Gombrowicz and Science

An analysis of Gombrowicz's attitude towards science shows that it is based on an oxymoron: science does not lead to real knowledge about the world, but “muddles” and “reduces”. Gombrowicz was very much aware of the opposition between art and science, yet he was not prepared to accept the early modernist idea of “art for art's sake”. He perceived in this concept the same striving for “economy, purity, quintessence” that had led science astray, alienating it from reality. Especially dangerous was the demand of “objectivity”. Paradoxically this scientific postulate had been accepted by modernist art as its own “internal value”. According to Gombrowicz art should not follow the lead of science, but shake off its fetters. The author should not attempt to hide his self, but expose it to its utmost. Here we are confronted with a fresh paradox. Gombrowicz's hostility to science seems, from the point of the development of social science, a misunderstanding. It could even be argued that several areas of contemporary scientific humanities were created by him. Of course, these areas are not (in Gombrowicz's case) the objects of ordinary scientific research. They are acts of “Witold Gombrowicz”, apprehending himself.