Cosmicism
Cosmicism is the literary philosophy developed and used by the American writer H. P. Lovecraft in his fiction.[1][2] Lovecraft was a writer of philosophically intense horror stories that involve occult phenomena like astral possession and alien miscegenation, and the themes of his fiction over time contributed to the development of this philosophy.[3]
The philosophy of cosmicism states that "there is no recognizable
Analysis
Cosmicism and human centric views of the universe are incompatible.[2][9] Cosmicism shares many characteristics with nihilism, though one important difference is that cosmicism tends to emphasize the insignificance of humanity and its doings, rather than summarily rejecting the possible existence of some higher purpose (or purposes); e.g., in Lovecraft's Cthulhu stories. It is not the absence of meaning that causes terror for the protagonists, as it is their discovery that they have absolutely no power to change anything in the vast, indifferent universe that surrounds them. In Lovecraft's stories, whatever meaning or purpose may be invested in the actions of the cosmic beings is completely inaccessible to the human characters.[10]
Lovecraft's cosmicism was a result of his feeling of humanity's
Lovecraftian characters notably become insane from the elimination of recognizable geometry.[14] Lovecraft's work also tended to impress fear of the other onto the reader, such as in "The Dunwich Horror" and "Dagon", often portraying that which is unknown as a terrible threat to the rest of humanity.
Cosmic indifferentism
Though cosmicism appears deeply pessimistic, Lovecraft thought of himself as neither a
Though personally irreligious, Lovecraft used various gods in his stories, particularly the
See also
- Absurdism
- Apatheism
- Determinism
- Existential nihilism
- Existentialism
- Fatalism
- Lovecraftian horror
- Misanthropy
- Misotheism
References
General references
- Johnson, Brian (2016). "Prehistories of Posthumanism: Cosmic Indifferentism, Alien Genesis, and Ecology from H. P. Lovecraft to Ridley Scott". In Sederholm, Carl H.; Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew (eds.). The Age of Lovecraft. JSTOR 10.5749/j.ctt1b9x1f3.9.
- ISBN 0-440-50660-3.
- ISBN 1-932416-18-8.
- Fossemò, Sandro D. (2010). Cosmic Terror from Poe to Lovecraft. Italy.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Reddy, M. V. Lakshmi (2015). "'Cosmicism' the True Eternal Theism: Realising the Supreme Cosmic Reality through Basic Cosmic Education for Global Adults". Indian Journal of Adult Education. Vol. 76, no. 4. pp. 15–32.
- Reddy, M. V. Lakshmi (2021). "Cosmicism, Eternal, Supreme, Scientific Theism-cum-Philosophy". University News - A Weekly Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 59, no. 30. pp. 8–13.
Inline citations
- ^ Joshi, The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft, p. 12.
- ^ a b "Seven surprising ways H.P. Lovecraft influenced our pop culture (5. Bleak Philosophy)". BBC. Archived from the original on 20 May 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
Lovecraft dubbed his view of the world 'cosmicism', in which all the achievements and inherently noble qualities of humans and humanism pale in comparison to the vast indifference of the rest of the universe.
- ^ Davis, Sarah S. (19 February 2019). "Your Introduction to the Cosmic Horror Genre". BOOKRIOT. RIOT NEW MEDIA GROUP. Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
Lovecraft's fiction established the Cosmicism literary philosophical movement, of which cosmic horror is one example.
- ISBN 9781927091265. Archivedfrom the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
Cosmicism [is] [t]he literary philosophy…stating that there is no recognizable divine presence, such as God, in the universe, and that humans are particularly insignificant in the larger scheme of intergalactic existence.
- ISBN 978-1503007161.
This [Lovecraftian] paralysis is caused by the realization that the underlying problem…[is] that incalculably large void which envelopes us all.
- ^ Philosophical Team (15 March 2019). "HP Lovecraft: The Cthulhu myth, upside down Kant's horror" [H.P. 洛夫克拉夫特:克蘇魯神話,顛倒康德的恐怖]. Hong Kong News (in Traditional Chinese). Hong Kong 01 Ltd. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
'Cosmicism' [is such that] [t]he universe transcends human imagination and is unimaginably huge. When human beings…face this near-infinite macro…[they] will feel extreme fear, and they are on the verge of madness because of their smallness and absolute powerlessness. The fear of the 'wake' people facing the great existence constitutes the core idea of Lovecraft's horror literature.
- ^ Baldwin, Matthew (15 March 2012). "H.P. Lovecraft, Author, Is Dead". tmn. The Morning News LLC. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
The defining feature of Cosmicism is…the utter insignificance of [hu]man[kind].
- ISBN 978-1503007161.
Julia Kristeva defines the void as 'the unthinkable of metaphysics'…[T]he void…is that which lies beyond comprehension…[an inability] to correlate what we see with [what we] previously understood…This is the horror of the void: humans coming face to face with displacement, alienation, and the meaninglessness of life in the universe
- ^ Wiley, C.R. (24 August 2017). "Lovecraft's Cosmicism: What it Is, How It Works, and Why It Fails". patheos. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
Cosmicism is based on the idea that humanism is an illusion.
- ^ Philosophical Team (15 March 2019). "HP Lovecraft: The Cthulhu myth, upside down Kant's horror" [H.P. 洛夫克拉夫特:克蘇魯神話,顛倒康德的恐怖]. Hong Kong News (in Traditional Chinese). Hong Kong 01 Ltd. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
For Kant, the island on which human beings are located is the only place of truth (meaning true knowledge)…But for Lovecraft, the island is called 'ignorance'...[the Lovecraftian gods'] actions, thoughts, and moral values are completely incomprehensible to human beings, and the gods are indifferent to human life and values.
- ^ Fritz Leiber "A Literary Copernicus," Discovering H. P. Lovecraft, ed. Darrell Schweitzer (1987).
- ^ Price, "Lovecraft's 'Artificial Mythology'", An Epicure in the Terrible, p. 247.
- ^
Price, "Introduction", The New Lovecraft Circle, pp. xviii–xix. Price writes: "One seeks forbidden knowledge, whether wittingly or, more likely, unwittingly, but one may not know till it is too late... The knowledge, once gained, is too great for the mind of man. It is Faustian knowledge. Knowledge that destroys in the moment of enlightenment, a Gnosisof damnation, not of salvation."
- ISBN 978-1503007161.
[O]f [Lovecraft's] extra-dimensionality…[i]t is the horror of unknown interiors, the failure of our geometry.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-9220-0.
- ^ Price, "Lovecraft's 'Artificial Mythology'", p. 249.
- ^ "S.T. Joshi Interview – Acid Logic e-zine". www.acidlogic.com. Archived from the original on 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2006-05-26.
- ^ Mariconda, "Lovecraft's Concept of 'Background'", pp. 22–3, On the Emergence of "Cthulhu" & Other Observations.
- ^ Burleson, "The Lovecraft Mythos", Survey of Science Fiction Literature, p. 1284.