We are introduced to Emmanuel Goldstein’s book called The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, in Chapter IX. Readers will note that the font changes within this chapter from the story itself to Goldstein’s book, indicating the transitions between Winston reading the book and talking about the book. In the beginning, Winston reads the first paragraph of chapter one which is “Ignorance is Strength.” Then, he stops at the end of the paragraph, appreciating the fact that he is reading a book. Winston continues to read but in a different chapter. As he flipped through, he found himself in chapter three and read that until Julia showed up. Once she has shone up, Winston goes back to read chapter one. The interesting part about this chapter was the philosophical approach it had, as Winston read Big Brother’s reasoning for running the government the way they are. It’s fascinating, to say the least, because as I read I saw parallels of Big Brother’s philosophy it reminded me of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy. I also kept going back to Immanuel Kant after seeing Emmanual Goldstein’s first name. I believe that Orwell did this to reference Kantian ideology and show the parallels as well as the differences between the two. We see it when we get a glimpse of the first chapter. The first chapter reads:
Throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in this world, the High, the Middle, and the Low. They have been subdivided in many ways, they have borne countless different names, and their relative numbers, as well as their attitude toward one another, have varied from age to age; but the essential structure of society has never been altered… The aims of these three groups are entirely irreconcilable (Orwell 184).
The passage tells us what conditions that have been present in the world. It follows patterns of rising and falling within the three groups of people. Orwell means that, as the Middle rises to the High, there is always the Low that will be oppressed. By all means, the only people who get to move up are the people in the Middle, not the people in the Low. This is similar to Kantian philosophy because through priori knowledge, pure intuition, people’s experiences are based on what their mind structures. We have seen throughout history people have made a world structure based on having the High, the Middle, and the Low. For instance, in the Middle Ages, there were monarchs, nobility, and commoners which categorized people into three groups much like the three groups Goldstein talks about in his book. One could say that it would mean the world is predisposed to a pattern based on the human’s mind of priori because, “… a priori knowledge is possible only if and to the extent that the sensible world itself depends on the way the human mind structures its experience” ( Michael Rohlf, “Immanuel Kant,” 2023 ed.). Kant is basing the world on what humans have seen through their lives and what they do with those events. It is much like the experiences we see in Goldstein’s chapter one. We see patterns like, “The aim of the High is to remain where they are. The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High. The aim of the Low, when they have an aim– for it is an abiding characteristic of the Low that they are too much crushed by drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives– is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in a which all men shall be equal”(Orwell 201). So the readers see that in Orwell’s world, the cycle has not stopped and the belief in more power is always there much like it was in the past and even today in our world. We have seen groups of people rise and fall but the Low stay the same. It is ironic to see this in 1984 because, in Winston’s life, he doesn’t see the freedom people should be entitled to. He sees the government not only keep the three groups, but stop at the three groups Big Brother has made, the Inner Party, the Outer Party, and the Proles.
However, Goldstein’s theory of freedom is not much different from Kant’s, the only difference is if freedom is practiced. Kant believes human freedom is, “… our consciousness of the moral law, our awareness that the moral law binds us or has authority over us, the “fact of reason. So, in his view, the fact of reason is the practical basis for our belief or practical knowledge that we are free. Kant insists that this moral consciousness is “undeniable,” “a priori,” and “unavoidable” (Michael Rohlf, “Immanuel Kant,” 2023 ed.). Kant is essentially saying since we have a mind of reason we can be free because we have that moral thought. These moral thoughts have helped shape society like scientists who use logic to discover new technology. The problem with this idea is not that Goldstein’s book disagrees with it- no he agrees. The issue is that Big Brother’s theory is that people can’t truly have freedom and equality. In Big Brother’s eyes, they have to prevent people from gaining freedom. So they decide to take Kantian’s fact of reason and skue what humans are being taught. Essentially, Big Brother is taking away the fact of reason by making people ignorant which goes back to the title “Ignorance is Strength.” The government does it by keeping the people in constant fear and hindering any other emotions like love, passion, and happiness. They believe fear and anger keep the people complacent, and it is even mentioned in chapter three of Goldstein’s book, “War is Peace.”
Even in “War is Peace,” we see an overlap of Kantain’s ideas, but less prevalent than in chapter one. In chapter three, there is mention of waging war. Goldstein explains how and why the nation goes to war. The reason Oceania is at war is not because they want to be, but they are at war, for “War was a safeguard of sanity, and so far as the ruling classes were concerned it was probably the most important of all safeguard” (Orwell 198). War was fundamental in Goldstein’s theory due to the reason that all the classes were responsible. So no one class was deemed at fault, it was collective. The irony of me saying it was collective stems from the title of Goldstein’s book, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, but how does this tie into Kantian beliefs? Goldstein’s theory ties to Kantian belief is quite simple. The theory ties into the belief of human autonomy. War ties into human autonomy because Oceania and the other two superstates have put it into law for themselves. Big Brother practiced human autonomy, but the people in each superstate count practiced it. The people must stay under the respected rules and laws that the superstate governments created. In reading chapter three, we as readers learn that all three superstates have similar socialist ideologies. The superstates are going to war to instill peace but through war. Orwell writes it near the end of page 199 saying, “A peace that is truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war.” The sentence seems to be an oxymoron because how can you have peace and war at the same time? You can have war and peace at the same time, you have it going in some places and not others. We can see war going on today and people even believed that going to war was an act to bring peace, so these two nouns have and are still co-existing.
War and ignorance are interesting intakes Orwell presents, making it all the more reason to look closely at what is going on in the world today. We have seen the rise and fall of the higher-status people and the stagnant life of the poor class. We know about Kantian theory and how and when to apply it in our lives but sometimes we forget to acknowledge that some morals can be bad. Orwell writes about the bad morals that parallel our world today by writing Goldstein’s theory. By the end of chapter IX, we see Winston reflecting on the book and noting that he already knew the things that were mentioned. He knew that Big Brother kept people complacent so that there was no true form of freedom. He also knew the war could be fake, as it was a means to keep fear and anger in people’s minds. Winston knew that fear and anger were what kept people from disobeying Big Brother as well but he failed to understand why. Winston won’t understand why until he is locked up in the Ministry of Love. When he is locked up, he understands why, and the reason is what all governments love, power. So looking at the similarities and differences between Emmanuel Goldstein and Immanuel Kant, one can see the beauty Orwell’s references and how our world today is becoming more and more like this.