TY - JOUR
TI - Philosophical Sources of Joseph Conrad’s Ethical Outlook: Jean Marie Guyau, Émile Boutroux
AU - Samsel, Karol
TI - Philosophical Sources of Joseph Conrad’s Ethical Outlook: Jean Marie Guyau, Émile Boutroux
AB - The aim of this paper is a thorough analysis of two philosophical sources of Joseph Conrad’s ethical outlook: the philosophies of Jean Marie Guyau and of Émile Boutroux. The first one, according to Maria Dąbrowska, had a strong influence on numerous aspects of Conrad’s ethics. However, the analysis of A Sketch of Morality Independent of Obligation or Sanction proves that, after all, Guyau – among other things, with his biological-vitalistic understanding of the doctrine of duty defined as a “mild obsession” – has created a philosophical-ethical system that is in stark contrast with Conrad’s views. Boutroux is a different case entirely. In his comprehension of modern life sciences and philosophy of nature, the most important issue is (this view is formed by Boutroux after Auguste Comte) to perpetuate “the laws of arbitrariness and free activity in nature.” Conrad’s references to his lectures on Natural Law in Science and Modern Philosophy might then be revealed directly: within such sea novels as Typhoon and The Shadow-Line, as well as indirectly, through portraying – in Boutroux’s language – an aspect of chance within the human “social nature” in such novels as Nostromo.
VL - 2020
IS - Vol. 15 (2020)
PY - 2023
SN - 1899-3028
C1 - 2084-3941
SP - 45
EP - 55
DO - 10.4467/20843941YC.20.003.19286
UR - https://ejournals.eu/czasopismo/yearbook-of-conrad-studies/artykul/philosophical-sources-of-joseph-conrads-ethical-outlook-jean-marie-guyau-emile-boutroux
KW - Joseph Conrad
KW - Jean Marie Guyau
KW - Émile Boutroux
KW - ethics
KW - moral duty
KW - “natural indeterminism”