Goldmann Lucien - The Hidden God

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

THE HIDDEN GOD

THE HIDDEN GOD

A Study of Tragic Vision in the Penses of Pascal and the Tragedies of Racine

LUCIEN GOLDMANN TRANSLATED BY PHILIP THODY

Volume 15

First published in English in 1964

This edition first published in 2013
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
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English translation 1964 Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
Translated from the French Le Dieu Cach

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ISBN: 978-0-415-65969-7 (Set)
elSBN: 978-0-203-52926-3 (Set)
ISBN: 978-0-415-82236-7 (Volume 15)
eISBN: 978-0-203-43169-6 (Volume 15)

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THE HIDDEN GOD

A STUDY OF TRAGIC VISION IN THE PENSES OF PASCAL AND THE TRAGEDIES OF RACINE

by

Lucien Goldmann

translated from the French by

Philip Thody

ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL

LONDON AND HENLEY

THE HUMANITIES PRESS

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NEW JERSEY

Translated from the French

LE DIEU CACH

First published in England 1964

Reprinted 1976 and 1977

by Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited

39 Store Street

London WC1E 7DD and

Broadway House, Newtown Road

Henley-on-Thames

Oxon RG9 1EN

Printed in Great Britain by

Redwood Burn Limited

Trowbridge & Esher

English translation

Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd 1964

No part of this book may be reproduced

in any form without permission from

the publisher, except for the quotation

of brief passages in criticism

ISBN 0 7100 3621 3

To
MONSIEUR HENRI GOUHIER

CONTENTS

When I began this work, I had two different but complementary ends in view.

The first was to develop a scientific method for the study of literary and philosophical works, and the second to contribute to the understanding of a particular set of texts which, in spite of considerable differences between them, did seem to me to be closely linked together.

The category of Totality, which is at the very centre of dialectical thought, prevented me from making any rigorous distinction between considerations of method and the actual process of research, since these are simply two aspects of the same question.

It seems to me, in fact, that the method lies wholly in the research itself, and that this research can be valid and fruitful only in so far as it becomes progressively more aware of its own progress and of the conditions which make such progress possible.

The central idea of this book is that facts concerning man always form themselves into significant global structures, which are at one and the same time practical, theoretical and emotive, and that these structures can be studied in a scientific manner, that is to say they can be both explained and understood, only within a practical perspective based upon the acceptance of a certain set of values.

Setting out from this principle, I have shown the existence of one of these significant global structuresthe tragic visionwhich has enabled me to bring out and understand the essence of several theological, ideological, philosophical and literary phenomena, and also to analyse relationships between these phenomena that had not been noticed before.

Thus, in my attempt to bring out the principal features of the tragic vision () and, finally, of Racines theatre.

The reader must judge for himself to what extent the present work has in fact enabled me to fulfil these two initial complementary aims.

I should like now to use this preface to forestall two possible objections. I have, naturally, read a number of works both on the tragic vision and on the nature of the scientific study of literary and philosophical works, and have concentrated especially on the ideas expressed by Marx, Engels, Georg Lukcs and on the view of tragedy put forward by Hegel (particularly in his Aesthetics, and above all in the outstanding chapter on the Ethical Order in The Phenomenology of The Mind). The fact remains, however, that even in the case of Lukcs, there was too much difference between what I was trying to do and the views expressed by these authors to enable me to discuss them in any detail. Thus, in order to avoid complicating the issue, I have studied the early writings of Lukcs only in so far as he is concerned with tragedy, and not at all from the standpoint of his theories on a science of philosophy and literature.

I may also, in my attempt to express dialectical ideas in a terminology which is not yet used to them, have made remarks which appear contradictory. Thus, I have written both that it is impossible to elaborate a scientific sociology, an objective science of facts concerning man, and that we must try to achieve a definite and scientific knowledge of such facts. And, for want of a better word, I have even called such knowledge sociological knowledge. Similarly, I have stated that the Penses were not written for the free-thinker, but that, among their potential audience, we do find free-thinkers etc., etc.

There is in fact no real contradiction between these various statements. Unlike the facts discovered by physics and chemistry, facts concerning man cannot be found out impersonally, from the outside, and by methods which exclude value judgements and practical considerations. These facts must, however, be of an equally certain and reliable nature, and, from this point of view, there is no contradiction between a refusal of scientism and the desire to attain a scientific, historical and sociological knowledge of facts concerning man, a knowledge quite opposed to speculation and belletristic essay writing.

Similarly, Pascal did not write the Penses for the free-thinker in the sense that he was developing an argumentum ad hominem which he himself did not accept and which he did not believe was valid for the believer. Nevertheless, like all philosophical works, the Penses are addressed to everyone who does not think as their author does, and this necessarily includes free-thinkers.

In every case, these contradictions are merely apparent ones which I could have avoided by making up an abstract language that was suited to the immediate needs of the situation, but which would have also been obscure and unintelligible for the lay reader. Too much clarity darkens, wrote Pascal, and I have preferred genuine clarity to any purely formal and apparent clarity.