Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf has many interesting ethical insights. One of the most interesting is the notion that intellectualism can actually be a harmful endeavour. There is a specific quote from the book, that the Steppenwolf himself seems to be interested in, that goes “Most men will not swim before they are able to… They are born for the solid earth, not for the water. And naturally they won’t think. They are made for life, not for thought. Yes, and he who thinks, what’s more he who makes thought his business, he may go far in it, but he has bartered the solid earth for the water all the same, and one day he will drown.” I think that this quote is very insightful, and, what’s more, it is only truly insightful advice for those who think. I once thought that taking an analytical approach to everything is a good way to go about living, but over the years I have changed my opinion about thought. That’s not to say, however, that I do not believe that it is important for one to think. However, after a while I have realized that thinking about life and living life are two completely different things. What’s more, the more thinking one does the less living one does. That’s not to say that thinking, that philosophy, is not important, but rather, that one should take thought in moderation. This is also not a statement claiming that thought is not a part of life, but that it is only a part of life. Life, being a whole or totality, is greater than it’s parts. It is more than just a particular aspect, such as thought, and it is more than an aggregate of aspects. This does not mean that I am about to go off on a tirade about how experience is the best way to live, however. Simply living by ‘experiencing the moment’ often leads to painful mistakes that proper foresight could have otherwise avoided. There must be moderation between thought and experience as well as other aspects of life in order to live properly.
I also believe that the previous quote is a statement about specific types of philosophies (or at least that’s my take on it). Specific forms of philosophy deal with questions that always remain unresolved and that cannot possibly help anyone. For example, the question of whether or not God’s existence can be proven is a pointless endeavor. No one will ever be able to find a proof for or against God’s existence, therefore the question is pointless. A much more interesting and pertinent question would be: Why should we believe in God? By asking this question instead, one leaves the realm of metaphysics and approaches ethics. Essentially, certain forms of thinking have nothing to do with life, and are completely irrelevant arguments that are typically exercises in semantics rather than insightfulness. I don not see the point in making claims about things that cannot ever be a part of life. I always thought that it was the task of philosophical thought to augment life and not become it.
It is this notion of anti-intellectualism that I find particularly modern about Hesse’s book. Modernity saw the rise of existentialism and the relegation of metaphysics to obscurity. This arose in part due to Nietzsche’s (who is arguably and existentialist) criticism of metaphysics and it’s uselessness. So, either I have made a point of denouncing metaphysics or I am a completely run-of-the-mill modern subject.
Chris Roy
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