The Seventh Solitude: Metaphysical Homelessness in Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, and Nietzsche by Ralph Harper (review)

14~ BOOK REVIEWS 1'he Seventh Solitude: Metaphysical Homelessness in Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky , and Nietzsche. By RALPH HARPER. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Paperback Edition, 1967. Pp. 153. $1.95. This is a paperback edition of a book first published in 1965. But in the present format it has enough merit tq be considered anew, both from the point of view of the philosophical content and from the modest cost which now would make this volume available for use in a philosophy class. Dr. Harper's contribution to philosophical discussions of nihilism is a meditative consideration of several features of nihilism, for example, facing the absoluteness of nothingness, the choice to be a loner, the destruction of God, and the difficulties of forming a philosophy of love from this context. Out of the context of these absolutes of solitude, the " dead ends of nihilism," the author hopes to point to a few exists. I don't know if he succeeds. Philosophically speaking, the only " exit " that appears from this study is a nostalgia for a metaphysical home in which earth, man, and justice were 111 unity. But can we justify a metaphysics only on this basis? How is it possible to break out of isolation back into community? Neither Kierkegaard nor Nietzsche succeeded. And it was up to existentialism and phenomenology in our century to put man back into his communal environment . Dr. Harper appends to his book an essay on Augustine and Proust to draw a sharp contrast between a passion for God and' a passion for the earth. These are the two paths open to us (and I agree). But it is difficult to see how they follow from the nihilism of the thinkers represented in this volume. The author contends that this is possible because we are the images of God. A retreat from community to solitude will still lead to a recognition of this fact. From the recognition of God's footsteps in us a path back to the love of earth and a passion for God can be found. This is the Augustinian thesis that truth is within us, that the proper search for truth is introspection. As true as this may be, it remains a difficulty in seeing how Nietzsche's words and life could possibly be interpreted in this way. Kierkegaard too. For, though the latter did in fact find God, he was never able to move back into a " passion " for the world. Stylistically speaking, the author fails to point to a " few exits " as well. Not that his writing style is bad. It is not. But there are so many quotations from diverse authors, even in one sentence, that the thought patterns are broken up. Amazingly enough, these negative aspects of the book serve a positive purpose. And in this purpose the author does succeed. The total effect of reading this volume is one of arresting our attention. Insights leap out at the reader, and he is forced to put the book down and 'think. And although I do not feel any valid " exits " are revealed out of the nihilistic BOOK REVIEWS 148 strain of thought, nevertheless a number of paths are suggested which stimulate our own thinking on these all-important tenets. For this reason Dr. Harper's book would function best as a class-study volume from which student views could be evoked. Dominican HOWle of Studies Wa.tkington, D. 0. DAVID THoMASMA, O.P. ...