Kelvin and Jarry:
The Rationale of Making Rationality Ultra-Rational.
In comparing Lord Kelvin’s writings to Exploits and Opinions of Doctor Faustroll ‘Pataphysician by Alfred Jarry, one immediately notices how Dr. Faustroll enacts the thoroughness of science so exactly, and so rigorously that his science of ‘pataphysics takes on characteristics of the absurd. At first it seems a strictly satirical jab at the ideas behind modern science, but there is an element of respect for the ideas put forth in the unusual discussions and integration of Kelvin’s theories into the science of ‘Pataphysics. Jarry analyzes Kelvin’s ideas and supplants them into a realm of the absurd by exploring them so rationally that the ideas become irrational. In leaving the serious scientific implications intact, Jarry performs rational observation so intense it becomes ultra-rational, thereby transitioning into the realm of the absurd by using the measure of science on itself. By doing so he calls into question the very grounds of scientific reasoning and measurement, and Jarry exposes the inherent irrationality of that which is supposed to be rational about science, calling into question those things which sciences, and Kelvin, hold as truth.
One instance of Jarry’s emphasis on the ultra-rational scientific analysis is Dr. Faustroll’s absurd observations in his ‘pataphysical studies. Doctor Faustroll’s first telepathic letter to Lord Kelvin includes the observation that “The body is a more necessary vehicle because it supports one’s clothes, and through clothes one’s pockets” (247). In science it is the human body that is studied, but Dr. Faustroll sees the body only as a vehicle for the pockets in one’s clothes, without which one would not be capable of carrying their “centimeter” or measuring tool. This over-analysis of the purpose of closing takes the focus off of the human body and places it on the clothing merely for its usefulness is carrying a scientific tool. Clothing, an inorganic, senseless object, takes on usefulness not allowed by the limitations of the human body, the source of physical senses. Though the body is important, it is subservient to the clothing, as a “more necessary vehicle” but only a vehicle, nonetheless.
The body becomes a secondary concept to the ‘pataphysician, as Faustroll divorces the senses from the body when he dies, and is then “initiated into the science of all things…have reconquered all perception” (250). For Faustroll, the body is separate from the mind; death, which is understood as a cessation of physical sense, cannot stop him from his experimentation. The senses, at least in some form, are available to him after the death of his body, so it is perfectly reasonable for him to achieve ‘pataphysical understanding without the use of his earth-bound body. In contrast, Kelvin does not differentiate between the body and the senses, instead emphasizing the integration of the senses with the body and the mind when he states: “Now if I were to say that the weight of that piece of chalk is the fourth power of twenty miles an hour, I would be considered fit, not for this place, but for a place where people who have lost their sense are taken care of” (Brown 3). This ties together the body, mind and senses by pointing out that if the mind conceives of this absurd thought, and the body voices that thought as a serious consideration, then a body will put into a place where others “who have lost their sense” are taken. Kelvin also defines for the reader his stance on sanity, for those who are without sense consideration lack the ability to care for themselves, and thus must be institutionalized.
When Faustroll dies he expresses unhappiness at being separated from his ‘pataphysical tools when he telepathically writes: “I no longer had even my tuning fork. Imagine the perplexity of a man outside time and space, who has lost his watch, and his measuring rod, and his turning fork. I believe, Sir, that it is indeed this state which constitutes death” (248). Without his tools for measurement the scientist can no longer draw comparisons between two events, but a ‘pataphysician would hardly need the same tools for measurement in their studies that are similar to those of a scientist. However, without these measuring tools Faustroll is reduced a state that is similar to death, but contradictorily, he is making this comparison while in a state of death, so he is still making measurements of some kind. Death, as Faustroll explains, “is only for common people” but who those people are he does not say, except that he immediately agrees with Kelvin that “if one can measure what one is talking about and express it in numbers, which constitute the sole reality, then one has some knowledge of one’s subject” (247). The common person, based on this description, is one who has no concept of measurement and quantification, and therefore no concept of—in Faustroll’s case—‘pataphysics.
Jarry proposes that ‘pataphysics “will examine the laws governing exceptions” which is in contrast to modern science. Jarry proposes that:
[‘Pataphysics]… will describe a universe which can be…envisaged in the place of the traditional one, since the laws that are supposed to have been discovered in the traditional universe are also correlations of exceptions, albeit more frequent ones, but in any case accidental data which, reduced to the status of unexceptional exceptions, possess no longer even the virtue of originality. (192-193)
‘Pataphysics is content to examine each event on its own, and instead of attempting to correlate each event with others, allows them to be individual occurrences or objects. In this way, ‘pataphysics shows more consideration to the smallest details, analyzing the differences that exist between otherwise identical events. Instead of focusing on the ample similarities, the scarce differences are studied exhaustively, until the point where it is considered absurd by science. Science ignores the exceptions as anomalies, instead choosing to look for patterns and grouping the similar events together in an attempt to construct knowledge of the world. Where there are gaps in perception induction is used to create a rational, perfectly explainable, picture of the world. Based on measurements, history, previous knowledge, and perceived similarities, events are then lumped into various categories based on the similarities of the identical or nearly identical. It devotes energy to the discovery of new correlations which are based on the similarities of events rather than differences.
Measurement is the source of all similarities and differences, and so is the foundation of all scientific knowledge. Kelvin explains the importance of measurement in science when he writes:
The first step toward numerical reckoning of properties of matter, more advanced than the mere reference to a set of numbered standards, as in mineralogists scale of hardness, or to an arbitrary trade standard…is the discovery of a continuously-varying action of some kind, and the means of observing it definitely, and meaning it in terms of some arbitrary unit or scale division. (Brown 1)
Through measurement the scientist can relate to the world, and without it there is no basis for the correlation and categorizing of seemingly similar, albeit isolated events. By measuring an object a direct comparison is being made between two different objects, even though the second object might be absent, like through the use of a meter stick. In this way, the source of measurement is often something completely arbitrary, based on another object completely unrelated to those being measured. For example, Kelvin confirms the origins of the meter when he states that “The metre…was made originally as nearly as possible equal to the ten-millionth of the length of a certain quadrant of the earth” (Brown 4). Thus, all objects that are given a length in meters are compared to an arbitrary piece of earth determined by scientists as a basis for all forms of length measurement.
Though it makes sense to have the ability to compare the lengths of two separate objects in terms of numbers, the source of the meter could be considered absurd. Jarry, however, formulates a super-rational form a measurement that Dr. Faustroll totes as his source of ‘pataphysical measurement: “I carry on me the one thousand millionth part of a quarter of the earth’s circumference, which is more honorable than being attached to the surface of the globe by attraction” (249). This form of measurement may seem absurd, but it is a rational idea when considered with the arbitrary source of the scientific meter, and is in fact “more honorable” because it is a fraction of the circumference of the earth, rather than part of an arbitrary length of ground.
Measurement is one idea that both Kelvin and Jarry agree on, at least in terms of its importance to both science and ‘pataphysics. Kelvin argues:
…a first essential step in the direction of learning any subject is to find principles of numerical reckoning and methods for practicably measuring some quality connected with it…when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about; but when you cannot measure it…it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely…advanced to the stage of science, whatever the matter may be. (Brown 2)
Kelvin makes an epistemological claim that knowledge is defined by its ability to be measured in numbers, by quantity of some kind, though he does not explain what that quantity might be. Therefore, he argues, knowledge can only belong to a person who can measure quantitatively the matter they want to know and science cannot be understood without knowledge. This is the relationship that Kelvin defines between measurements supporting knowledge that, in turn, is the foundation for science. The problem with this relationship is address by Jarry by Dr. Faustroll’s obsession with measurement lending itself to the satire of Kelvin’s measurement-knowledge-science relationship. As knowledge is based on measurement, and is also the foundations for science, yet it is science that establishes the justification for measurement. This creates a circular argument, where each part relies on the other as justification for its conclusions. Jarry over-extends the relationship between measurement-knowledge-science by focusing on the hyperfine aspects of objects.
One example of this overextension of the relationship is Jarry’s description of Dr. Faustroll at the beginning of the novel. Faustroll is described as being born in “1898 (the 20th century was (-2) years old)”, when he was sixty-three years old, and that he was “a man of medium height, or to be absolutely accurate, of (8 x 1010 + 109 + 4 x 108 + 5 x 106) atomic diameters” (183). This exactness in his description is absurd in its accuracy, but by mentioning the preexistence of the 20th century, Jarry puts Faustroll in the realm of the modern science, the golden age of exact measurement. He was conceived in the 19th century, but it is the 20th century that births him, and allows the over-rational absurdity of ‘pataphysics. By focusing on this birth of a century, Jarry is giving the reader a foundation for understanding Faustroll, and though this point in time might seem arbitrary, it is no less unusual than most other forms of scientific measurement. Even Kelvin points that:
“It is interesting, not only in respect to the ultimate philosophy of metrical systems, but also as full of suggestions regarding the properties of matter, to work out in detail the idea of founding the measurements of mass and force on no other foundation than the measurement of length and time” (Brown 3).
In giving not only this exact, albeit absurd, description of Faustroll, along with this unusual date and circumstances of his birth, Jarry is setting the stage for the reader to have a means of measurement to that which we already know. It does not matter that the measurements are absurd or impossible to comprehend; they are still a means for comparison, and a glimpse into the ultra-rational ‘pataphysics.
By making the move from rational to ultra-rational ‘pataphysics is suddenly considered absurdist in its approach to knowledge. Science makes equally absurd moves in its logic, but since the focus is on categories and patterns of information the average person can relate to it, making sense of the explanations given by science to explain the world around them. Kelvin, a widely regarded scientist, gives the example of the infinitesimal satellite, and proceeds to explain why it is a justification for comparison: “These somewhat pedantic words are justified, because “infinitesimal satellite” is nine syllables to express three or four sentences; that is our justification” (Brown 3). By condensing a paragraph down to a few syllables Kelvin is giving a perfect example of science at its best in the defining and categorizing of the even the words on the page. It can be argued that this condensation is just as absurd as any ultra-rationale supplied by a ‘pataphysician such as Dr. Faustroll, no matter how absurd the observations might seem. One standard of arbitrariness cannot be imposed on one form of study, only to be absent from another simply because one explains the world more or less rationally than another without calling into question the ethics of doing so.
Both authors make a claim about the source and value of knowledge, but they do so in very different ways. Kelvin defines knowledge in terms of measurement and quantification, as a support for knowledge, and knowledge, in turn, supports scientific, rational reasoning. Though Jarry also defines knowledge through a form of quantification, it is of a different kind. If ‘pataphysics is the science of the imaginary and particular, then the tools for measurement must also be imaginary or at least based on each and every instance of the particular. In this way, ‘pataphysics might seem arbitrary, but in fact is more rational than science in the rigorousness in which the observations are pursued to explain even the most mundane differences between objects. It may seem absurd to argue against something as simple as the nonexistence of identical objects, but it is also known, even by science, that no two objects in the world are identical. When this is realized, the study of every object and event as its own entity no longer seems absurd, and instead becomes a more rational idea than lumping objects and events into arbitrary categories based on nothing more than their seeming similarities.
Works Cited
Brown, Nathan. "Lord Kelvin, Popular Lectures and Addresses, Vol. 1" Course notes. ENL/STS 164: Writing Science. English/Science and Technology Studies 164. University of California, Davis. February 12, 2009.
Jarry, Alfred. Exploits and Opinions of Doctor Faustroll Pataphysician. Trans. Simon Watson Taylor. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1965.
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