Psychological Expanses of Dune: Indigenous Philosophy, Americana, and Existentialism

In Dune and Philosophy: Mind, Monads and Muad’Dib. London: (forthcoming)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Like philosophy itself, Dune explores everything from politics to art to life to reality, but above all, the novels ponder the mysteries of mind. Voyaging through psychic expanses, Frank Herbert hits upon some of the same insights discovered by indigenous people from the Americas. Many of these ideas are repeated in mainstream American and European philosophical traditions like pragmatism and existential phenomenology. These outlooks share a regard for mind as ecological, which is more or less to say that minds extend beyond the brain into the rest of the body and the surrounding environment. The cross-cultural strands in Dune tie closely to Herbert’s life and interests. An outdoorsman born in the Pacific West, he had an abiding bond with a friend from the Quileute tribe, Howie Hansen. Herbert advocated for aboriginal rights and crafted well-intentioned if slightly stereotypical tales about indigenous characters, partly based on his visits with Northwest tribes. Carl Jung (1875-1961), whose idea of collective consciousness echoes aboriginal views, was among Herbert’s European influences. So was existential phenomenology, especially as developed by Martin Heidegger (1889-1976). The names of characters in one of Herbert’s novels—The Santaroga Barrier—in fact coincide with terms that Heidegger used to articulate how emotionally colored coping with our environment defines our existence. Many indigenous philosophers have treated phenomenology and its American cousin pragmatism in approving ways. Indeed, the ideas of North America’s first inhabitants seem to have been absorbed by pragmatists and even earlier by transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) and Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862). These different philosophies all advance a place-based psychology. Anne Waters, herself of mixed tribal heritage, generalizes the mindset of her people this way: “American Indian consciousness, and hence American Indian identity is … interdependent with our land base.” Lee Hester, a Choctaw thinker, adds that practices—not mere beliefs—are most important for native thought. American transcendentalists and pragmatists, as well as European phenomenologists, similarly see hands-on practices and environmental interactions as the core of experience. Extending this a little, they sometimes suggest experience isn’t individual but instead cultural. “Culture” is here understood as interactions within communities that define our worlds and experiences, as when we talk about the “French experience,” “culture” or “world,” or the “experience of parenthood.” This theme also shows up in indigenous thought. Exploring the Dune universe, we find everything from land-based concepts of personal identity, to the idea of sharpening the mind through hands-on training, to collective notions of experience in cooperative tribes or through the genetic memory of central characters. The stories explore fate versus free will in cosmic contexts, introducing views from indigenous thought and the pragmatic philosophy of William James (1842-1910). Different forms of spiritualism mingle to shape minds and cultural mixtures around the globe, and the same occurs in the Dune series. The customs and personalities of characters fuse elements from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, and especially Islam. The series not only highlights that religion shapes psychology, but also that faith connects to place, especially paralleling Judeo-Christian-Islamic desert faiths. In capturing these points, the Dune novels show that “our values, our lifestyles and even the ways we think and feel have been strongly influenced by our locations in history and geography. The study of the human mind is fundamentally the study of place.”

Links

PhilArchive

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Indigenous Existentialism and the Body.Brendan Hokowhitu - 2009 - Cultural Studies Review 15 (2).
Dune and Philosophy: Weirding the Way of the Mentat. [REVIEW]Brittany Caroline Speller - 2020 - Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy 3:1-3.
Meanings and authorships in Dune.Tony Todd - 2009 - Film-Philosophy 13 (1):68-90.
The Political Philosophy of "Dune.".Lawrence Swaine Luton - 1979 - Dissertation, The Claremont Graduate University
Existentialism.Thomas R. Flynn - 2009 - New York, NY: Sterling.
Introducing existentialism.Richard Appignanesi - 2002 - Lanham, Md.: Distributed to the trade in the USA by National Book Network. Edited by Oscar Zarate.
Recherche ďune Foi. [REVIEW]E. S. Forster - 1946 - The Classical Review 60 (1):51-51.
Dune Hills.Ivonne Maib - 1966 - Thought: Fordham University Quarterly 41 (2):282-282.
European Existentialism. [REVIEW]Ed Fleming - 1998 - Review of Metaphysics 52 (2):466-467.
What Is Indigenous Philosophy and What Are Its Implications for Education.Lesley Le Grange & Carl Mika - 2018 - In Ann Chinnery, Nuraan Davids, Naomi Hodgson, Kai Horsthemke, Viktor Johansson, Dirk Willem Postma, Claudia W. Ruitenberg, Paul Smeyers, Christiane Thompson, Joris Vlieghe, Hanan Alexander, Joop Berding, Charles Bingham, Michael Bonnett, David Bridges, Malte Brinkmann, Brian A. Brown, Carsten Bünger, Nicholas C. Burbules, Rita Casale, M. Victoria Costa, Brian Coyne, Renato Huarte Cuéllar, Stefaan E. Cuypers, Johan Dahlbeck, Suzanne de Castell, Doret de Ruyter, Samantha Deane, Sarah J. DesRoches, Eduardo Duarte, Denise Egéa, Penny Enslin, Oren Ergas, Lynn Fendler, Sheron Fraser-Burgess, Norm Friesen, Amanda Fulford, Heather Greenhalgh-Spencer, Stefan Herbrechter, Chris Higgins, Pádraig Hogan, Katariina Holma, Liz Jackson, Ronald B. Jacobson, Jennifer Jenson, Kerstin Jergus, Clarence W. Joldersma, Mark E. Jonas, Zdenko Kodelja, Wendy Kohli, Anna Kouppanou, Heikki A. Kovalainen, Lesley Le Grange, David Lewin, Tyson E. Lewis, Gerard Lum, Niclas Månsson, Christopher Martin & Jan Masschelein (eds.), International Handbook of Philosophy of Education. Springer Verlag. pp. 499-515.

Analytics

Added to PP
2022-03-13

Downloads
180 (#100,726)

6 months
1 (#1,040,386)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Matthew Crippen
Grand Valley State University

Citations of this work

Global Indigenous Philosophy: Remembering the “Us.”.Matthew Crippen - forthcoming - In The Last of Us and Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The reflex arc concept in psychology.John Dewey - 1896 - Psychological Review 3:357-370.
The sentiment of rationality.William James - 1879 - Mind 4 (15):317-346.
Nature.Ralph Waldo Emerson - 1836 - J. Munroe.
Indigeneity, Self-Determination, and Sovereignty.Anne Schulherr Waters - 2002 - American Philosophical Association Newsletter on American Indians in Philosophy.

Add more references