Is the ‘woke’ suspicion of reason rooted in the Enlightenment and Romantic movements? - Vicki Robinson
Black Lives Matter and the ‘Woke’ Movement in general often view reason with suspicion, seeing it as a form of ‘white privilege’. The National Museum of African American History released a chart earlier this year stating that “emphasis on scientific method” and “objective, rational linear thinking” are products of “whiteness” and “white culture”. This was widely shared on social media, and it was rightly mocked and condemned as racist – after all, Islamic culture, amongst others, has contributed hugely to scientific thought.
Is this sort of thinking yet another example of woke eccentricity? Or does it have deeper roots in Western culture – namely the Enlightenment and Romanticism?
The Enlightenment is one of the most important intellectual movements in Western history. A challenge to religion, superstition and monarchy, it ran from around the mid-1600s to the late 1700s, and focused on epistemology (philosophy of knowledge), natural sciences and mathematics. Enlightenment thinkers argued that reason and knowledge are the best way to advance society and that people should aim to rise above their emotions. Along with Ancient Greece, it made important contributions to the development of democracy.
Key Enlightenment figures include great scientific, mathematical and philosophical minds – Newton, Descartes and Voltaire being just a few examples. More recently, Toussaint Louverture, leader of slave revolts and bringer of independence to colonial Haiti, has been belatedly celebrated as an Enlightenment hero.
The Enlightenment, however, very quickly found itself facing a backlash in the form of its polar opposite – Romanticism. Believing that self-awareness through emotion, not science, is the key to improving society. Romantics defined themselves in opposition to the Enlightenment. For them, subjectivity, intuition and transcendent experience were the main focus. They also emphasised the importance of connecting with nature.
Artists, musicians, poets and writers dominated the movement, including Wordsworth, who found transcendence in the beauty of the Lake District. Others include Goethe; Rousseau; and Victor Hugo, author of Les Misérables. German artist Caspar David Friedrich summarised the movement: “The artist’s feeling is his law”.
It is easy to see why this rebellion occurred. Focusing entirely on reason and logic can create a very cold, mechanistic world devoid of heartfelt feeling and transcendent experience. Indeed, Europe’s mechanistic slave trade, more brutal than any seen before, could be linked to the evolution of this way of thinking. But, Romanticism had a shadow side too, shown in the drug addiction and chaotic lives of some of its practitioners. Being ruled by emotion can be dangerous.
A parallel situation has emerged today. We are living through an unprecedented technological revolution that is changing the way we think and live way beyond anything 18th century thinkers could have predicted. Computing, A.I. and robotics are taking reason and logic to new heights. This, along with increasing secularism, is an Ultra-Enlightenment.
Almost simultaneously, a huge outpouring of emotion has emerged on social media alongside a highly therapeutic culture – pop music, for example, is much more introspective than in previous decades. The Woke Movement, with its extreme focus on subjective experience and denial of objectivity, is central to what can only be described as Ultra-Romanticism.
This Ultra-Romanticism appears to be a response to the Ultra-Enlightenment. Yet, whereas the original Romantics simply rebelled against the Enlightenment, the woke seek to destroy such values. Many use potential hurt feelings to censor debate and some even dispute that 2+2=4.
Some have argued that the Woke Movement seeks to take us back to pre-Enlightenment times and is a quasi-religious cult. This is indeed possible. Free, open societies depend on order, reason and debate – without them, they would likely revert to the default human state of dominance. This would leave little space for the inner reflection (or self-obsession) favoured by the Woke. Also, given our excessive reliance on technology, there is a risk of total societal breakdown.
An ordered society based on reason gives people the space to explore their inner world. Enlightenment values act as a container for our Romantic instincts. It is imperative that Western society finds a balance between reason and emotion, order and spontaneity, objectivity and subjectivity. If we do not, we risk losing freedoms built up over centuries.
Vicki Robinson
@storiesopinions