Nietzsche and Guyau

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On Jean-Marie Guyau, ImmoralisteAuthor(s): Geoffrey C. FidlerSource: Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 55, No. 1 (Jan., 1994), pp. 75-97Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press

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On Jean-Marie

uyau,

mmoraliste

Geoffrey

. Fidler

"Itis still hecultofChristianmorality nder

a new

name-The

freethinkers,

.g., Guyau."

(Friedrich ietzsche,

he Will

To

Power)

"...

je disais

a

Culture, ee

de

la

vie,

tuant

a vie."

(Andre

Gide,L'Immoraliste)

Unlike

Nietzsche nd Bergson,

withwhomhe is

invariablyompared,

thephilosopher-poetean-Marie uyau 1854-88)

s

notwidely

known. ut

his Esquisse

d'une morale

ans obligation

i

sanction f

1885 was some-

thing

f a sensation

n its

day,bringing

im

a

reputation

nd

a measure

f

notorietys a sort

f French

ietzsche. his was

reinforced

ith he

ppear-

ance

two

years

ater

f its

quasi-sequel,

'Irre'ligion

e l'avenir. By

their

provocative

itles

t least, hese

works eemed

o be theepitome f French

positivisticspiration,

ith

morality

isengaged

rom

eligion

nd meta-

physics,

rom

bligation nd sanction.

et they ame

to situate

uyau

n

the

spiritualist

r ntuitionistchool

of French

hilosophy

rom

Maine

de

Biran

through avaisson

nd

Lachelier o Fouillee

and

Bergson,

nd

to

earn

him,

vicariously,

he immoralist"nd

psychologist

redentials

f Nietzsche.

o

be

sure,

with ts uncommon

roposal

f anomie

morale,

his work

prefig-

ures-in

part rovokes-that

ense of

a

"crisis f

themoral dea" at the

fin

de

siecle,

f

which

urkheim's

more amiliar

iagnosis

fmoral nomiewas

symptomatic.

My

concern

n

this

ssay

s

to

present

uyau

s a moralist.Whilebroadly

venturing

is reconsideration

n

this

egard,

also extend

he

purview

ftwo

recent

tudies f

his work n aestheticsndon the rigin fthe deaoftime.I

I

am

grateful o an anonymous

eaderof this essay

and

to

the

editorof JHI

for

providing

elpful riticism

nd suggestions.

I

F. J.W. Harding,Jean-Marie

Guyau (1854-1888):

Aesthetician

nd Sociologist

(Geneva,

1973); J.A. Michon et al., ed. and tr.,Guyau

nd

the dea

of

Time

New

York,

1988);

J.-M.

Guyau, Esquisse

d'une morale sans

obligation

ni sanction

Paris,

18964,

75

Copyright

994

y

Journal

f

he

History

f

deas,

nc.






76

Geoffrey.

Fidler

Then will laboratehe win

sychological

nd

ociologicalrientationsf

hisphilosophyy wayof

providing

frameworkor he

Esquisse

d'une

morale,

n which his ssay ocuses.

Largely vershadowedyNietzsche, uyau

as sufferedrom

eglect

not east

y

theFrench

hemselves,espite novelty

nd

ndependence

f

philosophiciewpoint hich

ore

ignificantly

n

thefutureirectionf

Frenchhought.

n

a

relentlessly

onest

eactiongainstmoralitiesrounded

in

conventionalroyance,

uyau

et ut o

challenge

he

revailingeligious

and

philosophicalases,

Christianr

Kantian,

tilitarian

rotherwise

dog-

matic," f

what

he

regarded

s fixedmoralities. s

a philosopher

n

this

respect,e s rightlyoupledwith ietzsche,hose eadingmongmodem

French

exts

ncluded

he

Esquisse

and

L'Irre'ligion

de

l'avenir.2

For

Nietzsche,

onventional

oralityntails hedenial f "an ascending

nd

affirmative

ife"

y

which

he

haos

f

ourmindss

organized.

or

Guyau

t

promotespsychologyarmful

o

human

ompletenessy

the

hypocritical

construction-the

internal

utilation"

r

bad

faith-of hose

mpediments

to

moralitys

the

unity

f

being." spousinghe healthy" oralityf n

ethical aturalism

r,more

ervasively,

f an

aestheticevaluationf the

world, ietzsche'simmoralism"ffirmshe nstinctf ife ndovertums

the

entralalues and he

moral

sychology)f

raditional

hristian

thics.

Likewise, uyau's nitial

uest

or naturalistic

thics ejectshe nher-

ently

ivisive haracter

f

conventional

orality

nd the

immorality

f

dogmaticaith,"

ut

his

oncept

f ife

lsoreflectsis ttachmentoDarwin

and

o

empiricalsychology.

he rucial onditionf

his vital orce"s one

of

expenditure.

Themore

t

takes

n,"

he

maintains,

themore

t

needs o

give

ut."

While ife as

ntensity

n

simple hysical

utritionnd

ssimila-

tion, tsintensityor ndividualsncreases ith herange f instinctual

activities

eculiar

o

it,

with he

facts" f desire nd

thoughtntrinsico

life.Oncewe are onsciousfthis

uperabundancefvital

orce,produc-

tion"

omes

o

furnishhe

mbryonic

ource f

dutynd

disinterestedness

n

social

ife.

y

contrast

ith

ietzsche's,hen, uyau's

nstinctf ife

s

one

1885),tr.Gertrude apteyn, Sketch fMorality ndependentf Obligation rSanction

(London, 1898).

L'Irreligionde

I'avenir:

etude ociologique

Paris,

1887),

tr.

anon.) as

The

Non-Religion ftheFuture:

A

Sociological

Study NewYork, 1897),

repr. New

York,

1962)

with n intro.

y N. N. Glatzer eplacing

utmainly

eproducing uyau's

original.

Cf.

DominiqueParodi,La

Philosophie

contemporaine

n

France

(Paris,

1918),

ch.

X;

Genevieve

Bianquis,Nietzsche n France: l

influence

e

Nietzsche ur a

penseefranVaise

(Paris,

1929), 25-26; Emile

Brehier, istoirede la

philosophie

Paris,1964), II,

887-88;

F.

Copleston,

A

History fPhilosophy, IX:

Maine de Biran to

Sartre NewYork,

1985),

III, 174-77.

2

Alfred

Fouillee, Nietzsche

et l'immoralisme 2nd

ed., Paris,

1902),

iiff;

Daniel

Halevy,Nietzsche 1902/1944]Paris, 1977),479; also HaraldHoffding, odern hiloso-

phers,tr.A. C. Mason

(London,

1915),

144-57.






Jean-Marie

uyau

77

officondite

nd

amour: hemost ntensive

ife s also themost

xtensive.3

The immoralism

f

his idea of ife tands

o reinstate

he central

irtues f

Christian orality.

Guyau's mmoralism,ypicallyxpressed s irre'ligion,as readilyon-

strued

s profane y critics

ike heCatholic

hinker

eon

Olle-Laprune.

et

as

much s

he wouldhave rreligion

rive eligion

o thewall

in

thenameof

some

future orality,

uyaudid

not o much enounce he acred

s certain

ofthe ultural

ndreligious

enials

r

representations

f t.His vitalisms

an

expression f

some

of theprimary

lements

f the sacred s a

"religion

f

humanity."

ften voking

he

ntense ndividual

xperience

f themystic,

Guyau

eems

mbued

with hekinds

f

doubts, egations,

opes,

ndbeliefs

that ink himalso to Bergson,whilerenderingim"unconsciouslynar-

chist"

in the eyes of

a

Kropotkin.

or

Kropotkin,

n

fact,

he "whole

question

f

morality"

as summed

p

in

themix of intuitive

nsight

with

fraternal

ommunity

entral o

the

uniquely

umane nd

generous

pirit

f

Guyau's

"fecundity

f will."

Certainly,

he

humanity

nd

sincerity

f

Guyau's

style

f

"exquisite

ensibility" ained

him

he

widespread

dmira-

tion

of his many

ritics,ncluding

ergson

nd Durkheim.4

Having aught

n

1874 at

the

Lyqee

Condorcetwhere

ergsonwas then

a student), uyau hereafteremainedn invalid nda private hilosopher.

His output pans

barely

hirteen ears,

ut

t

includes

nine

original

mono-

graphs

or

ublication

n

addition

o

the

prize-winning

hesis

he wrote t the

age

ofnineteen

n theutilitarian

radition.

e also

published

ritical

ditions

I

"Nous avonsplus

de larmes u'il

n'en

faut

ournos

propres ouffrances":

squisse,

98

(84);

also 73,

108-9,

245-49

(62,

93,

209-12), and

Bk.

I,

chs. 1-2; La Morale anglaise

contemporaine:morale d'utiliteet de 1'e'volution1879] (2nd edn., Paris, 1885), ix-x

("Tout

dogme st foncierement

mmoral..").

Cf. Nietzsche

n Twilight fthe dols, tr.

R.

J. Hollingdale

London,

1990), 55-56

["Morality s Anti-Nature,"

-6]; andEcce Homo,

tr.Hollingdale

Penguin,

1979), 128-29,

131 ["Why am

a Destiny"]. dentifying

imself

firmly"moi")

withGuyau's

"immoralite

e

la

foi dogmatique,"

ietzsche

made glosses

on his copies of

the

Esquisse

and

L Irreligion,

he

former

xisting s a printed

ppendix

o

J.-M.

Guyau,

Sittlichkeit

hne

"Pflicht" Esquisse

d'une Morale ...),

tr.

Elisabeth

Schwarz, ntro.

Alfred ouillee

(Leipzig, 1909),

279-303. Schwarz

makes the

prefatory

remark

hat

the

marginal

glosses (copied

from

the

original

by Peter Gast

[Heinrich

Koselitz]) came

to

her from

he

Nietzsche

Archiveunder

the

supervision

f Elisabeth

Forster-Nietzsche.ouilleefirst new fthem hroughheFrenchNietzsche cholarHenri

Lichtenberger

nd

obtained copy

from heArchive f

thoseon

theEsquisse butnot "a

notre

grandregret") 'Irre'ligion.

ee "Les Jugements

e

Nietzschesur Guyau,"

Revue

philosophique,

52

(1901),

569-99;

Nietzsche t l'immoralisme,

iin.

I wish

to thankmy

colleague,VirginiaNixon,

for ssistance

with

he

German ources.

4 Durkheim

writes of "exquise

sensibilite"

n his review of L'Irreligion,

Revue

philosophique,

23

(1887),

306 (tr. and

ed. W. S. F. Pickering,

urkheim

n Religion

[London,

1975],33); cf.

L.

Olle-Laprune,

e

Prix de

la

vie 2nd ed.,

Paris,1895), 138-39.

See also

Peter

Kropotkin,

AnarchistMorality,"

Kropotkin's

Revolutionary

amphlets

[1927],

ed. R. N.

Baldwin NewYork,

1970), 108-10;

E. Molina Garmentia,

os Filosofos

contemporaneos: uyau-Bergson rev.edn.,Santiago,1948), 7-8; Frederic aulhan, Le

Nouveau

mysticisme,"

evuephilosophique,

0

(1890), 500, 515.






78 Geoffrey

. Fidler

and translations

f Ancient

nd French

exts,

ontributionso theRevuedes

deuxmondes nd

Revue

hilosophique,

nd

a series f

highly opular

chool

manuals

n

the ecularmoral

diom f the

arly

Third

Republic.'Guyauwas

raised nd nfluencedybothhis motherwhosemoral rimer,e Tourde la

France par

deux

enfants, ublished

n

1877,

was a

Republican"best-

seller"), and

his

stepfather,

he

philosopher

Alfred

Fouillee.

Widely

re-

spectedfor

his

published

workon

Plato,

Fouillee

1838-1912)

shared

he

neo-Kantianism

f his

contemporaries

achelier

nd Boutroux.

is

concept

of idees-forces

whichDominique

Parodi

depicts

s a

kind of

"positivist

metaphysics") as nonetheless

n

original ontribution

o

contemporary

attemptso

reconcile

hilosophical

dealism

with

cientific

aturalism.

he

eclecticthrustf his prolific ffort o bridgethepoles of Comtean nd

evolutionaryocial theory n

one

hand nd

French

eo-Kantian hilosophy

on theother, hapedGuyau's

own

efforto elaborate he

motif t

enounced,

that s, how

to connect

heconclusions

f

an

evolutionaryheory

with he

axiomsof a

speculative

thics.

To theextent uyau ookthisup (and granting is sympatheticnder-

standing

f

widely ivergenthilosophicalraditions),

t

s difficulto

assign

him

o a single ntellectualamp.The diversity

f

his nterestss indicated y

the arly ssayLa Genesede V'idee e temps, hich aul Ricoeurhas called

"the mostbrilliant nd subtle xampleof

the

nvoluntaryomagepaid to

transcendentalhilosophy y genetic sychology."

icoeurdoes

more

han

signal diversity

f

orientation,owever;

he

points

here

to a

dimension f

Guyau's work

thatrisks

neglectby those,

ike

Piaget,

who see

only

his

onslaught n

the

"Kantian

Ethics." n

attemptingo replace the Kantian

intuition priori f time with purely mpirical-developmentaloncept,

Guyauconflates hepresumed

otion

f genesis

with

heapparent sycho-

logicalcategoriestgenerates-the origin" f the dea oftime, hat s, with

theorigin f our wareness f the dea of time.Whetherr notunwittingly,

Guyau's "homage" o Kant

s

conceivably is reinforcementf theKantian

precondition. uilding

on the internal

ropensities f mind, he Esquisse

d'une

morale

ikewise

ncorporates-if

t

does not

n

effect iscard-Kant's

formula

priori

f

morals

n

its

pursuit

f

"equivalents." uyau's Kantian

I

Fouillee's apologeticbutcritical) a Morale, art t a religion apres Guyau 2nd

ed., Paris,

1892) remains hefullest

ccount; f.

P.

Archambault, uyau Paris, 1901).The

Memoire ur la morale

utilitaire epuis Epicure

usqu'a

1'e'cole anglaise

of

1873 was

honored ytheAcademie

des Sciences

Morales etPolitiques La Morale

anglaise, xi n.).

See also the

following, ll

published

n

Paris (by

Alcan):

La

Morale

d'Epicure et ses

rapports

avec

les

doctrinescontemporaines

1874]

(4th, rev. ed., 1904); Versd'un

philosophe1881);

Les

Problemes e

1

esthetique ontemporaine1884);

L

Art

upoint

de

vue

sociologique (1889); Education et

here'dite':

'tude

ociologique (1889), tr. W. J.

Greenstreet,ducation nd

Heredity

London, 1891); La Genesede

V'idee

de

temps, d.

Fouillee 1890) (see above,

n. 1), "Origin

f the dea ofTime." The

school manualsranto

multiple ditions,notably he PremiereAnne'e e lecture ourante 1875) andL'Annee

preparatoire

e lecture 1884).






Jean-Marie

uyau

79

studies

were

more han merepreliminary,

nd as Ricoeurhints,

e

under-

stoodKant.6

Like Nietzsche

poet

andpsychologist,

uyau

produced

riginal

works

on religion, rt, nd poetics s pivotal oa wider nd "powerful"hilosophy

of life,

his

moral

viewpoint

tanding

s perhaps

his most mportant

nd

certainly

is most ontroversial

ffort.

is ethics eceived

either

omplete

nor

fully ystematic

reatment,

owever; nd

the

Esquisse therefore

ompels

attention

o ts companion

orks,

hose n

Epicurus

nd ater tilitarians,

n

religion

nd education,

s

well as to

themore omplete

nd

familiartudies

on the

"aesthetics

f social sympathy."

lthough

Guyau's

interest

was

preeminently

sychological

beginning

ith

he eappraisalf

Epicurean

nd

utilitarianthics),his conceptof life as fecundityendshis philosophy

pronounced

ociological

haracter.7

These twin

orientations

rovide

he framework

ora concept

of life

drawn

o raise

hekinds

f

questions

bout

morality

hat ad

to

do,

ike hose

of Schopenhauer

nd Nietzsche,

with ts

very ossibility

nd ntelligibility.

Juxtaposing

n intensive

with an

expansive

vital

urge,

Guyau's

concept

reflects

is relation

o

the currents

f

biological-psychological

s

well as

systematic

ociological

nquiry

nfluentialt

the

ime.

n

turn,

hese

urrents

of thought ignaltheproximityf his "moralityutsideof morality"o

some

significant

ontemporary

ntellectual

epartures,

ncluding

heaes-

thetic-as-ethical

lternative

f

Nietzsche;

he

imperative

o complete

u-

tonomy

f Frederic

auh's

L

Experience

morale,

which esurrects

nd rede-

fines

hekindof

morale ndependante

hatGuyau

had set out

to

construct;

and

the would-be

neutral ociological

diom

of a science

of

morality,

r

science

des

moeurs, ropounded

y

Durkheim

nd Lucien

Levy-Bruhl.8

n

6

Fouillee,La

Morale,5;

thephilosopher

enri

Marion

laimsGuyau's

education

was

"profondement

dealiste,"

withKant among

his "maitres

n morale":

La Revuebleue,

47

(1891),

653.

Paul Ricoeur,

"FromKant

to

Guyau,"ed.

Michon,

150; JeanPiaget,

Le

Jugement

oral

hez l'enfantParis,

1932),

272.

Theessayon

time

prepared

or ublica-

tionby Fouillee

in 1890)

was originally

ublished

ntheRevuephilosophique,

9 (1885),

353-68,

the ameyear s

the

Esquisse.

On

Fouillee,

ee Parodi,

2-48; andElisabeth

Ganne

de Beaucoudrey,

a Psychologie

t a metaphysique

es

idees-forces

hez Alfred

ouillee

(Paris,

1936).On Mme.

Fouillee

Guyau),

see esp. J.

and M.

Ozouf, Le Tour

de

la France

pardeux enfants,"n PierreNora (ed.), Les Lieux de memoire,: La Republique Paris,

1984),291-321.

7 Fouillee,

"La Doctrine e

la

vie chez Guyau,"

Revue

de

metaphysique

t de

morale,

14

(1906),

534;

BenedettoCroce,

Estetica [1902]

(Bari,

1958),

446, drawing

n

Emile

Boirac

in Revue

philosophique,

29 (1890),

647-48.

Marx

also set out

from

studyof

Epicurus,

the

psychology

f

human nature

eliciting

naturalisticpproach

to

human

society

"production"

s

the

vital

forceof

the"species-being"):

K. Marxand

F. Engels,

Collected

Works

New

York,

1975-), and

III

(for

theEconomic nd Philosophic

Manu-

scripts).

8

Parodi,

a Philosophie

ontemporaine,

48ff.

eveloping

his Essai sur

efondement

metaphysiquee la morale of 1890,Rauh's L'Experiencemorale Paris, 1903) appeared

thesame

year as

Levy-Bruhl's

Morale

et la science

des

moeurs;

he Sketch f

Morality






80

Geoffrey

.

Fidler

sum, hey

all attention

othe

oleprovocateur

f

Guyau's squisse

nd ts

place nan achievementll themorempressiveor he revityfhis ife.

In his broadly sychologistutlook, uyau

s rightlyrouped

ith

NietzschendBergson or

his

contribution

o philosophiesf elan nd of

value.

The

presentssay

concerns otwhatwas

philosophically

t issue

among

hem ut

nly

isrelation

othe wo

hilosophers.

uyau's pproach

tomoral hilosophyascompatible

n

general

ith he

sychologism

f he

Revue

de

metaphysique

t de moralefrom

893,

which

ended

o

treat ts

subject

s a

psychologicalnalysis

f

thoughtand,

ppropriately,

evoted

several

apers

o

Guyau).

s William

ames

mplies,

he rucial

ngredients

ofGuyau'sthics ere imilarlysychologicalndmetaphysical,mphasiz-

ing herole fpurelynward orces,the ubtiletiesfthemoral ensibil-

ity."Guyau ave special ttentionothose hinkersEpicurus, ascal,La

Rochefoucauld,mong thers) hosemoral hilosophies

mbodied psy-

chology;

e also shared

he

ntellectualnclination

fNietzsche

owardhe

psychological

nd

he

ntuitive.9

His own

point

f

departure

s

to

propose

n

interior,on-mechanistic,

and

pontaneous

ital

rinciple.owever,

e

s not

resenting

ife

as

some

ofhiscriticslaimed) s an absolutentity,n objective rinciple,ra

substanceutside f houghtomewhatnalogous

othe

arly

reek

hysi-

ologists. lthoughistinct

rom

ure

r bstract

hought,

ife

s at

onewith

the houghtroduced y themind

r

conscience

eflectingn itself-the

object

nd

ubject

f

mmediate

xperience.

he

lements

f

power

r

force,

which re xtractsf

ife

s a fundamentalrinciple,ssume rominences

interactionccurs etweenndividualives.Fouillee

nsistedhatGuyau's

"doctrinef

ife"

was an

anticipation

n

this

egard

f much

n

Bergson's

conceptf ntuitionmmediatesanapprehensionf he real" fbothmind

andmatter.

vidently,

rom

is

glosses

n

the

Esquisse,Nietzschehares

Fouillee's view of Guyau s "a psychologist

.. an observer n the nside."

sometimes

enders

cience des moeurs s

"moral

science"

(e.g., 80).

Cf.

Leon

Brunsch-

vicg,

"L'Experiencemorale selon Rauh," Revue

philosophique, 105 (1928), 5-32; F.

Carrel,"The Morals of Guyau," nternational ournalof Ethics, 15 (1904-5), 468, on

subsequent

evelopments

n

Frenchmoral heory; ules e

Gaultier, ietzsche t a

reforme

philosophique 3rd

edn.,Paris,

1904), 262, forGuyau's "morale

en

dehorsde la

morale."

9

De

Gaultier,Nietzsche t la

reforme,

55;

WilliamJames, TheMoral Philosopher

and the

Moral

Life,"

The Willto Believe and Other

Essays

in

Popular

Philosophy New

York, 1956), 188.

Cf. Charles

Christophe, Le Principede la vie

comme mobile moral

selon J.-M.

Guyau,"Revuede

metaphysiquet de morale, (1901),

343-60,487-528. The

Guyau-Bergson

ink s

discussed

n

Rene

Berthelot,

n

Romantisme tilitaire:

tudes

ur

le mouvement

ragmatiste, I:

Le

Pragmatisme hez

Bergson Paris,

1913), 142, 152ff;

Vladimir

Jankelevitch,Deux

philosophesde la vie: Bergson,Guyau,"

Revue philoso-

phique,97 (1924), 402-49; and Ben-Ami charfstein,ootsofBergson sPhilosophyNew

York, 1943).






Jean-MarieGuyau

81

For nstance, e followsGuyauwith pproval

n

the nalysis f ssociationist

psychology,

hich

forged

inksbetween

ersonal leasure

nd altruism

y

recourse o primarilyxternal,artificial"

echanisms. s much s

it would

have infuriated ietzsche,Daniel Halevy is surely orrect o introduce

Nietzsche y reference

o

Guyau

n

this

egard,

oth f whomhe

presents

s

"spiritualist" hilosophers.10

Atthe ame ime,Nietzsche nderscores

he rucial

eatureetting

ff

he

psychology

f

Guyau's

dea

of ifefrom is own. For

Guyau sympathy

nd

sociability re

...

in

the individual,

t the basis of life"

im

Grunddes

Lebens); and so

in

his psychology leasure merges s a byproduct

ather

than he im of ife,

t

"accompanies,muchmore han

t

provokes, he

earch

afterife."Moreover,heres a sociological mplicationoGuyau's hoiceof

words-not "elan"

but vital "expansion."

his

term, dentified ithBerg-

son, conveys dynamic

ut Nietzschean nd individualistic

orce;

with

Guyau

t

prescribes sympathetic

r

social

addition o

the

ntensityrinciple

it

also envelops. ndeed,

ife s enriched

n

Guyau'sconcept y

ts

elastic nd

dynamic

haracter.

orality

eedsa

social

setting

ot o much o

secure

ts

reliabilitys because this s indeed

ts

nature

s "elan energique" r,

to be

exact, s "expansion ympathique."

Becoming" s movementowards he

social milieu, ndthevital mpulse s moreoneof ove than fpower.The

sentimentnderlyingll

human

morality, uyau sserts,

is

always

that f

generosity.

91

From he thical oint f view, hispronounced

ocial

dimension

rings

intorelief

Guyau's

relation

o Nietzsche.Nietzsche

may

have

been

the

only

major hilosopher

onest

nough

o

profess

nd

promote

he

onclusion

hat,

as

Maclntyrergues,

the haracternd

anguage

f

pastmorality

ad

to

be

abandoned."

eeing

n

Guyau

omething

f a

kindred

pirit

owever

and

n

theEsquisse a "melancholy-resolute"ork),Nietzsche s clearlyntrigued

by

his own

conclusion;

or

he

consigns

he rich

morality

f its

altruism,

together

ith

Schopenhauer's ity,

o the inauthentic

llusions,

in

more

concealed

orms,"

fthe

ult

f Christian

orality;

nd he scowls

t

whathe

calls Guyau's "idee

fixe."

Guyau

s detached rom ietzsche

y

his

concept

10

ForHalevythey re"spiritualistes e race et de tradition"Nietzsche, 79); Guyau,

Sittlichkeithne

"Pflicht,"

91; Fouillee, "La Doctrinede la vie," 518-20, 531; cf. La

Morale anglaise, 424ff.

n

his

Philosophy f

Civilization

New York, 1960), 257,

Albert

Schweitzer epicts Fouillee and

Guyau as "elemental

moralists ike

Schopenhauer

nd

Nietzsche."

"

Education ndHeredity, 82 (133): "c'est toujours e sentimente la

generosite."

In

"La

Doctrinede

la vie," 518, Fouilleeputs

Nietzsche's

remarksSittlichkeit,90-91)

thisway: "[Selon Guyau]

sympathie

t

sociabilite ontfondamentales,

t

nonpas,

comme

le veut l'ecole anglaise,

plus ou moins artificielles.... Guyau les trouvedeja dans

l'individu, ans efondde la vie." See also Sketch, 7 (90): "Le plaisiraccompagne .. la

recherche e la vie, beaucoupplus qu'il ne la provoque";

cf

Jankelevitch,

19-22.






82 Geoffrey

.

Fidler

of n nherentlyxpansiveife;12ndyet, y

"noble"

ath,

e also sets ut

toreconstitutehe mpersonalriteria

nd

ocial

irtuesowhich

hristianity

assigned rigins

ooted

n

sentimentsf weaknessnd

resignation.uyau

does his nthe asisof "Nietzschean"hilosophynd desire or ome

naturalistictandardf values,which e most ffectivelyrticulateswith

Nietzsche)n estheticerms.orGuyau,oo, he ronouncedgnosticismf

a

powerful

ife

roclaims

hat there

s

no

onger

Christ.""3

TheEsquisse s a directesult

f

Guyau'snterest

n

he istoryf thics.

It

proceeds

rom he

philosophy

f

evolution,

hich or

Guyaumarks he

culminatingoint

f

contemporarynglish

thics"

n

thework f

Herbert

Spencer.

n

inewith is

protestgainst

hristian

heology,uyau

s drawn

to whatNealGillespie allsDarwin's positivism."tthe ame ime, e

favorshe

peculation

r

creationism"f hose arwinistsnxious o

retain

a teleologicalonception

f

nature.

arwin

ends upporto the dea ofan

empiricalenesis

o

morality,

ut he ndifferencer blind

truggle"

f

his

conditionsf

life

offers

o

morality

n

the

ordinary

ense.

Spencer, y

contrast,resents system

f

universal oral

armony

hat ombineshe

utility

fthe

Epicurean

ith he

necessity

f

the

toic

ommand

o

ive

n

conformity

ith

ature.

pencer's roposal, quasi-natural

r

organic

er-

sion f he ideal epublic"fKant,llustratesisown hilosophictance s

"une

orte e Spinoza ositiviste."

e is

Guyau's oint

f

departure,ut

Guyau's pencer

ooks

istinctly

ike

Guyau

imself.

4

Whetherrnot evolutiononfuses

im,"

s

Tolstoy emarked,uyau

faced heobvious

roblem

volution

osed

for

his view of conventional

morality:an

a

positive

cience f morals

peak

f

obligation

n

a strictly

natural-biological

onnection?

oral

hilosophies

ad

yet

o

disentangle

he

complex

mix

of

udgments

nd

actions,

eliefs nd

behaviors,

entral

o

moralubjects.utthehistoricalocus fGuyau's arlywork s far rom

implyinghat scientific orality

s

synonymousith science esmoeurs,

with simple istorynd nalysisfhuman orality.romts nception,he

thrustf his moral

hilosophy

as

to

propose

n

alternativebeyond

he

Utilitarians' aximum

leasure

nd

Spencer's rganic ommunity)

o the

abstractormal

ategories

f Kantianranscendental

thics.

uyauoins

he

12

Sittlichkeit,

93

("Idee fixe").

Cf. The

Genealogy f

Morals

(New York, 1956),

161

(I, #2),

where healtruistic s "moral"has

"assumed

the

obsessive force f an

ideefixe";

The Will toPower, ed. W. KaufmannNew York, 1968), 186 (#340);and Werke n drei

Bdnden, d.

Karl

Schlechta Munich,1966), II: Aus Den Nachlass Der

Achtzigerjahre,

7,

on

Guyau

nd the ulture f Christian

morality.

ee also Alasdair

MacIntyre, fter irtue:

A Studyn Moral Theory NotreDame, 1984), 256-58; and D. W. Hamlyn, chopenhauer

(London, 1980), 149-50.

13

Sketch,

4

(17):

"il

n'y

a

plus

de Christ."

14

La Morale

anglaise, 268, and Pt. I, ch. 9 (on Darwin),ch.

10 and

Pt. II, ch.

5

(on

Spencer);N. C. Gillespie, CharlesDarwin and theProblem f Creation Chicago, 1979),

esp.

ch. 1.






Jean-MarieGuyau

83

Englishmoralists

n presupposinghe apprehensionf duty s inseparable

from content,hat there s no duty ndependently

f thethingwe have

to

do";

but

he also makes he

presumptionwith

which he

Esquisse

s

perhaps

inconsistent)hat thics rises because moralitys there s a sociological

given, n intrinsiceature

f ife s a simultaneously

ntensivendexpansive

force.Of the external r conscious

haracter f utilitarianleasure,Guyau

wouldtherefore

emarkhat leasure riginally

proceeds rom hefunction

[of life],"

which is fecundity,nd subsequently

eactson the function;

pleasurehas its source

n

a superabundancef ife,which s life t ts most

fruitful.'5owever free

t

remains

rom

xternal

onstraints,eal human

naturehas an inner

necessity o

it.

The "is" mightwell command

n

"ought."

Guyau's life

dictates he

activity

f a

perpetually triving

nd self-

realizingmind

in

the eudaimonisticmore thanpurely toical) tradition

reminiscent

f

Spinoza's conatus.Moreover,

n

the bsenceof thecertainty

of

science,

doubt ends

life a "moral" character nd

dignity

f

thought,

where nothing

s

more

moral handoubt."'6

t

is not surprisinghatGuyau

is drawn o Epicurus.

he themes fhis own moral roject re exactly hose

he locates

n

theEpicurean hilosophy:

rom irreligion"nd "provisional

affirmation"o the nstrumentalisdom f thetraditionalirtues nd from

the ethical

haracter f interpersonalelations

o that

f

the relation

f

the

individual

o

the cosmos.

"The

awakening

ciences

have allied

themselves

point y point

with

he

philosophy

f

Epicurus,"

roclaims

ietzsche s

the

Morale

d'Epicure

ame off he

press,

but

point

y point ejected

hristian-

ity."

Herewas the trikingnnouncementhat

he

deal

of a

higheriberty

n

a

life f

significant

ontent as attainable.

picurean

riendship,nsight,

nd

great ocialconcerns

mark life

untrammeledy

fear nd

helplessness

efore

thegods, ndthey ffsetheother picurean iew hat creatureoesmerely

"where

his

pleasure

calls

him.""7There is also the

Epicurean

contra-

diction-which

generated

uyau's

discussion

f the

problem

f

self-sacri-

fice

in

the Esquisse-between

an

egoistic

forceof self-interest,

ith no

content utside

of

self,

and

an altruistic ontent

f

friendship,

ith ts

extreme f self-sacrifice.

his could

be

removed

nly

on the

basis

of

utility.

It

subsequently

tood to be

replacedby

the

precarious

orce f habit nd

15

Sketch,

8 (91):

"Le

plaisir .. procede

de la fonction. lus

tard

..

il

reagit

ur a

fonction," nd

49-50 (58):

"il

n'y a pas de

devoir

ndependamment

e la chose

due,

de

la

representatione l'action";

Tolstoy's etters,

d. and tr.R. F. ChristianNew

York, 1978),

vol. II, 502.

16

Sketch,

3

(73):

"Il n'y a

rien de

plus

moral

que

le

doute."

'7 Ibid.,

78 (91): "l'etreva

...

oiu 'appelle

son plaisir."Cf.Nietzsche,

HumanAll Too

Human, tr.Hollingdale Cambridge,

1986), 44 (#68); and

La

Morale d'Epicure,

288.

Nietzsche'swork ppeared

n the spring f

1878; Guyau'swas based on the memoire

f

1873. ForNietzsche's attachmento Epicurus, ee e.g., The Gay Science,tr. Kaufmann

(New York,

1974), 110 (#45).






84

Geoffrey

.

Fidler

association

f

ideas

and

the socio-legislative

acets

f utilitarian

ustice

which ad

been eveloped

rom

elvetius

o Bentham

nd

Mill.

The

Morale

d'Epicure (with

its

sequel,

the Morale

anglaise

con-

temporaine)hus rovideshe asisfor oth psychologynd sociology:

for he xpression

fthose

nward

ndoutward

ropensities

hich

Guyau

traced,hrougha

Rochefoucauld

ndHobbes

o

Helvetius

nd he ucces e

scandale

f his"humanitarian"

tilitarianism.

hat

pecially

lluminates

Guyau's

on-conventional

picureanism

owever,

s

its thic

f

elf-perfec-

tion s

the

perfection

f

all

selves.

This

upsets

he

elfish

r "immoral"

viewpoint

hich picureanleasure

ould

t

first

uggest.'8

Guyau's

renewal"

f

Epicurus

evives long radition

f Epicurean

rehabilitation,o which hework fPierreGassendiwas thefirstmajor

French ontribution.

t

also

ventures detailed

eview f theproblem

f

freedom

nd contingency"

n

an

accounthat roved s

contentious

s

it

wasnovel. can nly

ive mphasisere, owever,

o

the mplicationshich

his account

ontainsor

hemoral

rgument

f the

Esquisse.

Drawing

n

Lucretius

nd other

oman ources

f the

Epicurean

hilosophy,uyau

depicts

he

atomic

swerve"

s

a

spontaneous

vent

pt

to

continue

ts

function

s an

nitiatory

nd atent

orce

while

masquerading

s

"chance")

in all matter.n attributingn intrinsicuman alue to liberty-were

independent

f nythingutside

fus,

of

ny

ppeal ochance,ecessity,

r

the ods-Epicurus

eems

ntentntranscending

isownmoral

ystem.

t

s

we who

must ominate

aturepar

notre

olonte."

s

Guyaus aware, he

potential

ffectf his s

tounite ope

with

elf-confidence

n

the

uise

f

spontaneous

umanwill

n

quest

f

tranquility

nd

"equilibre

nterieur."

Freedom

an merge

s an deal atherhan

given ower,

s the ealization

of he

highest

endencies

four

eing

nsofar

s

these redetermined

y he

naturend ircumstancesf ifen ndividuals.reedoms self-development

and elf-perfection

n

all"living"eings.

ut his

way,

Guyau'snclusion

f

Spinoza mong

Modem

Epicureans"

akes ense.

There s theobvious

parallel

f

the

onatus s elan

vital

nd

wellspring

f all

action,ncluding

moral

ction.But there s also what

he

sees

as the mmense

pinozist

synthesis

f lementsf

Epicureanism

nd hemore ational-intellectual

ist

of

Stoicism.

The Morale

d'Epicure

of

1878

complements

heEtudesur la

philosophie

'Epictete

f

1875.19

18

La Morale d'Epicure, 129-40, 242ff, 79-89; cf. the reviewby HenrySidgwick

(whomGuyaubriefly iscusses

n

the

Morale

anglaise), Mind,

4

(1879), 582-87. See also

N.

DeWitt,Epicurus

and

his

Philosophy Minneapolis, 1954), 101-3;

and D. W.

Smith,

Helvetius:A Study n Persecution Oxford, 965), 1.

19

Etude sur la philosophie d'Epictete et traduction u Manuel d'Epictete (Paris,

1875); Versd'un philosophe "Spinoza"), 193-94; Morale d'Epicure, 96ff, 26-36, 284.

His article n freedom nd necessity

n

Epicurus Revuephilosophique, [1877], 47-7 )

had drawn

riticism

rom

enouvier,

whomhe now addresses

n

a

lengthy

ote

100-102).

For the "Epicure renouvele," ee 2n., citingthe examiners' report n the memoire.J.

Masson, "M. Guyauon theEpicureanDoctrineof Free-Will nd Atomic Declination,"






Jean-Marie

uyau

85

Thisconflation

f nternalnd external,

ntuitive

ndrational lements

s

endorsed

by

the utilitarianism

f J. S. Mill, among

those "doctrines

contemporaines"

hich

Guyau

attaches o the Epicurean

utlook.Despite

his infidelityo Bentham,however,Mill fails to abandon the ultimate

primacy f the

pleasure

principle.

otwithstanding

ts focuson

an acutely

qualitative

et

of nteractionsetween

ndividuals

ndthe

ollectivity,

ill's

utilitarianism

ust

appeal

to

external

ourcesof obligation

nd sanction.

Guyau's

morality

s embedded

n an intuitive

ill

to

live,

a vitalforce.

t

is

also "daughter

f

the ntellect" nd strives

s a

species

of

understanding

in

a sortof

irreligious

mor dei

intellectualis)

o

acquire

a "morecomplete

awareness

f elf ndtheworld."

The nstinctf

ife s one oftheprogress f

moral ecundity.nL'Irre'ligione I avenirGuyaugoeson toportrayspiri-

tuality" s

the progress

f an ideal

of

universal riumph

f mind over

matter-of ntensityegained-in

a

great

ntellectual

ppetite

or

ife.20

Some

of

Guyau's

adversaries

ccused

himof

presenting

ife

s

the ame

"pure

mechanism

ncapable f mprovement"

hichhe was himself

t

pains

to dissociate

rom

he

Epicurean

hilosophy.

owever,

heEsquissepicks

up

the rinciple

f pontaneity

hich

heMoraled

Epicure ad ntroduced.

his

convenientlyprecedes,

ollows,

nd

completes

ature" ut,

more

signifi-

cantly,eaves roomfor gooddeal of"art" opromotehemostfavorable

conditions

f

life

on

the

criterionf

intensity

hich

Guyau

brings

o both

works.His

urge

o

deny

n a

priori

asis

to

ethicsneverthelessncountered

the difficulty

f

producing

n "ought"

from n "is,"

however

reater

hat

"is" (as

in

Schopenhauer)

as than n

egoistic

elf-interest.

is

quest

for

moral

anomie raises

the

problem

vident

n

any

naturalistic

thics,

he

Epicurean

ncluded,

hat such

a

morality

s inclined

o attributeo

the

"natural" lements

f the very

thical deal

it

seeks to promote.

Although

not ntirelyfthe piritualistchool,Guyau hares ts ffirmationf human

liberty nd

ts belief

n the

emergence

f

what s novel

n

the

evolutionary

process.

A

positivist

y

social-scientific

nclination

erhaps,

Guyau

was

philosophically

n ethical

dealist

nd was

himselfnclined o

interpret

he

universe

as a realmwhose significance

ies

in

the ethical

deals that

ts

processes realize.""2

In otherwords,

Guyau

sees a

generosity

hich

is

TheJournal fPhilology, 1 (1882), 34-55,prefigureshemorerecentworks nEpicurus

making

ritical

eferenceo Guyau,

uch

as

J.

M.

Rist,Epicurus:

an Introduction

Cam-

bridge,

972),

52; andPhillip

Mitsis,Epicurus'

Ethical

Theory: hePleasures

of

Vulner-

ability

Ithaca,1988), 5,

passim.

20

L'Irreligion

de l'avenir,

xxii,

437; La Morale anglaise, 112-32,292-303,

on

Mill

("au mecanisme

exterieur]

es

faits, l substitue

elui des

idees ...");

Educationand

Heredity,

06-7 (78):

"[la morale]

est vraiment

illede l'intelligence."

Cf. Alexander

Nehamas,Nietzsche:

ife

s Literature

Cambridge,

985), 123,

where

hewill topower s

also "the

will to life."

21

JosiahRoyce,Studies fGood andEvil [1898] (Hamden,Conn.,1964),371, noting

the role

of

"Kantian nfluences"

n him.

La Morale d'Epicure,

91 ("La

spontaneite

..






86

Geoffrey

.

Fidler

inseparable

romife

"il

faut leurir...");

ithoutt there an

be no vitality,

and

therefore

o morality.22

Nonetheless,

uyau's

philosophy

ave

considerable cope

to the xpla-

nation ndinterpretationf theprocesses hemselves. he attention uyau

givesto process

eflects

is fascination

ithgenetic

sychology,

hich

ed

himto

the

problem

f

determining

ow the

will is

constituted,

hat

t is.

Hence

his

preoccupation

ith

he

purposes

hat

uasi-instinctual

abits f

willingprocure

s

grounds

or

moral ife. While

his ethics assumes

an

explanatory

sychology

owever,

t

also

presumes

necessarilyociological

interpretation

f the

genesis

nd

evolution f

themoral onsciousness.

or

instance,

e was inclined

o

explain

religions

sociomorphically"

s motifs

de rassemblement,r forces ooted n individual umannature ut funda-

mentally

eflecting

he nature

f the community

o which

humanbeings

belong.

His

quest

for moral

autonomy

ook on

the

status

of "etudes

sociologiques."

Much

confirms

he

positivist

r

neo-positivist

abels Guyau

has

sometimes

een

ssigned,

nd

his

proximity

o the

ociological

irection

of

French

ositivism

eems

ndisputable.

WithDurkheim,

or xample,

he

fellunder

he

pell

of Comte

nd Spencer.

ut he also dismisses

he scien-

tific"morality

f

both

these thinkers,

nd the

social

dimension f

his

philosophys sociology s the"solidarity"f his Versd'unphilosophe.23

Solidarity

nhabits

he

expansive

r

social-interpersonal

ealm f Guy-

au's concept

f

life,

which

fiurnishes

foundationor

hereconciliationf

individual

nd

universal nds.

His concept

xtends

eyond

simple

alance

of

egoistic

and altruistic

ropensities

owever,

o embrace

he ultimate

equilibrium

f cosmic

union nd

repetition,

oncepts

Guyaubegan

to

treat

more

ystematically

n

L'Irreligion

e

l'avenir.

f

his social

pointof view

lends substance

o the otherwise

phemeral

ote

vitalof his

philosophy

s

psychology,t scarcely isposedhimto produce he kind of scientificr

"soulless"

sociology

Durkheim ad

hoped

to find-for all he and Gabriel

Tarde were

eager

to acknowledge

he

sociologist

n a suitably

revised

Guyau.24

precede, uit t complete

a

nature,'empeche

d'etre

un

pur

mecanisme ncapabledu

mieux

..").

For

the

critique,

ee Christophe,

Le

Principe

de la

vie," 496-98;

reviewsof the

Esquisse by Boirac, Revuephilosophique,

19

(1885), 320,

and (of

the translation hose

defects e deplores),G.

E.

Moore,

nternational ournal

f

Ethics,9 (1898-99), 234; and

Fouillee, "La Doctrine e la vie,"523-25. Not surprisingly,oore is hostile o Guyaufor

thenaturalistic

allacy

he ascribes o him: ee

also

Principia

Ethica

Cambridge, 989),

46.

22

Esquisse, 101 (87):

"We must put forth lossoms;

morality .. is the flower f

human ife."

23

Vers d'un philosophe

"Solidarite"), 35-40; JulianMarias,

History f Philosophy

(New York, 1967), 355-56, sees Guyau to join the reaction

also against positivism.

L'Irreligion, -ix; Non-Religion,

8-79, 116-21,

391ff;

Fouillee,"La Doctrinede la vie,"

534-36.

24

Durkheim, evuephilosophique,

3 (1887), 307; GabrielTarde, bid.,

28

(1889),

182-96 ("... ce sociologue eminentn'a pas faita la sociologie sa part suffisante");

Jankelevitch,

Deux

philosophes,"

48

(for

Durkheim's ociology sans ame"). See also

L'Irre'ligion,

iv,

Pt.

III,

ch. 5.






Jean-Marie

uyau

87

Evidently

he rreligion

e 1'avenir:

tudesociologique of 1887

im-

pressed

nd exerted

nfluence

n

Durkheim,

s

his

substantial

eview or he

Revue hilosophique

would ndicate.

e

la

Divisiondu travail

ocial, which

appearedn1893,was a work f ethics nequally argemeasure. eveloping

Fouillee's dea

of sociability s

applicable o a wider efinition

f sociology

thanComte's

hilosophie ositive

ad allowed,

Guyauportrayseligion

s a

universal ociological

hypothesis,

hich seeks to

explain

all

thingsby

analogies

drawn from

human

society,

imaginatively,

nd

symbolically

considered."

With

Fouillee,

he came close

in

fact o

"putting

ociology o

metaphysical ses,"

depicting

uman

destiny

s the expression

f moral

fecundity,

he

tendency

o

increasing ociability.25

s Tarde was

quick

to

note, hatwas preciselyhe endencyfDurkheim's ivision fLabor. Close

as their oints f departure

or their lleged

nti-rationaleanings)may

have

been,Guyau

nd

Durkheimwereto move

n

differentirections.

ut

they

remained

xponents

like of the"esprit hilosophique"

hichEmile

Bout-

roux ould

descry

n

thedelicate

merger

f science

with he

deal,

he s with

the ught, hat e found

istinctive

fturn-of-the-century

rench hilosophic

life.26

Crucial to the

construction

f a social

morality,

uyau's

thesisthat

religion s in essence "a universal ociologicalexplanationn mythical

form"

licited swift

esponse

rom

urkheim.

lthough 'Irre'ligion

n-

sists on the

"social

point

of

view,"

it

also

adopts

the

individualisticr

would-be

metaphysical

ociological

tanceof

Durkheim's

ritics,

ouillee

prominentmong

them.Durkheim

was

ambivalent,

owever,

bout the

aggregate

f

psychological-sociological,

oluntarist-collectivist,nternal-ex-

ternal lements

n the final omposition

f

a social morality,nd

he could

accept

Guyau's explanation

f

morality

s

a kindof collectiveme'moire.27

More mmediatelyignificantodoubt, renchmoral heoristsncreasingly

shared

heview thatmorals nd

sociology

must e seento coalesce

f

moral

dogmatism

as to be

superseded y

new

ways

of

securing armony

etween

human onduct

nd

social

needs.

n

this ase

Guyau's

workmarks transi-

25

H. Stuart ughes,BetweenCommitment

nd Disillusion:TheObstructed

ath Mid-

dletown, 987),265,

refers o Durkheim nd James

n

a

phrase rom evi-Strauss. eligion

is "une explicationhysique,metaphysique

t

moraledetoutes

hoses

par

analogie avec la

societehumaine...,"

'Irreligion, ii, original mphasis;

nd x-xi

on

sociability: dans

son

horreur our la

metaphysique," omte "a exclu [du positivisme]

oute porteevraiment

universelle

t

cosmique...."

Cf. Durkheim, evuephilosophique, 3, 306-7.

26

Boutroux,

La

Philosophie

n France

depuis

1867," Revue de

metaphysique

t de

morale,

16

(1917),

714-16; Esquisse,

170 (143). See also Durkheim, e la

Division

du

travail ocial (2ndedn.,Paris,

1902), 26, 146-49,205-9; Tarde,Revuephilosophique,

5

(1893), 618-38.

27

L

'Irreligion,xvii.

...

n'y

a-t-il as pournous quelque

chose

de

fratemel ans toute

pensee de l'homme?"; also v,

iii

("une explication

ociologique universelle ' forme

mythique"),ited by Durkheim,eview,300. On Durkheim's hought, f.Jerrold eigel,

"Autonomy

nd Personality

n

Durkheim:

An

Essay

on Content nd Method,"JHI, 48

(1987), 484ff.






88

Geoffrey.

Fidler

tion from

he kind

of scientific

morality"independent

f

obligation

r

sanction"), rounding

tself n some

deal or

principle,

o the

peculatively

neutral

ind

f a sciencedes

moeurs.28

The intensive spectofGuyau's social viewpointmarks t offby and

large

rom urkheim's

ui generis

ategoryf

conscience

ollective.

y the

same oken,

his iew,

with tsmulti-facetedppeal

o

synthesis

f

ndividual

and

community,

ersonality

nd

organism,

ttaches

uyau

o the ess

scien-

tific or

more dealistic)

Durkheim f

the

Formes

le'mentaires

nd L'Evo-

lution

edagogique

n France.29

t makesfor certain

mbivalence,

uch s

Rauh and Durkheim

isplay,

oward hesocialpolitique

of

civic fraternity

prevalent

n

the solidarist"

mentality. spiring

o give

uridical xpression

to socio-political ohesion, olidarismookedto legalsanctions ormutual

obligation.

hese

were he

complement

o its

parallel hilosophic

ndeavor

to

merge heclaims

of contractual-utilitarian

ustice

with he facets

f his-

torical-biological

rganicism rominent

n the heories f

Comte nd Spen-

cer.

Its

primephilosophic

mover

was Fouillee,

for

whom

the solidarist

society

was

a "contractual

rganicism."30

Increasingly

heofficialdeological

rientation

f

theThird

Republic

y

the

fin de siecle,

solidarism

was

strictly

t odds

with

the hypothetical

characterf Guyau'smoralproposal, ven fhis schoolmanuals o assume

itsquasi-official

ecular one

f aicite'. he

affirmation

f a certain riginal-

ity,

ovelty,

ndsuperiority

n

his conception

fgenius,

moreover,id

not it

easily

with

he

democratic

spects

f

the olidarist

reed.

t

is

true

Guyau's

genius

s inextricable

rom n

interactiveocial

environment

y

the

very act

that

t

constitutes

n "extraordinarily

ntense" orm

f sympathynd

socia-

bility of

the sorthis

heroVictor

Hugo

exhibits);

ut

that

nvironment

s

Tarde's mutually-dependent

ne

of

interpersonal

elations etween

imita-

tors" nd"innovators,"ncompassinghe ctual nd the dealas well as the

new

society.

For Guyau

these relations

mimic nteraction

hichhe sees

between

pontaneous

nstinct nd deliberate onsciousness

nd the move-

ment

rom

morality

f

mpulse

o

a

morality

f

nsight-a psychology

f

habits

o a

sociology

f ceremonies.31

28

Esquisse,

109, 136; Carrel

The Morals ofGuyau,"457, 468.

29

OnDurkheim ere, ee S. Seidman, iberalism nd theOrigins fEuropeanSocial

Theory Berkeley,

1983), 193-97; and cf. Fouillee, Les Elements ociologiques

de la

morale (Paris, 1905), vii, 74, and

"La Doctrine de la vie,"

535n, which rejects the

individualistic nd

non-scientificociology

Aslan imputes o Guyau'swork.Aslan was a

student

f Durkheim,

is thesis

defense

n

"La

Morale de

Guyau"

appearing

n theRevue

de

metaphysique,

4, supplement1906),

12-14,

with

omments

yDurkheim.

30

On

solidarism nd

Fouillee,

I

draw

on

J.

E.

S.

Hayward, 'Solidarity'

and the

Reformistociology

of Alfred ouillee,"TheAmerican ournal f

Economics nd Sociol-

ogy, 22 (1963), esp. 209-15; and

DominickLaCapra, Emile Durkheim:

ociologistand

Philosopher Chicago,

1985), 69-78.

31

L 'Art u pointde vue sociologique,27; Education theredite, 7-38. Cf. Harding,

66-67.






Jean-Marie

Guyau

89

The

nterplayf ntensivendexpansive lements emanded y

Guyau's

social habitat

s

furtherdvanced

n

theposthumous 'Art au

pointde

vue

sociologique.

Art

s

"par excellence phenomenonf

sociability," e main-

tains,because it is rooted n laws of sympathynd transmissionf the

emotions nd

can

give a

vision of

the

ideal

society.The motif f his

aesthetics

virtue

s

"profoundest

f the

rts")

s to

unite

he

beautiful ith

thegood, art

with

morals.

t

could appeal at

once to the esthetic-as-ethical

dimension f

"l'action"

n the

Catholic hilosopher auriceBlondel nd

to

the ritical-social istorical ovelof Lukacs's

Marxist esthetics. or

what-

ever

lse

it

may

be,

art

s

as serious

business

s

life tself.32

As a sentimentf

sociability hen,

he

outcome f Guyau's vision of

sociomorphismtands n sharp ontrastoNietzsche's Ubermensch. oth

philosophies

everthelesshare

n

underlying orality

f

energy,

eeking

o

reconcile hefact f a dissolving onsciousness ith

heprinciple f

uncon-

scious

spontaneity;

nd each ooks to a kindof

sublimationo effectmoral

functions. uyau oins Nietzsche n his

aesthetic ppeal to themorality f

genius

nd

the

ranscendencef

conventionalimits.33 hat ets

Guyau

part

is his idea

of

life s sympatheticxpansion,ife s

fecundity.

n

relation

o

fecundity,

hich s the true

xistence f

life

seeking

o extend ts

limits,

generositynevitablytands s thehighest irtue nd nertiahegreatestice.

ForNietzsche

ear

nd aziness re ikewise bstacles o the

uthenticityf

n

active

"life-full")ife,

but

generosityppears

neither s

power

nor

explic-

itly

as virtue.

Guyau's

insistence n an

intensive,

ot

merely

xtensive,

concept f

ifewas

apt

o distance

im

from

he ocial

point

fview

s a near-

exclusive

ategory

f human

nquiry nd explanation,

ut

his elan

remains

emphatically

ne of

amour.34

AlthoughheEsquisse d'unemorale ans obligation i sanction eso-

nates hemethod nd

metaphor

f scientific

thics,

t

s a

work

f

metaphys-

ics. The

harmony ashioned y largely

external

onceptions f human

development-by

hose

n

particular

f theutilitariansnd

evolutionists-is

precarious,

eing

under onstant hreat f conflict etween he

spheres

f

unconscious nd

conscious, mpulsive

nd

reflective

ife.

The

Esquisse

thereforeegins where he Morale anglaise leftoff: t sets out

from he

premise f

an

inherentlyowerful

dee

de vie.

Guyauproposes wo

main

32

Georg Lukacs, The HistoricalNovel [1937] (Nebraska,1983), 231ff;M. Blondel,

Notes d'esthetique,1878-1900, intro. nd ed. Sante Babolin (Rome, 1973), 91, 180n,

passim.

See

also

L'Art

au

point

de vue

sociologique, 383-84; Non-Religion, 05;

and

Fouillee,La Morale, V'art..., 97-218.

3 L'Art au point de vue sociologique, 21-27, ix; Esquisse, 97, 244ff; Kaufmann,

Nietzsche Princeton, 974), 158, 224-27.

34 Halevy,Nietzsche, 79; Esquisse, 10-30,for l'hypothese ptimiste." f. Lester

H.

Hunt,Nietzsche nd theOrigin f VirtueLondon,1993), 91-92, forNietzsche's generos-

ity."






90 Geoffrey. Fidler

perspectives n this corresponding

o

the scientific nd the

speculative

dimensions

f

a

"morality

f thefuture."35

Strictlypeakingand

this

s

a

point

o

stress),

e

was not ut o

prove

he

sufficiencyfa purely aturalistic orality. y wayofa "sketch," e was

demonstrating

ow

far cience

might o

in

the elaboration

f

a

concept

f

morality;

t

has its

imitations,

ven

f

his

inclinations to favor

scientific

explanation. aradoxically, iven

his

initialdemolition f

"metaphysical

dogmatism,"

e is far rom

ismissing

heroleof

metaphysicsas "specula-

tion")

in

moral philosophy:

It

does

not

follow

that

the desire of life

absolutely

xhausts

he dea of the

desirable,

with ll

the

metaphysical,

nd

even

mystical,

otionswhich an be attached o

it."36

peculation qually

has ts ourcenGuyau'svitalism.t s indeedndispensableo histhesis hat

life as it develops "conscious of itself') will give rise to "an indefinite

variety

f motives erived romt."37 ut

first,

ow does the

Esquisse depict

thepoint f departuref science

n

moral hilosophy?

Guyau's

vitalforce eflects

potential

mix of

emotions

nd

udgments,

of

conditions

nd actions. Mobiles"

mark heterrain f sentimentnd

the

will,of the

ltruistic

motions

n

particular.

Motifs"

xpress

he

cognitive-

intellectual omain, ctivatinghe so-calledrule-emotions,uch as justice.

To buildon thefirsts to promote, r at leastto give energy o,the econd.

Guyaudevelops

Fouillee's

dees-forces,

hich

end o action s a

species

of

power-of-acting,here,

or

xample,

o understandis

already

he

begin-

ning

n

us of

therealization f

that

whichwe

understand."38o deny uch

unity

f

being-here

of

thought

nd

action,

but

generally

f essence and

function-is o embrace

he

mmorality

f

a

hypocritical orality.

n

effect

Guyau posits

an internal

aw

based

on

impulses

nd

sentiments, hich,

subject

o

reflection,

re confirmednd

organized

s an

embryonic

moral

motive orce r mobilemoral.

He attaches ome

priority

o

pleasure,

ince

ntensity

f

pleasuremay

be

identified

ith

ntensity

f

life,

buthe finds

t

too

firmly

ied

to an unduly

restricted

ife f

conscious nd more r ess voluntarycts.He distinguishes

between he

purely

ensualelement f

pleasures such

as

eating)

nd their

moredeeply

ital lement

ituated t theroot f the ctivitytself "we live

for

the

pleasure

of

living" tself).More deeply ndependent f external

objects,

he

econd lements

more

irmly

mbedded

n

the

potentialctivity

of "accumulatednergy." leasure lone does not triggerheunfolding f

35Esquisse,81

(70) "C'est

a

la vie

que

nous

demanderons

e

principe

e la

moralit&";

La Morale

anglaise, 423-29.

36

Sketch,

1

(94).

37 Sketch,80

(94):

"une

variete

indefinie

de

mobiles

derives"; Esquisse, 71-72,

preface;

Christophe,Le

Principede la vie," 344-45.

38

Sketch, 2 (108): "Comprendre,'est deja commencer n soi-meme a realisation

de

ce qu'on comprend

.."; Educationet

heredite, 7n.






Jean-Marie

Guyau

91

such

energy.39uyau

was

impressed

y

Mill's efforto discriminate

mong

kindsof

pleasures, ut

in

a

vitalist hilosophy he

peculiardifficulty

e-

mained

f establishingome

scale of valueswhereby

ating for

nstance) s

not as "vital" as thinking.Moral fecundity merges s a "law" of the

correlation

etweenmaximumntensity

nd maximum

xpansion

f ife

nd

associates

tself

with he

ncreasingly

ociable character f

such

"superior

pleasures"

s art, easoning,

nd earning.

t

predicateshekind f

qualitative

hierarchy

ermane

o moral

heories

rounded

n

psychology.40

To

ascertain he

motivesfor actions

s

not sufficient

s a basis for

asserting

hat

we

ought

o

do.

Nevertheless,

n

seeking

o

acknowledge

he

claims

of unconscious

ife,

Guyaurecognizes

hat

f

any

value

concept

s to

be advanced, ife has to be boundup withconsciousness nd feelings f

pleasure.

o

be

moral herefore

equires ot nly eeling

he orce rpower f

our

will

"I can,

thereforemust")

ut

lso

realizing

he

uperiority

f those

tendencies

aving universal

bject.

Like Mill, he wants

unity f desires

and

thedesirable.4'

ensible ather

hanmoral

n

origin,

bligation

rises

ut

of our

ensed

feeling

f resistance"

o

desire;

onsciousness hen issolves

the nstinct,

hough easonhas

ts

origins

n

the ame nstinctual

ower ase.

Might

not reason

then come to desire

the

same

generosity f life (the

ftconditemorale)forwhich nstinctpparentlyropes?By dint fmastery

and of

much eflection

n

fact, ationality

ould deallyprove

n

"instinct"

apt

o

perform

ound

psychological

unctions.

learlyGuyau

s

drawn o

the

perfection

f

nature:

he

varied

mpressions

nd emotional

xperiences

f

fecund

ife overflow

he mark

f

commonplace

xistence.

As much s his

philosophy

f elan requires

ulture

o

represent

certain

ulfillment

f

nature,

uyau's

culture

s themoral ulture f

Gide's

immoralist,

t

s

one

of

"intelligente ontrainte."42

He seeks, then, o bridgethe realmsof unconscious nd conscious

motivation.

n

a kind f

sublimation,

e

finds

meeting lace

for hemutual

transformations

nd

myriad

eviations f nstinctnd reason

nd buildson

instinctualorces

o create wholesome"

igures.Moral

science ooks for

he

point

where .. instinctndreason ouch ndmutuallyransform

hemselves

without

easing."43

n the

bstract orm f a universal

mperative,

hemoral

sentiment

merely

roduces

a

logical satisfaction,

hich tself s still a

39 Esquisse, 90 (77-78):

"... parfois n agit

pour e plaisird'agir,on vitpourvivre...."

40

Ibid., 83ff,

10; La Morale anglaise,99-100,240-54; Christophe,

Le Principe e

la

vie," 518.

41

With

Mill,

thereremained he problem

of

self-sacrifice:

ce n'est pas tout de

reconaUtree sacrifice

t

d'en

profiter; omment

e commander?" a Morale anglaise,

109, 196-99; Esquisse,

102-8, 248 (211): "Jepuis, donc e dois."

42

L'Immoraliste 1902] (Paris, 1966),

82, 104: "Culture"kills life but there s

the

culture f

"une

ethiquequi devenaitune

science de la parfaite tilisation

e soi parune

intelligenteontrainte."squisse, 57-61 (48-52),

137 (115-16).

43

Sketch, 9-80 (93-94): "... cherchee lieu de rencontreiiviennente toucher tofu

se

transforment

ans

cesse l'une dans

l'autre

.. instinct t

raison....."






92

Geoffrey. Fidler

satisfaction

f the

ogical

nstinct

.. a natural

endency,

n

expression

f

ife

in tshigher orm.. intelligent,

avourableo order, o symmetry.. unity

n

variety

..

universality."44

theory

therefore

sychologically

xact

and

deep,"thecategoricalmperative ives wayto a natural quivalent,o the

hypothetical alidity f

a would-beexpedient lternative. uyau would

encapsulate

he Kantian

mperative

nd

give

it

a content.

n

the form

f a

primitivempulsedirected olely

towards hewholesome ife, hat ontent

precedesrational hought et like

the

Epicurean olonte)

ranscends ny

particularisticleasure.

rom his

tandpoint uyaugoes

on

to

confronthe

problem f

how deliberate onsciousnessconscience eflechie)

an

ration-

ally obey

n

obligation

temming

rom

urely

atural

actors,

ith o extra-

socialsanctions nd,more ignificantlyn a philosophyf ife, ow tmight

command

he

extraordinary

isinterestedness

f a

complete

r final

defini-

tif

sacrifice

f

ife.45

Like earlier roposals

f naturalisticheory fvalues,Guyau's

morality

"without

metaphysics"truggled

o

provide generic

orm.

lthough

ook-

ing to ethics

t

the evel

of moral aw

(of

a

psychological

nd sociological

character), uyau

seems more nterested

n

the

moral end. In the

sortof

"critique

f

practical

entiment" hichRauh

attempts,

uyau

nvisages

he

interactionf ndividual onsciousness ith he ocialreality,refiguringhe

idea of"reflection

n instinct"s moral

uide; mplicitlyoo,

he onscience

individuelle onstitutesn

embryonic

orm f the conscience ollective.46

Nevertheless

he moralend is

life

tself,

he will to live as an

instinctual

tendencynd s

a kind

fenergymorality

s

inextricably

ound o this.Taken

to its purely cientificimits,

morality emains ncomplete; et s a purely

metaphysicaloncept,

t

remains ncertain.

Guyau's

moral

theory roved

of

special

interest ot so much for he

complete heoryfconduct rmorale cientifique hich tofferss for he

substitutes

t

proposes

for he

duty, bligation,

nd

sanction f traditional

morality.

ivotal

among

hem re what

he

calls

the

"metaphysical

quiva-

lents."

n

fact n exclusively cientific

moral

philosophy

cannot,"Guyau

concedes, give

a

complete

olution f moral

bligation";

t

s

necessary

o

transcend

xperience.

ositive

morality

an furnish

ood

hypothetical

d-

vice,

but

beyond

the life of

average morality-and

so of average ener-

gy-only metaphysicalypotheses

an counter

le

raisonnement

goiste"

o

"makethewill overcome hetransitionfthe selftothe non-self."47rom

the

purely ositive heoretical

oint fview, heproblem ppeared nsoluble.

44

Sketch,

0 (59).

45 Esquisse, 102-3

"... une sortede

pouvoir

naturel

recedant

e

savoir"),

153. The

universal

aw

may,

u

fond,

contain la

volonte,

e vouloir

pur"

59).

46

Ibid.,

138

(116):

Guyau would

have

instinct

conscientde

lui-meme,

n rendant

reflechi e qui etait pontane."Cf.RauhL'Experiencemorale, 6.

47

Sketch,

18-19

142):

"de

faire

ranchir la

volonte

e

passage

du

moi au

non-moi."






Jean-Marie uyau

93

Guyau

nevertheless

roposes

an

"approximate" olution, ointing

n

the

directionf

practice.

He presents

wo

ayers

f

argument.

irst here s the

pleasure f

risk

le

plaisirdu risque),wherePascal had seenonlythefear.48 he need to risk

oneself

n

danger nd struggle in business or

battle,

r

in

the

tensions

between he

will and the

passions

of

Corneille's

greatprotagonists,

or

instance) an be artfullytilized nd directed y reason.

elf-sacrifice,ven

suicide,

need

not

be themere

negation

f self

nd

personal

ifebut

"life ..

raised into sublimity." here is indeed a "sentiment

e

l'intolerabilite"

("Raphaelwithout orms, olors nd a brush")

n

whichdeath s chosenby

the

will

of someone who knows

what ife

means."49While propensityo

take risksvarieswithparticularemperaments,t is experienced y every

individual ife

"with

any power at all."

In

all

energy r power-based

moralities, owever, he problem

with

puissance s

devoir

s

that ack of

spirit

r

reason,

health

r

appetite,

must

urely

tand o lessen a

person's

senseof

duty.

As

much s there s an ethical r a

chronological

ife-a life f

quality r of quantity-theres a life

f

otand fortunes.

definite remium

attaches o the

perfected

atherhan he

imple

ife.

Guyau vidently

aw the

implications:

n his new

society, ociology nd political

economy

would

functions a scienceofrisks nthehumanitarianuiseof a compensatory

"science

de

l'assurance."

He

wouldhave been

perplexed,

o

doubt,

o

learn

thatNietzsche'sUbermenschappears o have derived

romGuyau."50

Secondly,what of

those other isks

thatdemand

he

definitive

elf-

sacrifice

et

ack

thebenefit

f

dogmatic

aith?

Guyau

sets

out

from ndi-

vidualmanifestationsf ife, elf-sacrificeaving ts ource

n

a

"superabun-

dance of moral life" or of sentiments f

fecundity.

ut to

make

such

sentiments

bjective equires

n

exceptional

moral

gentwho,

ikethe

rtist,

can communicate iththesuggestive inesse f a metaphysical oemor

"illusionfeconde." ecause of its fecundity,his

mayonly "become" rue.

Speculation

hus

lays

a

practical

ole

n

therealm f

thoughtnalogous

o

luxury

nd

outlay,

n

relation o

art,

n

the

ealm feconomics.

t

can become

a

necessity

when

practice ictates, owever,

or

we

can neither

ive, nor,

above

all,

die

without

t."

Reason lluminates real nd

an deal world, ut

t

is

the ideal

conception "of

the

metaphysical ssence of

things")

hat s

48

Esquisse,

147

122-23): "[Pascal]

n'a

guere

vu

que

la

crainte

u

risque,

l n'a

pas

vu

le

plaisir

du

risque." Welcoming

Guyau's viewpoint,

Nietzsche shares this view

of

Pascal's

wager:

see Sittlichkeit

hne

"Pflicht,

295

("Pascal ");

and

The Will toPower,

491

(#929),with noteby KaufmannitingGuyau.

49 Esquisse, 155, 157ff(130, 32ff). he

sublime hares he

ame roots s thegood,but

(ibid.,

150-51 125]), "l'intensite e sentimentsu'il suppose

n'empechepas une certaine

rationalitenterieure."

50

Carrel,

The

Morals of Guyau,"465; Esquisse, 150ff.

Apart

fromhow it

might

pleaseeveryone, he haracter fGuyau's new society s distinctlynclear: s Boirac says,

"Fourier

was moreexplicit" Revuephilosophique 1885], 326).






94

Geoffrey. Fidler

imperativeor ction.Metaphysics ust onetheless

eep

o ts

legitimate

sphere"

s a

supplement

o

positivemorality

or n

expedienturpose.

Kant'sautonomy

econcilestselfwith he

universality

f law.

Guyau's

"hypothesesndividuelles"-a indof "rationalndnon-categoricalm-

perative"-propose

n

"anomie

morale" ith o

fixed,podictic,

runiver-

sal

law.

An

"equivalent"

f

autonomie,

nomie s thus "moral"

ondition

and

basis

for ction

which

mbracesoth he

ntensity

f

ndividualife s

fecundity

nd he raternalife f ocial nd

nterpersonalelationships.5'

What urkheim

ortrays

s a

late

nineteenth-century

ocial

pathology,

Guyau ostulates

s an deal

of

ndividual-as-social

uthenticity.

contrast

betweenheir

espectiveoncepts

f anomiewas

indeed

mplicit

o Durk-

heim'soriginal resentationf a social moralityn strict ppositiono

Guyau's

moral nomie.

n the ther

and,

o contrasthe wo

oncepts

f

anomiemay

lso

gnore ifferencesore

pparent

han

eal, ssuming

he

wider

hilosophical

imension

o Durkheim's

oncept.

urkheim

rguably

considersnomie

he

social

expression

nd cause

of a

"low"

species

f

individualism,n

"unfettered"

ill

prone o uniquely goistic esires.

Anomie efined

y

what

t

does not

contain-by

he

bsence

f

optimal

degrees

f

ocial

nd

ocial-psychologicalntegrationnd egulation-is

he

non-achievementf olidariterganique. onceptuallyistinct,houghsy-

chologicallyelated

n this

efinition,uyau's

nomies

characterizedy

the quilibriumt

containss theputativelyerfectntegrationf

"volonte

pure"

with

intelligenteontrainte."s criticsf

fin

e

siecle

ivilization

and

ts

discontents

or

of

the anomic"malaise hat e

Suicide

depicts),

Guyau

ndDurkheim

how

much

n

common.

he

parallel

ffinities,

irect

or

ndirect,

etween urkheimnd

chopenhauer

re

no

doubt

more

ontro-

versial,

ut

hey

xceed

he

bounds f this

ssay, nd

only emarkhat

insofars"fin esiecle pirit"eflectschopenhauer,s StjepanMestrovic

suggests, uyau argely epudiatest;at least,he

rejects he hypothese

pessimiste."

urkheimnew hework

f

Guyau

nd

Bergson

well. t

is

interesting

hat e seems

ot o ffirmhe

ptimismeculiar

othese rench

philosophers

f

elan,

nd

o

Guyau's fecundity

fwill"

s anomiemorale

in

particular.52

5 Esquisse, 161-64 (135-37). Tarde (Revuephilosophique, 8 [1889], 187-88) re-

garded Guyau's metaphysical isk as little

more

than a euphemism or old-established

varieties f elf-deceptionikethe

llusory oble ie. See

also

L

Irreligion, x-xxi, nd Vers

d'un

philosophe "Illusion

feconde"),

11-18:

"L'Ideal n'est-il

pas

...

/

Plus

fecond

t

plus

beau que

la

realite?"

52

Bergson ndFouillee were

ife-long ritics f

Durkheim'smoral ociology.Guyau

addresses essimism

n Esquisse,31-44, and

L'Irreligion,

t.

II, ch.

4. In

ibid.,323 (374-

75), religious

nomieparallels 'anomie morale and

we ourselves

houldbe "les ouvriers

de

nos croyances."

Anthony

Giddens

sees

L'Irreligion

to have

inspiredDurkheim's

anomie, .g.,

in

his

Capitalism

nd

Modern ocial

TheoryCambridge,

971), 80n,

but

he

Esquisse first dvancedtheconcept.On Durkheim ere, make use ofLaCapra, Emile

Durkheim, sp.

156-71; Stephen

Marks, "Durkheim'sTheory of

Anomie," American






Jean-Marie

uyau

95

It s not urprisinghat hilosophic

narchists ere

n

awe of Guyau

nor

that he

"anarchic" nd

indeterminateeatures

f theEsquisse

should licit

Fouillee's

only erious

riticism

fhis stepson's hilosophy.

uyaudoes

not

dismissthe need for ocial order,however.The practical urview f his

conception

f

true

utonomy

omes far loserto

the ndividual riginality

and diversity

f

opinion

urgedby

Mill-a radicalposture

he well

under-

stood.53

To discard

whatGuyaucalled

the lastdogma"of fixed

moralities

as,

as Piaget uggests,

reaction

gainst

he Kantian

thics."

The

attempt

as

perhaps

ot s substantial

s the ne Piaget

lso attributesin

his

comparison

of the two strains f "anti-Kantian"ritique) o FredericRauh. Nor did

Guyau's attempt roduce

Durkheimian

cience des moeurs.His

analysis

barelyproved

reassuring

or

the

statusof

a

uniquelypositive

morality.

Moreover,

heres substance

o the riticismhat

he

moral mpetus

rmobile

moralof his concept

f ifewas covertly

oumenal.

He

left

oo great

gap

between

he

"science"

of

his morale

ositive

nd the

philosophical

ynthe-

sis,

in

his

morale

hypothe'tique,

f

simultaneous

ut

contradictory

nclina-

tions to

sacrifice nd preservation,

issolution

nd

production.

n this

account,nshort, isworkwassignificantor he uality f ts mperfections,

notably

tsreinstatementfa

version fthe ld morality

or noblepurpose.

His

emphasis

on

the

impetus

o

moral life and the solutions o moral

predicaments

ndoubtedlytands

o cloudthemoralitytself,

nddespite

is

initial resupposition

f

a

given

moral

ubject-matter

"the hing

we

have to

do"),

he

subsequently

eems

intent

n

bringing

n a

content,

t least

in

respect

f

more-than-average

nergies.

t

oddsmore ften han

notwith he

conventional

ulture,

ife nd ts ommunication

ith thers

s

thebasis for

Guyau'smoralitys the unity fbeing."But toemphasizewhat s fruitful

may

deny

what s destructive

n

life.

t is

the case,

as

Virginia

Woolfhas

writtenn

Montaigne,

hat

the

..

lifewithin s

by

no means

grees

with

he

life utsideS."54

Journalof Sociology,

80 (1974), 329-63; and S. G. Mestrovic,

who

posits

a Schopen-

hauerian nd anti-Enlightenmenturkheim,

.g., in his The Coming

Fin

de Siecle:

An

Application fDurkheim's ociology

to Modernity nd Postmodernism

London,1991),

chs. 3, 5; and"The Theme of Civilization nd itsDiscontentsn Durkheim'sDivisionof

Labor," Journal

or

the Theory f Social

Behaviour, 19 (1989), 443-56.

The

contrast

betweenGuyau's

and

Durkheim's

oncepts

f anomie

s

developed

n

Marco

Orrfi,

nomie:

History nd Meaning

Boston, 1987),

ch. 4, and PhilippeBesnard,

Anomie

Paris,

1987),

21-27. Maclntyre,

Whose ustice?Which

ationality?NotreDame, 1988), 368-69,

relates

Durkheim's

nomie

to

Nietzschean deas. Durkheimoins

Guyau,for nstance,

whenhe

claims Suicide [NewYork, 1951],

210) the individual lone

s

not sufficientnd

forhis

activity.... he stateof egoism

s ...

contradictory

o humannature...."

53 Esquisse,

167, 240; La Morale anglaise,

82ff;

Fouillee,

"La

Doctrinede

la

vie,"

541-44.

5

V. Woolf,A Woman'sEssays: SelectedEssays, VolumeOne (London,1992), 57;

Education nd Heredity, 9 (58);

see also James orley,

n

Mind, 10 (1885),

281. Cf. "La






96 Geoffrey

. Fidler

On

the ther

and,

s

content, etaphysicalypotheses

romote "very

fruitful"ourceof activity.

I

believe because

I hope," Guyau would say,

"and

I

hope

because

feel

n

myself wholly

nternal

nergy...."

n

accord

with heurge o constanttrivinghat is vitalprinciple ictates, e deplores

the"decadence" f a

Baudelaire r Verlaine ust as, more mmediately,

e

spurns

he trictures

f

dogmatic

aith. et

he also

implores

he

fecundity

f

that rofoundense of social missionVictorHugo

felt

s

a

poet. There

s a

cogency o

the

laim hatGuyau

ffered

theory

fexistence nd of

conduct

in

existence

more social,

and

perhaps

more harmonious" han any

the

utilitarian

chool could

present.55ertainly,

is

morality ngages

the

con-

flicting ontemporaryalls

to self-fulfillmentnd social purposewithpre-

Enlightenmentttachmentso self-sacrificend heroicvision.Amongpio-

neering ffortseyond hose fpurely volutionary

oralists,

t

posits bold

response o nineteenth-centuryenewal ndredefinition

f

the

wider oncep-

tualproblems rompted

y claimsof fact nd nature

ver hose f

value and

culture, f

scienceover

those of

philosophy.

uyau

deserves

o be

better

known or

his.

His project s indeed reaction gainstKant,yet

onceivably

ts

Kantian

elements re

more han he

mere

ign

of

its

failings.

or

all its

energy

nd

elan,hisvitalism tands nextricablerom nowledgendwisdom, aith,nd

hope.

n

Guyau's

as

in

Kant's visionof morality,heuniversal ntends

he

perfectionf

the

ndividual

s well

as

its

contributiono

the

harmonyf

the

whole, hegood

ofthe

pecies.Guyau

haresKant's conception fhumanity

as themost

omplete ynthesis

f

nature nd

reason

ndependent

fthe

deity;

and

n

thishe

surely

tands

with

Kant,Nietzsche,

nd "other eretics" hom

Yirmiyahu

ovel

connects

o

Spinoza.

With

ts

cosmic

view

and ts

deal

of

the destiny f the world,

his

workdenotes singular

ndeavor o bring

enthusiasm-to ive ncreased nergy-tomoral ction.56

Nietzsche

may

havehad

good

cause to criticize

uyau

for

is

attachment

to an ideal patently lose

to

the Christian utlook:

it

is

still,"

s he says,

"the

cult of Christian

morality nder

new

name." Guyau trieshard to

Doctrine e la vie," 542; Christophe,

Le

Principe

e la

vie," 528 (forGuyau's

concept

f

life as a pure"entitemetaphysiquetnoumenale").Piaget,Le Jugement oral,272.

5 Carrel,"The Morals of

Guyau,"

466.

Though

he

disagreed

with his

examiners'

claim,

it

may

be that

Guyau presents un Epicure

vu

a travers tuart

Mill"

(Morale

d'Epicure,3n); but

do

not ee

him s "a

convinced tilitarian"Mitsis,EpicurusEthical

Theory, ) ifthatmeanshis positionn

general ully mbracesBentham nd Mill. See also

Sketch,

48

(175):

"Je crois

parceque j'espere,

et

'espere parce que je

sens en

moi

une

energie out nterieur"; 'Art au

point de vue sociologique, x, xxv, 90.

56

At

the conclusionto his course

of

lectures

of

1896-97 (La Philosophie

de

Kant

[Paris, 1968], 367, 374), Boutroux eems as

if

to follow Guyau's Versd'un

philosophe

("Spinoza,

la haine et

l'amour,"

"En

lisant Kant");

Y.

Yovel, Spinoza and Other

Heretics: The Adventures f Immanence Princeton, 989), xii, chs. 1, 5 (on Kant and

Nietzsche).






Jean-Marie uyau

97

connect

is vitalprinciple

o a tradition

f

mpersonal,

ltruistic,nd sympa-

theticmoral values

in which

the hope of humanity

ies

with love and

generosity.

e also exudes a

sincerity

o less uncompromising,ossibly

even morechallenginghanNietzsche's, hough rguablyNietzschegave

more cope

to chance nd risk,

more oom

or hehuman nstinct

e

oueur.

The altruismf Guyau,

with hevision

he

had of an all-embracing

ecundity

and sympathy

n human ifeand civilization,

an be seen as the

"Christian

oil"

in

the radically

nnovative gnostic

machinery

f his anti-Christian-

theology rotest.57

Taking

all

the

"higher,

more

penetrating

deals"

to

be

revolutionary,

James ssociates

Guyau'sradicalism

ith

hat fTolstoy.

heirs s more he

radicalism f themystic han f theheretic, hose ppeal s to an intensely

individual

xperience verauthority,

"superabundancef sentiment"

ver

purely

bjective

ationality.

o this extent

Guyau

s

immoraliste,nd

his

ethics

oes beyond

he

good

and evil of conventional

oralities.Whether

t

stands eyond

anctions

hatwould

constitute

"poor

ubstitute"orGod

is

as debatable

s

it

remains

f

Nietzsche.

A

lecture y JosiahRoyce

s

among

the earliest

ccounts

f Guyau's lifeand

work. t appears n

the collected

essays

of his Studies

f

Good

and

Evil,

where

t

also

accompanies

study

f

themysticMeister ckhart.58

Concordia

University, ontreal.

57 See Tarde,Revue hilosophique,

8

(1889),

182 "c'est dansune ampe .. de

1'huile

chretienne u'il

a

brule

toute sa vie"); and GeorgesPalante, "Moralisme

et immoral-

isme," bid.,54 (1902), 248n.

Cf. The Will o Power,#340, ited above.

58

Studies of Good and Evil,

chs.

X, XII;

Non-Religion,

1. Eckhartcommands

Nietzsche's respect,

n

The Gay

Science, 235 (#292),for nstance.

ee also Kaufmann,

Nietzsche,175; and James, The Moral Philosopher," 88-89 (notingGuyau's "radical

condemnation

f the

punitive

deal").

Documents

Nietzsche and Guyau