ABSTRACT
I HA VE in fact already begun the study of tragic man, and I shall be continuing it in one form or another throughout the book. For it is impossible to make a clear distinction between the three elements that I have described as forming the tragic vision-God, the world and man-since each can exist and be defined only by reference to the two others. In itself, the world is not contradictory and ambiguous, and not every mind sees it with these qualities. It only becomes contradictory and ambiguous when a man lives wholly in order to achieve absolute and impossible values. Even then, however, a distinction has to be made, for we must realise that tragic vision occurs only when the two elements of the paradox are both carried to their final conclusion. Thus, a man can live for absolute values, and yet do nothing more than vaguely desire them in his thoughts and dream. He thus becomes a Romantic character, and such an attitude is completely opposed to any genuine tragedy. Or, on the other hand, a man can spend his life in an attempt to achieve those relative values which are accessible to mankind. His attitude towards experience may then be that of rationalism or empiricism if he does not believe in God, or of Thomism if he is a Catholic. Or, again, if he is a revolutionary he may accept the viewpoint of dialectical materialism. But whatever he does, he will not be a tragic character.
