Roger ShattuckWhat is ‘Pataphysics
1. ‘Pataphysics is the science of the realm beyond metaphysics; or, ‘Pataphysics lies as far beyond metaphysics and metaphysics lies beyond physics – in one direction or the other.
Now, metaphysics is a word which can mean exactly what one wants it to mean, whence its continuing popularity. To Aristotle it meant merely the field of speculation he took up after physics. The pataphysician beholds the entire created universe, and all others with it, and sees that they are neither good nor bad but pataphysical. Rene Dumal, writing in the twentieth century said that he proposed to do for metaphysics what Jules Verne did for physics. ‘Pataphysics, then, entering the great beyond in whatever direction it may lie, offers us a voyage of discovery and adventure into what Jarry called “ethernity”. That, of course, is where we all live.
2. ‘Pataphysics is the science of the particular, of laws governing exceptions.
The realm beyond metaphysics will not be reached by vaster and vaster generalities; this has been the error of contemporary thought. A return to the particular shows that every event determines a law, a particular law. ‘Pataphysics relates each thing and each event not any generality (a mere plastering over of exceptions) but to the singularity that makes it an exception. Thus the science of ‘Pataphysics attempts no cures, envisages no progress, distrusts all claims of improvement in the state of things, and remains innocent of any message. ‘Pataphysics is pure science, lawless and therefore impossible to outlaw.
3. ‘Pataphysics is the science of imaginary solutions.
In the realm of the particular, every event arises from an infinite number of causes. All solutions, therefore, to particular problems, all attributions of cause and effect, are based on arbitrary choice, another term for scientific imagination. Gravity as curvature of space or as electro-magnetic attraction – does it make any difference which solution we accept? Understanding either of them entails a large exercise of scientific imagination. Science must elect the solution that fits the facts – travel of light or fall of an apple. ‘Pataphysics welcomes all scientific theories (they are getting better and better) and treats each one not as a generality but as an attempt, sometimes heroic and sometimes pathetic, to pin down one point of view as “real”. Students of philosophy may remember the German Hans Vaihinger with is philosophy of the als ob. Ponderously yet persistently he declared that we construct our own systems of thought and value, and then live “as if” reality conformed to it. The idea of “truth” is the most imaginary of all solutions.
4. ‘Pataphysics, all things are equal.
The pataphysician not only accepts no final scientific explanations of the universe, he also rejects all values, moral, aesthetic, and otherwise. The principle of universal equivalence and the conversion of opposites reduce the world in its pataphysical reality to particular cases only. All the more reason, indeed, that the pataphysician should enjoy “working” and in the most diverse ways, should respond to all the normal (and “abnormal”) appetites of the flesh and spirit, should sometimes behave with considerateness toward his neighbor and even fulfill a “responsible” role in society. ‘Pataphysics preaches no rebellion and no acquiescence, no new morality nor immorality, no political reform, no reaction and certainly no promise of happiness nor unhappiness. What would be the use, all things being equal?
5. ‘Pataphysics is, in aspect, imperturbable.
Jarry was regarded by most of his contemporaries as a joker or a lunatic. Here lie the first errors of incomprehension. ‘Pataphysics has nothing to do with humor or with the kind of tame insanity psychoanalysis has drummed into fashion. Life is, of course, absurd, and it is ludicrous to take it seriously. Only the comic is serious. The pataphysician, therefore, remains entirely serious, attentive, imperturbable. He does not burst out laughing or curse when asked to fill out in quadruplicate a questionnaire on his political affiliations or sexual habits: on the contrary, he details a different and equally valid activity on each of the four sheets. His imperturbability gives him anonymity and the possibility of savoring the full pataphysical richness of life.
6. All things are pataphysical; yet few men practice ‘Pataphysics consciously.
No difference in value, only in state, exists between ordinary men and those who are consciously aware of the pataphysical nature of the world, including themselves. The College of ‘Pataphysics is no better and no worse than the French Academy or than the Hillsdale Garden Club of Men’s Auxiliary Committee of Three on Poison Ivy Extermination. The College, however, being aware of its own nature, can enjoy the spectacle of its own pataphysical behavior. And what science but ‘Pataphysics can cope with consciousness, “self”-consciousness perpetually twisting out of itself into the reaches of ethernity? Pere Ubu’s monstrous gidouille or belly is represented by a spiral, which Dr Faustroll’s ‘Pataphysics transforms into a symbol of ethernal consciousness circling forever around itself. Symbol? By now all words are pataphysical, being equal.
7. Beyond ‘Pataphysics lies nothing; ‘Pataphysics is the ultimate defense.
Like the sorcerer’s apprentice, we have become victims of our own knowledge –principally of our scientific and technological knowledge. In ‘Pataphysics resides our only defense against ourselves. Not that ‘Pataphysics will change history: that great improvisation of the past already belongs to the Science of Sciences. But ‘Pataphysics allows a few individuals beneath their imperturbability to live up to their particular selves; Ubu or Faustroll, you or I. Outwardly one may conform meticulously to the rituals and conventions of civilized life, but inwardly one watches this conformity with the care and enjoyment of a painter choosing his colors – or perhaps of a chameleon. ‘Pataphysics then is an inner attitude, a discipline, a science, and an art, which allows each man to live his life as an exception, proving no law but his own.
Published in the Evergreen Review in 1960
