The Search cannot be conquered alone

Walker Percy creates a cosmos in which human interaction is necessary. He presents man as a being which is unique, unlike that of any other creature. In his Lost in the Cosmos, he speaks of how, although man has continually tried to prove that other animals have the capacity to learn language, all attempts have fallen short (“Cosmos” 94). Moreover, it is this uniqueness of man that allows him to have an added dimension to his interaction with others and the world. You can teach a pigeon a command, or condition them to make a certain response. Take for example B.F. Skinner’s pigeons who learned to match a particular color to the word for that color in order to receive food. But, with man there is another level of interaction which can never occur with a pigeon, or any other animal; “The human's behavior cannot be understood within the S-R paradigm because there is no direct relation between the sound "ball" and the ball itself, nor is the learning of the relation a conditioned response." When man sees the name of a color he does not recognize it as a trigger into action, but instead he is able to recognize the meaning behind the letters, he sees the word as a symbol/ sign representing something else.

Now, this ability of man to use signs makes him a triadic being. In other words, for man to use language, there are three necessary parts: a signifier (the one introducing the sign), a referent (the object or thing which the sign is referring to), and Dasein (the being who is receiving it) (“Cosmos” 95). Therefore, “all such triadic behavior is social in origin,” for there must be someone to introduce the sign (96). As Percy states, “A signal received by an organism is like other signals or stimuli from its environment. But a sign requires a sign giver. Thus, every triad of sign-reception requires another triad of sign-utterance” (“Cosmos” 96).

So it is understood that Percy believes human interaction is necessary for the use of language, but does this mean that he believes interaction is necessary for one to know their Self?

The answer to this question can be found within Percy’s “Space Odyssey”s. In these provocative short stories, he speaks of one’s own consciousness of Self as being completely dependent on the use of language:

“…in order for the individual consciousness to be activated, it is required that there be a Soc, that is a society, that is, two or more persons; an exchange of Sy, that is symbols; and an Int, that is, an intersubjective relationship in which there is agreement about the symbol used and the thing that is talked about” (“Cosmos” 208).

Therefore, for Percy it is crucial that one have this meaningful interaction of signs if they are to become aware of and ultimately come to know their Self. To take this interaction away would be to deprive man of something “profoundly and uniquely human” (Poteat 10).

Furthermore, in The Moviegoer, one can see Percy’s theories in action. His character Kate has a lost Self. She is constantly troubled by who she is, and ultimately in the end of the novel asks Binx to marry her so that he can continually tell her who she is and what she is supposed to be doing.

Binx: “… I should tell you what to do?”

Kate: “Yes. It may not be the noblest way of living, but it is one way. It is my way! Oh dear sweet old Binx, what a joy it is to discover at last what one is. It doesn’t matter what you are as long as you know” (Percy 196).

Moreover, this marriage does not only have a purpose in Kate’s search for self, but it also has a purpose in Binx’s search as well. It is not until Binx opens himself up to a vulnerable relationship with Kate that he is able to truly rise above the fog of the malaise for the second time in his life. “There I see her plain, see plain for the first time since I lay wounded in a ditch and watched an oriental finch scratching around in the leaves…” (Percy 206). Therefore, one cannot wrest the Self from the everydayness without accepting the help of another. The search cannot be conquered alone.

I commented on Josh Spell's Blog "The Matrix and the Moviegoer"