The Absolute and Star Trek

122 Pages·2017·5.11 MB·English

by  George A. Gonzalez (auth.)

The Absolute and Star Trek
GeorgeA.Gonzalez
The Absolute
and Star Trek
GeorgeA.Gonzalez
DepartmentofPoliticalScience
UniversityofMiami
CoralGables,Florida,USA
ISBN978-3-319-47793-0 ISBN978-3-319-47794-7(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-47794-7
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016957406
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For Ileanaand Alana
P
REFACE
How can we know the Absolute?—through art.1 The absolute, philoso-
phized upon most saliently by Georg Hegel,2 is the driving force behind
history.3ClassicistHenryPaolucciexplainsthat“art”(alongwithreligion
andphilosophy)“areintheend,forHegel,‘moments’ofabsolutespirit.”4
Similarly, philosopher William Desmond, in A Study of Hegel’s Aesthetics:
ArtandtheAbsolute,notesthat“Arthasanabsolutedimension;indeed,it
belongs together with religion and philosophy itself as one of the three
highestmodesofhumanmeaning.”5ConsonantwithHegelianreasoning,
myspecificargumentinthisvolumeisthatthebroadcastiterationsofStar
Trek allow us to comprehend significant aspects of the absolute.
Therefore,Star Trek isthe highestofhighbrow entertainment.6
Why is art an empirical documentation of the absolute?7 Humans spec-
ulate about the absolute—i.e., that which moves history forward and
allows people to lead authentic lives. Precisely because the absolute is
that which is and which isn’t,8 art/imagination allows for the absolute to
be conveyed in an intellectually and emotionally satisfying matter.9
(Notably, the first known philosophy in the Western world [Plato’s
Dialogues] was written in the form of narrative art.) Art, therefore, can
supersede philosophy, with the latter serving to dissect/amplify what is
accessed/depictedthrough the former.
AsimplebutnonethelessinformativeexamplebeingtheStarTrek:The
Next Generation (1987–1994) episode “All Goods Things...” (1994).
The “little pond of goo” from which all life on Earth emanated is con-
veyed in the following figure. It is from this pond of goo that the absolute
fororganiclifeonEarthwasborn,ashereiswherethewill(i.e.,spirit)to
vii
viii PREFACE
Fig.1 “Everythingyouknow,yourentirecivilization,itallbeginsrightherein
thislittlepondofgoo”
live/survive/procreateonthisplanetwasspawned.StarTrekaptlynotesthat
the destruction of this pond, and all like it, would have prevented humans
fromevolving.Itisthroughsuchportrayalsthatwecanseehowtheabsolute
operateswithregardtolifeonEarth(ofcourse,includinghumans).
TheenduringpopularityoftheStarTrekfranchiseindicatesthevalidityof
thespeculationportrayedinthefranchiseabouttheabsolute.Putdifferently,
theglobalsuccessoftheStarTrekfranchisevalidatestheideathatthemulti-
ple series and movies, to an important degree, “capture” the essence of the
absolute.PhilosophyProfessorJackKaminsky,drawingexplicitlyonHegel’s
theoryofaesthetics,explainsthat“theartisttriestoshowmenwhatkindof
man would be the fullest expression of the Idea” (i.e., the Absolute).10
Therefore, very plausibly, the artistic success of the Star Trek franchise
(and its great popularity) is precisely due to the fact that it shows us what
kindofperson/societywouldbethefullestexpressionoftheAbsolute.Precisely
becauseofStarTrekwecanseeminglybesecureaboutcertainaspectsofthe
absolute, and, as a result, Star Trek ostensibly serves as a guide to an
authentic life and a stable, thriving society. Parenthetically, the value of
PREFACE ix
StarTrekisexactlythatittranscendsthepersonalitiesandspecificcontexts
within which it was produced. Indeed, this is precisely what makes it
effective,elucidatingpoliticaltheoryandphilosophy.
Analyticphilosophy,whoseadherentshavehistoricallyridiculedtheidea
of the absolute11—without positing any answers of their own for the
movement of history12—is an obstacle to knowledge. Most specifically,
artandtheanalyzingoftheaestheticareviewedbyanalyticphilosophersas
mainly outside of epistemology and ignorable as it relates to science.13
Instead, the humanities is of a piece with the physical sciences14—as they
both speculate about the absolute, the latter about its manifestation in
matter and energy, whereas the former (in its finer forms) is speculation
abouttheabsoluteasitpertainstohumanaffairs.15“Artmaynothavethe
precision of physics but, according to Hegel, it has as crucial a role in
revealing to us an aspect of the [Absolute] Idea.”16 Because analytic
philosophersrejecttheartsasasourceofknowledge,thisapproachserves
to block the truth—knowledge of the absolute through art (Chapter 2).
Taking the argument further, Star Trek indicates that the purpose of
humanity is precisely to speculate about the world/universe through
bothscience andthe humanities(Chapter 3).
C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction 1
2 Analytic Philosophy andStar Trek 5
3 Speculation in Star Trek 15
4 The ProgressiveDialectic of Star Trek 25
5 Star Trek and FalseInfinities 33
6 Star Trek and Language:Daseinor Speculation? 41
7 Star Trek: Prejudice versusUniversalRationality 51
8 Star Trek: Voyager: PragmatismandNeo-Pragmatism
as FalseInfinities 59
9 Zombies, Star Trek, andInternational Relations 75
10 Conclusion: The Inviability of Analytic Philosophy,
as wellasBad andFalse Infinities 83
Notes 89
xi
xii CONTENTS
Bibliography 103
Index 113