Supreme Goal Research Articles

Ausgangspunkte und Dialektik der gesellschaftlichen Ansichten C. M. Wielands

Despite his essential idealism, Wieland's views on the question of the individual and society are sober and pragmatic. His concept of individual happiness takes into account social, political, and moral tensions, but leaves little room for human tragedy, as envisaged by later German classical writers. Wieland believes that happiness is the supreme goal but that it is attainable only through an individual's active participation in the life of the society or state in which he lives. In this sense Wieland is a patriot, believing that the family and the nation are natural entities whose existence has to be preserved. However, since all states and societies tend to subordinate the individual's needs to their own ends, Wieland frequently defends the individual's rights, yet without favouring the unbridled individualism characteristic of nineteenth century liberalism. Although not dogmatically opposed to revolutionary changes, he feels that most people are unable to use their freedom wisely and therefore unable to replace a rejected social system with one that will better serve them. He is aware of the deficiencies of all constitutional systems, and while in practice preferring a British type of constitutional monarchy to any other, advocates a cosmopolitan society which will allow its members to strive after personal perfection (happiness) and at the same time be useful members of their particular state.

Existential Freedom in the Marxism of Jean-Paul Sartre

The growing commitment of Jean-Paul Sartre to Marxist political philosophy reaches its maturation in his Critique de la raison dialectique. To many in the non-Communist world, particularly in North America, who have been influenced by his earlier existential philosophy, Sartre's commitment to Marxism seems difficult to explain. Existentialism is a philosophy of individual introspection, whereas Marxism is a philosophy of mass movements. Existentialism denies the reality of absolute values, whereas Marxism postulates the supreme goal of the classless society. Most puzzling of all, the existential philosophy of Sartre himself describes a radical freedom, the negation of all determinism in the lives of human beings; while Marxism is traditionally viewed, both by its proponents and by its critics, as a doctrine of strict determinism.

Heartfelt Thanks to the Teachers

The law on raising the wages of personnel engaged in providing services to the public, including the largest element of the Soviet intelligentsia - teachers and other personnel in public education - is yet another striking confirmation of the fact that our party and government have no other concern except that of the well-being of the people. "Our supreme goal," said Comrade N. S. Khrushchev in his concluding remarks at the session of the USSR Supreme Soviet, "is to build communism successfully, to implement, steadily and consistently, a policy aimed at raising the living standards of the working people. Lenin, the great founder of the Communist Party and the Soviet state, called upon us to strive for this goal, and we are confidently following his course."

Valuable goals for the medical school. The larger, common goal.

Born with the first expression of suffering and the first desire to alleviate this suffering, becoming scientific with the first need for an explanation of the phenomena manifested in the organism and the first laborious investigation of the human mind into the subject, medicine has for its supreme goal the task of rendering aid to those who suffer and of furthering the improvement both of the individual and of the race. 1

Man Answers Death. An Anthology of Poetry ed. by Corliss Lamont

142 BOOK REVIEWS Man Answers Death. An Anthology of Poetry. Edited by CORLISS LAMONT. New York: Philosophical Library, 1952. Pp. 830 with index. $4.50. In the Preface to the first edition of this work, which appeared in 1936, Mr. Lamont says: "There have been numerous English anthologies of poetry on death-most of them centering upon the promise of a future life--but none, so far as I know, built around the particular point of view represented in this collection. My organizing principle has been the philosophical doctrine known as Humanism, which interprets death as the absolute end of the individual conscious personality and which sets up the progress and well-being of men on this earth as the supreme goal of life." He develops this thesis by dividing the book into various sections of poetry entitled: " If a Man Die, Shall He Live Again? "; " When Death Is, We Are Not," etc., and at the head of each section he gives an introduction setting forth his personal views on the subject ·treated in it. This introduction is, as it were, a preceding commentary whose purpose is to prepare the reader's mind to acc~pt the following poems in the light of his atheistic interpretation, which for the most part is contrary to the original thought of the poets themselves. His own observations do not bear up well under careful scrutiny, being filled throughout with false inferences. For instance, he says in the first introduction, which is merely an example of all the others: "In the West at least, until recently, the great majority of people have rendered allegiance to the idea of personal immortality,"-the false inference being that the great majority no longer render this allegiance to the idea of personal immortality. He continues: "But with many of them the belief has been a formality rather than an ever-present guiding principle. In the actual crises stirred up by death they have by no means acted as if there were a life eternal. And it is difficult to estimate to what extent this doctrine has penetrated beneath the surface to the essential being of man,"-the false inference being that the belief in personal immortality has not been true or deep in man, but in large measure only something superficial and ineffective . He continues: "On the other hand, with religious supernaturalism so powerful and influential for so many centuries, there were comparatively few intellectual factors current to support those particular promptings of common sense which pointed to death as the end. At the same time the relentless intolerance of religious orthodoxy hardly encouraged open questioning of its basic doctrines,"-the f~lse inference being that a belief in personal immortality is blind, irrational, and contrary to common sense, and is held only because it is forced upon the 'minds of men by an entrenched, intolerant, and deceptive religious dogmatism. He continues: " Even the agnostic position concerning a future life, however widespread BOOK REVIEWS 143 in fact, was in earlier times seldom expressed publicly,"-the false inference being that the agnostic position concerning a future life was in fact very widespread, but did not show itself openly through fear or timidity. He continues: "All the more, then, it is possible to state that, until the rise of modern science and democracy, a strong and positive Humanist stand on the question of immor-tality was an infrequent occurence in the realm of thought,"-the false inference being that science and democracy are opposed to the notion of personal immortality, and indeed even to religion itself, for which Mr. Lamont seems to have a hatred. Among the poets quoted nearly all of truly lasting worth would be astonished; were they still living, to find themselves in such a book. We shall take only a few notable examples. First, there is Dante, who is universally recognized as the poetic voice of Catholic theology, expressing in verse the doctrines of such men as St. Thomas Aquinas. Next we have Shakespeare, who was himself a Catholic, and whose characters in the plays are so objectively portrayed that we can seldom look with any assurance upon their thoughts or actions as being indicative of...