War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER II

Description

IF ONE ADMITS, as historians do, that great men lead humanity to the

attainment of certain ends, such as the aggrandisement of Russia or of France,

or the balance of power, or the diffusion of the ideas of the revolution, or of

general progress, or anything else you like, it becomes impossible to explain

the phenomena of history apart from the conceptions of chance and

genius.

If the object of the European wars of the beginning of this century had been

the aggrandisement of Russia, that object might have been attained without any

of the preceding wars, and without invasion of foreign territory.

If the object were the aggrandisement of France, that aim might have been

attained apart from the revolution and the empire. If the object were the

diffusion of ideas, the printing of books would have attained that object much

more effectually than soldiers. If the object were the progress of civilisation,

one may very readily assume that there are other more effectual means of

diffusing civilisation than the slaughter of men and the destruction of their

property.

Why did it come to pass in this way and no other? Because it happened so.

“Chance created the position; genius took advantage of it,” says

history.

But what is chance? What is genius?

The words chance and genius mean nothing actually existing, and

so cannot be defined. These words merely denote a certain stage in the

comprehension of phenomena. I do not know how some phenomenon is brought about;

I believe that I cannot know; consequently I do not want to know and talk of

chance. I see a force producing an effect out of proportion with the

average effect of human powers; I do not understand how this is brought about,

and I talk about genius.

To a flock of sheep the sheep who is every evening driven by the shepherd

into a special pen to feed, and becomes twice as fat as the rest, must seem to

be a genius. And the circumstance that every evening that sheep does not come

into the common fold, but into a special pen full of oats, and that that same

sheep grows fat and is killed for mutton, must present itself to the minds of

the other sheep as a singular conjunction of genius with a whole series of

exceptional chances.

But the sheep need only cease to assume that all that is done to them is with

a view to the attainment of their sheepish ends; they need only admit that the

events that occur to them may have ends beyond their ken, and they will at once

see a unity and a coherence in what happens with the fatted sheep. Even though

they will not know for what end he is fattened, at least they will know that all

what happens to him does not happen by chance, and they will have no need to

resort to the conception of chance, nor to the conception of

genius.

It is only by renouncing all claims to knowledge of an immediate

comprehensible aim, and acknowledging the final aim to be beyond our ken, that

we see a consistent whole in the life of historical persons. The cause is then

revealed to us of that effect produced by them out of proportion with the common

powers of humanity; and we have no need of the words chance and genius.

We have only to admit that the object of the convulsions of the European

nations is beyond our knowledge, and that we know only the facts, consisting

mainly of murders committed at first in France, then in Italy, then in Africa,

in Prussia, in Austria, in Spain, and in Russia, and that the movements from

west to east and from east to west constitute the essence and end of those

events, and we shall not need to see something exceptional—genius—in the

characters of Napoleon and of Alexander, and shall indeed be unable to conceive

of those persons as being in any way different from everybody else. And far from

having to explain as chance those petty events, which made those men what

they were, it will be clear to us that all those petty details were

inevitable.

When we give up all claim to a knowledge of the final end, we shall clearly

perceive that just as we cannot invent any flower or seed more truly appropriate

to a plant than those it produces, so we cannot imagine any two persons, with

all their past in such complete congruity down to the smallest details, with the

part they were destined to play.

$$ Buy "War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER II" on Amazon $$

Please check the description for download links if any or do a search to find alternative books.

Can't Download?
Please search mirrors if you can't find download links for "War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER II" in "Description" and someone else may update the links. Check the comments when back to find any updates.

Search Mirrors
Maybe some mirror pages will be helpful, search this book at top of this page or click here to find more info.

1. Ebooks list page : 85
2. War And Peace: Epilogue 2 - CHAPTER I
3. War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER IV
4. War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER V
5. War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER VI
6. War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER VII
7. War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER XIV
8. War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER IX
9. War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER X
10. War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER XI
11. War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER XII
12. War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER XVI
13. War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER III
14. War And Peace: Epilogue 2 - CHAPTER IV
15. War And Peace: Epilogue 1 - CHAPTER I
16. War And Peace: Epilogue 2 - CHAPTER II