Soul-Mannahattas

Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde made worthy contributions to political philosophy, and economics.

I guess economics is a social science. I do not think Walt and Oscar made contributions to social science.

I start by quoting Oscar Wilde:

The chief advantage that would result from the establishment of Socialism is, undoubtedly, the fact that Socialism would relieve us from that sordid necessity of living for others which, in the present condition of things, presses so hardly upon almost everybody. In fact, scarcely any one at all escapes.

Now and then, in the course of the century, a great man of science, like Darwin; a great poet like Keats; a fine critical spirit like M. Renan; a supreme artist like Flaubert, has been able to isolate himself, to keep himself, to keep himself out of reach of the clamorous claims of others, to stand, “under the shelter of the wall” as Plato puts it, and so to gain and to the incomparable, and lasting gain of the whole world. These, however, are exceptions. The majority of people spoil their lives by an unhealthy and exaggerated altruism– are forced, indeed, by hideous ugliness, by hideous starvation. It is inevitable that they should be strongly moved by all this. The emotions of man are stirred more quickly than man’s intelligence; and as I pointed out some time ago in an article on the function of criticism, it is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than it is to have sympathy with thought. Accordingly, with admirable, though misdirected intentions, they very seriously and very sentimentally set themselves to the task of remedying the evils that they see. But their remedies do not cure the disease: they merely prolong it. Indeed their remedies are part of the disease.

They try to solve the problem of poverty, for instance, by keeping the poor alive; or, in the case of a very advanced school, by amusing the poor.

Oscar is in Mannahatta. His play, On The Importance of Being Earnest, has hit Broadway. As America has not yet ossified, or adopted a genuine aristocracy, and still has a very healthy disregard for Robber Barons, however rich and “successful” they may be…

The play has popularity. Favorable reviews. Sunshine, and trips to bistros, ferments of revolution, intoxicating but not noxious. Here, Oscar recommends Socialism on the basis of it promoting RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM. Alex Jones didn’t tell you about that, now, did he.

— The quote is taken from Oscar’s The Soul of Man Under Socialism.