The Mephistophelian Argument Versus Kant's Theory of Enlightenment

According to the Kantian theory of Enlightenment, the essay "What is Enlightenment" defines it as "man's release from his self-incurred tutelage." In Faust, Mephistopheles makes the argument to G-d that humans are "brutish," "live in dismay," and will never change [their] ways. He argues that humans would be happier without the gift of reason.

Still, if we were to do away with higher reasoning and logic, our schooling would not be from other people that we incur, but from the laws of nature, which are expressed as chaotic and reason-less. In this essay, I will be highlighting excerpts to present an argument for the case of logic, agency, and its consequences.

In the prologue of Goethe's Faust, the premise of G-d's omnipotent power is laid out between a chorus of Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael, the three archangels. Together, they sing of natural chaos that encompasses the Earth and its incomprehensiveness.

Raphael:

The sun intones, in ancient tourney

With brother spheres, a rival air;

And his predestinated journey,

He closes with a thunderous blare.

His sight, as none can comprehend it,

Gives strength to angels; the array

Of works, unfathomably splendid,

Is glorious as on the first day.

Gabriel:

Unfathomably swiftly speeded,

Earth's pop revolves in whirling flight,

As Eden's brightness is succeeded

By deep and read-inspiring night;

In mighty torrents foams the ocean

Against the rocks with roaring song-

In ever-speeding spheric motion,

Both rock and sea are swept along.

Michael:

And rival tempests roar and ravage

From sea to land, from land to sea,

And, raging, form a change of savage,

Deeply destructive energy.

There flames a flashing devastation

To clear the thunder's crashing way;

Yet, Lord, they herald's admiration is for the mildness of thy day.

In Mephistopheles' response, we learn of his feelings of humans living in "dismay" and that they will not change. Mephistopheles says:

"And is as whimsical – as on the first of days.

His life might be a bit more fun,

Had you not given him that spark of heaven's sun;

He calls it reason and employs it, resolute

To be more brutish than is any brute."

(Faust; Line 245-285)

Kant was a theologian and a philosopher and whose primary texts include a moral philosophy called the Categorical Imperative, which is a three-part manifesto for righteous and virtuous living through the lens of reasoning. Although we will not be discussing Kant's Moral or Categorical Imperative, it is helpful to note that this is the caveat to his functional rationale. It is a creative use of reason to ensure the betterment of society and its citizens' future ("Categorical Imperative"). This limitation is set forth by Kant on reasoning and the freedom of agency in human nature.

In the essay, "What is Enlightenment," Kant says that mistakes are building blocks to success when he states, "Actually, however, this danger is not so great, for by falling a few times they would finally learn to walk alone." (Kant, 1). By this logic, it is not irrational to assume that progress forward would not be without a slow, time-consuming, and sometimes painful learning curve. To take Enlightenment comes full flash-bang, and fully formed is unreasonable. Kant even debates this when he states, "Thus the public can only slowly attain Enlightenment. Perhaps a fall of a personal despotism or of avaricious or tyrannical oppression may be accomplished by revolution, but never a true reform in ways of thinking. Further, new prejudices will serve as well as old ones to harness the great unthinking masses." (Kant, 1).

While Mephistopheles believes that humans will never change their ways, it is way too soon in the evolution of the humankind species to make such a claim. Compared to nature, rocks, oceans, wind, and formless to formed atoms, humanity has been around in this current state as Homo sapiens for only 300,000 years. While, yes, anatomically, there have not been too many changes, socially, there have been many (Siegel). From vast technical and social revolutions appear before our history course textbooks and are littered amongst the pages of history books.

Kant is right, Enlightenment in a fully formed moralistic fashion may take many more unrefined centuries, but it is a redeemable course of action, albeit one of remission, reaction, and then progress. Goethe appears to agree by saying something similar with the willingness of G-d to make a bet with Mephistopheles. However, the prologue seems to be read with a degree of destiny. The idea is first voiced by Raphael,

"The sun intones, in ancient tourney with brother spheres, a rival air; and his predestinated journey." And then later by The Lord himself, "Though now he serves me but confusedly, I shall soon lead him where the vapor clears. The gardener knows, however small the tree, that bloom, and fruit adorn its later years." (Faust, lines 243 – 311). The use of the words soon and confusedly gives rise to the idea that humankind may not succeed at first, but with error, confusion, and inevitable success.

My final point rests with Kant's stipulation that for a being to achieve Enlightenment, humankind must be free to do so. He says this directly when he states, "For this enlightenment, however, nothing is required but freedom" (Kant, 2). When can a man be free but when he has his basic needs met? I argue, if kept from developing human agency where the use of reasoning is not needed or required, we would remain static and need the mythologies of higher powers to soften the blows of the crashing chaos of nature.

We reason that we as a species developed tools to become independent agents of change and social progress. Needlessly staying in intellectual blankness would keep us forever in fight or flight survival mode from unrelenting, awe-inspiring elements first discussed by the trio of archangels in the prologue. Mephistopheles argues that we as humans would be happier, and our lives might even "be a bit more fun." Still, living in a world where humans live in a state of nature devoid of reason would be unhappy, unkind, short, painful, and exceedingly "brutish."

Works Cited

Siegel, Ethan. "What Was It Like When The First Humans Arose On Earth?" Forbes, 16 May 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/05/15/what-was-it-like-when-the-first-humans-arose-on-earth/?sh=6dddb0536997.

"Categorical Imperative." QCC CUNY, 2002, www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialsciences/ppecorino/medical_ethics_text/Chapter_2_Ethical_Traditions/Categorical_Imperative.htm.

Kant, Immanuel. "Modern History Sourcebook." What Is Enlightenment?, 1784, sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/kant-whatis.asp.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von. Faust. RareBooksClub.com, 2021.