GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Man by nature it has been
said is an insatiable being. He is never satisfied and fulfilled within any
particular state. He wants always to move beyond his present condition and
consequently realize himself in the ultimate end. In other words, man seeks to
transcend himself in all his activities. Man is never a static and motionless
being that remains constant at any particular position. He is rather gifted
with those qualities that make him an active being full of potentialities and
capabilities. What then is self-transcendence? It is that characteristic
movement of man in which he continually surpasses himself, in all that he is,
all he wishes and all that he has. I mean it is that constant tendency
possessed by man to always go beyond the already acquired situation in search
of the supreme cause of his being, his primary origin and what should be the
final end.
With regard to this, some
solutions were given for the essence of self-transcendence and egocentricism is
one of them. This was however developed by modern and contemporary philosophy,
above all by the representative of the existentialist current, beginning with
Nietzsche. In this project therefore,
attempt is made to examine the egocentric interpretation of self-transcendence
in man in the light of its greatest exponent and defender by name Friedrich
Nietzsche.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Nietzsche has the belief
that man, in his present life, finds himself in a precarious, pitiable,
devastating, alienated, decadent, and inauthentic condition, full of
deficiencies and miseries. Consequently, something has to be done in order to
free man from this litany of problems. This is because there exists in every
man that tension to free himself from the slavery of ignorance, error, fear and
passions. Therefore, the crux of the problem lies in the recovering of the self
through the acquisition of a truer and more proper being by effectuating a
fuller and more complete actualization of his own possibilities. The message is
that man must as a matter of fact be surpassed and to fully realize himself, he
must shatter the fetters of metaphysics, morals and religion, and in
particular, he must eliminate the idea of God.
PURPOSE OF THE WORK
Nietzsche in a bid to free
man from his depressed state brought to the consciousness of all the fact that
man must abandon or eliminate the idea of God, religion and morality. An
exhaustive effort is therefore made towards analyzing, exposing and evaluating
this surpassing of oneself in a bid to realize oneself and we shall see also
why it is egocentric.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Going through many books
especially philosophical Anthropology by B. Mondin, one will see immediately
that many people made one contribution or the other on the issue of
self-transcendence. Many still said many things with regard to the egocentric
interpretation of self-transcendence in man. However, in this work much
attention is paid to Nietzsche who as it has been said earlier is the greatest
exponent and defender of this egocentric tendency in man. We equally considered
the abstract and spiritual manifestation of self-transcendence in other events
outside man. Besides, relevant materials could be sought from other
philosophers and works of Nietzsche and any other material we consider necessary
no matter the source.
METHODOLOGY
It involves expository and
critical approach. Hence, the egocentric interpretation of self-transcendence
in man will be diagnosed, exposed, carefully and systematically examined in the
light of Nietzsche. This project also gives room for a well systematized and
critical evaluation of Nietzsche’s mind on egocentricism in man.
CHAPTER ONE
THE NOTION AND MEANING OF SELF-TRANSCENDENCE
IN MAN
Self-transcendence being a
quality outstanding in all human actions has its etymological meaning taken
from the Latin word “Transcendere” which means to ascend on, elevate oneself
above, cross, displace, scale, or simply going beyond. Going with this
etymological meaning, the concept transcendence is attained by experience and
at this level of experience, it denotes a spatial relation: the relation of
surpassing, unboundedness, passing beyond, displacement in the sense of being
above, being beyond, outside of etc. Consequently, we have such expressions
like “to transcend one’s own confines”, ambient or environment, “to transcend
every limit” to transcend the cloud and so on. Following this, the concept of
self-transcendence is transferred now from the realm of material or sensible to
that of the abstract and spiritual concept. From this angle, it therefore
becomes possible to say that the substance transcends the accidents,
intellective knowledge transcends sensitive knowledge. The soul transcends the
world of matter or body etc.
In our own time in
philosophy, the term has taken up a technical meaning. It indicates today the
divine reality, namely, it can refer to the Divine (the transcendence is God)
As Mondin points out, we use the term transcendence today even more often when
speaking not only of God but also of man. All along, we have been talking on
the transcendence of sensible objects. But we can apply the term to the
subject. In this case therefore, we can talk of auto- transcendence. The term
therefore indicates the property of man by which he constantly goes beyond himself
in all that he thinks, wills and all that he realizes or achieves. We can say
therefore that man transcend himself. He transcends himself in thought, in
liberty, in language, in association and in many other things. In fact “he is
never satisfied with his achievements”[1].
1.1 THE PRINCIPAL PARTS OF SELF-TRANSCENDENCE
The term transcendence is
divided into two principal parts namely horizontal or historical transcendence
and vertical or metaphysical auto-transcendence, While horizontal transcendence
consists of a simple going towards the future, but remaining within the horizon
of space and time and therefore of history. On the other hand “Vertical
transcendence refers to the one that pushes higher, and tends to exceed the
limits (bounds) of space and time, towards infinite”[2].
In the horizontal
transcendence, man tries to overcome his cosmic limitations, and project
himself to a better future like in the various technological products such as
car, air-conditions, houses, medicine, airplanes etc. The vertical
auto-transcendence is seen as a movement from the phenomenal to noumenal level.
Here, man tries to discover realities behind the spiritual world.
1.1.1 THE
EGOCENTRIC INTERPRETATION OF SELF- TRANSCENDENCE.
A careful and critical
examination of the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, Descartes,
Feurerbach, Hegel and Nietzsche reveals that man is always seen as trying to
extricate himself from life shackles, alienation, entanglement or the state of
oppression. The purpose of this liberation is to reinstate man back to his true
nature and this of course should be done through discovering human
potentialities, which will enable him to realize and actualize himself. This
solution has the good of the subject as its primary objective. According to the
egocentric solution, “the movement of self-transcendence has its one aim, the
perfection, the fulfillment, of man’s being in its individual person”[3].
This was retaken and developed by F. Nietzsche, as we shall see later.
1.1.2 THE SOCIAL INTERPRETATION OF
SELF- TRANSCENDENCE
Also called the philanthropic solution.
It aims at giving humanity better state of affairs. Its target is the
elimination of individualism and egoism, an attempt to create awareness in the
people such that they will emancipate from individualism miseries and social
inequalities and consequently arrive at perfect happiness. Many people
supported this view like Karl Max, Marcus, Bloch, Garaudy etc. Their target is
the movement from individual self to the entire community. They have no
religious overtone. It is given a social dimension. That is man as a social
being is seen going beyond himself.
1.1.3 THE
THEOCENTRIC INTERPRETATION OF SELF- TRANSCENDENCE.
The crippling and
devastating individualism of the egocentric position and the incompleteness of
the social philanthropic interpretation of self-transcendence explains the
need for man to search for something more permanent and reliable. Therefore to
cling on the egocentric and social interpretation of self-transcendence will
amount to absolutizing the horizontal dimension of self-transcendence. When
this total dependence on the horizontal level takes place, it will be very
difficult for man to really surpass and assert himself. Therefore, the
horizontal dimension comprising egocentric and philanthropic interpretation of
self-transcendence does not provide a fertile ground for the realization of
ones ultimate end. This is because the question of self-transcendence goes
beyond the horizon of space and time and as such, recognizes the metaphysical
dimension. This is the solution that man’s self-transcendence can only be
realized completely in God. Hence, the theocentric interpretation of
self-transcendence centers on God and sees God as the end point of every human
endeavour. God as it were, pulls all creatures onto himself due to goodness and
love. God being the unmoved mover, draws every other being to himself. Some of
the exponents of this view include: Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Blondel,
Lonergan etc. It is therefore only in God that one can gain perfect fulfillment
and consequently realize oneself. This is the view of the theocentric
interpretation of self-transcendence.
1.2 ABSTRACT MANIFESTATION OF
SELF-TRANSCENDENCE.
The concept of
self-transcendence does not only exist in the concrete and experiential sense
of human existence but also extends to the metaphysical realm. It goes beyond
the physical world and extends itself to abstract things. That is “from
material things, the concept of self-transcendence was transferred into the
realm of a spiritual and abstract concept”4.
As a result of this extension of the concept of self-transcendence to
metaphysical things, we can then say that substance transcends accidents, the
world of spirit transcends that of matter, God transcends the world, the soul
transcends the body, intellectual knowledge transcends sensory knowledge and
things of this nature. These things are really spiritual and abstract for we
cannot touch them. We shall therefore at this juncture examine critically one
after the other this spiritual and abstract manifestation of self-transcendence
to see to what extent they are true.
1.2.1 SUBSTANCE AND ACCIDENT
What can we say to be the
meaning of a substance? It can be defined as a being whose nature is to exist
in itself. For instance, we can see such things like racehorse, maple tree,
robin, human being etc whose centers of existence and activity remain
independent. “Beings that go on being
what they are behind the restless face of everyday change” 5
On the other hand,
accident “refers to those beings that cannot exist on their own, any more than
the grin on the face of the cat can be found apart from the cat”6. The basic and outstanding fact about
these ways of being (accident) is that they cannot exist on their own and so
depend on some prior being for their existence. Hence “an accident can then be
defined as a being whose nature is to exist in another”7.
The word substance is
derived from the Latin term sub (under) stans (standing) and it literally means
“Standing under” or that which stands under. Substance constitute the very
nature or essence of a thing and accident represents any of its qualities which
is not essential to its nature; for instance color, size, weight etc. Various
philosophers equally contributed on the superiority of substance over accident.
Therefore, one can courageously say that substance transcends accident. This
was so because the concept of transcendence not only dwells on material and
tangible things but also goes beyond. For Descartes “substance is an existent
which requires nothing but itself in order to exist”8.
1.2.2 BODY
AND SOUL
The concept of
transcendence is seen and experienced in the body and soul relationship. It was
indeed an issue that captured the minds and thoughts of many philosophers and
theologians alike. The human soul is the principle of intellectual activity and
as such, it is incorporeal and subsistent. That is to say that the human soul
in its relationship with the body can “exist and operate even when it is
separated from the body”9.
Consequently, the soul
being the principle of intellectual life, takes the form of the human body. The
transcendence of the human soul over the body is equally seen in the
immortality of the soul, but the human soul is a spirit as well as soul; that
is, it has activities-understanding and willing – which being intrinsically
independent of the body for their exercise, indicate an act of existence
equally independent of the body. There is therefore no principle of death in the
soul, for neither can it be broken up into parts nor is it vitally dependent
upon some other being whose destruction it would share. This is because the
soul of man is spiritual as we noted earlier since it performs operations that
are independent of matter. Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas would see the
human soul as the substantial form of the body as against philosophers like
Plato and Descartes for whom the soul is a separate substance independent of
the body to which it is accidentally united or as against the views of John B.
Watson and David Hume who see the human soul as something that is unknowable or
does not exist at all. The point remains that the human soul is superior to the
body and many religions will support this view. This is why at the point of
death as some religions hold, the soul leaves the body and does not decay and
the body on the other hand decays. Therefore as spiritual, the soul of man must
be the “product of a direct creation; it must be immortal, for
there is no principle of
dissolution in a spiritual being”10.
1.2.3 MAN AND THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE
The creation account shows
that human beings are creatures of God, made in his image and likeness (Gen
1:27) and as such “they are the words of visible creation under God”11. The scripture made us understand that
no other thing was created in the image and likeness of God except man. Hence,
the only animal that resembles God is man. This resemblance is seen in our
soul. This therefore bears an eloquent testimony of the superiority and
importance of man over all the created things. Besides, an image is a copy of
something else, resembling it in some specific way.
“Men and women are
important images of God, who infinitely transcends them, because they have a
specific likeness to God in virtue of their spiritual operations of
understanding and willing”12. The
transcendence of man over the world is also felt in the immortality of man’s
soul as against other creatures of God. Whereas other things will one day
perish and go out of existence, the human soul does not perish. Besides all
these, man is the only animal given the power to walk upright (Homo erectus).
He is the only animal that is endowed and gifted with the faculty of reasoning.
(homo sapiens) and many other factors that make man unique among the creatures
of God. Other creatures like plants and other lower animals cannot boast of
these things. Considering the above enumerated talents and gifts to man, we see
that he is really a unique being. This uniqueness therefore distinguishes him
from all other creatures. For instance, man can engage himself in the
production of many things in the field of science and technology. Thanks to his
intellect and rationality. Besides, man is a creature that thinks and
deliberates over an action before executing it and he is quite conscious of
himself. That is why he can be held responsible for his daily actions. These
things cannot be found among the lower animals. For instance, one cannot hold a
goat responsible for eaten up ones yam in ones farm or barn because a goat does
not posses the above outstanding qualities which man possesses. It is not in
the nature of a goat to possess these things. On the other hand, man possesses
all these qualities and this makes man a unique animal or being. It is because
of these facts and many other ones that we say that man transcend his
environment and the creatures in it.
1.2.4 GOD AND THE UNIVERSE
To talk about the
transcendence of God over the universe is already a clear fact to the human
knowledge. Our emergence into this world and the entire universe itself is the
handwork of God. This is because created things cannot be greater than its
creator and as a matter of fact should remain under its direction and
sustainance.
In short there is nothing which is not
subject to the government of God, for it is God who maintains all creatures in
existence and moves all things including subordinate causes, in accordance with
his will13
This implies therefore
that there is no cause which can impede his action, because no cause can happen
independent of him. God shows his transcendence over all creatures by
preserving them in existence. “Just as the song is continually dependent upon
the singer if it is to be heard, so the creature is continually dependent upon
God if it is to exist”14. God
moves and sees to the movement of all the creatures and through this movement
which they receive from God, they are able to act since they cannot act outside
God. Therefore, we can say that God “rouses creatures from inactivity to activity”15 We can also deduce here that this
movement of the universe presupposes a mover who is not moved himself by any
other thing since he transcends both the creatures and movement. God is indeed
the “prime mover, the unmoved mover and the source of the motion of the
universe”16. The creature “remains
a contingent being deriving its existence from God and so the creature exists
only as long as God sustains it”17.
Stretching the
transcendence of God over the creatures, we come to see his immutability. What
does this means? It means that “God is in no way subject to change”18. All other creatures can change from
one state to another. For instance; man changing from the state of poverty to
richness etc. God is eternal because he continues to exist of himself without
having beginning and without the possibility of ceasing neither acquiring
anything nor suffering the loss of anything. Simply put, God transcends the
universe.
1.3 MANIFESTATION OF SELF-TRANSCENDENCE IN OUR DAILY
PROGRAMMES AND THE WORLD
The limitedness of man
which springs up as a result of man’s boundedness within space and time does
not make him wait on nature in providing for his well-being. For instance, he
throws himself into creating and inventing many things. Today, man has many
achievements like the construction of modern houses, reduction in infant
mortality, and complete eradication of some diseases through medicines,
processed food items, easy means of transportation in the air, sea and land and all these are
possible due to the break through in science and technology; that is the
outcome of human ingenuity. In politics, man also propounds laws and the rule
of life for a better conduct and happy future. Ethics also contributes its own
quota. It helps to create the awareness on what to do and what to guard against
for the overall welfare of all. These guiding principles make man to live in
peace and harmony with others. Economically, man is also making sincere efforts
to ameliorate his ugly and devastating situation in the world.
Man also brings in
sophiscated implement like tractors instead of relying on local implement in
his farm work. But one thing remains clear and that is that man is simply
seeking to transcend himself in all these actions and consequently arrive at a better
condition and fulfilled life.
[1] L. Asiegbu: “Auto-transcendence”, unpublished Lecture
notes on Philosophical Anthropology” Bigard Memorial Seminary Ikot-Ekpene,
1977-1980.
[2] B. Mondin, philosophical
Anthropology (Bangalore: Theological publications in India, 1998) p.197.
5 D. J. Sullivan, An
Introduction to philosophy: The perennial principles of the classical
Realist Tradition (Tan Books and publisher Inc, 1992) p. 221.
9 J. Omoregbe, A simplified History of Western Philosophy,
Vol. II (Lagos: JERP, 1991) P. 15.
10 E.J. Grastsch, Aquinas’
Summa, An Introduction and Interpretation (Theological Publication in India, 1990) P. 52
11 D. J. Sullivan, op. Cit. P. 121.
12E .J .Gratsch, op. cit. p.60.
17 J. Omoregbe, Knowing
Philosophy, A General Introduction, (Lagos: JERP, 1990) p.111.
18 E. J. Gratsch, op. cit. p.14.