Naturalist Philosophy

A detailed Summary of Naturalist Philosophy

"That Zola's is not purely romantic as was Hugo's, lies chiefly in the choice of milieu. These great terrible dramas no longer happen among the personnel of a feudal and Renaissance nobility, those who are in the forefront of the marching world, but among the lower - almost the lowest - classes; those who are falling by the roadway. This is not romanticism - this drama of the people working itself out in blood and ordure. It is not realism. It is a school by itself, unique, somber, powerful beyond words. It is naturalism"

Frank Norris "Zola as a Romantic Writer"

Human progression and the coming of the industrial age brought forth great social and economic change in the United States. A series of factors, including rapid industrialization, extensive European immigration, and swift urbanization gave birth to a new social class in America: the proletariat. There emerged a noticeable class distinction between the affluent bourgeois capitalists and the impoverished working masses. In a new world of poverty, suffering, and degradation, the Romantic ideal seemed intangible and implausible. Consequently, a new philosophical and literary movement arose which sought to portray the reality of late nineteenth century

Naturalists reasoned that man's determinism was a result from his instinct, emotions, or social and economic conditions. Because man could not alter these factors, he was subject to a biological and economic determinism. Charles Darwin developed the notion of biological determinism in The Origin of Species. The first two chapters of the work, entitled "Variation under Domestication" and "Variation under nature" argue that animals and their actions are dictated by their nature and/or domestication. The Naturalist movement fused this environmental (or biological) determinism with the doctrines of social determinism, as developed by German philosopher Karl Marx. Marx argued that man belonged to one of two classes: the thesis or the antithesis. The thesis class, who were the bourgeoisie of capitalist society, oppressed the antithesis, or more numerous proletariat classes. Members of these classes were bound to a system of "dialectic materialism" from which they could never flee.

Naturalism, as a philosophy and its literature, attempts to portray the world as it is, much like the 19th century realists. However, the Naturalist depicts an amoral world in which the chains of determinism bind man; this determinism is dictated by his heredity, his environment, and the natural forces of his society.

Frank Norris' McTeague character is a classic example of this interplay between the instinctual drives and environmental conditions of an individual. By referring to his characters as "human beasts", Norris implies that all men are driven by their ins

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Approximate Word count = 1052
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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