WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:06.240 Underground, Part two from Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 2 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:15.359 This LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by Bobnefeld. Seven. 3 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:21.480 But these are all golden dreams. Oh tell me, who 4 00:00:21.719 --> 00:00:25.480 was it first announced? Who was it first proclaimed? That 5 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:28.879 man only does nasty things because he does not know 6 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:32.759 his own interests, And that if he were enlightened, if 7 00:00:32.759 --> 00:00:36.719 his eyes were opened to his real normal interests, man 8 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:39.920 would at once cease to do nasty things, would at 9 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:44.920 once become good and noble, because being enlightened and understanding 10 00:00:44.920 --> 00:00:47.799 his real advantage, he would see his own advantage in 11 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:51.439 the good and nothing else. And we all know that 12 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:57.039 not one man can consciously act against his own interests. Consequently, 13 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:02.320 so to say, through necessity he would in doing good, Ah, 14 00:01:02.679 --> 00:01:07.680 the babe or the pure innocent child. Why in the 15 00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:11.560 first place, when in all these thousands of years has 16 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:14.079 there been a time when man has acted only from 17 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:16.840 his own interest? What is to be done with the 18 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:22.040 millions of facts that bear witness that men, consciously, that is, 19 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:26.040 fully understanding their real interests, have left them in the 20 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:29.959 background and have rushed headlong on another path to meet 21 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:34.519 peril in danger compelled to this course by nobody and 22 00:01:34.599 --> 00:01:39.159 by nothing, but as it were, simply disliking the beaten track, 23 00:01:39.239 --> 00:01:43.760 and have obstinately wilfully struck out another difficult, absurd way, 24 00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:48.760 seeking it almost in the darkness. So I suppose this 25 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:55.760 obstinacy and perversity were pleasanter to them than any advantage advantage? 26 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:59.799 What is advantage? And will you take it upon yourself 27 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:03.079 to define with perfect accuracy in what the advantage of 28 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:06.480 man consists? And what if it so happens that a 29 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:11.719 man's advantage sometimes not only may, but even must consist 30 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:15.280 in his desiring in certain cases, what is harmful to 31 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:20.240 himself and not advantageous? And if so, if there can 32 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:24.439 be such a case, the whole principle falls into dust. 33 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.520 What do you think are there such cases? You laugh, 34 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:34.520 laugh away, gentlemen, but only answer me. Have man's advantages 35 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:38.520 been reckoned up with perfect certainty? Are there not some 36 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:42.199 which not only have not been included, but cannot possibly 37 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:47.800 be included under any classification? You see, you, gentlemen, have, 38 00:02:48.039 --> 00:02:51.240 to the best of my knowledge, taken your whole register 39 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:55.199 of human advantages from the averages of statistical figures and 40 00:02:55.319 --> 00:03:03.240 politico economical formulas. Your advantages are our prosperity, wealth, freedom, peace, 41 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:07.240 so on and so on. So that the man who should, 42 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:11.159 for instance, go openly and knowingly in opposition to all 43 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:15.240 that list, would, to your thinking, and indeed mine too, 44 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:19.759 of course, be an obscurantist or an absolute madman, would 45 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:24.639 not he? But you know this is what is surprising. 46 00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:28.919 Why does it so happen that all these statisticians, sages 47 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:32.719 and lovers of humanity, when they reckon up human advantages, 48 00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:36.319 invariably leave out one. They don't even take it into 49 00:03:36.360 --> 00:03:39.120 their reckoning in the form in which it should be taken, 50 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:42.960 and the whole reckoning depends upon that. It would be 51 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:45.800 no greater matter. They would simply have to take it, 52 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:48.879 this advantage, and add it to the list. But the 53 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:52.840 trouble is that this strange advantage does not fall under 54 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:56.080 any classification, and is not in place in any list. 55 00:03:57.479 --> 00:04:01.719 I have a friend, for instance, gentleman, But of course 56 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:04.759 he is your friend too, and indeed there is no one, 57 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:08.520 no one to whom he is not a friend. What 58 00:04:08.680 --> 00:04:13.280 he prepares for any undertaking this gentleman immediately explains to 59 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:17.199 you elegantly and clearly exactly how he must act in 60 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:21.040 accordance with the laws of reason and truth. What is more, 61 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:23.879 he will talk to you with excitement and passion of 62 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:27.439 the true normal interests of man. With irony, he will 63 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:30.800 upbraid the short sighted fools who do not understand their 64 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:35.399 own interests nor the true significance of virtue. And within 65 00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:40.160 a quarter of an hour, without any sudden outside provocation, 66 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:43.959 but simply through something inside him which is stronger than 67 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:47.120 all his interests, he will go off on quite a 68 00:04:47.240 --> 00:04:50.839 different tack. That is, act in direct opposition to what 69 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:54.040 he has just been saying about himself, in opposition to 70 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:58.279 the laws of reason, in opposition to his own advantage, 71 00:04:58.680 --> 00:05:03.160 in fact, in opposition to everything. I warn you that 72 00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:06.560 my friend is a compound personality, and therefore it is 73 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:11.000 difficult to blame him as an individual. The fact is, gentlemen, 74 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:15.279 it seems there must really exist something that is dearer 75 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:19.160 to almost every man than his greatest advantages, Or not 76 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:23.279 to be illogical, there is a most dangerous advantage, the 77 00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:26.399 very one omitted of which we spoke just now, which 78 00:05:26.439 --> 00:05:30.680 is more important and more advantageous than all other advantages, 79 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:34.160 for the sake of which a man, if necessary, is 80 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:38.040 ready to act in opposition to all laws, that is, 81 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:43.079 in opposition to reason, honor, peace, prosperity, in fact, in 82 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:47.240 opposition to all those excellent and useful things, if only 83 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:51.839 he can attain that fundamental, most advantageous advantage which is 84 00:05:51.959 --> 00:05:56.560 dearer to him than all. Yes, but it's advantage all 85 00:05:56.600 --> 00:06:00.800 the same, you will retort. But excuse me. I'll make 86 00:06:00.839 --> 00:06:03.439 the point clear. And it is not a case of 87 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:08.000 playing upon words. What matters is that this advantage is 88 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:11.399 remarkable from the very fact that it breaks down all 89 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:16.600 other classifications and continually shatters every system constructed by lovers 90 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:21.079 of mankind for the benefit of mankind. In fact, it 91 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:26.279 upsets everything. But before I mention this advantage to you, 92 00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:30.759 I want to compromise myself personally, and therefore I boldly 93 00:06:30.839 --> 00:06:35.439 declare that all these fine systems, all these theories for 94 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:40.560 explaining to mankind their real normal interests, in order that inevitably, 95 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:43.959 striving to pursue these interests, they may at once become 96 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:48.920 good and noble, are, in my opinion, so far mere 97 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:56.399 logical exercises. Yes, logical exercises. Why to maintain this theory 98 00:06:56.439 --> 00:06:59.360 of the regeneration of mankind by means of the pursuit 99 00:06:59.399 --> 00:07:02.279 of his own end advantage is to my mind, almost 100 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:06.360 the same thing as to affirm, for instance, following Buckle, 101 00:07:06.759 --> 00:07:12.399 that through civilization, mankind becomes softer and consequently less bloodthirsty 102 00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:16.639 and less fitted for warfare. Logically, it does seem to 103 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:20.480 follow from his arguments, But man has such a predilection 104 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:24.079 for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to 105 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:27.839 distort the truth intentionally. He is ready to deny the 106 00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:32.759 evidence of his senses only to justify his logic. I 107 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:36.199 take this example because it is the most glaring instance 108 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:40.680 of it. Only look about you. Blood is being spilt 109 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:43.720 in streams and in the merriest way, as though it 110 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:47.879 were Champagne. Take the whole of the nineteenth century in 111 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:51.879 which Buckle lived. Take Napoleon the Great, and also the 112 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:56.759 present one. Take North America, the Eternal Union, Take the 113 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:01.560 farce of Schleswig Holstein. And what is it that civilization 114 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:06.399 softens in us? The only gain of civilization for mankind 115 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:11.199 is the greater capacity for variety of sensations, and absolutely 116 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:16.720 nothing more. And through the development of this many sidedness, 117 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:21.120 man may come to finding enjoyment in bloodshed. In fact, 118 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:24.439 this has already happened to him. Have you noticed that 119 00:08:24.519 --> 00:08:27.319 it is the most civilized gentlemen who have been the 120 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:31.199 subtlest slaughterers to whom the attilas and stank of razines 121 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:33.960 could not hold a candle? And if they are not 122 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:37.360 so conspicuous as the attilas and the stank of razines, 123 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:40.159 it is simply because they are so often met with, 124 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:43.679 are so ordinary, and have become so familiar to us. 125 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:50.000 In any case, civilization has made mankind, if not more bloodthirsty, 126 00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:55.720 at least more vilely, more loathsomely bloodthirsty. In old days, 127 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:59.840 he saw justice in bloodshed, and with his conscience at peace, 128 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:05.559 exterminated those he thought proper. Now we do think bloodshed abominable, 129 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:09.120 and yet we engage in this abomination, and with more 130 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:14.639 energy than ever. Which is worse? Decide that for yourselves. 131 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:20.480 They say that Cleopatra, excuse an instance from Roman history, 132 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:24.240 was fond of sticking gold pins into her slave girl's 133 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:29.639 breasts and derived gratification from their screams and writhings. You 134 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:33.120 will say that that was in the comparatively barbarous times. 135 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:39.039 That these are barbarous times too, because also comparatively speaking, 136 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:43.159 pins are stuck in even now that though a man 137 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:46.919 has now learned to see more clearly than in barbarous ages, 138 00:09:47.320 --> 00:09:50.240 he is still far from having learned to act as 139 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:55.080 reason and science would dictate. But yet you are fully 140 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:57.720 convinced that he will be sure to learn when he 141 00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:01.120 gets rid of certain old bad habits, and when common 142 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:05.039 sense and science have completely re educated human nature and 143 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:08.639 turned it in the normal direction. You are confident that 144 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:12.519 then man will cease from intentional error, and will, so 145 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:15.679 to say, be compelled not to want to set his 146 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:20.240 will against his normal interests. That is not all, then, 147 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:24.360 you say, science itself will teach man, though to my 148 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:28.519 mind it's a superfluous luxury that he never has really 149 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:30.840 had any caprice or will of his own, and that 150 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:33.759 he himself is something of the nature of a piano 151 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:36.759 key or the stop of an organ, and that there 152 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:40.840 are besides things called the laws of nature, so that 153 00:10:40.919 --> 00:10:43.960 everything he does is not done by his willing it, 154 00:10:44.440 --> 00:10:49.480 but is done of itself by the laws of nature. Consequently, 155 00:10:49.639 --> 00:10:52.399 we have only to discover these laws of nature, and 156 00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:55.279 man will no longer have to answer for his actions, 157 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:59.440 and life will become exceedingly easy for him. All human 158 00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:03.440 actions will then of course be tabulated according to these laws, 159 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:07.360 mathematically like tables of logarithms up to one hundred and 160 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:11.799 eight thousand, and entered in an index. Or better still, 161 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:15.799 there would be published certain edifying works of the nature 162 00:11:15.799 --> 00:11:19.600 of encyclopedic lexicons, in which everything will be so clearly 163 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:23.519 calculated and explained that there will be no more incidents 164 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:28.159 or adventures in the world. Then this is all what 165 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:33.879 you say. New economic relations will be established, already made 166 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:38.399 and worked out with mathematical exactitude, so that every possible 167 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:41.639 question will vanish in the twinkling of an eye, simply 168 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:45.559 because every possible answer to it will be provided. Then 169 00:11:45.799 --> 00:11:50.279 the palace of crystal will be built. Then, in fact 170 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:55.279 those will be halcyon days. Of course, there is no guaranteeing. 171 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:59.080 This is my comment that it will not be, for instance, 172 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:02.679 frightfully dulled. Then, for what will one have to do 173 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:06.320 when everything will be calculated and tabulated. But on the 174 00:12:06.360 --> 00:12:11.720 other hand, everything will be extraordinarily rational. Of course, boredom 175 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:15.240 may lead you to anything. It is boredom sets one 176 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:19.240 sticking golden pins into people, but all that would not matter. 177 00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:23.679 What is bad. This is my comment again, is that 178 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:27.200 I dare say people will be thankful for the gold pins. 179 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:32.639 Then man is stupid, you know, phenomenally stupid. Or rather, 180 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:35.039 he is not at all stupid, but he is so 181 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:37.919 ungrateful that you could not find another like him in 182 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:41.879 all creation. I, for instance, would not be in the 183 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:45.480 least surprised if, all of a sudden apropos of nothing, 184 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:48.879 in the midst of general prosperity, a gentleman with an 185 00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:53.440 ignoble or rather with a reactionary and ironical countenance, were 186 00:12:53.480 --> 00:12:56.879 to arise, and, putting his arms to kimbo, say to 187 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:00.399 us all, I say, gentlemen, hadn't we better care over 188 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:03.879 the whole show and scattered rationalism to the winds, simply 189 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:06.720 to send these logarithms to the devil and to enable 190 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:11.840 us to live once more at our own sweet foolish will, 191 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:16.559 That again would not matter. But what is annoying is 192 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:19.679 that he would be sure to find followers. Such is 193 00:13:19.720 --> 00:13:22.679 the nature of man, and all that for the most 194 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:27.000 foolish reason, which one would think was hardly worth mentioning. 195 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:32.200 That is that man, everywhere and at all times, whoever 196 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:36.200 he may be, has preferred to act as he chose, 197 00:13:36.519 --> 00:13:40.559 and not in the least as his reason and advantage dictated, 198 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:44.240 and one may choose what is contrary to one's own interests, 199 00:13:44.440 --> 00:13:50.360 And sometimes one positively ought, that is my idea, one's 200 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:55.639 own free, unfettered choice, one's own caprice, however wild it 201 00:13:55.720 --> 00:13:59.559 may be, one's own fancy worked up at times to frenzy. 202 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:05.360 Is that very most advantageous advantage which we have overlooked, 203 00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:10.399 which comes under no classification, and against which all systems 204 00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:15.360 and theories are continually being shattered to atoms? And how 205 00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:19.120 do these wiseacres know that man wants a normal, a 206 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:23.159 virtuous choice? What has made them conceive that man must 207 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:28.120 want a rationally advantageous choice? What man wants is simply 208 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:33.120 independent choice, whatever that independence may cost and wherever it 209 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:37.879 may lead. And choice, of course, the devil only knows 210 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:44.720 what choice eight ha ha ha, But you know there 211 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:47.360 is no such thing as choice in reality. Say what 212 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:51.440 you like, you will interpose with a chuckle. Science has 213 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:54.960 succeeded in so far analyzing man that we know already 214 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:57.639 that choice and what is called freedom of will is 215 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:01.679 nothing else than stay at. I meant to begin with 216 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:06.279 that myself. I confess I was rather frightened. I was 217 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:09.200 just going to say that the devil only knows what 218 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:12.559 choice depends on, and that perhaps that was a very 219 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:16.399 good thing. But I remembered the teaching of science and 220 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:21.759 pulled myself up, And here you have begun upon it. Indeed, 221 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:25.000 if there really is, some day discovered a formula for 222 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:29.279 all our desires and caprices, that is an explanation of 223 00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:32.840 what they depend on, by what laws they arise, how 224 00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:35.960 they develop, what they are aiming at in one case 225 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:38.720 and in another, and so on, that is a real 226 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:43.639 mathematical formula, then most likely man will at once cease 227 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:47.799 to feel desire. Indeed, he will be certain to, for 228 00:15:47.879 --> 00:15:51.960 who would want to choose by rule? Besides, he will 229 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:55.039 at once be transformed from a human being into an 230 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:58.840 organ stop or something of the sort. For what is 231 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:03.240 a man without disaire, desires, without free will, and without choice? 232 00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:06.879 If not a stop in an organ? What do you think? 233 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:10.840 Let us reckon the chances can such a thing happen? 234 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:17.360 Or not? Hm you decide? Our choice is usually mistaken 235 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:21.480 from a false view of our advantage. We sometimes choose 236 00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:25.440 absolute nonsense, because in our foolishness we see in that 237 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:30.039 nonsense the easiest means for attaining a supposed advantage. But 238 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:33.360 when all that is explained and worked out on paper, 239 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:38.080 which is perfectly possible, for it is contemptible and senseless 240 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:41.360 to suppose that some laws of nature man will never understand, 241 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:47.120 then certainly so called desires will no longer exist. For 242 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:50.759 if a desire should come into conflict with reason, we 243 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:54.240 shall then reason and not desire, because it will be 244 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:57.840 impossible retaining our reason to be senseless in our desires, 245 00:16:58.039 --> 00:17:01.759 and in that way knowingly act against reason and desire 246 00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:06.160 to injure ourselves. And as all choice and reasoning can 247 00:17:06.200 --> 00:17:10.039 be really calculated, because there will some day be discovered 248 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:14.519 the laws of our so called free will, so joking apart, 249 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:18.759 there may one day be something like a table constructed 250 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:22.119 of them, so that we really shall choose in accordance 251 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:26.079 with it. If, for instance, someday they calculate and prove 252 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:29.079 to me that I made a long nose at someone 253 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:32.119 because I could not help making a long nose at him, 254 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:34.559 and that I had to do it in that particular way, 255 00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:38.319 what freedom is left to me, Especially if I am 256 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:42.160 a learned man and have taken my degree somewhere, then 257 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:44.799 I should be able to calculate my whole life for 258 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:50.200 thirty years beforehand. In short, if this could be arranged, 259 00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:54.000 there would be nothing left for us to do anyway. 260 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:57.839 We should have to understand that, and in fact we 261 00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:01.240 ought unwearyingly to repeat to ours ourselves that at such 262 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:04.240 and such a time, and in such and such circumstances, 263 00:18:04.599 --> 00:18:08.279 nature does not ask our leave. That we have got 264 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:11.880 to take her as she is and not fashion her 265 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:15.319 to suit our fancy. And if we really aspire to 266 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:19.400 formulas and tables of rules, and well even to the 267 00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:23.599 chemical retort, there's no help for it. We must accept 268 00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:26.759 the retort too, or else it will be accepted without 269 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:32.759 our consent. Yes, but here I come to a stop. Gentlemen. 270 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:36.680 You must excuse me for being over philosophical. It's the 271 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:43.000 result of forty years underground. Allow me to indulge my fancy. 272 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:48.000 You see, gentlemen, reason is an excellent thing, There's no 273 00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:52.640 disputing that. But reason is nothing but reason and satisfies 274 00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:56.319 only the rational side of man's nature. While will is 275 00:18:56.359 --> 00:18:59.640 a manifestation of the whole life, that is, of the 276 00:18:59.640 --> 00:19:04.240 whole human life, including reason and all the impulses. And 277 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:08.880 although our life in this manifestation of it is often worthless, 278 00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:15.279 yet it is life, and not simply extracting square roots. Here, I, 279 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:18.480 for instance, quite naturally want to live in order to 280 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:22.200 satisfy all my capacities for life, and not simply my 281 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:26.400 capacity for reasoning. That is not simply one twentieth of 282 00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:31.359 my capacity for life. What does reason know? Reason only 283 00:19:31.400 --> 00:19:35.400 knows what it has succeeded in learning some things. Perhaps 284 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:39.480 it will never learn. That is a poor comfort, But 285 00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:44.000 why not say so frankly? And human nature acts as 286 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:47.880 a whole with everything that is in it, consciously or unconsciously, 287 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:52.880 and even if it goes wrong, it lives. I suspect, gentlemen, 288 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:56.039 that you are looking at me with compassion. You tell 289 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:00.160 me again that an enlightened and developed man, such in 290 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:03.920 short as the future man will be, cannot consciously desire 291 00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:08.119 anything disadvantage to himself. That that can be proved mathematically. 292 00:20:09.160 --> 00:20:14.480 I thoroughly agree it can by mathematics. But I repeat 293 00:20:14.599 --> 00:20:18.839 for the hundredth time. There is one case, one only, 294 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:24.200 when man may consciously purposely desire what is injurious to himself, 295 00:20:24.279 --> 00:20:28.200 what is stupid, very stupid, simply in order to have 296 00:20:28.279 --> 00:20:31.680 the right to desire for himself even what is very stupid, 297 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:35.000 and not to be bound by an obligation to desire 298 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:39.279 only what is sensible. Of course, this very stupid thing, 299 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:43.359 this caprice of ours, may be, in reality, gentlemen, more 300 00:20:43.400 --> 00:20:47.400 advantageous for us than anything else on earth, especially in 301 00:20:47.480 --> 00:20:52.160 certain cases, and in particular, it may be more advantageous 302 00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:55.440 than any advantage, even when it does us obvious harm 303 00:20:55.720 --> 00:21:00.880 and contradicts the soundest conclusions of our reason concerning our advantage. 304 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:05.000 For in any circumstances, it preserves for us what is 305 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:11.480 most precious and most important, that is our personality, our individuality. 306 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:16.079 Some you see, maintain that this really is the most 307 00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:20.880 precious thing for mankind. Choice can, of course, if it chooses, 308 00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:24.519 be in agreement with reason, and especially if this be 309 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:28.920 not absurd, but kept within bounds, it is profitable and 310 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:34.119 sometimes even praiseworthy. But very often, and even most often, 311 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:39.839 choice is utterly and stubbornly opposed to reason. And do 312 00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:46.119 you know that that too is profitable, sometimes even praiseworthy. Gentlemen, 313 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:50.680 Let us suppose that man is not stupid. Indeed, one 314 00:21:50.759 --> 00:21:53.799 cannot refuse to suppose that if only from the one 315 00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:57.680 consideration that if man is stupid, then who is wise? 316 00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:02.759 But if he is not stupid. He is monstrously ungrateful, 317 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:08.200 phenomenally ungrateful. In fact, I believe that the best definition 318 00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:13.640 of man is the ungrateful biped That is not all, 319 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:17.720 That is not his worst defect. His worst defect is 320 00:22:17.720 --> 00:22:22.759 his perpetual moral obliquity, perpetual from the days of the 321 00:22:22.839 --> 00:22:28.319 flood to the Schleswig Holstein period. Moral obliquity, and consequently 322 00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:31.559 lack of good sense. For it has long been accepted 323 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:33.839 that lack of good sense is due to no other 324 00:22:33.960 --> 00:22:37.880 cause than moral obliquity. But put it to the test 325 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:41.839 and cast your eyes upon the history of mankind. What 326 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:46.279 will you see? Is it a grand spectacle? Grand if 327 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:49.720 you like? Take the Colossus of Rhodes, for instance, that's 328 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:54.559 worth something with good reason. Mister Annevsky testifies of it 329 00:22:54.680 --> 00:22:57.759 that some say that it is the work of man's hands, 330 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:01.920 while others maintain that it has been created by nature herself. 331 00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:07.079 Is it many colored? Maybe it is many colored too. 332 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:11.039 If one takes the dress uniforms military and civilian of 333 00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:14.880 all peoples in all ages, that alone is worth something. 334 00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:17.720 And if you take the undressed uniforms, you will never 335 00:23:17.799 --> 00:23:21.039 get to the end of it. No historian would be 336 00:23:21.079 --> 00:23:26.720 equal to the job. Is it monotonous? Maybe it's monotonous too. 337 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:31.480 It's fighting and fighting. They are fighting now. They fought 338 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:34.519 first and they fought last. You will admit that it 339 00:23:34.599 --> 00:23:39.720 is almost too monotonous. In short, one may say anything 340 00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:42.640 about the history of the world, anything that might enter 341 00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:46.839 the most disordered imagination. The only thing one can't say 342 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:52.359 is that it's rational. The very word sticks in one's throat. 343 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:56.759 And indeed, this is the odd thing that is continually happening. 344 00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:01.359 There are continually turning up in life moral and rational persons, 345 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:05.279 sages and lovers of humanity, who make it their object 346 00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:08.839 to live all their lives as morally and rationally as 347 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:13.720 possible to be. So to speak, alights to their neighbors, 348 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:17.079 simply in order to show them that it is possible 349 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:20.920 to live morally and rationally in this world. And yet 350 00:24:21.079 --> 00:24:24.839 we all know that those very people, sooner or later 351 00:24:24.920 --> 00:24:29.200 have been false to themselves, playing some queer trick, often 352 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:34.640 a most unseemly one. Now I ask you what can 353 00:24:34.680 --> 00:24:37.799 be expected of man, since he is a being endowed 354 00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:43.400 with strange qualities, shower upon him every earthly blessing, drown 355 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:46.319 him in a sea of happiness, so that nothing but 356 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:49.640 bubbles of bliss can be seen on the surface, give 357 00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:53.400 him economic prosperity, such that he should have nothing else 358 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:56.400 to do but sleep, eat cakes, and busy himself with 359 00:24:56.440 --> 00:25:00.519 the continuation of his species. And even then, out of 360 00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:06.920 sheer ingratitude, sheer spite, man would play you some nasty trick. 361 00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:11.079 He would even risk his cakes, and would deliberately desire 362 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:16.200 the most fatal rubbish, the most uneconomical absurdity, simply to 363 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:22.440 introduce into all this positive good sense, his fatal, fantastic element. 364 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:27.839 It is just his fantastic dreams, his vulgar folly, that 365 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:30.960 he will desire to retain, simply in order to prove 366 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:35.079 to himself, as though that were so necessary, that men 367 00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:38.480 still are men, and not the keys of a piano, 368 00:25:38.759 --> 00:25:42.079 which the laws of nature threaten to control so completely 369 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:45.359 that soon one will be able to desire nothing but 370 00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:49.599 by the calendar. And that is not all. Even if 371 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:53.160 man really were nothing but a piano key, even if 372 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:56.920 this were proved to him by natural science and mathematics, 373 00:25:57.319 --> 00:26:01.319 even then he would not become reasonable, but would purposely 374 00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:06.039 do something perverse out of simple ingratitude, simply to gain 375 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:09.640 his point. And if he does not find means, he 376 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:14.519 will contrive destruction and chaos, will contrive sufferings of all sorts. 377 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:18.279 Only to gain his point. He will launch a curse 378 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:21.960 upon the world, and as only man can curse, it 379 00:26:22.119 --> 00:26:25.519 is his privilege. The primary distinction between him and other 380 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:29.480 animals may be. By his curse alone. He will attain 381 00:26:29.559 --> 00:26:33.279 his object, that is, convince himself that he is a 382 00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:37.160 man and not a piano key. If you say that 383 00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:41.319 all this too can be calculated and tabulated, chaos and 384 00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:45.240 darkness and curses, so that the mere possibility of calculating 385 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:48.400 it all beforehand would stop it all, and reason would 386 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:52.920 reassert itself, then man would purposely go mad in order 387 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:56.920 to be rid of reason and gain his point. I 388 00:26:57.119 --> 00:26:59.960 believe in it, I answer for it, for the whole 389 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:03.160 work of man really seems to consist in nothing but 390 00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:07.039 proving to himself every minute that he is a man 391 00:27:07.319 --> 00:27:10.759 and not a piano key. It may be at the 392 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:14.079 cost of his skin, it may be by cannibalism. And 393 00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:18.200 this being so, can one help being tempted to rejoice 394 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:21.200 that it has not yet come off, and that desire 395 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:26.839 still depends on something we don't know. You can scream 396 00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:29.680 at me. That is, if you condescend to do so 397 00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:33.400 that no one is touching my free will, that all 398 00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:36.599 they are concerned with is that my free will should 399 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:40.480 of itself, of its own free will coincide with my 400 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:44.400 own normal interests, with the laws of nature and arithmetic. 401 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:49.279