The Idiot's Guide to Philosophy-Plato's Republic

The latest installment in my series of video notes on philosophy.

Faith and Reason in Halloween Town Part 2

If you haven't read my previous post regarding this topic, the following post might not make much sense.  But, just like a lost student in the wrong classroom on the first day of school, you should stick around.  You just might learn something you'd have never thought about otherwise.

When we last left Jack, he was brooding over the mysteries of Christmas (which we had previously examined as being symbolically representative of the ambiguities of knowledge via Faith), and Sally received a premonition of sorts, leading to her to believe that Jack's Christmas won't be as jolly as he thinks.  After paying a visit to Halloween Town's resident scientist, Dr. Finkelstein, Jack procures the necessary tools for examining the specimens he brought back from Christmas Town.  When testing the conductivity of candy canes and the dissecting of teddy bears fails to shed any light on the matter, Jack paces in his tower, pondering the mystery of the physical representations of Christmas/Faith.  The following video is one of the most important to this discussion because it doesn't take very much effort to imagine any philosopher or scientist agonizing in much the same way Jack is.

4. In the song "Jack's Obsession", we witness firsthand Jack's (what else?) obsession.  His research into the empirical aspects of Faith prove fruitless until Jack reaches an extreme interpretation of Faith being made manifest in the actions of the individual.

The texts Jack has studied regarding Faith all lead him in circles.  As an empirical scientist may be when reading the Bible, Jack is unable to understand the ultimate meaning behind the words because the words are all he sees, and thusly, they are all he is able to believe.  This scene is rich with philosophical symbolism.  The house of cards Jack is attempting to build is an excellent analogy of philosophy itself.  The individual cards represent the basic principles, or axioms, that we ironically have to accept on Faith in order to build up our understanding of the world.  Without first assuming a few axioms, all human activity becomes paralyzed.  For example, the computer you're using is a complex system.  If you're reading this, the computer in question can access the internet.  It can pluck dancing lines of code from the digital ethernet and interpret it as legible text.  This computer is a useful tool, but in using this, you are operation on the assumption that this computer exists at all.  This implies that one of your axioms is belief in the existence of computers.  Now, if you went to the other side of the spectrum and suddenly became a skeptic about the existence of all computers, you would have good reasons to do so, but again, you are operating on an axiom, this time a belief of the non-existence of computers.  Whether or not you believe computers exist, you are still assuming an axiom.  Jack has built up a complex house of cards, a complicated series of fundamental axioms, but since his paradigm is that of the radical empiricist, his house of cards cannot support the weight of an axiom of Faith.

Up until this point, Jack has been scrutinizing things external of himself, but it suddenly occurs to him that it isn't these physical objects that are important.  Faith has no bearing on material matter; it is only of any significance to sentient beings capable of doubt and belief.  If Faith is to manifest itself physically, it can only do so in the actions of the individual, and this is what most profoundly strikes Jack.  Faith is like a seed that grows into a tree, but only if the potential inside the seed is actualized.  Ecstatic at this epiphany, Jack leaps to the conclusion that if Christmas/Faith is to be made real as he believes it must be, he has to make it a reality in himself and others.  His empiricist outlook evolves somewhat when we take a closer look at the words he sings: "It's simply really, very clear, like music drifting in the air, invisible, but everywhere.  Just because I cannot see it doesn't mean I can't believe it!" He has made a huge step towards a more rational, moderate outlook by admitting that something can exist without having physical form.  Jack still believes that for Faith to be really real, it should be made manifest in the actions of people, but he has firmly grasped the concept of an intangible, rational force that can legitimately exist outside the scope of his senses.

Unfortunately, Jack doesn't stop there.  At first his thoughts are that everyone should experience some degree of Faith, as he has.  But Jack, extremist that he is, takes it too far.  He assumes that if Faith can become physical in any sense, it can be improved by means of Reason.  If Faith, by its very nature is such that it doesn't build upon itself as Reason does, then Jack believes it should be made to build.  Feeling in his heart that he is doing the right thing, he proclaims to the citizens of Halloween Town that Christmas will be theirs this year, and that Faith will be embraced and perfected by Reason.  His argument is logical by Reason's standards, so the townsfolk eagerly agree to help him in his scheme.

This is where things might get a wee bit complicated.

If the nature of Faith is such that it will build upon itself without external influence, than Faith must be subdued by Reason.  This is shown in the symbolic kidnapping of Santa Claus, the task of which forces  Jack to call upon the services of Hallween's finest trick-or-treaters, Lock, Shock and Barrel, all of whom are associated with the darker figure in Halloween Town, Oogie-Boogie the Boogie Man.  Jack trusts the three devils with the task of capturing St. Nick, but they have their own plans, all revolving around the ambition of their master.  Santa is abducted from Christmas Town, and Lock and company take him to Oogie-Boogie's lair.

5.  Santa Claus falls into the clutches of Oogie-Boogie, the collective incarnation of Reason that refuses to acknowledge Faith.

Oogie-Boogie is a gambling Boogie Man.  He represents a side of Reason that puts more stock in chance than anything else.  It is completely Faithless, selfish, immoral and unwilling to even open itself to the idea of something greater than itself.  In other words, his view of the universe is completely the opposite of a teleological one, a universe of chaos and disorder. We later learn that Oogie-Boogie is actually a collective of insects given shape and form by the sack he wears as skin.  Without these insects, he is helpless and without form.  This weakness represents the fact that a chaotic view of the universe is made strong only by the sheer number of people it attracts and/or by the evils of the world that point to a less ordered universe.  Many brilliant thinkers throughout history have not thought existence was merely the product of chance.  Plato's Demiurge and Aristotle's Unmoved Mover are examples of a counter to Boogie's position.  Though the existence of a creator figure cannot be proven (hence the necessity of Faith), it is still more logically probable than an incredibly complex reality coming about purely by chance.  Oogie-Boogie also mocks Santa/Faith repeatedly, implying that he believes Faith is not a necessity nor a reality.  He is radically empirical, as Jack is, but he is different in that he internally resolves to never accept any force greater than himself or chance.

Notice also a lyrical similarity between Jack and Ooogie-Boogie in the mention of "music in the air."  Earlier, Jack described Faith as being "-like music drifting in the air, invisible but everywhere."  Oogie-Boogie says that to him, "-the sound of rolling dice is music in the air."  Where Jack sees Faith as being an intangible yet omnipresent force, Oogie-Boogie differs in offering that if there is any room for Faith in his worldview, it is only enough for Faith in the sound of rolling dice, Faith in the forces of chance.

While Oogie-Boogie schemes against Jack and plays host to the captive Santa Claus, the Halloween townsfolk are hard at work.  The townsfolk labor hard to make Faith a physical reality, but as good as their intentions are, they are also misguided.  As they work, they chant "Making Christmas, Making Christmas".  They think that Faith is something than can be manufactured by their labor, not something that they need to embrace and actualize.  Jack notices this, but knowing that the townsfolk cannot truly understand Faith as he does (remember that the townsfolk represent the Forms of Reason itself), he does not berate them.

As the work proceeds and Christmas draws nearer, Sally grows more concerned about Jack's plan.  When Jack begins giving out work assignments, he asks Sally to make him a Santa Claus suit so that he may embody Faith through his physical appearance as well as his actions.  Again, the intention is good, but the action is a misguided one.  When Sally makes that point to Jack, he remains oblivious, still obsessed with his idea of making Faith a reality and showing it to everyone.  Sally, though increasingly desperate to convince Jack of his folly, concedes and makes him the suit.

We should ask ourselves "why is Sally so desperate to stop Jack?"  Isn't Jack's raw intention good?  All he wants is to share the wonderful feeling of experiencing Faith.  To make the point more clear, suppose that an idea suddenly occurred to you.  It is not originally yours, but this idea is so incredible and revolutionary that you believe everyone needs to at least hear it.  Suppose also that you believed you could make improvements to the original idea.  Wouldn't you want to share it?  It's exactly the same with Jack.  He's stumbled upon something he believes is very important and he wants to share it with everyone.  Sally is not in conflict with him on this.  Since her premonition was also an experience of Faith (the vision gave her knowledge that she knows without knowing), she knows what he is talking about.  Where she has issue with him is his belief that he can improve Faith by means of Reason.

But wait.  If both Jack and Sally had experiences of Faith, why are they in conflict?  How can two people see truth and not agree on it?  The answer is that they are not truly in conflict because of Faith.  If Faith imparts truth and Reason discerns truth through logic, are they not both true?  Truth cannot conflict with truth because all truth comes from the same source.  The real conflict, then, comes from differing interpretations of the truth.  Jack has seen truth and believes he can improve the means by which this truth is acquired (via Faith).  Sally has also seen truth and realizes that Faith, since it is independent of Reason, cannot be improved.  It simply is.

So far, we have three viewpoints regarding Faith:  Jack says that Faith is to be pursued wholeheartedly and subject to Reason.  Sally believes that Faith and Reason are separately existing spheres (not unlike Thomas Aquinas), different methods to perceive the truth that should not conflict with one another.  And finally, Oogie-Boogie states that Faith is irrelevant because the universe is guided purely by chance, and that the only truth worth finding is the truth we make for ourselves.

Which of these views will ultimately be proven correct?  Will Jack's plan to subdue Faith succeed?  Will Faith and Reason finally find a lasting compromise?  Find out next time when the Idiot posts the final chapter in this philosophical saga!

Faith and Reason in Halloween Town Part 1

Halloween has come and gone, but before it went, I ended up watching Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas three times this year, twice as a film and once as a live stage opera.  I loved the story already, and by this point, Halloween is buzzing in my skull.  Will it let me be?  I cannot tell.

Maybe it's because I was reading Saint Augustine, but a few thoughts occurred to me over my recent viewings of the holiday classic, and I thought I'd share them here.  They led me to a frankly fascinating thesis:  Nightmare Before Christmas is an allegorical explanation of the interactions between Faith and Reason.  It seems a bit far fetched,  but if you keep reading (and if you are familiar at all with the story of Jack Skellington), you just might see what I mean.

I begin by proposing that Halloween Town represents Reason and that Christmas Town represents Faith, and I provide my reasons for thinking so with the following observations.  In Halloween Town, there is an increased propensity amongst the populace to be scientific.  Dr. Finkelstein, Sally's creator, is a bonafide scientist, and owns an entire laboratory complete with advanced scientific equipment.  Sally herself is incredibly adept at alchemy and potion making, which may be in and of itself a slightly outdated science, but is a science nonetheless.  We even see at one point that Jack reads a book simply entitled "The Scientific Method"shortly before conducting a series of experiments.  If you think of the remaining citizens as representations of the Form of Reason, rather than the Form of Halloweeny-Scariness, replacing terms like "scary" with "empirically provable", scenes like Town Meeting make much more sense.  Another fun comparison to make would be that of the Greeks (Reason) and their initial attempts to understand the alien ideas of the early Christian church (Faith).  For a time, the analytical Greeks were at odds with the significantly less analytical Christians.  Just as the logic of the Greeks prevented them from fully comprehending the Christians, the inability of the Halloween folk to grasp the concept of Christmas (Faith) is understandable, considering that they are capable of thinking only in terms of Halloween (Reason).  The main point I make here is that the denizens of Halloween Town only put stock in that which can be empirically proven and disproven.

Christmas Town is a bit trickier to explain, as we see significantly less of it than we do of Halloween Town, and as such, there are fewer examples to be cited.  The only real evidence I can provide is Christmas Town's effect on the character of Jack Skellington.

The best explanation involves a bit of storytelling.  The story opens on the citizens of Halloween Town celebrating (what else?) Halloween, and Jack Skellington, the terrifying Pumpkin King has "-grown so weary of the sound of screams."  He sneaks away from the celebrations to privately express his dissatisfaction with Halloween (or rather a dissatisfaction with radical monism rooted in empiricism). Go ahead and watch the video below, and try to bear in mind the idea of Halloween Town representing Reason.

1.  Jack, the Paragon of Reason, begins to realize that as comprehensive as Reason is, it cannot provide answers to every question.  After a long life of radical empiricism, he begins to long for something more (Faith)

What follows is that Jack, driven by his enigmatic need, wanders aimlessly through the woods, not unlike Dante, who "-went astray from the straight road and woke to find [himself] alone in a dark wood."  The morning after Halloween, Jack passes beyond the boundaries of the Halloween Town he knows, and stumbles upon something peculiar, a door in a tree, bearing the symbol of a Christmas tree.  Whether by accident or some external influence, Jack gets sucked into the door and finds himself transported to a place completely and utterly alien to him.  He comes to know the place by the name of Christmas Town.  Please watch the video below.  Imagine that Jack, a radical empiricist, is encountering something that defies everything his senses tell him, comparable perhaps to a divine revelation of sorts.

2.  Jack experiences something beyond the senses, unable prove or disprove the intangible aura of Faith, but despite this, he is possessed by the obsession to bring the mysterious Faith under the heel of Reason. Little does he know that doing so will not have the desired effect.

You may have noticed by now that Jack is not one to do things by halves.  He's either exuberant or exhausted, happy or sad, almost bipolar.  This is indicative of what he symbolically represents, which is obsessive, radical belief, an ironically faith-like attribute.  He is confident that all the rules of logic can be applied to something like Faith, and with this in mind, he triumphantly returns to Halloween Town, collected specimens in his boney hands.  With more excitement and vigor than he can recall ever feeling, Jack calls for a town meeting to discuss the concept of Christmas and its possible impact on the citizens of Halloween.

3.  Jack's attempts to convey his recent experience with Faith to the townspeople partly fails.  Though the people understand Faith in a purely logical sense, they cannot know what it is in particular what Jack feels.  In the end, Jack must settle for stirring their interest by making Faith sound appealing in a logical, Reason based way.

When Jack returns to explain his experience of Christmas/Faith, he finds that the task is impossible.  He can no more make them understand than he can tell a blind person what a sunset looks like.  This is because Faith is relevant in particular to the individual.  Faith is not something that can be taught, as Jack learns.  To make the point more clearly, imagine talking on the phone with a friend.  Your friend is eating some exotic dish that you've never even heard of.  Having never tasted this food, you have no idea what the experience is like.  Your friend could explain the taste and texture of the food, and this might help refine your conceptions, but no matter how specific the details, the friend's description will not make you realize what the experience of eating this exotic dish is like.

The sometimes incongruent natures of Faith and Reason clash in this scene, particularly in the case of the packaged present Jack displays on the stage.  It isn't difficult to imagine that the present represents the ambiguity of Faith.  It represents the concept of knowledge that can be known without knowing.  Most would describe Faith as being something you learn without the aid of the senses (perhaps through divine revelation[?]) that you know beyond all shadow of doubt.  The individual in question, for example, may know for certain that there is a God, but this knowledge cannot be truly communicated or proven by any reasonable means, and as such, this knowledge is only of use to the individual.  How can people who think strictly in terms of Reason be expected to understand knowledge that cannot be communicated?  How can empiricists be expected to believe that there is a limit to the scope of their Reason?  So it is with the Halloween Townsfolk.  When his attempt to convey the experience of Faith fails, Jack resorts to translating the notion of Faith in terms they can understand.  This excites the townsfolk and sparks an interest in Faith, but Jack sighs that "-at least they're excited, but they don't understand that special kind of feeling in Christmas Land...oh well..."

The relationship between Jack and Sally bears some exposition here, as it is loaded with delicious symbolism.  Sally sympathizes with Jack's emptiness prior to his experience in Christmas Town, and she harbors deep feelings for him that have thus far gone unspoken.  Because of the circumstances regarding her possessive creator, Dr. Finkelstein, she cannot be open with her affections.  One night, after sending Jack an anonymous token of her love, Sally has an unexplained vision that gives her Faith in the error of Jack's thinking, that is to say that she knows without knowing that Jack's thinking will end badly.

She sees a Christmas tree, complete with glistening decorations, burst into flames.  The destruction of the tree, obviously representing the destruction of Christmas and therefore Faith, does not necessarily mean that Christmas and Faith are futile and unworthy of our interest.  It merely means that trying to interpret Faith with Reason is ultimately useless, as we will see later.  While Jack becomes obsessed with trying to solve the riddle of Faith by scientific means, Sally quietly contemplates whether or not what Jack is doing is right. Where Jack represents radical, obsessive Reason that feels the need to explain everything in logical terms, Sally represents a moderate Reason that knows its place in relation to Faith. Despite the curiosity she has in common with Jack, she realizes that Reason does not rule Faith, nor does Faith rule Reason.  The two have a legitimate relationship, but she hopes that the boundaries will be carefully observed.

You know what?  This has turned into a LONG blog post.  Nobody likes reading LONG blog posts, so I'm gonna stop here, but I will continue explaining my thesis in another post soon.

What's going to happen?  Will Jack's experiments and study into Christmas/Faith bear fruit?  Will Faith be understood by Reason, or will Jack's good intentions shake the foundations of Halloween Town?  Stay tuned, and even if you already know the answers, you just might learn something new next time!