What I Require from Life
J.B.S. Haldane
Introduction to the writer
(John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (1892-1964) was a British-Indian scientist known for his work in the study of physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and mathematics. His formal schooling was done at Eton College and New College at Oxford. He obtained his M.A. in 1914. Soon after, Haldane enlisted in the British Army and served during World War I. After returning from the war, Haldane began his teaching career at University.
Haldane's first paper in 1915 demonstrated genetic linkage in mammals. Haldane was a professed socialist, Marxist, atheist and humanist. His political dissent led him to renounce his British citizenship in 1956 and live in India, becoming a naturalised Indian citizen. His major works include Daedalus (1924), Animal Biology (with British evolutionist Julian Huxley, 1927), The Inequality of Man (1932), The Causes of Evolution (1932), The Marxist Philosophy and the Sciences (1938), Keeping Cool and Other Essays (1940), Science Advances (1947), and The Biochemistry of Genetics (1954).
The essay 'What I Require from Life' (1940), first published in The Daily Worker, reflects socialistic convictions demanding democratic activities in work places. This essay is written in simple and lucid language.)
I have got to accept the universe as it is. I must not require the impossible, and I shall do harm rather than good if I try to imagine perfect beings in a perfect world. But given the world as it is, I can say what I may reasonably hope both for myself and for others
I was born in a peaceful age, and in my youth I looked forward to a life of peace. Since 1914 I have been living in a heroic age, and I see no prospect of surviving into another epoch of peace and quiet. So I must try to make the best of the time in which I live. What do I ask for myself? I assume that I have food, water, clothes, and shelter. First, work, and a decent wage for my work. Aristotle defined happiness, not as a sum of pleasures, but as unimpeded activity. I want work which is hard but interesting, work of which I can see the fruits. I am exceptionally lucky because I can choose my own work to a large extent. If I want a respite from science I can go and be a war correspondent, or write children’s stories, or make political speeches.
So I enjoy a good deal of my second requirement, freedom, in fact vastly more than most people. But I want still more, particularly more freedom of speech. I should like to say and write what I think about Lord Blank’s newspapers, Mr Dash’s pills, and Sir John Asterisk’s beer, all of which are poisonous. The law of libel prevents me from doing so.
I require health. I don’t mind an occasional toothache or headache, or even an acute illness every seven years or so. But I want to be fit for work and enjoyment in the intervals, and to die when I can work no longer.
I require friendship. Particularly I require the friendship of my colleagues and comrades in scientific and political work. I want the society of equals who will criticize me, and whom I can criticize. I cannot be friends with a person whose orders I have to obey without criticism before or after, or with one who has to obey my orders in a similar way. And I find friendship with people much richer or poorer than myself very difficult.
These four things are general human needs. For myself I also demand adventure. Since my life is useful it would be wrong to risk it for the mere sake of risk, as by mountaineering or motor racing. As a physiologist I can try experiments on myself, and I can also participate in wars and revolutions of which I approve. By the way, love of adventure does not mean love of thrills. I spent six weeks in Madrid during the recent siege. The only thrill that I got there was from reading Rimbaud’s poetry. The satisfaction of adventure is something much more solid than a thrill.
There are other things which I desire, but do not demand. I like to have a room of my own with some books, a motor-car, and a daily bath. I should like to have a garden, a bathing-pool, a beach, or a river within easy reach. But I have not, and I bear up quite I am an exceptionally lucky person because I get a good deal of what I want, and can work actively for the rest. But most of my fellows do not enjoy what I regard as essential requirements. And I cannot be completely happy while they are unhappy.
I want to see every healthy man and woman on the planet at work. But everywhere outside the Soviet Union there is unemployment, though very little in Sweden. I am a socialist because unemployment, at least during times of depression, is an essential feature of capitalism. I want the workers to see the fruit of their own work not in profits for others, but in their own and their friends’ well-being. My main personal complaint is that my work is not applied. I discover new biological facts, but no use is made of them, because although the community would benefit, no individuals would make profits from their application.
I want to see the workers controlling their conditions of work as I control my own to a considerable extent. Most work is dull, much of it is unhealthy and exhausting. This need not be the case, and I believe will not be after a few generations of democracy in industry. How pleasant work can be shown by a simple fact. When we have time and money to spare, two of our favourite occupations are hunting and gardening, the work of our paleolithic and neolithic ancestors respectively. I am a socialist because I want industry to be controlled by the workers. Freedom should begin in the workshop.
I want to see every man and woman as healthy as possible. This implies food, housing, and medical attendance of the quantity and quality which human biology demands and modern technique can supply.
I want to see the end of class subjection and sex subjection. Only so will the equality which is the condition for fraternity be achieved. Since the main barriers between classes and the main reasons for the subjection of women are economic, I look to a revolution in the economic field for their end.
I am a socialist because I want to see my fellow men and women enjoying the advantages which I enjoy myself. I know that socialism will not confer all these advantages in an instant, but if I live to see capitalism overthrown and the workers in power through most of Europe I shall die happy.
Certain things are lacking in my list of requirements, notably peace and security. It is futile to require things which one is most unlikely to obtain. Fascism is a living reality, and fascism, as Hitler and Mussolini explicitly state, and prove by their actions, implies war. War is spreading at present. I sincerely hope that it will not spread over the world, as it spread from 1914 to 1917; but I do not look forward to perfect peace till fascism is dead.
I fully realize that peace and security are rightful aims, and that my own desire for violent adventure is probably merely an adaptation to the age in which I live. I am a child of my age, and all the worse for being one. I therefore demand security rather than adventure for others.
I have said nothing about many things which I desire to see, such as a spread of education, and an increasing application of scientific methods in all branches of life. From what I have seen in Russia and in Spain I do not doubt that these and other good things would follow almost automatically if our class distinctions were abolished.
To sum up, for myself I require food, warmth, work, liberty, health, and friendship. For the society in which I live I require socialism.Supplementary to my requirements of life are my requirements of death. Of all men whose deaths are recorded, I consider that Socrates’ was the most enviable. He died for his convictions, when he could easily have survived by betraying them. He died at the age of about seventy, still in full possession of his faculties, but having completed all the work which he could reasonably hope to do. And he died laughing. His last words were a joke.
I do not require of death that I shall be as fortunate as Socrates. A death which fulfils all the three conditions of his is very rare. But if I can achieve even two of them I shall have done well, and though my friends may lament me, I trust that they will not pity me.
NOTES
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.): an ancient Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
Lord Blank, Mr Dash, Sir John Asterisk: names invented for humorous effect
Madrid: the Spanish capital
Rimbaud: Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) was a French poet and the Symbolist.
Fascism: a political system of government led by a dictator having complete power
Hitler: Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was the leader of the Nazi Party who rose to become dictator of Germany (1933–45) whose fascist agenda led to World War II.
Mussolini: Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) was an Italian political leader who became the fascist dictator of Italy (1925-1945).
Socrates (470-399 B.C.): an ancient Greek philosopher
Glossary
ancestors (n.): forefathers, predecessors
confer (v.): grant or bestow (a title, degree, benefit, or right)
decent (adj.): satisfactory, reasonable, fair
enviable (adj.): arousing or likely to arouse envy
epoch (n.): a period of time in history or a person's life
fraternity (n.): brotherhood, friendship
futile (adj.): incapable of producing any useful result; pointless
lament (v.): to express deep regret, grief, or sorrow
libel (n.): a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation
neolithic (adj.): relating to or denoting the later part of the Stone Age
paleolithic (adj.): relating to or denoting the early phase of the Stone Age
prospect (n.): possibility, likelihood
respite (n.): a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant
siege (n.): a military blockade of a city or fortified place to compel it to surrender
thrill (n.): a sudden feeling of excitement and pleasure
unimpeded (adj.): not obstructed or hindered
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