Without a doubt, beginning a task like this is a colossal undertaking. This is mostly due to Kant’s dense and intellectually challenging books. His transcendental philosophy can surely be a confusing and puzzling read for comprehension. However, some of his most important ideas can be found in the works of Lovecraft. This gives us the means to understand his philosophy in a more digestible and sensible manner, especially for a fledgling philosopher. Although Kant’s intentions were most certainly not to create a pessimistic and existential dreary view of the world, Lovecraft’s writing does a horrifying job of turning this philosophy into exactly that. For one to claim they understand Kant, reading all three of his critiques is essential. This, unfortunately, is no easy task. I don’t recommend anyone just jump into those works without the proper context and philosophical experience. Fortunately, the article[1] used does a wonderful job of summarizing and explaining some of Kant’s ideas. I will also be providing some of my knowledge of his philosophy to hopefully make it more digestible. My goal here is to show the strong connection between Kant and Lovecraft and how Lovecraft twists Kant’s philosophy into an existential nightmare.
Concerning the authors of the article
A worrisome aspect of this paper must be noted; that is, the lack of any specialists in philosophy who worked on this paper. It is undeniable that Philosophy is a difficult and intellectual undertaking. One must go through an intense study of extensive and challenging philosophical works to grasp a certain philosophical “school”. Understanding the context of a particular work and the history of its author is crucial to fully understanding its ideas. This can be especially said of Kant, whose work is very far from easy. So, when I look upon the various individuals who worked on this article and none of them seem to have a formal education in Philosophy, it causes great worry at my end. However, it appears that the writers of this article have done a great deal of research on Kant and managed to convey his ideas in an accessible manner. There are, however, some strange interpretations, which can be misleading in understanding Kant’s philosophy, but we shall look at this further on.
Judgment and the Sublime
Let us begin on to the main idea between the literary article and Lovecraft: judgment. According to Kant, there are two forms of judgment: reflective and determinate. Determinate judgment is when one attempts to place a particular into a universal law; a law which is formed by the faculty of understanding. Reflective judgment, however, is when we try to universalize a particular when the faculty of understanding fails.[2] Reflective judgment kicks in when we come across a phenomenal object which has failed the determinate judgment. Then, it goes through the process of universalizing. If this dance of understanding and imagination is successful, we then come to see the object as beautiful. What happens when reflective judgment fails? We get the sublime. The object seems to be without form and its size and scale seem to be vast. We can see this when we think of infinity. When the faculty of understanding fails, the faculty of reason collects the information and forms an idea of totality, in this case, infinity. It is thus, the only way to grasp a concept such as infinity. It is later described to be “negative knowledge” for it is indeed not a real understanding of the object of phenomena. So, when one finds enjoyment in the sublime, it is much different from the enjoyment of something beautiful. It is instead a form of respect for the object. In a way, we bow down to its vastness and totality. This is where we can see a fairly clear connection between Lovecraft’s and Kant’s philosophies. Lovecraft, however, transforms this sublime respect into an existential horror. This horror, however, is derived from a pessimistic scientific view of human beings that not only plagues Lovecraft but is still prevalent to this day.
The Unnamable
In this very short story, we see the easiest and strongest connection to Kant, as well as a decent representation of Lovecraft’s whole philosophy. According to Bradley, this short story is a response to Lovecraft’s critics of “The Colour out of Space”, which we will see further on. We can safely say that Joel Manton[3] is supposed to represent these critics. Manton essentially rejects the idea of something unnamable. It’s a denial of Kant’s idea of an object that is devoid of form. Through most of the story, Joel is very certain that there is no such thing as an object that cannot be grasped by its form. The most he says, on the contrary, is that the mind can sometimes be held to visions and illusions of “far less geometrical, classifiable and workable nature.” There is a constant dispute throughout the story between Carter and Manton, where they defend their positions. Manton further claims that: “-justified in drawing an arbitrary line and ruling out of court all that cannot be experienced and understood by the average citizen”. I believe this represents the strong hubris that resides within the world of science. We can see this even further when Manton claims that: “-even the most morbid perversion of Nature need not be unnamable or scientifically indescribable”. Now, whether Lovecraft is intentionally making a critique of the scientific method can be debated, but I believe this makes a prime example of such a phenomenon. Carter[4], however, is marking an epistemological idea. This idea, of course, goes in tandem with Kant’s philosophy. Since the mind is made up of certain laws and faculties, anything that cannot be detected or understood by such faculties cannot be comprehended. Such a failure can be seen with the monster of the story: “a gelatin- a slime- yet it had shapes, a thousand shapes of horror beyond all memory. There were eyes- and a blemish. It was the pit- the maelstrom- the ultimate abomination. Carter, it was unnamable!” This last line of the story sees Manton changing his mind on the existence of something that is unnamable. Something, however, that can be said on this is the following: “...does naming something to be “unnamable” contradict itself?” A valid question that is addressed by Bradley. We may call it, as previously mentioned, the faculty of reason “bowing down” to an object or phenomenon’s sheer totality. The article cites another explanation by Thomas Weiskal, who describes this phenomenon as a sort of failure of language. Something that goes far beyond the limits of language. In conclusion, we have an example of sublime horror. Manton, in his stubborn position that nothing can truly be unnamable, comes across a beast or creature that gives him and Carter physical and intellectual horror.
The Colour Out of Space
This story follows more or less the same idea of Kant’s sublime experience. Instead of a giant beast, we merely see this strange substance with a strange and indescribable color that infects and corrupts all that it touches. There isn’t much to extract from this story in terms of Lovecraft’s ideas, even though it is of greater length. The main example is the object itself, which is viewed with awe by all that perceive it within the story. Its form and color cannot be described, even by local scientific researchers. It changes form and seems to slowly disappear and lose its matter. Even with their best tools at their disposal, they can’t seem to make any sense of its nature. This once again is a demonstration of the failure of understanding. We cannot make sense of it, so instead, we gather its totality into an idea with the faculty of reason. As stated before, we don’t really come to any real knowledge of the object or entity. It is negative knowledge. Bradley concludes that the characters who are before this entity are experiencing some sort of awareness of the noumenal. The idea is that there is something beyond human experience, that we may never come to understand. Further on, the narrator of the story says the following: “-realms whose mere existence stuns the brain and numbs us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open before our frenzied eyes.” It is here where Lovecraft has taken Kant’s idea of the sublime and turns into this horrifying phenomenon, which debatably is scarier than anything we could possibly experience.
The Call of Cthulhu
This short story begins with possibly the most important Lovecraft quote to really understand philosophy. Which is:
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but someday the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.
This first paragraph sets the tone and theme of the whole story perfectly. Elements of this idea are scattered throughout the story, such as Cthulhu itself, a beast so frightening, that men go mad by mere sight, then later die. Cthulhu’s presence is so terrifying that it even haunts the dreams of men, regardless of you knowing his existence. Aspects of the unnamable can even be seen here, such as when the men describe the door to Cthulhu’s “fortress”: “He had said that the geometry of the dream-place he saw was abnormal, non-Euclidean…” and “-the geometry of the place was all wrong. One could not be sure that the sea and the ground were horizontal, hence the relative position of everything else seemed phantasmally variable”.
We get a horrifying description of Cthulhu in the following passage: “The thing cannot be described- there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch contradictions of all matter, force, and cosmic order.” Like the previous short stories, it seems that the monsters aren’t really the focus, and instead it’s our human limitation. Here, however, it is made explicit that the piecing together of knowledge will inevitably make us go mad. The experience of the sublime becomes so intense that it ceases to be respectful of its totality to instead become maddening.
A critique of Lovecraft’s philosophy
A question that remains ambiguous is whether Lovecraft read Kant. Even in the article by Bradley, this question doesn’t seem to be answered. We do know that Lovecraft has some level of understanding of philosophy, as he uses the term “metaphysical” in the unnamable. Regardless of Lovecraft having philosophical education, it appears that he is indeed making an epistemological statement when taking all these stories into consideration. However, I do find myself sighing at how pessimistic his ideas can be. He has this obsession with human limitations and does not try to figure out what we are capable of, instead he radiates our flaws into something we should be afraid of. It can be easily assumed then, that Kant must have a similar perception, but from what I have read, Kant does not shame human reason in his critiques. It is instead a possible solution to a philosophical debate. This is not to say that Lovecraft does not have the freedom to interpret Kant’s philosophy, if he has read him at all, in this manner, but it appears he has paved the way for this bitter and pessimistic philosophy to bleed into pop culture. This claim, however, is to be investigated in another work.
Once again, the introduction to “The Call of Cthulhu” is the center of this idea. I am not convinced, however, that the sum of knowledge could indeed drive us mad. I propose that this idea comes from the natural science’s indifference toward purpose. I hesitated to call it a failure, but science does not concern itself with the “why” of its studies. Lovecraft does not indicate, however, a certain science or branch of science when making his point. Instead, it seems that it is a general statement of all the sciences. I believe, however, that we mostly concern ourselves cosmologically and psychologically. Not only are these the issues that are most prevalent within the stories, but as well in our culture today. Lovecraft critiques the limits of the mind and the vastness of the cosmos. From these two alone, it is possible that certain uncomfortable “truths” could come about if we further investigate these matters. However, we must be aware that these investigations are empirical. If we remember earlier, Kant’s philosophy indicates that all empirical conclusions and causality belong to the phenomenal realm from which we live and experience. Since our phenomenal realm is tied to our reason and its faculties, we may only understand the world from these parameters. Thus, any “truth” that is discovered from this realm, is only true for this realm alone. Let us, however, assume that Kant’s ideas are wrong, which is most certainly possible. The natural sciences only give us a cause and effect. What we take from these conclusions is to our discretion. But in these matters, the collection and interpretation of empirical knowledge, is where philosophy takes the helm.
Conclusion
Bradley Will and his contributors have managed to make a strong connection between Kant and Lovecraft. A strange connection, but one that somehow manages to make sense. I have demonstrated, however, some oddities in their description and interpretation of Kant’s philosophy, which is not surprising considering the lack of any philosophy “specialists” in the investigation. Regardless, what they managed to present us is quite impressive. They have presented a topic that is most certainly worth discussing further but with more research and understanding of Kant’s philosophy. We can safely conclude that Lovecraft’s stories, whether one agrees with his ideas or not, are intellectually rich. His outlook on human reason leaves plenty to be desired from, but in the context of his stories, can leave a strong impression on us even after we put down his pages.
Notes
[1] Will, Bradley A. “H. P. Lovecraft and the Semiotic Kantian Sublime.” Extrapolation: A Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy 43 (2002): 7–21
[2] The faculty of understanding and reason are both categorically different under Kant’s philosophy.
[3] Character in “The Unnamable”
[4] Character in “The Unnamable”
References:
Lovecraft, Howard Philips. “The Call of Cthulhu”. The Complete Fiction Of H.P Lovecraft. Ed. Milton Creek Digital Services. New York: Chartwell Books
Lovecraft, Howard Philips. “The Colour out of Space”. The Complete Fiction Of H.P Lovecraft. Ed. Milton Creek Digital Services. New York: Chartwell Books
Lovecraft, Howard Philips. “The Unnamable”. The Complete Fiction Of H.P Lovecraft. Ed. Milton Creek Digital Services. New York: Chartwell Books
Schopenhauer, Arthur. Trans. E.F.J Payne “The World as Will and Representation”. New York: Dover Publications
Patricia, Kitcher W. Introduction. “Critique Of Pure Reason”. By Immanuel Kant. Trans. Pluhar Werner. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Will, Bradley A. “H. P. Lovecraft and the Semiotic Kantian Sublime.” Extrapolation: A Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy 43 (2002): 7–21
