"Naturalism aimed at giving the primitive wishes full play but failed because these wishes are too primitive, too infantile, too inconsistent with themselves to be satisfied even by the greatest license"
- John Desmond Bernal
About this Quote
In this quote, John Desmond Bernal critiques the philosophical and artistic motion referred to as Naturalism, which looked for to represent truth in its raw, unfiltered kind by focusing on the determinism of human behavior influenced by environment and instinct. Bernal argues that this technique eventually stops working since the essential human desires it seeks to let loose are too rudimentary, immature, or inconsistent to find satisfaction or coherence, even in the freest of expressions.
Bernal starts by dealing with the core aim of Naturalism: to free the "primitive dreams" that reside at the base of human awareness. These desires can be comprehended as the fundamental, frequently subconscious, drives that humans possess, shaped by evolutionary and biological imperatives. Naturalism ventured to lay bare these impulses, presuming that by doing so, people might attain a more authentic and liberated existence.
However, Bernal mentions a crucial flaw in this goal. The primitive wishes are described as "too primitive" and "too infantile," recommending they are underdeveloped and lack the maturity required to form a total, unified self. This immaturity belongs to the feelings and desires of a child, which are often immediate and self-contradictory, making them challenging to satisfy consistently.
Moreover, Bernal mentions that these dreams are "too irregular with themselves," highlighting a fundamental contradiction. Human desires are multifaceted and can frequently clash with each other, leading to a paradoxical nature within the self that even the utmost freedom ("the greatest license") can not deal with.
In essence, Bernal's review of Naturalism centers on its failure to recognize the complexity and often self-defeating nature of human desires. While intending to provide a more genuine human experience by embracing primal impulses, Naturalism stumbles because these instincts are not just simple and childish but likewise internally conflicted, resisting any meaningful or lasting complete satisfaction. The pursuit of raw authenticity thus ends up being a futile venture, as the very desires it champs are unsuited for sustainable fulfillment.
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