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§ Examine Don Miguel de Unamuno’s philosophy of man’s desire for immortality and its implications for human moral conduct.
MIGUEL DE UNAMUNO: HIS LIFE
Miguel de Unamuno was born in 1864 in Bilbao, Spain. Bilbao is a medieval port city in Basque Country, near the northern border with France. The Basque people are known for being hard-working, practical and fiercely independent. The word ‘Basque’ may have come from Celtic etymology meaning ‘summit’, with the Basque people known as “the mountain people”, “the tall ones”, or “the proud ones”. Unamuno certainly fits this description not only for his strong, proud personality, but for his physical appearance with his long pointed nose, his sharp pointed beard and his intense pointed eyes which led to his caricature nickname in later years as “The Owl”.
Miguel’s father died when he was 6 years old and he was raised by his mother, who was a devout Catholic, and his grandmother who was the predominate head of the family. At the early age of 11, inspired by a Jesuit priest who taught him classes on Psychology, Logic and Ethics Miguel aspired to sainthood. As he was preparing to leave for Madrid University to study philosophy and literature, shortly before his 16th birthday, his grandmother died. He was present at her death and there he found the concept of mortality which now took on a whole new existential reality for him. As he left for Madrid, his heart, which was filled with piety and religious zeal, was already in conflict with his head, which had an insatiable thirst for knowledge.
Soon after he started attending the University of Madrid, in 1880, he stopped attending Mass and became an extreme reader of positivistic philosophy, physiological psychology, and Italian and British poetry. He soon became part of an intellectual circle of students and writers that one of his teachers referred to as “the little blasphemy shop on Montera Street.” Unamuno’s college experience converted him from religion to science. He was also very popular in his time as he was a very blunt and severe critic of the political menace of his state.
The day after his death he was buried in the municipal cemetery of Salamanca, with full academic ceremony. Ortega Y. Gassett, his contemporary, wrote a few days after his death; “The voice of Unamuno sounded ceaselessly throughout the whole of Spain….Now that it has ceased forever, I fear our country will suffer an era of frightful silence.”
UNAMUNO'S PHILOSOPHY OF MAN'S DESIRE FOR IMMORTALITY
There are three great human questions that we all face; who am I? Why am I here? And, where am I going? Miguel de Unamuno's philosophical thought and being is solely focused on the third of these three great questions; where am I going? This question encapsulates man's natural desire for immortality and self-preservation; the aftermath of life, the question of survival, the question of whether man is mortal or immortal.
The question of whether man has an immortal soul is not an abstract question for Unamuno. For him, immortality is not an idea; it is a want, a need, a hunger, an urge, an obsession. It does not generate in man's mind but in the deepest recesses of his being. Hence, for Unamuno, immortality is an intrinsic necessity of man.
Reflecting deeply on his own inner, more than outer, experiences, Unamuno came to the realisation that to be authentically human means to live in the presence of death (accept the reality of death), to understand that mortality is the root of our condition, and that we are beings of contingency (our existence is uncertain); as Jim Morrison said, “the future is uncertain, and the end is always near.” Unamuno saw human self-consciousness as a kind of disease. For him, “consciousness of oneself is simply consciousness of one’s own limitation.”
Turning to the philosopher "Benedict Spinoza”, Unamuno, focuses on three propositions in Part 3 of his Ethics;
§ The 6th proposition - This says that everything endeavours to persist in its own being.
§ The 7th proposition - That this endeavour to persist is the actual essence of the thing itself. (Which Unamuno points out for a man, is not to die).
§ The 8th proposition - That this endeavour for each individual thing to persist involves no finite time but indefinite time; which Unamuno interprets, “that is to say that you, I, and Spinoza wish never to die and that this longing of ours never to die is our actual essence.”
So for Unamuno, the aim and heart of all vital knowledge by man, is the longing for immortality. To quote him …the longing for immortality is it not perhaps the primal and fundamental condition of all reflective or human knowledge? And is it not therefore the true base, the real starting-point, of all philosophy, although philosophers, perverted by intellectualism, may not recognize it? Unamuno argues that deep down, we do not just want to exist, we want to exist universally. He says, the visible universe, the universe that is created by the instinct of self-preservation, becomes all too narrow for me. It is like a cramped cell, against the bars of which my soul beats its wings in vain. Its lack of air stifles me. More, more, and always more! I want to be myself, and yet without ceasing to be myself, to be others as well; to merge myself into the totality of things visible and invisible, to extend myself into the illimitable of space and to prolong myself into the infinite of time. Not to be all and forever, is as if not to be…And to be the whole of myself is to be everybody else. Either all or nothing!
He further says, only the feeble (the weak) resign themselves to final death and substitute some other desire for the longing for personal immortality. In the strong man, the zeal and desire for perpetuity (continuity) overrides the doubt of realizing it, and their superabundance of life overflows upon the other side of death. We aim at being all because, through that, we see the only means of escaping from being nothing.
Unamuno decided that it was necessary to abandon all pretence of rationalism and simply embrace faith. He suggested that man’s desire for immortality is constantly denied by reason and can only be satisfied by faith, creating an unceasing spiritual anxiety which drives men to live the fullest possible life. According to Unamuno, we not only desire immortality for ourselves, but for our friends and family, our homes and nations, and all aspects of life. Although, this desire to live forever exactly as we do now is an irrational desire, it is nevertheless the desire that makes us human.
THE IMPLICATION OF UNAMUNO'S PHILOSOPHY FOR HUMAN MORAL CONDUCT
Unamuno’s philosophical ideas on immortality surely have its implications as regards human moral conduct. For the sake of evaluation, some of them are highlighted as follows;
§ Karma
Karma is the law of moral causation; the universal law of justice – the law of sowing and reaping; action and reaction. It is “Karma” that decides what happens to a man here on earth; and it is believed that this is based on what he or she has done in a previous life. Thus, the law of Karma operates impartially. Accordingly, Unamuno’s philosophical ideas on immortality emphasize the effect of karma in human existence; it embraces both our past and present deeds. It upholds the fact that we are the result of what we were; we will be the result of what we are.
§ Egotism
Also, Unamuno’s philosophical ideas on immortality promote the morality of egotism; an exaggerated sense of self-importance and self-worth. It promotes the benefit of pleasure as an end in itself; as the greatest good of the self alone. The drive to maintain and enhance favorable and sentimental views of oneself as well as an inflated opinion of one’s personal identity is idolized. It demotes the principle of altruism, which is not strictly concerned with self-interest but includes in its goal, the interest of others as well.
§ Contest, conquest and strife
As is the case with the traditional treatment of ontology, Unamuno’s philosophical ideas on immortality promotes the ideology that the principle of “I” is the only correct principle of being. Hence, anything that seems to alter or challenge this “I” principle is severely attacked. The result of this is that humans would resort to Machiavellian and Nietzscheian means in order to maintain and sustain the immortal self. This pattern and mentality would invariably strengthen the vice of war, strife, killings and the likes in society.
§ Examine Don Miguel de Unamuno’s philosophy of man’s desire for immortality and its implications for human moral conduct.
MIGUEL DE UNAMUNO: HIS LIFE
Miguel de Unamuno was born in 1864 in Bilbao, Spain. Bilbao is a medieval port city in Basque Country, near the northern border with France. The Basque people are known for being hard-working, practical and fiercely independent. The word ‘Basque’ may have come from Celtic etymology meaning ‘summit’, with the Basque people known as “the mountain people”, “the tall ones”, or “the proud ones”. Unamuno certainly fits this description not only for his strong, proud personality, but for his physical appearance with his long pointed nose, his sharp pointed beard and his intense pointed eyes which led to his caricature nickname in later years as “The Owl”.
Miguel’s father died when he was 6 years old and he was raised by his mother, who was a devout Catholic, and his grandmother who was the predominate head of the family. At the early age of 11, inspired by a Jesuit priest who taught him classes on Psychology, Logic and Ethics Miguel aspired to sainthood. As he was preparing to leave for Madrid University to study philosophy and literature, shortly before his 16th birthday, his grandmother died. He was present at her death and there he found the concept of mortality which now took on a whole new existential reality for him. As he left for Madrid, his heart, which was filled with piety and religious zeal, was already in conflict with his head, which had an insatiable thirst for knowledge.
Soon after he started attending the University of Madrid, in 1880, he stopped attending Mass and became an extreme reader of positivistic philosophy, physiological psychology, and Italian and British poetry. He soon became part of an intellectual circle of students and writers that one of his teachers referred to as “the little blasphemy shop on Montera Street.” Unamuno’s college experience converted him from religion to science. He was also very popular in his time as he was a very blunt and severe critic of the political menace of his state.
The day after his death he was buried in the municipal cemetery of Salamanca, with full academic ceremony. Ortega Y. Gassett, his contemporary, wrote a few days after his death; “The voice of Unamuno sounded ceaselessly throughout the whole of Spain….Now that it has ceased forever, I fear our country will suffer an era of frightful silence.”
UNAMUNO'S PHILOSOPHY OF MAN'S DESIRE FOR IMMORTALITY
There are three great human questions that we all face; who am I? Why am I here? And, where am I going? Miguel de Unamuno's philosophical thought and being is solely focused on the third of these three great questions; where am I going? This question encapsulates man's natural desire for immortality and self-preservation; the aftermath of life, the question of survival, the question of whether man is mortal or immortal.
The question of whether man has an immortal soul is not an abstract question for Unamuno. For him, immortality is not an idea; it is a want, a need, a hunger, an urge, an obsession. It does not generate in man's mind but in the deepest recesses of his being. Hence, for Unamuno, immortality is an intrinsic necessity of man.
Reflecting deeply on his own inner, more than outer, experiences, Unamuno came to the realisation that to be authentically human means to live in the presence of death (accept the reality of death), to understand that mortality is the root of our condition, and that we are beings of contingency (our existence is uncertain); as Jim Morrison said, “the future is uncertain, and the end is always near.” Unamuno saw human self-consciousness as a kind of disease. For him, “consciousness of oneself is simply consciousness of one’s own limitation.”
Turning to the philosopher "Benedict Spinoza”, Unamuno, focuses on three propositions in Part 3 of his Ethics;
§ The 6th proposition - This says that everything endeavours to persist in its own being.
§ The 7th proposition - That this endeavour to persist is the actual essence of the thing itself. (Which Unamuno points out for a man, is not to die).
§ The 8th proposition - That this endeavour for each individual thing to persist involves no finite time but indefinite time; which Unamuno interprets, “that is to say that you, I, and Spinoza wish never to die and that this longing of ours never to die is our actual essence.”
So for Unamuno, the aim and heart of all vital knowledge by man, is the longing for immortality. To quote him …the longing for immortality is it not perhaps the primal and fundamental condition of all reflective or human knowledge? And is it not therefore the true base, the real starting-point, of all philosophy, although philosophers, perverted by intellectualism, may not recognize it? Unamuno argues that deep down, we do not just want to exist, we want to exist universally. He says, the visible universe, the universe that is created by the instinct of self-preservation, becomes all too narrow for me. It is like a cramped cell, against the bars of which my soul beats its wings in vain. Its lack of air stifles me. More, more, and always more! I want to be myself, and yet without ceasing to be myself, to be others as well; to merge myself into the totality of things visible and invisible, to extend myself into the illimitable of space and to prolong myself into the infinite of time. Not to be all and forever, is as if not to be…And to be the whole of myself is to be everybody else. Either all or nothing!
He further says, only the feeble (the weak) resign themselves to final death and substitute some other desire for the longing for personal immortality. In the strong man, the zeal and desire for perpetuity (continuity) overrides the doubt of realizing it, and their superabundance of life overflows upon the other side of death. We aim at being all because, through that, we see the only means of escaping from being nothing.
Unamuno decided that it was necessary to abandon all pretence of rationalism and simply embrace faith. He suggested that man’s desire for immortality is constantly denied by reason and can only be satisfied by faith, creating an unceasing spiritual anxiety which drives men to live the fullest possible life. According to Unamuno, we not only desire immortality for ourselves, but for our friends and family, our homes and nations, and all aspects of life. Although, this desire to live forever exactly as we do now is an irrational desire, it is nevertheless the desire that makes us human.
THE IMPLICATION OF UNAMUNO'S PHILOSOPHY FOR HUMAN MORAL CONDUCT
Unamuno’s philosophical ideas on immortality surely have its implications as regards human moral conduct. For the sake of evaluation, some of them are highlighted as follows;
§ Karma
Karma is the law of moral causation; the universal law of justice – the law of sowing and reaping; action and reaction. It is “Karma” that decides what happens to a man here on earth; and it is believed that this is based on what he or she has done in a previous life. Thus, the law of Karma operates impartially. Accordingly, Unamuno’s philosophical ideas on immortality emphasize the effect of karma in human existence; it embraces both our past and present deeds. It upholds the fact that we are the result of what we were; we will be the result of what we are.
§ Egotism
Also, Unamuno’s philosophical ideas on immortality promote the morality of egotism; an exaggerated sense of self-importance and self-worth. It promotes the benefit of pleasure as an end in itself; as the greatest good of the self alone. The drive to maintain and enhance favorable and sentimental views of oneself as well as an inflated opinion of one’s personal identity is idolized. It demotes the principle of altruism, which is not strictly concerned with self-interest but includes in its goal, the interest of others as well.
§ Contest, conquest and strife
As is the case with the traditional treatment of ontology, Unamuno’s philosophical ideas on immortality promotes the ideology that the principle of “I” is the only correct principle of being. Hence, anything that seems to alter or challenge this “I” principle is severely attacked. The result of this is that humans would resort to Machiavellian and Nietzscheian means in order to maintain and sustain the immortal self. This pattern and mentality would invariably strengthen the vice of war, strife, killings and the likes in society.
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