- Axiological ideas and
literature
In order to find their place in life, people
look for authority figures and models, appealing to the heights of philosophic
thought. But if we ask ourselves “What nourishes philosophical thought?” we
have to acknowledge that poetry and literature were the sources of many
ingenious ideas on philosophy. We know what role poetry played in the life of
ancient Greeks: poetic ideas and images were the objects of the philosophic
reflections of Aristotle and Platon. In their literary work they refer to
legendary mythological heroes and quote Homer, Aristophanes, Anakreont,
Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus and Sapfo amongst others.
And in the eras that followed, philosophy referred to literature as an
authoritative and reliable source of knowledge on the essence of being, as the
source of wisdom on the inner world of a human being and her way of life.
Vladimir S. Soloviev quotes Homer, Dante, Goethe, Milton, Shakespeare,
Sophocles, Ovidiy, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy – to name a few. F. Nietzsche
refers to the great artists of the past: Homer, Dante, Goethe, Byron,
Shakespeare, Servantes, Eskhil, Shiller and Dostoevsky. Images from the world of
literature are frequently analyzed in the philosophical writings of A.F. Losev.
The circle of names becomes wider towards the mid ÕÕ century,
but narrows from the second half of the ÕÕ century, though they can
still be found in the philosophy of the wise men of the older generation.
Classical literature provided the philosophy-related scientific disciplines
with material for new theories: in his analytical psychology and archetype
theory C.G. Jung frequently refers to Goethe, Homer, Eskhil, Sophocles, Milton,
Molier, Shiller, Byron, Merezhkovsky, etc.
The classics are not the dead past and great art always contains a live
philosophical core. The term world classics can be applied to the work
of authors whose names are still significant in the discussion of philosophy
today and – wider - for the people of the ÕÕI century. These authors
influenced the global culture and the leading role players were Homer, Dante,
Shakespeare, Goethe and Dostoevsky.
In every national culture there are writers and poets whose literary work
is considered to be the gold standard – they are national
classic authors who reflect the values consciousness of their people and
their work absorbed humanist ideas of world culture. By connecting both
national and global culture they set the direction for national cultural
development for centuries to come. The scale of values of the national hero is
the guideline for generations that follow.
In Russian culture there is a constellation of authors whose writing
resonates with the Russian soul and who are listened to with deep respect. The
most significant name is Pushkin, followed by Tolstoy, and then each person
chooses a name according to his/her preference. Pushkin, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky
represented philosophy. Their literary works are rich with philosophic ideas:
about the meaning of life, about the mysteries of human nature, about the
polarities of good and evil.
They penetrated the depths of the inner world of a human being, which was
not accessible to philosophy, and in many ways preceded the discoveries in
philosophy and related sciences. V. Frankl, an outstanding psychologist,
admitted: “I was greatly influenced by the work of such Russian writers as
Dostoevsky and Tolstoy (whom I often quote in my writings)”1. Apparently F. Nietzsche was right when he said: “A scientific person is a
further unfolding of an artistic person”2.
The most important gift literature presented to the world was the
concept of values. When axiology took the leading role in
philosophy in the second half of the 19th century, it was grounded
in the artistic ideas and images of world literature, finding in it the rich
material for the theory of values. Initially it was in literature that
all value categories were ripened, formed and polished. Later, interpreted by
philosophy, they acquired the status of moral orders aimed at regulating social
life in any civilized society.
In his book “The Justification of the Good. Moral philosophy” V.S. Solovyov
refers to the episode in “Odyssey”, where brave, noble, just and sensitive
Odyssey, an ideal hero, brutally executes his disloyal servants who did not
stand against Penelope’s grooms but joined them in his absence. In Solovyov’s
opinion, people of that time didn’t have “conscious, kind principles and
rules”, there was no “formal criterion of what is allowed and what is not
allowed or clear understanding of the difference between good and evil”3.
In the centuries that followed the moral ideal was discussed and it
evolved, but the real breakthrough in the battle against evil happened only
when “an organized social force was inspired by the moral codes and turned them
into an objective law of life”4.
Moral laws exist largely thanks to artistic and philosophic thought –
allies in the process of comprehending the spiritual foundation of life. In the
“dark chaos” of human existence “the light is brought only by values and norms”
5 wrote N.A. Berdyaev.
But what should be considered a norm? For king Creont in the tragedy
“Antigone” by Sophocles the “norm” was not to bury the traitor of Thebes,
giving his body instead to dogs and birds. But Antigone, despite the king’s
order, knowing that she might be executed, conducts the burial ritual for her
brother; for her this is the sacred law of kinship, the law of duty,
established by “gods”. Here we see the eternal conflict of personal values and
the laws put in place by brutal rulers, justifying their actions by the
interests of the state.
From this historical far-away we hear the poet’s voice speaking of mercy,
respect for traditional values and of laws built on a moral foundation! From
the time of antiquity till the current day the question of good and evil
remains central to the humanitarian thought because it determines the way of
life of an individual, the policy of states and the destiny of peoples.
Priceless are the teachings of Aristotle about virtues, priceless are the
moral codes of Christianity, priceless is “Divine Comedy” by Dante, where he
depicts an impressive picture of human vices. But despite thousands of books
written on this matter, it became even more difficult to distinguish between
good and evil. One of the reasons is that evil can be skillfully disguised
under the most charming masks.
Shakespeare was explored this mystery in his Sonnet: “Where did you get
this capacity to make bad things look good in you, to perform the most
worthless actions so skillfully that I think your worst is better than anyone
else’s best?” (Shakespeare, Sonnet 150). Does this mean that we should
submit to ourselves? Classical literature asked this question – “To be or not
to be?” – and in finding the answer it admired the regal dignity of the human
spirit, fearless and free, that rebelled against evil.
2. Reduction of values in the atmosphere of
pluralism
Today’s literature doesn’t have a hero equal to Hamlet, Don Quixote, or
grand duke Myshkin. We live in an environment where relativism becomes a “norm”
of life and eternal, vital values are under the threat of reduction, if not
total annihilation. In the mind of a modern person there prevails a negative
attitude towards the world, hostility towards people of a different mindset,
different faith, to the rich and the prosperous; family values are being
distorted, the line between good and evil is being erased, ethical values are
viewed as old-fashioned.
Mass culture, which doesn’t accept classic criteria, is oriented towards
the philosophy of utilitarianism and pragmatism and values are being
diminished. A new system of “values” is being implanted into minds: sexual
success, social status and consumerism. Body image dominates modern culture
that parasitizes on human sexuality.
In Russian literature (and more broadly in Russian culture) there is a
clear tendency for anesthetization of violence. The fight is over material
interests and this tendency is totally different to the idea that the great in
art is linked to the life of human spirit, to the spirituality of being. In a
modern writer’s model of the world there is no place for values and the
desecration of the sacred is the direction he has chosen. Today a writer does
not play the role of a teacher and spiritual guide for the nation, but rather
that of a provoker.
The aggressive nihilistic ideology of postmodernism has had a destructive
influence on the social atmosphere and cultural consciousness. The idea of a
total reevaluation of values was being implanted in the mass consciousness. The
idea took root that man is “being liberated”, breaking free from traditional
norms, principles and ideals, and simultaneously drifting into the field of
chaos, not understanding the reason for all the misfortunes that accompany his
life.
V. Erofeev is proud that his novels are popular in Holland. Maybe the
reason the Dutch are looking down on our country is that they understand the
“Russian soul” through V. Erofeev’s writings. In the atmosphere of pluralism a
word becomes worthless, looses its aesthetic function. Not everything that
is in demand is an artistic achievement.
Today it would be appropriate to speak of total spiritual collapse in
literature. It concerns both literary heroes and authors, who, for some reason,
decided that in the spirit of freedom of speech “everything is allowed”. Let’s
emphasize the principal position: culture always needs limitations, even prohibitions.
In culture not “everything is allowed”.
I.A. Brodsky in his Nobel Prize speech used F.M. Dostoevsky’s imperative
when he said: “In ethics not ‘everything is allowed’ because in aesthetics not
‘everything is allowed’”6. I.A. Brodsky’s position is very important in the context of our theme: in
the ethical world of a writer everything must be as irreproachable as in his
aesthetic world. What else can counterbalance the destructive tendencies in
modern culture?
3. Universal criterion of values
In axiology we can find answers to many of the difficult questions of our
time. Criterion of values was declared by the humanities to be universal
in the analysis of a wide range of anthropological events. The criterion
“value” – is the realization that “in absolute value vacuum not only any
expression but consciousness itself is impossible”7. It is the realization that “value must precede judgment, not to depend on
it but to determine it”8. This thought of N.A.Berdyaev presents the essence of axiological
discourse: category “value” measures everything in the historic or modern
picture of the world, whether real or fictional.
A high level of value consciousness is characteristic of classical
literature which has a familial bond with axiological thought. But criterion
“value” is a new way to measure literary art and one needs certain axiological
sharpness to detect values that are hidden in the text. Moreover, a literary
text can contain opposing values, or it can reflect the conflict of values.
There are many varied axiological concepts that hold opposing, often mutually
exclusive, values as true. For example, there are the absolutes of Kant, and
the relativism of F. Nietzsche, one theory acknowledges the world of ideal
norms, another theory justifies relativity of traditional wisdom and the need
for “reevaluation” of values. There is the theory of “philosophy of life”,
which values spirit, life, emotion and creative force, and there is the theory
of utilitarianism, which proclaims the rational principle of utility,
acknowledging only what satisfies personal interests and brings pleasure. There
is the axiology of pragmatism that proclaims success, benefit and needs as the
prime values. And there is existentialism – the philosophy that views the loss
of the value of the meaning of life as the collapse of the “absolute
foundation”.
The same value category can be interpreted in different ways. For example,
in the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre we see the apologia of absolute
freedom in the surrounding absurd world. In his philosophy of estrangement and
extreme individualism there is only one value – a free individual. But is this
a truly great value if it dictates to the author: “Hell is others”? The destructive
charge of this thought is almost equal to the famous “God is dead”. In this
philosophy of freedom of Jean-Paul Sartre one can recognize the “fatherly”
influence of the philosophy of F. Nietzsche.
This position of extreme individualism is foreign to Russian philosophy,
with its Christian system of values. In the philosophy of estrangement by
Jean-Paul Sartre the notion “others” carries no value meaning. But the word
“Other’ carries totally different meaning in the philosophy of M.M. Bakhtin.
According to M.M. Bakhtin, total self-absorbsion, isolation and loneliness is
destructive, it leads to intellectual death: “a man will never find complete
wholeness only by himself”9. Other represents eyes and voice of the outside world. “I and Other are
the main value categories”, but “in all aesthetic forms the value category of
Other, the relationship to other is the organizing force”10. Other as a moral instance is
at the top of the hierarchy of values according to M.M. Bakhtin.
As we can see, the philosophy of M.M. Bakhtin develops the main postulate
of Christian ethics: “treat others the way you would like to be treated”. In
M.M. Bakhtin’s philosophy the highest value is wisdom, kindness, beauty that is
reflected in the acts. “Toward a Philosophy of the Act” is the work
fundamental to the aesthetics of M.M. Bakhtin.
Thus, when we recognize various systems of values in a literary work, it is
important to see how close or far they are from eternal, universal values. The
significance of the “value” concept in the humanitarian thought of the last
century allows us to speak of its methodological status, of value approach
that organically fits into the modern scientific paradigm and can be applied to
any historic-cultural phenomenon. The main requirement is that the scholar’s
mindset must be focused on comprehension of values and she is able to orientate
herself in the world of values.
Axiological literacy can be a compass to a researcher who chose a value
approach to the world literature study. Value approach in the humanitarian
sphere (literature, moral, politics) can fill the gap that was formed in the
axiosphere of modern culture. The point of departure of the value approach is
the understanding that values form the core of culture, are the foundation
of personality, a key determinant of the social consciousness and the
fundamental base of the state system.
The category “value” contains many nuances but let us select the dominant
meanings of this notion. True values are essential, fundamental to the
spiritual being of an individual. They are the highest needs and aspirations of
a person, his guidance system, determining his conduct and choice of inner
goals. This is what a person acknowledges as sacred, since “each value is either
totally ideal or at least contains an ideal aspect”11. N.O. Losskiy says: “Value is
something all-penetrating, determining the meaning of the whole world in
general, as well as the meaning of every individual, of every event, of every
deed”12.
Every writer’s work contains reflections about the significance of the
value category. F.M. Dostoevsky writes: “I am an idealist; I am looking for the
sacred, I love it, my heart longs for it, I was created in such a way, that I
can not live without the sacred”13. What Dostoevsky called the
sacred, is called highest values in axiology.
The theme of the importance of finding values in the chaotic, meaningless
and godless world runs through “Rebel” by A. Camus: “How is it possible to
acquire the rule of conduct in life while being out of the sphere of the sacred
with its absolute values?” Mankind must find common values – proclaimed the
writer - without it the world will be ruled by “anarchy and crime”14.
The artistic picture of the world contains all value categories. The aim of
axiological analysis is to detect them, to highlight their topicality, to
reveal life- important meanings of the sacred, world-supporting universal
values such as The Highest Spiritual Truth, Kindness and Beauty. The focus of
axiological analysis is ethical absolutes, religious values, national and
social priorities, as well as existential values that give meaning to life.
What values
did philosophy and literature cultivate?
We’ll touch upon some of the
most important axiological questions.
The fundamental question in literature is that of the meaning of life.
The answer lies in the values that an individual accepts as the highest and
according to which she chooses to live her life. S.L. Frank wrote: “In order to
know what to live for and where to go each person <…> has to find
absolute support in the depth of his own spirit”15. The search for Absolute is a
task for extraordinary individuals and very few of them find what they were
looking for. Goethe’s Faust shows us what ordeals, temptations and losses a
person goes through in search of Absolute.
Without the meaning of life all values become nothing.
The meaning of life is the fundamental axiological problem of Russian
philosophy and literature. It is especially prominent in L.N. Tolstoy’s
“Confession” and “Death of Ivan Iliich”. Tolstoy showed that questions about
the values of life and the meaning of life become acute at critical moments, in
“bordering situation” (K. Yaspers), and especially in the face of death. In
“Death of Ivan Iliich” the main character before his death realizes how
meaningless his existence was despite his high status in society. Everything is
reevaluated: whatever seemed to be of significance is now viewed as worthless
by the dying man.
The value of the meaning of life is emphasized in “Ivanov” by A.P. Chekhov.
The lead character’s suicide shows that in Ivanov’s hierarchy of values the
value of meaning was above everything, even life itself.
According to Russian literature, participating in a greater cause is what
gives an individual life meaning. Only through such meaningful participation
can a person realize himself as an intelligent being
Existential problems reach their peak in Western European literature of the
ÕÕ century. Poets and writers of the turbulent first half of the ÕÕ century
viewed the historical events of that time as the collapse of the “absolute
foundation”, they drew an apocalyptic picture of the world, in which a
suffering, homeless, godless, unprotected person is searching for meaning. How
can a man live in this absurd world if he has “nothing and no one to rely upon
either inside himself or outside?16
Writer-existentialists J.-P. Sartre and A. Camus view the loss of the meaning
of life as a loss of the highest value, as the impossibility of
self-realization in the world. Literature that reflected the tragedy of human
existence in the mad world, was attempting to bring eternal values back to the
sick society, was active in its attempt to rescue it, and called to rebel
against meaningless existence.
Russian literature of the ÕÕ century creates the picture of the totalitarian
society, in which those in power are destroying the values formed over
centuries: the value of human life, political and personal freedom of an
individual, freedom of speech and faith, inviolability of private property,
dignity, respect towards others, trust, tolerance and such family values as
love, loyalty, motherhood, etc. And Russian literature viewed the world of the ÕÕ century
from the point of view of the absolute value of moral law, it cultivated
the highest values, which were being suppressed by the ideological machine.
Anthropological constants spirit and soul, which were
acknowledged to be ontological values of art in the time of antiquity, have a
special significance in the world of values. These values are constantly the
focus of attention of philosophy and literature because they carry meanings
without which we can’t even start imagining a human being.
N.A. Berdyaev wrote: “Spirit is the divine element in a human being”, “the
highest quality of soul, its freedom from the material world. Spirit is the
highest truth, the meaning of the soul”. In spirit the philosopher saw “the
nature of Prometey”17. The energy of the spirit of
a person determines his destiny and influences the social life. Let’s agree
with N.A. Berdyaev, that the spirit carries active, strong-willed, male energy,
and the soul is the expression of tender, loving, passive female energy18. In this union “the spirit
dominates the soul”19.
For Dostoevsky the human soul is the most significant thing. It is “the
battlefield where the Devil is wrestling with God”. And when Raskolnikov’s soul
was blinded by the Devil, the writer found the words: “What, what have you done
to yourself!”, which hold the absolute truth: by committing a crime a
person kills his soul and after that life turns into punishment.
Dostoevsky revealed the secret of the human soul long before the insights of Z.
Freud and K. Jung; and many discoveries in psychology were based on the global
literature insight into the “inner world of a human being” and into the soul
and the spirit as its manifestation.
We link the word “soul” to the ideal, value core of human nature. In art
anthropology soul measures the “quality” of an individual because it contains
the system of ethical absolutes, such as kindness, compassion, mercy,
conscience, love, forgiveness, etc. A soul is measured by the way it responds
to the outside world. The life of the soul becomes a spiritual being as soon as
it reaches outside the limits of its subjectivity, looks for meaning and acts
guided by the values of truth, kindness and beauty. Spirit and soul are the
phenomena of monodualism, where the depths of the soul and the heights of the
spirit are of equal value.
We cannot successfully distinguish between the notions spirit and soul
without referring to literature. N.A. Berdyaev, while defining the spirit,
turned to the images of classical literature. Prometey embodies the spirit of
struggle, Don Quixote - the spirit of righteousness, and Faust - the spirit of
spiritual search. Goethe showed that the life of spirit cannot avoid delusions
and tragic collisions but it is the life of Spirit that earns Faust salvation.
All Russian classical literature is about the life of human spirit with its
endless search and its high, and often reckless, impulses. And this life of the
spirit is inseparable from the revelations of the soul that goes through
suffering and loss and searches for support in the spirit – the carrier of
meaning. Without a doubt N.A. Berdyaev was right when he wrote that the Russian
mind lives by the “great Christian spiritual truth that the human soul is worth
more than all the kingdoms and all the worlds”20. Soul and Spirit are two
ancient Slavic words, which carried the value meaning in pre-Christian Russia.
It means they are the foundation of the Russian genetic makeup. In “The
Teachings of Vladimir Monomah” it is said: “<…> for me my soul is more
precious than this whole world”.
Spirit and soul are realised as the highest values most acutely when a
person finds himself in an extreme situation. I.A. Bunin wrote in 1924 in his
“Mission of Russian immigration”: “There is something that is even bigger and
more precious than Russia itself <…> It is my God and my soul”. I.A.
Brodsky followed the same tradition: “The Soviet government can arrest my body,
but it can’t dampen my spirit” 21. The ÕÕ century
ideology was squeezing these value categories out of soviet literature but in
this way it made them more valuable in the literature of the writers who didn’t
support the official ideology. The list includes the Orthodox Christian branch
of the Russian writers who lived abroad, as well as A. Ahmatova, B. Pasternak,
B. Okudzhava. V. Visotsky’s art is a scream for the salvation of the soul and
the demonstration of the strength of the spirit. V. Shukshin’s stories concern
the soul that is in pain, looking for meaning (spirit) and desperately trying
to preserve itself in a strange and dangerous world. And, of course, for A.
Solzhenitsyn soul is the core theme.
Spirit and soul are the super concepts of culture and are highly ranked in
the hierarchy of values. We cannot underestimate their significance in the
modern world. An under developed soul (which is tantamount to no soul) can be a
deadly weapon when filled with man-hating ideas.
In modern literature we can hardly find a wholesome character that combines
a highly developed Soul and a light-bearing, intellectual Spirit. And here real
life is ahead of literature. In the life of A.F. Losev, A.I. Solzhenitsyn, D.S.
Lihachev, G.S. Pomeranz we see greatness of human spirit that overcame all the
horrors of the ÕÕ century. Through their way of life they gave
Russia a universal system of value coordinates, which guides the educated
people of our time. Unfortunately a consumer of mass culture is not familiar
with these names; the notions of spirit and soul dropped out of modern culture
and, as a consequence, new anthropological problems were created.
5.
Transmission of values
True values are the result of the spiritual search of many previous
generations. In literature these values are not declared but lived by a hero,
by an author and then by a reader. Only when lived can they penetrate
the soul and mind of a person. Aesthetic experience has the effect of catharsis,
a shift in consciousness, when the existing values are reevaluated and true
meaning and true values reveal themselves.
Education is the best medium and a powerful transmitter
of values. In the Oxford Dictionary of Contemporary Quotes we find a quote by
William R. Ink: “The aim of education is knowledge not of facts but of values”.
Values introduced by the classics of world literature have not lost their significance
in the modern day. Classical writers said everything centuries in advance.
The Humanities is another transmitter of
universal values. Here the axiological approach is dominant and all its
ability to actualize the universal values has not been exhausted. Scholars in
the field of Humanities can make a large contribution in pointing the mass
media as well as social, national and cultural organizations in the direction
of true universal values.
Another way of values transmission is cultural exchange. In the
climate of globalization cultures must be friendly and open to each other and
only in this way can they counterbalance the negative tendencies of counter
culture.
The value approach to the study of our cultural
past, and the comprehension of our present, is a way for modern man to know
values and to create a value consciousness. Value consciousness is the decisive
force able to bring humankind to mutual understanding and to resolve the vital
problems of culture, politics and social relationships.
1 Frankl, V. Man’s Search for Meaning. Ì., 1990. P. 23.
2 Nietzsche, F. Collection
of Writings in 2 v. V.1. Ì.,1990. P.357.
3 Soloviev, V.S. Collection of Writings in
2 v. V. 1. Ì.,1990. P.334-335.
4 Soloviev, V.S. Collection of Writings in
2 v. V. 1. P. 338.
5 Berdyaev, N.A. Collection of Writings. Ì., 1994. P.74.
6 Brodsky, I.A. Writings by Josef Brodsky.
SPb., 2000. V.6. P. 47.
7 Bakhtin, M.M. Questions of
Literature and Aesthetics. M.,1986. P.134.
8 Berdyaev, N.A. Collection of Writings.
M., 1994. P.82.
9 Bakhtin, M. M. Problems of Dostoevsky’s
Poetics. M.,1979. P.208.
10 Bakhtin, M.M. Questions of Literature and Aesthetics. P. 172, 174.
11 Lossky, N.O. God and suffering. M.,
1994. P.286.
12 Lossky, N.O. God and suffering. P.250.
13Dostoevsky, F.M. Full Collection of Writings:
In 30 v. L.,1972-1990. V.22. P.73.
14Camus, A. Rebellious Man. M., 1990. P.133, 135.
15 Frank, S.L. Collection of Writings. Ì., 1990. P. 142.
16 Sartre, J-P. Existentialism is a Humanism. Ì., 1989. P.
327.
17 Berdyaev, N.A. Philosophy of Free
Spirit. Ì.,1994. P.380, 382.
18 Berdyaev, N.A. Philosophy of Free
Spirit. P.383.
19 Ern, V.F. Collection of Writings Ì.,1991.
P.364.
20 Berdyaev, N.A. Destiny of Russia. Ì.,1918.
P.42.
21 Brodsky, I. Big Book of Interviews. Ì.,2000. P.682.
