Giving Fair Due
The question of whether,
with respect to the value of things,
the instincts deserve more authority
than reason
(reason wants some ground or “what for?”,
some purpose or utility
behind our values and actions)
– this is the same old moral problem
that first emerged in the person of Socrates and divided opinions
long before Christianity came along.
Socrates of course had initially
sided with reason, given the taste of his talent
– that of a superior dialectician.
… But in the end,..
he discovered the same difficulty and shortcoming
in himself.
“Why free ourselves from
the instincts?” he asked himself;
“We should give them their fair due…”
Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by Judith Butler, aphorism 191
Do I follow the logic of reason in the clear light of day? Or do I act according to my gut, what the body indicates that I ought to do? The strange, uncanny division still haunts us even if we seldom reflect upon those opposing voices.
Prior to being urged to consciousness by the alarm this morning, I was troubled by a dream. I remember few of the details. I just felt frustration, a low grade anger with myself that in my dream things didn’t make sense.
Perhaps this was a signal of my disquiet that President Biden stands to lose the office come the election on November 4th. He is unable to command the medium of a televised “debate” – the “yes” or “no” balloting will favor his adversary, Trump, who is the point-man for the pro-autocracy party. Is this the message of my subconscious? I am certain that “the future” is unpredictable because only the present exists. Still if debate no.1 is any clue, the win will go to the man, a failure by many accounts of reason, because he commands a medium which emphasizes surface, exaggeration, and fabrication.
I plan to spend this Saturday afternoon at the drag strip with a friend. We will watch, feel, appreciate competition between drag cars, which are designed, constructed and tuned for a single purpose, just one: to maximize acceleration in order to finish first in the timing light, one quarter mile from the starting line. Race cars are physical examples of an exquisite logic, reason perfected – materials combined with fuel, fire and tuning art. The utility of drag car, is that of a tool to extend the primal instinct of a driver to achieve a win, to cross the finish line first, to flash the win light. Pure, raw instinct is needed to leave the starting line first, to pilot the accelerating, violently heaving machine to the finish line.
Instinct as well as reason too, given it’s fair due…
2 thoughts on “Giving Fair Due”
The question concerning reason vs. instinct is a tricky one on the surface since we, as critters, must rely on instinctual behavior to guide us through aspects of our lives. But in the days of societal standards, scientific knowledge, and the eschewing of religiosity, the pendulum must swing towards logic and educated assessment of the world around us. The members of the cult of Trump are swayed almost purely by emotional (instinctual) attitudes. They “feel” that Trump will save them from, well, whatever. This is regardless of facts of any kind that expose his unquenching need for power, fame, and money.
So enjoy the roar of the engines. They connect to a deeper level of the unconscious mind, but that’s okay since drag racing does not destroy the world or place overt restrictions on the lives of others.
Well stated.
Nietzsche is known for his critique of the hold that Christianity had on Europe of the late 19th century, and took pains to persuade that Christianities mythic foundations were no longer credible. He is less appreciated for his foreboding of what the emerging rationalism of the industrial age would deliver.
He thought that we could not do without instinct or reason, that each should work in a dialectic of a mutually productive criticism…