The Evolutionary Existentialism of Emerson and Paz

There is a kind of evolutionary existentialism that appears in the work of Emerson and Paz which emerges from a dialectic between the ideas of the particular and the general that simultaneously acknowledges a reason for hope and for despair. As Emerson says, every man is wanted, there is reason for hope, and no man is wanted much, hence, despair. A similar dialectic is articulated by Paz, he calls it the “dialectic of solitude,” which is a dialectic of our utter aloneness, despair, and, via myth and fiesta, our communion, hope. I shall discuss the evolutionary, by which I mean, the naturalized, origins of this dialectic in connection with Emerson and evolution, and then pick up the metaphor of the labyrinth from Paz. I will consider the contemporary labyrinth that entraps us, and use Emerson and Paz to find a way out.