Lendlings from Colin McGinn’s approach to Sh’s Philosophy…

…So dipping into Sh’s philosophical perspective we find a slew of themes which any decent philosopher (ie anyone who thinks about what life is all about) encounters today. Such as:

* Skepticism and the possibility of human knowledge
* The nature of self and personal identity
* The understanding of causation (no cause, no cause)
* The existence and nature of evil
* The formative power of language

Are you epistemologically at sea?
Do you strive for epistemological perfection?
Does your epistemological modesty prevent your full blown skepticism?
Is your desire for knowledge thwarted by illusion, error and uncertainty?
How much more can we know than we actually know nothing?

Enter the world of the skeptic. A philosophical tradition Shakespeare got from the arch Euro-skeptic Michel de Montaigne. Let’s compare the two.

Montaigne = dramatic, anecdotal, poetic, powerful writer
His Essays = personal lively pungent exposes of his self-knowledge
His Style = persuasive, affective, full of rugged wisdom and brutal honesty.

In a word: Unflinching.

Sound familiar Shakesphereans?

Death is never far from their discourse; a steady eyed contemplation of its terrors and mysteries.
Their contrarian skepticism is highlighted in the problem of Other Minds: the interior-exterior split, the private-public dichotomy, personal-social relations. This last contained in one anxiously telling axiom

my knowledge of my mind opposed to your knowledge of my mind.

SELF is a drama.

Drama comprises a number of selves (my her him your) in some kind of interaction.
Drama concerns conscious beings equipped with a suitably rich psychology.
Drama also concerns the individual self as it exists over time.

Self leads to our projected personality and character as described by Others.
Are personality and character then a metaphysical essence, or a social construct?
What effect does madness have on personality? Is there a psychological metamorphosis?
What is identity? same as it ever was? How do sleep and dreams affect the self?

The Self is interactive and theatrical. it is a form of role-playing. All the world is a stage, he says. But how well do you know your part? Self-knowledge is not always reliable. Think but on abnormal states of mind, hallucinations, dreams, insanity. The mind is subject to rational and extra-rational conflicting forces.

We are Homo Dramatis conflicting Men of Action and Men of Imagination. Shakespeare dealt his characters sharp epistemic shocks, about who they actually were as opposed to who they thought they were. His dramas are psycho-dramas, where significant action takes place inside the characters’ souls.

He offers us the human mind as we recognise it. He is a moral psychologist. This shocking familiarity is what makes this writer live. Plainspoken, forthright accurate honesty is Sh’s primary virtue. The universe around seems to operate with sublime indifference to the moral status of humans.

Shakespeare is most conspicuous in his absence from his writings. He reflects rather than constructs. He represents human nature as he observed it. Reality imposed itself on his vision. And the world never looked the same again.

The word ‘lendlings’ in the title is actually ‘lendings’. I misread it but it lent itself to my imagination in the sphere of foundlings.

So this post closes with a grateful acknowledgement to Colin McGinn for lending his intellect to these questions. His book is filled with insights into the plays MND, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and especially King Lear.

Further he deals with general themes, gender, psychology, ethics, tragedy and the truth behind Shakespeare’s genius.