Unrelated Passions

Abstract

The words that Plato puts in his stranger’s mouth are the program of a humanistic society, which embodies itself in a singular, complete humanist, the master of a royal pastoral art. The task of this superhumanist would be nothing other than designing a plan within and for [bei] an elite, which must be bred expressly on behalf of the whole [Ganzen] [. . .]. But now, after the great revolution [Umwälzung] (metabole), the gods under Zeus’s reign having withdrawn and leaving to man the responsibility for his own custody, the wise man stays behind as the worthiest guardian and breeder/educator [Zeuchter], in whom the heavenly vision of absolute good is most alive. Without the guiding image [Leitbild] of the wise, the care and cultivation [Pflege] of humanity remains a fruitless passion [eine vergebliche Leidenschaft]. —Sloterdijk 54–55, my translation Kind old Mrs. Beckwith said something sensible. But it was a house full of unrelated passions—she had felt that all the evening. And on top of this chaos Mr. Ramsay got up, pressed her hand, and said: “You will find us much changed” and none of them had moved or had spoken; but had sat there as if they were forced to let him say it. —Woolf 221–22