion of a universal method
modelled on mathematics. ever.
The Pensees
compel a
different conclusion, how

work embodies could not
To the
extent that the
literary
character of
the
Pascal's
to
intentions,
a more anti-Cartesian style of consider
investigation
be imagined
(cf. 532/372). Or
conserve or
the claim that there is no thoughts
"art"
available either
to
acquire our
(542/370);
or
again, that the "ethics [mo

noted
rale]
of the
mind"
is "without
rales"
(513/4). " Also to be may

not a well
is Pascal's
with
sub-
insistence that
missiveness, it
an act of
intellectual
"submission"
be in
keeping
the demands of reason
(167/269, 170/268, 173/273, 174/270, 188/267):

saying, is
goes without
Cartesian
to
virtue.
By
extension,
Pascal
tion
must reject
the idea
of a single method suited
all objects of
investiga
(511/2, 512/1). Hence

but in
would
the demand that we "not judge nature in accordance

it"
with us
accordance with call the
(668/457). At
a stroke
Pascal
rejects what
Kant
later
"Copernican
guided
revolution."
This heralds Preface
willingness to
be
by
nature's
self-presentation quite aware that

or as
by
no
means
a return to prescientific naivete.

us and
Pascal is
rules"
"nature
puts
often
deceives
pour
obey its own le traite du vide, "the secrets

not
does
(660/91);
he
it in the
hidden"
of nature are
(532). More
obstacles of
over, he readily concedes that our very constitution creates manifold to the investigation of nature. One cannot read the Pensees without
thinking
the critiques of natural consciousness found not only in Descartes, but in all the early modem philosophers. Not the least of our troubles is our blindness to our
deficiencies. As he
of man
writes
in De V esprit geometrique, "[i]t is

directly"
to believe that he possesses the truth

mean
Pascal
by "judging
most
in
accordance with nature"?
malady (585). What, then, can And how is such judg
a natural
ment possible?
Among
fragment
the
important
of statements on nature
man."
entitled
"Disproportion
of
tesian science for the very reason method, namely, the fact that we do whole, the
or more
in the Pensees is the In that fragment Pascal opposes Car that could be said to have motivated the
not
presently
possess
knowledge
of
the
precisely, knowledge
of the principles of
the whole. Pascal puts
difficulty
in the
following
way.
Pascal
Since
all
on
Certainty
and
Utility
259
things are caused

and since
and
causing, supported and supporting, mediate and
immediate,
imperceptible
chain which
everything is mutually sustaining by a natural and joins the most distant and the most different things, I
parts without
hold it impossible to know the

whole without
knowing
the whole, or to know the
knowing
the parts in detail.
(199/72;
cf.
927/505)
To be sure, Pascal is scarcely the first to have stated the problem in these terms. All the same, this passage goes a long way towards explaining his doubts about
Descartes' "certainty."
As is
clear
from the
in the
context
in
which
this
aporia
appears, Pascal's
uses
purpose
is
not
sceptical
strict sense.
awaken self-knowledge
To the contrary, he in his readers: he would have us

are we
the aporia to
see the paradoxical

of
limits
of our
they
come
ability to know. These limits into view only to the extent that
paradoxical,
course, because
have in
some measure overcome
them.
cause
We
can
know that
of
our
knowledge is in
some
of
the whole
available
is
fragmentary
knowledge
the
whole
way
a
to us.
only be Otherwise stated,

who qua
the human
being
is
"disproportionate,"
knower is
aware
of,
and
hence
open
to completion
consciously finite being by, the infinite.

the universe
Easily
ment of
overlooked
here is the
conception of
informing
this state
upon a
the problem. In the

of
divination
to
the
wholeness a
first place, Pascal's argument depends of the whole. In the Pensees nature is
shards,
a
neither
monolithic nor make
is it
heap
of
"bad
tragedy."
Diverse beings
are seen
up
causally
unified world order.
And if this is
true then we are
required to take
particular
seriously the self-presentation of the parts,

show
beings themselves
individual
of
up
as relative wholes.
i.e., the fact Consequently,
that
the
way
a part appears
for Pascal the

can on
part
in
question reason
being
or an
inspection be
the
whole.
may be either a kind of for revising one's initial

of part and
formulation
whole also
the
wholeness of
Yet the interdependence
implies that
of
some prior awareness of the whole
is indispensable for
the investigation
a vindication of and
the wholeness of the part. Pascal's aporia

"experience"
leads therefore to
"experience,"
where ground of all

understanding.41
means
both the
determining
estimation
determined
One
tion
aspect of this
defense
of
experience, rarely
discussed, is his
of opinion. of
Earlier
we mentioned
Pascal's
and
affinities
to Descartes in his repudia the philosophers. On
both
conventional
morality
that
the
ambitions of
the
other
hand,
Pascal
admits
prephilosophic
opinion,
faulty
though it
is,
expresses a genuine apprehension of mount a qualified rescue of philosopher as
the truth; for this reason, he is prepared to
wise, he is
much more
now
it (520/375). Similarly, although he venerates no willing than Descartes to give the philos
to one
now
ophers their
tion.42
due, appealing
whereas
to another in support of
his
posi
Thus,
to
Cartesian
a
method proposes
to set aside received opinion
linear fashion from certainty to certainty, Pascal be lieves that understanding can only advance in a fashion, moving dia-
in
order
proceed
in
"zig-zag"
260
Interpretation
from simplicity to to be partial, in their
that
sophistication to corrected
lectically
truths
knowing
of a
simplicity
as
partial
are seen
in light
fuller
understanding, and
appreciated anew
partial
truthfulness
(90/337, 91/336, 92/335, 93/328).

celebrated
It is in
such terms
we should
interpret his
(513/4).
put
aphorism, 'To mock
philosophy is truly to The preceding contrast

Descartes'
philosophize"
could
be
in
another way.
As is generally
ac
cepted,
method
involves
a curious amalgamation of skepticism and

severest sceptical
dogmatism. Experience is
emerges unscathed ment
subjected to the
scruples; what
is to
"foundations"
provide
for
a true or certain advance
in learning.
According
to
Pascal,
know
this procedure does both too much and

enough not to suppose skepticism
too little. Too much, because
we
to be
wholly reasonable; too

matic
assurance
little, because nothing we know can be stated with dog (109/392, 131/434, 406/395, 655/377). In Pascal's opinion
certainties, but there
are
there are no
each
"simple"
innumerable
partial
truths. "Here
(905/385). Consequently all demon thing is true in part and false in strations involve some degree of circularity (527/40). Pascal's unswerving ad herence to the twilight state between dogmatism and explains the
skepticism43
part"
generally derisive tone he adopts when referring to Descartes. The title of Des 1644 manual, The Principles of Philosophy is (199/72); opinions on matter and space are a "reverie approved by pigcartes'
"ostentatious"
Descartes'
headedness
mance of
[entetement]"
(1005);
the Cartesian philosophy as a

of
whole
is
"ro
nature,
quite
like the story
Don
Quixote"
(1008). " It is
science.
not so
much
that Pascal is troubled
by particular aspects
Descartes'
of
Rather,
his
it is the imperiousness
"certainty,"
Descartes'
of the method that offends
him.
Notwithstanding
definitive
pronouncements on the nature of nature ex

worse
ceed
the evidence available to

him.45
him;
still,
nature
supplies evidence to
contradict
But is it
nature?
not tme
that Pascal accepts the Cartesian mathematicization

physics
of
While he distinguishes
something homogeneous or moving through it (603ff). And when he

space as
from geometry (376), he also treats absolute, indifferent to the kind of being
writes
Our
soul
is
cast
into
body
where
it finds number, time, dimensions; it
reasons
thereupon
cf.
and calls
this nature, necessity, and can believe nothing else
(418/233;
420/419, 110/282, 583)

not
it is impossible
observed.
Descartes, as numerous commentators have have regularly taught that he accepts the Carte sian equation of the laws of nature and the laws of mechanics could have been predicted. Nevertheless they are mistaken. To be sure, Pascal did entertain the animal-machine hypothesis (105/342, 107/343, 738/341). Yet the evidence that
That Pascal
scholars
to think of
he
rejected global mechanism
is in
plain view. own
example of an automaton was
Pascal's
fitting contemporary calculating machine, but the only

most
The
Pascal
time he refers to it in the Pensees it
volition
on
Certainty
and
Utility
261
is in
is
order
to contrast
machines with animal
(74 1/340).
"*
That
mechanism
untenable also
follows from Pascal's

well
estimation of
the logic of parts and

the attempt to
reduction of
wholes.
have
sider
endorsed
mathematicize
To conclude, while he may nature, he certainly did not
con
Descartes'
body
to extension to
have
saved
the appearances
(cf. 84/79, 686/368, 958/75). Although Pascal does not say
as much on
the subject as one might wish, his

proceeded
own mathematicization of nature would
have
along
rather classical
lines,
as
is
suggested
by
a remark made
in
a short mathematical
treatise
entitled
Potestatum
in
numericarum summa.
At the
conclusion of
that work
he
writes
a continuous
quantity,
add
whatever quantities of some
kind
are added
to a quantity
of a
higher kind
nothing to it. Thus
points add
nothing to
lines, lines nothing

...
to surfaces, surfaces nothing to solids;

commensurate with
nor
in the
case of numbers
are roots
squares,
squares with
cubes, cubes with numbers of the fourth
power, etc.
Hence, inferior
grades are not to
be considered,
since
they
are
beings
of no significance.
That
is,
lesser
"being"
order of mathematical
prefigures
but
never yields
the
greater
order,
which
may be
order
of
said to contain
it. Pascal
goes on to explain that
he
has
of
subjoined this remark, which should
be "familiar to those
who are students
indivisibles,"
in
that "the
connection never
sufficiently admired,
by
which
nature, lover
unity, assigns to a one those things

(171).47
which seem most
remote"
be better
appreciated
ber
of
points
him in the direction

and
of what
In short, Pascal's understanding of num has been called the "arithmos structure
being,"
one cannot ysis
away from explain what is distinctive

Descartes'
mechanism.48
According
to such an understanding,
about a given
being
merely through
anal
method would have it. Once again, and as into its elements, as Pascal's mathematical inclinations confirm, the lower must be read in the light of the higher. In contrast to the homogeneous universe of mathematical
physics, Pascal believes that the

nature
experience of number supports the view that
is
hierarchically
ordered
unity
of
diverse kinds. In
keeping
with
this
view, the Pensees
call attention and
to the astonishing variety present in nature
(65/115, 558/114, 782/266)
insist that this
diversity
is
not a random multi
plicity because "nature imitates itself (698/119; cf. 541/120, 663/121). That nature is drawn together into an analogical unity is, for Pascal, most evident in one being, the human being. The human being manifestly contains
what
is beneath him
and prefigures what
is
above
him. As
a paradoxical union
of apparent
opposites, this
being
provides
for Pascal
an emblematic
display
of
the
wholeness of
the whole; at the same
divided
or
fragmentary
time, the fact that human beings are indicates to him that the natural whole is not ultimate or
preoccupation
self-contained.
Hence Pascal's
in the Pensees
with
the human
renuncia-
experience of the
human is
not
narrowly anthropological, it is
not a
262
Interpretation its
his
tion of his earlier scientific efforts. Pascal comes to see that human life in all
ambiguity is the key to a genuine science of the whole. And investigation of the human things is his teaching on the What the Pensees tell
to
Descartes'
at
the
center of
"heart."
us about
the heart
constitutes
Pascal's
real alternative
method.
For the human heart

to
is, in Pascal's
reckoning,
about
both the
principal obstacle and our surest access
knowing
the truth
the world.
Now,
although
the
romanticist
repeating that by The term is, of course, in the Pensees

attest.
"heart"
of
reading he does not mean anything in the least sentimental. Biblical provenance, as numerous Scriptural citations
use of
of
Pascal has been discredited, it bears
But Pascal's
the term is not exclusively or even
primarily theological. A survey of its

derstanding"
appearances
indicates that it
"will."
names a
or "un hendiadys. In Thomistic vocabulary, Pascal's (as opposed to ratio or "reason") and voluntas or general refusal to employ two terms for what are, after all, two distinct powers
"heart"
designates both intellectus
of
the soul may involve their dramatic

of
some
loss
of precision. and
Yet he thereby
maintains
in
view
unity.
Taken singly
"heart"
in their
being
together these two

to Cartesian
moments
his teaching
writes
on
offer a powerful challenge
certainty.
When Pascal
ing"
"The heart has its

mind
reasons of which reason
knows
noth we
(423/277) he has foremost in

glance"
the fact that
much of what we
know
or know nondiscursively; that is to say, some knowledge is given "all at Pascal "at a uses the metaphor (512/1, 751/3). Following the tradition,
once"
of sight to what
describe this
calls
noetic capacity.
The
proper objects of
this power are
Pascal
"principles";
in Pascal's
these would appear to be the grounds of the
wholeness of
the whole
and
and of
its parts; they
often mark subtle
differences
between things;
standing
certain
account
they
are almost
innumerable. Notwith
allows that
formulations
"heart"
of
the
issue,
the author of the Pensees does not
"reason,"
simply oppose because of the limits cursively

which
and of our noetic
however. For example, he

we sometimes come
abilities,
available
to truths dis
are
in
principle
"only
to a certain
degree"
can reason
bring
intuitively (110/282). That said, us to those things already known

that noetic apprehension does
and
through the heart (512/1). We should also

not eliminate
note
the need for
further investigation through both discursive

De V esprit
geometrique makes plain
nondiscursive
means,
as a glance at
(cf.
580-82). Nor does Pascal
ever suggest err
that the heart is
infallible. He
considers
"heart"
it,
rather,
all too prone
to
essentially dependent on the rities in things that cannot be
(131/434, 530/274). Finally, Pascal's givenness of the thing known. There are
cleared
is
obscu
up,
no matter
how
clear
the mind's eye
(449/556). It is the thing known that 49 session of it (cf. 255/758, 7/248). Of course, it
must
provides
the evidence for the
heart's
pos
be
admitted that
use
tirely
"rational."
If the frequent
of
for Descartes, too, thinking is in the Regulae is

"intuition"
not en
not an
entirely
accurate gauge of
his
subsequent
intentions,
still, appeals to the "clear
Pascal
distinct"
on
Certainty
and
Utility
263
and
do
truth or
other.50
something like an immediate apprehension of some All the same, it is obvious that Pascal accords much greater
suggest
"heart"
authority to his
what we
than Descartes ever
would.
His
claim
is that
much of
we
know, indeed among the most important and most know, simply is not subject to methodical discipline. On the
contrary to
"scientific"
things
other
hand,
not
and again afford
Descartes,
the heart's apprehension of

distinct"
principles
does
the certainty of "clear

awareness
and always
ideas. As
subject
we
have observed,
the heart's
correction.51
is, for Pascal,
to refinement and even
Although the intuitive dimension

must
"heart"
of of
is
prominent
be
said
that Pascal's discussion
heart
as
the seat of
in the Pensees, it volition dominates for the truth.

will
the analysis. Here again,
however,
the issue is primarily noetic, concerning as

and promote our search
it does the
ways our
desires both impede

presentation of
heart"
At the forefront
concern that
of
his
the heart as an organ of the

are clouded
is his
"the
eyes of
the
(308/793)
by countless
spurious
interests. Our ability to lay hold of the proper starting points for understanding is by corrupt inclinations (136/139). "How the heart of man is hol
"poisoned"
low
and
filled
dung"
with
(139/143;
cf.
310/801, 427/194, 470/404, 821/252,

vivid rhetoric
978/100). Yet
we must not permit possible
Pascal's
to obscure
even
his inten
tion. He does believe it
for
us
to desire the
truth,
to desire it
wholeheartedly (149/430, 150/226, 427/194); the human being is not utterly depraved. It would be more accurate to say that our hearts are (924/498). So it is that two different people will construe the same experience in two
"torn"
fundamentally
different ways, the
one's
heart
disposing
him to
see
the
thing
as
it is, the other's misdirecting him (503/675; cf. 539/99). His principal point, then, is that there is a deeply moral basis to all cognition. And this becomes especially significant when we are confronted by truths the evidence for which is equivocal (835/564). Indeed, given the fact that "everything here is partly that all knowledge is provisional or partial, it follows that all true, partly
false,"
science must
be
moral science.
Once again,
the
Descartes'
method
does
not con
front the One integral

in
most serious obstacles to
acquisition of genuine science.
might
object,
however,
that equally for Descartes the will plays an truth. As introduced in the Discourse on the
"resolve."
role
in the
attainment of
Method the
the
method
depends
at crucial
junctures
on
its
author's
And
Fourth
of
his Meditations he is
needed
explains
that error
has its
which
origin
in the fact
a
that "the
willful
will extends
further than the
intellect,"
from
it follows that
to
what
disciplining
of
of will
in
order
to limit
our affirmations
is
truly
of
clear and
the necessity
not suffice.
could counter that precisely because context of in the obscurity restraint and resolve do thinking The burden of numerous fragments of the Pensees is to show that
distinct.52
Pascal, however,
the only
guarantor of our
right place; where be drawn to and to
moving in the right direction is that our heart be in the certainties are not available we must be rightly disposed to
receive
what
truth there
is;
that
is,
we
are once again
264
Interpretation
"outside"
us. If the Pensees are correct, then, no something sum up, for methodically disciplined volition can correct our errant ways. To and will. intellect of no permanent of Pascal there is the circle overcoming
dependent
upon
There is only the constant reconsideration discern how things stand with the
of our own stance
in every
on
attempt
to
world.53
Both the
noetic and
the
moral aspects of
Pascal's teaching
the heart are
implicit in his
I
cannot
censure of
Cartesian "theology"54:
would
his philosophy, to do without God; but he could not prevent himself from granting to him a flick of the finger in order to set the world in motion; beyond this he had no use for God. (1001) forgive Descartes: he
like, in
all
The deism
to
Descartes'
publications
helped from
Pascal, 191/549, 463/243). Pascal's

almost as
apart
far
removed
decisively to inaugurate is, according Christianity as is atheism (449/556; cf.
complaint
Quite
under
from the
claims of
is anything but sectarian, however. Revelation, he is troubled by a science which,

the genuine traces
of
the banner of certainty,

world.55
would obscure
God
present
in the
their
Admittedly,
the Pensees
must
themselves seem curiously

a scholastic argument
defi
given
cient not
to say insouciant
when viewed
from
an
perspective,
inability
or unwillingness
to
no
marshal
for God's
existence
drawn from
and
nature.
But there is
an
disputing
of
that Pascal understood the world
everything in it to be
of
image
God.56
If he did
not
supply
a natural
his own, this was in part because Descartes had shown him that theology such arguments do not necessarily serve Christianity. In general, he seems to
have thought that ordinary scurity
stances
scholastic arguments
failed to do justice to the sufficiently
ob
of the
subject,
and
that
in
which such efforts
they did not would be most

even apart
attend useful.
to the circum
with
Especially
the
recent
developments in physics, but very hard to

of a proof
"see"
from them, Pascal
expressed
hesita
tions about the properly theological the Biblical
worth of
God,
ordinary natural theology; it is God who hides himself (242/585,

those
most
427/194, 449/556,
463/243). And Pascal

existence are
was convinced that
in
need
see
for God's
least disposed to
appreciate
its force. "I
by liever's]
reason
and experience
that nothing is more suited to arouse [the unbe

religion"
contempt
than the usual proofs for
(781/242;
cf.
3/244,
190/543). To the "more than

to
a
extent that Descartes does engage in
man,"
for his
god tells us
nothing
about
theology, he is indeed our humanity. According
Pascal, we could not possibly make use of such "certainties." The teaching on the heart restores us to our point of departure. For if Carte
utility is useless because it is uncertain, it now appears that his certainty is dubious because it is not useful. Just as the problematic character of the good
sian or goods
Cartesian
science
is
meant
to achieve calls the

Descartes'
utility
of
that science
into question, so, Pascal seems to argue, genuine certainty because it does not properly human
method must
confront the
fail to
reach
being,
and
therewith the divided
heart,
that which
disproportion of the makes all knowledge
Pascal
both
possible and problematic.
on
Certainty
and
Utility
comes
265
to the
Just
as we cannot gain scientific access
good apart sight see
from
a sustained reflection on
the true, so the tme only

good.
into
us
through
a prolonged meditation on
the
The Pensees
would
have
that a science that departs from the human

us
experience of
the human will
divert
from both the
good and
the
tme.57
NOTES
Pensies
sur
la
religion et sur quelques autres
sujets, ed. Louis Lafuma (Paris: Editions du

citations
Luxembourg, 1951),
Lafuma 's
the
vol.
1, Textes, fragment 887. All further

the fragments. For ease
of reference
to the Pensees
will
enumeration of
I have
added
the fragment
number
employ in
Brunschvicg edition (in the present instance, 78). Translations of Pascal are my own. 2. Discours de la mithode, 5th ed. Etienne Gilson (Paris: Librarie philosophique J. Vrin, 1976), 23, 41, 60, 66, 68. That Descartes made Ovid's motto bene vixit bene qui latuit his is
commonly acknowledged, but seldom brought to bear on Cartesian studies; see the letter to Mer senne of April 1634, in Oeuvres (henceforth AT), ed. C. Adam and P. Tannery (Paris: Cerf, 1897-
1913),
vol.
1, 286. For
a more
an
iconoclastic
Descartes'
presentation of
Descartes,"
Caton's "Analytic 273-94. For

Descartes'
History
of
Philosophy: The Case

cf.
of
art of writing consider Hiram Philosophical Forum 12 (1981):
MeditationsT'
scholarly assessment, in Essays on
Descartes'
Louis E. Loeb, "Is There Radical Dissimulation in ed. A. O. Rorty (Berkeley:

"Meditations,"
UCLA Press, 1986), 243-70. David R. Lachterman, The Ethics of Geometry: A Modernity (New York: Routledge, 1989), 1-7, conjectures that the reasons for
about
Genealogy
of
Descartes'
reticence
his
predecessors are not prudential
merely, but
concern
the very substance of his teaching,
i.e., its
modernity.
3. "La
vie
de Monsieur
Pascal,"
in Blaise Pascal, Oeuvres completes,
ed.
Jacques Chevalier
the
see
(Paris: Bibliotheque de la Plerade, 1954), 19. All references to writings of Pascal other than Pensees will be to this edition, and will be cited by page number. For Pascal's art of writing,
Pensies
also
55/111, 91/336, 308/793, 529/105, 532/373, 542/370, 701/9, 737/10, 927/505, 934/460;
lettre,"
persuader,"
"Fragment d'une 525-26, "De l'art de 4. The literature on this question is too extensive to
provides a
sur
594-602.
Descartes (Paris: A. G. Nizet, 1971), Baudin, Etudes historiques et critiques
here. Michel Le Guern, Pascal et brief summary of the debate. Both he and E.
cite
la
philosophie
de Pascal,
vol.
1: Pascal
et
Descartes
(Neuchatel, Switzerland: Editions de la Baconniere, 1946) argue that Pascal was heavily indebted to the philosophy he so openly rejects. Earlier, Leon Brunschvicg had suggested that the disagree ment between the two could be traced to their common debt to Montaigne; cf. Descartes et Pascal: Lecteurs de Montaigne (New York: Brentano, 1944). More recently, and in defense of the view
that the two figures
were
antithetical, is Pierre Magnard's "Descartes inutile
incertain,"
et
Revue
des
sciences philosophiques et thiologiques
75 (1991): 63-80. Magnard

pour
represents
when
he
claims
that
"inutile"
means
"inutile
le
salut."
Descartes'
"uncertainty"
many others is generally
thought to
concern either particular errors
Pascal locates in
once
Descartes'
physics, or the
inability
of
Cartesian
"Doute
science
to deliver the certainty,
et certitude chez
Descartes
Pascal,"
et
"salvation"; see Genevieve Rodis-Lewis, Europe 59, 594 (October 1978): 5-14.
again,
of
revolution
The failure to
appreciate
the scope of
Descartes'
is
not a new phenomenon. one of
Antoine
Arnauld,
one of
Pascal's
warnings
colleagues at
Port Royal
and
subsequently
despite Pascal's
providence"
to the contrary, that
Descartes'
writings were
his editors, believed, "a singular effect of God's late towards irre
serving to
"stop
the dreadful inclination
shown
by
many
persons of
Nadler, Arnauld and the Cartesian Philosophy of Ideas by (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), 30, n. 24. 5. Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A. V. Miller (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977), 355. For Hegel's assessment of Pascal see Introduction to the Lectures on the History of Philosophy, trans. T.M. Knox and A.V. Miller (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), 162-63.
ligion
and
libertinage.''
Cited
Stephen
266
Interpretation
6. Discours de la methode, 8. 7. On the meaning of Augustins Begriff der
"confession"
see
confessio,"
Revue des
Joseph Ratzinger, "Originalitat und Uberlieferung in etudes augustiniennes, 3 (1957): 375-92; Thomas
X,"
in Recapitulations: Essays in Prufer, "Notes for a Reading of Augustine, Confessions, Book Philosophy (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1993), 27-32; Ann Hartle, Death and the Disinterested Spectator (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1986),
85-87.
8. Hans Urs
von
Theological Style:
Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord. A Theological Aesthetics, vol. 3: Studies in trans. Andrew Louth et al. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, Lay Styles,
"Pascal,"
1986), 190. 9. Compare,
e.g., Phaedrus 230a
with
130/420, 477/406.
with
Nature,"
10. Discours de la methode, 61ff., 41, 57; also the "Conversation and see Richard Kennington, "Descartes and the Mastery of
AT 5, 165; Organism, Medicine and
Berman,"
Metaphysics,
thinks that
ed.
11. "Preface
pour
Descartes'
S. F. Spicker (Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel, 1978), 201-23. 400. Notably, Pascal le trait6 du 529-32; "Lettre a M. le defense of the plenum is in its own way a scholastic error.
vide,"
Pailleur,"
12. As A. W. S. Baird
notes
in his Studies in Pascal's Ethics (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff,

.
1975), 13. See

13. For
a
De V esprit giomitrique, 577 list of Pascal's inventions cf. Pierre

also
Humbert, L'Oeuvre
scientifique
de Pascal (Paris:
arithmetique,"
Editions Albin Michel, 1947), 62-66. Rene Taton, "Sur l'invention de la machine in P. Costabel et al., L'Oeuvre scientifique de Pascal (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1964), 207-28, offers a more cautious assessment of Pascal's practical achievements.
14. Discours de la methode, 8, 9-10. 15. See, e.g., Politics 1280al0, 1283a24.
16. Discours de la mithode, 1, 10, 16, 23. 17. Mara Vamos, "Pascal's Pensies and the Enlightenment: the Roots
Misunderstanding,"
of a
Studies
edition,
on
Voltaire
and the
editorial work and
done
by
Pascal's Port Royal

that
Eighteenth Century, 97 (1972): 7-145, provides a valuable study of the editors on the first edition, the deficiencies of that
on
the influence of these defects
the Enlightenment reading of Pascal.

not
18. In Pascal's
defense,
we note
he does
intend to
preach subversion.
He is
aware that
if
such thoughts were made

a move
66/236). In
widely known the existence of all regimes would be imperilled (6/294, reminiscent of Hobbes, he claims that precisely because convention, sustained ordinary human life
we can
by force,
laws
or
is the
apart
great guide to
have
no reason either
to contest existing
resolve
to incite the many to disobedience
(103/298, 525/325). Is
there any way to
this
difficulty,
of
of philosophic
from appealing to the unfinished state of the Pensiesl Pascal was certainly aware irony (260/678, 276/671 , 279/690, 533/331). Given his censure of the Jesuit practice
equivocation,
obedience
however, the law,

one
extent
to
which
he himself
would
have
resorted
to such practices is not
clear
(cf. Lettres provinciates

to the
no.
9, 760-61). We hasten
sanctioned
to add that
he does
on
offer a second argument
for
long
by Christianity
a useful
(cf. 14/138
with
Romans 13:2).
Law,"
19. Discours de la mithode, 22-24. A. J. Review of Politics 46 (1984): 212-43, offers
Beitzinger, "Pascal
Justice, Force,
and
summary of Pascal's political thought. Jacques Maritain, "The Political Ideas of in Ransoming the Time, trans. H. L. Binsse (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1948), that Pascal was a "Christian A more serious difficulty is raised by Leo Strauss, The City and Man (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1964), 18, when, in light of such fragments as 60/294, he
Among
other
things, he
answers the charge made
by
Pascal,"
cynic."
claims that
Pascal "while admitting that there

unassisted man
are
things which are

sin."
by
nature
just
denies that his

case
they
can
be known to
owing to
original
That Strauss
overstated
is
81/299, 148/425, 149/430, 374/475, 402/230, 421/477, 454/619, 482/289, 540/380, 905/385, Lettres provinciales no. 14, 819-32. As these texts indicate, Pascal
suggested
by
the
following
texts:
believed that
actualization
some
knowledge
of
the
by
unassisted man of a
naturally just was indeed available; what he doubted was the truly just political order. In short, those passages in the
Pensies
of a also
257/684;
103.
radically conventionalist hue are not entirely representative of his position. See Phillipe Sellier, Pascal et Saint Augustin (Paris: Librarie Armand Colin 1970) 98-
Pascal
on
Certainty
and
Utility
267
20. Politics 1337b27; Nicomachean Ethics, 1141a22; 1143b20; 1177b25. 21. Natural Right and History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953), 315. Strauss this "the principle of modern political
economy."
calls
Kraus, "Mens humana: res cogitans and the Doctrine of Faculties in Des Philosophy 18 (1986): 1-18. 23. See Jacob Klein, "Modem in Lectures and Essays, ed. Robert B. William son and Elliot Zuckermann (Annapolis, MD.: St. John's College Press, 1985), 58-59; and espe Review of in Soul cially Richard Kennington, "The 'Teaching of
cartes'
22. See Pamela A.

Meditationes,"
International Studies in
Rationalism,"
Nature'
Descartes'
Doctrine,"
Metaphysics 26 (1972): 86-117.
24. Compare Les passions de I'dme

en soi aucune
a.
.
diversity de
ses
parties.
48: "il n'y a en L'erreur qu'on
nous qu'une seule

a
ame,
et cette
ime
n'a
commise en
lui faisant jouer divers
personnages, qui sont ordinairement contraires
les
uns aux autres ne vient que
de
ce qu'on n'a pas
bien distingue
etre
fonctions d'avec de I'dme,
celles
en nous qui repugne a passions aa.
du corps, auquel seul on doit notre (AT 11, 364-65).

raison"
attribuer
tout ce qui
peut
25. Les
48-50, AT 11, 366-70.
26. Compare Discours de la mithode, 61-62 with 139/143, 146/350, 470/404, 638/109. 27. Meditationes de prima philosophia, IV, ATI, 56-62. 28. Descartes
objects; but
orientation
allowing the passions free reign to determine their proper only corrects the course of the passions, it does not call their fundamental into question (Meditationes VI, AT 7, 84-90; Les passions de I'dme aa. 138-48, AT 1 1
also cautions against
reason
,
430-43).
Strauss: Writer
Nietzsche cites approvingly. See Unmodern Observations, Part I: David Confessor, ed. William Smith (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), 46; also 36/164, 414/171, 622/131. 30. Discours de la mithode, 8, 11-12, 31, 39; "Conversations with AT 5, 176. The
observation and
Berman,"
29. An
political
and
theology
of the
Enlightenment has been treated
at
length
in the Thought of Thomas Hobbes (Ithaca: Cornell 31. Discours de la mithode, 27-28.
Modernity
by Robert P. Kraynak in History University Press, 1990).
32. Discours de la mithode, 12-13. 33. Principia philosophiae, Preface to the French edition, AT lib, 20. 34. Us passions de I'dme, aa. 152, 187, 212; AT 11, 445, 470, 488. See G. Kriiger, "Die Herkunft des philosophischen Logos: Internationale Zeitschrift fiir Philoso
Selbstbewusstseins,"
phie
der Kultur 22 (1933) 225-72, esp. 251-61; Political Philosophy, 2d. ed., ed. Leo Strauss
and
Richard Kennington, History of and Joseph Cropsey (Chicago: Rand McNally, in the
mouth of an
"Descartes,"
1972), 395-414,
esp.
406-9. fragment 427/194

the
vacuum
character of
35. Hence the

ridiculous?"
long
puts similar words

make
interlocutor. See
and more
958/75 "What is there Pascal. A
about
that could
them fear? What could
be baser
On the dramatic
Pascal's
rhetoric consider
"Provinciales''
P.
Topliss, The Rhetoric of

"Pensies''
Study of His Art of Persuasion in the Leicester University Press, 1966), esp. 274-304. Balthasar,
and the
(Leicester:
The
Glory
observes that
"[t]he spatially infinite is for him a pointer (which even 36. Cf. J. H. Broome, Pascal (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1965), 76-77; 28/436, 75/389, 76/73, 119/423, 149/430, 401/437, 427/194, 905/385. 37. Richard Kennington, "The
of the Lord, 2, the dim-witted can
94-95, 2/227,
grasp)."
and
'Teaching
212.
ed.
Nature'
of
in
Descartes'
Soul
Doctrine,"
116; "Des
cartes and the
Mastery
ad
Nature,"
of
38. Regulae
directionem ingenii,
Descartes'
1966), 3-21;
The Thematic
also
Discours de la mithode,
Regulae,"
18-22;
Giovanni Crapulli (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, and see Pamela A. Kraus, '"Whole Method':
Unity
of
Modern Schoolman 63 (1986): 83-109.
39. Regulae, 2-3, 40-45. Pascal," in Mithodes chez 40. On fragment 513 cf. Buford Norman, "L'idee de regie chez Pascal: Actes du colloque tenu a Clermont-Ferrand 10-13 juin 1976 (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1979), 87-99; also Thomas More Harrington, Veriti Pascal (Paris: J. Vrin, 1972), 82. 41. On
"experience"
et methode
dans le
"Pensies"
de
see
111/339, 125/92, 128/396, 365/496, 403/174, 427/194, but especially
268
Interpretation
pour
"Preface
le
traite' vide,"
du
530, 535. A. W. S. Baird,

overstates
who provides an otherwise excellent
discussion
and
of
Pascal's
views on
nature,
the tension between Pascal's experimentalism

of
his desire for demonstrative

Knowledge,"
arguments.
Consider his "Inconsistencies in Pascal's Conception

and
Scientific
Aumla 24 (1965):
220-38;
I'
"Pascal's Idea
297-320. In fact, it is
cal
clear even
from De
esprit giomitrique
Isis 61 (1970): that for Pascal science is hypotheti

of
Nature,"
through
and
through.
For
an
invaluable treatment
also
of this and related and
Glory
of the
Lord, 2, 188-95. See
Strauss, Natural Right
themes see Balthasar, The History, 122-26, for a discus
sion of
the Socratic approach to part and whole, an approach Pascal

Saci,"
here
emulates.
573-74. 42. This is especially evident in "L'entretien avec M. de 43. On Pascal's reckoning, this middle way perdures even in the life of faith (cf. 926/582). Had Erich Przywara considered that fragment he might not have described Pascal's theological
position as
and
and
in his otherwise suggestive "St. Augustine "epistemological [i.e., Cartesian] World," in M. C. D'Arcy, et al., A Monument to Saint Augustine (London: Sheed the Modern Ward, 1945): 249-58.
scholars
at
Jansenism"
have occasionally noticed, Descartes himself advises his readers to read his level, as a piece of fiction: Discours de la methode, 4, 42 and Principia, AT 1 lb, 12. "Preface to the French 44. As
work,
least
on one
Edition,"
45. See the "Reponse

also
au
tres bon reverend pere
Noel,"
373-76; "Lettre 313-16;

also
M. Le
Pailleur,"
387;
161/221.
points out
n.
46. As Baird
the
in his "Pascal's Idea
Nature,"
of
Balthasar, The Glory of

remarks on
Lord, 2, 190,
55. how
mathe
matical
47. De V esprit giomitrique, 587-92, also advances some suggestive kinds are to be conceived as both discrete and continuous.
48. See Jacob
and
Lectures
in Klein, "The Concept of Number in Greek Mathematics and Pascal's understanding of Essays, 43-52, for a brief statement on "eidetic mathematics is discussed by Leon Brunschvicg in his Blaise Pascal (Paris: J. Vrin, 1953), 127-58. Cf. also Jean Guitton, Pascal et Leibniz. Etude sur deux types de penseurs (Paris: Aubier, 1951), 29-60. Ren6 Taton notes in "L'oeuvre de Pascal en g6omerrie 49, that in the Traiti des sections coniques, known to us through extracts and through a summary by Leibniz, Pascal
numbers." projective,''
Philosophy,"
Desargues'
successfully employs by Descartes by other

49. I do
of noetic not mean
means
geometry to in his Giomitrie.

projective
solve the same
"Pappus
problem"
tackled
to
imply
that Pascal's
teaching
on
the heart
I'
fully
restores
the
ancient
theory
are we
"heart"
he has written, the argument here is undeveloped. Nor claiming that his vocabulary is entirely consistent. In De esprit giomitrique, for example, appears to have a somewhat more restricted meaning than in the Pensies; cf. 592-94.
so much else
intuition. Like
50. Regulae 7-8, 19, 22, 28, 37, 47,
51-58, 57; Discours de la
mithode,
33, 38; Medita
further difference between Pascal and Descartes on the question of argues for the separation of intuition from sensation and especially imagination, Pascal "expressly affirms that self-evident principles or axioms can derive from either the senses or the reason ("Inconsistencies in Pascal's Conception of Scientific 223).
a
"intuitive"
tiones, IV, AT 1, 58-59. 51. Baird points out
knowledge. Whereas Descartes
Knowledge,"
52. 15, 18, 22ff., 41, 60; AT Vn, 58ff. See Hiram Caton, "Will and Reason in Journal of Philosophy 72 (1975): 87-104. Theory of 53. Cf. 21/381, 558/114. Even the definitive correction of the heart's wayward tendencies, which comes from and which Pascal, following St. Paul,
Descartes'
Error,"
"above,"
Deuteronomy,
calls
"circumcision
of
the
heart"
following Jeremiah, following (268/683, 270/670, 288/689, 453/610), does not
eliminate all obscurities.
54. The theme has

preuves m&aphysiques
most recently been treated in Vincent Carraud, "Le refus Pascalien des de 1 'existence de Dieu," Revue des sciences philosophiques et thiologiques attitudes
75 (1991):
tence de
Dieu,"
19-45, and Francis Kaplan "Deux ibid., 81-95.
face
au probleme philosophique
de
l'exis-
Pascal
55. Note that
world.
"intentions."
on
Certainty
from
and
Utility
269
the
Descartes'
"proofs"
various
mechanism and
never proceed
some order perceived within nature expresses no
The turn to
away from teleology implies that

Pener,"
divine
tien avec M. de
56. See 934/580; "Lettre UI Saci," 571. 57. I

am grateful
Mme.
484; "Lettre V
Mile, de
Roannez,"
51;
"Entre-
to
Robert Kraynak, Jean DeGroot,

of this essay.
and above all
Thomas Prufer for their
comments on earlier
drafts
Discussion
Strengthening
Social Contract
Theory
Yale Uni
Jeffrey Reiman, Justice and Modern Moral Philosophy (New Haven: versity Press, 1992), xiv & 322 pp., $35.00 cloth, $16.00 paper.
Will Morrisey
Instability bedevils modem moral philosophy. Whereas Aristotle lends no bility to materialism, ballast to religions, Machiavelli debases the one and poi
sons the
other,
yet ends
in
self-deification.
Machiavelli's morality
offers
the
moral
yoked to overweening ambition. In modem philosophizing every Hobbes has his Rousseau, every Hume his Kant, every Hegel his Marx, every Schopenhauer his Nietzsche. With contradictions so acute, syntheses need to be jerrybuilt in unending succession, as hopes for spectacle of reductive
salvation chase an
'realism'
ever-receding horizon
shares
'growth.'
called materialist naturalism and of of
Jeffrey
Reiman
philosophers'
the
modem
political atheism.
He
rejects
the irrationalism
the modems who come after
Marx, insisting
that "the
most
important truths
of
the natural reasoning faculties
human
beings"
morality can be identified by (p. ix). Without rationalism,
"right becomes indistinguishable from

salvific at
might,"
one synthesis that cannot

portion of
be
least for
morality.
Justice is the
morality that morality
entails
requirements, obligatory
force; it
therefore both undergirds and enjoys primacy
among "other
the
ideals"
moral
(p. ix).
Morality binds;
a
rational
replaces
binding
that
s
is
religion.
Reiman'
investigations discover
one well worth
tougher
and
version
of
Rawlsian
social
contract
theory,
of
considering
far
superior
to many of its
'idealistic'
now-fashionable competitors
relativism, the airier

of
distortions
Marx
and
democratic distortion
not
Kantianisms, Nietzsche, pragmatisms dap
pled and motley.
Reiman's theory is
and are not
depend"
free
of
problems, but these issue from
modernism
itself
"[A]ll
moralities
easy to overcome. upon the difference between might and
right; "if
around"
know that the very project of trying to get we cannot know this, our fellows to act morally is anything more than just pushing people (p. 1). Subjugation is pushing people around, "any case in which the judgment
then we cannot
of one person prevails over the
contrary judgment
of another
simply because it
1994-95, Vol. 22, No. 2
272
Interpretation
should"
can and
thus
without adequate
justification for
believing
it
(p. 2). Such
justification
in the in
of end
can only come from reason. Unreasonable beliefs can do nothing but fight it out, appeal to might (if in the guise of providence). The elimination of subjugation is "the inner wisdom of the social contract tradition
thinking"
moral
(p.
2),
tradition requiring
government
by
consent
instead
by Accordingly,
and
force be
fraud. justice is "the for

all
would
reasonable
regulating behavior that it human beings to accept to best protect themselves

set of principles
against
the threat
of subjugation each poses
to the
others"
(p. 4). Natural justice
applies always and everywhere
human beings exist,
whether or not
they belong
to the same
civil
society;
social
justice
applies wherever people work cooper
atively to
restraint
produce
self-restraint and social restraint
benefits. Justice in both forms requires, involves reasons for in circumstances when desires con
arises on
flict. The
need
for justice
the
grounds
so
forcefully
described
by
Hobbes: Different individuals have conflicting desires and judgments; they act to execute those desires and judgments; therefore, they need a set of principles
upon which
they
can
agree, for
safety's sake.
"What they do
not
differ in
is their desire to live according to their judgments, no matter how different"; "only appeal to the principles that it would be reasonable for all to adopt as
protection against
having
their
judgments thwarted
can answer
the call for justi

with
fication
horizon
subjugation"
and
thus overcome the suspicion of thought generally, this line of reasoning
(p. 6). As
will
'early
the
modem'
moral of
hold,
within
the moral
tradition,
so
long
as
thinkers do not propose a more ambi

coexistence"
tious moral program whereby personal safety or "peaceful
(p. 7)
begins to
seem a poor substitute
for the
radical
transformation of human nature,

right,"
collectively (Marx) or in certain individuals (Nietzsche). In "polic[ing] the border between might and justice's "task is to de
termine the things that
can
be done in the
a
beliefs"
name of other moral

way"
(p. 8). only

the
"Only
reason can require
in
nonsubjugating
(p.
8);
reason
is
not
logic, "the capacity
to make correct inferences from
propositions,"
it is
also
ability "to size up facts for what they are and what they imply, and to identify the best means to some end, and, in general, to. distinguish what we should believe from what we merely do believe" (p. 9). What we call a free or nonsubjugated
an act
is "the capacity to reason about how one should act and to perform because this reasoning indicates that this action is what one should
will
do"
(p. 10). Justice

this
provides
the
foundation
of all
further
moral reasoning.
Without
foundation,
as seen
social contract
theory floats in
Rawls.
the air and can be made to
crash
in the many
refutations of
Justice
as reason's answer
,
to subjugation is unique as a contractarian

we
[Reiman observes] because

situation as an
theory
do
not start
by characterizing
back to
current
start
the
imaginary
place and then work
contracting reality [as seen in

current
modern moral philosophers
from Hobbes to Rawls]. We
from
reality
Strengthening
and
Social Contact
from the
Theory
13)
213
derive the features
of the
contracting
situation
conditions
necessary to
pose
the question of whether subjugation is occurring
currently.
(P.
The
problem of subjugation entails recognition of

morality"
the "subterranean
sight of
political
dimension
of
(p. 14). Reiman
never
loses
the need
for indi
vidual and political
liberty,
neither of which
which
implies
anarchy.
"A true morality
spells out
the conditions under
human
beings"
(p. 14). To Reiman,

assent,
as to
human beings may rightly govern other the American founders, consent al
to
ways means reasoned
assent to coherent conceptual constraints and
the
physical constraints
derived from them.

of modem moral
with
Reiman believes Descartes to be the founder

the thinker
who replaced
philosophy,
the "I
am"
of the
Biblical God
the human "I
think,
therefore I thinker's
am."
Cartesian doubt
Descartes'
replaces
faith,
as
"his
own reason
be
not
comes a
highest
authority"
(p. 25). Perhaps because Reiman does

predecessor, he does
not see
acknowledge
Machiavelli
as
that Carte
as
sian method replaces with
human doubt
not so much with authoritative
discovery
Godlike production, a willful quasi-creation known because the creator best knows and best rules his own creation. This is so to speak the princely or tyrannical aspect of modem moral philosophy, and it gives modernity its hardedged carapace as
distinguished from its
soft and wellfed underbelly.
Be this
to rational
as
it may, Reiman understands Cartesian method as primarily a road assent. Modem social contract theory, inaugurated by Hobbes, at
this principle of rational assent to politics (p. 27). The problem
a sovereign
tempts to
with
bring
Hobbes's theory is its recourse to to the rational judgment of his

sovereign thus vitiated
"whose
power
is
not subject
subjects"
becomes
recourse
a remnant of
(p. 32). Locke's objection, that the the state of nature, an agent of war, is
a recourse
by
bis
to
Christianity,
be
a sincere
"reliance
the
revelation"
on
35). This is
not
place
to squabble
of
Reiman overhastily takes to invalidated by Descartes (p. previously with Reiman's Locke scholarship; suffice
it to say that the image

such scholars as
the pious Locke

and
Robert Horwitz
has been seriously questioned by Nathan Tarcov. The more important ques
tion for
course?
our purposes
here is to ask,
Why did
Locke have
need
for
such re
and pious of
If he merely wanted to guard himself against attacks by the powerful his day (he was not entirely successful), then what does this need
(and his middling success in meeting it) tell us not only of his own historical circumstance but of political circumstances always and everywhere? Could it be
that
rationalism
in
politics
has distinct
practical
limits,
of all
that political atheism to the atheist? Or did

self-preserva
therefore has
some serious
disadvantages,
not
least
to
Locke intend something tion? Could he have viewed
more
by
his
recourse
Christianity than
likelihood
with skepticism
the
of a general enlight
His plans for educating the class of plans for educating others: temporary expedient and his from differed gentry first step on the road to universal enlightenment, or permanent arrangement?
enment or popular political rationalism?
274
Interpretation
method
Because he takes Cartesian
to be a
means of
discovery,
philosophy
natural
not of will aims at an
ful production, Reiman can assume that impersonal moral authority independent
is the
state of moral
modem moral
of
the one
who makes
moral asser
context"
tions. His equivalent of the state of nature
he
calls
it "the
doubt,
of
"doubt[ing]
the validity of claims to moral au
thority"
extent of
(p. 42). He distinguishes very sharply between might and right to the distinguishing moral duties or requirements from moral recommenda
example of a moral recommendation
tions. An
is, 'Be
courageous!'
an
imper
ative that cannot
be strictly
binding
because its
enforcement would undermine

overlooks
'force'
its very
nature as
cative role
rationally willed risk-taking. This that force often plays, however. Rigors
the
reverse
the morally edu
courage
(or
cowar
adage, "Power shows the dice) If your family or country is endangered, is courage not a duty? Sensitive to the moral dimension of political liberty, and far from heedless of the moral
out of people side of
the
old
man."
dimensions
This
of
restraint,
including
political
restraint, Reiman is uneasy
with the
moral underpinnings of
comes
(immediately)
nonmoral acts such as physical restraint.
accept
from his thoroughgoing moral rationalism, his habituation as a valid moral enterprise.
the
stalwart refusal
to
...
Cartesian
challenge seems to
hurl
us
into
an endless circle:
We
need
authority because we cannot depend on people's rational judgments [as in the Hobbesian state of nature], and we can only depend on political authority as if
political
it is
subject to people's rational

on people's rational
judgment. The way

upon
out
lies in showing that
we can
depend
judgments to hit
the structure of valid moral
authority.
(P.
35)
ground'
There is
the
Tow but
solid
that is
also
underlie a workable social contract consented
fully rational, a ground that will to by all. Cartesianism requires
ascent
sweeping away of all habits, opinions, and conventions, not the rational from them. Cartesianism distrusts habits, opinions, and conventions as
sources of rational
whether political or
thought,
albeit
imperfect
sources.
The
modem
founding,
'intellectual,'
requires a tabula rasa upon which to con
struct new modes and orders. project and
Reiman may
underestimate the willfulness of this
therefore overestimate its rationality.
Consider, for example, his own recourse to existentialism. Reiman takes it as fact that human beings have foreknowledge of their own eventual deaths and that this knowledge "transforms living into a life" that is, requires us to distin
a
guish
between
living
well and
living
on
poorly, goads
the other
us
to live a life that "com

of course
pensates
for the
endless
darkness
side"
(p. 43). This is
the Aristotelian distinction between totle filtered through Heidegger
mere
life
and the good
life. But it is Aris
and somewhat
the worse for the strain. Andr6
Malraux,
senses,
poignant
who spent
his life thinking
about
concluded that the question of
the meaning
if
man were
immortal,
although
death in its variety of occasions and of life would be no less death does give the question some
Strengthening
urgency. novel
Social Contact
Theory
most
275
Life,
not
death,
poses
the
question.
Malraux borrows his
famous
title, La
about
condition
individuality
ral
and reason
(as defined
live"
humaine, from Montaigne and Pascal; not death but broadly by Reiman) account for the "natu
possession
fact
human beings": their
of a
"sovereign
interest"
in
"liv[ing]
reason.
tarism that now gets
life they want to (p. 49). Notice the typically modem volun into Reiman 's teaching, which had subordinated the will to Mistakes in identifying one's sovereign interest are not objective but
the
only incorrect predictions about what will best satisfy the person as judge of his own desires and author of his actions. "[C]oerced actions cannot really serve (p. 53). my sovereign interest unless I come to embrace them as my
own"
Evidently, reason can identify justice, the moral condition of the rest of moral ity, but it cannot identify a hierarchy of ends consonant with a human nature or and way of life. Citing Aristotle, Reiman declares that "reasoning is being (p. 57), that the sovereign interest is the that that "reasoning is our commands our (p. 58), the core of subjectivity, the fact that "spans
free" being" "is"
"oughts"
the
fact-value
divide"
outside of social and
(p. 18). Because this reasoning is political life (thanks to the Cartesian
so
to speak situated that

requires
method
the mental elimination of conventions and opinions),

of
human
nature
is foundational
only.
conformity to reason, not violation of reason's authority is limited to an egalitarian
it"
however, the rationality "As the Greeks well knew, freedom is (pp. 70-71), but the natural scope of
guard against
interest"
subjugation,
against
"limit[ing]
and
people
in the
pursuit of
their sovereign
limited externally only by the requirement resulting from it do not interfere with the sovereign interests
senses the problem
(p. 72), self-defined that its definition and the actions

of others.
Reiman
wisdom,
here, adding that the Platonic and justice) "amount to the conditions
desires"
virtues
. .
(courage,
moderation,
everyone
that best enable
to lead the life he judges that he
(p. 82). But this may be
rather more
who
ambitious, because
not expect a polis
more
egalitarian, than the formulation in
Plato,
does
full
of such prodigies of moral achievement.
Reiman's
victim of
egalitarian optimism own
is
at
the center of
his
critique of
Hobbes,
the
his
"assumption
Hobbes'
the war
of all against all.
"[W]e
can undermine
(p. 87), resulting in This assumption, Reiman contends, is self-fulfilling. argument if we can replace the assumption of
of natural moral
agreement"
discord"
natural moral
discord
with
that of
natural moral
(p.
88)
roughly,
Rousseau's project, but

reason provides
with reasonableness potential solution
substituting for
candidates
compassion.
Only
both the
to conflicting moral assertions and the sentiment of

as
the
rigor of requirement
morality
needs.
Other
benevolence,
a means
call all
the
greatest good of
the greatest number, the
desire for justice
to happiness
or the perfection of
the individual's
natural
capacities, the
for
collective self-interest, and
the Kantian criterion of
lack teeth.
They
cannot require anyone
to desire
what
universalizability he does not imme
diately
desire (and
so prevent
cheating
around
the edges).
Or, in
the case
of
Aristotelian perfectionism, it
presumes a
well-articulated, stable human nature
276
Interpretation
not
that does
exist; human
tial purposes or
self-chosen and
beings, in Reiman 's view, simply do not have essen functions, only reason, which is instrumental to individual's
sovereign
defined
interests. Kantian universalizability is

a philosopher could
even
flimsier: ".
a
thing"
[A]s if
guilt at
mitting (p. 112).
logical
self-contradiction.
immorality Only
were no more than regret over com
believe
such a
The reasoning that constitutes morality is recognizes the fact of the sovereign interest
cognitive
more
than
not
by
logic. Moral reasoning logical analysis but by the

into
other
(not sentimental)
one
act of
imagining
oneself
even
human subjects,
is
reason's pas
other
equally interest differs from

sion"
all of which
share a sovereign
interest
if
each particular sovereign
human
subject to another.
"Morality
(p.
113),
that
is,
a rational eros
that enables us to enter

ourselves
into
human
"The in
an
subjects and
know them to be beings like
in this
crucial respect.
plurality
person
of persons
implies that there

with
are
facts
one can
only
comprehend
undistorted
way
by identifying
of other
experiences"
human
by imaginatively having the "firstsubjects, by "feeling the sovereignty of the

reasonable
them,"
interest"
other person's sovereign
(p. 1 15). To be
involves logic
whose
and
"acting
the
pation
as
far
as
can
in light
can
of
the real nature of the
facts,"
nature, in
case of
"respect"
only be approached through imaginative partici in their subjectivity (p. 116). Reiman calls this act of moral reasoning (p. 116). It is a democratic or egalitarian argument: human
beings,
Those who, like Nietzsche, think that without God there is no morality fail to see that without God there is still human reason. Without the judge, the jury of peers
remains.
(P. 118)
But
say,
without
a
God
or a natural
hierarchy, how
of
might one skulls
jury
of peers and a peer?
jury
pears, that
is,
full
distinguish between, of mush that judge in

Reiman'
Socrates to be their
why
should
More pertinently because this imaginative identification with
more
others'
sovereign
s terms, interests an
one's own
identification that, Reiman quickly remarks, does not make those interests "make me want to act in light of what matters to us (p. 118)? "I endorse the ends of others for them just beyond the boundary of my own of my own sovereign interest (pp. limiting "the imperious 119-20). But why does this induce me to approve of their claims or, for that matter, my own? Why is the "natural equality of all human seen in
both"
ends," claims"
subjects"
the "equal urgency of
(p. 120)? Contentless urgency may not much impress me, particularly if I concede in advance that the various contents are unjudgeable, except insofar as they
with which
all
the sovereign
interests
identify"
might
tend to subjugate others.
"Endorsing
right"
the truths of
others'
personal
am
imper
of of
atives
want
is endorsing the truth
of moral
(p. 124): Yes, but
not
likely to
something more than an assurance that moral something so indefinite as the results obtained by
right exists
in the form
perceiving the universality
moral urgency?
Strengthening
With this
salizability.
Social Contact
Theory
277
argument
Given the
nature of
in hand, Reiman revives Kant's criterion of univer human beings as ends-in-themselves, embodi
ments of particular sovereign
interests, it
now makes sense
to say that the test
of
duty is
whether
the maxim of our
action can
be
stated as a universal
law
without self-contradiction.
am quite sure
that Kant's categorical imperative
cannot
be redeemed,
even with
Reiman 's
proviso.
It is
of course
tme that the
maxim, "Thou shalt not
steal,"
is
perfectly
universalizable maxim.
Unfor
tunately,
so
is
the
maxim, "Thou
steal."
shalt
Reiman
argues
that to permit
stealing would be to permit others to steal from me, and this "would bring my will into contradiction with itself (p. 134). Not at all. To say, "Thou shalt
steal,"
is
not
to say, "Thou shalt prevent others from stealing from to rival the highest flights of communist
morality:
thyself."
Rather, it is
steal."
"From
each
to
according to his inability to protect his property, to each according to his ability I have heard that cadets at one of the American military academies
one another's of
routinely steal lized imitation
hats,
and
have
great sport at
it
perhaps a civi
the plunderings Spartan boys
were encouraged
to undertake.
Without endorsing Nietzsche's suggestions that the war of all against all might be a great and species-improving joy, one can say that it could surely be a
logically
consistent
one, especially
much so:
interests. Perhaps too

them,"
unanimity Reiman says, "One
given
of respect
for
sovereign
can respect one's adver
having sympathy for their ends or actively for the other to promote his ends rather than adopting by "making way by actively promoting them oneself (p. 136). But if the ends of the other make him my enemy, why should I make way? And if his ends are innocuous, why
saries or even one's enemies without
would
he be my enemy,
or
or even
my
adversary?
his"
"[Rjespect is
a certain
honor
paid
to the other's values because
they
are
(p. 136).
Why
is this
a reason
"value"
to respect
honor
something?
Why does
the
mere possession of a
require anyone to
honor it
even
the possessor? those principles all individuals would
The
social contract consists of
be
rea
sonable to
accept,
not all
those
they do in fact
the
accept.
The
social contract
therefore limits
our actions
"at that
point at which all can pursue same
their sovereign
interests to the
42). It
ends,"
maximum compatible with
for
everyone"
(pp.
141 of
enables
human beings to
union
establish what
Kant
calls the
"kingdom
laws"
"the
systematic
of rational
beings through
common
(p.
144). The Golden Rule in
either
its
negative or positive
morality"
universally Hobbesian
placed"
accepted
challenge:
test of
The trust
thing. It
upon of
formulation is "a nearly (p. 147), and this fact "answers the which human society is based is wellReiman's ripostes, only
more a philosopher on
(p. 153). To borrow

such a
one
could
believe
is surely
likely
that social trust rests
natural needs
man
for child-rearing, food-gathering,

rather
and self-defense
from
other
hu
societies,
than on some
maxim of
morality that
name of
real people
too often
admire
from
afar.
This
abstraction
from
nature
(albeit in the
nature) leads Reiman to
278
Interpretation
of
overemphasize
liberty. This may be seen in his description five "principles of natural (p. 157), "compatible
justice"
the first of
his
liberty."
Compatible degree
of
liberty liberty
once
combines noninterference
each allows
in
others
the same
he
wants
for himself
with self-defense against violations of noninter
ference. One
might suppose
this prohibits abortion, inasmuch as adults,

cannot
having
But,
as
been bom themselves,

emphasized of
consistently
deny
that
right to
others.
having
the
the
possession of a consciously-held sovereign
interest
foundation
of
morality, Reiman
awareness"
their own lives
fems 's life is
not and cannot
(p. 166); it has arrived at no Consistent with this, Reiman admits that infants too have no "natural moral life" right to (p. 169), although in their case he generously hastens to think of
some social reasons not to allow them
argues that only those who have a "caring enjoy the right to life (p. 165). "The loss of the be a loss of something that matters to the sovereign interest and is therefore not a person.
fetus"
to be killed. To claim that a human life
is
valuable
because
an
individual
would
embodies certain valuable
gues,
ad
will not
do. We then
not
have to increase the but

individual
of
number of
traits, Reiman ar human lives

sexual absti
infinitum, banning
We
only
abortion
contraception and
nence.
also could replace an

with no protection.
with one of equal
value,
leaving
individuals
Neither
as
these contradictory arguments with that the mass proliferation of
stands a moment's
examination,
it is
obvious
human beings
way to
also
would result
in deaths
sooner or
later,
and
there is no precise
establish
that any one human
advocates euthanasia
for
recalling the fact that fetuses therefore might well not be treated like those
Reiman'
being is of equal value to another. Reiman "the irretrievably (p. 169), a point and infants are not irretrievably comatose and
comatose"
who are.
s realistic.
treatment of the
other
four
principles of natural
justice
are more
"Private ownership
of
the
body
is the
liberalism"
nerve of
hence
liberals'
of privacy.
long
as
rejection of sumptuary laws, corporal punishment, and Of external things, possessions supporting the needs of the body, as those things do not injure bodies, are justly protected. The
others'
(p. 171); invasions
principle of trustworthiness
ereign
vent
is
essential
to enabling everyone to pursue his sov
lie to an evildoer in order to pre him from violating the sovereign interests of the innocent. The principle of intergenerational solicitude, obligating us to care for the young and the old,
although permissible to
interest,
it is
rests on our
old age.
debt to those
who cared
for
us
in It
childhood and will care
for
us
in
Finally,
and most
impressively, Reiman describes

retributivist.
combines
the principle of just

with
punishment,
which
is sternly
the lex talionis
deterrence. No
done
unto you.
sentimental
enforcement arm of the
humanitarian, Reiman calls the lex talionis "the law Golden (p. 195) doing unto others as they have
Rule"
Only
retribution
"can
restore
lasting relations of mutual
respect"
between the
by annulling "the criminal's assertion his subjugation of "his (pp. 193-94). authority Social justice poses difficulties that parallel those of natural justice.
criminal and victim
over" victim"
his
of
Society
Strengthening
consists of a set of which
Social Contact
Theory
279
legal, political, and economic structures, "channels into individual] must fit his normally rationally self-interested (p. 214). These are forms of force, and therefore to be suspected of subjuga
[the
tion.
agree
behavior"
Just
social structures are
those "it
would
be
reasonable
for
all people
to
to in the natural
context"
(p. 213). human beings have the ability

con
Social
contractarianism assumes that
sciously
goals"
to change society. This assumption comports with the modem opinion
that "all of nature
[is]
a great machine
to
be
made over
in the
service of
human
not
(p. 226). Cartesian
method applies
to society, and
with
reform
begins
with
thought about existing institutions but
thought that escapes these
in
stitutions:
exposing
about
society-as-second-nature as conventional and
changeable,
a
then
thinking
how
natural
justice
can
best be brought into
social
context.
Natural justice
cannot
be
'socialized'
intact. The
Any
social contract
legislates
a social
for
a particular
society,
not all mankind.
restrictions
imposed
by
contract will go
beyond those
the
of natural
justice, but,
be
to be
just,
restrictions
must compensate citizens with
benefits
not available
in the
state of nature.
The
negative
liberty
of
of
natural condition will
supplemented
by
the positive
liberties
the
social condition.
Reiman
concentrates on economic
structures, evidently regarding the best

most
legal
and political structure to
be, in
instances, "constitutionally limited

avail some
majoritarianism"
(p.
236)
of one sort or another.
able economic structures much
He finds the currently less satisfactory and discusses them at
length. Neither contemporary capitalism nor contemporary socialism comes sufficiently close to natural justice and avoids subjugation. His "labor theory of
value"
moral
states that
"economic distributions
should
first be
considered nei
ther as
gone
distributions of goods or money but as distributions of the labor that has into producing those goods, to which money then gives the bearer (p. 244). The moral dimension here is that labor is "life itself (p. 246),
title"
spent"
and
therefore a
offers
major element of each of
individual's
sovereign
not
interest. Capital
practice
ism
freedom
commodity
exchange
but does
in
liberate
state
individuals from subjugating

socialism.
social relations.
Neither, in
socialism
practice, has
Capitalism is Marx himself

the
"unprecedentedly
admits
liberating"
in the
struggle against
much
nature,
as
(p. 257). State
has been
less
impressive, fouling
poorer services.
are
environment more while
Socialism
would
be
superior
producing fewer goods and to capitalism "if and when people
actually
capable of
public control of private
controlling their political agencies so effectively that property does not become a means of worse oppression than
'participatory'
control"
(p. 257). Reiman accordingly

than now exists
endorses a more
form
of
democracy
weakens
anywhere.
This
again comports with
his
Enlightenment
Reiman
egalitarianism.
his
argument on economics
value'
theory
of
'surplus
(pp. 248-49),
which
accepting Marx's absurd claims, in effect, that capitalists
by
280
do
Interpretation
labor
and which
not
ignores the
experience embodied
in business
structures
and practices
followed
to
by
capitalists.
Precisely
these
structures and practices
enable capitalism
work
better than less
state socialism.
To his credit, Reiman

Reiman
conceives as a
leaves it
open as
to
whether a
coercive economic system could exist.
All existing modified form
systems
fall
short of social
justice,
which
of
John Rawls's "difference inequalities

are
principle."
The difference
principle
holds that any social least advantaged. "An

cannot
be improved
inequality by increasing
into
justified only insofar as they benefit the is only justified if the shares of the worst off
it"
(p. 262). The difference

veil of
principle wins
consent asks us
by
Rawls's famous thought-experiment, "the

an
ignorance,"
which
which we
to imagine ourselves
"original
condition"
in
do
not
know
what our own
convictions, abilities,
and class will we will
be
within civil
society;
without
own survival
knowing by positing
Rawls's
these
things, Rawls claims,

the difference
prudently
guarantee our
principle as
the
sine qua non
for
enter
ing
society.
argument
falls
victim
to the obvious
objection
that it as
sumes each wouldbe contractor
to be rather a mouse,
timidly protecting himself

of
against
the
worst
while
eschewing the possibility

structure.
becoming top dog in
hierarchic
winning the stake and The late Allan Bloom laughed that
Rawls has formulated
first philosophy for the Last Man. Reiman sees the point and avoids it by ruling out gambling in the original condition, on the grounds that gambling "undermines the capacity of the con
a
subjugation,"
tract to
reason moral
yield principles
that
exclude
which
is itself
excluded
by
of
(p. 272).
Adding
the prohibition against gambling to
his labor theory
value, Reiman redeems Rawls's theory from its fuzzy The labor theory of moral value helps to accomplish this end
that not all labor is created
equal:
egalitarianism.
by
recognizing
as
Some
people are more
talented,
more produc
tive,
than others, and
they
are entitled
to greater rewards, so
long
the re
wards
they
earn also result
in
a net advantage
to their inferiors. That
is,
productive
individual may require from the less productive a greater amount of labor in exchange for more goods. This will satisfy the less productive person,
not subjugate
him, if he
receives more goods
from the
productive a
individual
situa
than he did before. As economists

tion. It
and politicians
say, it is
'win-win'
differs from the free
market exchanges of capitalism
in that it
permits
only the smallest incentive (return in labor) to the more productive that pro duces a benefit (return in goods) for the less productive. The revised difference principle is "neutral between capitalism, socialism, and communism"; which
ever
is just
at a given
time
and place will
depend
upon
the
degree to
which a
society has triumphed over scarcity. Politically, the issue turns on the degree to which a society has triumphed over subjugating hierarchies, the degree to
which each citizen's share
in sovereignty (of
not
which wealth
is
one
element) has
been
maximized.
Despite these
mot.
improvements, it is hard
to
hear the
echo of
Allan Bloom's
Reiman concludes, "I
am convinced
that
eventually
the worldview of
Strengthening
natural science will
Social Contact
that
Theory
28 1
re
be
ontology,"
accepted as a complete
is, "a fully
ductive
materialism"
will prevail
(p. 309). As for
a major
view,"
Reiman
people
gives
it
what
he takes to be its due: The Jews

nature, "selected because the
possession of political
competing are indeed
"world-
'chosen'
'chosen'
by
survival value of
power"
mutual
trust is greater even than the

can sustain reverence
(p. 311).
Naturalism
if
we
identify
"the
sacred"
with
the omnipres
ent and omnipotent
"natural
universe
itself (p. 312). But if
materialism
is tme,
is the tme survivalism, does this not tend to between might and right by making right merely a
and trust
might?
collapse more
the distinction
And if
we are
to
believe the
natural universe
cunning form of sacred, does this not mean
that, given the Second Law of Thermodynamics, God is dying? Nietzsche's insistence that God is dead will then be followed by Malraux's insistence that
man
is
dead,
of
or
dying. Both
moral
judge
and moral
jury
are
out,
or on the
way
out,
a process
surely hastened
cosmos even as
by
it
a political egalitarianism that mimics the
entropy
calls
respect.
the
claims
to be mastering
not
nature
a nature
it
"sacred."
Spinoza is
more
consistent; he does
traffic in reverence or
Ontology
and
aside, Professor Reiman has

social contract
written with considerable
intelligence
partic
care, refurbishing
theory
at a
time
when
rationality,
ularly the concept of
and out of academia.
Hobbes,
men
and some
in by posturing It is refreshing to hear some kind words for Descartes, of the other great founders of modem moral philosophy,
reasoned pilloried
assent, is
opportunists
far
superior to their supposed critics

are
If there
some problems with the project the
(and unwitting successors) of today. first modems founded, the
necessary
and much
ameliorations
may have to
modem
come
from
sources other
than
less from
of
so-called postmodems.
moral
Reiman has
'idealism'
performed
a most
themselves, the impor
tant service
presenting
philosophy in
sophisticated
manner,
integrating
'realism'
modern
and
more
successfully than
Rawls.
Book Reviews
A Companion
to
Aristotle's
paper.
"Politics,"
edited
by David
Keyt
and
Fred D. Mil
+ 407 pp.,
ler, Jr. (Oxford
and
Cambridge: Basil Blackwell, Inc., 1991),
xiv
$59.95 cloth, $26.95

Leslie G. Rubin
Society for
A
spate of
Greek Political Thought
peared.
interesting Among the early

a
books
on
Aristotle's
political views
has recently ap
have
ex
contributions
to this renaissance is Keyt and Miller's

"Politics."
collection, A Companion to Aristotle's

pected
While
one might
from
"companion"
a series of essays meant
to produce a
general
inter
pretation of
the
Politics,
this
collection concentrates on a
few
selected
issues.
While serving the reader questions, the book is a friend to Aristotle's

against various puts
as a guide through some of
the intricacies of these
"companion"
to the Politics also in the sense of
key being a
project
work.
number of
critics.
the essays set out to defend Aristotle

aspect of
its
articles
contemporary in the forefront Aristotle's
This
Keyt
and
Miller's
of
this surge in Aristotle scholarship,
much of as
which re-establishes
political science or political

philosophical.
philosophy
ap
propriately
scientific or
genuinely
Many
of
the authors in the Companion attempt to
rescue
Aristotle from
and
various common
misinterpretations, e.g., the

as
excesses of
Jaeger
his fol
and
lowers (Rowe); reading the Politics
separate
from the Ethics (Rowe

should
Adkins); judging
agreed with
either
Aristotle's
or
economics as
if he
have
anticipated and
Schumpeter
with
that Aristotle has
not read
Marx (Meikle); or the breathtaking assumptions Plato's Republic (Stalley and Irwin) or that he
to
is
go
not
familiar
as
the principle of noncontradiction (Miller).

present criticisms of or
on,
is fair, to
They may then find difficulties in Aristotle's

take the time to show that
views
(Adkins, Irwin, inter

in
mainstream of
alia), but
they generally
he
was more astute
political observation and more adept at
logical
argument
than the
Irwin his
and
points
his twentieth-century interpreters has admitted. T. H. David Keyt, for example, do Aristotle the additional honor of pitting against most worthy opponents, i.e., Plato and Hobbes.
titles do not always reveal the connections among their subjects, but they do exist. After whetting the appetite with an overview of the Politics via A. C. Bradley's classic essay of 1880, the collection digs into a few key topics. Though Bradley's concern to show both the similarities and differences
The
papers'
between Aristotelean
and
Hegelian
(organismic)
political analysis
is
not
taken
) interpretation,
Winter 1994-95, Vol.
22, No. 2
284
up
Interpretation
the others, his attention to the naturalness of the polis and the meaning of
"science"
by
practicing a come. The natural
of politics creates a context

status of
for many
of
the articles to
when re
the
polis and
the meaning of
"natural"
ferred
to political
things,
the
issue
of private versus public

and
regime or
the best
possible
regime,
property in the best the discussions of justice and its rela

essays
tionship
Most
written
to
law
the
are each addressed
in
at
least three
from disparate
elsewhere; four
view
points within
of
the philosophy
essays
and classics communities. were
(eleven)
originally
published
were
for this
this
volume.
strengths of
collection
As they are also representative of the two primary discussed above, I will mention briefly the articles
one of
first appearing here: R. F. Stalley, solid case for taking the Book II
specific problem and rather
Aristotle's
"companions,"
makes a
criticism of
the Republic as
to political
addressing
the
at of
making "a
philosophy,"
valuable contribution
than
dismissing
it
as a superficial and
incomplete
account of
whole as
dialogue. To demonstrate that Aristotle really

well as we modem readers
can understand
Plato
least
can,
Stalley clarifies
the Book II critique
Socratic
in
community
not
and even
turns the tables and criticizes Plato for
inconsistency
communizing his whole city. Unfortunately, Stalley, like many commenta tors, ignores the fact that Book II is not the only part of the Politics that contains a criticism of the Republic. The critique of notion of political
Socrates'
unity is far from the only flaw Aristotle

pambasileia and the analysis of
addresses
consider the problems of
revolutions, to
practical"
name
only two
the
others.
In
a similar
vein, Richard Mulgan argues that Aristotle's analysis of oligar
chy
democracy is not "merely senses i.e., insufficiently colored by the and VHI or lacking in theoretical rigor. In
and
in
either of
"idealistic"
commonly critical aspirations of Books VII

a number of the of regime
as
Mulgan's treatment
suggestive contrasts
well as possible
between
these
fundamental types
analysis.
emerge,
lacunae in Aristotle's very in the Politics

makes a
Ronald
Polansky
useful contribution
to the
understanding
the text
of
of
stasis and metabole
by
both
careful analysis of
and apt
reference
to the Physics.
Showing
an awareness of
the difficult position
the
moral man
in times
of
revolution, he
nonetheless
rightly
emphasizes the ethical
dimension
of political change not present

on
in the
analysis of natural change.
In his essay
pretation of
Books VII
and
argument that the contemplative
VHI, David J. Depew wrestles with the puzzling life is an active life, spinning out from his inter
concerning the
make
the passage both logical and political consequences
meaning of contemplation and the place of philosophy in the ideal state. In addition to assisting the Aristotelean scholar, this companion would
a
handy
addition to a graduate course
focusing
exclusively
on
the Politics. Keyt
and
Miller have done considerable
legwork, particularly
useful
for
students
without
ready
access
to all the world's classics and
pieces could give a student a sense of some
in examining
certain significant sections of
philosophy journals. These of the important questions involved the Politics.
Eva T. H.
MD: Rowman
paper.
Brann, The World of the Imagination: Sum and Substance (Savage, and Littlefield, 1991), xiv + 810 pp., $75.00 cloth, $35.00
Will Morrisey
"[DJedicated to the
mind's most
obvious"
salvation of the
(p.
5),
this book
examines
the
fact in
need of
philosophically neglected faculty, the imagination. The obvious saving is the imagination's status as a faculty, a capacity for
that depict "absent
present"
"internal
representations"
objects as
by
time
and
means of
resemblance
(p. 5). This
obvious
fact
needs
saving because "in

and
current
life the is
traditional precedence of original

perturbed: and
over
image, both in
former"
in
dignity
We tend to
see
the images of people
things before the originals
to have
our views preshaped
television,
or read
books
written
by by
the
(p.
9)
as when we watch
'postmodernists.'
Eva T. H. Brann divides her book into
six main parts.
She
considers
the
imagination
as
discussed in philosophy
visual
as
chology, in logic "as
a peculiar amalgam of
faculty of being and

(that
cognition, in psy
nonbeing"
(p. 6), in
and
literature, in the
politics).
arts,
and
in the
world
is,
in
religion
Philosophy
ancillary to
nying its
seeks
imagination's
nature.
the ancients who understand the imagination as 'the

thought"
Brann agrees, in large measure, with mind's "subject and

eye,'
(p. 201). Both
anti-imagistic rationalism
(as in
Hume)
and
imagination-worshipping
Romanticism
finally
denigrate the imagination
by
de
These apparently opposing conceptions share a common root, Cartesianism, which claims that the mind is a res cogitans, a thinking thing whose preeminent attribute is willing, not
connection to the world outside the mind.
thinking. A the
imagination"
thinking thing "can know itself by itself, without the mediation of (p. 72) representing the outside world. Descartes opposes the
human
the
older concept of the

illumination"
being
end of
as a rational animal
for
whom
"contemplative
comes at
thinking (p. 78).

we
Psychology
to
investigates the way

reduce
have images. The

It
'cognitive'
school of
psychologists attempts to
consciousness, and
therefore the the
imagination,
of
unconscious or subconscious states.
cannot explain
having
images
evi
except
dence"
analytically,
and
analysis
proves
difficult because "measurable

people
is hard to seeing internal likenesses,

extract
(p. 209). "Most

however
be"
have the incorrigible

and
sense of
behaviorally inaccessible
in the observation,
formal-
istically
rialism or reductionism
inarticulable they may may be
(p. 222). The limits
of psychological mate
seen
"Claiming
that the
1994-95, Vol. 22, No. 2
286
Interpretation
eats a suggestive metonymical
brain imagines is like saying that the mouth (p. 266). figure but not a sufficient
account"
"What does it This is the
mean anywhere and everywhere
to be an
image?"
(p. 388).
negation,
question addressed
by logic,
the
science of affirmation and
being
an
and nonbeing.
Brann judges Plato's Sophist the best discussion. "To be

being"
image is
a curious conflation of
who
(p.
388)
it is
not
that thing.
likeness; his sophist is an imitation wise man speeches are not likenesses but appearances, deliberate deceptions. A sophist as the can be caught only if the hunter knows the quarry. "To say what is
does
not even
aim
at
not,"
sophist
does, "is not to say nothing but to say something other than the and "does not exist as fully (p. 394). Similarly, an image "is-not the
original,"
truth"
or
truly
as
its
original"
(p. 394). This formulation leaves

an
room
to measure
whether the
cause
image is mostly true or merely deceptive, force" (p. 426). "Fictions have
important task be
translate the
visual
Literature translates imagistic fictions into words, inviting the reader to words back into images. Why then is literature not inferior to
arts,
one's
which require no such cumbersome process?
Because (p.
words
better
direct
interpretation
of
the
pictures.
A talking
the
picture says things a

West"
dumb blind. lit

are
picture
cannot; "the first
and
dominant
poet of
471)
was
Brann accordingly has
some astringent remarks about
Romanticism,
whose
erary talk apes divine logos in its creativity. Platonic myths, and "Lincoln is "corrective counter-myths, myths of
truth,"
by
contrast,
...
to political
not willful
what or
Plato is to
mythmaking"
philosophical
(p. 555). "Tme

desire"
myth
is
desirous,
There
are
since
it is
not of
told or enacted as private
(p. 564).
two kinds
imagined depictions:
geometric and esthetic.
Ancient
not the
'contained'
geometry
subject of
concerns
attention"
figures; "their
or
unlimited exterior
field is
(p. 596). Modem

will regard
infinite
space.
"Kant
as
Cartesian geometry shifts attention to geometric figures as delimitations of infinite

willed
space"
(p.
596);
more
in
modem
thought generally,
Imagination
nearly
resembles
Euclideanism,
live,"
as seen
reality dominates. in the "human, re

and
worked nature
in
which we
largely
that
a world of
lines
circles,
rect
angles and triangles
(p. 612).
show
we recognize
Esthetic depictions
and
the distinction between original
image
see
even
if
we
do
not want to admit a
it. In
looking
at a picture of a
lion,
"we
two things at
once:
lion
picture"
and a
(p. 655). Even
'abstract'
painting must abstract from something. In the world, imagination is at its most dangerous
can
and
its
most valuable.
It
impose
spurious meanings or
willfulness and
help
to
discover
significance.
Theologians
life"
its autonomy of imaginative tendency to idolatry (p. 685). God made man in His image, so man is 'imagby God; it doesn't work the other way around. (The rabbis say it differ ently: theology is man's thoughts about God, but Torah is God's thoughts about man, and altogether superior for that reason.) As with so much concerning this
object
able'
to "the
the creative
Book Reviews
mercurial
287
pivot
faculty, however,
spirit"
some religious men
find in imagination "a
between In
otism
world and
(p. 707). imagination lends itself to

ardent"
politics the moderated
"soberly
corresponds
patri
harm"
(p. 712). Unmoderated imagination is "the

cognitive
chief cause of political
(p. 712). In Plato the

psychological
faculty
are
of
the imagination
to the
writes
faculty
and
of thumos or spiritedness.
Therefore,
(p. 791)
when
Brann
that
"Tyranny
In the
imagination
the
archenemies"
one wants
to add,
'Except in the
enemy?
tyrant.'
mind of
(Is the
mind of
the tyrant
his
own worst
words of one of
Oscar Levant's friends, "Not
while
I'm alive.")
"The ancients gave to the

up-front,
to
of
bringing
imagination the mediating work, performed well the appearances into the soul; the modems have assigned
performed
it the
radical
function,
on
in the abyss,
of
constituting the
world
itself (p. 779). Brann intimation
the
whole concurs with an
the ancients, concluding that

and an
the imagination is "a prelude to action,

paradise"
incitement to reflection,
of
(p. 798).
Nino
Langiulli, Possibility, Necessity,
and
Existence. Abbagnano
and
His Pre
decessors. Themes in the History of Philosophy, edited by Edith Wyschogrod (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992), xv + 205 pp., $44.95.
Robert Sokolowski The Catholic
University
of America
Nino Langiulli has two

the American
aims
in the book
under review.
First, he
presents
to
philosophical audience philosopher
the life and work of the important twen
tieth-century Italian
modes of
Nicola Abbagnano
(1901-90),
the
and, second, he
discusses the modality

the
of
possibility, along
with
necessity fact that Abbagnano 's

expresses
and existence. own
This
metaphysical
essentially associated discussion is prompted by
thought centers on the theme of possibility.

about
Langiulli both
own
Abbagnano 's ideas

and position.
and a
this theme and develops his

an
commentary, critique,
The book is thus both
informative
introduction to Abbagnano Langiulli is

studied
study in
speculative philosophy.
well equipped
for
a year with
to carry out the project of this book, since he Abbagnano under a Fulbright grant in 1960-61. He has
work
translated
and edited
Abbagnano 's
Critical Existentialism
and
has
also
edited a volume entitled
The Existentialist
credits
Tradition,
which
includes
selections
from Abbagnano. Langiulli

suggested the
of
the late William Barrett with
having
first
study possibility in Abbagnano. The book is divided into three parts. The first is
the career of
and
Abbagnano,
an
the second is
treatment
of
of
survey of the thought Abbagnano's concept

which
of
possibility,
with own
extensive
and
discussion
the sources from
he
developed his
threefold
position,
the third examines the concept
in
a more
speculative way, with critical comments as a conclusion.

a classification of
postscript provides
Abbagnano's writings, divided into

and philosophical
(1) scholarly
studies of
historical figures
themes, (2)
speculative philo
sophical works, and
(3)
more popular works.
Abbagnano,
a man of great erudi
tion, is probably best known to American
readers
for his Dizionario difilosofia

world.
(1960),
other
peared
on
one of the major philosophical research
instruments in the
An
important work, his in 1946-50, with a
three-volume
second
history, Storia della filosofia, first ap edition in 1969. He has also written books
Emile Meyerson, Ockham, and Aristotle, as well as many systematic works expressing his own thought and commenting on the phenomenon of modem science. He was editor of the journal Rivista di filosofia and was noted as a
teacher
of
Umberto Eco
and
Gianni Vattimo.
1994-95, Vol. 22, No. 2
290
I
Interpretation
In the first
part of
the
book,
the exposition of Abbagnano's life and work,
Langiulli distinguishes four from the 1920s to

reason against
about
stages
in his
subject's thought.
1935, Abbagnano
second phase
tried to
show
first period, the limitations of In

a
of
the somewhat romantic
rationalist
philosophy
Italian
neo-
Hegelians like Croce. A
began
with work published
in
1935;
Abbagnano became
both
to
more
interested in
metaphysical
principles,
trying
to avoid
objectivism and subjectivism.
The third
stage
began in 1939
and extended existen
about
1955,
a period
in
which
Abbagnano developed the "positive his name; he

claims
tialism"
that is often associated
with
uses
but
also criticizes
the
work of
Heidegger Heidegger
and
Jaspers,
and one of
the crucial elements
in his
critique
is the
ism"
concept of possibility: and
Abbagnano
that the "negative existential
of ends
Jaspers begins
by defining
logic
human
being
appealing to human possibilities, but in terms of a structure of impossibilities. Abba
by
gnano's use of the mode of context of existence.
possibility is thus
not
or of a metaphysics of
substance, but in the
developed primarily in the context of human
The fourth
1950s to the
oped
and
final
phase
distinguished
by
Langiulli
period
extended
from the late
end of
Abbagnano's
life; in this
of
Abbagnano further devel

theistic existentialism
his
positive
existentialism, along
with criticisms of
and a critique of
which
Sartre. The basis

against
his
critique of
and
theistic existentialism,
that in it the possi
or
is directed
proper
Lavelle, Le Senne,
Marcel, is
bility
to human beings is
subsumed under an
inevitable fulfillment
(p.
salvation, "a
guaranteed realization of
bility, Abbagnano
this theistic
claims, becomes
absorbed
[human] by necessity
at
possibilities"
16);
possi
or
inevitability
in
context.
In his
critique of
Sartre he
claims that
Sartre
makes all
human
possibilities
equivalent, justifies any choice
all,
and equates
freedom
with arbitrariness.
Abbagnano
claims
that such arbitrariness implies the im
possibility
appeal
of
choice,
which needs
to
be
supported
by
commitment and
by
an
to the preferred value

not
bagnano "freedom is
choice"
is chosen; as Langiulli states it, for Ab the possibility of simply indifferent choice but
of what
. .
.
(p. 21).
shows
Langiulli
or
contemporary
that Abbagnano makes use of, and responds to, many recent authors; besides those already mentioned, he uses Kierke
and
gaard,
Husserl, Carnap, Peirce, Dewey,

had
much
Quine. Abbagnano thought that
his
and
positive existentialism
in
common with
he tried to
of
combine
as
his
existentialism with a radical
American pragmatism, empiricism, using his

. .
concept of
possibility
x'
tool: Langiulli writes, "An experience
would
be
'possibility
designating
26). Thus, Abbagnano

through
can serve as a
anything figure
whatever
that is
repeatable"
(p.
by
whom
many
of
the schools and
movements of the twentieth
century
are reflected and
exploited,
whom we can obtain an
informative
picture of the
and a figure Italian philosophy of
this century.
Book Reviews
To further his writing
section on
291
sharpen the picture of
with some of
the work
Abbagnano's thought, Langiulli compares of Wilfrid Sellars and Richard Rorty. In the
of philosophical
Abbagnano's ideas concerning the nature ideas that were a special concern in his thinking in reflection, the late 1970s and the 1980s; in contrast with Rorty, who disavows philosophy, Abbagnano would consider philosophy to be a valid human possibility, but one
Rorty, Langiulli develops
that,
as a
possibility,
might
indeed fail
in
or
be
unfulfilled:
"its
achievements and
work
advance"
conquests are not guaranteed
(p. 35). Philosophy's

it"
is "to
that
con
bring
to sight the
and
man-
world
relationship, to investigate the

modifications of
problems of
relationship,
to propose various
(p. 36). Langiulli
tinues this expository part of his book
Umberto Eco
pensiero
and on
showing Abbagnano's influence on the Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo, whose concept of
by
debole is
examined: a of
form
of
and stresses the gnano and since
finitude limit
of
human
reason.
thinking that eschews rigid rationalism Finally, Langiulli contrasts Abba

thought leads to a kind
of
Derrida.
Strangely, Derrida's
infinitude,
"the
it
allows no
on reinterpretations and
differences
and permits
absolute
free play
sense/nonsense"
sameness as well as those of gnano restricts
52); by recognizing difference, both grounded on possibility, Abba

differance."
(p.
the claims of
"the joystick
of
From Langiulli's exposition, it is easy to see how the concept of possibility takes on deep significance for Abbagnano. It serves as the center of his positive
is important for his understanding of human being and human affairs, but it is also developed in his philosophy of being. It is also clear, from developments in the history of thought, that possibility is an endan gered philosophical species; it is all too easy to reduce possibility to either
existentialism and thus
necessity
or
actuality, the
other two modalities of
being
that accompany it. It
takes considerable
mere cover
philosophical sophistication
to avoid making the possible a
for
what
is inevitable
and
necessary, or just a faded copy of what
The reality and the density of the possible, of things that are truly only possible, is not easy to capture, either in philosophical analysis or in ordinary thinking about being and human affairs. We always tend to acknowl
actually
exists.
edge
the actually determined instead

seems to
"reduce"
of
the merely possible. It is curious that

of
possibility inclined to
allow
be the
most
fragile
the modalities; we are much
less
necessity and actuality to their opposites than we are to his book, Langiulli
shows
the
possible
to disappear.
In the
second part of
how Abbagnano
makes use
of classical
figures in the
history
of
philosophy to articulate his own insight into

abounded
the reality of the

and
possible.
If Part One
in
names
drawn from
recent
from early
from antiquity and contemporary thought, Part Two abounds in authors modem philosophy. Abbagnano finds in Plato's Sophist one of the
292
Interpretation
the importance of the
possible.
strongest statements of
He interprets Plato's
derivation He
of
the
as
major
forms
Sophist 247-48
also claims and
stating that Plato's derivation

and even
being in the that being or existence

of
of
light
of possibility;
he
reads
is to be defined
as possibility. and
the
other
forms (motion
rest,
identity
difference,
on
body
is,
of
and
soul)
can
be done only if
being is
and not
taken precisely as possibility; that
the fact that

either
being
takes on such opposite
forms is based necessarily

ther appeal to
its possibility
being
the one or the other,
one or
the other. Langiulli supports
Abbagnano's reading
allows us
by
fur
that
commentators on
Plato: possibility
can
to
see
"how
oppo
contradiction
sites exist and are said
to
exist without
(p. 67). Plato
shows
being is both one and many, and this "possibility is ontologically prior to
The treatment
gnano of
be true because
(p. 71).
being
of
"can"
be both:
actuality"
Plato is followed
perceptive
by
a short
discussion
on
Aristotle. Abba
possibility:
finds Aristotle less

and
than Plato
the theme of
in
Aristotle, actuality
necessity
are said
to be granted different
sorts of priori
Aristotle, despite efforts to the contrary, is said to Megarhave fallen prey to the Master Argument of Diodorus Cronus and the (or what Abbagnano calls "the virtual") must ians. For Aristotle, the be realized if it is to be truly potential; but then it becomes reduced to the
ties over possibility, and
"potential"
necessary.
In
response
to Abbagnano's claim on this point,
it
seems
to me that
he does
most
not give enough weight epi to on
to the category of things that happen "for the

seems as
part,"
polu, in Aristotle. It also

of
to
me
that Aristotle's strong

of choice and
insistence
the reality
change,
as
well
his treatments
chance, lead him to

the possible.
recognize without question
the ontological importance of
Kant
and
Kierkegaard
the
are
the
other
two
authors
treated extensively in the

reduced
second part of
possibilities
book,
with
lesser
comments about existence.
to merely
as
mental or
logical
Leibniz, who Kant, however, is

possible after
seen
by
Abbagnano
restoring
a valid
understanding
to
of
the
Leibniz's
misunderstanding.
Kant, for Abbagnano, does

real as such
not contrast possible.
the real and the

examines
possible; rather, he takes the
be the
Langiulli
both the Critique of Pure Reason and the Critique of Judgment, along with Abbagnano's interpretations, to show that Abbagnano downplays the idealistic
tendency in Kant's understanding of possibility

true
and concludes
that Kant equates
being
with
possibility; the
existent
is that
which can
be
verified and
found
to be true. This positive aspect of possibility is overemphasized in Kant and its

negative aspect
is neglected, however. Abbagnano says that Kierkegaard

with
blends it
infinity. Abbagnano
says that
limited, but that Kierkegaard claims quence is dread, the "a priori anxiety
possibilities"
what possibility is when he human possibility is by its nature that everything is possible. The conse
misstates
over
the
infinity
and
indeterminacy
of
(p. 96). Abbagnano
claims
that
Kierkegaard
uses
possibility in
be-
ambiguous ways and
ultimately denies its reality in human affairs, partly
Book Reviews
cause
293
he
mixes
human
possibilities with the
purely human
either to
impossibility
The
and
divine: he thereby reduces the inevitable failure, or to the assured

Kierkegaard
also contains an
accomplishment of salvation.
section on
in
teresting study
of
the
difference between
contraries and contradictories.
Con
traries are opposites within a category, such as

and rest-motion.
opposites
hot-cold, dark-light,
destruction
of
up-down,
are
Each is the
the
positive opposite of the other. explicit
Contradictories
the
other.
in
which one
is the
same
denial
as
or
Hot
versus not-hot
is
not
difference
hot
versus
cold; the first is merely
the denial of
hot,
of
not the affirmation of cold.
This theme
the
other
contrary versus contradictory is then applied to possibility and modalities, but not without some difficulty for the reader. Indeed, this
the difficulties endemic to any expository study, the Chinese
section reflects
boxes
of quotation and paraphrase:

with
phrasing Kierkegaard,
stmcture
Aristotle
also
Langiulli paraphrasing Abbagnano para introduced into the mixture (and add When this
complex presentational
to this the voice of the present
reviewer).
is
applied to concepts as abstract as
possibility, necessity,
and actu
ality, the argument
inevitably
becomes difficult to follow. A

reader
greater use of
concrete examples might easily.
have helped the
follow the
exposition more
Ill
In the third
of possibility.
part of
the
book, Langiulli looks
at
Abbagnano's
own
treatment
the
non-
Abbagnano distinguishes three
notions of possibility:
(1)
or the necessarily realizable, and (3) that Langiulli suggests, that which can be and not be. be; or, A chapter is devoted to each, and the third sense is taken as the proper sense of possibility. I should mention that in the chapter examining the second sense,
contradictory,
which can
(2)
the
inevitable,
as
be
or not
there
is
an extensive
treatment of Nicholai
Hartmann,
as well as of
Hobbes
and
Spinoza. Also,
an
important distinction is drawn
by
Abbagnano between
possi
bility
In
gnano
and contingency.
possibility"
developing
"the
third and proper sense of

of uses of the verb
distinguishes two different kinds

Three
"to
(p. 127), Abba (essere): the

be"
predicative and the existential.
theories of predication are
distinguished:
Ab
a rela
the
theory
not
of
inherence,
the
theory
of
identity,
and
the
theory
as
of relation.
bagnano's
expressing understanding among concepts but among beings. However, the predicational sense of the verb is ultimately grounded in the existential sense, which, in keeping with Abbagnano's general philosophy, is taken to be an expression of being as
own
of predication
is to take it
tion,
possibility.
Although Langiulli
exposition, he
makes
critical
comments
at various points chapter of
during
his
summarizes
his criticisms, in the last
the
book,
under
294
Interpretation
two themes.
First, he insists
mental sense of
being
that possibility itself cannot be taken as the funda without some appeal to necessity: it is necessary that
a
being bility cannot

can
be the
possible.
Thus, by
from
kind
of
retortion, Langiulli
shows
that possi
be
separated
necessity.
Second, he
in
shows
that
all
terms need
and a
to be defined
by being
contrasted with we
their
opposites or
contraries,
term
be better defined if
have
several contexts
which contraries can
be be
brought forth. The true, for example, is better determined when it is not only with the false, but also with the fictional. Possibility, then,
understood or
contrasted
cannot
defined if it
the
stands alone and
is
opposed
to
nothing.
"Necessity,
therefore,
constitutes
'specifying
as
of one of
difference'
in terms
of which existence and

.
itself is properly defined bility], he must make use

third
criticism ments on
'possibility.
'
...
To define
describe [possi
(p. 172). A
its opposites,
necessity.
is developed in the himself to
penultimate
chapter,
wishes
where
Langiulli
com
Abbagnano's frequent insistence that he
to avoid metaphysical
claims
speculation and restrict gnano
an empiricism:
Langiulli
that Abba
does indeed carry out metaphysical speculation when he locates the pri sense of being in possibility; what Abbagnano does avoid is a kind of mary necessitarian, rationalist metaphysics, but it would be wrong to identify meta
physics as such with that sort of speculation.
It is very difficult to apply the actuality to the

whole of
modal
terms
of
possibility, necessity,
and
things
limited
regions of
being). This
to being (as opposed to using such terms in book, drawing on Abbagnano's own scholarship
and
and philosophical
insight,
and
gives us
many fine
examples of successes
in this
difficult task; it grand issues of

possible and vides
reminds us of
being
the need for philosophers to pay attention to the to take on themes like the difference between the
the necessary, or the possible and the actual. The
book
also pro
the
reader with valuable philosophy.
information
about a major
figure in
twentieth-
century Italian
Sidney M. Milkis and Michael Nelson, The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776-1990 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1990), xiv 4- 430 pp., $37.95 cloth, $18.95 paper.
Stephen M. Krason
Franciscan
University
of Steubenville
The
authors claim
of
that this book is "the first comprehensive one
volume
history
the presidency to be written
by
political scientists
in
more
than
years."
In
fact, I don't know

consists of
of
any
others
in
print.
on
This work, in my
presidency.
fifty judg
ment, is
a welcome contribution to
the literature
the
The book
fourteen
chapters:
the first two deal with the

and
historical
background to the
the
creation of
the presidency
the debates about the office at
the 1787 Convention and

of
during
the ratification period; the next eleven discuss
from George Washington to George Bush, with development the full chapters devoted to the individual presidents who were most pivotal in
office
shaping the nally
character and role of
the presidency;
and
the
final
chapter
discusses
the vice presidency. The Preface informs us that most of the book
written
was origi
by Milkis;
that
on aspects of of
Nelson drafted the two

presidency.
chapters on the creation of the
presidency Two good

approach
and
the vice
this book are
its
use of a
historical
and
institutional
to the study
the presidency,
as opposed
to the quantitative, psycho
logical, power, and policy approaches that we have had such a heavy dose of in recent decades, and the fairly detailed attention it gives to the founding of the
office and the
Constitutional Convention.
of
The discussion (one

wishes
the origin of the presidency includes a brief discussion
it
were
longer)
of
the
British,
colonial,
and state constitutional
precedents
for
executive
power,
and then provides
proposals,
debate,
and action on
the executive at
each of
very good coverage of the the Convention. The book is
particularly helpful in explaining how

cified powers of
the various
constitutionally
spe
the
president was agreed
to. Most of the
long
chapter on
the
Convention is derived from

rand's
a careful analysis of original source material (Fer-
The Records of the Federal Convention). An old, important secondary source, Thach's Creation of the Presidency, 1775-1789, also is cited in a few The inclusion
since
of a
places.
discussion
about
the
formation
of and
debate
on
the
vice
presidency,
during
and of
both the Convention

omitted
and
the ratifying period,

accounts of
is
wel
come,
of
it is normally
of
from historical
of
both the
creation
the presidency
the
of
forming
the Constitution generally.
The bulk
the
book,
course, is
about
the individual presidents. As
men-
) interpretation,
Winter 1994-95, Vol.
22, No. 2
296
Interpretation
man who was
tioned, it focuses on the ways in which each shaped the future direction of the institution or,
tions he
politics.
made
held the
office
at
least,
the
particular contribu
to
it
or
the significance of
his tenure for its
role
in American
The book
at minimum
touches on the highlights
of all
the presidential
reader gets
administrations and the political currents that affected

a
each; thus the the

most
flavor
is
of
the character of each administration.
Again,
thorough treat
ment
given
to the presidents the authors judge

greatest effect
to
have had the
means
having
enhanced or
with reasonable accuracy in shaping the role of the office, which generally consolidated its power or some aspect of its role and
function in American detailed discussion, in

most
politics.
The book does
not give a
summary,
much
less
of
the
initiatives, policy
accomplishments,
provide a
or even major
national events of each administration.
Nor does it
biography
purpose.
of
or,
cases,
elaborate on the personal strengths and weaknesses of each pres
ident. These if
considerations are not pertinent
for the
even
authors'
In my
judgment, however,
value more most significant
the book
would
have been
better
and
had
additional
biographical
material and
historical detail (for
more
than just the
presidents) had been included.
Nevertheless, information is
satisfactory historical text for use in a course on the presidency, either at the graduate or undergraduate level. While it is commendable that the authors do not make Barber-like claims that a presi
plentiful enough to make this a quite
dent's
childhood predicts
of
to the character traits

seem
his White House performance, the dearth of individual presidents makes their treatment detached. The
attention
at
times
overly Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, and Carter shows character traits to be an important factor in presidential success and, moreover, an important element in what goes
experience of such recent presidents as
abstract and
into the shaping of statesmanship. One of the great strengths of this book is its insightful why some common historical perceptions of different presidents
explanation
were
of
incorrect:
for example, that Lincoln's undertaking of extraordinary powers during the Civil War was "dictatorial," that the string of weak or mediocre Republican presidents after Andrew Johnson achieved nothing of value for American gov
ernment,
complete
and
that the
and
brief,
scandal-plagued administration of
of genuine accomplishments.
Harding
was a
failure
devoid
Another of the book's pluses is that it does not overemphasize the role of Franklin D. Roosevelt in shaping the present-day presidency. The authors note that the rise of the current era of presidential began not with FDR
leadership
which,
as
they
note, many political scientists contend

and
Theodore Roosevelt. TR
strengthened
but with his cousin Woodrow Wilson "began the practices that
nation's popular
and
the president as
the
legislative
leader"
(p.xii). More
tional
and
the authors emphasize that the "institu the office has come to assume, even in recent history, by large had their roots in the Constitution itself.
characteristics"
fundamentally, however,
While the book is
fair,
well-researched, objective study
and
is scholarly
Book Reviews
and nonpolemical center perspective
297
in tone, there are some places where the manifests itself. For example, the Vietnam War
South Vietnam
are viewed as a
authors'
left-of-
and
Amer
ica's
general commitment to
mistake; there is
no sense manifested that
America may have undertaken a morally worthwhile effort in opposing Communist totalitarianism (which showed its ruthlessness after it finally took control of South Vietnam). The same attitude is evident in
the brief
the
comment about and
Kennedy's
Bay
of
Pigs
undertaking.
Irrespective
of
practical
prudential
considerations
seeking to liberate Cuba from communism down as a result of Kennedy's Watergate

affair
regarding this undertaking, was something that can merely be put
is
evaluated
claimed
in the presidency (p. 300)? The in the typical liberal manner as having threatened
depend"
"immaturity"
the Republic. It is
which
that
any
government must
it "threaten[ed] the civility and public trust upon (p. 3 16). When discussing Reagan, the
authors show a
typical liberal reading (a misreading, in my
judgment)
of
Amer
ican
public opinion
the widespread
in claiming that the Bork Supreme Court defeat "testified to public resistance to the Reagan administration's social
such
agenda"
(p. 345).
Fortunately,
ideologically
such as
revealing
passages are not abundant.
It is laudable that in included. The

growth
book
this a chapter on the vice presidency was

of
presidency in recent The book includes

tial elections
and a
in both the responsibility and importance decades is well chronicled and explained.
a useful appendix complete
the vice
summarizing the vote in all our presiden index. It regrettably lacks a bibliography. fairly All told, Milkis and Nelson have produced a fine, informative, useful his tory of the presidency. Congressional Quarterly Press is to be commended for
bringing
Besides
on
into
print a
book
such as
this which seems to
fill
an obvious void.
being
a valuable classroom presidential office print
text as a supplement to a more general text
the current
it is
will
be kept in book
(as,
few
unfortunately, Congressional
years
valuable
of a
ago
handy reference tool. One only hopes it Quarterly Press's equally on the history of Congress was not) and
a
periodically
updated.
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I

The Cultural Predicament in Biblical Narrative

Doctors: Homer's Iliad

John C. Kohl, Jr.

Design in the Iliad Based

Social Contract Theory:

Fred D. Miller, Jr.

The World of the Imagination: Sum Substance, by Eva T. H. Brann

His Predecessors, Nino Langiulli

The American Presidency: Origins Milkis Michael Nelson

Development, 1776-1990, by Sidney M.

Philosophy, Queens College

European Editors Editors

copies available. outside

The Journal Welcomes Manuscripts

a character count of the entire manuscript.

Binghamton, N.Y. 13905 U.S.A.

Lancaster, PA 17603 U.S.A.

by Wickersham Printing Co.,

Patricia D'Allura, Assistant to the

11367-1597, U.S.A. (718)997-5542

Yuval Lurie Paula Reiner

The Cultural Predicament in Biblical Narrative

Doctors: Homer's Iliad

John C. Kohl, Jr.

Design in the Iliad Based Passages

Social Contract Theory:

Fred D. Miller, Jr.

The World of the Imagination: Sum Substance, by Eva T. H. Brann

The Cultural Predicament in Biblical Narrative

owe our concepts of culture and nature

contrasting between two different realms,

one cultivated and

the other uncultivated. But the concepts

culture and nature are more more

the relationship between them is the historical

tinction in Western thought is

and the roots of these con

follows I discuss two

the contrast between

was once predicament of

ancient philosophical reflections

philosophical conceptions about the cultural predicament of

which emerge out of

problem encountered when narrative

is fixed back into

I. TWO EDIFYING STORIES ABOUT THE FIRST HUMAN BEINGS

word, derived from the

in the Bible to describe the

and which connotes all

the background of this con

templated what we are apt to call "the cultural predicament of human

reflections on these matters were pursued

1994-95, Vol. 22, No. 2

human beings in particular, is

and another time

that book. The two stories are quite different

The first story begins

God creating the

the earth on the first day. It continues up to the sixth

day. It tells how God

however, human beings

the act of creation in the first

God. In the Bible So