Black in Hegel and Nietzsche

7/28/2019 Black in Hegel and Nietzsche

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The Figure of the Black in the Thought of Hegel and Nietzsche

Author(s): Sander L. GilmanSource: The German Quarterly, Vol. 53, No. 2 (Mar., 1980), pp. 141-158Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Association of Teachers of GermanStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/405627 .

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THE FIGUREOF THE BLACKIN THE THOUGHT OF HEGEL AND NIETZSCHESANDERL. GILMAN

One of the central"metaphorsof mind" for the earlynineteenthcentury,according o M. H. Abrams,was the relationshipbetween slaveand master.' When Hegel outlined the "intricatedialecticof dependenceand independence"in Die Phdinomenologiees Geistes 1807) he reflectedthis basic interest of his time, a concern of abstractphilosophyas well aspoliticallife.2 When, at the close of the nineteenth century, Nietzschereturnedto the master-slaverelationship, t was in quitea different ight.The alteration of the concept was in part due to Nietzsche's consciousreaction to Hegel's formulationof the master-slavedyad, but, in part, itwas also due to an altered concept of slavery.3 By the close of thenineteenth century, the idea of slaveryin the western world had ceasedto have relevance. The opening decades of the centurysaw slavery asan institutionexisting in western civilization. By the end of the centurythe concept of slavery had become de-politicized. It was replacedby aconcomitant concern for the nature of the subjects of colonialismandtheir relationship o the imperialstate.

The discussion of the master-slave relationship has too oftenignoredone of the central textualrelationships mplicit n the conceptofslavery in the early nineteenth century. Today the nature of the slavemay be superficiallyunderstood as a vague abstraction which wouldinclude the Russian serf and the Spartanbondman, but for a hundredyearsfrom the middle of the eighteenthcenturythis conceptwas conter-minous with the imageof the Black.

The Black who, for Hegel, is the African, whether in his nativeland or transported nto slavery,has a special position in Hegel's under-standing of mankind and human history.4An understandingof thenature of the special position and the texts in which this nature is

141

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142 SANDER L. GILMAN

elucidated can add much to an understanding of Hegel's concept of theslave.

II

Beginning with his discussion of the Black in Philosophie desGeistes, the parameters of Hegel's concept are clear. The Blacks are an"infantile nation" ("Kindernation"). They are totally unreflective, buy-ing and selling one another without giving any thought to the moralityof their action:

Die Neger sind als eine aus ihrer uninteressirten undinteresselosen Unbefangenheit nicht heraustretendeKinderna-tion zu fassen. Sie werdenverkauft und lassen sich verkaufen,ohne alle Reflexion dartlber,ob diess recht ist oder nicht. IhreReligion hat etwas Kinderhaftes. Das HOhere, welches sieempfinden,halten sie nichtfest; dasselbegeht ihnen nur flOchtigdurch den Kopf. Sie Obertragendiess HOhereauf den erstenbesten Stein, machen diesen dadurch zu ihrem Fetisch, undverwerfen diesen Fetisch, wenn er ihnen nichtgeholfen hat. InruhigemZustandeganz gutmrlthigund harmlos,begehen sie inder plOtzlich entstehenden Aufregung die fotrchterlichstenGrausamkeiten. Die FRhigkeitzur Bildung ist ihnen nichtabzusprechen; ie habennicht nur hier und da das Christenthummit der grOsstenDankbarkeitangenommen, und mit Rlhrungvon ihrer durch dasselbe nach langer GeistesknechtschafterlangtenFreiheitgesprochen,sondern auch in Haitieinen Staatnach christlichenPrincipiengebildet. Aber einen inneren Triebzur Kultur zeigen sie nicht. In ihrer Heimath herrscht derentsetzlichste Despotismus;da kommen sie nicht zum Geflhlder PersOnlichkeites Menschen,-da ist ihrGeist ganz schlum-mernd, bleibt in sich versunken, macht keinen Fortschrittundentsprichtso der compacten,unterschiedslosen asse des afrika-nischen Landes.5

This childishness is reflected even in their religion which is "somewhatchildlike." This is the central association which haunts Hegel's image ofthe Black. The Blacks are childlike and thus have an infantile perceptionof the world, even to their concept of God. While Blacks have the abil-ity to perceive higher values, they are incapable of fixing them asabstractions. Rather they "transfer them to the next best stone, whichthey thus make their fetish." The fetish becomes the leit-motif forHegel's presentation of the Black's perception of the transcendentalaspects of the universe. The Black creates his gods, but "abandonsthem if they do not aid him." This inconsistency is attributed to the



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THE FIGURE OF THE BLACK 143

Blacks throughoutthe nineteenth century. Conservativecommentatorssuch as BryanEdwards,especiallyin the light of the slave revolts in St.Domingo, stressed the unfathomablenature of the Black,who one daycan save his master from drowningand the next tortureand kill him.6Hegel also sees in the Black this basicdichotomy. When they are peace-ful "they are completelygood natured and harmless" but they can bequicklymoved to "the most horrible,frighteninghorrors." These child-like Blacks do have the potentialto become "educated" but do not pos-sess the necessary "drive towardsculture"which would enable them toachieve education on their own. They thus lack any individuality,arebut representativesof the indistinguishablemasses. As such they alsolack the possibility or progress.

These themes are expanded n Hegel's "GeographischeGrundlageder Weltgeschichte"which introduced his Vorlesungeniberdie Philoso-phie der Geschichte.Lacking consciousness of any specific objectivitysuch as God or Law, the Black is the "naturalman," by which Hegelimplies that he is "untame," certainlynot noble. This is typified by hisreligion. The religionof the Black is equated by Hegel with magic, cal-ling on authorities such as Herodotus. The religion of the Blackdismisses the conceptof an omnipotentGod, replacinghim with man:Das zweite Moment ihrerReligionist alsdann,dass sie sich dieseihre Machtzur Anschauung bringen,sie Ausserlich etzen, undsich Bilder davon machen. Das, was sie sich als ihre Machtvorstellen, ist somit nichts Objectives, in sich Festes und vonihnen Verschiedenes,sondern ganz gleichgtlltigder erste besteGegenstand,den sie zum Genius erheben: sey es ein Thier, einBaum, ein Stein, ein Bild von Holz. Diess ist der Fetisch,einWort, welches die Portugiesenzuerst in Umlauf gebracht,undwelches von feitizo, Zauberei, abstammt. Hier im Fetischescheint nun zwar die Selbststandigkeitgegen die Willkar desIndividuumsaufzutreten,aberda eben diese Gegenstandlichkeitnichts Anderes ist, als die zur Selbstanschauungich bringendeindividuelleWillklr, so bleibt diese auch Meister ihres Bildes.Begegnet namlich etwas Ungenehmes, was der Fetisch nichtabgewendethat, bleibt der Regen aus, entsteht Misswachs;sobindenund prOgeln ie ihn oder zerstOrenhn, und schaffenihnab, indem sie sich zugleicheinen anderencreiren,sie haben ihnalso in ihrer Gewalt. Es hat ein solcher Fetisch weder diereligiose Selbststandigkeit,noch weniger die konstlerische;erbleibt lediglichein Geschopf, das die Willktlrdes Schaffendenausdrtlcktund das immer in seinen Handen verharrt.(XI, 138-139).

For the Black, religion is a mock force against inexorable, individual



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fate. In realityhe controlshis idol, his fetish, destroying t if it does notfulfill his desires. Hegel sees that "Gott donnert, und wird nichterkannt: fiir den Geist des Menschen muss Gott mehr als ein Donnererseyn; bei den Negern aber ist diess nicht der Fall." (138) Blackscannotcreate abstractionsgreaterthan themselves. This theme is expandedinHegel's Vorlesungeniberdie Philosophieder Religionwhen he contraststhe nature of the African fetish with the abstraction of the Nile inancientEgyptianreligion:

Die Negerhabeneine Mengevon Gotzenbildern,attirlichenGegenstanden,ie sie zu ihrenFetischenmachen. DernachstebesteStein,Heuschrecke,asist ihrLar,vondem sie erwarten,dass er ihnenGlalck ringe.Das ist so eineunbekannte,nbe-stimmteMacht,die sie unmittelbarelbst creirthaben:stosstihnendaherUnangenehmesu und finden ie den Fetischnichtdienstfertig,o schaffenie ihnab undwahlen icheinenandern.EinBaum,Fluss, Lowe,Tieger indallgemeine andesfetische.WennUngllckeintritt,Ueberschwemmungderein Krieg, overandernie ihrenGott. Der Fetisch st veranderlichndsinktzum Mittel erab,dem Individuumtwaszu verschaffen.DerNil derAegypterstdagegen anzetwasandres; r ist ihneneinallgemeinGottliches,hresubstantiellenveranderliche acht,worin ich hreganzeExistenz efindet. XV,316-17)

The Nile is a naturalforce which dominatesthe individual;the fetish isalwaysdominatedby the individual.In placingman at the center of the universe the Blackprovidesarationaleby which he can dominate or destroy his fellow man without

any regard to divine order. The individual is reduced to an objectwithout value. In this state he has little or no freedom. Cannibalismand slavery exemplify interpersonalrelationshipsamong Blacks. This isthe basis for the orderof the Africanstate, where external force dom-inates and the individualis the subject of the whims of the strongest.The king, if he rules at all, rules throughacts of mindless terror. Moreoften than not anarchy is the dominant mode of government. HereHegel provides an anecdote concerningthe fabled African state dom-inated by women, which presents the world of the Amazons in termseven more destructivethan Kleist'sPenthesilea:In frtlherer eit hatsichein Weiberstaatesonders urch eineEroberungenerthmtgemacht:es warein Staat,an dessenSpitzeeine Fraustand. Sie hat ihreneigenenSohn in einemMorser erstossen,ichmitdem Blutebestrichen,ndveranstal-tet, dassdas Blutzerstampfter inder tetsvorrathigei. DieMannerhat sie verjagtoder umgebracht nd befohlen,alle



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THEFIGUREOF THEBLACK 145

mannlichenKinder zu todten. Diese Furien zerstortenAlles inder Nachbarschaft nd waren,weil sie das Landnichtbauten,zusteten Pllnderungen getrieben. Die Kriegsgefangenenwurdenals Manner gebraucht: die schwangerenFrauen mussten sichausserhalb des Lagers begeben, und, hatten sie einen Sohngeboren, diesen entfernen. Dieser bertlchtigteStaat hat sichspaterhinverloren. (XI, 142)

The murder and sexual exploitation of the male by the female is a clas-sic example of the disruption of divine order in the world of the Black.The debasement of the individual and the absence of those insti-tutions which could provide for his succor is typified, for Hegel, by theinstitution of slavery. This is, however, also that institution which theBlack shares with the European, as both indulge in the slave trade. In

Europe slavery has acted as "the impetus leading to progress," movingman from individuality to the state and thus to a "higher morality."The Blacks exist without the impulse necessary to achieve progress.They are afloat in the ahistoric limbo which existed in the West beforethe establishment of the rudimentary rule of law:

Denn es ist kein geschichtlicher Welttheil, er hat keineBewegungund Entwickelung ufzuweisen,und was etwa in ihm,das heisst in seinem Nordengeschehenist, gehortder asiatischenund europaischenWelt zu. Carthagowardort ein wichtigesundvortibergehendesMoment, aber als phonicischeColonie fallt esAsien zu. Egypten wird im Uebergange des Menschengeistesvon Osten nach Westen betrachtetwerden,aber es ist nichtdemafrikanischenGeiste zugehorig;was wir eigentlichunter Afrikaverstehen, das ist das Geschichtslose und Unaufgeschlossene,das noch ganz im nattirlichenGeiste befangenist, und das hierbloss an der Schwelle der Weltgeschichte vorgefthrt werdenmusste. (XI, 145)

Hegel is opposed to slavery but only sees in its gradual abolition thechance for the Black to educate himself for freedom:Der einzige wesentlicheZusammenhang,den die Neger mit denEuropaerngehabthaben und noch haben, ist der der Sclaverei.In dieser sehen die Neger nichts ihnen Unangemessenes, undgrade die Englander,welche das Meiste zur AbschaffungdesSclavenhandelsund der Sclaverei gethan haben, werden vonihnen selbst als Feinde behandelt. Denn es ist ein Hauptmo-ment for die Konige, ihre gefangenen Feinde oder auch ihreeigenen Unterthanenzu verkaufen,und die Sclavereihat insof-ern mehr Menschlichesunter den Negern geweckt. Die Lehre,die wir aus diesem Zustande der Sclaverei bei den Negernziehen, und welche die allein for uns interessante Seite daran



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146 SANDERL.GILMAN

ausmacht,st die, welchewir aus der Idee kennen,dassderNaturzustandelbst der Zustand bsolutenund durchgangigenUnrechtsst. JedeZwischenstufewischenhm undderWirkli-chkeitdes verntlnftigentaatshat ebensonochMomenteundSeitenderUngerechtigkeit;aher indenwirSclaverei elbst mgriechischenndrOmischentaate,wie Leibeigenschaftis aufdie neustenZeitenhinein. So aberalsim Staatevorhanden,stsie selbst ein Moment des Fortschreitens on der blossvereinzelten,innlichenExistenz,ein Momentder Erziehung,eine Weisedes TheilhaftigwerdensohererSittlichkeit ndmitihrzusammenhangenderildung.Die Sclavereist an undforsich Unrecht,denndas Wesendes Menschenst die Freiheit,dochzu diesermusser erstreifwerden.Es ist alsodieallmaligeAbschaffungder Sclaverei etwas AngemesseneresundRichtigeres,ls ihreplbtzliche ufhebung. XI,144)

Blacks,unlike other groupsin the state of nature,do have the malleabil-ity to be formed into Kulturmenschen. he AmericanIndians,for exam-ple, were destroyed by their exposure to western culture, from whichthey only learned to be alcoholics, while the Blacks, when properlyexposed to westerninstitutions,could produceministersand doctors:Die Schwache esamerikanischenaturellswareinHauptgrunddazu, die Negernach Amerika u bringen,um durchderenKraftedie Arbeiten errichtenu lassen;denn die Negersindweitempfanglicheroreuropaischeultur, lsdieIndianer, ndein englischerReisenderhat Beispieleangefuthrt,ass NegergeschickteGeistliche,Aerzteu. s. w. gewordenind(einNegerhat zuerstdie Anwendunger Chinarindeefunden),wAhrendihm nur ein einzigerEingebornerekannt st, der es dahinbrachte, zu studiren, aber bald am UebergenussedesBranntweinsestorben ar. (XI,123-24)

Here Hegel's oblique reference seems to justify the system of slaverywhich produceda JacobusCapiteinor a Phyllis Wheatley.7The adoptionof western culture meant the acceptanceof Christianity. This impliesmoving from a "prehistoric tate" where freedom is lackingto a state inwhich institutions such as slaveryare groundedin the historical raditionof Christianity.

The common denominatorin all Hegel's discussions of the Blackis the specialnature of the Black'sperceptionof the world. In his per-ception of history, religion,the individualand the state the Black under-stands the world in a specificway. His manner of orderingthe worldplaces the Blackin the lowest categoryof the historicaldevelopmentofthe mind (Geist). Since the majordifferencebetween the Black and theEuropean s a perceptualone, it should come as little surprisethat Hegel



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THE FIGURE OF THE BLACK 147

incorporates he figureof the Black nto his discussionof aesthetics.8The figure of the Black often appearedin the aesthetics of theeighteenth century, functioningas a criterion of otherness.9Hegel is noexception to this applicationof the concept of the other to the figureofthe Black. In the VorlesungenlberdieAesthetik,Hegel devotes a subsec-tion in his introductoryanalysis of the "purpose of art" to counteringthe categoryof "objective beauty":Indemnun ferner das Prinzipvon der Nachahmungganz formellist, so verschwindet,ennes zurnZwecke emachtwird,darindas objektive ch6neselbst. Denn es handelt sich sodann nichtmehr darum, wie das beschaffensei, was nachgebildetwerdensoll, sondern nur darum,dass es richtig achgeahmtwerde. DerGegenstandund Inhaltdes Schonenist als das ganz Gleichgtltigeangesehen. Wenn man namlich auch ausserdem wohl beiTieren, Menschen, Gegenden, Handlungen, Charakterenvoneinem Unterschiede des Schonen und Hasslichen spricht, sobleibt dies jedoch bei jenem Prinzipeein Unterschied,welchernicht der Kunst eigenttlmlichangehOrt, flr die man allein dasabstrakte Nachahmen lbriggelassenhat. Da kann denn inRocksicht auf die Auswahl der Gegenstande und ihren Unter-schied der Schdnheit und Hasslichkeit bei dem erwthntenMangel an einem Kriteriumfur die unendlichen Formen derNaturnur der subjektiveGeschmackas letzte sein, der sich keineRegel festsetzen und nicht fber sich disputieren asse. Und inder Tat, wenn man bei der Auswahlder darzustellendenObjektevon dem, was die Menschenschon und hasslich und darumnachahmungswOrdigor die Kunstfinden,von ihremGeschmackausgeht, so stehen alle Kreiseder Naturgegenstande ffen, derennicht leicht einer seinen Liebhabervermissen wird. Denn unterden Menschen z.B. ist es der Fall, dass, wenn auch nichtjederEhemann seine Frau, doch wenigstens jeder BrautigamseineBraut-und zwar etwa sogar ausschliesslich-schon findet, unddass der subjektiveGeschmackflr diese Schinheit keine festeRegel hat, kann man ein Gllck ftlr beide Teile nennen. Blickenwir vollends weiter tlber die Einzelnen Individuenund ihrenzufalligen Geschmack auf den Geschmackder Nationen,so istauch dieser von der hochsten Verschiedenheitund Entgegenset-zung. Wie oft hOrtman sagen, dass eine europAische chinheiteinem Chinesen oder gar einem Hottentotten missfallenwtlrde,insofern dem Chinesen ein ganz andererBegriffvon Schonheitinwohne als dem Neger und diesem wiederein andererals demEuropier usf. Ja, betrachten wir die Kunstwerke jeneraussereuroprtischenVolker, ihre GOtterbilder z.B., die alsverehrungswordig nd erhabenaus ihrer Phantasieentsprungensind, so konnen sie uns als die scheusslichstenGotzenbilder



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148 SANDERL.GILMAN

vorkommen nd ihre Musikalsdie abscheulichsten die Ohrenklingen,wahrend ie ihrerseitsunsereSkulpturen,Malereien,Musiker Orunbedeutendderhasslichhalten werden. (XII,75-76)

Hegel begins his argument by dismissing those theories of beautieswhich are rooted in the concept of mimesis. Reproducing he beautiesof nature is not art (das Kunstschdne), ny more than our perceptionofthe world reveals the inner workingsof naturalbeauty. He also rejectspersonalcriteria for the beautiful with the view that any naturalobjectwill find its admirer. He comments on the attractivenessgenerated bythe first confusion of love, an attractivenesswhich blinds each partytothe other's faults. Parenthetically,he observes that this initial infatua-tion vanishes with prolongedexposure to the realityof marriage. HereHegel makes reference to the internalcriteriafor altering perspective.The romantic or sexual interest of the male so alters his perceptionofthe female that he marries her in spite of the reality of her actualappearance. Personal motivation thus alters perception. Hegel thenmoves from personalto culturalcriteria or beauty. He begins by echo-ing Lessing's discussion of the Hottentot princess in his Laokoon oderiiberdieGrenzen erMalerei 1766):

Die drolligstenZilge von dieser Art hat die HottentottischeErzahlung,quassouwndKnonmquaiha,ndemKenner, inerEnglischenWochenschriftoller Laune,die man dem LordChesterfielduschreibet.Manweis,wie schmutzig ie Hotten-tottensind;undwievielessie ffor chonundzierlichundheilighalten,was unsEckelundAbscheu rwecket.EingequetschterKnorpel on Nase,schlappe is auf den NabelherabhangendeBroste,den ganzenKorpermit einer Schminke us Ziegenfettund Russ an der Sonne durchbeitzet, ie Haarlocken onSchmeer rieffend,Fusse und Arme mit frischemGedarmeumwunden:dies denkemansich an dem Gegenstandeinerfeurigen,ehrfurchtsvollen,artlichenLiebe;dies hore man inder edeln Sprache des Ernstes und der Bewunderungausgedrtlckt,ndenthalteichdes Lachens!10

This passage occurs in Lessing's discussion of the comic effect of thedisgusting and presents a negative illustration of the relativism ofbeauty. It was in this context that the figure of the Black was con-sistently employed as an example in the eighteenth century. Yet Hegelsubtly alters the implicationsof the aesthetics of relativism preachedmost eloquently by Wieland. Though Hegel begins by determiningthatthe beautiful would be defined differentlyamong the Chinese or theBlacks, his reference is to naturalbeauty, the beauty of the HottentotPrincess. From this he moves to works of art (das Kunstsch6ne).He



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THE FIGUREOF THE BLACK 149

argues that if the Europeanwould examine the works of art of theChinese and the Black they would appeargrotesque. Yet what Hegelcites as his example for "works of art" (Kunstwerke) re the fetisheswhich he had so strongly condemned in his earlier discussions of theBlack. The images of the pagan gods, which the non-Europeancon-ceives of as sublime, we conceive of as hideous. Here the question ofreligionbecomes an aestheticquestion. EdmundBurkein his Philosoph-icalEnquirynto theOriginof our Ideasof theSublime ndBeautiful 1757)had incorporatednto his discussion of the sublime a detailed discussionof Blackness as a mode of associating the fear of darkness with thefigure of the Black." Blacknessand sublimityare relatedas the black-ness of the individualcomes to representthe overwhelmingdarknessofnature. Hegel, too, seems to arguethat the Blacksperceivetheir worldin such a way as to see in the fetish the overwhelmingnature of thesublime, and thus attributeto the fetish a nature "worthy of venera-tion." This mode of perceptioncan only be attributed to the specialpositionheld by the Blackoutside the stream of history. The Europeansees these figures only as "the most hideous idols" and hears non-Europeanmusic only as "the most detestablenoise."

Hegel is constrainedto present the counter-argument. If the rhe-toricalfigure of parallelism(or argumentbased on contrariesfollowingCicero's Topica) is completed, then Hegel must argue that non-Europeans examining the images of the western God as works of artmust find them "meaningless or ugly." Hegel does not present thisview. Hegel is clearlyavoiding an explicit parallelto western religion,especially Christianity. For if Christianityis the absolute religion, itspresentationin works of art must be at a different level of abstractionthan the idols of the Black.

Hegel has adopteda conceptof the fetish which can only createamock sense of awe in its observerunlike the artexpressingthe Christianmyth. The fetish is in no way symbolic as it does not refer to a forcegreaterthan the observer, for the observer (and creator) of the fetishknows himself to be superiorto his creation. The inherent contradictionbetween this idea of the fetish and the concept of true symbolic art(even among its earliest representatives n the West) leads to a neces-sary restructuringof his argument. He has the Black observe the"sculptures, pictures,and music," i.e., the aesthetic phenomenaof theWest and perceivethese as "meaninglessor ugly." The subjective per-spective of the Black,stemmingfrom his pre-historical tatus, is appliedto works of art ratherthan aspects of absolute religion. From Hegel'spoint of view it is evident that western taste has been so evolved that itcan no longer capitulate o the mock sense of the sublime in the fetish;



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on the contrary,the Black is unable to perceive the universals of sym-bolic art because of the primitive status of his aesthetic categories.Hegel disqualifiesthe Blackfrom the abilityto sense the mysteryin thesymbolicand placeshim outside the paleof true aestheticsensibility.

Hegel's image of the Black is correlativewith eighteenth-centuryviews of the Black found in other systems of aesthetics. The mostimportantmodel for Hegel was Kant. In the pre-criticalBeobachtungenaiberdas Geftihldes Sch6nenundErhabenen1764) Kantstrikesmany ofthe same chords as does Hegel. He stresses the childish nature of theBlack expressly in regardto his use of fetishes. But he also rests onHume's opinionthat the Black s inherentlyuneducable:

Die Negervon Afrikahabenvon der Naturkein Gefuhi, welchesOber das Lippische stiege. Herr HurnefordertJedermannauf,ein einzigesBeispiel nzufthren, aeinNegerTalente ewiesenhabe, und behauptet,dass unter den HunderttausendenonSchwarzen,ie aus ihrenLandern nderwartserfilhrtwerden,obgleichderensehrvieleauch n Freiheit esetztwUrden,en.nochnichteinEinzigeremalsgefundenworden, erentwedernKunstoderWissenschaft,derirgend inerandernrthmlichenEigenschafttwasGrossesvorgestellt abe,obgleichunterdenWeissen sich bestandigwelche aus dem niedrigstenPObelemporschwingennd durchvorzlglicheGaben n der WelteinAnsehenerwerben.So wesentlichst der Unterschiedwischendicsen zwei Menschengeschlechtern,nd er scheinteben sogross n Ansehung erGemothsfthigkeiten,lsderFarbenachzu sein. Die unter ihnen weit ausgebreiteteReligionderFetischest vielleicht ineArt vonGOtzendienst,elchero tiefins Lappischeinkt,als es nur inmmneron der menschlichenNaturmoglich u sein scheint.EineVogelfeder,in Kuhhorn,eine Muschel,oderjede andeiregenieine Sache,sobaldsic durcheinige Worte eingeweihtworden, ist ein GegenstandderVerehrungndderAnrufungnEidschworen.12

By the time he turns to this figurein the writingof the Kritikder Urteils-kraft(1790) Kantstresses the concept that the perceptionof beautyis amatter of experiential judgment and that the Black therefore has adifferentconcept of the Beautiful."3 his empiricalapproach o the con-cept of beauty, stemming as it does from Shaftesbury'scategoryof the"sensus communis," is reflected n Hegel's later discussion.

While Hegel employs numerous exotic examples to buttress theuniversality of his aesthetics, ranging tfrom the ancient Egyptian toOssian, the Black vanishes from his argument. In continuingthe use ofthe figure of the Black as an illustrationof aesthetic relativism, he isable to structurehis views so as to dismiss the aesthetic sensibilities of



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the Blackfrom furtherconsiderationwithinhis system.III

The neo-Hegelianaestheticianswerejust as able to disregard hefigure of the Black. In Karl Rosenkranz's Aesthetik des Hiisslichen(1853) the concept of the ugly to which Hegel makes fleetingreferencein his mention of the Hottentot princess is used to present disguisedaspectsof the Black. In Rosenkranz's wo referencesto the Blackthereis an alterationas well as evolution of Hegel's initialargument. Rosen-kranz discusses the relationshipbetween aesthetic and natural form.Man can alter natural forms so as to articulatehis freedom ("seineFreiheit recht augenscheinlichzu verwirklichen... "). He cites thesavage (der Wilde)who altershis appearancehroughnose-ringsand tat-tooing in order to distinguishhimself from the beast:

Der Wilde zeigt durch barbarischeVersttlmmelungenndVeranderungeneinesKOrpers,urchKnochen ndRinge,dieer in der Nase und den Ohrlappchender Lippenbefestigt,durchTattowiren . dgl., den Trieb,sich von der Naturzuunterscheiden. r ist nicht,wiedasThier,mit dergegebenenNaturzufrieden; r willals Mensch eine Freiheitgegensiezeigen.14

Rosenkranz s placingthe strivingfor freedom (Freiheit), or individua-tion in the Hegeliansense, as the basic drive of the savage, raisinghimabove the level of the creationsof nature(das Natursch6ne).Rosenkranzprovidesone furtherreference to the Blackwhichliesclearlywithin the guide-linesof Hegel's image. For if the Blackin hisnaturalstate can remove himself, even by one level, from the animal,he has the potentialfor civilization. In his analysisof the force of themind (Geist)which transcendsall fantasy,Rosenkranzcites the figureofIra Aldridge, a Black who actually played Othello, something Shak-espeare could not have imagined ("wie haitte Shakespearesich diestraiumen assen?").15 Slavery in the West had produced exceptional

Blacks, Blacks who were more than able to assume a role in westernsociety once they progressedfrom their primitivestate of aestheticper-ception. One cannot imaginea tattooedwild man with a bone throughhis nose, who thus distinguisheshimself from the beasts of the forest,playingShakespeare. But the wild man does have the potentialto adaptan historicalmode of perceptionand achieve civilization.

In the twenty years after the posthumous publicationof Hegel'slectures on aesthetics, certain changes in presentation, if not intent,



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altered the image of the Blackin Rosenkranz'saesthetics. Rosenkranzdoes not fall back on the implicit eighteenth-centuryanalogy to thefigureof the Hottentotprincess. He uses the much more abstract igureof the wild man (der Wilde),who, however, is given all of the charac-teristics of the Black in earlierpresentations. This alteration reflects asensitivityto the politicized mageof the Black. He is the wild manwhomust and can be tamed by the forces of civilization. Any more directreference to the Blackwould have broughtwith it the inherentequationto the specialstatus of the slave.IV

By the end of the 1880's there had been a basic alterationof theimage of the Black in Germany. Where the earlier image of the Blackhad been an idealizedreflectionof the politicalsituationin other partsofthe world, by the end of the 1880's Germany had become a colonialpower in Africa. This early stage of German expansion in Africa hasbeen characterizedas the most brutal and inhumane periodof Germancolonialism. Dominatingthe German attitudewas a neo-Hegeliancon-cept of the Black as a primitiveable to be civilized only through theapplicationof brute force. The initialdecade (from 1884 to 1896) cameto be called the first phase of the politics of beatings (Priigelpolitik),where a hundred lashes, a death sentence, was the minimum punish-ment for any infractionof colonial law.16In this historicalcontext Nietzsche's referenceto the Blackin Zur

GenealogiederMoral(1887) is of special interest. Presented as an aside("... nebenbei gesagt. . . ") in his discussion of guilt and "bad consci-ence" this excursus presentsa sonataon the closing theme of the previ-ous segment, that without crueltythere is no festivity. The concept ofsufferingand festivity had been introducedin Die Geburtder Trag6die,with the awesome blending of sensuality and cruelty in the Dionysianrevels functioning however similia similibusonly to remindone of therelationshipbetween painandjoy." Nietzsche expandson this theme indetail, drawinginto his elaborationa critiqueof Hegel's concept of his-tory and its effect on human perception hroughhis use of the figureofthe Black.

At the beginning of this segment Nietzsche rejects the negativeevaluationof the earlierstages of the mind (Geist), seeing in the civiliz-ing of mankind a decay which makes man seem repellent to himself.Most affected is man's sense of the instinctual which becomes sosoftened and moralizedthat man forgetshis basic nature:



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Mit diesen Gedanken, nebenbei gesagt, bin ich durchaus nichtwillens, unsren Pessimisten zu neuem Wasser auf ihremisstOnigenund knarrendenMthlen des LebensUberdrussesuverhelfen; im Gegenteil soil ausdrolcklichbezeugt sein, dassdamals, als die Menschheit sich ihrer Grausamkeitnoch nichtschamte, das Leben heitererauf Erdenwar als jetzt, wo es Pes-simisten gibt. Die VerdOsterung es HimmelsOberdem Men-schen hat immer im Verhaltnisdazu lberhandgenommen, alsdie Schamdes Menschen vordemMenschen ewachsen st. DermUde pessimistische Blick, das Misstrauen zum Ratsel desLebens, das eisige Nein des Ekelsam Leben-das sind nicht dieAbzeichen der b6sestenZeitalterdes Menschengeschlechts:sietreten vielmehr erst an das Tageslichtals die Sumpfpflanze,diesie sind, wenn der Sumpfda ist, zu dem sie gehoren-ich meinedie krankhafteVerzartlichungund Vermoralisierung,vermOgederendas Getier "Mensch"sich schliesslichaller seinerInstinkteschamenlernt. Auf dem Wegezum "Engel" (um hiernichteinharteres Wortzu gebrauchen,hat sich der Menschjenen verdor-benen Magen und jene belegte Zunge angezlchtet, durch dieihm nichtnurdie Freudeund Unschulddes Tierswiderlich,son-dern das Leben selbst unschmackhaftgewordenist-so dass ermitunter vor sich selbst mit zugehaltenerNase dasteht und mitPapst Innozenz dem Dritten missbilligendden KatalogseinerWiderwartigkeiten macht ("unreine Erzeugung, ekelhafteErnahrungim Mutterleibe, Schlechtigkeitdes Stoffs, aus demder Menschsich entwickelt,scheusslicherGestank,Absonderungvon Speichel,Urin und Kot"). Jetzt, wo das Leiden immer alserstes unter den Argumentengegendas Dasein aufmarschierenmuss, als dessen schlimmstes Fragezeichen,tut man gut, sichder Zeiten zu erinnern, wo man umgekehrturteilte, weil mandas Leiden-machennicht entbehren mochte und in ihm einenZauberersten Rangs,einen eigentlichenVerfthrungs-Koder umLebensah. (XV, 331-34)This general introduction leads to a discussion of the stages of the

perception of suffering as a measure of human decline. Suffering is, forNietzsche, "a genuine seduction to life," a proof of the humanity ofman. The use of the figure of the Black as a barometer of humansuffering is a reflection of Schopenhauer's view throughout Die Welt alsWille und Vorstellung(1819, revised 1844). However, Nietzsche wouldhave found this view associated with a specific scale of humanity run-ning from the Black down to the white only in the late essay "Zur Philo-sophie und Wissenschaft der Natur." Nietzsche begins his argument ata historically distanced period and with the most "primitive" of peoples,the Blacks. He ironically argues that the Black stands at an earlier stage



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of development, that is, he is, using Hegel's designation, a prehistoricman. In this prehistoricstate the Black has a lesser sense of pain,sufferingfar less than would the Europeans n the same circumstances.An increased tolerationof pain is to be found when one abandonstheveneer of civilizedman and reaches the primitivemasses:

Vielleicht at damals-den Zartlichen um Trost gesagt-derSchmerz ochnicht o wchwieheute;wenigstens irdein Arztso schliessendUrfen, er Neger(diesesals ReprasentantenesvorgeschichtlichenMenschen genommen-) bei schwereninnerenEntzondungsfallenehandelt at,welcheauchden bes-torganisiertenEuropaer ast zur Verzweiflung ringen--beiNegern tun sie dies nicht. (Die Kurve der menschlichenSchmerzfahigkeitcheint n der Tat ausserordentlichnd fastplotzlich u sinken,sobaldmanerstdie oberenZehn-TausendoderZehn-Millionener Uberkulturinter ichhat;und ichformeinePerson weiflenicht,dass,gegeneine chmerzhafteachteines einzigenhysterischen ildungs-Weibchensehalten,dieLeiden llerTiere nsgesamt, elchebisjetztzumZweckwissen-schaftlicher ntwortenmit dem Messerbefragtwordensind,einfachnicht in Betrachtkommen.) Vielleicht st es sogarerlaubt,die Moglichkeituzulassen, ass auch ene Lustan cierGrausamkeitigentlich ichtausgestorbenuseinbrauchte: urbedirftesie, im Verhaltnisazu,wieheutederSchmerzmehrwehtut,einer gewissenSublimierungnd Subtilisierung,iemUsstenamentlichns ImaginativendSeelischeQbersetztuf-treten und geschmOckt it lauterso unbedenklichenamen,dassvon ihnenherauchdemzartesten ypokritischenewissenkeinVerdacht ommt das"tragischeMitleiden"st ein solcherName;einandrerst"lesnostalgiese lacroix").Such a critique presentsa reversal of the Hegelianconceptof his-tory. For Nietzsche the movement from the primitiveto the civilizedstate, from the prehistoricto the historic, is a decline of the abilitytodeal with pain on its own terms and an increasedneed to sublimatepaininto other perceptualcategories. If the Blackstands at the bottom (orthe top) of this scale of sensitivity, then at the top (or the bottom) isthe "hysterische Bildungs-Weibchen,"the hystericaleducated female,the woman who has repressedall of her naturaldrives. Her sufferingisinordinate, since it is the sublimationof all the naturaldrives into theillusion of civilization and its resultantpsychopathology,hysteria. Thisspectrum, from the stoic Black to the tormented female, reversesHegel's concept of history. The Blackassumes his place in the uncivil-ized worldin a way which echoes the image of the herd at the openingof the essay "Vom Nutzen und Nachteilder H-istorie." (VI, 232) There



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the distinction between the animal and man is clearly made. Manwishes to live like the animalwithout pain. The Blackexperiences painand is thus human rather than animal in his relationshipto suffering.Unlike contemporary man, the Black bears suffering as suffering,without resortingto intellectualsubterfugesuch as transferingsufferingto the realm of the aesthetic ("tragischesMitleid") or the religious("lesnostalgiesde la croix"). The Blackthus stands between the unconsciousand the hyperconscious n Nietzsche's anthropologyof suffering.

It is, however, not suffering,but the perceptionof sufferingwhichis the centraltargetof Nietzsche's critique. For the ironyof Nietzsche'spresentation s understandable nly if the qualityof pain is uniformanduniversal,and the perceptionof painheightenedthroughcivilization. Itonly appears here Nietzsche's use of the ambiguityof the doctor'sdiag-nosis is of vital importance) hat the Blackhas a lowerthreshold of pain;indeed what the Blackhas is a heightenedsense of the role which painplays as an intrinsic element in the world. Nietzsche criticizes notmerely Hegel's categorizationof the Black as pre-historicand perhapspre-humanbut also the implicationsof this view in the Germanyof hisown time. The common understandingn Germany (borrowednot to alittle extent from the Belgians) was that physicaltorture was the onlyway of dealing with the Blacks. As late as 1904 the Governor of Ger-man South-WestAfrica,Leutwein,wrote in a reportconcerningphysicalpunishment of Blacks that: "bei der lederartigen Haut derEingeborenen-Hottentotten sowohl wie Kaffern-verm6gen selbst 25Hiebe nur eine geringe Schmerzempfindunghervorzurufen."'8This,too, is partof the Nietzscheancritiqueof the Hegelianmodel of historyand its effect on contemporarycolonial policy. For in separatingtheBlack'sperceptionof the world from that of the European,in placingitin a special category,one can easilyjustify inhumane acts as necessaryones, as they would be perceiveddifferently by Blacksthan by humaneEuropeans.

In his critiqueNietzsche moves from his scale of the decayof painto yet another aspect of the function of suffering,an aspectwhich onlyfollows when the Hegeliandiscussion of the Blackis kept in mind as amodel. Central to Hegel's discussionof the natureof the Black'sspecialperceptionof the worldis the function of the fetish, the god createdfora specialpurposeand dominatedby its creator. Nietzsche arguesthat inthe past, both for the Christian and the "naiven Menschen iltererZeiten", it was necessaryto invent omnipresentgods, functioningevenin the dark (the ultimate state of blackness in eighteenth-centuryaesthetics) as a rationaleto justify the "evil" of suffering. Hegel doesnot see the fetish as equivalent to the symbolic gods of Egypt and



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Greece. Nietzsche uses Hegel's own argument, that these gods are usedto mitigate the evil realities of the world, to create the illusion of somepattern to existence. This mode of dealing with the suffering of theworld permeates all society from the ancient Greeks through Calvin andLuther to contemporary philosophy (life as an epistemological problem).Indeed this is also the basic structure of the works of art produced bythe primitive mind, not as in Hegel's aesthetics the fetish of the Black,but the Iliad.

Was eigentlichgegen das Leidenemport,ist nicht das Leiden ansich, sondern das Sinnlose des Leidens: aber weder fflr denChristen, der in das Leiden eine ganze geheime Heils-Maschineriehineininterpretiert at, noch ffor den naiven Men-schen alterer Zeiten, der alles Leiden sich in Hinsicht aufZuschauer oder auf Leiden-Macher uszulegenverstand,gab esOlberhauptin solches sinniosesLeiden. Damit das verborgne,unentdeckte, zeugenlose Leiden aus der Welt geschafft undehrlich negiert werden konnte, war man damals beinahe dazugenOtigt,GOtterzu erfinden und ZwischenwesenallerHOheundTiefe, kurzetwas,das auchim Verborgnen chweift,das auchimDunklen sieht und das sich nicht leicht ein interessantesschmerzhaftes Schauspiel entgehen lasst. Mit Hilfe solcherErfindungennamlich verstand sich damals das Leben auf dasKunststtlck,auf das es sich immer verstandenhat, sich selbst zurechtfertigen, sein "Ubel" zu rechtfertigen; etzt bedtrfte esvielleicht dazu andrerHilfs-Erfindungenzum BeispielLebenalsRatsel, Leben als Erkenntnisproblem)."Jedes Ubel ist gerecht-fertigt, an dessen Anblickein Gott sich erbaut": so klang dievorzeitliche Logik des Geftlhls-und wirklich, war es nur dievorzeitliche? Die Gotter als Freunde grausamerSchauspielegedacht-o wie weit ragtdiese uralteVorstellungselbst noch inunsre europaischeVermenschlichung inein! Manmag hiertiberetwas mit Calvin und Luther zu Rate gehn. Gewiss ist jeden-falls, dass noch die Griechenhren GOtternkeine angenehmereZukost zu ihrem GlOckezu bieten wussten, als die Freuden derGrausamkeit. Mit welchenAugen glaubt ihr denn, dass Homerseine GOtter auf die Schicksale der Menschen niederblickenliess? Welchen letzten Sinn hatten im Grunde trojanischeKriege und LhnlichetragischeFurchtbarkeiten? Man kann garnicht daran zweifeln: sie waren als Festspiele or die GOttergemeint: und, insofern der Dichterdarinmehr als die ObrigenMenschen"gOttlich" eartetist, wohl auch als Festspielefor dieDichter. .. Nicht anders dachten sich spL0terdie Moral-Philosophen Griechenlands die Augen Gottes noch auf dasmoralischeRingen, auf den Heroismus und die Selbstqualereides Tugendhaftenherabblicken:der "Herakles der Pflicht"war



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THEFIGUREOFTHEBLACK 157

auf einerBolhne,r wusstesich auchdarauf; ie TugendohneZeugenwarfUrdiesSchauspieler-VolktwasganzUndenkbares.

Nietzsche creates a broad category of the "primitive" which encom-passes the Black as well as the Greek. In establishingthis categoryhede facto counters Hegel's claim of a special status for the Black. Heconcludes his excursus by recapitulatinghe theme from the precedingsegment which inspiredhis digression,remindingthe readerthateven ingreat punishmentthere lies festivity. In doing so he also concludeshisrevision of Hegel's view of the specialnature of the Black'sperspective.Where Hegel had stressed the mindless destruction which typifies thedailylife of the Black,his politicalstate as well as his inter-personal ela-tionships, Nietzsche sees in this destructiona celebration of the natureof man unfettered by the decay of civilization. The celebrations ofsufferingreturnto an image of the noble savage as opposedto civilizedman, where nobility lies not so much in an idylliclife but in the close-ness to man's humanness. In this lengthy aside Nietzsche has under-taken what Hayden White has describedas his concern ". . . to deter-mine how history itself could be transformed nto a... creativeform ofdreaming... ""19 his creative dreamingis present in Nietzsche's revi-sion of Hegel's use of the figureof the Black. Nietzsche continues thecentury-oldtraditionof employingthe figureof the Blackas an indicatorof altered aestheticperception. If Hegel's view of the Black'spositioninthe historicalprocess (and the effect of this on his perspective) is notunderstood, Nietzsche's use of the figure of the Black cannot becomprehendedin its total implications. Sufferingbecomes a mode ofperception and the figure of the Black becomes the indicator of anaestheticsof positive self-perception.CornellUniversity

M. H. Abrams,NaturalSupernaturalism:radition nd Revolutionn RomanticLiteratureNewYork:W. W.Norton,1971),pp.356-72.2 David BrionDavis, TheProblem f Slaveryn theAgeof Revolution, 770-1823(Ithaca:CornellUniversityress,1975),pp.557-64.3 The literature n Nietzsche ndHegel s quitediffuse.ImportantemainsKarlLOwith,VonHegelbisNietzsche(Zlrich:Europa, 941). WalterKauf-manndiscusses he relationshipetweenHegelandNietzschehroughouthis Nietzsche:Philosopher sychologist ntichrist,th ed. (Princeton: Prince-tonUniversity ress,1974). Certainlyhe bestspecific ssay s R. F. Beer-ling, "HegelandNietzsche,"HegelStudien (1961),pp.229-46.A recentessayhasconcentratedn a comparisonf theirconcepts f history:EwaBienkowska, Nietzsche Hegel: spor 6 historie,"Studiailozoficze9



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158 SANDERL. GILMAN

(1973), pp. 115-129.4 L. Keita,"TwoPhilosophiesf AfricanHistory:HegelandDiop,"Prsence

afjicaine1 (1974),pp.41-49.5 Allreferencesreto theSamtlicheWerke,d.HermannGlocknerStuttgart:Fromann, 927 f), hereX, 73-74.6 See thecontemporaryerman ranslationf ByranEdwards,GeschichteesRevolutionskriegsn SanctDomingo Leipzig: DykischeBuchhandlung,1798),esp. I, 100-01.7 See HenryLouisGates,Jr. "TheHistoryandTheoryof Afro-American

LiteraryCriticism 773-1831"diss.,University f Cambridge,976) or adetailedanalysisof the imageof the Blackas creativeartistduring hisperiod.8 For a surveyof the literature n Hegel'saesthetics ee FrankDietrichWagner, fiegels Philosophie er Dichtung.Abhandlungenzur Philosophie,Psychologie nd Padagogik8 (Bonn: Bouvier,1974). See also A. M.Aslanow,"Daskitnstlerischechaffen erOrientvolkern der AthetikvonHegel,"Hegel-Jahrbuch971,pp.249-259.9 See my essay "The Figureof the Black n GermanAestheticTheory,"

Eighteenth-Centurytudies (1975),pp.373-91 or a detailed resentation.10 GottholdEphraimLessingsStmtliche Werke,ed. Karl Lachmannand FranzMuncker(Stuttgart:G. J. Goschen, 1893), IX, 149." See the editionby JamesT. Boulton NotreDame,Indiana:UniversityfNotreDamePress,1958),p. 149.12 ImmanuelKantsSlmmmtliche erke,ed. G. Hartenstein (Leipzig: LeopoldVoss, 1867),II,276-77.13 Kant, V, 140.14 KarlRosenkranz, esthetikesHilsslichenKOnigsberg:orntrager,853),p.58.15 Rosenkranz,p. 132.16 FritzFerdinandMiller, ed., KolonienunterderPeitsche Berlin: ROttenundLoening,1962), p. 124. See also A. J. P. Taylor,Germany'sirstBid orColonies1884-1885: A Move in Bismark'sEuropean olicy(Hamden,Conn.:ArchonBooks, 1967).7 All referencesre to Friedrich ietzsche,Gesammelte erke.Musarionaus-gabe Mfnchen:Musarion,920ff.),hereIII,30-31.18 Miller, p. 98.

19 HaydenWhite, Metahistory:TheHistorical maginationn Nineteenth-CenturyEuropeBaltimore: heJohnsHopkins ress,1973),p.333.

Black in Hegel and Nietzsche

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