A Philosophical Dialogue

The last days of Leopardi.

The following was found among the posthumous papers of the great scholar Pietro Giordani. It purports to be the record of a conversation between himself and his good friend the poet and philosopher, Giacomo Leopardi; wherein the great poet discourses upon the reality of life and such cures for life’s ills as he has found useful.

GIORDANI

My dear Leopardi, do you not know how they speak of your view’s? They say that, because you are a hunchback and have been ill since the cradle, your thought’s have been poisoned by your misfortunes which they claim cause you naturally to seek the grave. Your whole philosophy, they contend, is but the bitter fruit of your infirmities and do not present the truth.

LEOPARDI

If only that were true Giordani if only that were so. Yet, even in their mocking denunciations they only prove me right. We philosophers are always depicted in the public mind as officiants on the sacred path of cold reason, following wherever the god Veritas should lead. But, when has reason ever been cool and dispassionate. Reason is but another tool in nature’s arsenal to fool us into thinking her interests are our own. That is, but a justification of our biases.

GIORDANI

You are joking my friend surely, what then of truth? Are all things equal then?

LEOPARDI

You know me too well Giordani. I am not the Sophist’s advocate, that one should make the weaker argument the stronger. And yet, it does not mean that others can, and will. But enough of that, Lucian does it better and by your look, I believe you are more curious for my rebuttal to the yea-sayers.

GIORDANI

If you please, if only the better for me to understand myself and defend you if I can.

LEOPARDI

Very well. Heraclitus, you will recall, claimed: “character is fate”. And the character of history has been discovered. Obviously we are advancing happily towards a better world, the best of all possible worlds. For, if character is fate then the fate of the species can only be a golden one since logically, as the character of humanity is golden so must our fate be also. Or, at least, such is the catechism of modernity.

GIORDANI

You see no progress then?

LEOPARDI

Do you?

GIORDANI

What of the French Revolution, The Rights of Man?

LEOPARDI

What of Bonaparte? For you see, no sooner do we reach equality then we must find new ways to disenfranchise one another.

GIORDANI

Yes but, as Rousseau taught, that is just the nature of the corrupting influence of civilization. Man in his true natural state is good.

LEOPARDI

Ah! There is where Monsieur Rousseau and I part ways. It is certainly true, I agree, that the closer man is to nature, that is, as close in time to his first appearance on the earth, he is indeed better off. But, the development of civilization, that process by which we are “de-natured” if you will, rather than an accident, was an inevitability ensured by the heart of man which, far from being good, is the very opposite I assure you!

GIORDANI

If this is so, why does it matter if we are distanced from nature? And what is it about society that you feel demonstrates this true character of Man?

LEOPARDI

First I should clarify just what it is I mean by nature. Nature is merely the absence of history, that is, the self-awareness that comes with the passage of time. As Man develops or “progresses”, to use a much abused term, his understanding of himself and the material world around him increases. But, just as Adam and Eve discovered to their cost, knowledge comes with consequences. For Man this has been the loss of illusions. But we are temporal creatures who cannot help but move forward in the onward flow of time.

GIORDANI

But surely that is a good thing. How are we to progress — —

LEOPARDI

— — There is that word again. You do not see it is progress that is the crux. You think that the truth is all important, an unqualified good to which we all should strive.

GIORDANI

Is it not?

LEOPARDI

The matter is moot since we cannot help ourselves regardless. To philosophize is an easy habit to begin and almost impossible to desist from once begun. But yes, illusions are more helpful than truths.

GIORDANI

How so? Have not the discoveries of science lengthened our lives longer than our ancestors could have dreamed?

LEOPARDI

They have certainly extended our lives, but they have not taught us how to live as well as our ancestors. What does it profit a man to live longer if he must live miserably? Our ancestors lived in harmony with the world that surrounded them. They knew their place in that world, and what was expected of them within it. To them, the gods were real and inhabited every tree and stone. It is the illusion that we are of consequence, that we matter, and our childlike naivete that was lost with our distance from nature. And like Adam, once we have tasted of knowledge we may never hope to enter the garden again.

GIORDANI

I understand, and share, this view of the past as you know. Truly Italy has fallen from her former state when she was mistress of the world. But, in light of these disturbing revelations, does not society provide some comfort in solidarity at least?

LEOPARDI

When the species was young no doubt this impulse to coalesce like a school of fish for safety served a useful purpose. Man is a gregarious creature and, regardless of the consequences, it was inexorable that we should come together for mutual benefit. However, what was this at its heart but a scheme? We little care for those outside our blood and friendship. Society began from the need for mutual aid but, after the need has been secured the want is for something different. It is then that impulse, self-interest,which brought us together began to push us away from the crowded center, and those who had benefited most from this arrangement were the first, out of that same self-interest, to push away. What was once freely shared now became subject to payment, barter changed to coin, and the growth of this new evil, wealth, commenced this sliding scale of human worth. It became imperative that men, once equals, become individuals and demonstrate this individuality with a multitude of things. And so it went, and so it is now that no man truly feels alive so long as his neighbor does not envy him. So you see Giordani, we could not be other than we are. And this is the proof of it, that if men truly had their fellow’s best interests at heart we would all be living in paradise at this moment, for we already have enough for all but, due to excessive self-interest, have no incentive to share our wealth, not even for the love of God.

GIORDANI

I still stand by my view that society is better than to be alone.

LEOPARDI

Ah but my friend, you still do not see that we are alone. This is the social contradiction, it brings together then pushes apart at the same moment for the same reasons, and we cannot resolve a problem of which we are the cause. You speak of the comforts of society, and I grant you this is so. But only so long as the inequalities are low and men have hope to rise within it. Yet history reveals a different progression, and that a path which only leads but one way: the dissolution of the whole. As Milton reminds us:

“Among unequals what society Can sort, what harmony, or true delight?”

No my friend, those Utopians who blame our present trouble’s upon too many thrones that stand astride the backs of the poor fail to see just how eagerly the downtrodden would happily sit themselves on the backs of their fellow’s if they could, and to claim such a desire is due to lack of education is merely patronizing.

GIORDANI

You paint a bleak picture.

LEOPARDI

I merely present the facts, it is what we do with them that makes the difference. We would all be much better off to forgo chasing the phantom “happiness,” the only illusion still left to us, the hope in Pandora’s box.

GIORDANI

But then, if as you say happiness is not possible, what is there left for which to live? What is there to keep one from taking his life in despair?

LEOPARDI

But why should we despair? That happiness can never be attained? Yet that should bring a sense of relief! We live all our lives in service to a mistress who never satisfies but merely promises satisfaction that never comes. We overburden ourselves with a weight of obligation and duties that only cripple us with premature age, and all in the expectation of something that can never be. Like the man dying of thirst in the desert we stumble in desperation toward the oasis only, when falling upon it, to find it revealed a mirage. How many of us have come to our end and at last realized we have left no mark upon this world or, even if we have done so, what little it will matter to us when last we close our eye’s.

GIORDANI

But — — this is nothing but a recipe for despair!

LEOPARDI

You still speak as if despair were something that could be avoided. Suffering is not the exception but the rule of life. No matter the condition of our coming into the world there is more misery in store for us than we dare consider until at last the absurdity of death closes all our striving as a release. Remember my dialogue in which Plotinus councils his student Porphyry. Porphyry has been contemplating suicide and Plotinus, being the perceptive fellow that he is, reads Porphyry’s intent and offers the younger man some words of advice. As much as pain is inevitable so is the inevitability that with time it shall pass. We will have a period of joy again and we will take delight in the mundane little things of this world once more. However we must not expect this rejuvenation to come through our intellects, as though we may reason our way out, but something in the quotidian character of life shall touch our spirits and call out to us.

GIORDANI

You appear to suggest a retreat from life as Rousseau seemed to do.

LEOPARDI

No, the very opposite. If happiness is impossible then it simply means we should throw ourselves into life all the more intensely. We value our little lives too much, we are too prudent and afraid to take chances. But, if happiness is an illusion then what have we to lose? Like Columbus who banished boredom and the conventions of common sense by embracing the unknown, he not only attained some reprieve from the dark realities of reason, but attained a measure of greatness as well. Live life, but live it boldly, intensely, and without a thought of it as a climb to some other end but only as an end in itself. If one is in despair and seeks death anyway, why not live like a dead man? We are dead regardless of how we die, after all.

GIORDANI

Giacomo, you are not contemplating an adventure at sea? Certainly, that would be suicide for one in your condition.

LEOPARDI

Oh, my dear Giordani, you have made my day! It is an absurd thought, I agree, to think of myself taking up the role of explorer. Sea sickness alone would make it an adventure. But no, there is no need for such excess to attain the same effect. As I said before we are temporal beings. The past is an open book but the future, the future Giordani, is a complete unknown! Anything could, or might, happen. In this expectation of the unknown, and in this one sense only, the pessimist is a true and unequaled optimist. It is why, despite a life of physical and mental torments, of the black boredom that only people of our imagination and sensitivities can understand, that I continue. In this sense life is as much an adventure as a Columbus or Hercules ever knew! Or at least, in the sense of its possibilities. No, if we cannot travel the globe in great ships we may take our little boats up winding rivers if not out to sea. We can seek distraction by fulfilling projects, either great or small, many or singular and, by these self-imposed tasks can give direction to our lives and fight off boredom just the same. Lastly, as I began this little disquisition with the words of Heraclitus, it is only fitting that I conclude with the example of Democritus. Those two, as you know, were spoken of in antiquity as alternately the weeping and laughing philosophers for the manner in which they reacted to the follies and sufferings of this world. I think it best to follow Democritus in this if nothing else. Laughter, as the Greeks who invented comedy knew well, is not only pleasant in itself but confers a form of power. For, not only does laughter at the mighty bring them down to earth where shame may induce change but, when we learn to laugh at our misfortunes it helps to soften the blows of life through which we gain a kind of freedom, if not immunity, from their effects. For that which we view as absurd loses significance and thus its hold over our mind’s. Learn to laugh at your trouble’s my friend, and be free. There is no trouble in all the world so great that we must weep when it has come. Yet, in this as in so much else, I know I shall remain a minority. Man never learns from his mistakes, and that is not only a source of wonder but endless laughter as well if you are so inclined.

GIORDANI

You have given me much to consider, and I can’t help half accepting all you’ve said is truth. Yet, you will have a great struggle to convince many others of this philosophy.

LEOPARDI

Never mind that. It is enough that I have articulated my view’s clearly for myself and that these methods work for me. As I said, men never learn, and you waste your time and talents defending my little ponderings to others. The wise will see them all too quickly for themselves and the foolish shall continue deaf and dumb as they’ve always done. Or rather, no. I should not be so disdainful of those so in love with life, especially the young. It is only in the way of things, that is, of nature.

GIORDANI

Then why have you spent this time relating them to me?

LEOPARDI

Because you are my friend Giordani, and because you asked. Let no man ever say I believed that no good was ever to be found in this world for true friendship is truly good, but for that same reason truly rare.

GIORDANI

By your smile Giacomo I know you jest with me but, in accordance with those doctrines of your philosophy you have just described, I will take this bit of humor as healthy and so shall not be displeased.

LEOPARDI

And there Giordani is the heart of friendship, to sit and listen to a fool, and not be displeased.