On Consolation and on Consolations

Abstract

I must first apologize because I shall speak about an unfashionable subject. There is something obsolete (is there not?) in the fact that someone from the continent of Europe should speak about consolation — a subject which is quite out of fashion there. People on the continent speak about desolation, not consolation; about anxiety, sorrow, and — as the Germans say — “vom Wesen des Nichts.” Europeans teach us that “das Nichts nichtet,” that “the nothing” has a “nothingmaking” action. These are the beauties of existentialism; here is the depth of the philosophy of depth! By comparison, is it not merely trivial to speak about consolation?

A lecture given at Leicester University, May II 1968.