An analysis of Terra Incognita, The Incomplete Universe and Ubuntu as absolute metaphors, under the guidance of Hans Blumenberg’s Paradigms for a Metaphorology
„Instead of being a lone subject, or a quantifiable and containable object, we are all “intersubjects”, fundamentally interwoven into a common cosmic identity; human beings that are run through with sacred dignity. It is not just me, it is not just you, it is not just the material reality, neither is it just the spiritual reality; true reality is a sacred interweaving of all these things – true reality is beyond one single quantifiable truth, it is generous. True identity, in this sense, is a dynamic engagement and discovery of mutual identity and shared dignity…“[1]
The following paper has as purpose the analysis of Hans Blumenberg’s philosophical work Paradigms for a Metaphorology[2], Paradigmen zu einer Metaphorologie in original, published in the year 1960, more precisely the introduction, where absolute metaphors are being differentiated from metaphors used for enhancing the speech, under the influence of Rhetoric. The purpose of the use of absolute metaphors, as well as their uniqueness, the possibility to recognise them is going to be analysed in the first chapter of the essay, followed by two study cases named by the theoretician himself. „Terra Incognita“ and the „Incomplete Universe“ represent the examples for absolute metaphors, as offered in chapter five. The third chapter of this essay develops an original take on the matter by putting forward the African philosophy of Ubuntu as a possible absolute metaphor, due to its shifting meaning, with an observance of its ontological and contemporary use.
The conclusion of the essay intends to direct the attention to the current situation of the world. Confronting, concomitant with the arrival of the year of 2020 with a situation of fear and incertitude, the work of Hans Blumenberg may have never been more contemporarily, the search for alternative solutions, for escape from tumultuous reality being vital.
The German philosopher Hans Blumenberg was born in 1920, in Lübeck, Germany and both his studies of Germanistic, Philology and Philosophy, as well as his own academic work and publishing were interrupted by the terror of the Second World War. With a Jewish Mother, his struggles and difficulties were extrapolated. Moreover, not only was his practice rejected, he was also briefly locked in a concentration camp. Although rapidly freed, he Blumenberg needed to hide, supposably in a monastery, in order to create. As a follow, the personality considered one of the most prominent contemporary German philosophers published his works as a reaction to the human fear of coming in contact with an unbearable, incomprehensible reality.
Chapter I: An Introduction to Metaphorology
The book Paradigms for a Metaphorology displays a profound, detailed analysis of the essence and utility of metaphors, taking into consideration not only their ontology, depicting their birth and metamorphosis, their evolution through time, but also suggesting a classification. While on the one hand, metaphors are categorized as possible remains, as rudiments forgotten on the road from „mythos to logos”[3], on the other hand, they obtain a meaningful function, being defined as fundamental elements for the philosophical language. With a spectrum and a way of thinking opposed to the one of the French philosopher Paul Ricouer, who, in his book The Rule of Metaphor[4] defined metaphors as ornamental elements, Blumenberg announces the separation of metaphors from „absolute metaphors”[5]. This new type of metaphor distinguishes itself by being more than a fundamental element, intentionally producing disorder in the discourses, being tolerated only for its poetic use, for the comfort brought in chaos.
Hans Blumenberg introduces his often discussed work by punctuating from the start the human need for order, the need to find „supplements“, in order to combat empirically the „nonexperienceable, nonapprehensible totality of the real“[6]. As the theorist Maria Stavrinaki claims, Hans Blumenberg intends to deconstruct the ontological fear of an unseen „absolutism“[7], metaphors functioning not as an ignorant reaction, as a comfortable escape, but as a chance for survival, being under the sign of extinction. Prompted by that, Blumenberg makes call to René Descartes, observing the eminence of a „full objectification“[8], even in the domain of Philosophy, field which relies on deepness and complexity. Upon completion of the philosophical search for meaning and with its arrival to a final, static state, even the search for a history becomes absurd, risking denaturalization and blurring the clarity of the concepts. Giambattista Vico suggests a „logic of fantasy“[9] as an alternative, where the mind of the creator still has the freedom to construct an universe of his own, without any borders and with no restriction from the past, producing meaning only for his own intellect. Therefore, the function of metaphors, of figurative elements became a merely ornamental one, with the purpose of enhancing the speech, although not adding to its meaning. By mentioning Plato’s critique on rhetoric, Blumenberg points out the negative aura surrounding metaphors. Under the belief of them being instruments for sophists to manipulate and gain authority, to persuade by saying nothing in a lyrical matter, the German philosopher goes deeper and disputes the need to search for „conditions under which metaphors can claim legitimacy in philosophical language“[10]. Reminding of Immanuel Kant’s use of „symbols“ in „Critique of the Power of Judgment”[11], Blumenberg separates the abstraction of metaphors as total, indivisible concepts, from the belief of them being simple „leftovers“. To take this idea even further, he punctuates the need for „absolute metaphors“ as creations of the self-referential, rational mind. For the possibility of an abstraction, for comprehending the unexplainable, the ideas and concepts beyond the material world, beyond what there is to be seen, the human thinking needs terms which exist in a pure, own form. To define absolute metaphors implies risks, for an original, ontological point of view is impossible, though one can comprehend them as „translations“ [12] of abstract visions, of creations which influenced the human presence in an omnipotent, omnipresent matter, beyond time and space, with pointing out the start and the end of their existence being illogical. Allegorical to Kant’s symbols, absolute metaphors cannot be reduced to a single material object, for material elements only represent substitutes, icons function only as needs to satisfy the fear of the unknown, by using palpable elements, which signify deeper thoughts for the mind. To quote Blumenberg, as a trying to simplify and comprehend the meaning of „absolute metaphors”, they „prove resistant to terminological claims and cannot be dissolved into conceptuality, not that one metaphor could not be replaced or represented by another, or corrected through a more precise one“[13], they exist dominant under their own form and inevitable change the narratives, the world constructed by human discourses. One can think of the idea of divinity, of existence of an unseen God, powerful only through his impact on the ratio, of fluid, impossible to be captured time, of abstract, in a constant change freedom, of existence and the meaning, the purpose of it, of truth and the pointless search for an absolute one. To comfort the aroused intellect and to construct a strong fundament for further research, Hans Blumenberg suggests two metaphors in the fifth chapter of his book, Terra Incognita and „Incomplete Universe“ as Metaphors of the Modern Relationship to the World.
Chapter II: Productive Restlessness[14] and the Search for Completion: Terra Incognita and The Incomplete Universe as Absolute Metaphors.
Chapter five of Blumenberg’s study proposes an actualization of what is understood under „absolute metaphors”, while he concentrates the contemporary human world under the abstraction of two symbols: Terra Incognita and the Incomplete Universe. Both of them have a historical basis: On the one hand, the „glorious“ era of discoveries, of expeditions and of colonialism, on the other hand, the evolutionary cosmology, where individuals function under a vital form, with nature only as basis for further humanly influence and development.
To begin with, „Terra Incognita“, best defined in the 17th century by discoveries made by European societies on other, on „unknown“ continents, with a highlight on the colonializing of America, a period ruled by destruction and hierarchism, by hatred and racism marks on the most important achievements in the human history. By quoting Thomas Browne and Joseph Glanvill, Blumenberg points out the marvel and passion of human ratio for the unexplored, for what is unknown for own experience and what, as a conclusion of mental processes, lies under his authority to be explained, to be demystified. Furthermore, once with the spreading of hunger for novelty and with development of technical possibilities, the eagerness is increased and the individual hunger becomes a collective one, thus arising the matter of concurrence, the fear of there being nothing left to be discovered. Although the nature still lies blurred in mystery and its constant metamorphosis being more complex than the comprehension of humanity, the power of imagination, the creative mind represents another cure for the fear. Therefore, a „Terra Incognita“ will always become physical, in any situation, where the by society constructed platforms stop to function and need renewal. The threat of the unknown can only be ameliorated by „stimulating and challenging the human mind […] imposing upon it a new and productive restlessness“[15]. What at the beginning stood for signalising the contact with a new territory, a geographical terminology, became a metaphor for practices and mechanisms of control, for actions required to transform the new by own rules, to adapt. Moreover, as Christopher D. Johnson sustains, the dominance of nature and its „absolutism“ require substitutions found in man-made significances[16]. Inevitable, the role of religion, the authority of divinity is being put under question and a new risk emerges, the one of human superiority, of an uncontrollable being, who considers itself challenged to complete an „Incomplete Universe“, here coming to the second absolute metaphor proposed by Blumenberg. Not only does „Incomplete Universe“ stand in contact with „Terra Incognita“, it also implies another absolute metaphor, the one of freedom, arising questions like where can limits be found, if there are such things in the first place. To take this idea even further, one can argue, how much implication is needed anyhow, from the human side, how much is left to be put in order, when one thinks, the universe works by its own rules and has an already inscribed path. Without abolishing the rule of divinity and considering the totality of monumental nature, individuals thought of their role only as a contributing one, where culture, economics, politics and every socially constructed branch have their role in building the idealized, in constantly improving universe.
Once again, in naming Immanuel Kant, Blumenberg points out the theory of the philosopher and the arbitral role of humanity in the natural course of the Universe, where individuals are simple watchers and can only interact through ratio with the divine process of completion. As a contrast, Friedrich Schlegel points out the importance of an illusion of authority, in order for any human act to be considered valuable and not „in vain“[17]. In addition, according to Schlegel, freedom can only exist when the illusion of contribution is increased and when initially as completed projects are renewed, reinterpreted and, therefore, made incomplete once more. It is not the work of a single individual, and, as a conclusion (to conclude), a being alone suffers of loss of its authority, then it becomes one element of a continuity, of a collaboration of factors, of a historically constructed group, as Hans Blumenberg decides to end his chapter, by exemplifying through an experience of the Communist principle, where the „Terra Incognita“ created by the Soviet Union represents the freedom attained by reinterpreting the known, with the attraction of a political form still under construction, the marvel lying in the „active transformation of everything“[18], with work and contribution, with labour as vital source.
Chapter III. Case Study: Ubuntu. From philosophy to open source system and to metaphor.
In the following chapter I am proposing a theoretical experiment, in which a question builds the main thesis. The philosophy of the Ubuntu tribe, philosophy, which spread itself outside the African continent is going to be analysed, on the premise that it can observed as a (an absolute?) metaphor.
Originated in South Africa[19], as a way of life, a way of being for a small, local group, Ubuntu is known and practiced all over the world in our present times, gaining popularity in the 90’s[20]. The word is used in a multitude of discourses, representing different significances. History marks its metamorphosis into the modern world through adaptation to the contemporary, under the influence of the digital system. Therefore Ubuntu is popular today due to the open source operating system. Free to be accessed, the principle of the system relies on the contribution of a large number of users, in which each and every one brings its activity, sharing and receiving information and, therefore, enabling the existence of the system. The virtual version of Ubuntu is not very different from the original, indigenous philosophy. The name inspiration goes hand in hand with the message behind the act. Ubuntu is a term hard to be defined, for it not only finds itself in a constant change, has a fluid way of understanding and enables a large number of interpretations, but also as a consequence of its unspecified origin, of a rather blurred history[21]. Besides this fact, translations from original are hard to be found[22], for Ubuntu does not stand for a word, but for a practice, it is being constituted through the act and does not exist before being practiced. Despite this fact, in trying to comprehend its complex meaning, Ubuntu can be described as „humanness“ [23], it is a metaphor for „becoming person through other person“[24], relying on mutualism and reciprocity, it describes the quality[25] of being generous[26], observed through constant practice.
With a major difference to a religion, to a strict philosophical, ethical movement, Ubuntu does not impose a set of rules, of values, does not indicate how one should behave, what is allowed and what is restricted[27]. On the contrary, Ubuntu suggest a return to an ontological[28], pure living, with emphasis on the connection between being and nature[29], creating „rootedness“[30] with the surrounding, with the materiality and with the living, with time and space, in a cosmological way. Society is not pre-existent, it does not appear under the request of a individual, but rather more individualities are formed through community[31].
Emerging as a response to a from „colonialism distorted African cultural heritage“[32], as a way of, if not combating, at least handling the economical breakdowns, the poverty and the conflicted situation of the continent, Ubuntu can be seen as opposed to the Darwinist concept which defined the Western, the European culture. The individualistic way of life[33], the quest for self-sufficiency and the trust in oneself as the key to modernisation, to success and to wealth are vastly different from the principles of the Ubuntu, where happiness and peace can only exist as a nourishment of group, of working together, of humanity as whole. Therefore, Ubuntu concludes that individualism is only an illusion and can never be sufficient; it can only increase competition and dispute. Under the shock of colonialism, with traumas which influenced not only the world at that time, but also in the decades to come and with the appearance of capitalism as a destructive surplus the philosophy of „humanness“ represents a hope for unification of ruptured countries and people[34], a „possibility of dialogue“[35] without border, in a common, indigenous „language“. With the personality of Nelson Mandela as a representative figure, the philosophy’s purpose is the promotion of democracy[36], with equality, only through interaction and implication.
Furthermore, Ubuntu appears as a method for deconstruction, for analysing and questioning hegemonies, well established discourses, which function as a way of controlling, as manipulation for political, economical purposes. The African philosophy demonstrates the existence of an alternative way of being and promotes the activity of sharing and giving, without waiting in return, regardless of region, thus creating „kinship among indigenous communities“, building consensus.[37] As Ubuntu, the operating system demonstrates, the modern global world functions through interconnectedness. The world as it is today consists of a diversity of cultural, religious, ethnical, national beliefs[38], which inevitable interact with each other and which need to find a way of collaborating, which need tolerance and acceptance, as the African philosophy suggests.
All things taken in consideration, can Ubuntu be seen as a metaphor, maybe even as an absolute one? Following Blumenberg’s theory, the word, having no clear defined meaning, stands for an activity, for a way of living, symbolising something. Moreover, by naming the operating system after the philosophy, its contextualisation has been increased, as a consequence of its shifting form. It can be argued, the modern association is far from the initial significance, the one of a tribe and it’s way of life, but the essence, that of communion, of mutualism remains intact. Ubuntu cannot be used to increase the formalism of the speech, to express oneself under a poetical, rhetorical form, it can also not be reduced to a single significance, replaced fully by any other world. Humanity is used as a synonym, we need to agree, but Ubuntu as a complex philosophy, with unseen connotations and deeper meanings is too absolute to be comprehended and simplified.
Chapter IV: 2020 and the search for a new world
As mentioned at the beginning of the paper, it is now time to address and to actualize Hans Blumenberg’s absolute metaphor of „Terra Incognita” to the confrontation with a pandemic situation. With allusion to Ubuntu, Coronavirus engages humanity as a whole, leaving traces and influencing worldwide.
Local, national decisions are being made to try and keep the population of countries safe, but does the collaboration take place worldwide? In a crisis, which not only affects every corner of the planet, but which also has disastrous effects on world economics, politics and on culture; moreover, on the life of the weakened people, from a medical point of view, do nations, do individuals forget about self-interest? Despite being forcefully brought to a connected situation, the corners not only act, but through their actions influence the development of the crisis. And this does not happens under form of a rational collaboration, where every part brings its contribution, in order to manufacture a cure, based on agreement and compromise. Hidden under advertised clichés, under repetitive arguments, where each and single on loudly declares his or her own sorrow for the common loss, accentuating how differences between classes, between poor and rich, between stardom and commonality are reduces to insignificance, the imprinted self-interest still acts as guidance, in spite of intelligent coverage. Without the intention of declaring a subjective belief in the end of „humanity“, understood as an amalgam of codes and values, which tend to differentiate the rational, emotional animal from its ancestors, my intention with this essay is only uncover the myth of common suffer, myth dominating as motif of the pandemic situation, in order to reduce the creation of false illusions. All this taken in consideration, it might just be, 2020 does not (yet) represent that year of ethical discovery, and the race after the „great message“ can and will shortly begin once more.
Humanity and understanding is being required and selflessness has maybe never been more important. Tomorrow as a day of the future is blurred by the unknown, then the nature finally demonstrates its authority, putting an end to the reality constructed by humans. Ignorant to the insignificant needs and plans, the universe follows its course, leaving every individual in indecision. The human hunger for discovery and fantasy can now be fully satisfied, then the future can only exist if it going to be newly constructed, not necessarily from scratch, but by finding alternative solutions and urgent responses to the crises which announce themselves. 2020 is defined by the emergence of a „TerraIncognita“.
To conclude, while impossible to find an ending for the urging situation, Hans Blumenberg marked the definitive importance of a metaphorical presence in the traditional, daily existence, of a parallel between the physical and metaphysical world, with „absolute metaphors“ as dominant, unreducible terms, both abstract, complex and healthy, as a cure for the fear of the unknown. The philosophy of Ubuntu appears as a completion of the theories mentioned in the work Paradigms for a Metaphorology, under the intention of finding a concrete example of an „absolute metaphor“, one which presents not only a strong solidification in the history of humankind, but which can also symbolize a way of living required for the times which are about to come.
Bibliography
- Akinola, O. Adeoye/ Ufo Okeke Uzodike, „Ubuntu and the Quest for Conflict Resolution in Africa“, in: SAGE Journals, 49/2, https://journals-sagepub-com.uaccess.univie.ac.at/doi/full/10.1177/0021934717736186 2018, 20.02.2020.
- Dion A. Forster, A generous ontology. Identity as a process of intersubjective discovery – an African theological contribution, HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 66, 2010, Art. 731.
- Dreyer, S. Jaco, „Ubuntu. A practical theological perspective“, in: International Journal of Practice Theology, 19/1, https://www-degruyter-com.uaccess.univie.ac.at/view/journals/ijpt/19/1/article-p189.xml 2015, 19.03.2020, S. 189–209
- Johnson, Christopher D., „Blumenberg’s ‘huge field’: Metaphorology and Intellectual History“, in: Intellectual History Review, 22/2, https://doi.org/10.1080/17496977.2012.694177 2012, 02.03.2020, S. 289-292.
- McClune, Caitlin, „Ubuntu Linux in Zimbabwe: the digital unhu in open source practices“, in: SAGE Journals, 21/1, https://journals-sagepub-com.uaccess.univie.ac.at/doi/full/10.1177/0163443717745119 2017, 03.03.2020.
- Mungai, Anne M., „Ubuntu: From Poverty to Destiny with Love“, in: In the Spirit of Ubuntu. Stories of Teaching and Research, hrsg. v. Diane Caracciolo, Anne M. Mungai, Rotterdam/ Boston/ Taipei: Sense Publishers 2009, S. 39-50.
- Murove, Munyaradzi Felix, „Ubuntu“, in: Diogenes, https://uaccess.univie.ac.at/login?url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0392192113493737, 2014, 05.03.2020, S. 36–47
- Ricœur, Paul, The Rule of Metaphor, Routledge Classics 2003.
- Swanson, Dalene M., „Where have all the Fishes Gone? Living Ubuntu as an Ethics of Research and Pedagogical Engagement“, in: In the Spirit of Ubuntu. Stories of Teaching and Research, hrsg. v. Diane Caracciolo, Anne M. Mungai, Rotterdam/ Boston/ Taipei: Sense Publishers 2009, S. 3-22.
Photos
- https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2900.Hans_Blumenberg
- http://ancatirca.blogspot.com/2014/08/lectia-ubuntu.html
Footnotes
[1] vgl. Dion A. Forster, A generous ontology. Identity as a process of intersubjective discovery – an African theological contribution, HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 66, 2010, Art. 731, S. 12.
[2] vgl. Blumenberg, Hans, Paradigms for a Metaphorology, New York: Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library 2010 (Orig. Paradigmen zu einer Metaphorologie, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 1960).
[3] a. a. O., S. 3.
[4] vgl. Ricœur, Paul, The Rule of Metaphor, Routledge Classics 2003.
[5] vgl. Blumenberg, Hans, Paradigms for a Metaphorology, S. 3.
[6] vgl. Stavrinaki, Maria, We escape ourselves. The invention and interiorization of the age of the earthin the nineteenth century , S. 28
[7] ebd.
[8] vgl. Blumenberg, Hans, Paradigms for a Metaphorology, S. 1.
[9] a. a. O., S. 2.
[10] a. a. O., S. 4.
[11] ebd.
[12] a. a. O., S. 3.
[13] a. a. O., S. 5.
[14] a. a. O., S. 54.
[15] a. a. O., S. 55.
[16] vgl. Johnson, Christopher D., „Blumenberg’s ‘huge field’: Metaphorology and
Intellectual History“, in: Intellectual History Review, 22/2 https://doi.org/10.1080/17496977.2012.694177 2012, 02.03.2020, S. 285.
[17]vgl. Blumenberg, Hans, Paradigms for a Metaphorology, S. 58.
[18] a. a. O., S. 61.
[19] vgl. Dreyer, S. Jaco, „Ubuntu. A practical theological perspective“, in: International Journal of Practice Theology, 19/1, https://www-degruyter-com.uaccess.univie.ac.at/view/journals/ijpt/19/1/article-p189.xml 2015, 19.03.2020, S. 189.
[20] a. a. O., S. 192.
[21] vgl. Murove, Munyaradzi Felix, „Ubuntu“, in: Diogenes, https://uaccess.univie.ac.at/login?url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0392192113493737, 2014, 05.03.2020,S. 36.
[22] vgl. Dreyer, S. Jaco, „Ubuntu. A practical theological perspective“, S. 194.
[23] vgl. Murove, Munyaradzi Felix, „Ubuntu“, S. 39.
[24] vgl. Dreyer, S. Jaco, „Ubuntu. A practical theological perspective“, S. 196.
[25] vgl. Dreyer, S. Jaco, „Ubuntu. A practical theological perspective“, S. 192.
[26] vgl. Floyd, Lindsay, S. 209.
[27]vgl. Swanson, Dalene M., „Where have all the Fishes Gone? Living Ubuntu as an Ethics of Research and Pedagogical Engagement“, in: In the Spirit of Ubuntu. Stories of Teaching and Research, hrsg. v. Diane Caracciolo, Anne M. Mungai, Rotterdam/ Boston/ Taipei: Sense Publishers 2009, S. 13.
[28] vgl. McClune, Caitlin, „Ubuntu Linux in Zimbabwe: the digital unhu in open source practices“, in: SAGE Journals, 21/1, https://journals-sagepub-com.uaccess.univie.ac.at/doi/full/10.1177/0163443717745119 2017, 03.03.2020, S. 163.
[29] vgl. Murove, Munyaradzi Felix, „Ubuntu“, S. 43.
[30] vgl. Swanson, Dalene M., „Where have all the Fishes Gone? Living Ubuntu as an Ethics of Research and Pedagogical Engagement“, S. 18.
[31] vgl. Murove, Munyaradzi Felix, „Ubuntu“ , S. 42.
[32] vgl. Akinola, O. Adeoye/ Ufo Okeke Uzodike, „Ubuntu and the Quest for Conflict Resolution in Africa“, in: SAGE Journals, 49/2, https://journals-sagepub-com.uaccess.univie.ac.at/doi/full/10.1177/0021934717736186 2018, 20.02.2020, S. 93
[33] vgl. Mungai, Anne M., „Ubuntu: From Poverty to Destiny with Love“, in: In the Spirit of Ubuntu. Stories of Teaching and Research, hrsg. v. Diane Caracciolo, Anne M. Mungai, Rotterdam/ Boston/ Taipei: Sense Publishers 2009, S. 47.
[34] vgl. Swanson, Dalene M., „Where have all the Fishes Gone? Living Ubuntu as an Ethics of Research and Pedagogical Engagement“, S. 9.
[35] vgl. a. a. O., S. 18
[36] vgl. Dreyer, S. Jaco, „Ubuntu. A practical theological perspective“, S. 193.
[37]vgl. Akinola, O. Adeoye/ Ufo Okeke Uzodike, „Ubuntu and the Quest for Conflict Resolution in Africa“, S. 95.
[38] vgl. a. a. O., S. 105.