Abstract
The aim of this paper is a thorough analysis of two philosophical sources of Joseph Conrad’s ethical outlook: the philosophies of Jean Marie Guyau and of Émile Boutroux. The first one, according to Maria Dąbrowska, had a strong influence on numerous aspects of Conrad’s ethics. However, the analysis of A Sketch of Morality Independent of Obligation or Sanction proves that, after all, Guyau – among other things, with his biological-vitalistic understanding of the doctrine of duty defined as a “mild obsession” – has created a philosophical-ethical system that is in stark contrast with Conrad’s views. Boutroux is a different case entirely. In his comprehension of modern life sciences and philosophy of nature, the most important issue is (this view is formed by Boutroux after Auguste Comte) to perpetuate “the laws of arbitrariness and free activity in nature.” Conrad’s references to his lectures on Natural Law in Science and Modern Philosophy might then be revealed directly: within such sea novels as Typhoon and The Shadow-Line, as well as indirectly, through portraying – in Boutroux’s language – an aspect of chance within the human “social nature” in such novels as Nostromo.
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