Philosophy of the Unconscious

by Eduard Von Hartmann

  Only when the purpose of love has not yet become conscious, when the individual concerned does not know that the blending of essence hoped and longed for by the mysticism of love in the union with the beloved one is only to be effected realiter in a third party (the offspring) only then does it possess the power to take captive the individual with all his egoistic interests so ruthlessly, that even the highest sacrifices appear insignificant and naught in comparison with the dreams of heaven, and the high purpose of the Unconscious is fulfilled with perfect regardlessness. On the other hand, when a human being, who has believed himself to have overcome the illusion, is again caught by consuming passion, love often shapes itself to his consciousness as a gloomy dæmonic power, so that he appears like a madman with full understanding, who, lashed by the fire of passion, no longer even believes in the happiness, to which, as it were without his will, he brings his ail as an offering, for which he may even be compelled to commit a crime. Quite otherwise is it when the innocence of unconscious youth looks for the first time upon the fata morgana which the Eden of promise shows it in the refulgence of the glowing dawn. Then the mystical presentiment of the eternal unity of all unconscious being, and of the unnaturalness of separation from the beloved one, rises before it, then the longing springs up and glows, to annihilate the limitations of individuality which separate from the loved one, to perish and to be merged with the whole self in that being that is dearer to it than its own, in order, like a phœnix consumed in the love-flames, only to find again the better life in the beloved object as unselfish part of its own self. And the souls which are one without knowing it, and which can approach no nearer by ever so close an embrace than they eternally are, pine for a blending which can never be theirs so long as they remain distinct individuals. But the supreme significance of the sole result, in which they actually effect a real blending of their qualities, their virtues and vices (to say nothing of older ancestral claims never to be silenced) they so completely misapprehend that they afterwards think themselves bound to deny it to have been even the unconscious goal of their ardent longings (comp. “Ges. Phil. Abhandl.,” pp. 86, 87).

  We have now got so far as to recognise the love to a particular individual as an instinct, for we have found in it a continual series of efforts and actions all working towards a single aim, which yet does not appear in consciousness as the one sole aim. The final question is only this: What is the significance of that unconscious purpose, what is the meaning of an instinct, which calls forth such an obstinate selection in sexual gratification, and how is it furthered by the sight of just this particular individual? Of that which can interest the household of Nature and make instinct necessary, manifestly nothing further is changed by the sexual selection of individuals than the bodily and mental constitution of the child. There remains then, after the previous discussion, the sole possible answer given by Schopenhauer, (“Welt als Wille und Vorstellung,” vol. ii., chap. 44, Metaphysic of Sexual Love), namely, that the instinct of love provides for a composition and constitution of succeeding generations corresponding as far as possible to the IDEA of the human race, and that the dreamed-of bliss in the arms of the beloved one is nothing but the deceptive bait, by means of which the Unconscious deludes conscious egoism, and leads to the sacrifice of self-love in favour of the succeeding generation, which conscious reflection could never effect by itself. It is the same principle, in special application to man, which Darwin subsequently established in his theory of natural selection as general law of nature, namely, that the ennoblement of the species is brought about, in addition to the succumbing of the more unfit specimens of the race through the struggle for existence, by means of a natural instinct of sexual selection. Nature knows no higher interests than those of the race, for the race is related to the individual. as the infinite to the finite. Just as we demand of the individual that he consciously sacrifice his egoism, nay, his life, to the welfare of the whole, so does Nature with far less hesitation sacrifice egoism, nay, the life, of the individual to the welfare of the race through the medium of instinct (think of the maternal animal which does not shun death to protect its young, and the male in the rut, which fights even to death for the possession of the female). This can certainly only be called wise and motherly. We compel the conscious sacrifices of the individual through fear of punishment; Nature is kinder, she compels them through hope of reward; that is certainly more motherly! Therefore let no one complain of these hopes and their disillusion, unless, like Schopenhauer, he has to complain of the existence and persistence of Nature. For the rest the juggling delusion is as wholesome and as indispensable as that which parents often see themselves compelled to impose upon children for their good. For of all natural ends there can manifestly be none higher than the welfare and most favourable constitution of the next generation, since not that generation alone, but the whole future of the race is dependent thereon; thus the affair is, in fact, highly important, and the noise, which is made about it in the world, by no means too great. But nevertheless the want of proportion between means and end (love-passion and nature of the child) appears, when once comprehended, absurd to the consciousness of the individual, and the process of love is charged for him with an inner contradiction to his egoism; for possibly conscious thought in abstracto, but hardly conscious will in concreto, can disengage itself from the point of view of egoism, at the most it may be brought by deeper insight passively to permit Nature’s ends to be accomplished in preference to its own.

  The description in detail of the way in which the bodily and mental qualities act on the Unconscious, and excite the unconscious will to beget this particular new human being which must result from the intercourse of these individuals, has been given in a masterly manner by Schopenhauer. I refer to the chapter cited above, and only give here a short abstract for completeness’ sake. Two prime factors are to be distinguished: (1) individuals exert a greater sexual charm the more completely they represent corporeally and mentally the IDEA of the race, and the more nearly they approach the acme of the procreative power; (2) that individual has the greatest sexual charm for any other individual which, as far as possible, neutralises the latter’s defects by opposite defects, thus producing a child which represents the type of the race in the greatest possible perfection. One sees that under the first head will come the bodily and mental attractive force of symmetry, beauty, nobility, and grace, to cause the awakening of sexual love, and one also now understands how it comes about, namely, by the circuitous path of an unconscious final causality, whilst before it was not at all evident how bodily and mental excellence could have anything to do with sexual love. The influence of age is likewise explained by the acme of procreative power (18–28 years for the woman, 24–36 for the man). As another example, I may instance the powerful charm which a voluptuous female bosom exerts on the man; the medium is the unconscious idea of the abundant nutrition of the new-born child. A powerful muscular frame (e.g., calves) also promises a powerful constitution of the child, and thus exerts a considerable charm. All such trifles are most carefully reviewed, and people talk about them with an air of importance, but no one reflects what an insignificant more or less in calves and bosoms have to do with the sexual pleasure.

  The first point contains the reason why, generally speaking, the individuals with the most perfect mental and bodily constitution appear most desirable to the other sex; the second point, why the same persons appear to have very different attractive power for members of the other sex, and why totally different natures are the most captivating of all. Both points may be anywhere put to the test, and they are found confirmed in the smallest details, if only a deduction be always made for what is not desired and wished for from immediate instinctive sexual inclination, but from other rational or irrational conscious motives. Tall men prefer short women, and vice versâ; thin, stout; snub-nosed, long-nosed; blondes, brunettes; the intellectual, the naive; always, be it understood, only in sexual relations. Æsthetically, people do not generally f
ind their polar contrasts beautiful, but their doubles. Many tall women will also, from vanity, refuse to marry a short man. It is clear that the sexual pleasure rests on quite other suppositions than the practical, moral, æsthetic, and agreeable, which explains the passionate love for individuals whom the lover in other respects cannot help hating and despising. Truly passion in such cases does all that is possible to dazzle the calm judgment, and to attune it in its favour; it is therefore decidedly correct that there is no sexual love without blindness. The disillusion which occurs on the decline of passion essentially contributes to strengthen the conversion of love into indifference or hate, as we even find the latter frequently at the bottom of the heart, not only in amours, but even among married people.

  It is well known that the strongest passions are not excited by the most beautiful individuals, but, on the contrary, more frequently by the ugly. This is owing to the circumstance that the strongest passion consists only in the most concentrated individualising of the sexual impulse, and this arises only by the encounter of qualities in polar opposition. In nations, where life is generally less intellectual than sensuous, the bodily qualities almost exclusively decide the issue, wherefore also among them the instantaneous origination of the most violent passions. On the other hand, among the educated classes of nations of higher mental development, even with respect to influence on the unconscious sexual choice, the mental qualities outweigh the corporeal. Accordingly, here for the most part a closer acquaintance is necessary for the birth of love, unless the lucid vision of the Unconscious, stimulated by the view of a certain countenance, serve the same end, as may often occur, especially in the case of women, who stand nearer to the source of the Unconscious. But also among men of a highly intellectual cast of mind, the experience is sufficiently common of a first meeting with a rare feminine nature involving them in enchanted and indestructible bonds, to seek a cause for which the mind struggles in vain. Ye who still doubt magic, action of mind on mind without the ordinary means of rational communication, through the medium of symbol, which is only understood by the Unconscious—will ye also deny Love?

  The sum of this chapter is as follows: Man instinctively seeks an individual of the other sex to gratify a physical impulse, in the illusory expectation of thereby attaining a higher enjoyment than from any other kind of gratification; his unconscious aim, therefore, is, in the main, procreation. Man instinctively seeks that individual of the other sex, whose nature blended with his own, represents the type of the race in the most perfect way possible, in the vain hope of having an incomparably higher enjoyment in sexual union with this individual than with any other, nay, of absolutely partaking the most exceeding bliss. His unconscious aim therein is the begetting of such an individual as most completely represents the IDEA of the race. This unconscious endeavour after the purest possible realisation of the IDEA of the race involves no new principle, but is the same principle, which governed organic formation in the wider sense, applied to procreation (which is indeed only a special form of organic formation, as physiology shows), and is screwed up to a high degree of subtility through the numbers and fineness of the differences in the human race.—Among animals this factor of sexual selection is by no means wanting; it is only presented in a simpler form on account of the smaller differences, and essentially concerns only the first point, the selection of such individuals as represent as completely as possible the type of the race. Thus, among many animals (fowls, seals, moles, certain apes), the males fight for the possession of those females which appear specially desirable. These pre-eminently desirable individuals are, among many gay-coloured animals, those with the most beautiful colours, and within the limits of a species among the different races or varieties, the individuals of the same race, e.g., among men and dogs. Curs often make the greatest sacrifices in order to come together with a bitch of their own breed with whom they have fallen in love. Not only will they run many miles, but I know even a case where a dog every night, in spite of his cross clog, visited his mistress at a distance of more than five miles, and returned every morning exhausted and jaded; as the clog was of no avail, the chain was put on him, but he then became so wild that he was again liberated, as it was feared he would go mad. There were at the time in his own yard a large number of bitches. Thorough-bred stallions, too, are said usually to disdain copulation with common worn-out mares.

  Schopenhauer very correctly remarks, that we may conclude from the instinct of sexual love, which we ourselves possess, to the instincts of animals, and assume that even among them consciousness would be disappointed of the expectation of a special enjoyment. This illusion arises, however, only from the impulse, is proportional to the strength of the impulse, and is nothing else but the impulse itself combined with the application of the conscious experience, that the pleasure of the gratification of an impulse is generally proportional to the strength of the impulse, a supposition which is not confirmed by the impulses, whose chief weight and importance appertains to the Unconscious (see sec. C. Chap. iii.), and therefore becomes a deceptive illusion. This remark is, therefore, to be confined to those animals whose consciousness is capable of such generalisations; among the lower ones it stops short at the constraining impulse, without reaching to the expectation of enjoyment.—For the rest, how useful also for the individuals of the higher kinds of animals that illusion is, is seen herein, that this sexual illusion is just the first and most important means in nature for inspiring individuals with that interest for one another, which is requisite, in order to make the mind in a sufficient degree receptive for sympathy. The ties of marriage and of the family are therefore even among animals, as among rude men, the first stages in the progress to conscious friendship and morality; they are the first flush of dawning culture, of fairer and nobler feelings, and general readiness for sacrifice.

  Some may perhaps be inclined to reply that, according to the theory of polar complements, no unhappy love can occur, but this is manifestly an over-hasty and mistaken objection. For, if A is in love with B, that means B is a suitable complement to A, or A will beget more perfect children with B than with others. But now is it by no means necessary for A to be a suitable complement to B, but B can perhaps beget more perfect children with many others than with A, if, e.g., A is a rather imperfect presentation of the idea of the race; consequently B by no means needs to be enamoured of A. Only when both are superior individuals will also B with difficulty find an individual with whom he can beget more perfect children than with A, and then are both simultaneously seized by passion. Then are they like the re-found halves of the parted primitive man in the Platonic myth. Add to this, that, in such a case, this polar accord is not merely to the advantage of the children, but in another respect, than the passion of love imagines, to the parents also; to wit, because, as before remarked, for the highest friendship, too, the polar harmony of souls is the favourable condition.

  For the understanding of those to whom the result of the last chapter may seem new and repulsive, I call attention, in conclusion, to the following:—(1) That, as long as the illusion of unconscious impulse persists intact, this illusion has for feeling the same value as truth, (2.) That even after the discovery of the illusion, and before complete resignation to egoism, thus in the state of the strongest most unbroken contradiction between the selfish conscious, and the unselfish, unconscious Will working merely for universal ends, that even in this state, I say, the Unconscious constantly shows itself at the same time as the superior and the master of Consciousness, and accordingly the satisfaction of the conscious at the expense of the non-satisfaction of the unconscious Will causes more pain than the reverse. (3.) Lastly, that this variance of the general unconscious with the egoistic conscious Will finds its positive reconciliation in the truly philosophical point of view (to be demonstrated in Chap. xiv. C.), where self-renunciation, i.e., foregoing individual welfare, and complete devotion to the process and welfare of the universal, is presented as first principle of practical philosophy, an
d thus also all instincts, absurd to conscious egoism but beneficial for the whole, are fully justified.

  We should altogether err, if we thought that the explanation of love by unconscious reference to an end in the child to be begotten materialised the eternal spring of the human heart, or robbed the yet innocent feelings of their fine idealistic lustre. Far from that! What could more certainly raise love above the coarseness of sensuality and for ever protect it from all relapse, than its derivation from an unconscious purpose, which is only concerned with generation, but excludes sensuality and voluptuousness from the causes of individualised love, and only permits them to be an accessory vehicle, which may better protect the infinite longing from entirely missing its unconscious purpose? Philosophic speculation does no more than unveil the illusion in which the natural man is entangled, the illusion that those mystical feelings in themselves possess a rational foundation or warrant. At the same time, however, it replaces this illusion by the scientific insight that these feelings have the greatest possible authorisation, and rest on the deepest and noblest ground of all, and that they are, in fact, infinitely more important for the development of the human race than fancy permits itself to dream (comp., farther on, Chap. x. B.; and also the conclusion of Chap. xi. B.) It thus gives to the everlasting theme of poetry, which hitherto has appeared baseless illusion, by critically annihilating its imaginary value for egoism, and assigning it in compensation a quite unexpected significance in respect of the welfare of mankind, a foundation so philosophical, that the dullest Philistine must cease from mocking and acknowledge the immense practical consequence of the whole affair.