Heart Of Darkness Analytical Essay

Heart of Darkness was written during a period of philosophical shift as the idealism of the 1800’s gave way to the analytic philosophies of the 1900’s as academics sought more precise measures of reasoning. Bernard Bolzano would be the main instigator of this shift and, unsatisfied by the inaccuracies of Aristotelian logic, would come to father analytical philosophy, a philosophy based upon the scientific analysis of abstract concepts of propositions and ideas in themselves… independent of thought and language, and the subsequent validity or falsehood of that idea. Conrad captures this aspect of Bolzano’s philosophy by contrasting the validities and falsehoods of European colonization, demonstrating the ramifications of European interference

The african people are referred to as “savages” by the company men and “Transgression and punishment…” of the population must be treated with physical violence as . “...That’s the only way. This will prevent all conflagrations for the future.” (cite). However, by invoking Bolzano’s method of variation, this proposition can be proven wrong by substituting the subject of the idea (natives) with an equivalent subject (Europeans). When changed, the statement that “transgressions of Europeans must be treated with physical violence to prevent conflagrations” is considered morally, historically, and universally untrue, invalidating the original proposition. Concurrently, Conrad describes natives “dying slowly—” clarifying that “They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now— nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom…” (cite) When subjected to the same substitution test, this proposition retains the same meaning, proving the idea universally true. As a result, these concepts come together to portray the humanity of the natives and the false perception of their savagery, extending Conrad’s themes of