As post-Enlightenment moderns we worship reason based on empirically discovered data, consciously not emotion. The marvels of science and technology have only enhanced its reputation since the 18th Century rejection of traditional authority that was the Enlightenment. But pure reason is death.
Think about what it would mean to be purely rational; to conduct one’s life absent emotion would involve purely utilitarian calculations. If I asked why someone got up in the morning, and I would do so only because I had a logical reason to do so, I would be restricted to utilitarian reasons such as a need to earn money or at least eat something nourishing to permit life at all; I could not respond by saying I enjoyed the quiet of the morning or because my work was interesting and worthwhile. If I asked why someone chose to promise to live with a particular member of the opposite sex I might be told to ensure procreation or to share expenses or seek a tax advantage; the responses I could not give would be say because I loved the person, or enjoyed sex, or because I simply enjoyed the company.
If one were to drain the emotion from life, I would point out that there would be no need to procreate because children would simply be an economic burden. Life-long relationships would have little value because they would not serve utilitarian purposes. Ask yourself: Absent emotion why would I get up in the morning? What would I fight or die for since any cause would simply relate to existence. Physical comfort would not suffice, since it involves pleasure or the absence of pain, which is to say emotions. A woman in China died? One’s mother died? It would all be the same. Reason cannot supply a reason for living, only our humanity can, in all its confusion and conflict.
Art is important because, while it certainly may have a rational component, essentially it celebrates the mystery of life, satisfies a longing for meaning and the need to express the otherwise inexpressible truth of the human experience. 20th Century art was less than it could have been to the extent it tried to become a mere rational exercise, e.g., Cubism; in fact it often reflected the victory of art criticism over art; the autopsy of the dead rather than an expression of the living.
No. 36 Pure Reason is Death
As post-Enlightenment moderns we worship reason based on empirically discovered data, consciously not emotion. The marvels of science and technology have only enhanced its reputation since the 18th Century rejection of traditional authority that was the Enlightenment. But pure reason is death.
Think about what it would mean to be purely rational; to conduct one’s life absent emotion would involve purely utilitarian calculations. If I asked why someone got up in the morning, and I would do so only because I had a logical reason to do so, I would be restricted to utilitarian reasons such as a need to earn money or at least eat something nourishing to permit life at all; I could not respond by saying I enjoyed the quiet of the morning or because my work was interesting and worthwhile. If I asked why someone chose to promise to live with a particular member of the opposite sex I might be told to ensure procreation or to share expenses or seek a tax advantage; the responses I could not give would be say because I loved the person, or enjoyed sex, or because I simply enjoyed the company.
If one were to drain the emotion from life, I would point out that there would be no need to procreate because children would simply be an economic burden. Life-long relationships would have little value because they would not serve utilitarian purposes. Ask yourself: Absent emotion why would I get up in the morning? What would I fight or die for since any cause would simply relate to existence. Physical comfort would not suffice, since it involves pleasure or the absence of pain, which is to say emotions. A woman in China died? One’s mother died? It would all be the same. Reason cannot supply a reason for living, only our humanity can, in all its confusion and conflict.
Art is important because, while it certainly may have a rational component, essentially it celebrates the mystery of life, satisfies a longing for meaning and the need to express the otherwise inexpressible truth of the human experience. 20th Century art was less than it could have been to the extent it tried to become a mere rational exercise, e.g., Cubism; in fact it often reflected the victory of art criticism over art; the autopsy of the dead rather than an expression of the living.