A

OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

JOURNAL

Fall 1988

Volume 16 Number 1

Aristide Tessitore

Aristotle's Political Presentation

the

Nicomachean Ethics

23

Victor Gourevitch

Rousseau's Pure State

61

Wilhelm Hennis

Tocqueville's Perspective

87

Charles Butterworth An Account

Islamic

99

Discussion: "The

101

William A. Galston

111

Harry

139

Roger D. Masters

V. Jaffa

Socrates in

of

Closing

of

Recent

of

Nature

Scholarship

in Medieval

Philosophy
of the American

Socratic Reason

Humanizing

and

Lockean Rights

Certitudes

Philosophy, Science,

Mind"

and

and

Impoverishing
the

Opening

American Mind

145

Will

157

Harry

Morrisey
Neumann

How Bloom Did It

The

Closing

of

the Philosophic Mind

Doubts

of

the

Editor-in-Chief

Editors

Hilail Gildin
Charles E. Butterworth

Seth G. Benardete
Hilail Gildin

Howard B.

Robert Horwitz (d.1987)

White (d.1974)

Consulting

Editors

Joseph

Cropsey

Ernest L. Fortin

John Hallowell

Erich Hula

V. Jaffa

Wilhelm Hennis

Arnaldo Momigliano (d.1987)

David Lowenthal

Ellis Sandoz

Michael Oakeshott

Associate Editors

Maurice Auerbach

Wayne Ambler

Michael Blaustein

Colmo

Patrick

Edward J. Erler

Pamela K. Jensen

Goldberg

Mindle

James W. Morris

Manuscript Editor

Design & Production

Subscription
for

Will

Charles T. Rubin

John A. Wettergreen
Hossein Ziai

Coby

Fred Baumann
Christopher A.

Maureen Feder-Marcus

Joseph E.

Gerald Proietti

Leo Strauss

Thompson

Kenneth W

(d. 1973)

Harry

Grant B.

Morrisey
Leslie G. Rubin

Bradford P. Wilson

Michael Zuckert

Catherine Zuckert

Laurette G. Hupman

Martyn Hitchcock

rates

one volume

individual

$7.50: by

$15; institutional $18;

check

U.S.A. There
in

in U.S. dollars

are

three

issues

student

(3-year

limit)
the

and payable within

of interpretation

a volume.

Authors submitting manuscripts are asked to follow

The Chicago Manual of Style. 13th ed., or manuals
based on it, and to send two clear copies of their work.
interpretation, Queens
1

1367-0904, U.S.A.

College, Flushing,

inter >retation
fall

1988

Aristide Tessitore

volume 16 number 1

Aristotle's Political Presentation

of

Socrates

in the Nicomachean Ethics

Victor Gourevitch

Wilhelm Hennis

Rousseau's Pure State

of

Nature

Tocqueville's Perspective:
America in Search

of the

3
23

Democracy

in

"New Science

of

Politics"

61

Charles E. Butterworth

An Account

Recent

of

Medieval Islamic

Scholarship
Philosophy

in

87

Discussion: Five Essay-Reviews of Allan Bloom's Book

William A. Galston

Socratic Reason
Place

of the

and

Lockean Rights: the

University

in

Liberal

Democracy
Harry

V. Jaffa

Humanizing
Doubts:

101

Certitudes

Critique

of

Impoverishing
Closing of the

and

The

American Mind
Roger D. Masters

in

Philosophy, Science,

and

the

Opening

of

the

American Mind
Will

Morrisey

Harry

Neumann

139

How Bloom Did It: Rhetoric

and

Principle in

The

Closing

of the American Mind

The

Closing

of the

Review

of

The

copyright 1988

Philosophic Mind:

Closing

H5
a

of the American Mind

interpretation

157

Aristotle's Political Presentation

Socrates

of

in the Nicomachean Ethics

Aristide Tessitore, A. A.
Assumption College

It may be best to begin by stating what this article does and does not seek to
The subject under consideration is Aristotle's political presentation of

clarify.

Socrates in the Nicomachean Ethics (henceforth

Ethics). The study

discovering
Indeed,

in the

limited

sheds

to

simply

Ethics

the historical

on

works of

Plato, Xenophon,

it is the latter

to the original

who

Aristotle

and

character we

to be

doubt bears

some

interest to

of greatest

to

Socrates.

would appear

a character who no

is

the

as

with a view

distinguish the historical Socrates from the

value since

resemblance

referred

not examine the

(if any) light this book

the effort to

encounter
of

what

follows does

which

of phi

students

losophy.
It is, nevertheless, necessary to qualify this statement in one important
There is one historical fact which is crucial for an understanding of
Socrates; namely, his trial and subsequent condemnation on charges of impiety

respect.

and corruption of the young.

cite

it here because the

About this

significance

fact, however,

of this

there can

be

no

doubt. I

trial and condemnation figures

prominently (whether explicitly or implicitly) in all subsequent accounts of

Socrates. That significance might be stated in a general way as follows: In the
historical figure

Socrates the fundamental tension between the life

of

philosopher and the requirements of

possible

focus;

the

political

justice

and

life

of radical

found

wanting.

death because his activity in

some

able guarantors of public order

gods and the noble.

In

life in the city

inquiry

was

Socrates the
way

was

summoned

undermined

the

some obscure yet

disturbing

are

by

way Socrates

apparent

the

that
of

Socrates,

more

than

any

writings of

in intent it

intransigence, it

an

Plato

event

and

to be

and

death

was

elicited

it

of

Socrates

Perhaps

one

personifies

the

students.

philosopher,

is, philosophy
life. If later generations
as

gain even the partial acceptance of their

was

other

philosophy; that

exigencies of political

Socrates

to

possible penalty.

well-known

say
face

refused

authoritative and praise

historical facts concerning the trial

inseparable from his influence on later generations of

public

deep

to

although vulner

was not subversive

Socrates'

might

to the tribunal of

the shared beliefs of citizens concerning the

worthy by his fellow citizens. If his activity

own
in effect and combined with

These

the

of

sharpest

philosopher was condemned

take his bearings from those beliefs considered most

the severest

brought into

confronts and

is

confronted

of philosophers were to

fellow citizens, the life and death of

This concern is obvious in the

reckoned with.

Xenophon,

several of which are

explicitly

apologetic

in

Interpretation

This

character.

in his

death

since the

were not a

too

is

concern

Although

Aristotle, particularly

writings of

an additional generation

had intervened

religious and political charges against philosophers

Socrates,

of

thing

in the

also present

moral-political works.

of the past as

Aristotle's

own

forced

exile

to Chalcis

made all

clear.1

If philosophy

to be

were ever

accepted

the city, that acceptance would

by

require as a constitutive element a new attitude toward

who

Socrates for his often outlandish and galling manner

Socratic way of life in a new light. If Plato and Xeno
had begun this task, they had not completed it. Could the "gadfly of

had

would
phon

once condemned

have to

Athens"

see the

be

come to

regarded as

the city's

greatest

benefactor
In

36d-e)?2

Socrates gratingly claimed (Apology 30c-e;

to show that Aristotle sought to extend the circle
edge

the truth imbedded in this Platonic

impossible to
civic

its hero-victim; those

life,

mitigate

the

of

what

Platonic

as the

follows I hope

those who might acknowl

assertion.

Although it may

prove

entirely the disruptive consequences of philosophy

Aristotle's

apologetic character of

political writings

is

for

suggested

how philosophy is able to offer respectful

and substantial clarity regarding matters of vital importance for those who bear
primary responsibility for the city.
If the preceding remarks suggest something of the general importance attrib

by

the extent to which

uted to

Socrates

later

by

with respect

something
for focusing

on

this

they

reveal

generations of

to his

work

particular

students, it is also necessary to say

importance in the Ethics. The reason

lies in the fact that the Ethics is

to philosophers but rather to the better sort

ily

literature

gentlemen.3

as

stotle neglects

hope to
most

Ethics

his

the concerns of

point

gentlemen readers

After the death

In the

be

might

course of

to some positive

classical

that Ari

in this work, I

Socrates belongs to what, from the

the dominant horizon of the

called

this study Aristotle attempts to

appreciation

for

Socrates'

life

bring

and

Alexander the Great in 323, Eurymedon indicted Aristotle for

of

Diogenes Laertius, Lives

lest,

philosophically-minded students

presentation of

view,

to in

presume

to foster and in some way shape the best sentiments of his

concern

gentlemen readers.

I.

of

of persons referred

Although I believe it is wrong to

that Aristotle's

show

obvious

not addressed primar

5.5).

as one tradition reports

Aristotle decided to leave Athens before the

it, he

the

give

Athenians

second

matter came

opportunity to

his

teach-

impiety
to trial,

sin against phi

losophy.
2.

by

the

The incompleteness

following

this small band

Socratic

of the apologetic task as

[philosophers] have

time, they have seen sufficiently the

of the cities does anything healthy
3.
and a

(among

statement

others):

it

was undertaken

"Now the

tasted how sweet and

madness of

by

men who

blessed

Plato is further

have become

a possession

suggested

members of

it is. At the

the many, and that no one who minds the

same

business

"

Rep

496c.

Gentleman (xaXoxayaftog) is a term of distinction connoting both social-political status

certain level of moral excellence. The gentleman is a citizen in the fullest and best sense of

the word, one who embodies the

Strauss, Natural

Right

and

History

highest

aims of

(Chicago:

the polis.

University

of

See EE

I248b8-I249al8.

Chicago Press, 1953)

pp.

Cf. Leo

142-43.

Aristotle's Presentation of Socrates in

ing.4

What is

name, but the

good

is

at stake

not

first

Aristotle's

part of

treatment

of

would seem

as an

important

his initial

part of

Socrates

(2)

of

by

It is especially in the Ethics, the

that we find an initial
things,"

life,

presentation of the philosophic

its sensitivity to the

a presen

perspective and concerns of

times in the Ethics. These

appears seven

four

Aristotle's

contexts:

consideration of

irony (ii27b25-26), (3)

and

(4) incontinence (ii45b23-26;

will

be

impressions

conveyed

to speak of

Socrates,

discussion

of

turn.5

in

considered

by

referred

to

the

within

(i) courage (iu6b3-5),

(1144^7-19; 28-30),

prudence

Each

1147^4-17).

Particular

in

seven references can

four thematic treatments. Socrates is

truthfulness and

and

city.

the human

gentlemen readers.

turn be divided into

following

Socrates'

the problematic relationship between philosophy and the city. It

reasonable to view Aristotle's presentation of Socrates in this book

tation which is marked

Aristotle's

essentially the rehabilitation of

the place and importance of philosophy to

influential in the

"philosophy

Nicomachean Ethics

or

merely

acceptance of

those who will be most

the

attention will

be

these references

of

to the various

given

the specific contexts within which Aristotle chooses

as well as

the larger context provided

by

the

movement

the Ethics as a whole.

COURAGE

Socrates
Aristotle's
the

his first

makes

major elements

This thesis

lntyre, for

runs

Socrates

and

A Short

History

influential study
thinker, the
ment, trans.

seeks

evidence
more

occupies within

he

of Ethics (New York:

that treatment.

repudiation of

Macmillan, 1966),

pp.

the morality of

Platonic Socrates: the

repudiated

be judged

on

the

Aristotle

on

the extent to

"developed"

as

his teacher. Aristotle: Fundamentals of his Develop

(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1948). The correctness of my

views of

2nd ed.

the

more

re

67-68. Werner Jaeger's

to establish a chronology for Aristotle's writings based

a rejection of the

Richard Robinson,

own view must

basis

of

the evidence this article brings to light.

of dividing and rearranging Aristotle's works in

Ethics in particular, recent scholarship has tended to emphasize the integrity of this
whole. Typical in this regard is Amelie Oksenberg Rorty who writes, "Even if the book

Although there is

5.

of

that Aristotle's references to Socrates in the Ethics evidence "none of Plato's

spect."

they

the context

within

contrary to some of the prevailing views on this subject. Alasdair Mac

example, contends that the Ethics contains "a systematic

Socrates"

which

in the Ethics

(Iii5a6-ni7b22). It may be helpful to recall

in Aristotle's treatment of courage before turning to the

specific place which

4.

appearance

account of courage

scholarly tradition

general and the

book
is

as a

thing

composed of threads and patches,

the

organization of

pattern."

perfectly

1980),

p. 3.

anism

on

for the fruitfulness

(Chicago:

those threads and patches composes

Aristotle's Ethics (Berkeley:

University

of

California Press,

best among possible alternatives. Moreover, the remark

Aristotle's references to Socrates in the Ethics provides a further piece of

regard this approach as

able cohesiveness of
evidence

Essays

coherent

of

the

this approach to the text. Cf.

Harry Jaffa,

Thomism

Chicago Press, 1952), especially Chapter 4,

Coercion: on Nicomachean Ethics, Books III and

University

of

and
IV,"

and

Aristoteli

Robert Faulkner,
in J. R. Pennock

"Spontaneity, Justice, and

and J. W. Chapman, eds., Coercion, Nomos XIV (Chicago: Aldine/Atherton, 1972),

p.

85,

n.

6.

Interpretation

Aristotle describes

Courage is displayed

and confidence.

is

which

most

namely, death.

fearful

most

fear

courage as a mean with respect to the emotions of

with

especially

However,

death does

even

to that

reference

in

not

all

opportunity for courage. The fullest measure of

to the noblest form of death. This is death on the battlefield

circumstances afford an equal

courage pertains

has the opportunity to defend himself courageously or die nobly.

provides the standard for courage is, Aristotle observes,

where one

That death in battle

supported

by

the

fact that

Although Aristotle

illness

of

found

The

the perils

especially

that it is possible

(xvgiojg

sense

in Aristotle's treatment

courageous man acts with a view of

a mean

virtue as

the context

within

precisely on this basis.

to be courageous in the face

are conferred

of

his

the

between

is best

cause

of virtue

in the

Whereas Aristotle

noble.

excess

and

Two

xakov

observations

proper sense

(cbg del)

courage

in

by

particular

of

the city

lives in

stotle's

his

in this

fear, he does

(Xoyog) dictates

on account of

virtue

one who

First, Aristotle's initial

point.

is essentially

fearlessly

political.

confronts noble

consideration of moral virtue

in

Courage
death

on

general and

why Aristotle chooses to begin his treatment

Whether or not this is the case, Aristotle draws

way.

to support this

experience

view of courage.

Whether

that is,
monarchy, it is courage on the battlefield
polity
to one's country
that is most highly esteemed (1115329-32). Ari
solicitude for the civic horizon of his gentlemen readers is evidenced
by
a

willingness

or

to

appeal

civic

horizon. The kind

of courage

for

and

for the

of

courage

battlefield. This

emphasis

this section that it is

or pain

is

which

might also

sake of the

because, Aristotle

by

most valued

is

one

be borne

noble) fails to

reinforced

because this is really

city

as

that

which

to

by

Aristotle's

face death in

presented within this

might

exhibit

as one

of

in

full

measure

death is death

explanation at
order

a sign of weakness and

to

con

ought, accord

provide the

asserts, the noblest kind

not courageous

the

courage.

elaboration of the noble

fatal disease (although it

fronting
ing to principle
a

is

to that which

Secondly, Aristotle's initial

eros,

Aristotle

emphasizing the political or civic horizon within which

Perhaps the obvious and necessary dependence

provides the authoritative standard

same

the final

to the noble.

revealed.

upon common political

service

this

at

that this

by

cause of

upon courage explains

of moral virtue

one

attachment

formal

deficiency,

and

13).

appropriate

exhibited

this excellence is best

excess

and as principle

battlefield. Aristotle begins his

the

an

evexa) (iii5bu
are

is

as

understood

presentation of courage suggests

in the

between

mean

deficiency, it is
that he amplifies

consideration of courage

a courageous man sometimes experiences

right manner

the noble (tou

as

is best

that although

explains
so

explained

is his insis

of courage

the essential connection between virtue and the noble. If the

virtue

avdgeiog) is

of war.

described

initially

honors

sea, courage in the full

second major emphasis

tence that the

had

acknowledges

or a storm at

midst

public

on

the

the end of

escape

poverty,

therefore cowardly.

Aristotle's Presentation of Socrates in the Nicomachean Ethics

Although Aristotle's

face death

battlefield

the

examples are chosen

out of weakness,

to

pertains

Aristotle's initial discussion

that

is

which

for its

also

striking that

individual

an

or

prized

by

death

unlike

within

the city as well as that

on

experience.

personal

merely

fearlessly

one might

each one

the noble comes to sight

of

second part of

bear

Aristotle's

the context of

is

which

essential

account of courage

political

courage,
and

cheerfulness,

he takes up five

qualities

to courage but do not constitute courage in the

some resemblance

proper or most authoritative sense.

(i)
(4)

to illustrate how

continued existence.

In the
which

highly

most

it is

The five

"types"

of courage

discussed

(2) experience of a particular danger, (3)

(5) courage based on ignorance.

Of these five qualities, political courage (f\

bles courage in the sovereign sense. Citizens exhibiting

Jiokixixi))6

their bearings from the laws (written and unwritten)

of

most

are:

spiritedness,

closely

resem

political courage take

the regime (6ta ta ix

iJTiTiuia) (iu6ai8-i9). Aristotle's account brings out the extent

political courage both approximates and at the same time falls short of

twv vopcov

to which

in the full

courage

desire for
motivated

by

and

Whereas the

is

virtue of courage

attachment to the

an

(aldcog) (which is

a sense of shame

Aristotle

although

sense.

itself

virtue

noble,

motivated

political

by

courage

is

strictly speaking a virtue

it in this way) and a desire for honor

sometimes refers to

not

may be noble but is not the same thing as the noble (1116327-29).
Aristotle's description of political courage emphasizes the desire to avoid
which

As such, it is both

reproach.

courage which

is

The lowest form

those

who

violence

ical

similar

characterized

by

to and yet

of political courage

maintain

their post

different from the

virtue of

innate disdain for anything ignoble.

mentioned by Aristotle is found among

a more

because their

threaten physical

commanders

if they do not. Although Aristotle indicates that this is inferior to polit

in the best sense, it is a form of political courage nevertheless.

courage

Aristotle's

consideration of political courage as a whole suggests

short of sovereign courage

insofar

as

it

from

results

a certain

kind

that it falls
of compul

necessity (avayxr\) rather than adherence to the noble (m6b2-3). If

this is seen most clearly in the case of those who must be threatened with
sion or

physical

fear the

violence, it is also true

reproach of their

fellow

of

appears

to the

to

be that the

extent

that

they

of

maintain

The latter

citizens.

likewise derived from compulsion,

the laws and customs

those who

exhibit a

albeit of a more subtle

their particular regime.

6. Plato

(Rep

429c).

account

Aristotle

is essentially

general suggestion

various manifestations of political courage are

are compelled

from

also speaks of political courage which

by

because they
which is

behavior

kind stemming from

Aristotle's

law through

appears

defective

without.

Although Aristotle introduced his initial discussion

of opinion produced

their post

he defines in the

of

the noble

following

way:

within an

"the preserving
is

terrible"

education about what

and what sort of

to have Plato's discussion in mind,

a more muted presentation of

the

same

idea.

for,

thing

as we shall

see, his

own

Interpretation

explicitly political horizon, his consideration of political courage as something

which falls short of courage in the sovereign sense, suggests that the noble,
it may

although

horizon

of

presuppose

cannot

politics,

fashioned

concerns

and

needs

be simply identified

by

body

the

the

with

Aristotle's

politic.

clearly indicates that actions undertaken because they are noble are
both higher and better than those undertaken for the sake of political honors or
account

fear

out of
not

of public

(in the

present

noble and those

disgrace. It

context)

based

the

on

tains that the former are

be noted, however, that Aristotle does

any conflict between actions based on the

must

suggest

laws

and customs of

more perfect and

the city. He simply main

consequently

provide

the

for

standard

latter. In fact, far from being in opposition to the noble, the law is pre
sented in this discussion as commanding what virtue requires. Political courage

the

be

appears to

training

ground

for

in the fullest

courage

or most authoritative

sense.

The

imperfect

second mistaken or

fidence

it

as

results

(in6b3-23). It is

from

experience

view of courage

in the face

of some

this context that Aristotle

within

identifies it

first

with con

particular

danger

Socrates,

speaks of

Socrates'

asserting that this view was at the origin of

is knowledge (morrj[ir]) (m6b3-5). Aristotle
courage

is

exhibited most

thing

fellow

and

so

often

appear

courageous

regarding the true

soldiers

situation.

professional soldiers makes them adept at

use

their arms

Generally,

and possess

fighting

distinguish false

owing

arms

to the

both for

of professional

against unarmed or

type of

Due to their

superior

from the

alarms

ignorance

of

their

Moreover, the greater experience

fighting, for they know how best

the best quality

the superior experience

armed men

that this

explains

professional soldiers.

professional soldiers are able to

experience,
real

by

clearly

supposition that courage

attack and

soldiers

makes

fighting

trained athletes

of

to

defense.

them

like

against ama

teurs.

Despite their
soldiers possess
cal

superior

less

The

courage.

fighting

courage than

reason

for this is that

superior strength whereas citizen

grace.

Hence,

shameful

whereas

way,

imposes too

ability, Aristotle explains that professional

those citizens who act on the basis

citizen

professional

professional

soldiers are constrained

soldiers

soldiers

great a strain or when

rely on their
the fear of dis

by

death to safety procured in a

to be cowards when the danger

prefer

prove

they

of politi

soldiers

are at a

disadvantage in

numbers or

Aristotle concludes that the type of superiority shown in this case Is

only incorrectly understood as courage in the proper sense of the word.
It is striking that Aristotle chooses this context for his first statement about
Socrates in the Ethics. Several aspects of this account warrant further com
equipment.

ment.

The first

and most obvious

point

to be noted is that, from

Socrates'

point of

view,

of courage was

understanding
knowledge

cation of superior experience or

the virtue

of courage as

Aristotle has

with courage

elucidated

Aristotle's

inadequate. The identifi

it. The

is mistaken; it is

second point

bears

not

on

Aristotle's Presentation of Socrates in

Nicomachean Ethics

the

the particular example which Aristotle uses in this

section, that of professional
soldiers
of

who, according to

Aristotle's

courage.

Socratic understanding

clearly invites his readers to compare the

the kind of courage exhibited by profes

example

this type

Socrates. Might there be

to

related

the Socratic understanding

of courage with

However,

sional soldiers.

Aristotle, best exemplify

of courage

further

may be

intimately

even more

between the kind

of

courage characteristic of professional soldiers and that which was exhibited

by

resemblance

Socrates himself, particularly as he faced the prospect of death at his trial?

A few tentative comparisons suggest themselves. In the first place, like
soldiers, Socrates did

professional

least

at

polis,

not after

the

fashion

not appear

of

to

be especially

those citizen soldiers

just finished discussing. Moreover, if (as the context

speaking of foreign mercenaries (^evol), this does

inappropriate way to introduce Socrates

"stranger"

who

must

have

Aristotle has

clear) Aristotle is

makes
not

attached to the

whom

seem

an

seemed

altogether

like

"for

eigner"

or

Second,

to

his fellow Athenians (cf.

of

many
Aristotle indicates that

although

professional soldiers

Apology
do

i-jd.

not possess

the virtue of courage, he does acknowledge their superiority in fighting. As

Aristotle

points

out, it is

best fighters. If this

necessarily the most courageous men who are the

is applied to Socrates it suggests that he may

not

second point

it is

exhibit a real superiority, although

in terms

stood

ited

by

This

gentlemen.

bears

which

of courage

the

on

guish

knowledge

false

training in

real

superior

consequently
Socrates?

points

under

exhib

to a third,

experience which provides them with a

(Aristotle specifically
ones)

the art of fighting.

and
on

from

superiority which cannot be

it is defined by Aristotle and

one
necessarily
in Aristotle's discussion. The superiority of

derives from their

of war

alarms

not as

second observation

major point

professional soldiers
greater

least

at

mentions

the ability to distin

as well as a more extensive and specialized

Does this description

knowledge

of the superior experience

of professional soldiers

have any

bearing

Even those

not particularly attracted to Socrates would probably have been

his
unwavering refusal to beg for mercy or plea bargain at his
by
trial. Might this Socratic courage be based on an ability to distinguish between
false and true alarms? Perhaps, as Socrates maintained at his defense, death (at

impressed

least in
does

circumstances) is less to be feared than acting in

some

not

befit

(cf.

a superior man
Socrates'

also wonder whether

not

in fact

provide

death, ostensibly
Whatever

dicates that

we

him

at the

hands

make

of

neither the

soldiers reveals

with

the

Apology

life

of

the best
of

29a-

inquiry
possible

for the

and 34c

and clever

training

teaching

-35b).

way
We

which

might

speaking ability did

he faced

and arms as

the Athenian demos.

these particular comparisons,

of

virtue of courage

Socrates

in its

sake of the noble.

nor

Aristotle clearly in

the example of professional

most authoritative sense.

treatment of courage establishes a hierarchy.

undertaken

Political

Courage in the
courage

is

Aristotle's

sovereign sense

is

because

of

undertaken

Interpretation

10

the honors and reproaches

which

ties

be

must

ranked

his

concludes

disgrace

and

disgraceful to

limitations; in

run

it is

as

by

the

soldiers

do

is

not

Aristotle

city.

by drawing

to the citizen soldier

contrast

professional

away,

them

one who possesses

understood

the Socratic view of courage

consideration of

tion to its political

appearance of courage, these quali

lower because the

still

honor

by

constrained

the city. Although great

by

are meted out

have the

experience and superior strength

atten

thinks it

who

(iu6bi5-22) for they

not

lack

attachment

and

traditions. Aristotle's initial presentation of Socrates expresses a certain

to any

sympathy for the

particular

his

of

perspective

to

however it

should

Socrates may be

be

erly
rience.

With

by

a real

courage, is in

some

add

the third

imperfect

two observations regarding his account

"type"

by

man

quality

of

&v/j.6g

Aristotle's

tively

emphasizes

by

by

comparison of a spirited

the problematic character

comparing those

a wild

beast

The

of spiritedness.

a wild or

dangers

whatever

individual to

embold

the subhu

into danger like

blind to

pain or anger and

suf

({hvu.6g),
First, Aristotle is

account emphasizes

which causes one to rush

wounded animal spurred on

present.

He begins

beasts. Aristotle's

spiritedness to wild

is

of spiritedness

(iu6b23- 111739).

of courage

criticism of spiritedness.

ened

superiority which, although not prop

way based upon knowledge or expe

to the remainder of Aristotle's treatment of courage, it

respect

ficient to

harsh in his

insofar

readers

that Aristotle's presentation also suggests that

observed

characterized

understood as

its laws

as it quietly
his
lack
of attach
particularly
reprehensible. At the same time,

gentlemen

apparent

the city regards as honorable or

what

by

"strangeness,"

Socrates'

acknowledges
ment

the way of life transmitted

and

city

are

effec

spirited

in

dividual is indiscriminate in his action; like a wild beast he blindly strikes out
at all who appear to pose a threat. In light of Aristotle's
immediately preceding
account, his harsh
problem.

The

against all

softens

spirited

the battlefield or

second emphasis

the

harshness

knowledges that

they

individual is

tion takes its

"foreigners"

living

his initial (and

because

bearings from the

not

sufficient; it

second emphasis

first insofar

as

very specific
sufficient deliberation

polis

whether

the city

within

they

are

walls.

of spiritedness

dominant)

criticism.

in

some

Aristotle

way
ac

He explains, however, that

(ndd-og) but because their ac

goes

of

any

noble

so

feeling

(to xakov)

far

as

and

it

requires

the addition

in Aristotle's discussion

suggests that

virtue of courage.

What is

is the

guided

by

principle

of

Spiritedness

may

by itself,

deliberation (jigoaigeoig)
harshness of the
.

mitigates the

spiritedness, properly

needed

is

to suggest that spiritedness

the natural basis for the virtue of courage.

however, is

from

courageous men are also spirited.

(Xoyog). Indeed, Aristotle

This

to act without

in Aristotle's treatment

of

are courageous not

provide

likely

might stem

those who in some way pose a threat to the

enemies on

The

criticism of spiritedness

directed, may lead

presence of some

guiding

to the

principle

Aristotle's Presentation of Socrates in

capacity for deliberation. We

and

Nicomachean Ethics

the

11

that the addition of precisely

should note

these qualities would cause spiritedness to lose its indiscriminate

character.

IRONY

After
up

in Book III, Aristotle takes

a consideration of courage and self-control

liberality

and magnificence as

Ethics, his

he begins

an ascent

to

one of

the high

points

magnanimity in Book IV The magnanimous man

is one who not only possesses all the other virtues but possesses them to a great
or extraordinary degree. In the latter part of Book IV Aristotle descends from
of

the

account of

this peak in

order

names,

part

are

to consider several qualities which, although

human

of

excellence

as

gentleness, agreeableness, truthfulness, wittiness,

the context of Aristotle's discussion

within

within

surprisingly,

he turns for

the more

Aristotle begins his

plaining that he is
or

in

It is

perhaps

not

irony

that

consideration of

Socrates.
(i

127313-

by

Ii27b32)

ex

speaking in the present context of honesty in agreements

involving justice and injustice, but rather that virtue which mani

matters

fests itself

his

truthfulness

of

account

of

proper

and a sense of shame.

truthfulness and,

of

specific context of

time to the figure

a second

lacking

He discusses ambition,

whole.

even

not

when

nothing is

at

because it is the

stake

result of a

fixed

disposition (e<c). The boaster (6 cxka,d)v) pretends to praiseworthy qualities

which he does not possess whereas the ironic or self-depreciating individual (6
etgojv) disclaims praiseworthy

found in the
about

qualities

straightforward man

himself

which

he does

(6 ati-dexaorog)

The

quality is considered morally good (imeixrjg)

because the one who loves truth (6 cpiXakrj&ng) even
is likely to be even more truthful when something is.
this

depreciation)
ulterior

may be

than he deserves
than bad.

however,

more

and
when

deficiency

and conduct

Thus, Aristotle

with

no

If, however, his

individual is

and

subject

ulterior

in

censure

not

by
falling

motivated

adds that those

praiseworthy
nothing is at stake

gain

but

by

and

self-

Lacking

an

individ

question reveal an

should

be

considered more

foolish

have glory or honor as their aim, such

(although not severe censure). It is,

disgraceful (cxoxnuoveoregog) if the

merits possesses a more gracious or

he is

the truth

even

(boastfulness

object of one's

money or something that will get money.

In contrast to the boaster, Aristotle indicates that the

his

is

explains, the one who pretends to more

motive

pretensions

to

mean

man who possesses

pursued with or without an ulterior motive.

motive, the words, actions

ual's true character.

an

excess

The

who acknowledges

without exaggeration or understatement.

Aristotle indicates that both

possess.

one who understates

beautiful (xagiioxegog)

a concern

into this category

character since

to avoid ostentation.

sometimes

striving is

deny

or reject

Aristotle
the most

Interpretation

12

generally accepted and highly praised opinions (ra evdo^a). It is Socrates

whom Aristotle cites as his example. He then goes on to speak of those who
disclaim insignificant

These, he

and obvious qualities.

maintains, are

appropri

ately despised. Aristotle suggests that this latter sort of self-depreciation might
even be understood as a kind of boastfulness, for both excessive attention and
extreme

bespeak

negligence

employ (ol xQ^^vol)

ing

things

which

is the

expresses

are

himself

Several

the

embodies
an

man

be

observed

obvious

However, those who

way (jxergiajg) regard
to

appear

be

gracious

concludes, it is really the boaster

because he is inferior to the

virtuous mean

regarding this
the

once again with

character

straightforward

one who

account of an

most obvious

apparently

point, Aristotle

(6 aiMxaoxog) because he

between boastfulness

and self-depreciation.

maintains, is worthy of praise because a love

individual, Aristotle

truth which expresses

or

Hence, Aristotle
man

pretense.

a measured

commonplace

To begin

of

of

in

irony.

with

points should

the

element

the truthful

opposite of

minor moral virtue.

praises

not

(ii27b29-3i).

(xagievTEg)
who

an

understatement

itself in

things will

small

Such
of

the

things

embrace greater

naturally
be noted, however, that the same word which Aristotle uses
to describe the straightforward man also describes someone who is blunt or
as well.

It

should

Although these latter

plain.

might wonder

if the type

case

is in every

way

the one

respect

qualities are not such as to

to the one

superior

Aristotle twice

whom

incur

blame,

moral

of character which comes closest to the mean

context of this apparent paradox that

Socrates. Could it be that

while

who

uses

irony

"gracious."

Aristotle

Aristotle

makes

wishes

his

in

It is

to as

refers

one

in this

measured
within

the

second reference

to give the

to

straightforward

his due, he also wishes to direct his readers in a gentle way to some ap
preciation for the more gracious and certainly more complex character of
man

Socrates?
As

we

fulness
case

have seen, Aristotle indicates that

irony

or

(those

who

amples, those
who

do

so

with or without

act

from

an

ulterior

who exaggerate

for monetary

gain.

any

one

may be characterized by boast

With respect to the former

ulterior motive.

motive), Aristotle offers only two ex

their abilities for the sake

Although both individuals

of

are

honor

and

those

boastful, Aristotle

perceptively remarks that when pretense is undertaken for another purpose, it is

no longer pretentiousness which best describes the character of those in
question.

is

not

What is

most

revealing

the exaggerated claims

for honor

about the

which

they

might

to

clearly

boastfulness,

lead

furnished

examples

for themselves but their desire

and

money respectively.
Since Aristotle's only two examples

pertain

individuals in Aristotle's

make

one

by

to use

the

reader

irony

Aristotle in the

placed

in

is left to

of

deliberate

present context

into the category

of

acting from an ulterior

kind of ulterior

wonder what
way.

is his

those who use

Indeed,

the

reference

to

irony

in

motive
motive

only indication

Socrates

a measured

who

is

way to

Aristotle's Presentation of Socrates in the Nicomachean Ethics

things

speak about

Although

immediate

in

small matters of no

irony

fortune

he is

whereas

because it is

station

(elgoiveia)
separates

reveals

irony

his

lord it

an

over the
speaks

inferior

or candor

(aXtr&evxLxog)

As already noted, Aristotle's discussion

caste

in

irony

man, Aristotle in

toward men of position and

those of

with

ironic

with

ordinary
is marked

and

of

in Aristotle's

irony

the

self-depreciation

by

character which

In

one.

fact, Aristotle

a curious combina

(H24b26-3i).

minor virtue of

By

magnanimity.

exposition of moral

moderate

(1124^7-23). More

weak

or

magnanimous man as one who

manner?

emerges within the context of

to call attention to the sharp difference in

from

of

love

Does Socrates

in this

approached

greatness

takes place in the shadow of his account of

earlier peak

import?7

(ftexgiov) in dealing

measured

a superior man

tion of truthfulness

his love

might

account of the magnanimous

vulgar to

so as not

describes the

is best

or

addressing the many, he

when

over,

In his

individual

such an

under consider

man reveals

consequence,

matters of great

for using

second and related reason

dicated that

in

the truth requires it

as a whole.

topic

specific

Socrates'

((pLXaXTJ&ng) in

Book IV

The

particular.

to this question, the

answers

truthfulness. If the straightforward

virtue of

irony because

did Socrates

Why

seen.

easily

different

one might offer a number of

the truth lead him to use

use

not obvious or

context suggests one

is the

the truth
of

are

ironically?

speak

ation

which

13

virtue, his

present

truthfulness

recalling this
discussion is

striking light. Most pertinent in this regard is the fact that

for which Socrates stands as Aristotle's sole exemplar in the

a new and

that trait

present context

cannot

times employed in a

always

measured

be

way

understood

by

those

as

who

deficiency

but is

some

embody the highest human

excellence.

PRUDENCE

Aristotle's third
his

and

consideration of

whole.
matter

It

will

prove

be likened to

sides.

On the
At the

references

one

remarks about

revolving door

hand,

outset of

to Socrates occur

to summarize Aristotle's

consideration of prudence

might

7.

useful

before turning to his

Aristotle's

but,

fourth

within

the relationship between prudence and

the

the Socratic

and moral

which can

prudence requires moral

Apology, Socrates ironically

be

teaching

own

on

this

one.

virtue

entered

virtue,

the context of

moral virtue as a

(ii44a6-ii45au)
from

since

acknowledges

that

it is

he is

either of

two

moral virtue
a clever speaker

his accusers, he speaks cleverly with reference to the truth (i7a-b). In fact, Socrates is
presented in the Apology as an unusual combination of 6 air&ixaorog, who will speak

unlike

initially

plainly in his accustomed manner, and 6 eiqcdv, who acknowledges his ability to speak cleverly. In
the defense which follows, the Platonic Socrates proceeds to give the reader a remarkable demon
stration of great

subtlety

clothed

in simple,

straightforward speech.

Interpretation

14

furnishes the

which

particular

appears as such to the good

good

be

for

in the

the end at

unless

be defective. Whereas

choice of means

hand, Aristotle

which

he

maintains

Although Aristotle

Since the

is the

that

moral

one given
virtue

that

acknowledges

the

only

individual may

such an

to attain his end, he cannot be

aims

good

of moral virtue means that the

man, the absence

which one strives will

clever

Prudence discovers the

good at which a prudent man aims.

through which that good is attained.

means

by

called prudent

On the

moral virtue.

cannot

exist

dispositions for

other

prudence.

without

particular

moral

already present by nature, he points out that even good

dispositions (al (pvoixai e^eig) can be harmful without the guidance of

virtues are somehow

natural

intelligence. Aristotle

uses

the image of a man with a

lost his

sight and as a consequence meets with a

moves.

It is precisely

one

with

sessing
sition

which

(f\

cpvoixr] agexr))

previously only

(f\

resembled

xvgia agexrj).

prudence requires moral virtue

sense

does

for

disposition

natural

strong

sovereign sense

heavy

particularly

prudence which supplies guidance or

natural excellence

virtue

it is

also

thinking

that

explains that

right in

in the full

true that moral virtue in the proper

is

all

virtues

they

Socrates

cannot exist without prudence

conceived of

be

as

to

accompanied

is

by

(Adyoi'c),
itmoxrjfiag)
(ndoag

knowledge

of

relationship between reason and

contemporaries understate it. They maintain that

overstated

the

accordance with

prudence.

In this

case

right

reason and that right

too, Aristotle finds it

neces

Virtue does not merely conform to right

something external (xaxa xov dgftov Adyov), rather virtue is
by right reason (uexo xov dg&ov Xoyov) (1 144^25-27). The

slight modification.

rational principle
virtuous

meant

(1144^7-21). Aristotle

the virtues as rational principles

forms

disposition determined in

what

sary to offer
reason

relation

opinions

of Socrates, maintaining that his line

way but wrong in another. Socrates was mistaken in
were forms of prudence, although he spoke well in

virtue, Aristotle thinks that his

is

or

concludes, if it is true that

one

supposing all of them to

(ii44b28-3o). If Socrates

virtue

pos

dispo

this subject. He speaks first

was

maintaining that

reason

he
for

not exist without prudence.

of others on

inquiry

when

someone

virtue

has

vision"

After offering this helpful but not entirely satisfying account of the
ship between prudence and virtue, Aristotle considers and amends the
of

who

prudence, then the

becomes

Hence, Aristotle

fall

"moral

If

virtue.

acquires

frame

powerful

man,

from

it is

which virtue

rather

takes its bearings does not exist outside the

something

within

him

which

enables

him to be

virtuous.

Aristotle
views.

adopts a middle position

On the

exist

although

and

contemporary

hand, Aristotle criticizes the paradoxical Socratic iden

with knowledge, although he agrees with Socrates that virtue

one

tification of virtue
cannot

between the Socratic

without

unwilling to

being accompanied by a rational principle. Moreover,

identify all the virtues with prudence, Aristotle does

acknowledge that the one who possesses this single virtue

necessarily

possesses

Aristotle's Presentation of Socrates in

(114531-2). On the

the rest

all

poraries, Aristotle

because he
issued

by

a prudent

his

contradistinction to

15

contem

that one does not possess moral virtue

simply

maintains

according to

acts

hand, in

other

Nicomachean Ethics

the

some ration3l principle

lawgiver)

(for example,

in the full

since moral virtue

commands

sense cannot exist

without prudence.

We

would

different

do

positions

Socrates

on

to

well
snd

to grasp something of the significance

try

of

these

especially the difference between Aristotle snd

In the Meno, the Platonic dialogue to which Aristotle

most

this question.

be referring in the present instance,8 Socrates begins his conversa

Meno by confessing complete ignorance about the nature of virtue

appears to

tion

with

Socrates'

(71b).

statement
so since

standably
as

startles,

to say scandalizes, Meno

not

it flies in the face

and

under

of a conventional civic education as well

the common experience of decent persons, both of which lead most people

they know

to assume that

Meno's ridicule

meet anyone who

manner of

inquiry

knows

confession of

ignorance

Socrates'

remarks

investigation

what virtue

are

is (71c). One

Indeed, in light

as conciliatory.

rates'

is. Socrates is, however, undaunted by

ignorance that he has yet to

what virtue

to his initial admission of

and adds

like

almost sounds

intended to

challenge

could
of

hardly

describe this

this latter remark, Soc

boast. At the very least,

provoke Meno to begin an

or

something which he believes he already understands.

In the Meno (as in other dialogues),
insistence on knowing
of

Socrates'

ignorance is

subsequent confession of
own

way

of

life. As

long

important activity would

thing which Socrates is
because

and to

Such

ance).

as one cannot claim to

seem to

activity,

be the

have
know

attempt to

statesmen,

one could

regarded as the

the final image

In

of

contrast to

the laws

of

discover

virtue,9

Aristotle

more acceptable

but

the

Meno,

addresses

to his

are

great extent and

warned at

is,

his

on

the most

it is (some

famous teachers,

this

life

whereas all

should

to the question

of

in

gentlemen readers.

decent

inquiry

great

shadows.

and provocative approach

question

of

others, to borrow from

merely lives lived among

jarring

complicated experience of

had

what

the city itself. Perhaps the life

only truly

Socrates'

bearing

argue, properly takes precedence over the

"virtuous"

be

direct

successful

effort to conform one's actions to the admonitions of

or even

what virtue

and

in getting Meno to do precisely

very
that Meno remains unconvinced of his own ignor

not

the extent

an

shown to

a way which is likely to be much

Aristotle sheds light on the common

persons

by

only gently suggesting the limits

clarifying that
of

the outset of his study that it is the

that

experience

clarification.

to

Aristotle

mark of a well-educated
Socrates'

8. In the Meno, Socrates undertakes an investigation of virtue.

paradoxical iden
tification of virtue and knowledge emerges in the course of this dialogue, where it takes the particu
lar form referred to by Aristotle in the present context: namely, the identification of virtue with
prudence (88a- 89a).

9.

It may be

appropriate

to recall that the

frustrated Meno likens the

to that of the torpedo fish which numbs anyone who comes

to

note

that

Socrates in

no

way disavows the propriety

into

effect of

contact with

Socratic

it. It is

of this comparison (80a- d).

also

argument

interesting

Interpretation

16

to expect only that degree of precision

person

(i094bi2-27).

By de-emphasizing

relationship between knowledge

precise

bringing

an appropriate

Aristotle is

able

offering final clarity

and

clarity

dignity

Socrates'

concerning the
the

whole,

however,

of moral virtue without,

Perhaps

the good.

of

time

same

of virtue as a

we

into the relationship between knowledge

uncompromising desire for precise

inquiry

should understand

at

while

virtue,

the nature

or precision about

question

his treatment

and rigor to

to acknowledge the

of which a subject matter admits

the problematic

Socrates'

of

virtue

as

an

expression

knowledge

of

his

subject matter.

contrast to

the impression

the life of

moral

and

Aristotle

tually

virtue

by

conveyed

it is

as

shadowy kind

as a

Whether

the

practiced

serious and capable of

however,

surface

by

is so, it is clear that in

of the Platonic dialogues,

this

gentlemen

existence, but as a way

substantial happiness.

of

of

The disagreements between Aristotle

obscure

or not

deeper

Socrates

and

The

agreement.

on

is

not

life

this

well-known

presented

which

issue

by

is intellec

should

not,
the

of

conclusion

Ethics explicitly teaches that a life devoted to the practice of moral virtue is not
the simply best or happiest way of life. Moreover, we should also bear in
mind that what Aristotle does recommend to his readers as a serious, if secon

dary, way
amended

life is the

of

the contemporary

insists that
major

practice of moral virtue as

Aristotle the

by

view

philosopher.
of

virtue requires

virtue

by

it has been

closer

moving

elucidated and

context, Aristotle

his

and

modifies

to the Socratic one;

contemporaries

on

this

he

The

principle.

question

to be that Aristotle shifts the center

appears

exist

Aristotle's
human

present

the active presence of some guiding

difference between Aristotle

which

In the

outside

subtle

an

emendation

excellence could

Such

regime.

considered a

of gravity
away from those norms
individual toward those which come from within.

be

individual

an

simply

rules

provided
might

good man

the

out

by
be

possibility that the

standard

for

simply obeys the laws of his

citizen but he should not be

one who
a

good

(cf. Pol I276bi6-I278b5,

esp.

I277b25~29

and I278a40-i278b5).

The fuller

ing

remarks

significance of this

in this

section.

distinction is

If it is true that

suggested

cannot exist without prudence which perfects the

Aristotle
all
nor

points out that

prudence,

even

the moral virtues, does not possess

does it

govern

by Aristotle's

sovereign virtue

though
more

(i) xvgiojg

deliberative

it both

conclud

agExrj)

part of the

presupposes and

soul,

directs

authority (xvgia) than wisdom,

the better part of the soul. To maintain otherwise, Aristotle

would be like
asserting that political science, since it governs everything
in the city (including religious festivals), also wields
authority over the gods
(ii45a6-n). Aristotle concludes his treatment of moral and intellectual virtue

says,

by holding
ment of

to the

up the

wise man

and not

merely the

prudent one

as

the most authoritative human excellence. This conclusion

limits

of

his preceding

consideration.

Although

virtue

the embodi

gently

in the

points

sovereign

Aristotle's Presentation of Socrates in the Nicomachean Ethics

sense

qualifies one

properly

human

more authoritative

to rule in the

Although

excellence.

the wise embody a higher and

city,10

the wise are de facto

as citizens

to the political authority of those who rule, Aristotle quietly

subject

17

presents a

famous,
strident, Socratic teaching on this issue; namely, those who rule,
indeed the city itself, should be subject to the- greater authority of the wise.
even

Before turning to the final three references to Socrates in the Ethics, it may
order (at least to some degree) the impressions conveyed thus far

be helpful to

by viewing Aristotle's references to Socrates within the broader context of the

Ethics as a whole. Aristotle introduced Socrates at the beginning of his consid
Socrates'

thesis about

eration of moral virtue.

strange

understanding of
Aristotle next

spoke

irony,

with

Aristotle

maintained

to Socrates as an example of someone who

referred

confounding the

often

that those who

some

way deficient, he

thing

of

the subtlety

of

excellence also speak with

the end of

not

from

dismissing
to the

reference
eration at

initial

inquiry

is

that

presuppose

by

paradox

(as

noble

rational

of

of

inquiry

acknowledges

all

virtue

is

prudence

the

other

his

consideration of

still greater authority;

virtue

io.

for

of their

Aristotle's

discerning

maintains,

this

view

not

not

its

by

own

inquiry

without,

knowledge but

simply

virtues).

remarks.

virtue

must

be

but it does

virtue

Nevertheless,
as

even

the

Aristotle

Although it is especially the

of the city, Aristotle

the affairs

acknowledging the

existence of a

which

example of a prudent man was

what

virtue), in

properly belongs to the wise who, by

wisdom, embody the highest and most authoritative

namely, that

godlike

the horizon

now embraces

in Book VI is limited

established

in his concluding

inquiry

the

Socrates'

for
is

Ari

emphasized

this broader horizon of

appreciation

terms

whereas

was appropriate since

virtue of prudence which qualifies one to run

concludes

in Book III

with

consid

general

consideration of moral

within

it (moral

principle;

presence

he is far

knowledge), his

that the horizon of

virtue.) It is

with

that

paradox

to considering the Socratic thesis on

considerable

voices

broader horizon
himself

the

comes closer

and moral

the

Although Aristotle
clear

teaching in more
More importantly,

virtue).

the Socratic

virtue and

however, entirely agreeing

accompanied

is

also appropriate given

Aristotle

embody the highest

to Socrates

virtue.

virtue, it is

(courage is

that point restricted to a

Book VI Aristotle

both intellectual

who

in

some

next reference

that

addresses

prudence

consideration of

was at

terms. (This

intellectual

view of

particular virtue of courage

the end of Book VI

relationship between
of

Socratic

understatement are

it. Whereas Aristotle introduced the Socratic

(virtue is knowledge;
stotle's

irony. Aristotle's

consideration of

endorse the

simply

indulge in

Although

opinions.

to use this discussion to suggest

the superior man since those

was at

does

most accepted

habitually

also appeared

human

his

to sight as a

came

Aristotle respectfully but emphatically

courage which

corrected.

first

virtue

Pericles

who

is

said

to have possessed a capacity

things were good both for himself and for mankind, a capacity which, Aristotle

characterizes one who

is

capable of

managing both households

and cities

(I

I40b8-

1 1).

Interpretation

18

human

Are

excellence.

the city for his

merely human,

we meant

a wisdom

wisdom

was

to think

described

by

who was condemned

he insisted that it

although

which,

divine

as

Socrates

of

those who

condemned

him

by

was

(Apology

20e)?
Socrates'

Perhaps

be

and must

this still

teaching
considered

leaves

and mode of

imprudent from the

investigation regarding

point of view of

the possibility that from a different

open

the

virtue are

However,

city.

per

point of view
Socrates'

haps

a more

teaching

detached

have been led to

we

or transpolitical

inquiry

and manner of

point of view

prove

may

to

thus far.

acknowledge

paradoxical

truth than

greater

still

contain

In any case, it is

this

at

point

beginning,"

in Aristotle's study that he decides to

which promises a consideration of

(1145315-33). We

figure

the

should not

Socrates in the Ethics

heroic, indeed
surprised

"new

kind

divine,

excellence

that Aristotle once again turns to

Aristotle's concluding remarks about

found within the context of his new beginning in

are all

for the final time Aristotle takes up

thesis regarding the relationship between knowledge and
Book VII

of

one

Socrates.

of

teaching

and

be

undertake

Socrates'

problematic

where

virtue.

INCONTINENCE

Aristotle's final
cussion

to Socrates occur within the context of

references

of continence/incontinence.

is divided into three

tinence and

Aristotle lists

parts.

general
a

consideration
of opinions

variety
incontinence (U45b8-20), brings to light

in those

entangled

His

(U45b2i-H46b8),

opinions

and

his dis

of this

theme

regarding

six problems

con

(aKogiat)"

then attempts to disentan

gle them (ii46b8- 1 152336).

interest to

us

It is the very first anogia which is of greatest

for it is here th3t Aristotle returns to the problem raised by

Socrates: How is it
same

possible

for

someone to set

time that he correctly supposes that

in

he is

what

morally wrong way at the

doing is wrong? Aristotle

elaborates the problem

by citing the view of those who say that one cannot act
in this way if he knows (moxauvog) the set to be wrong since, as Socrates
supposed, it would be strange if, while knowledge was present, something else
should overpower

it

and

drag

it

around

like

slave

(ii45b2i-24). In fsct,

Aristotle observes, Socrates used to comb3t this view altogether (that 3 man
could know what is right and do what is wrong) in such 3
wsy ss to imply th3t
there was no such

11.

to a

'Anogia

knot

or

thing

can also

tangle

Wherever the fuller

as

incontinence (ii45b25-27). Socrates believed that

be translated

(8eop,6q)

which

by

"dilemma"

"antinomy"

or

binds the intelligence (Meta

and

is likened

9953271!. cf.

by

Aristotle

NE 1146321-27).

for understanding the argument, I have

Joachim, Aristotle: The
Nicomachean Ethics, ed. D. A. Raes (London: Clarendon Press. 1951), p. 219, and John
Burnet,
ed., The Ethics of Aristotle (London: Methuen, 1900), pp. xl xii.
retained the

connotations of the word are essential

Greek. For

discussion

of

the meaning

of

ajrogia, see H. H.

Aristotle's Presentation of Socrates in

Nicomachean Ethics

the

contrary to what is best knowing that

is best out of ignorance.

no one acts

he does is bad;

what

19

one

only

acts agsinst whst

We

in

are now

in the Ethics,

to observe thst

a position

but

all

(Aristotle's

one

Socrates

the seven references to

of

Socratic irony)

reference to

to the

pertain

Socratic thesis regarding the relationship between knowledge and

goodness.
At the very least, Aristotle's sixfold reference suggests

problematic
moral

something

the

of

we

Socratic thesis

several

It is

tion of

his

st

to the

referred

this point that he deals

jarring

Socrates'

aspect of

it in

with

to the ques

approach

deny

final time before offering

evalu3tion, he no longer hesitstes to csll attention to the strange

own

extreme character of

the very existence of inconti

Aristotle frames the issue for

as

to this Socratic

attaches

Aristotle has

the context of his themstic trestment thst Aristotle

goodness; it led him to

In fact,

he

which

that although

times, it is only

within

most radical or

moral

nence.12

seriousness
add

might

thematic way.

indicstes the

and

weight

To this

teaching.

the Socratic

Indeed, he

stance.

or

sympathy for

expresses

Socrates'

those who continue to experience

teaching

outlandish

such

on

sn

the Socratic view

something like frustrated indignation
of this matter, Aristotle asserts, is clearly at odds with the most obvious facts
(U45b27-28)! Given the character of Aristotle's previous references to this

important

matter with

Socratic teaching
Aristotle's final
endorsement

that it

is

which

his

anogiat,

However, it is

worth

own consideration of

noting that

to the various

Aristotle's

which

one

paradox.

Aristotle lists

with

the

incisively

is the

points

character of

pleasure.

occurs.

actually
from pleasure

and

See Protagoras 351C-361C,

consideration of

ties of decent

eventually

incontinence

persons.

elicited

the

are not

denial

of

it

which

most

he

striking

places on the

out, it is as if Aristotle says, "We

Eldoxsg

incontinence is

analysis of

that virtue consists in

esp. 357a and 358b.

unacceptable

only
Although regrettable, it is

condemnation

Burnet, Ethics,

What is

emphasis which

Socrates'

good apart

the

fj

oi; and then we

together."13

explanation of what

there is no

six

his thematic treatment in

raised.

great anogia, noxsgov

Socrates'

radical

orders

address all

the relative importance

he has

which

anogiat

As Burnet

can take all the rest

The

reflects

order of consideration

have first to deal

13.

whereas

them follows neither the order nor the list

he has brought to light, he

way, presumably

Socratic

the

construe

study it is not necessary to list esch of the five

Aristotle finds to be entsngled in current views regarding

he has just furnished. Although Aristotle's treatment does

attaches

12.

inconsistency,

be difficult to

subject of this

anogiat which

his

spparent

would

anything other than a rehabilitation and even

(although qualified) of the Socratic view, notwithstanding the fact

incontinence.

about

It

surprising.

as

evaluation

other anogiat which

new

its

expression of

follows is

at odds with the most obvious things.

Given the

which

his

as well as

thematic treatment

p. 298.

but

even more evident

incontinence leads him to

knowing

how to

choose

The harsh implications

even antagonistic

in light
3ssert

the greatest

of the

from his fellow

surprising that

citizens.

Socratic

to the best sensibili

Socrates'

not

of

thst

mode

of

inquiry

Interpretation

20

Aristotle's thematic treatment

and

four (difficult

conclusions

After

is

It

evaluation of

in

a preface

(Xoytxog)

but

possessed

he

Aristotle's
would not

be

if

strange

argument

one

he

while

was

knew both

habitual way but, in

particular. (For example,

a particular

of those

argument

the

bearing
who

on

the

adhere

dialectical

three

offers

with

concludes

assertion

that it

to act against knowledge which

he

(rJeivdc) if
actively beholding (ftsaigovvxa) it.
be

would

strange

the first.

It

universal and particular propositions

in

to a technical

amounts

argument

second

a preface

evaluation

summarize

their

noting especially

form, Aristotle

someone were

knowledge

acted against

to

purposes

currently using, although it

was not

lead to his final

Socrates.

modified

be surprising if

would not

arguments,

The first

arguments.

which

our

he dismisses the

which

to the Socratic thesis in

for

sufficient

of these

each

Aristotle's final

teaching is divided into

abbreviated) arguments

and

(U46b24-U47bi9)14

of

Socrates'

of

case,

considered

rendition

only the

of

universal and not

food is healthy, but fail

to realize that the food before one was dry.) Aristotle adds, however, that it
would be astonishing (ftavfiaoxov) if the individual in question knew in the
the

that

sense

both

universal

dry

propositions

particular

and

Aristotle's

concrete particulars.

know that

one might

apprehended

were

as

thus far differentiates different ways of

analysis

knowing. However, he has not yet joined the issue since it is only the last kind
of knowing that is involved in incontinence; namely, when one undertakes a
(that

particular

is,

which

action

concrete)

he knows (in

sense) to

some

be

wrong.

In his third

argument

terizes someone who

to young

knowing

standing the

Aristotle

speaks of

is asleep, mad,

students who

correctly

they

significance of what

says, fail in the

knowledge is in

knowing

which charac

drunk. Aristotle likens this type

reel off

formulae but

are saying.

of

without under

The incontinent, Aristotle

may act against what they know but that

way defective for it has not become part of them or, to

same way.
some

or

the kind of

They

Commentstors generally agree that these four arguments break up into two types: the first
Xoyixog (based on the distinction between having and exercising knowledge) whereas the

14.

three 3re

fourth is

cpvoixwg.

Aristotle to

bearing
Ethics

present a

on what

and

the other

However,

Robinson

are evaluated.

there is a remarkable degree of difference

maintains

that the opvoixwg explanation

"better"

topic from a distinct and

Aristotle takes to be

Politics, Vol.

hand, Burnet

2 of

point of view

puzzle:

has in this

Robert Robinson, "Aristotle

case no real
Akrasia,"

on

in

Aristotle (New York: St. Martin's. 1978), pp. 84-87. On

that the first three arguments are essentially dialectical whereas

Articles

maintains

logical

in the way these arguments

it is often used by

although

on

the (f'VOixcbg explanation reveals Aristotle's

real

answer to

the problem

(Ethics,

p.

299).

Walsh

grouping together these four arguments, Aristotle indicates that there is no funda
mental difference between these two approaches: James Walsh, Aristotle's Conception
of Moral
Weakness (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963), pp. 99-100. Randall makes the general

maintains

that

by

suggestion that
"talker"

Aristotle normally follows

a pattern of

to the (pvoixdjg or "natural

of nature:

John Randall, Aristotle (New York:

general observation to be borne

have found Randall's

investigation

which moves

inquiry is brought
Columbia University Press,

or

as the

out

in the

from the

into the

present case.

i960),

Xoyixog

wider context
pp.

59-61.

Aristotle's Presentation of Socrates in

this in

express

by

how it is

tion to the

Socrates

ing, if

Aristotelian terms, it is a kind of knowing which is

ovftcpvoig (1147322). While each of Aristotle's srguments
knows to be

possible to set against what one

Socratic view), it

be

should also

to another way of

ments points

21

more precise

not characterized
explsin

Nicomachean Ethics

the

knowing

right

(in

kind

perhaps the

knowing

of

which, Aristotle ssys, it would be surprising, even

sought

to oppose

one were

Aristotle's finsl

by

opposi

that each of these argu

observed

which

astonish-

one's sctions.

Socratic

srgument addresses the

psrsdox

from the

viewpoint

of

the natural philosopher (cpvotxojg). Aristotle describes a physiological state

in

which rational

for

nent

is that Aristotle's

our purposes

under

acting

the

is temporarily overcome by passion or pleasure, a

by drunkenness or sleep. What is most perti

control

to that produced

state comparable

influence
it in

edge or possesses

defective

ior in the least. Aristotle's

position which
eign sense

Socrates

all

(xvgiwg inioxr\\ir])
the

overall effect

difficulty
is

clear.

like

drunken

man who might

it is

in

to be led to the

seem

knowledge in the

not

overcome

an

incontinent act,

sover
nor

is

(1147^4-17).

by

particular arguments

in this section, their

hand, Aristotle argues that it is in fact pos

In opposition to the Socratic paradox,

one

opinion."

incontinence both

that

maintains

"We

striking:

passion"

Aristotle's

On the

hand, Aristotle's

other

is

which

about

of

to act against "right

Aristotle

is

conclusion

sought to establish

knowledge dragged

For

sible

way. much

the sound moral maxims of Empedocles without their altering his behav

repeat

such

clearly shows that the one

does not possess knowl

analysis

of passion or pleasure either

consideration

be

also

and

exists

is intelligible. On the

brings to light

kind

of

knowing

While

by
disagreeing with
apparently
Socrates in such a way as to shed light on an all too familiar aspect of human
experience, Aristotle also begins to suggest the proper way to understand a
which

much

cannot

less familiar Socratic

now revealed
ation

What

maxim.

to have seemed so to the

for the kind

knowing

of

the

overcome

emotions.

initially

extent

which

that one

Socrates

be

seemed to

lacked

sought.

outlandish

is

a proper appreci

Whereas Aristotle's

Socrates helps to clarify the experience of incontinence,

vindication
of Socrates provides his readers with some appreci
Aristotle's final

disagreement

ation
and

with

for "sovereign

in someway

ence to

The

knowledge"

Socrates)

it is

as

godlike

knowledge

attributed

to the

particular arguments which

horizon
moral

constrained

of gentlemen

Aristotle

broader horizon

of

initial frustration
some,

even

but

inquiry

with

psrtisl,

horizon

his inquiry. Aristotle

from the

goodness

shows

by

the

makes
which

no

in this

previous refer

longer

himself willing to

that Aristotle

the pstently

attempts

to

restricts

consider

bring

outlsndish charscter of

for the less than

the

section address

is broader than that

perspective of natural philosophy.

spprecistion

that rare

philosopher

Aristotle had (in his

wise.

question of moral goodness within a

has hitherto

sought

which

his

which

himself to the

the question of

It is

within

Socratic

obvious truth

to

this

from

an

inquiry

to

readers

which

that

Interpretation

22

inquiry

was

his

provides
edge

in

devoted. In effect, Aristotle's justification

readers with a greater appreciation for the

a strict

is, knowledge

sense, that

as

it is

the Socratic paradox

of

requirements of

by

sought

the

knowl

philosopher.

CONCLUSION

The

aim of

has been to

this paper

Socrates in the Ethics is both

The

acknowledged.
of

Aristotle's

presentation of

is

than

more careful and more sympathetic

often

typical evaluations regarding Aristotle's repudiation

more

well as his culturally determined understanding

do justice to the suppleness of Aristotle's mode

of

It is

by

the Platonic Socrates as

human

excellence

inquiry

in the Ethics in

do

seriously the

taking

both his

not

particular and

apologetic

awareness of

tion for the Socratic

to some

readers

one

hand, he

mode of

his

in

mutes and

own

on moral

for the

might

Aristotle's

assume

their

full

for

Socrates'

life

some cases corrects the most

and

On the

apprecia

force. I have

and proper

the Ethics Aristotle seeks to

course of

bring

disturbing

hand, Aristotle directs his

his

teaching. On the
aspects of

virtue, approaching those teachings in a way

other

that

political writings

his

of

sensibilities
readers

to

which
of

his

an appre

Socratic inquiry, however outlandish and galling

Without trying to persuade his readers that the "gadfly

seriousness of

initially

Athens"

of

of

to preserve and foster the best

concern

gentlemen readers.
ciation

inquiry

in the

Socrates'

reflects

political writings

dimension

positive appreciation

teaching

his

generally.15

the limitations of the code of gentlemen and

attempted to show that

it

suggest that

was

appear.

in fact the

benefactor, Aristotle's double

city's greatest

appreci

for the

ation

radical

suited

dignity of moral virtue as it is lived by gentlemen and the life of

inquiry as it was embodied in the life and death of Socrates is uniquely
to bring his readers to a new and positive appreciation for the Socratic

life. For Aristotle, as for Plato (although in a way which differs from
Plato), Socrates continues to personify the public face of philosophy. Aris
of

way

totle's prudent rehabilitation of the

life in the Ethics

least

can

be

partial acceptance

13.

Consider, in

Aristotle's teaching
the ethic

for the

addition

on

human

of an upper class

exemplar par excellence of

understood as part of

to

place and

Maclntyre

and

excellence with

in

his larger

importance

of

to secure an at

philosophy in the

Jaeger (loc. cit.), John Randall

"the values, the

norms or

society."

a slave

effort

the philosophic

Aristotle,

p. 248.

ideals

of

who

city.

identifies

Greek

culture

Rousseau's Pure State

Nature

of

Victor Gourevitch
Wesleyan University

Heinrich Meier's important

Foundations of
account of

Men1

Inequality Among

the state

of

and more

nature,

the Discourse

new edition of

invites

to

us

particularly

he

and

Rousseau's

rethink

of what

Origin

on the

calls

the

"pure"

state of nature.

Meier
has

Peyrou

edition

incorporated Rousseau's

which

the Discourse to date. He

had

and all

the

and

Roy,

under
whom

Ralph Leigh

until

November 1754 about the Epistle

of the Discourse. The French

of 28

known fragments

to Le

Reply

Naturalist"

to as "An Unknown

identified him; the letter to Perdriau

corrections

the pseudonym

Discourse;

criticized the

referred

numerous

"Philopolis,"

the Letter to

re-edited

Charles Bonnet

earlier editors

Dedicatory;

of

the two 1755 editions and the posthumous 1782 Moultou and Du

additions; he has
which

definitive text

provides us with the most

collated

drafts

and

Meier's

facing German translations, and by extensive

They
by long Introductory Essay on "The Rhetoric
of the Discourse, and followed by a very complete and useful
French to key terms and concepts.

texts are accompanied

footnotes.

by

are preceded

Intention"

and

index in

It may at first
Second Discourse

is

one

almost

appear

should

surprising that the most authoritative edition of the

be the work of a scholar not writing in French. Yet

immediately

reminded

"foreign"

to the labors

of

how indebted Rousseau

of

for

scholars

standard

Vaughan's two-volume Political Writings

century; G. R. Havens brought
the

Sciences

cal

writings

volume

and

Arts;

de Rousseau

um

by

surely

since

its

some

von

und

half

on

short and

Correspondance

very long time to

distinguished list.
a

ago, generally been

years

Meier has

drafts

and

den Handschriften

Fragmenten

neu

Meier. (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schoningh, 1984,

come.

Meier's

completes

regarded

fragments;

ediert,
xcii

sur

und ergdnzenden

Ubersetzt

und

and

und

complete

had,

as

corrected errors snd oversights

sdditionsl

sdmtlichen

three-

Rousseau in Frankreich

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Diskurs iiber die Ungleichheit I Discours

Ausgabe des integralen Textes. Mit

Originalausgaben

over

E.

Discourse

Tente's

Ludwig

Discourse in the Pleiade QZuvres

twenty

Pleiade text; he hss included

1.

Discours

definitive for

in this

standard edition of the text.

First Discourse is

ersten

edition of the

appearance

for

critical edition of the

splendid edition of the

remain

edition now claims a place

Starobinski's

the

den

Ralph Leigh's
will

are

the only modern and complete edition of the polemi

occasioned

Die Polemik

Deutschland;

studies

the texts: C.

of

remained unrivaled

first

out the

editions

his

the

in the
notes

I'inegalite: Kritische
Materialien

kommentiert.

nach

den

By Heinrich

+ 532 pp.); hereafter referred to as Meier.

Interpretation

24

informed

are

by

Not

argument.

all

keen sensitivity to the political character

of his corrections will significantly affect

Rousseau's

of

minute

even

scholar's understanding of the text. But every conscientious student

Second Discourse will henceforth have to take his edition into account.

Indeed,

this is primarily a study

Rousseau's text,

with

presents

detailed

provide
given

editorial

pointedly, to Rousseau's

Meier is particularly
in

other words

to

wrote,

he

book he

censorship

one would expect

sources and

call

references,

meaning

intentions.

and

Both in his Introduction

to the

from the

Rousseau

which

places where

his

and

concluding

paragraph of

paragraph of the

Dedicatory
ized

Thus,

135).

p.

and

time, he is

calls

many

to Geneva as nothing

vision of

his

native

contemporaries

the self-cen

of

mindful

which

"Judges,"

his

calls

and

"attentive

Part I, he

calls

city, Meier convincingly

sophisticated and self-conscious political

(pp.

in the

penultimate

(pp. 140, 169, 197);

"vulgar
to

continue

Rousseau's

than

in the

and

readers"

commentators

more

Rousseau

Dedicatory

Xenocrates whom, in the Exordium

paragraph of

while

numer

the First Discourse. That self-cen

author of

Part I, he

Discourse he

in the last

those whom,
cp.

Plato

in

and

clearly influenced

that threat

sorship manifests itself perhaps most clearly in the distinction

draws between his different addresses: Geneva, in the Epistle
of

rather

sometimes

attention,

notes
situate

reminds us of the ever-present threat of civil

under

calls attention

118-28); the likes

text; rather, it

to the relations between authors and readers,

the text of the Discourse. At the same

sorship

or

real or presumed

problems of rhetoric.

ecclesiastical
and

information, identify

sensitive

ous notes throughout the

and

learnedly

face to face

us

exhaustively footnoted. The

and

in their broader context,

passages

bring

not

or with an unadorned translation of the

that text

with

us

It does

edition.

the

of

and

(p. 169,

somewhat

naive, ideal

restates the view

document designed to

Epistle

the

see

that it is a

help

heal the

deep divisions between the party of the Citizens and the ruling patriciate that
had repeatedly brought the city to the brink of civil war during the preceding
half

In the letter to Perdriau

century.

Rousseau very clearly

Epistle Dedicatory.

Now,
to

the

most

perplexing

one

rather

argument
with

in

way that

first

Rousseau

what are

than the other;

the very

Essay

is it factual;

what

appears

to

passage which

often quoted

by

the consequences of

leave this
Meier

the Discourse is how

deciding

reasons

an open question?

examines

the

of

says about the state of nature:

may be Rousseau's

he devotes to "The Rhetoric

Rousseau's

Meier includes in his volume,

had indeed been the intention

rhetorical problem posed

make coherent sense of what

conjectural or

which

states that such

is it

that it is the

for stating his

The issue arises

closely in the

Introductory

Intention"

and

invitation to the

of

reader to

Discourse, namely

the

begin

by

setting

aside all the

facts.
It did

not even enter

Nature had existed,

the mind

whereas

of most of our philosophers

it is evident, from reading the

to

doubt that the

Holy Scriptures,

state of

that

Roussseau'

Pure State of Nature

the

first Man,

not

himself in that state,

owed them

lights

received some
and

from God,

immediately

and precepts

that if the Writings of Moses

are granted

every Christian Philosopher, it has to be denied that,

in the pure state of Nature

by

Flood, Men
Let

having

25
was

the credence

even

before the

were ever

therefore begin by setting aside all the facts, for they do not affect the
The Inquiries that may be pursued regarding this Subject ought not
be taken for historical truths, but only for hypothetical and conditional reasonings;
us

question.

better
(P-

Meier
are

to

their genuine origin

show

we sre

not

sccept

the

account of

should,

take that
to

open

indicates

also

account as

"the

He

sets

of

having

set aside all the

He

snd

thst we should

his

that

assertions

is conjectural, but
factual.3
That
been intended to be
the Discourse

facts is certainly an invitation to set

But Rousseau's formu
begin
"

"Let

us therefore

hand,

the one

on

account

in the Discourse,
Rousseau's repeated

in Part I

we

that the biblical facts are

set sside

value

facts

facts."

"the biblical

called

argued

seen that the

distinction between the biblical

Moses"

of

be

have

have

question.4

facts:"

"the biblical

other.

face

at

of nature

The invitation to

lation

invited to

state

instead,

reading is

aside

of scholars who

set aside are what might

fscts

therefore

ings

of things than

agrees with those scholars who

the only

line

long

the

agrees with

here invited to

further

Nature

suited to elucidate the

139)-'

and

"the Writ

account

the theological interpretation

of

that

Philosopher"

by every Christian
the theological interpretation of the biblical

credence owed

aside

on

the

account

far

them

categorically than he sets aside the account itself.

Just before inviting the reader to set aside all the facts, he had

more

All

2.

otherwise unidentified page references throughout

Discourses

together with

translated,
the Pleiade

and annotated
edition of

the Replies to Critics

by

and the

completes are

that

this essay are to The First and Second

Essay

on the

Origin of Languages, edited,

Victor Gourevitch (New York: Harper &

Rousseau's OZuvres

remarked

indicated

Row,

by OC,

1986);

followed

references

by

to

volume and

page numbers.
"conjecture,"

For Rousseau's

3.

see op.

use of

cit., Index. Diderot had but

lately

called

for

"conjectures,"

bold, basic

scientific experiments,

p.

49, n.T,

"

called

will

Revery

call

what others might

History,

history;

as employed

an

by

expression

Mr.

which

Hume see

coincides

his Natural

Raisonnee."

some

French

Smith"

but had originally thought of

Pensees sur ['in
call a

de la nature, Varloot and Diekmann eds., in OZuvres completes, Vol. IX (Paris, 1981)
Dugald Stewart came to speak of "Theo
and nos xxxi-xxxviii. Half a century later,

retical or conjectural

Natural

he

System."

"reveries:"

calling
terpretation

which

writers

have

called

(1793); in Works (1829),

Histoire

pretty nearly in its meaning

History

"Account

of

with

of Religion and with what

the Life and Writings of Adam

vi, 4; discussed by Hans Medick, Naturzustand und

Gesellschaft (Gottingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1978),

vn, 31L

cp.

der burgerlichen
R. L. Emerson surveys "Conjectural History and Scottish
especially in Exkurs II, pp. 305-13;
in Canadian Historical Association Historical Papers 1984 Communications
in Beyond Good and
and Nietzsche is writing "Naturgeschichte der
pp.

Naturgeschichte
Philosophers,"

Moral"

historiques,

63-90;

Evil, Part VI.

4.

As C. E. Vaughan had already indicated: The Political Writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

University Press), 19 15, Vol. I, p. 13. n. 3.

(Cambridge: Cambridge

Interpretation

26
it had

man was ever

had existed,
in the pure

Philosophers"

have to

state of

knew,

not, strictly speaking, the same

are

the

"state

deny

the "state of

Now,

state of nature.

to doubt that the

our philosophers

"Christian

although

that
the

and

nature"

"pure
well

to most of

never so much as occurred

state of nature

As Rousseau

state.

nature"

nature"

"pure

play a
in two very different traditions, the theological tradition, and the philo
sophical tradition. More precisely, Christian theologians traditionally distin
expressions

of

and

state of

role

between the

guish

(pura

state of pure nature

the state of corrupted or fallen nature,

By

grace.

become

The

had

neo-scholastics

supernatural

destination,

come

the

law

of

possibility

Augustine's,
of

fallen

naturalibus) ,

had

state

of

nature than

the world without

of

being

from the

the

point of view

law;

natural

"in

a relative

rejected

the very

natural

metaphor

being

of

the state

state of pure and

nsked, snd

tantamount to a

state of pure nature as

and

which, although it is

be

hand, categorically
Jansenius, borrowing

undressed and

prior

They had accordingly

considered

difference between the

between

garded all speculation about

law

to refer

of pure

or assistance.

nevertheless said to

nature.

pure

allowed no more

or

neo-

nature"

"state

point of view of grace

is

the other

on

use

man

natural

from the

supernatural rather than natural,

The Jansenists,

to

human reason, that is, purely

unaided

considered

of

aspiration,

to distinguish between

also come

of pure nature or

sense."5

pur is

of restored nature or of

century the status of the "state of pure

issue in the differences dividing the Jansenists and the

to the state, actual or conjectural,

natural

state

mid-seventeenth

a central

scholastics.

to

in

natura or

the

and

he

re

revival

Pelagianism.6

Rousseau is evidently alluding to this debate when he says

that the biblical account does not allow for the pure state of nature; and when
of

he

that therefore

adds

what

"

5.

quia etiam gratia

he

habet

will

about mankind and about the earth

say

suam propriam

essentiam,

et

naturam,

cui

connaturale est

lumen infusum, cui etiam connaturale est non solum dirigere homines ad rectam. et honestam, ac
debitam operationem supematuralem, sed etiam depellere tenebras, et errores circa ipsammet legem
pure

lex

ipsiusmet legis

naturalem, et sub altiori ratione praecipere

naturalis

duplex distingui potest,

una pure

naturalis,

naturalis observationem.

alia simpliciter

supernaturalis,

Sic

ergo

naturalis

gratiam."

Suarez, Tractatus de Legibus,

autem respective, per coparationem ad

(1612),

1, 3, xi, (cp. 11,

8, i);

the philosophers

felicity

certain

justice

while

have

in this life,

However,

since

be taken

as

not recognized man's supernatural

it is

the future life

by fitting

rightly

infers that this

natural

doctrine

means

of the

faith that

laws than those that

philosophers

Deo Legislatore

but have dealt

end,

to

in

it in

living

men are ordained

that are to be sought after

law is necessary for

et

representative, Suarez does

or rather with a certain state conducive

end of

more positive

this view may

this

warn

that

with a

peace and

to the supernatural

life,

sacred

vastly different reason, and that

recognize (op. cit., 1, 3, x);
a

theology

men require

from Suarez's De Gratia quoted by Starobinski, OC in, 1303.

6. Cornelius Jansenius, Augustinus, 1640 (Minerva Nachdruck, 1964), Tome
II, the last 3
books, pp. 678-980; p. 679; "Statum purae naturae in Eclesiam introduxerunt
1, 6, xi,
p. 361. For the background of these debates, Etienne
Gilson, Introduction a etude de Saint
Augustin, 2nd ed. (Paris: Vrin, 1943), p. 193 n. 1; Henri de Lubac. S. J., Augustinisme et
theologie moderne (Paris: Aubier, 1965),
especially pp. 140-44, 152-65, 274L, 284-87; also
Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1953), p.
184 n. 23.
see also the passage

Pelegiani,"

1'

Roussseau's Pure State of Nature

itself"

"abandoned to

formula

The issue is

freedom

(pp.

140,

142)

will

be conjectural, he

innumerable theologians

by

that used

as

27

who

uses

the

same

took part in that debate.

commonly debated in terms of the kind of grace, that is, of

or of choice, Adam might
initially have enjoyed. Rousseau is

most

of will

regarding grace, and he postpones any consideration of freedom

later in the Discourse (p. 148). Here he speaks, instead,

silent

choice until much

Adam
God,"

precepts"

"the lights

prior to

and

"precepts"

where

But

clearly

at

knowledge

of the tree of the

he

received

"immediately

of

from

the very least refers to God's:

of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of

it: for in

that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Genesis 2:17);

day

the

"lights"

and

and

which

of

clearly
to heed that

very least refers to the lights needed to understand

In a passage which he added while the Discourse

at the

precept.7

in press, Rousseau guardedly indicates that the biblical account

but
the
interpretation
of
that
account
will
make
sense
especially
only to
was

Divines'

those

human

a precept

in the intention

who will see

they

actions which

indifferent in itself

happiness

is

account

To demur

213).

but especially the

interpretation of that
what did or would have happened naturally, to man

account

at odds with
himself."

arbitrary prohibition is a natural inclination, but

conforms to the order of things and to man's
in
itself
vicious,
being
constitution; since he would not be able to attend to his preservation if he

good

against a useless and

far from

which,

had

(p.

Divines'

The biblical

"abandoned to

inexplicable in any other System: Those, in a word,

voice called all Mankind to the enlightenment and

and

Intelligences

of celestial

giving from the beginning a morality to

acquired for a long time, the reason for

divine

who are convinced that the

the

of

have

would not

not a

very lively love of himself and of the preservation of all his rights and
he received them from nature. He who could be anything would wish

privileges as

nothing but
limited and
what

he is

he is

what

and the same time that

appears

to

me

advice; a warning to
conforms

7.

On

better

to

and not

have been

"precepts,"

e.g.,

himself,

from

2,

ad

sec;

Suarez,

op.

cit.

Press,

as a crime

being; it
true

a pernicious and

Concerning

Government

fruit.

deadly

Hobbes's

and

Rule, found

out

ch. hi passim;

by Reason, by

"precept,"

see

"A

law of

which a man

Society,

nature, (Lex

is forbidden

Discourses, Replies, Languages,

be to

order

12

"

op. cit..

as

wish at one

infringed

Surely

(quoted in

108 passim; on negative

the dictates of

i;

is to impute to him

would

by

prohibition as a paternal

Augustine, De Civitate Dei xiv,

10,

reclaims

this

regarding God's goodness,

one should entertain

90-

is further

whose power

in his heart he

and

natural
or

are

8 below);
Ilae, q2 art.

note

precepts, la

law

idea

and even

still

"precepts":

De Cive (Oxford: Clarendon

Hobbes, Vol. Ill, 1983, H.

Naturalis,) is a Precept or generall
Leviathan, ch. 14; for Rousseau's

the Clarendon Edition of the Philosophical Works of Thomas

Warrender ed.), e.g.,

use of

11,

Being

be. For this reason, the

not so much a

Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica, la Ilae,

Philosophicall Rudiments

feeble

and not some other

he be

idea

him; but
a part of

to

To impute this to him

of.

he is

abstain

to the

cp.

useful

by law, loses

deprived

being

a crime that

Adam

be

what would
restrained

Index.

Interpretation

28

Genesis,

to the text of

for

sion morte morieris

hebraism

than do the

to the threat

with regard

[also]

has

ideas

the

not the emphatic

[in

used elsewhere

Divines

which

which

meaning

Scripture],

to

are pleased

double death, it has been

shown

they

attach

to us;

prescribe

that the expres

it,

to

is only
be

and

where such an emphasis would

place.8

out of

The invitation to begin

by

"the

the orthodox

that Adam sinned

setting

Divines'"

he did

when

aside

facts; but it is

tion to set aside the biblical

aside

of

facts is, then, indeed, an invita

particularly an invitation to set

the

more

interpretation

of these

facts: their

claim

than act sccording to his nsture, and

no more

their sccount of the consequences of Adsm's deed. Without

explicitly referring
debstes surrounding this issue, Rousseau proceeds to give an
mankind abandoned to itself alone (p. 141). Since on his rather

to the theologicsl
account of

reading, the

strict

writings of

himself in that state, he

Moses do

compares

his

reasonings"

tional

which

World."

head-on
would

Divines'

the

with

be

"our Physicists

It is hypothetical

the

tional and

hypothetical,

and conditional

regarding the formation of

because otherwise it would clash
make

and

invite their

so

reason

frequently

censure.

But it

why it is

condi

says, conjectural.
"Divines'"

939f.,

pp.

found

having

note.

Regarding

interpreta

the

e.g.:

If

finds

anyone

by

altered

in understanding why other sins do not alter human nature as it was

first human beings, so that on account of it this nature is
corruption we feel and see, and to death, and is distracted and tossed with

difficulty

the transgression of those

subject to the great

so

many furious

and

sin, even though it

ought not to think
and that not

city God

bad

contending emotions, and is certainly far different from

then lodged in an animal body
if, I say, anyone is

were

that that sin

nor

could not

have

reasonable

creature,

fulfillment

of

ment

easy to

observance

iniquity

of

because it

created and planted

is, in

own will

in

from

so

in lust,

which

violating it

The Vulgate's

one

morte

and the

the

evil thing.

But

is

moved

kind

of

in

sprung up

proportion
12

this, he

by

food,

that spot of singular

the precept He gave,

feli
God

the virtues in the

advantageous to

it,

while

Creator's is destruction. And as this

food in the midst of great abundance of

afterwards
greater

before

was

by

was committed about

mother and guardian of all

the

command
other

kinds

and, above all, found no resistance to

as

the

penal consequence of

to the ease

with which

it

sin, the

might

have

(M. Dods tr.).

King James's "thou shalt

"dying you will die"; regarding

morieris.

Ass,"

because it

forbidden; for in

burden to the memory

only

was all

to render the Hebrew

one

that submission

been kept. Augustine, De Civitate Dei xiv,

attempts

was

it

what

preference to the

light

keep

light

any

sort, the

which was so created

abstinence

enjoining

was so

its

its

was a small and

except

noxious,

commended obedience, which

Lion

man's ever

to the "hypothetical and condi

that that is the only

or, as Rousseau also

8. A Christophe de Beaumont, OC iv,

tion,

daily

interpretation

a serious error to conclude

for

not allow

account

die,"

surely

Genesis 2:17 and 3:4,

Sacks. "The

this expression, see R.

Divines'

Interpretation, 1980, 8:54; for the

interpretation of the double death,
Augustine, De Civitate Dei xiii, passim; for the heterodox
and
interpretation, see Isaac de La Peyrere Proeadamitae (1655), translated under the title

see, e.g., Romans 5:12-14,

polygenist

Men before Adam. Or

a Discourse upon the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth Verses

of the Fifth
Chapter of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans.
By which are prov'd, that the first Men
were created before Adam (London,
1656); and Systema theologicum, ex Proeadamitarium
hypothesi (1655), translated under the title A Theological System upon that Presupposition that Men
were before Adam (London, 1655). La Peyrere has his
pre-Adamites
in the state of nature

living

because they live

without and

before the Law: Men before Adam.

ch.

xvm,

p. 45.

Roussseau'

Pure State of Nature

all

1.2. i

In the

intents

and

men

without

nature)."9

most

intents

all

accepted

widely
"State of

as a

state

definition

institution
different

of civil

of art

remains

in their

civil societies

Hobbes: "the

commonly
both the

by

to

referred

theologians'

absence

being

philosophical

state of members of

another; the state

theologians

"state

Of these, the first is certainly the

the expression "state of

law, be it divine

i.e.

or

condition

nature."

Formally, then,
defined

state of nature are

human. Still,

as

by

the

Jakob Thomasius

nature"

of

closely corresponds to what the

nature"; he ignores what they call the

most

the "state of corrupted

call

of pure

of men after

sovereign states

philosophers'

out, Hobbes's "state

points

tradition.

the state of men prior to the

civil-ized; the

and the

of positive

of

state

to at least four materially very different

relations with one

relations with one another.

most

the

call

the dissolution of their common civil society; and the state of

in their

state of

the most general and the

in the

it is important to distinguish:
society, and so to

by

is, for

of

may properly

of the expression

so understood refers
which

we

purposes, that

and

nature"

conditions,

term

nature"

"state

philosophical tradition the expression

purposes, introduced
civil society (which

For

29

nature."10

prelapsarian

men,"

De Cive, Preface (ed. cit., p. 34); also "the naturall state of

Ibid. 11, I, Annotation,
11, 13 (ed. cit., pp. 52, 68), which compare and contrast with the use of the expression

9.
and

state"

"naturall

the right and

understood as

Thomasius's

10.

remark

is

proper

by

reported

his

state,

student

explicitly acknowledges as much regarding his own

In a ditty to which readers of the Second Discourse

deliberately

run

e.g.

in, 25 (ed. cit.,

p. 72).

Leibniz, Theodicy I, 221; Pufendorf very

account of the state of nature: see p. 31

will recognize

together the theological "state of pure

below.

echoes, Voltaire appears to have

nature"

and the philosophical

"pure

state of

nature":

Mon
Je

cher

crois

Adam,

mon vieux et

triste pere,

te voir en un recoin d'Eden

Grossierement forger le Genre humain

En tourmentant

Eve,

madame

ma mere.

Deux Singes verds, deux Chevres pieds fourchus

Sont moins hideux au fond de leur feuillee;
Par le

soleil votre

Vos bras velus,

Vos

ongles

Votre

peau

face halee,

votre main

Sont les attraits,

les

sont

charmes

crochus,

flatteurs

1'

Dont

assemblage allume vos ardeurs.

Bientot lasses de leur

Sous

ecaillee,

longs, crasseux, noirs et

bise, endurcie et bru lee,

un vieux chene

sale

ils

aventure,

soupent galament

Avec de l'eau, du millet et du gland;

Ce repas fait, ils dorment sur la dure:
Voila l'etat de la

However,

elsewhere

pure

Le Mondain (1736), lines 46-59

Nature.

Voltaire

"

also speaks

various

of

nature."

remained

In

in the

Essai

state of pure

1752 the thesis of one abbe

Sorbonne

as well

Parliement;

and

Diderot, posing

as

by

the

Charles de
as

sur

de Prades

les

mceurs

was censured

Archbishop of Paris; it was

Caylus, Bishop of Auxerre,

the abbe, wrote a Defense of the thesis

places

in America

(1765), Ch.

by

the

in the form

where

mankind

(i.f.).

Faculty

condemned
circulated

of

Theology of the
by the Paris

to be burned

Pastoral Letter
of a

against

it.

reply to the Bishop's

Interpretation

30

On

1.2.2

time as

had

men

refers to

themselves

engag'd

speak of a state

any Covenants

by

"bare"

that state as the

"

Hobbes does

several occasions

Bonds

or

"meere"

state of

Sorbiere, in whose French translation of

have studied Hobbes, renders "bare state of

Pastoral Letter. The

following

from that Defense illustrates the

passage

from wittingly or unwittingly running the two

readers familiar with the Second Discourse will
It

to

seems

picted] in

would

have been

most

the

over

wandering

face

more

his descendants;
of

the earth;

point

nature"

Again,

together.

these lines in it.

for

being

[as de

man

to inquire whether my thesis dealt with

with man placed

with

that could result

confusion

recognize verbal echoes of

to the

pure-

as etat

state of

that before accusing me of substituting some fantastic

me

Genesis, it

the first man, or with one of

man

"pure

senses of

he

sometime

the De Cive Rous

secretary, Samuel
seau would

such

and

His

nature."

or

before

innocent man,

in the earthly paradise, or with

favored with the

enlightened and

extraordinary gifts from heaven, or with corrupted man, banished, and emerging with
dark ignorance. If M. D'Auxerre had taken this trouble, he would have seen that
man as he now is, is the only man known and acknowledged by the adversaries I had to

difficulty from
since

combat, it

the only man I could place before them;

was

agreement on some point; and

present condition of

its knowledge. He

human

would

[intellectual faculties

and

in terms

nature viewed

have

for

there simply cannot be two

seen

that,

knowledge],

to

bring

only begin

can

its intellectual faculties

of

I had to derive the

since

and

discussion

man

from the

the

and

with

the

reasonable sentiments about

origin of

these

successive progress of
moment when

he is

without

any ideas, to the pitch of perfection when he is acquainted even with the profundities of
religion; from the point of imbecile nature when he appears to be lower than a number of
animals, to the

state of

dignity

emerged perfect

from the hands

more enlightenment than

D'Auxerre had
other

when

he

to the rank of the celestial

revelation

his

observations;

and

clearly

anything about
hold ideas that

his creator,

his

long

and

could not take as

and

model

in

alone possessed

will acquire

in

all

future

is

would

have been

one

show that the point of

my thesis

his

about

by

escaped

him;

that he

has

me

some

If M.

many

twenty

of pure

not understood

the state of nature, and that one could

how theologians

by

instant

centuries.

by

shortened

raised

the man who

prerogatives and the advantages of the state

what modern philosophers mean

are more catholic than

my

observation, he would have spared

Pastoral Letter

Adam's

himself

by

posterity together

condescended to make this one

pages of commonplaces about

nature which

of

entire

has his head in the heavens

so to speak

intelligences; I

easily

should understand the state

of

nature.

him
of

In the meantime, and until the Sorbonne instructs him regarding the latter, I shall inform
of what the former is
according to the new philosophy. The state of nature is not the state

Adam before his fall; that momentary state must be the object of our faith and not of our
What is at issue among philosophers is the actual condition of Adam's descendants

reasoning.

considered

in herd (en troupeau),

remains actual,
sets out

and not

which all savages

live,

in society;
with which

a condition which

it is entirely

is

not

only

possible

but

permissible to start when one

to discover philosophically, not the vanished grandeur of human nature, but the origin

and order of

him

in

above

its knowledge, in

the

beast;

others

which one recognizes that man

that he has in common

it

has distinctive

and that

qualities that raise

him

on the same level

[as it]; finally, defects or, if one prefers, less lively qualities that lower him beneath [it]; a
condition which lasts more or less
long depending on the circumstances that may lead men to
form political societies and to move from the herd state to the state
of society. By herd state
with

(etat de troupeau) I mean the state where men. brought together

nature, like monkeys, deer, and crows, etc., have not formed any
to

duties,

nor established

where ressentiment

beings, has

endowed

curb of

completes,

Diekman,

by

the simple

conventions

prompting

of

that subject them

might compel compliance with conventions; and

with which

nature,

which attends

to the preservation

of

the

every individual in order to render him formidable to his kind

is the
Suite de 1'apologie de M. V abbe de
in Diderot, CEuvres
Proust, Varloot, eds., Vol. IV (1978), pp. 333f.

injustice."

only

any authority that

that passion

keep

Prades,"

Roussseau's Pure State of Nature

ment naturel

state."

"purely

or

31
The difference between "the

natural

state of

nature"

"the

without qualification and

this, then, that

bonds,

common political
without

to

prior

he

civil

only the

uses

as

in

is

which everyone

inspired to

in the De Cive, Hobbes

he here draws between the

which

For the

most

to any state short of

and refers

nature."

Pufendorf, in his turn, defines

conceived to

face

by

man

ious Arts together

a state

family

even

expression,

that practice,

with

that changes the

ties

the stste of

the

of

find himself

Human Life [and

Divinity;

is]

birth

at

by

abstracting every

established either

among these we understand

the commodities of Life in general, but

with all

and

humanly

purely

only the var

also Civil Socie
not

that

man

entirely

as

for example, be
insofar as the

would

called,

the state

nature as

thing

more general

the "state of

In conformity

so

state of men

state of nature, and the state of nature as such.

society

or

is the

"meere"

or
part

It

However,

distinction

adhere to the

state of men without

state of nature

so

properly

in

consists

state of

is the

such

whatsoever.

institution.12

by

bare

mere or

bonds

family

the

properly so called is
does not consistently
"bare"

the

bare

mere or

state of nature as

acknowledged

any

without

the

while

nature"

they

in that

assisted

found to be

his kind

by

Pufendorf
considered

himself;

abandoned to

are now

and
"

this state of nature

by

as

if he had fallen from the skies,

Mind

whose qualities of

they have

and

Body

been cultivated,

neither

the extraordinary care

of

are as

nor

limited

been

the Divinity.

to the state of nature so defined as "the state of nature

simply in itself.
discovered
.

more particular and

when

favored

or

also refers

purely

be

state would

detailed

13

He draws

by

Reason

sharp distinction between

"

alone

Revelation

by

enlightenment provided

and

"... the

on

the same

subject

Elsewhere Diderot

refers

to

what

he here

herd

calls the

state as

"herds,"

sur

le

merite et

Languages,

la vertu, Part II,

172,

cit., p.

op.

cp.

sect.
pp.

2,

note

2;

173, 215, Meier

the "pure state of

nature":

Essai

Rousseau, Discourse, Replies,

cp. pp. 180, 328; but also Plato,

cp.

on
p.

178,

Statesman 264a-267c; Aristotle, Politics I, 2, I253a8, History of Animals 487034, 488a20; on

see also the last paragraph of Rousseau, Second Discourse, Note X,
"celestial
intelligences,"

quoted on p.

n.

27 above.
De Cive I, x and Annotation; cf. ibid. 11 18; v 2; and vm I as well as Leviathan ch. 20 (p.
reduced to a
the 1651 edition, cited in n. 16 below); Robinson Crusoe was at first
"

of

103

nature."

Daniel Defoe, The Life

meer state of

Penguin,

1965),

p.

and

Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (New York:

130.
(I'

Leibniz therefore says, "Mr. Hobbes calls the natural state

the least art; perhaps not taking into account that human nature in its
12.

l'art

etat

naturel) that

perfection

involves

art

has

(porte

elle)."

Theodicy, I,

avec

13.

Droit de la

enlarged.

Hobbes

of

nature

et

221.

des gens, J. Barbeyrac tr. (second ed.,

Amsterdam: Pierre de

Coup,

1712), 11,

ii,

revised

1, 2, 4. Pufendorf

De Cive, according to whom men in the state of nature

only: "Let us return again to the state of nature,

are as

if

and

goes

considerably
farther than the

earthbom with respect

"engagements"

now

which

sprung

suddenly (like Mushromes)

De Cive vm, 1.

out of the earth, and

other."

of engagement

to each

and consider men as

come

to

full maturity

if but

without all

to

even

kind

Interpretation

32
For

[possessed of] the

and

since

is deduced,

same

inclinations

have

coming into the

on

one

has to

Man

consider

he

as

Pufendorf 's

accepts

formulations as, for example,

premises and sometimes even uses

itself"

in his turn,

he,

when

(pp.

"abandoned to

earth

farther

the

to speak, from the skies,

so

men nowadays

take us no

alone can

which

from the Creation that is taught

figures the first Man fallen,

and

from

primitive constitution,

one abstracts

reasoning
Hence I say that in expounding Natural Right
"
the Fall

Rousseau

the

Man's

to represent

since

world;

is

order

of natural right

Sacred History,

by

us

in

example:

foundation

for the

Further, like Pufendorf, he

142).

140,

the same

speaks of mankind and of

referring to the state without any

in other words the
"on
authority
as the "state of
"each is judge is his own
However,

follows Hobbes's

practice of

most part

earth,"15

common superior or acknowledged

case,"

state where

sometimes, as in the first

hence

or political

rule, and indeed

without

"moral

without

the state without

political

authority

whatsoever, the

relations

any

calls

or

or

"pure"

"moral"

state of

"pure"

Formally, then, his

nature.16

(pp. 24L), he

passage quoted

inequalities,"

"moral

nature."

Hobbes'

to

corresponds

of nature

state

14. Les devoirs de I'homme et du citoyen (The Duties of Man and Citizen), J. Barbeyrac tr.
(Amsterdam: Pierre de Coup, 1735); Author's Preface,
m, vm; cp. the passage from the Exor
dium of the Second Discourse cited p. 24 above; Pufendorf 's statement can be read as an almost
word for word rejection of the orthodox position: cp. e.g. Suarez, cited in note 5 above; indeed:
other things, dear Sir, I find it rather amusing that he [sc. Veit Ludwig v. Seckendorf] sets
forth the theory of the state of integrity [or pure nature]; for when that theory is stated distinctly in
terms of our
hypotheses, human life appears so different from what it is now, that

"Among

theologians'

theirs."

is scarcely any

there

between

agreement

h[ochgeschatzter] H[err]
integri ausfiihret; denn

our

natural

sachen gefallet mir wohl,

("Unter

and

daB Derselbe [sc.

hypothesibus

wenn solche ex

laws

v.

ienen

naturales zu

sich am wenigsten reimen

1687, Briefe Samuel Pujcndorfs

an

State

Nature

soil.") Letter to Christian

(l68j-

Christian Thomasius

Leipzig: Oldenbourg, 1897), p. 5.

15. For example "Religion commands

us

to believe that

since

m[ein]

theoriam status

Theologorum distincte delineiret

nostrorum

wird, bekommet das menschliche leben eine solche differente gestalt von dem

leges

andem

Seckendorf]

1693).

itzigen, daB unsere

Thomasius, 9 April

E. Gigas

ed.

(Munich &

God himself drew Men

out of

they are unequal because he wanted them to be

Second Discourse, Exordium, in Discourses, Replies, Languages, op. cit., pp. 139L;
of

immediately

after

the creation,

the

so."

"

promises

to

do

or to

forbear

are conventional acts which go outside

freedom."

Emile 11, OC iv, 336, Bloom tr.,

leave the state of nature almost upon

children

In

16.
sion

"pure

have

addition to the passage

p.

in

[states]

occurs

176, Meier

which men

p.

would

earth."

Unpublished

a new

State

its purity,
whether

it is

have

rather

being

"

born

of

so-called

in the

pure

that

of

"

p.

most

the

154.

Meier

pure state of nature

happy,

chance

frequent

in the

120;

p.

goodness suited to nascent

and

the

most

is that

of all

numerous on
"

OC m, p. 475, Meier p. 422 #14;

began in that the first was the state of Nature in
,

corruption."

"

p. 197, Meier p. 262;

is commonly with child again
and
encounters or the impulsion of temperament alone would

Nature the

effects

24 above, the expres

immense distance that must

of an excess of

difficult to believe that

produced as

which we

the

longer the

which compare with

last is the fruit

State

was no
"

192,

quoted on p.

for Languages

need

Nature

be the least wicked, the

Political Fragment, 11 # 1

Nature, different from

whereas this

from the

state of

the state of nature and restrict

claiming the right to be obeyed [,]

Nouvelle Heloise, v. 3, OC 11, 571.

"

nature"

state of

the goodness suited to the pure

Society

by

101;

from the Exordium (p. 139)

in the following contexts:

separated the pure state of nature

.

"

p.

"

woman

pure

State

of

Nature

as

in that

of conjugal

Society

"

Roussseau's Pure State of Nature

"bare"

33

"meere"

or

state of

Pufendorf 's "state

state without

and

it

and

nature,

of nature considered

corresponds even

purely

conceivably prior to
any kind.

and

rule,

bonds,

more

itself:"

simply in

covenants,

closely to

it, too, is

hence

and

artifice or conventions of

In

corrupted

whereas

nature,

the state of

lar the

men engaged

is the

state of pure nature

the alternative to Rousseau's

relations with one

state of

pure state of nature

"moral"

in

and

another,

At the

same time, Rousseau's

differs
from the other
nature,

state of civil society.

especially his

state of

in

is

particu

nature, but

philosophers'

pure state of

primarily because

tions of these states

ferences between
on

theologians'

the alternative to the

sum:

his insistence

of

pre-civil or savage man on the one

concep
the decisive dif

on

hand,

and civil-ized man

the other.

The

1.3

problematic

greater the

differences between

be inferences based

will

on

be,

them are assumed to

the

men

the more

around us about what men

"originally"

have been. Rousseau is the first to have clearly seen, or at

may
least to have clearly stated the central paradox of what has come to be known
as historicism: that the reasons why historical inquiries are said to be neces
sary,

(p.

are

the very

same reasons

inquiries

such

why

are

necessarily

conjectural

129).

He is thus led to
to

disentangle

how difficult it is

reflect on

what

is

original

from

what

is

artificial

in

man's present

know accurately a state which no longer exists, which perhaps

about which it is nevertheless necessary to have exact Notions

and to
and

Nature,
did exist,

never

("Preface,"

130).

p.

Note XII, #3,

where

p.

223, Meier

p.

which compare with

358,

there are supposed no Lawes of

Matrimony;

no

Hobbes's

"'

Nature;
Children; but the

state of meer

Lawes for the Education

of

Children."

Law of Nature, and the naturall inclination of the Sexes, one to another, and to their
Leviathan, ch. 20, p. 103. To my knowledge, this is the only occurrence of the expression "state of
in the Leviathan, where Hobbes's preferred expression is condition as in "natural condi
nature"

tion"

nature."

or

"condition

Rousseau did

of mere

not

know the Leviathan

"Pure

state of

Discourse. It does

himself in

relation

in the exclusively formal, legal sense, does not occur in the Second
in the Discourse on Political Economy:
as soon as one man claims
"

occur

to subordinate another

to that

other

laws, he immediately leaves

to the

without regard

in the

[19];

by

cp.

"But if the Prince is

nature and owes accounts neither

fragment known

According

as

to his subjects

The State of War, OC ill,

p.

to some readers, any attempt to

nor

for every occurrence of

least one critical passage they

at

Languages,

op. cit. p.

176,

as
are

quoted on p. 36

Emile, by

is interchangeable

contrast, Rousseau warns

the state of nature, and

which

is

to be the

as much as to
reason

to anyone

for any

of

his

never prescribed

the pure state of

action."

Unpublished

Rousseau's

in "primitive

manifestly

not

"pure"

state of nature must

state"

or

condition."

"primitive

interchangeable: Discourses, Replies,

below. However, in the Second Discourse "man in the

"natural
(op. cit. pp. 130, 132. 168, 207). In the
man"

nature"

pure state of

laws[,] he lives in

understand

also account

is

above the

603.

"primitive"

Yet in

the civil state and places

pure state of nature where obedience

necessity."

except

first hand.

at

nature"

with

"The difference is
in the

natural man

living

say that "the

pure state of

considerable

between

natural man

living

in

society"

(OC iv, 483, Bloom, tr.

state of

nature"

why the expression does not occur

has

not

the status of

in the Emile.

fact;

p.

205),

and would seem

Interpretation

34

Now,

the

state of nature

broadly

speaking, the

"without

state of man

to

society,"

certainly did exist, does

173; Meier
prior

ably

lations,
may

180).

190; 156,

pp.

exist,

and will continue

17

But

and

and conceiv
or

moral

re

convention of any kind,

have existed; it certainly does not now exist; and it is most
hereafter. Human life may always, everywhere, necessarily,
the natural and the artificial or conventional, and it may be

well not ever

"natural"

that this

perfectly
artifice or

Such

convention,

seems to me so

not

(p

However compelling

Discourse, they

they

are

so.

In

order

remain

to know the state

arbitrary.

see.

I have initiated

of

Still,

myself with

having

some arguments;

seen what

I have hazarded

130).

may find Rousseau's conjectures in Part I of the

conjectures. He knew that they are conjectures; he said
and

he very clearly

of

from"

because

of

is:

when

and

he is speaking

about

are conjectures

the reasons why they

biblical
the
account, of the

spelled out

necessarily are conjectures quite independently

risks involved in contradicting or "abstracting

They

free

one

conjectures;

considerations.

of man

therefore compelled to conjecture.

imagine that I dare flatter

difficult to

some conjectures

be

is

one

will, of course, not be

conjectures

Let my Readers

the

it,

or of

nature of

any

rhetorical

the problem

he

himself.18

set

The difficult
make

it

rhetorical question

clear whether

the state of nature without

tion of

his failure

account

is fsr

qualifications.

to do so, is to

more radicsl

than

the

state of nature or about

One effect,

leave

readers

it in fact is. But

does Rousseau fail to

why

"pure"

presumably one inten

the impression that his

and

with

unless one remains attentive to

the distinction between the two states, it is impossible to make consistent

of

is,

(pp. 176; 165,

covenants,

any acknowledged authority, rules,

artifice or
or prior to
hence without

civil

It

us"

a state of man without

to

unlikely to exist
be a mixture of

that

now

particularly, the state of "the Savage Peoples known to

most

exist.

the

Discourse, let

alone of

its

relation

sense

to Rousseau's other writings on these

subjects.

17.

Rousseau is
to "in the

contrast
"

or

in the

"savage"

nature,

in using
in
interchangeably with "in the state of
and hence "civil-ized"; cp. for example, Hobbes, De Cive, vm, 18;
Nature
wild People must have an Instinct to understand

not alone

state"

civil

wild

State

"

of

"

civiliz'd."

one another, which they lose when they are

Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees, Part II,
The Sixth Dialogue; F. B. Kaye ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), Vol. II, pp. 286, 285; and
some naturalists
e.g. Buffon and, a full century later, Darwin
classify animals as either "in the
state of
or
The political implications are clear, and Rousseau repeatedly calls
"domestic."

nature"

attention to them.

18.

Harald Weinrich

in Part I
narrative

kungen

strictly linguistic grounds: the verb forms

primarily discussive (besprechend), and in Part II predominantly
(erzdhlend). "Erzahlte Philosophie oder Geschichte des Geistes: linguistischc Bemer-

of the

zu

Descartes

W.-D. Stempel

reaches a similar conclusion on

Discourse

eds.

are

Rousseau."

und

Geschichte Ereignis

(Munich: W. Fink, 1973).

pp.

411-26;

und

Erzahlung, R. Koselleck

see pp. 424L

and

Roussseau

Pure State of Nature

In the last

2.

35

Part 1 Rousseau

paragraph of

how best to

considers

proceed

when

two

facts

facts

In Meier's

reconstitute

Discourse,

facts

by

connected

believed to be

a sequence of

so

(p

real"

given as

intermediate

169).

he

are what

end

of

the development

in the Discourse. He takes the

Rousseau

which

up

to be the account of

acknowledges that the

Part I

so much of

point"

despotisms. Although he

to

out

to be the account

"starting

state of nature that took

the "end

sets

point"

"pure"

and

"the starting

calls

point"

"the

in the

of man

or

the "two

view

point"

and

be

given as real are to

that are unknown

first is

of

the

in contemporary
a "fact given as

man
not

real"

in the

same sense

if it

commentary, as

Rousseau's
does it

proceeds, here

fact in any sense

the "two facts given as real
Is it

were.19

remark about

different,

not require a

is, he

that the second

a

and

throughout

Does

of the term?
allow

his
not

for, indeed

more natural and more plausible reading?

Rousseau is outlining what he proposes to do in Part II

and how that plan is related to what he did in Part I:

of

the

Discourse,

bring together the various contingencies that can have perfected

deteriorating the species, make a being wicked while making
from so remote a beginning, finally bring man and the world to the

to consider and

human

reason while

it sociable,

and

point where we now

He then
this plan in
.

find

them (p. 168,

to review some

goes on

impossibility of on the one

being in a position to attach

given as real

In the

the difficulties he faces in carrying

of

[that]

be

are to

hand rejecting

by

connected

this program, it

context of

See Meier, footnote 212,

the end of the First Part

of

p.

168;

certain

to them the certainty

a series of

hypotheses without,
of

facts;

real"

in

linking
facts.'

unknown

politique:

following
"factual"

Les

and

History,

principes

J. Mosconi,

also

'two facts

The

Rousseau's

perhaps

world

footnotes 94, 202, 215, 448; so, too, L. Strauss: "At

cp.

op.

facts

a sequence of

intermediate

and

actually

the state of nature and contemporary

267 n. 32; so, too, V. Goldschmidt, Anthropologic et

de Rousseau (Paris: Vrin, 1974), PP- 39f> 755- J- Derrida,

interprets Rousseau's
Most

of

pure state of nature as

the difficulties

he

the initial or earliest, i.e.

encounters

in his deconstruction

be traced to that interpretation. A further

succinctly indicated

by

of

problem with that

the fact that Derrida routinely refers to

pure state of nature as the state of pure nature, an expression and a concept that

be found in Buffon (see

grammatologie

Grammatology G.
,

p.

55),

Voltaire,

or

Diderot (see

note

10 above),

(Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, 1967), e.g.,

Spivak tr. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins

pp.

but

never

may
in Rousseau:

329L, 337, 357^, 387;

University Press,

1974),

pp.

(1),"

Of

231!, 236f.,

252L, 274; J. Mosconi "Analyse et genese: Regards sur la theorie du devenir de l'entendement
Cahiers pour T analyse No. 4, 1966, p. 75.
siecle

XVIIIe

or

despotism."

are

cit., p.

systeme

most

'by

given as

given

accounts of origins can

interpretation is

to read

the

and

the bipartite work, Rousseau calls the state of nature a 'fact': the

stage of the state of nature.

Rousseau's

De la

du

"man

as saying:

as

on the

intermediate facts

real'

problem consists

supposedly
Natural Right

out

facts

two

seems more natural and plausible

the remark about the "two facts given

19.

166).

p.

view of

the

other,

Meier,

au

Interpretation

36

the point where we now find

[at]

societies, some of

political

despotism

the formal sense of that

"state

he

set

fact

another

fact

there is

extreme

given as real

in

that

travellers and ancient

such as modern

words,

most

to the state of nature

returned

It is

197).

life is

there are

given as real:

historical,

is,

that

pre

of

everyone

other

one

nature."

In this factual

stock

way

of

to have

(p.

expression

whose

have reported; in

political

said

"savages"

there are
sources

be

is

have disintegrated into the

which

may therefore

and

them"

state of

nature,

punishing the

by himself,

contempt shown

him in

became terrible,

vengeances

a manner proportionate to the

and men

bloodthirsty

and cruel.

This is precisely the state reached by most of the Savage Peoples known to us; and it
is for want of drawing adequate distinctions between ideas and noticing how far

already were from the first state of Nature, that many hastily concluded
is naturally cruel and that he needs political order in order to be made
[Tadoucir], whereas nothing is as gentle [doux] as he in his primitive state

these Peoples
that

man

gentle

Nature

by

when, placed

fatal

at equal

enlightenment of civil man

The many
savage

hoc

hasty

conclusion erred

hoc. As

ergo propter

right

natural

regarding

drew this

the true

and

foundations

are

bloodthirstiness

and

cruelty
ingredient to human

ative, the by-products

existence.

"moral"

men's material and

savage peoples
and

known to

lives.

and

known to

known to

us

us.

and which

They

by

and

gives

way to

body

also erred

politic

(pp. 131,

assumed that

they

nature,

are

us

deriv

"most

of

the

nature."

Reason

state of

than those of the savage

assigns most of
of

the

known to

developments in

recognize that

in the "first

to

rea

they

that

contingent

more primitive

Rousseau therefore

to a second stage of the state

by

the

recognize

possibly
failed to

are not men

the establishment of separate, stable,

of

They fallaciously

this error,

they mistakenly

failed to

us"

tradition alike point to conditions

peoples

the

and

attributed

of most of the savage peoples

They

of complex

because they

man.

a result of

132, 133, 153, 159L, 224L). In particular,

manifest

brutes

of the

the needs and passions of civilized

man

soned post

who

distance from the stupidity

(p. 176).

the savage peoples

a stage which

begins

with

sedentary families settled in huts (p. 173),

final stage in the state of nature

a third and

introduction

the

of metallurgy and agriculture (p. 177), the enclosure and

land (pp. 179, 170), and the attendant and irreversible division of
labor (pp. 177, 179L). The second or middle stage of the state of nature, the
with

division

of

stage of

"most

ning"

or

state of

bands

of

the savage peoples known to

"nascent"

is

also the stage of

"begin

society (pp. 176, 182). In the preceding, first stage of the

men
lead a nomadic life in more or less loosely structured
nature,
"troops"

or

(pp. 173, 262L) possessing languages "approximately like

have
(p. 173), languages which

those which various savage nations still

20.

us,"

20

But

never

"societe

sauvage":

today"

Meier, footnotes 237,

238.

Roussseau's Pure State of Nature

37

contain at

least

and which

therefore count as human languages

some

is,

articulated, that

instituted sounds,

and

conventional

in the

proper

strictest sense

(pp.

Their life is certainly not simply free of artifice and conven

173, 244,
tions. It certainly does not represent the
state of nature, understood as
248).

"pure"

the

state

only

and

without

Rousseau

never claims

means

is

gle what

frequently

by

which

to get to know

from

original

is

what

"meditate"

says, to

to

prior

conceivably

all

to have any facts regarding

on

it,

artifice

in

for the

quest

The

"to disentan

which

nature,"

is,

as

he

and

to

try

man's present

the available facts

and

to frame hypotheses which cannot be refuted, even if

facts. The

by

the only means

artificial

convention.

and

such a state or stage.

putative pure state of nature

alternatives,

they
is

cannot

be

asserted as

thought-experiment,

"bracketing"

systematic

hence

of all artifice and of all moral needs and

also

the conditions necessary for artifice

of all

"

"[b]y

relations:

It is

by

stripping the
in

the two facts "given

ized

Being

"analysis."

The

man.

distinctive feature

most

hoc

drawing

view,

Grotius, Hobbes, Locke,

possible

post

any

the

conclusions

facts. But the farther the

Rousseau

sketched

the

of

methods.

from the

of the

One,

let

simple

they

to the

guided

us,"

and civil or civil

regressive analysis

is the

effort

to

regressive

recedes and

are

"facts

full ten

filled

state of

fades into

to establish fact. It

alone

with

be

conjecture.

is to

real."21

strategy

by

confirmed

the savages known

The

are

They

aim

to the

extrapolate

or conditions

given as

in any
"general

not

are

the Second Discourse in a

of

years earlier:

Laws

and maxims

to teach to others

pertaining to two

call synthesis or method of composition

composite and uses

will

analysis

beyond the

rhetorical and methodological

Philosophers

which

p. 78).

is

the

fact

fragment believed to have been drafted

The books

Meier,

regressive analysis

and

event not

the term

(p. 141;

and

needs

hoc inferences as, in Rousseau's

indeed all of his predecessors did. As far

analysis moves

"facts,"

21

this

conditions

or

sense of

of

is in any
of humanity. These limits

of the analysis

this

relations;

moral

ergo propter

to us, the farther the realm of

limits

course of

the savages "known to

as real":

avoid

as

so constituted

The

an exercise

and

and

by

general

means of which one goes

what one

knows;

the other which

they call Analysis or method of resolution and which one uses in learning what one does not
know; for example, when inquiring into a family's genealogy, one traces it backward from the
present,

relation

which a

table

by

relation, ancestor

is drawn up,

with

by

ancestor, to its origin; that

the one who

is the Analytic

has been discovered to be the founder

way.

of the

After
house

its head, [and] moving forward generation by generation right up to the present, that is
I would, then, wish always to begin my discussions with the weakest proofs. In
some fields, the most convincing arguments are drawn from the heart of the matter itself; such

at

synthesis

are questions of

thered

by

Physics. Knowledge

knowledge

of the soil

in

of the nature of plants may,

which

they

for example,

thrive, the fluids that

nourish

well

be fur

them, their

specific

be properly known without examining

without considering their total internal structure, their fibers, volvules,
tracheae, bark, pith, leaves, flowers, fruit, roots and, in a word, all the parts that go into their
makeup. In moral inquiries, by contrast, I would begin by examining the little we know about
properties, but their
them in themselves,

mechanism and springs will never

the human mind, taken in itself and

few

obscure and uncertain

considered

singly, I would gropingly derive from it some

conclusions, but soon abandoning this dark

labyrinth, I

would

hasten

Interpretation

38

"principles":22

causes"

or

as

the human beings

we

minimum, beings

at a

know

are

who are

constituted

physically

in

whose needs and powers are

constituted,

balance, who are therefore materially and psychologically self-sufficient, that

is, free, hence morally and politically equal, and thus "good"; and who are

to examine man in

his

relations and

derive from them

dispel the uncertainty of my arguments and would be

son. "Idee de la methode dans la composition d'un

host

seen

livre,"

OC iv, 434.

Emile v, OC iv, 837; Bloom

and

of

in

luminous truths that

an even clearer

OC n,

light

would

by

compari

Emile in,

12441 : see a'so.

pp.

Discourse.

tr. pp. 171. 459. with the warnings:

I59f., and OC 111, 61 if.

Consider
There is

Hobbes's

also

a certain

Conduct,

we are

Clue

led

as

account of

of

Reason,

'twere

tion is to be taken from that

by

his

procedure:

whose

the

beginning is

hand into the

Darknesse,

and

dark, but by the benefit of whose

light, so that the Principle of Tracta-

in the

clearest

then the light to be carried thither

its doubts. As

often therefore as

Justice, I

presently advertised from the very

his Owne) that my first enquiry

for the

irradiating

any writer, doth either weakly forsake that Clue, or wilfully cut
it asunder, he describes the Footsteps, not of his progresse in Science, but of his wandrings
from it. And upon this it was, that when I applyed my Thoughts to the Investigation of Naturall
was

giving every

one

word
was

Justice, (which

be, from

to

any thing rather his Owne, than another mans.

from Nature, but Consent, (for what Nature at first laid forth in common, men
distribute into severall Impropriations) I was conducted from thence to another

man should call

proceeded not

did

afterwards

Inquiry, namely
men

common,

steady Will of
it proceeded, that any
And when I found that this
signifies a

whence

to what end and

did

rather

think

the reason was, that from a

Impulsives,

upon what

it fitting, that every

Community

of

when all was

have his

man should

Goods,

there must needs

equally every mans in

Inclosure; And I found

Contention

arise

whose

be greatest, and from that Contention all kinds of Calamities must unavoyensue, which by the instinct of Nature, every man is taught to shun. Having therefore

enjoyment should

dably

thus arrived
which

interest,

two maximes of humane

appropriate

laid down, I
work of

seem

Nature,

the one arising

from

the rational!, which teaches

as the greatest mischiefe

that can

from them to have demonstrated

arrive

by

For the background

concupiseiblc

man

to

fly

Contracts,

between the

analytic and

connexion, in this little

and thence the rudiments

7, R. Kennington

ton, D.C.: The Catholic

293-318.

Part I

nature,

le

veritable

(Meier,

p.

161

wahre

state

etat

University
of the

de

); but in his
of nature,

nature

note
an

America Press, 1980),

of

Discourse, Rousseau

80,

(p.
p.

[66). which

166, he

pp.

speaks of

cit., p.

"genuine."

344,

note ad

Admittedly

p.

pp. 26L

Meier translates der

Philosophy

of Baruch

(Washing

ed.

to the genuine state of

wahrhaftc

Naturzustand

"quotes"

expression which

n[4]; also,

in The

having dug

that

Rousseau

passages as

29 line 7,

it is difficult to translate

and

veritable

if it

nowhere uses;

especially, 135 and 448. A similar error unfortunately slipped into

op.

joynt

contre-

the synthetic methods, see Richard

Ethics,"

end of

part,
a

Nature; Which Principles being

Kennington, "Analytic and Synthetic Methods in Spinoza's

Spinoza. Studies in philosophy and the history of philosophy Vol.
At the

have

all others

Prudence. De Cive, Epistle Dedicatory, Warrender ed.,

the contrast

of

to

every

a most evident

mine, first the absolute necessity of Leagues and

of morall and of civill

from the

to it selfe the use of those things in which

the other proceeding

Dissolution,

naturall

both

at

desires to

p.

130

spoke of

the true

see also notes

der

215 and,

Discourses, Replies, Languages,

line 19,

where

consistently; and in

at

for

least

"true"

read
some cases,

Rousseau may have chosen it in preference to vrai for reasons of euphony. However, that cannot
have been his reason for choosing to speak about la veritable jeunesse du
Monde, "the genuine
World"

the
(p. 177), which, as Meier notes (p. 194. note 240)
directly alludes to Lucre
tius, but which, it must be added, does so by taking issue with him. It would seem that, at least in
the Second Discourse, Rousseau uses veritable to indicate a contrast with the broad
of an
youth of

tendency

Roussseau's Pure State of Nature

39

"perfectible"

perhaps even almost

or

animals,

in hindsight

what

potentially human
to have been potentially human

will

prove

(p.

so

unlimitedly

149):

animals.

or condition.

brutish,

For the

and

in: "...

It is

short."23

human

less

more or
of

in the

beginnings, but

animal state are not

state,
corresponds

even a

facts

support of
or

about animals
us"

who

distance from the stupidity of the brutes

(p. 176). Thus the very first time he

equal

to

particularly

in

cites

the savages "known to

about

"animal"

man, solitary, poor, nasty,

necessarily a pre-human or
Most of the facts which Rousseau

state.

have seen, "at

state"

the life

and

in the

not

conjectures about man

putative animal

man as

part, his "animal

most

as

primitive

we

sometimes speaks of

"brutish,"

Hobbes's

his

"natural"

Rousseau

2.1

and

are, as

the fatal

man"

enlightenment of civil

"animal state", he is contrasting the development

of the senses

in

mentions

the

savage and

in

civilized men:

Self-preservation
oped

faculties

almost his only care, his [sc. savage man's] most devel
be those that primarily serve in attack and defence
By

being

must

only by softness and sensuality must remain in

his being in any way delicate; and since his
senses differ in this respect, his touch and taste will be extremely crude; his sight,
hearing, and smell, most subtle: Such is the animal state in general, and according to
reports, it is also the state of most Savage Peoples (p. 147; Meier, p. 96).

contrast, the organs that are

perfected

a state of coarseness which precludes

Travellers'

In

other

state"

is

words, "the animal

more

or,

precisely, is

also

the state

be civilized, certainly do have lan

they may
guage, arts and artifacts, and mceurs, morals or customs. The hierarchy or
acuity of their senses may point to the condition of the lower
However, their moral life places them at a considerable remove from it.
of peoples

which, though

not

animals.24

The "animal
alternative account:

consults, of

fallacies

state"

would,
his is the

Hobbes,

which

his

and of

are

first

stage

beasts, may

too, the

in the

courses,

op.

see

Index;

cit.,

op.

cit., OC 11,

1246.

The

de

fact

relation of

nature

in

contrast

the "state of

to that of the juris

on reflections and arguments

veritable

jeunesse du

monde

of man and the world;

(p.

that avoid the

is the second,
animals which

215).

Fragments politiques, OC ill, 529,

also

cp.

methode,"

coextensive with

veritables savage men

"principles,"

and

Replies, Languages,

be

history

be

perhaps

causes"

22.

to

veritable etat

committed; so

not, as Lucretius had said, the

say
On "general

the

account of

appear

Locke, because he bases it

predecessors

unreliable travelers

then,

OC m,

604

and principle

and

Dis

var.(b), and "Idee de la

and

in the Discourse is

a central

important study Anthropologic et politique: Les principes du

systeme de Rousseau. Unfortunately his account of that relation is, in the final analysis, incoherent
because he too fails to observe the distinction between the state of nature broadly speaking, and the
theme of Victor Goldschmidt's

pure state of nature; see n.

23.

Leviathan,

ch.

government of small
at

all;

and

live

13,

19

Families,

at this

day

above.

op.

cit., p.

the

in this brutish

CEuvres

philosophiques,

325b36-326bi8.

J.

also

"For the
"

manner

in America, except the

lust, have no government

savage people

dependeth

idem,

on naturall
p.

63.

between the acuity of man's senses and the

animaux (1753) (Discourse on the Nature of Animals), in
Piveteau ed. (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1954), pp.

Buffon had recently drawn a

animals': Discours sur la nature des
24.

62;

concord whereof

comparison

Interpretation

40

nature."

At times Rousseau

from this

extrapolates

to the conjectural

state

"pure"

state of nature:

Savage Man
sense will

his
the

soul

only

terrors was

he fears

know

Meier,

first

pp.

be the first

will

are pain, and

it is

die,

to

and almost the

opera

only

I say pain, and not death; for

knowledge of death and of its

hunger;
the

and

acquisitions on

moving away from the

ignorant

of

an

animal condi

104, 106).

Rousseau's

reconciled with

it is,

animals'

ignorance

of

death

pity (pp. i6of.), the claim that

Starobinski rightly reminds us in his Pleiade

as

account of

Human beings

a commonplace.

note,

he

now, of how this remark about the

Regardless,
animals are

what

one of man's

tion (pp. I49f.;

edition

purely animal functions: (X) to perceive and to

will have in common with all animals. To

with

which

evils

animal will never

is to be

then begin

to will, to desire and to fear

will and not

tions of

will

be his first state,

who

are

to

or are presumed

death may be said to be in the animal state. That is why

Fontenelle had but lately spoken in these terms of a boy born deaf-mute.
be

ignorant

of

He did

not

animal

life, entirely

ideas he

really know

death is,

by

and

he

never thought about

sensible and present

it. He led

and

objects,

by

the

purely

few

received through the eyes.

"Animal"

human

what

absorbed

here

being

refers

to the

human being,

condition of a

whose capacities are

limited

or,

more

albeit

to that

of a

undeveloped

precisely,

precisely because, as Fontenelle points out, he lacks language. But as

Fontenelle goes on to report, before long the boy in question gained hearing,
and as soon as he did, he learned language and achieved full human status.
Both Condillac
which

and

Buffon had

Rousseau knew

well.

cifically devoted to the issue

quoted and

discussed this

Indeed Condillac
which

Rousseau

speaks of

raises

report

it in

in

contexts

a chapter spe

in the immediate

sequel

to

the remark about death in the animal and the human condition: the confirmation
of conjecture

by

fact.25

When he does draw

173); or,

as when

other animals

as

he

between

invariably

compares

to underscore the

order

with

comparisons

primitive, Rousseau

most

does

animal

differences,

(pp. 221-23 regarding

not

animal and

so

and

with

human behavior

qualifications

(pp.

which see pp. 51L

between

below;

so

man and

165L;

its

i6of.,

human sexuality, he does

the similarities

at

cp.

in
the

153

222L).26

Formally
long as
25.

speaking,

man

may be said to be in the animal state or condition

he remains under the sway of exclusively

to the extent that

Buffon, De I'homme, M. Duchet

I'origine des

ed.

(Paris:

Maspero,

1971),

pp.

I99f.;

Condillac. Essai

humaines Part I, section 4, chapter 2,

13.
26. In contrast, for example, to Plato, Laws vm, 836c; a passage cited
by Pufendorf in connec
tion with his assertion that conclusions about human conduct based on animal behavior
persuade
i i.f.
only the vulgar: Droit, op. cit. 11, 3,
sur

connaissances

Roussseau

Pure State of Nature

41

"physical"

impulsions, that is to ssy subject to the lsw of nature or of the

(pp. 132L, 175L, 184L); he may be said to have left the animal state
insofar as he acts in terms of
relations and constraints within the
stronger

"moral"

context of

society

society, in

particular of civil

real."

He

as

"pure"

in the

"pure

animal

man

he

as

animal state or condition

in the

"pure"

state of

and without artifice or moral relations of

speechless,

fact "given

either

in the

says about man

to conclude that he thinks that

isolated,

insofar

other words

civil-ized.27

nothing Rousseau

Certainly

in

and

permits us
man

and

"sociable"

becomes

state of

never goes

might

animality"

state of

any kind, is

discussing

and

by analogy
(p. 224)
as

state"

"the

beyond positing

nature, or in what

nature,

be

hypothesis

an

man

the

called

or a

conjecture.28

In

2.2

Note

indeed have

which

on

seau, reflecting

many

produced

thousand causes may produce, and

which a

species,"

in the human
[or

various animals similar to

lers have

have found especially striking, Rous

readers

the "varieties

is led to

like]

[semblabes

men

without much observation taken

wonder whether

for Beasts,

aux

either

hommes]

because

which

travel

of some

differences they noticed in their outward conformation, or merely because these

Animals did not speak, might not indeed be genuine Savage men [de veritables
hommes Sauvages]
in the

and was still

The

whose

develop

occasion to

its

race, dispersed in the

faculties,

virtual

primitive state of

reports which prompted

length,

quote at some

had

woods

Nature (Note X,

these

in

ancient

times, had had

any degree

not acquired
pp.

2i4f.).29

musings and which

tell of animals similar to man

no

of perfection,

Rousseau

([qui]

goes on

ont une

to

ressem-

27.

This

passage

man

by

from the state of nature to the civil state produces a very remarkable change in
substituting justice for instinct in his conduct, and by endowing his actions with the
morality which they previously lacked. It is only when the voice of duty succeeds physical
impulsion and right succeeds appetite that man, who until then had looked only after himself,
sees that

he is forced to

act on other

inclinations. Although in this

he

nature,

state

gains such great ones

lessly

bless the

limited
ms.,
28.

Writing

happy

moment

advantages

many

are exercised and

which

listening

to his

he holds from

developed, his ideas

to such a degree that

degrade him below that from

if the

he emerged, he

abuses of this
should cease

from it forever, and out of a stupid and

man. Of the Social Contract, I, 8; cp. Geneva

that wrenched him

intelligent

being

and a

Archbishop of Paris, Rousseau

that is to say
initially

says that

to the

in the Discourse

"dumb,"

"stupid"

or

but not,

on

Inequality

he

as some commentators

tendentiously have it, "a beast": A Christophe de Beaumont, OC iv, 936; consider
Origin of Languages, (Discourses, Replies, Languages, op. cit.. p. 268n) and
Discourse on Inequality, Note X (ibid., p. 217). Meier, incidentally, very correctly

and

calls attention to the

opens:

of

on the

compare with

29.

entire soul exalted

"bete,"

Essay

to consult his reason before

p. 292.

man as

erroneously
also

not often

animal made an

OC m,

describes

did

and

in return, his faculties

enlarged, his feelings ennobled, his

new condition

principles,

he deprives himself

fact that Rousseau

This is the Note

"Savage Man

which

never refers

Rousseau

will, then,

begin

to man

appended
with

as a

beast.

to the passage quoted on p. 40 and which

purely

animal

functions.

Interpretation

42

blance

ing

exacte avec

so

but

travellers

the

and of

men and

women,

The

be

should nevertheless

discreetly,

suggest

suspect, tongue in

belong

have been led to

one another's eyes and

conformites

the commentators

he for the

by
innocently

only if its

order

question

simple

to

outcome were
such

really

have

they

eyes of

depends,

gone on

to

that exhibit such striking

avec

point

lespece humaine)
led to

out, but also,

one cannot

help

whether orangs or similar animals

which, as he adds,

experiment

understand

are

most part

might

to the human species could be settled to the satisfaction

a

they

especially in the

how he

frappantes

that the question

cheek

that

to call them human beings. He is thus

observers"

In

see

who report about animals

reluctant

as

conjecture

the same species who, although

on whose accounts

(des

similarities to our species

Ancients'

be the

read

human. Nor is it difficult to

why the travellers

says must

many others,

members of

in

or act strange and wild

wonder

and

accompanying these reports in the

them, depicts a strikingly humanbeing. It is not difficult to see how Rousseau,

might

between

the traders and adventurers

after

Rousseau

which

reports,

reports of encounters

are nonetheless

humans

of

Outan"

"anthropomorphic"

look

offsprings

"Orang

looking
on such

them

file, gather
dead; of
burying
a I'homme) that some
their

that the natives occasionally capture savage

report

labelled

Histoire des Voyages in

reflecting

thought

Purchas,

which

picture

shelters,

(si semblable[s]

man

natives

and

that some of these beings force themselves on girls and

Merolla's

women;

to

similar

not

of stories

monkeys;

through the forest in Indian

themselves

"orangs"

African

satyrs.

I'homme) walking

fires, building

around

known from the

could

the "crudest

be

performed

outset.

musings, one has to bear in

whether orangs or similar monkeys

of

(singes)

might

mind

that the

be lost tribes

of

simply did not mean for Rousseau and his contemporaries what
for us. There is no plain French or German equivalent for the distinc

primitive men

it

means

tion between
out,30

and as

fewer
did

not even

Meier
know

that

when

he

sylvestris

30.
31.

F.

them than any visitor

of

pointed

the time had seen

of a modem zoo.

to challenge the

is how Lucretius

wonders whether
wonder

"men

man

They

travellers'

reports of

does it

referred

to "the first

men."31

the orang might be

whether certain

Rousseau's

animals

and

a variety of man he must

described by travellers as

Linnaeus's

"anthropomorphic'

woods"

of

the

be just that. That does

tion. Nor

men

They did, however, know, and Rousseau specifically men

is Malay for man of the woods (p. 216): and he cer

resembling

and called
not

about

enough about them

homo

understood to

closely

As Tinland, in particular, has

us, the most learned

orang-outan

tainly knew
So that

reminds

knew less

in Africa.

tions, that

"ape"

and

apes and

orangs

be

"monkey"

seem

by
not seem

the natives who

to be such

particularly bold to

an

go on

knew them best,

extravagantly bold
to wonder in this

Tinland, L'homme sauvage (Paris: Payot, 1968), pp. 94-97.

On the Nature of Things, C.
Bailey ed., e.g. V, 967, 970.

might

sugges
context

Roussseau
whether other

be

might not

bold to

Pure State of Nature

apes, called pongos

and

43

enjokos, and

the travellers called

"monkeys"

rightly

larly

bright

"really"

stresses

that

apes, let

alone

Rousseau's

traders, adventurers,
might well mistake

and

is

point

they

Purchas,

as

travellers'

members of their own

the beings

calls

sensible, educated, Franciscan missionary, reporting at

men

(pp. 216, 218). His

and

throughout the Discourse

as

whole, is

not

concern

with

what

range snd

intelligences,"

variety

reader to consider
call

or

apes,

ssid

of

humankind;

it is

and

out of this concern

the possibility that some of the beings

but

with

the full

with

that he invites his

which crude observers

sylvans, or fauns or satyrs, may, as he put it in

the text, prove to be "neither beasts nor gods, but

were

in this Note, and

man may have in

beasts or, for that matter, with "celestial

differentiates them from beasts snd celestisl intelligences,

common with
what

kind

Merolla,

which

firsthand,

women"

"Ssvsge

most

the compiler of one of the major

"satyrs"

reports,

that human beings are

to be crude observers who

likely

are

unfamiliar-looking-and-acting

anthologies of

more

or,

from apes, but that

are

missionaries

(leurs semblables) for apes, just

particularly
After all, he

were stupid.

not

"descended"

that

seem

animals apes

these travellers are themselves not particu

most of

trustworthy.

or

certain

because they

rather than men

quite

to be like the orang,

human beings. Nor, again, does it

primitive

wonder whether

precisely,

said

later

addition

to

men"

(p. 218;

cp. p.

213,

cited p.

27 above).
Meier recognizes how

central this concern with the full range and variety of

is to the Discourse, and he very correctly points out that Rousseau
deliberately excludes from consideration questions about evolution or transmankind

formism

particularly likely to raise. Yet his

his readers to raise these very
repeatedly
questions. In particular, he maintains that Rousseau's readiness to envisage the
possibility that some of the beings which crude observers call apes or satyrs
may be human beings marks the culminating point of the Discourse, and that
which

contemporary

readers

are

prompt

own emphases and comments

the

fact that it does conclusively

radical

and

scientifically

serious

proves

the Discourse's

"philosophically
By imposing this particular

character."32

real"

order on the

text,

by

reading it as asserting that it is "a fact given as

is the state of animality (note 211, pp. 168L),

that

point"

man's

"starting

culminating in the conjecture that orangs,

ing point, Meier invites the transformist
32.

Meier believes that Rousseau thought

these reflections
paragraph of

his

that this is the

stresses the

had

at

middle

well as

pongos, or enjokos, are that start

or even

too,

and

which

that

he

evolutionist

he indicated

appended

reading
as much

by

of

the

placing

to the text: in the middle

Note (Meier, op. cit., note 409). He gives no other evidence of his claim
highpoint of the Discourse. Yet in the very same passage in which he

philosophical

importance

of the message

in the

middle

paragraph,

he

acknowledges

that Rousseau

clearly in the very first paragraph of his Note. The fact that he
it in the middle paragraph would therefore seem to be a case of order arising by chance; as
to confirm Montaigne's warning in the title of the middle essay of the Essays.

stated the general point

restates

so

the very center of the Notes

or

and as

fully

and

Interpretation

44

Discourse

from

excluded

Certainly

individuals in

sufficient

Rousseau had

says

rightly

not

might

too strong a term, in Note X,

be lost tribes of primitive man

than the superficially similar conjecture at the end of

radical

the Discourse

of

and
94)."

conjecture, if that is

travellers say are apes,

what

to be more

appears

Part I

consideration

Rousseau

that troops of

he expressly
(cp. notes 92,

elsewhere

which

where,

a world

about

speaking

in

which everyone

presumably isolated,
was in the same position, he

self-

says

that he considers it possible that natural man's potential faculties might

have

remained

eternally dormant (p. 168, Meier p. 166). In Note X, by con

prepared to envisage the bolder and more puzzling possi

trast, he is evidently

bility

"perfectibility"

that

dormant

and

in individuals

even

and groups

least rudimentary,

and an at

guage, arts,

ture appears to be especially bold

about

about

he did know

what

beings,

these
on

musing

and

this subject

be

might

bare

utmost

danger? For

mother

is away

loudly

would

[im

being

noisy

attained the

In

to repeat,

might

possessing lan
part the conjec

we read

it

as

how little he

and

his

its

letting

rohen

by

its

by

pig attracted
birth. Indeed,

existence at

birth,

preserving their

that

which seems

species.

world with much

cry

crying,

by

knew

devour the

Therefore it has to be

by

assumed

brought

about such a

third,

when an

parents

is),

the wisdom

that in the

but that their

had already
how and by

knowing

without our

development. This

of a great natural

orang

both

in

if the

child

than man (as he now

to have been ordered

when

since

to the

mother and child

could

no animal other

later, in a second epoch,

[required] for domestic life,

culture

means of what causes nature

be followed

were

Kant's:

conjectures with

into the

this exposes both

Naturzustande]

the

his

contrast

children come

appearance

[level of]

if it

contemporaries

epoch of nature the children of this class of animals were not noisy;

made

remain

gorillas, and as if Rousseau knew that it was;

was

e.g., to wondering whether, in the wake

not

contact with men

society.

a wolf or even a

of nature with a view to

early [or first]

in

or exhausted

announce

faculties

he repeatedly stresses that the reports which set him to

are apt to be misdescriptions of human beings who are

nature's aim

state of nature

in

potential

"nascent"

because,

It is instructive, in this connection, to

33.

What
the

and

orangs, chimpanzees,

whereas

other

man's

observation

leads far:

revolution, this second epoch

outan or a chimpanzee might

fashion the

might

organs used

in walking, manipulating objects,

use of the

Part II,
1974),

Quite

section
p.

E,

note.

aside

way

bare

and

188.

from the fact that for transparent

the hypothetical future

calls the

and speaking, into a human frame

containing an organ for the
gradually develop itself through social culture. Anthropologic
Cassirer ed., vm, p. 222; M. McGregor tr. (The Hague: Nijhoff,

understanding,

what

state of nature

about what

he

he clearly thinks

categorically

"still"

at

and as a

calls the pure state of

in Rousseau. The only

the beginning of Note III:

without parallel

prudential or rhetorical reasons

occurred

fact

nature; and

possible

hint

of

in the

past,

he here

given as real;

Kant's

frankly

Kant

projects

into

speaks about what

Rousseau

he

never speaks that

transformist

speculation

anything like it in the Discourse is

is

the word

The

changes which a long practice of

walking on two feet may have produced in man's struc
ture, the similarities that can still be observed between his arms and the forelegs of Quadrupeds,
and the inference drawn from the
way they walk, may have given rise to some doubt which way
of walking must have been most natural to us (p. 201).

However,
man.

the entire point

of

the

Note is that the

upright posture

has

always

been

natural

to

Roussseau

Pure State of Nature

if at all
only slightly
been
and indeed were
skeptical about

45

than, for example, the

stranger

to the travellers who

the reports that

they

first

came across them.

fire (p. 227;

cannot maintain a

have

must

pygmies

cp.

He is
268*).

The fact that they do not speak may no more prove that they lack language,
than the fact that children crawl on all fours or that feral men run about on their

hands

feet

and

Rousseau's

that

proves

conjecture

we tend to think of

is

man

in this Note is

humankind

quadruped

218, 216;

201-203).

to appear especially puzzling because

apt

Yet insofar

as one.

(pp.

these conjectures point to

as

human origins, they point in the direction of the polygenist

the transformist hypothesis. Rousseau had introduced the conjec

speculations about
rather than of

in this Note

with the reflection that both ancient snd modern reports very
indicate
that
prior to conquests, migrations, and commerce, when
clesrly
peoples lived more isolated, they differed in appearance, size, shape, bearing,

tures

far

and ways

tions, he
beasts

they do

than

more

goes on to wonder whether

might not

has to be

be

in

read

(pp.

now

2i4f.).34

the beings

When,

"dispersed"

savage men

in the

the remark

said were

in the woods, the

anciently

conjunction with

these reflec

after

travellers have

which

Essay

the

on

remark

Origin of

Languages:
'first'

dispersion,

the times of men's

call

assign to mankind at that period

indication,

and the

In

264).

262L,

Bible's ten

Bible's

two pages

other words,

regardless of the age one chooses to

(p. 260, n.i),

below,

that the dispersion

he indicates that he is in

generations; hence he is in

antediluvian

speculations.35

Cp. Emile v, OC iv,

34.

830, Bloom

p.

The

effect

bracketing
bracketing

Rousseau

was

the
the

certainly

that troops of apes

conjecture

tr. pp. 453L and

(pp.

post-Noahdic

effect also

account of a single common origin of mankind.

acquainted with polygenist

is

Discourses, Replies, Languages,

op.

267*

cit., p.

In

35.

(1647) by

later Note (XVI,

the most

naming the

work or

inhabiting

people

228) he

p.

refers

to an episode from the Relation du Groenland

early polygenist, Isaac de la Peyrere,

its author. La Peyrere and Grotius engaged in

notorious

America

when

Columbus discovered it,

although

he prudently

avoids

a polemic about whether

were native

the

to the Continent or Green-

or Norwegians, or Ice
who had migrated. Grotius argued that they were Greenlanders
landers: De Origine Gentium Americanorum (1642). La Peyrere argued that they were not, and

landers

could not

Relation
than to

trying

be

(Relation,

recalls that

Denmark,

where

272, 275L). The episode which Rousseau cites

cit., pp.

op.

debate. It tells

of

they became

to swim back home. The

Greenlanders

homesick that

so

moral of

Icelanders

and

some

died

who

of

had been taken

it outright,

the story is that people so attached to their

certainly not have settled in faraway America. One issue in the debate was
Americans were descended from Adam, or not. Grotius held that to deny that they
La Peyrere

been: Men Before Adam.

later

addition

was engaged

course,

11, 2,

by

to the

in

op.

was on record

with

Grotius

refers
on

by

died

homeland

whether

the

were was

to

they need have

Book IV, ch. 14. In a

on scriptural grounds that

cit., ch. vm; A Theological

Discourse, Rousseau

a polemic

denying

farther

while others

would

undermine religion.

from the
no

name

Systeme,

op. cit.,

to Jan de

how America

might

Laet,

the other polygenist who

first have been

populated

(Dis

Replies, Languages, p. I47n). Regarding the polygenist thesis, see also Pufendorf, Droit,
7, 8. Buffon, after reviewing the arguments for and against America's having been settled

migrations

from Greenland

or across

the

Bering Strait,

concludes with

the elegant equivocation

Interpretation

46

be lost tribes

might

different
The
and

whether

it

as

be

might

gives no

might

be men, he is
not

be. He

how

such varieties are accounted

mating one of them with an acknowledged human

indication of what he expects the outcome of such an
open

the possibility that orangs and satyrs

to leave equally open the possibility that

no more than that the outcome

observers."

Since throughout

crudest

he thinks that

ing

his

reader

not

Note,

that he

not at all evident

be known for

whether

why

when

satyrs, he is clearly invit

the outcome to settle the issue for

expects

out, the true outcome could, in any event,

points

to be seen

and

not

possibly

whether

there is

for

several more generations.

offspring; and, in case there

an

"monster"

it is

or whether

As he

least one,

at

would remain

is one,

similar creatures are apes or

"the

to conclude that the outcome of this experiment would convince

reasonable observers.

For it

explains

the meanest capacity that very Calibans may be human beings.

even men of

But it is

Note he

long

this

much of

they

would convince

travellers are crude observers who cannot be trusted

most

that orangs and

they say

may be

or, for that matter, satyrs,

enjokos

regardless of

careful

says

context

by

answered

might

varieties of man

may.

to be. While he leaves

experiment

less implausible in the

perhaps

orangs, pongos,

are varieties of man

being. Rousseau

is

its corollary, that the

and

Be that

subspecies.

question

fauns

for

of primitive men

hypothesis

of the polygenist

a mere sport of

it

have

can

in the language

nature, a

offsprings of

its

own.

Let

us suppose

that

of this

it

can

have them, and so proves to be a member of the

That would be the
only fact which the experiment can possibly establish. It certainly cannot trans
form the conjectures about the pure state of nature into fact, any more than it
species.36

can

transform into fact the conjecture that orangs or similar beings

lost tribes

of savage men

centuries on end

populations,

that if the

of the

experiment

"animal"

parent

ties

may

well

be

independently

to

prove

of outcasts

forgot language

the theological

of

should

descendent

who after several generations

that, "even

who

have lived for

contact with native

any of their virtual faculties.

into the spirit of such conjectures, we have to

we enter

issue

anciently dispersed in the woods

or troops in at least occasional

be

developing

without

Once

2.2.1

in herds

might

be

allow

human being, its

from human

and whatever arts

Americans'

communi

they may

reasons,"

the

origin

"is the

same as our

own."

Del homme, M.

146

(i.p.). For

Ducheted.,

detailed

and

de Charlevoix, "Dissertation

p.

311,

cp. pp.

309-21;

thoughtful early account of these

preliminaire sur

I'Origine des

Voltaire, Essai sur les maeurs, ch.

debates, see Pierre-Francois-Xavier

cp.

Ameriquains,"

Journal d'un voyage fait

Paris: Nyon Fils, 1744, Vol. I, pp. 1-43; the
most authoritative current account of these debates is Guilliano Glozzi, Adamo e il
nuovo mondo.
La nascita
antropologia comme ideologia coloniale: dalle genealogie bibliche alle teorie

par ordre

du

'

Roy dans I Amerique

septentrionnale ,

dell'

razziali

36.

(1500-1700), Florence, La Nuova Italia, 1977.

species
[is] nothing but a constant succession

"A

[semblables]
Donkey,"

and

together reproduce

in CEuvres philosophiques,

learned literature,

see e.g.

Meier,

"

op.

Buffon, Histoire

cit., p. 356352-54.

nn. 406L

of

individuals

naturelle. Vol. IV

For full

that are similar

(1753),

references

article

"The

to the relevant

Roussseau
have
for

Pure State of Nature

possessed,37

countless centuries

kind. Its

being

primitive

stage would

together

human

"perfectibility."38

descendant

than the

rather

47
human beings

of potential

acquiring language
had lapsed
or relapsed

without ever

being

who

certainly be

consonant with

It would, incidentally,

any

more

by

means

natives'

be

also

into

Rousseau

what

living

or arts of

the

consonant with

story that apes remain silent out of

Rousseau invites such speculations when, in order to underscore how
unreliable he thinks the travellers are who report that orangs and pongos are
prudence.39

apes, he adds that these same travellers

about a

had

feral

language,
Still, it is

218).

of

the

acquisitions.
readers

and

formed

"perfection."

lesser

consider

no sign of

probably have said the

his hands and

would

reason,

walked on

sounds

same

feets,

man"

in

no

However, he does,

He had apparently

on

total loss

more radical alternative of a

one

by

this possibility

rejected

occasion,

all

just before

"Isolated individuals

living

human

inviting

facts aside, on the grounds that the biblical

it.40
Yet in the Essay on the Origin of Languages

deny

to

his

account
which

desert islands have been known to forget their

on

to

appear

men of all

to set all the

requires us

37.

"gave

(p.
way resembling those of a
most unlikely that he thought of entire bands or troops of
pongos as human beings who had relapsed from a state of greater to

no

orangs and
one

child who

own

lan

guage."

Discourses, Replies, Languages, p. 264. "At his first coming on board with us, he had so
much forgot his Language for want of Use, that we could scarce understand him
Woode
Rogers, reporting the rescue of Alexander Selkirk who had lived abandoned on Juan Fernandez
"

Island for nearly four and a half years,

ed., Robinson Crusoe, op. cit., p. 306.

and whose

Defoe's model; in Angus Ross

served as

story

38.

Why

is

always

ity

had

pp.

that,

the

Beast,

an

imbecile? Is it

which

has

acquired

not

that

nothing
other

he thus

returns

to his

primitive

has nothing to lose,

accidents all that his perfectibil

and also

than the

Beast itself? (p. 149, Meier

102-104);

Diderot's

be lower than

are

"a

to

reference

the point of imbecile nature when he [sc. man] appears to

"

in the

species of savage men who refuse

Histoire

Bk. IX,

Yesterday
not wish

passage quoted

Patas

of a species of red monkeys called

slavery."

see also

"

a number of animals

Brue tells

39.

into

whereas

keeps its instinct, man, losing through old age or

made him acquire, thus relapses (retombe) lower

cp. also

they

liable to become

man alone

state and

generate

ch. vm

I had

(Vol.

a visit

to speak to

speak out of

des voyages, Bk. VI,

IV,

ch. vi

in

note 10 above.

the natives who are persuaded that

fear

(Paris:

of

being

Didot,

put to work and sold

1746), Vol.

II,

p.

521;

p. 239).

from the Pastor who,

me

to

by

in English,

so that

upon

seeing that I

the interview

went

spoke

by

only in French to him, did

with

hardly

a word

being

my neighbours, if I have any, and

even if I should learn English I will never speak anything but French to them, especially if it is
my good fortune that they know not a word of it. That is more or less the ruse of the monkeys
spoken.

rather

like this

expedient:

will resort

to

it

with all

they are capable of doing so, for fear

Hume, 29 March 1766, Correspondence

which, the Negroes say, do not wish to speak, although

that

they

might

be

made

to

work

complete, R. A. Leigh ed., Vol.

(Rousseau to

XXIX,

p.

66).

40.

if the Writings

opher,

of

Moses

are granted the credence owed

it has to be denied that,

even

before the Flood, Men

them

by every Christian Philos

in the pure state of Nature,

were ever

Interpretation

48

tions,
into

to the dispersion

and refers

primitive

they by
defend, and

some

to

altogether

would

"relapse"

is

be in the

not

presumably

any more floods

sharp distinction God

on

of the attendant

now

and

state,

in

mosl

rhetorical

embarrassing

Flood, because of God's

inhabitants (Genesis 8:20, 9:9-19), and
drew between man and beast (Genesis 9:2-4); it would

from

particular

such a relapse

pure state of nature after the

manifestly be a paradox to have men relapse (retomber) into a

been in; but if they were in that state, it would be impossible to
some other

reserva

the earth and its

covenant not to visit

from

just

as

transparent

extraordinary Occurrence relapsed into it; a Paradox

impossible to prove (p. 1 39 Meier p. 70).

unless

They

Noah's descendants

of

That

condition.41

the

he ignores these theological

his lifetime

during

was not published

they presumably had never

they had lapsed into it

state

prove that

a state of grace.

Adam spoke; Noah spoke; granted. Adam had been taught by God himself. When they sep
arated, the children of Noah gave up agriculture, and the common language perished together
with

the first society. This

Isolated individuals
After

they

if there had

never

been

men

rarely

tower of

language,

their original

preserve

babel.

languages.

own

together and live in society with one another.

work

Scattered throughout this

barbarism they

even

desert islands have been known to forget their

on

away from their country

several generations

even when

have happened

would

living

desert

vast

(retomberent) into

of the world, men relapsed

dull

the

have been in if they had been bom of the earth. By following [the thread
of] these entirely natural ideas the authority of Scripture can easily be reconciled with ancient
records, and there is no need to treat as fables traditions that are as old as the people that have

handed

them

and

20,

would

down to

us.

"Although it is known
a

very

miserable, if Civil

Society

natural!, adds the

the

Hebrews,

lacking

having

season

been instituted

", Pufendorf, Droit, op. cit. 11, 2 ii. After

Barbeyrac, drawing on Pufendorf 's treatise De statu hominum

as

case

from

make coats

they did

From this

one

things that

expressly

sweat of their

what

of skins

is said, (Gen. 3:21) that Unto Adam and also to his

them; that is to say, in the manner of the

and clothed

all metal

were no

brow, he

time lived

of

tools,

less

and

needful

commanded our

themselves only

of such an

invention

before the

and mastered it

practice of

killing

by

in

so

their own

animals

had been

can, in my view, further infer that Divine Providence taught them

must at

for sowing, how to till the

by

pertinent note:

be the

to

Ancient inhabitants

long

not

have bethought themselves

several other

ered

Genesis 11:1, 6; 10:5,

that he taught them to make coats. For how could these first men otherwise

established?

in the

had

following

Lord God

short a time

God

cp.

certainty that the first men early learned the most necessary arts by
Divine Providence
Mankind would not have escaped being rather

"necessary

would appear

did

efforts,

264;

arts,"

the mention of the

wife

p.

with

particular effect of

That

(Discourses, Replies, Languages,

I9:3if.)

first

for Human Life,

parents

or

less difficult to invent. Thus

to cultivate the Earth and to

earth and to make

bread,

all of which

after protracted experience and reflection.

Greece, having lost

off acorns and wild

eat

their bread

the same time have taught them the nature of grain, the

the use of wheat

by

fruit before the Knowledge

could

have discov

History,

the

not what accident,

for

According

I know
of

they

Agriculture

to

was restored

among them. Yet the first child of Adam tilled the earth, from which it appears that this Art was
As for Fire, the ancient
already well known and hence that iron was also already in use.
Greeks regarded its invention as so remarkable that they imagined a Prometheus to
bring it
down from Heaven. It is said about the inhabitants of the Canary Islands, of the Phillipines.
and of

the Island off China called los

the arrival of the

Spaniards;

and

Jardenas, that they had no knowledge of Fire at all before

they had remained thus ignorant for perhaps several centuries

Roussseau's Pure State of Nature

feint.42

some

The

Noah's descendants

question of whether

former language

their

of

memory

However, precisely because

into

living

and

"relapse"

their

in

fsmilies,

the first (pp. 260, 272). At the same time, since this lapse

ably has
does not

or

begin

answer the question about

have lived for

state of nature could

human beings

anew

from the

how troops

of men

feint, it is

stste of

languages"

from

or relapse presum

state, it

same primitive

"pure"

in

presumably
"perfected"

in

centuries on end

contact with

have

acquired language or developed any

That may well be the reason why Rousseau leaves
the possibility that his experiment will not prove orangs to be humans in

and yet not themselves

faculties."

"virtual

of their
open

begin

all mankind

arise.

"pure"

into

relspse not

preserved
not

such a transparent

possessing "domestic

and

have

must not

therefore does

arts

is

Roussesu hss them

particularly striking that

nsture, but

49

the pure state of nature.

But let

2.2.2

words,

all

such

speculations

inquiries, they do

faculties,"

"virtual

of their

other

set

and

aside,

prior

arts and

skills,

to the acquisition

conventions; the experiment

that after

assume

be human beings in the

to

prove

biological, and only in the strictly biological

they do, indeed, prove to be human beings prior

strictly

any

us

prolonged

necessarily

sense, that,
to the

of

other

development

language,
leave

would still

in

and of

of

any

unanswered

the question which Rousseau had challenged the Aristotles and Plinys of the
age

to resolve: "What experiments

know

natural

man; and

by

what

would

be necessary in

order to come

to

these experiments be performed

means can

society?"

(p.

within

both

remove

it

their mind to

being able to
by chance.

or

Americanfis] Book I,
a

long

time

did

chapter

not

See

8,

know the

Georg

and

Life. So that if

Hornius

[1620-

by putting
Originfibus] gentjium]

1670], De

Book II, Chapter 9. There have also been nations which

Iron although iron mines existed in their own country. It

use of

lost,

fact that

people,

they

troop

could not

deprived

of

However,

them;

or

been forced

some accident

replace them
some

by

the

violence of a

some remote and

less

lost them

because frequent

few have tried to

substances that are

oyster

by

well-suited

shells, Animals bones

or

and other

were

on

few

ambitious men whom

utterly desert land, found themselves

to use in the place they left; or to the

implements they had been accustomed

having gone to settle in some remote country

of all the

difficult to

having

Peoples

first Men these

found among whom the use of some

to the fact that an arid land fell to their lot; or to the

afterwards

resist, to flee in haste to

fact that Colonists

ments with

long

this is due either

of these things was

and plunge

the use of something so necessary, either

recover

therefore has to be recognized that Divine Providence early taught the

necessities of

immediately

nature"

parents and

together without

for

For the mating experiment would

offspring from the "pure state of

130).

neglected

to take their

imple

the way, after which it was exceedingly

and regular commerce

had

not yet

been

established.

up for this loss by using as best they could other

to the purposes of Life. Thus several peoples of America

make

teeth, reeds,

and similar things

instead

of

use

Iron. See Dapper in

his Description of America.

42.
which
sur

to

The device
Rousseau

I'origine des

Bishop

was

refers

common; again

Pufendorf, Droit,

in his Second Discourse discussion

connaissances

humaines, Part II,

section

11, 2,
of

iv; Condillac, in

a context

to

the origin of language (p. 53): Essai

I, Introduction,

Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses. As Rousseau

covering reference
in the passage cited in

with a

points out

Interpretation

50

them into a state of

It

highly developed,

therefore not

would

"to know

enable us

how

conjectural as ever the question of

"pure"

the

relations

and

is

short what

humanity. Yet

they

were

The test

in his discussion

sought

of

the

or social relations and

origin of

understands

the

In the

that of

The first

difficulty

that

for, Men having

cannot conceive the

the preceding note,

been earthbom.

and of

remain

be

the origins of
problem of

inseparable,

and

frames the discussion

is to imagine how languages

as

follows:

have become

could

the

of the

neces

no relationships with one another and no need of any, one

or the

necessity

the

after

of

text, Rousseau formulates the issue

the

arises

heart,44

family. For the

the

language?"

of

into play,
developed

necessarily

hence

and

relations are

or

body

resolve

"moral"

and

and

the human

as

from

pure state of nature must

language,

particular of

first, society
language in Part I of the Discourse

2.3.1

sary;

in

"which is

question

to

supposed

origin of

"moral"

the origin of language

come

originated

of

leave

emerged

conjectures.

how Rousseau

of

have

might

"genealogy"

is

experiment

from the first:

in fact have

might

would

in fact have

culture.43

these questions are answered, the conjec

unless or until

tures which the mating

what

or was the

it

and

natural

men might

"moral"

how language

man's

man,"

nature, how perfectibility

state of

naturally, in

structured social relations and

possibility

relapse men are

in

this invention if it

of

the condition

they

would

was not indis-

have been in if they had

43-

since

every

progress of

the human Species

removes

it

even

farther from its

primitive

state,

the more new knowledge we accumulate, the more we deprive ourselves of the means of

acquiring the
that we have

disentangle
curately
will

important knowledge

most

it impossible for

made

what

is

original

from

us

what

of

all, and

in

sense,

it is

by

dint

of

studying

man

to know him (p. 129). For it is no light undertaking to

is

artificial

in

man's present

Nature,

and

to know

ac

longer exists, which perhaps never did exist, which probably never
which it is nevertheless necessary to have exact Notions in order ac

a state which no

exist, and about

curately to judge

of our present state.

Whoever

might undertake

to ascertain exactly the precau

tions required to make solid observations on this subject would need even more

Philosophy

than

be thought; and a good solution of the following Problem does not seem to me unworthy
the Aristotles and the Plinys of our century: What experiments would be needed in order to

might
of

come to

know

natural

man: and

by

what means can these experiments

be

performed within

Far from undertaking to solve this Problem, I believe that I have meditated upon the
Subject sufficiently to dare answer in advance that the greatest Philosophers will not be too
good to direct these experiments, nor the most powerful sovereigns to perform them; a collabo

society?

ration which
rather

(pp.
44.
45.

for,

it is scarcely

reasonable

by

both

parties

with

in

the sustained or

order to succeed

130L).

A Christophe de Beaumont, OC, iv, 936.

"The first difficulty that arises is to imagine how languages

men

having

no relationships with one another and no need of

to anyone who wishes to undertake

already

to expect, especially in conjunction

the successive enlightenment and goodwill needed

united

lishment

society for the institution

Society?"

of

it,

(pp. 157L).

this difficult problem:

of

Languages,

or

could

have become necessary;

(p. 153);
I leave

"

any

which was

"

the more necessary, an

already invented Languages for the

estab

Roussseau's Pure State of Nature

51

I would be ready to say, as

many others do, that Languages arose in the
domestic dealings between Fathers, Mothers and Children: but not
only would this
fail to meet the objections, it would be to commit the
of
those
who, in
fallacy
pensable.

about

reasoning

always see the

the state of Nature carry over into it ideas taken from

family

in

assembled

maintaining among themselves

one and the same

intimate

as

dwelling

its

and

Society,
members

and as permanent a union as

they do

many common interests unite them; whereas in this primitive

state, without Houses or Huts or property of any kind, everyone bedded down at
random and often for
only a single night; males and females united fortuitously,
where so

among us,

according to

chance

encounters, opportunity,

and

desire,

without speech

being

an

especially necessary interpreter of what they had to tell one another; they parted just
as readily (XII). The mother at first nursed her Children because of her own
need;
then, habit having made them dear to her, she nourished them because of theirs; as

they had

soon as

(P-

153)-

In

other

have

the strength to

biological

or

with one another.

society
human female

The

no more needs

than he needs

offsprings

In the Note

her

she
on

In

He

offsprings.

Yet,

other animals

humans

basis for

once

are

explores the

herbivores. It

possibility that

ana

would seem reasonable

even

reflection on

to

original

other creatures:

in Discourses, Replies,
Dominion
"

either

Choderlos de Laclos

reflections

11. 3.

the possible similari

with

Rousseau's

of

and

Languages,

Hobbes's

over children

op.

cit., p.

reflections on parental

belongs to the Mother,

and

belly."

De Cive, ix, 3; after summa

the purely Natural State (I'Etat purement
Droit vi, 2,
ii.
Sovereign, or Family

Hobbes's argument, Pufendorf speaks

Naturel), in which there is no conception of
elaborates

not

the

be herbivores, there is no
by
them.
For the upright posture
among
to carry her child with her as she moves

The birth follows the

rizing

V education des femmes,

their

man and

nsture

are continuous

"

less than

of

"physical"

society"

this subject

which conclude:

men no

difference,

should

Philopolis,"

"Letter to

to the care

parents contribute

stress the

if humans

and permits the mother

also the

237; Rousseau's

both

again, the comparison between

basis for "conjugal

frees the hands

among

Rousseau indicates how

Locke for apparently denying

capable of providing for herself and

criticizes

nature

having

leads Rousseau to

between them:

authority,

to

own.46

among herbivores because they require more time

than do carnivores to forage and to feed their offsprings; and hence to

"physical"

See

the male,

and able

society"

expect a

46.

by

of

society"

or

"conjugal

"physical"

both inclined

nature

her own, and for therefore apparently arguing in

entirely
basis to "conjugal
(pp. 221-25). More precisely:

"originally,"

and effort

by

Notes to the Discourse Rousseau

several

ties

her

"physical"

tomically,

into any kind

it. The

not require

on

of a

expect

is

to this passage,

appends

human female is indeed

offsprings

favor

enter

does

the continued company or assistance

conjectural these propositions are.

that the

the Mother

even

the premise that men and women

on

survival of the species

entirely

he

which

they left

to live together or to

need

hers. In particular,

for her

provide

on their own,

words, Rousseau proceeds

"physical"

no

of

forage

"

on

the

self-sufficiency

of mothers

in De

Interpretation

52
about

for food

bears

more

between himself

Locke

and

so

herself

by

therefore be

can

is the human female

frequently

do

or shelter; and she can

than a single child at a time. As Rousseau

to be

likely

because

alone

reduced

rarely
issue

to the question:

how

it,

"pure"

in the

with child

she

the point at

sees

state of

nature?

deal

good

of

entire argument:

pure state of

Nature the

birth

new

long

The

perform.

For in

order to

he claims, in the

as

not

and which no one

performed,

continual cohabitation of

Husband

and

Wife

pregnancy that it is
impulsion of temperament

is in

rather

alone would

frequent

(p.

223).

Locke

effects

in the

pure state of

does

not speak

Nature

as

in that

of conjugal

of course

here

have

produced

Society

Rousseau has him do. But

as

most

striking
"principal

He is

believe"

what

not prepared to go

(p.

ments, that is to say

The issue

223).

The

far to

reason

not

deny

is

Locke's

beyond saying that he finds it "rather

conceivably be settled by experi

fact. Once again,

by

these experiments.

"pure

present context

could

however, "no

perform"

not

in the

Rousseau's criticism, is that he does

about

fact."

about the

or anywhere else

nature,"

them is

to

direct

"7

state of

difficult to

difficult to believe that

occasion to expose oneself to a new

encounters or the

a position

provides such

fortuitous
as

basis for

the

which serves as

know whether,

woman is commonly with child again and brings forth too

before the former is able to shift for himself, would require experi

Locke has surely

ments which

fact

surrounds the principal

uncertainty

Mr. Locke's

why

no one

seek: to perform them would

one

is in

is in

a position

to

a position to perform

effectively

put an end to

the

by immediately removing the parties from that

plunging them into a state of highly developed, structured social
relations and culture. Once again Rousseau very clearly indicates
why the pure
state of nature cannot be known as a fact given as real. The principal question
putative

and

state,

most

the

immediately

mother

argues

it

pure state of nature

has to

that it may

could.

He

be

would

at

not

assumes
or

issue is
be

unreasonable

long-lasting

that in that state childhood

deal

with children who cannot

with

defective

children

(p.

pure state of nature men and women would

that

kind

they
of

would not need

society, is

premises.

the time

frankly

Rousseau tacitly

and

dependency

than it is in our experience, and that

law

Sparta dealt

by

to assume that in the pure state of nature

nature would soon

of

fend for itself

the child can

or conjectures

less

was

whether

to the next one. Locke holds that it cannot. Rousseau

attend

fend for themselves

The

142).

be

therefore did in fact

conjectural conclusion

acknowledges as much

proposition that

or were

not

based

as the

in the

so self-sufficient

live together in any

on

frankly

conjectural

in the Emile:

47. A full discussion of Rousseau's criticism of Locke would have to take

account, as Meier
does (pp. 350-55), of the discrepancies between Mazel's French translation of the text which
Rousseau used and Locke's original (Treatises II,
79, 80); and of the context of Locke's re
marks; but in addition, it would also have to take into account Locke's remarks in Treatises
54.

I,

and

Essay

1, 3,

9-12.

Roussseau's Pure State of Nature

children crawl and are weak

themselves

they

"the

(pp. 173L,

is

fact

sweetest sentiments

Such

153L).

cp.

given as real.

But

other

sufficient,
with

their

to

the

sustained

with

"natural,"

least

all

Rousseau

the

family,

considered the

the term,

By

2.3.2

Part I

of

On the

men

language
accept
sary.51

of such

have

It

arisen.

seem

make

thought, for

requires
48.

Emile iv, OC iv,

49.

Cp.

Essay

on

peoples wander

them as among us,

more

readily

life,

the term

and

and

real,"

hence

hence to be, in this

in

to conceive of

the

to

to learn how to think,

to find the
maintain

same reason

797; Bloom tr.

language"

of

of

how

reader simply to
did become neces

a new and even greater

order

order

sense

much
p.

accurately

beings

characterized as premises.

Rousseau therefore invites the

needed speech

to

sense of

to

On the

to "facts given as

self-sufficient, and speechless

fact, "the invention

to know how to think in

would

fore

isolated,

perhaps most

that,
Once that necessity is granted,
for if Men

no reason

elements.

beings, it is utterly impossible

as a matter of

more

life is certainly
and hence in

"natural."50

contrast, the

could

Such

"moral"

with respect

to be coeval with human

the Discourse are

premise

communication

or

any kind. Rousseau

lived "dispersed among

taboos.49

in this broad

family

self-

properly so-called,
natural. Yet there is

more

indicates that,

evidence

artifice or convention

sense of

contacts

think of it as devoid of all artificial, conventional, or

contrary:

was

follow that the only

roaming life of

not

society"

it is

one sense of

family,

known to us,

components of

few if any incest

than life in "conjugal

love

life certainly

family

peoples

"moral"

(p. 142)

more primitive

roof,

conjugal and parental

the savage

of

solitary individuals without

and hence without

animals"

under one

men,"

However, it does
settled family, is

stable,

kind,

the

the

attachment and

tradition alike suggest that the

that before the institution of the

assumes

at

the life

simpler ways.

other,

alternative

simpler

mother as well as

father's

the

structured, sedentary

reason and

aspects of

by

preceded

time that the

without

known to

highly

"moral"

like

long

such a

would, of course, not from the first live

and women

by

united

for

find it difficult to do

them.48

due to

cares that are

Men

would

53

they

art of speech

that the

difficulty

arises:

needed even

(p.

154).

"invention"

of

language

that Rousseau's next comment, that

p. 430.

Origin of Languages in op cit., p. 255. Before the division of land,

and disperse in pastures and forests. Marriage will not be as stable among

the

where

change

it is fixed

by

residence, and where the wife

keeps house; they

wives, have several of them, and sometimes mingle

can there

indifferently

as

beasts

Languages, op.
Montesquieu, Of the Spirit of Laws, xvm, 13. On early incest, Essay on
cit. 11, xiii, 5.
op.
also
note
ad
p.
272
and
Suarez,
loc;
cit.,
50. Consider Discourses, Replies, Languages, op. cit., pp. 260, 262L, 271L, Of the Social
do."

Contract
51.

1,2.

As did Condillac. He begins his

infants left

abandoned

after the

reflections

Flood: "As

long

on the origin of

as

language

the children of whom I

by imagining

two

just spoke, lived

"

He says nothing
the next paragraph begins: "Once they lived together
separately
1, 2.
how that change might have come about. Condillac, Essai. op. cit.. Part II, ch. I,
;"

about

Interpretation

54

the greatest

even

for

bending their best efforts

in bringing language to

minds

the

on

centuries

end

are

scarcely likely
which it is capable (pp. 154, 157), makes sense. But upon reflection, the best
success in perfecting a language proves to be quite irrelevant to the
to

succeed

pitch of perfection of

minds'

The best

problem.

language; they

by

problem,

do their

minds

from

work

is to

contrast,

language,

to

so

fully
According

to

traditional

the

the

view,

assumption

of

the

language is

at

least

is

object

suggests

Rousseau here

which

of

that

view

Rousseau

and

itself

initially

on

the

accepts,

first built up of names for the objects of our ideas: an

identified at the same time as it is assigned a name (p.

at

singled out and

On this

154).52

"way

be resolved,

can not

ideas"

language from

of

"outside'

it. That problem, taken strictly,

recognizes that it cannot be.

existing
Rousseau's stated

speak.

"invention"

for the

account

the context of an

within

work

"inside"

assigning

it is impossible to

view

have

to "ideas which

names

assign

or

names

voice"

therefore not be pointed to

by

gesture or

to account

for

no sensible object and which could

(p.

by

154).

Such

objects could

be publicly singled out and identified only if they already had a name or if they
could be described. On either assumption, the institution of language presup
the existence

poses

language

was

But any

communal.
of

of

language. This

instituted

account of

other practice or

any
lar. For to

discourse

sll mutual

ex

of

understanding

indeed,
is,

hypothesi,

assuming that
True, language is
of

of contract

beginnings

the

once again, circu

establish

none existed

community of
before. But the

new state of affairs comes

of

language

deduced from

some

deduced from

understanding

It is

stresses

prior,

leads to

sssump-

infinite

an

noting that the very first time

worth

its defects

description

as a

of speech

which cannot

community

more primitive condition.

hypothetically

presupposes

discourse. The

into being. The very possibility

presupposes a

some

and

this

(p. 155); it

motivated

rests on prior agreements

prior agreements.

Rousseau discusses contract, he

or

or,

by

presupposes a shared purpose

community
agreement must have been

of such

precisely,

contract.

language is, in effect, to

already existing community

regress

in terms

understanding where,

of such

unanimous

tion thst

by

its beginnings

institution

be broken

"

institution

some

establish

and

by

circle cannot

common consent or

Nor

of

how

or,

be derived

can speech

more
or

be derived

prior state of utter speechlessness.

Its

only be taken note of. Rousseau therefore speaks of

demonstrated impossibility that Languages could have arisen and

presence or absence can

"the

almost

become

established

formula

suggests the traditional alternative:

institution.53

efforts

53.

the

purely human

Yet Rousseau

to elaborate a

prove that
52.

by

means"

(p. 157), that

recognizes

if

that

not

the

successive

account of the origin of

satisfactory
of language

is, invented. The

by human,

then

by

failures

language

divine
of

his

no more

"invention"

Compare e.g., Locke's Essay, in,

Plato, Cratylus 438c.

2.

required the

intervention

of

God

or gods

Roussseau's Pure State of Nature

(consider

fours: the

object

inquire into the

in raising the

such

efforts,

fire

the

or

the analogy is not

on

language is

to

possible arts or

among many

not

conventions,

very possibility of art or convention.

inquiry at all. The story of the successive

or empirical

inquiry

that

Admittedly

of

condition of the

historical

not an

efforts to pursue
of all

explaining the invention

question about the origin of

origin of some one

but to inquire into the

That is

of

the truth of the Prometheus story.

arts proves

all

difficulty

15 if.) than the

pp.

55

as

if it

the inevitable failure

were empirical and of

certainly be

can

read

the

the rhetorical equivalent

as

correlative"

"objective

of the

language.54

But

read

assign an absolute

moral

relations

progress

to language

beginning
is inevitably

to

or

serves

circular,

wholly isolated,

mutual

of

"the

regressive analysis that takes

departure

itself to the

and confines

as

or

troops,

Region,

made

few

of a

up the

imperfect, and
today (p. 173).
In the

Essay

contrast

to

"popular"

too

limit,

the pure

ference between
alone,

and

few imitative

real."

us"

its

as

fact,

point

cannot go
nomadic

the

for

made

state of

must, for

noises

institution

particular

of which

languages,

Savage Nations

various

recognized what

long

it, in every

the addition to

still

is,

as

crude,

have

"domestic"

calls

regressive analysis proper must

which,

ad

individ

in

them

cease,

and extrapolation

Rousseau

meant when

he

nature, and he very clearly articulated the dif

a regressive analysis which remains within the realm of

one

to

given as

plausible

Origin of Languages, Rousseau

languages (pp. 260**, 272).

takes its place. Buffon very clearly

spoke about

and a

Language, [and]

easy to explain
approximately like those which

on the

Beyond this

universal

none

reductio

lived in loose-knit,

articulated and conventional sounds

I have already said,

to

or

and that

[s]ome inarticulate cries, many gestures,

time, have

men

of

attempt

speechless

known to

least

and

mind

conclusive

"fact

savages

realm of at

beyond the hypothesis that from the first

families, bands

the

understanding,

self-sufficient,

uals, and so of the pure state of nature as a possible

3.

of

argument, the demonstration that every

as

the premise of

absurdum of

arduous

slow,

like Rousseau's,

to extrapolate to

seeks

fact

causes

or

principles:

What

we see

deserts
a

is

is

a placid animal;

Philosopher,

savage and

far

greater

seems

"Regarding

the Discourse

is he

to

me

human being? For

man

that

if

in

ages

pure nature and

that

elapsed

to

Emile iv, OC iv,

p.

in

assume,

as

to

of art and of

perfect signs and

reason about

556n., tr.

does

that there

the savage than between the

before the invention

centuries needed

one wants

living

savage

we will not

humanity, Mr. Rousseau,

the natural state and the slow progress of the

Inequality."

on

happy

than the

is the

the real state of nature:

one of the proudest censors of our

ourselves; that the

speech were

because it

ideal but

distance between

a greater

54.

not the

facts,

one

human mind,

Bloom,

p. 258n.

languages;

has to
see

set aside

the First Part

of

Interpretation

56

assumptions and adhere to the rule of

Nature

places at our

almost

imperceptible

Kings

invoking them only after everything that

fully exhausted. Now, we find that by an

and

from the

regression one proceeds

less industrious peoples,

polished nations to

subject to

disposal has been

laws; from

form

society,

rather numerous nations subject

do politically

ordered

peoples; that

living

to chiefs; that others,

in

a smaller

nevertheless

Monarch, a family, a father, these are the

limits of Nature; if they extended farther,
traversing

still

only to customs; that, finally, the most solitary and independent

form families and are subject to their fathers. An Empire, a

are subject

among them

but

these crude men to the savages, who are not all

alike, but rather exhibit as many differences as

some

most enlightened and

and on to others that are cruder

all of

two

extremes of

the globe's solitudes, human

society;

deprived

animals

they

have been

would there not

are also the

found, in

speech, deaf to the

of

females dispersed, the young abandoned, and so

forth? I hold that, short of claiming that the body's constitution was different from
what it is today and its maturation much more rapid, it is impossible to maintain that
voice as well as to

man can ever

if they

have

existed without

helped

were not

males and

signs,

and

forming families,

looked

for

after

several

since the children would perish

whereas newborn animals

years;

only for a few months. This physical necessity alone suffices to

that the human species could last and multiply only by means of society; that

need their mother

prove

the association of

Now this

fathers

mothers and

union cannot

fail to

parents and the child, and this

in tum

to gestures, signs, sounds among

sentiment and need; which

like

Rousseau

for

them to grow accustomed

to all the expressions of

a word

by fact,

since

necessary.

between the

attachment

the

most

solitary savages,

known state; it is the Savage

known

children,

by

living

in the desert,

them, using speech,

and

understood.55

fully

how to

is

family, knowing his

making himself

about

also proven

state of pure nature

in

living

alone suffices

themselves, in

because it is

natural

lasting

men, have the use of signs and of speech.

all other

Thus the
but

is

is

with children

produce a mutual and

agrees with

Buffon

about

the facts. He disagrees

to account for them.

order and

He disagrees

with

with

him

him

about

principles.56

The

3.1

aim

stood.
as

55.

he

In particular, "the

fact,

Buffon

(1767)

des femmes,

to these

of which

nature"

cannot

is

possibly

For

issues in

lengthy

not of a

confirm

comparison

particularly to the duration

op.

it

as

of

infant

prove

that the pure state

they

dependency

of nature could not

fact. It is

op.

be

or

under

or can

be

original

or

cit., pp. 373b4l

outan and man

-374355;

in

which

among them: Nomenclature des

returns

be

might

kind that is

between the orang

cit., pp. 389as6-393b8. Choderlos de Laclos

to the charge,

a matter of

arguing that
fact: De T education

ch. 9.
a

parallel

regarding the balance

situation,

Origin of

consider

also

the disagreement between Rousseau

Languages,"

nal, 1986, 11:123-46,

pp.

and

Buffon

Discourses, Replies, Languages, op. cit., p. 270 n. 1 together with

discussion in V. Gourevitch, "The First
in Rousseau's Essay on
in Essays for Richard Kennington, Graduate Faculty Philosophy Jour

of nature:

the editorial notes, and the

the

in the light

The Carnivorous Animals (1758), in QZuvres philosophiques,

returns

Buffon has failed to

56.

or

pure state of

and experiments

attends most

singes

the Second Discourse is to ascertain the principles

of

the facts instantiate

causes which

Times'

137L

Roussseau's Pure State of Nature

in the

primitive

only be

conjectured

say that serious observers

from

such men as

from the

modern

say "this
believed.

man"

is

and

study in

natural

to Grotius's influential

two ways: a priori,

either of

reason

from

reports

"that is
law or,

in

distinction,

in terms

travellers,

other words

When

earlier.

beast,"

they

be

natural right can

right.

natural

established

the causes or, as he says,

of

such

have to be

will

precisely, in

more

goes on to

philosophical

can

offering the

after

why,

observers, Rousseau

200f.),58

The Discourse is

According

require

will

one

of the crudest

Buffon among others (p. 220, cp.

Aristotles and Plinys he had called for

animal

men

That is

thought.

or

Principles

principles.57

a principle or set of

for the benefit

suggestion

mating

being

sense of

57

"by

in

Argu

Thing;"

drawn from the very Nature of the

or a posteriori in terms of the
effects or, as he says, "by Reasons taken from something
In other
appeal
it
can
be
established
either
an
appeal
to
or
an
words,
principles,
by
by
ments

external."

to

facts.
The former way of reasoning is more subtle or abstracted; the latter more
The Proof of the former is by showing the necessary Fitness or Unfitness

Thing,

with a reasonable and sociable

Certainty,

we cannot with absolute

be

by

the Law of

called

well

Common

Grotius himself

which

Nations. For,

most civilized,

there cannot

Nature,
be any

Careful

57.

proceeds a

latter is,

the

any
when

Probability,
very
is generally believed to be so by all, or at least the
universal Effect requires an universal Cause. And
conclude that to

great

yet with

Cause

for this

assigned

therefore

posteriori,

begin

by

general

an appeal

nations, that is to say

have been

readers will

us

by

Opinion,

is

than what

Sense.59

common sense of civilized

formula, "[l]et

an

other

Nature. But the Proof

popular.
of

by

to

he here

what

the

calls

to effects

an appeal

or

to

Rousseau's meaning from the first: the famous

(p. 139) echoes the remark, a few

alerted to

facts."

by

setting

aside all the

"

Edifice
setting
(p. 134) apparently arbitrary and accidental social relations are found to be intelligible and based
on firm foundations. Unfortunately Rousseau's point gets blunted in Meier's translation, which
paragraphs earlier, that

renders

aside

after

the first ecarter with entfernen,

but

dust

the

and sand that surrounds the

the second with

Or like Claude Levi-Strauss, who defines the

sciences as the quest for Rousseau's "pure state of
58.

beiseite lassen. (Meier,

mission of

pp.

61,

and of all the

anthropology

71).

human

nature:"

Natural

man

is

neither prior

immanent to the
formulate the

social

to society, nor outside

state,

program of

outside of which the

and

to

ascertain

'by

what means

to recover

his form,

which

is

is inconceivable; hence to
in order to come to know

condition

the experiments that 'would be needed

men'

natural

it. Our task is

human

these experiments can

be

performed within

society.'

But this

model

that

is Rousseau's

is

solution

eternal and universal.

Tristes Tropiques

(Paris, Plon, 1955), ch. 28 i.f., p. 423; cp. ch. 29 /./. p. 339; tr., J. and D. Weightman (N.Y.:
Atheneum, 1974), pp. 392, 316; see, further, Hanns H. Ritter, "Claude Levi-Strauss als Leser
in eds. Wolf Lepenies and Hanns H. Ritter, Orte des wilden Denkens (Frankfurt
Rousseaus,"

Suhrkamp, 1974), pp. 1 13-59; as well as Ton Lemaire, Het Vertoog

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Basisboeken Ambo, 1980), pp. 225-33.

a/M:
van

59.

ble

Of the

Right of War

nature,"

the

qualification

and

Peace

(1735 tr.),

I, I,

was added

by

"sociable"

xii.

In the

phrase

over

de Ongelijkheid

"reasonable

Grotius's translator Barbeyrac.

and socia

Interpretation

58

facts. Hobbes, in an important passage which directly echoes Grotius's text,

flatly denies that there is a common sense or practice of civilized nations, and
he accordingly rejects Grotius's a posteriori in favor of the a priori
him,61
Rousseau, like Pufendorf and Locke before
fully accepts Hobbes's

way.60

criticism of

"analytic"

Grotius's

its assump
indicates his

of

procedure, and

a posteriori or

tion of a civilized common sense regarding right (pp. 159L ). He

Grotius from the very first: the epigraph on the title page of the
Discourse, "What is natural has to be investigated not in beings that are
drawn from Aris
depraved, but in those that are good according to

difference

with

nature,"

totle's discussion

Rousseau

posteriori procedure.

it

turns

slavery, is cited

of natural

the

against

which

"synthetically,"

proceeds a priori or

of

the

Thing"

as

Nature
us

things

of

to set aside

Man

lish

he himself

as

as

(p. 199, Meier

p.

(p. 131),
27

he

do

will

he
or

166);

derived from the

immediately

he did do

says
.

at

after

inviting

the end of Part

deduced from the Nature

that one must proceed in order to estab

and as at the end of

Hobbes's

1).63

says

says

own a

Grotius's premise, but

and

the a priori way,

and as

p.

his

it.62
Accordingly he
they draw from
Arguments drawn from the very Nature

"

Meier,

in the Preface he

natural right

support of

"

the facts (p. 139),

all

by

characterizes

the Discourse (p. 168,

of

of

Grotius

Grotius in

Aristotle's

accepts

conclusion

by

a priori

Part II he

deduction

says

he did

proceed

right is, in his

of natural

"

60.
if any man say, that somewhat is done against the Law of Nature, one proves it
hence, because it was done against the generall Agreement of all the most wise, and learned
Nations; but this declares not who shall be judge of the wisdom and learning of all Nations
Hobbes, De Cive il.i; "But howsoever, an argument for [sic] the Practice of men, that have not
sifted to the bottom, and with exact reason weighed the causes, and nature of Commonwealths, and
"

suffer

daily

those miseries, that proceed from the ignorance thereof,

places of the world, men should

be inferred, that
science of

because

so

it

ought

to

lay

be."

the

Leviathan

the just and the unjust, the

we ourselves make

foundation
c.

xx

equitable and

is the

the principles, that

whereby it is known what the just

De Homine x, 5.

of their

and

the

houses

[in fine};
the

equitable and

it

"

politics and

inequitable,

causes of

is invalid. For though in

on the sand,

can

all

could not thence

ethics, that is the

be demonstrated

justice, namely laws

a priori;

and covenants,

the opposites. the unjust and the inequi

are."

table,

61. Pufendorf, Droit 11, 3,

ix; for a searching discussion see J. B. Schneewind,

Synthese, 72 (1987); 123-55, esp. pp. 130-38;
at best an Argument from what has been, to what should of right be, has no great force
103. "Where there is no property, there is no injustice,
Locke, Treatises of Government, 11, viii,
"Pufendorf 's Place in the

vii, viii,

Ethics,"

History

of

is

a proposition as certain as any demonstration in Euclid: for the idea of

property being a right to
any thing; and the idea to which the name injustice is given, being the invasion or violation of that
right; it is evident, that these ideas being thus established, and these names annexed to them, can as
certainly know this proposition to be true, as that a triangle has three angles equal to two right
ones."

Locke, Essay of Human Understanding iv, 3,

18; cp.
19, 20, and iv, 4.
7, 8, 9.
62. Grotius, Of the Right of War and Peace (1735 English tr.), 1, I,
xii; cp. Of the Social
Contract, 1,2. Barbeyrac had traced Grotius's a posteriori way to the procedure Aristotle follows
in

moral

inquiry: in Pufendorf, Droit 11, 3,

vii,
Grotius's a posteriori method: Essai

criticisms of

1757. 1758), Vol. 2,

63. As Kant

pp.

1.

note
/'

sur

Martin Hiibner traces

histoire du droit

naturel

the

history

of the

(2 vols., London

55-82.

"Rousseau

proceeds synthetically and begins with natural

man[,] I proceed
Handschriftlicher Nachlass, in Gesammelte
analytically and begin with social (gesittet)
Schriften (Berlin: Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1912-1923), Vol. XX, p. 14.
noted:

man."

Roussseau'

Pure State of Nature

59

view, flawed because Hobbes had failed to

difference between the

those of men in the civil state (pp.

Hobbes had

doing

so

proceeded post

in his

attend

needs and passions of men

hoc

of

his predecessors,

hoc. Rousseau

will guard against

Like

i59f.).M

ergo propter

for the

own quest

sufficiently carefully to the

in the state of nature, and
all

principles:

meditating on the first and simplest operations of the human Soul, I believe I
in it two principles prior to reason
It is from the association and combi

perceive

is

making between these two Principles, without

its being necessary to introduce into it that of sociability, that all the rules of natural
right seem to me to flow
(pp. 132L; Meier, p. 56).

nation which our mind

In direct

right

contrast

to

capable of

Grotius,

who

had

said that an a priori account of natural

"the necessary Fitness

Rousseau
sociable

would establish

Unfitness

or

Nature,"

reasonable

fitness

and

things with a nature that

or unfitness of

by Hobbes,

stated

already clearly

asserts

should not

is

be

of

that it

any Thing,

or, that, for the

not

assumed to

with a

must establish

be

the

reasons

reasonable or

sociable.65

The
I

of

pure state of nature

to

which

he for

all

intents

and purposes

the Discourse may be looked upon as his statement

self-sufficiency
of

virtue

the

balance

natural

and

hence

needs

and

freedom,

or natural

pity, in

of

moral or political

powers

and

of

devotes Part

his

of

principles:

equality,

by

the concert of

"natural goodness";

and the natural capacity

for
convention,
restoring a balance between
in
short "perfectibility". More
been
needs and powers when it has
upset,
precisely, Part I of the Discourse may be looked upon as Rousseau's statement
self-preservation and

for

of

his

principles

habitation

short

and

artifice and

conjectured

in

particular

into existence, bodied forth,

and given a

local

and a name.

indicate why,

and

man

any

easily be expanded, may suffice to

pure state of nature, the state of
Rousseau's
sense,
relations, artifice, or convention, is necessarily

one of

the many merits of Meier's edition of the Second Discourse

These considerations,

in

which

what

"moral"

without

could

conjectural.

It is but
that it

stimulates renewed reflection about

the premises of that

absorbing text.

64. So, too, Montesquieu,

65. De Cive, I, 1; I, 2.

Of the

Spirit of Laws, I,

2.

important

and

Tocqueville's Perspective
in America: In

Democracy

the "new

search of

science of

Wilhelm Hennis
University'

In

a well-known

and an

equally

definite

Hannah Arendt defended the thesis that the

passage.

is

tradition of political thought

cidental

no

of Freiburg

beginning

less definite

in the teachings
(1805-

in Alexis de Tocqueville

Plato

of

in the theories

end

marked

by

clearly datable

termination. "Our tradition of

clear-cut

Karl

of

and

beginning

This may

properly be

"political thinkers":

called

or, in

ment and upon politics

political

Everything

words, the

other

depends

political

precise

questions

understanding
field.3
basic to the

That Tocqueville

scientist?

by

was not a

have been

not

It

seems

Tocqueville, but

to me that this question,

only to

of

scientist; that even had he wished to be one

he

also

his intentions

a good one; that

his

Frenchman, feel

line from Tocqueville

a significant
Introduction"

to Part I of

political science

work

were

totally

other than

belongs to the

history

of political

is

nouvelle

needed
a

for

1.

Hannah Arendt, Between Past

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics,

Hobbes, De Cive, Preface ("certainly

thing depends

upon

the art of

1094a

the

("II faut

quite

nouveau.")4

(politics

This sentence,

as the most

most valuable");

important

"A

new

une science

placed

at

17.

p.

and

leading

science);

Rousseau, Confessions, Book 9 (every

What Friedrich H. Tenbruck has

(Zeitschrift fur

those sciences in

economy to ecology.
With regard to the wealth

itself

writes:

new."

Future (New York: Viking, 1968),

and

government).

Moderne"

Glaubensgeschichte der
succession of

tout

this view. In the "Author's

in America, Tocqueville

a world

monde

un

themselves

Tocqueville, thorough
compelled. However, there is

which opposes

Democracy

2.

ible in the

is

of sciences

these are judgments to which authorities on

admirers of the great

politique

13

to the reactivation

of

those of a political scientist; and that

rhetoric

by

all who

upon govern

which might appear rather superficial and pedantic, opens a path not

would

science.2

Was Tocqueville

more

to

true. But

and senior

important

most

came

be

well

1859), Marx's contemporary

years, we see once more a thinker who has that bold thought shared
can

had its

political thought

Aristotle. I believe it

Marx."1

oc

Politik, N.F. 23 [1965],

which recent generations

have

pp.

sketched

1-15),
their

placed

as

"Die

is discern

hopes, from

political
3.

Tocquevilles,"

4.

of

facets in

The American Scholar,

Alexis de

46

recent

Tocqueville

(1976/77),

research, see

Robert Nisbet,

Tocqueville, Democracy in America,

trans.

George Lawrence,

Max Lemer (New York: Harper & Row, 1966), hereinafter abbreviated
tations in parentheses refer either to J. P. Mayer's CEuvres Completes, "edition
and

Beaumont

does

edition

(B). (Users

the pagination.)

of

the 1969

"Many

59-75-

paperback edition should note

ed.

as

J. P

Mayer

D.i.A. The

ci

definitive"

that translations

or

to the

differ,

as

Interpretation

62

dramatic
stood

in this

point

introduction,5

dramatic

highly

anything but an indication of the

Should we not read Tocqueville's

as

author.

for

entire corpus

ambition

scarcely be

can

its

of

under

ambitious

in America,

Democracy

that matter, as an answer to this need?

highly

This is the

and

his

question

to answer.

wish

To be

to do this,

able

concerning Tocqueville's

we

first deal

must

writings

which

three established notions

with

would

distort the

view

his "new

of

science,"

assuming that it exists. The first is the opinion that there is

intent underlying Tocqueville's work; that he is a liberal thinker of
the first order, but not a scientist. To so characterize him, however, is to fail to
political

no scientific

the peculiarity of his scientific purpose and to thereby misunderstand

his continuing, timeless significance. The second view is closely linked to the
first. He who sees in Tocqueville the liberal thinker in an age of emerging
recognize

democracy

and

times,"

This

picture of

the most
would

his book

understands

be inclined to

will

Tocqueville

firmly

settled

him

regard

Montesquieu's

as

in the

views

of

understanding
failure to

Tocqueville,
his

understand

to be ascribed to
of

understanding

and

Tocqueville's
uality
shall

to be one of

Tocqueville. In contrast, 1

on

not

Tocqueville's

and

actual

teacher, if

third obstacle standing

Tocqueville is the fixation

on a problem

to an

in the way

central to

equality allegedly
freedom and solidarity,

it is here that his

significance

leads
one

for

his

is

of an

that was not even

problem was that of

and sociality; and

key

supply the

that to view him within this tradition

him, is Rousseau. The

actual

attempt to

"tract for the

successor appears

research

modernity.

the tension between freedom

as

the great successor of Montesquieu.

like to demonstrate that Montesquieu does

to a

i.e.,

America only

on
as

his,

work.

individ

of

our own age

lies. I

these three theses in order then to proceed with a

establish

least the basic ideas

systematic treatment of at

of

Tocqueville's "new

political

science."

I
When
pal

work

ought to

an

undisputedly

great author remarks

be

that this suggestion is to be taken seriously

obvious

itself may be readable

seems to be anything but
work

as a response to

obvious.6

Tocqueville's

work?

Tocqueville's book,
5.

in the introduction to his

princi

that an era which is quite new demands a new political science, it

D.I.A.,

p.

6 (O.C

longer

scientific purpose at all

otherwise

recognize

its

full

of

scientific

that the

reading
behind

admiration
character.

for
In

Clarendon,

soziologischen
pp.

Jack

in The Social and Political Though

of
Jurgen Feldhoff in Die Politik der ega'litarcn
Dcmokratic-Analyse bei A. de Tocqueville (Cologne: Wcst-

suggestion were

Alexis de Tocqueville (Oxford:

Gesellschaft. Zur

no

and

such a

1, p. 5).

6. The first to follow this

deutscher Verlag, 1968),

Is there any

Even James Bryce,

could

this challenge. But

ii7ff.

1962)

Lively

and

Tocqueville'

Perspective

Bryce's words,

first

its

spite of
science

And

form, it is really

study
George W. Pierson,

life to
book

research on

on

book's

as a work of

Tocqueville,

enduring
fact that Tocqueville was
dubious honor,

as

it

of

acclaim
a

defects,

by

a man who

Pierson

and

devoted his

not so

of

can

its

only

explain

the

by

the

author and

the first in France. This is a

one of

nothing but defects

identifying

entire

Tocqueville's

conclusion.8

the personality

sociologist,

from

results

the

that, in

"The Democracy in America is

to a similar

comes

America is allegedly full

of

appearance

remembered

edification."7

petty critic, but

again no

rank and

the

a work of art quite as much as a work of

even more pointedly:

much a political

years after

in America: "Let it only be

Democracy

scientific
"

in 1888, fifty-three

written

volume of

63

and errors

in

the classic.

It is to Otto Vossler that

we owe

the most thorough and informative attempt

to prove the unscientific character of Tocqueville's work. His

Tocqueville is
contends

literary
a

testimonial of love and

again a

that whoever

work

is

on

looks for

admiration

scholarly purpose
the wrong track. Tocqueville is

and

for its

1973 book on
Yet he

object.9

intent in Tocqueville's

Frenchman writing for France, for political education and therewith a better future
countrymen. He aims for a political effect and is not seeking pure knowl

for his
edge

for knowledge's

utility

He is

sake.

He

and success.

not

interested in science, but in

historian

writes neither as

such

both he

that

and

his

work are

to

be

sociologist, but

nor as

concerned political educator and admonisher, as passionate

practical political

Frenchman

and

as

it is

as

judged.10

For Vossler, the determinative bar to Tocqueville's book on America being

to the first volume: "I
scientific lies in a sentence in the "Author's
Introduction"

admit that

itself

which

therefrom."11

seek

in America

saw

sought

This

practical

a particular

utility,

7.

being

not

shows

knowledge,

third, that he

object, France. As far

tions separately,

America; it

least to know

purportedly

sake of

and

than

more

so as at

sentence

knowledge for the

for its

from

...

as

first,

democracy

have to fear

that Tocqueville

or

hope

did

not

second, that he sought knowledge

pursued this

knowledge for the

Vossler is concerned,

each of

sake of

these inten

scientific.12

Jurisprudence (Oxford: Oxford

of

University

8. George Wilson Pierson, Tocqueville

Hamilton

Tocqueville,"

and

Press. 1901), Vol.

and

I,

in Studies in

History

and

p. 325.

Beaumont in America (New York: Oxford Univer

sity Press, 1938).

9. Otto Vossler, Alexis de Tocqueville. Freiheit

und

Gleichheit (Frankfurt

a.

M.: Klos

1973).

10.

Ibid.,

11.

D.i.A. 1,

12.

Vossler

pp.

(Vossler,

65, 83.
p.

12

never

all"

ously.

the shape of

to mention cumulatively, precludes Tocqueville's work

James Bryce, "The Predictions

termann,

was

what we

pp.

(O.C. 1, 1

tires of

p.

12).

testifying

that Tocqueville

91, 151). The demand for

is "no

scientific

a new political science

mind, not a philosopher

is thus

not

at

to be taken seri

Interpretation

64

Now it is certainly true that Tocqueville

utility as an intellectual aid to France. But
in

scientific

for the
of

it

If I

character?

sake of

knowledge

knowledge

knowledge for its

this preclude it

must

In

nineteenth century.

the

own sake

from

being

for knowledge

correctly, no one strove

the middle of the

until

knowledge for its

was

was always a matter of

it

understand

seeks scientific

no

field

concern, but rather,

central

the knowledge's meaning, or, in Max Weber's termi

its Wertbeziehung. The meaning could be theoretical, practical or

technical. The science politique of Tocqueville still stands squarely in the tradi
nology,

tion

of

political

everyone

science

ville pursues

from

being

Gerhard

defined

by

a scientific contribution to our

Kriiger15

in this field is
Nor

has described the

France

sake of

understanding

with

for its

keep

it

of the era.

concept

modern

As

sought not

the fact that Tocque

can

America for the

democracy in

of

seeks

action.14

sake of correct

his study

discipline.13

practical-philosophical

before him, the knowledge he

sake, but for the

own

as

of science

as

being

the attempt to achieve the double emancipation from natural sensu

from the bonds of the practical community surrounding the

In the historical-political sciences, too, there has been no shortage

ous experience and

researcher.

of attempts
more

to supplement the obviously fallible human

precise,

the realm

universal

instruments

of quantifiable

power of

(with

magnitudes

which

political

concerned), the results to date of these efforts

peripherally
cule. But the

demand

modern

himself from the

judgment

upon

the researcher that

"prejudices"

and value standards of

is only

science

have been

he radically

his

with

Outside

of measurement and observation.

minus

abstract

political

community
has triumphantly prevailed. Oriented to the standard of theoretical science, "It
must
in Kriiger's words, "in order to know, and not for the purpose of
know,"

leading

life."16

Tocqueville. But
and

ever,

Such

understanding of science is entirely foreign to

justify denying him any scientific intention whatso
in
the
manner of Vossler, no longer
thereafter,
looking for such an

a social

intention in Tocqueville's

democracy
know

as to

from."

we,"

i.e.,

what

and

in community
for the French.

inquiry

works?

in America, to

Hope

fear

not

refer

14.

to

lives

this tradition, see

manner

in

even

and

fear

legitimately

politics,

or

if

you

which

enter

conducted

is

possible

into scholarly

will, the question

directed, be appropriately

Wilhelm Hennis. Politik

or

with

if only "so
hope there

life is

which

life in common, but that

hope

are

to become acquainted

examination,

his time, "have to fear

good, to the

sort of

wants

scientific
of

can the normative problems of

Regarding

13.

it to

the French

when such

the ends toward which our

(Stuttgart,

Tocqueville

subject

just any

Only

an

this

can

und praktische

addressed.'7

Philosophic

of

For

2d ed.

1977).

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 109535-6; I I03b27. The purpose of political knowledge is

in Machiavelli or Hobbes, either. They
only radicalize it.
Gerhard Kriiger, Grundfragen der Philosophie (Frankfurt a. M.: Klostermann, 1958).
Ibid., p. 183.

not changed

15.
16.

17.

Insel,

Hans Jonas
1979).

argues

for

"heuristic

fear"

of

in Das

Prinzip Verantwortung (Frankfurt

a.

M.:

Tocqueville'

Perspective

Tocqueville this
unscientific

was

65
To take this fact

self-evident.

character

his findings

of

Tocqueville's book

of

it),18

philosophique, as he always called

munity.

It

tiny. In

Tocqueville's terminology,

directed toward those

was

more

on

also

he

point of

needs.

our

of

the

contemporary

was

not

certainly

ouvrage

the

politico-

scientific

com

who were responsible

for France's des

is identical

that of Plato and

which

with

"leaders"

"legislators,"

the

of

view, the scholarly perspective in Tocqueville's work, is

imaginary legislator,

that of an

about

America (his

the entire tradition, it was directed toward the

France. The

indication

an

Tocqueville.

of science than about

understanding
The addressee

reveals

as

of a statesman

in

the knowledge

search of

This has been

one of the classical scholarly approaches to political

Plato's Laws. In the United States Tocqueville seeks and finds

science since

we"

lessons "from

which

that means especially the legislators

and

"can

benefit."

derive

To

spective

and was

an

merely

to salvage to some

one seeks

manner was to take a scientific per

attempt at popular

is apparently the very

modem scholar

If

in this

ask questions

not

which

education,

epitome of an unscientific

the scientific

extent

for the

design.19

character of

Tocque

and early history of

this,
classifying it in the
too, conflicts with Tocqueville's own understanding of his work. He spoke
only very condescendingly of Saint-Simon and his school and of Comte. And
what if not his self-understanding as a political scientist could have prompted

ville's work

by

him, in his capacity

Politiques, to deliver
any

sociology,20

pre-

case provides

us

president

important lecture

with

of

science.

on

will

deal

des Sciences Morales

Science"

"Politics

insight into his

a certain

"new"

of the required

the Academie

as
an

briefly

as

which

systematic

with

et

in

understanding
lec

the contents of this

ture, Tocqueville's only extended statement concerning his idea of political

Confronted with the conventional objection that the field of politics
science.2'

is too polymorphous, too

unstable

Tocqueville distinguishes that

politics as a science.
elastic.

Politics

interests, his
times but

This

as a science

capacities

whose

science

Politics

belongs to the

as a science

"lies
his

and

essence

to support the foundations of a science,

which

grounded

instincts,

is

in the very essence of man, in his

direction changes with the

is unchanging, imperishable

teaches "which

laws best

suit

This

aspect of

Tocqueville's

scientific

as

his

itself."

species

the general and enduring

Tocqueville'

8. Cf. James T. Schleifer, The Making of

University of North Carolina Press, 1980), pp. 83,

statesmanship from

the art of governing is

whose

19.

art of

constant:

being

of

Democracy in America (Chapel Hill:

165.

is penetratingly analyzed by Seymour

Modernization (Pittsburgh: University of

perspective

Drescher in Dilemmas of Democracy: Tocqueville

Pittsburgh Press, 1968), pp. 23ff. ("He was always

and

a politician or a potential politician

addressing

citizens"

p.

other politicians and

20.

25.)

Most forcefully, Jurgen Feldhoff,

op. cit.

CEuvres Completes (Beaumont edition), ix, pp. 1 1 iff. The most important passages are in
the collection edited by Albert Salomon, Alexis de Tocqueville. Autoritat und Freiheit (Zurich:
21.

Rascher,

1935),

pp.

138-52.

Interpretation

66

"greatness"

Tocqueville

(grandeur)

many intellects from noticing it. However,

prevents

"this

The

continues:

posed would

it is

attentively, the various elements of which

significant

science

to observe

were

one

if

this

of

com

and one would arrive at a precise conception of

palpably emerge,

the whole.

For

such an

laws

the natural

i.e.,

laws

the

they

istics

observer, the

Some,

of confusion.

great writers would no

the very great,

body

of the societal

best

which

the great
mention

But, he

only

asks

in

science

You

authors:

deny

country

its

where

existence and
so altered

the

illustrious

power

deeds

face

demonstrate the

has

to earth,

he

would recognize neither

he

once

short, who

brought

itself

the

These

Rousseau,

and

are

to

existence of political

every hand?

manifest on

Look

laws,

the

around yourselves!

the morals, the clothing nor the

knew

about

seek

the modern world that were your grandfather to

customs which

return

made

of political science!

of

They

situation, place and time.

names.

must one

rhetorically, why

the

according to

upon which character

acquired.

Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Montesquieu

some of the most

Who has

depending
they

origins and which

governmental systems appropriate

present such a mass

individual exercises,

and the rights which the

suit the societal structures

from their

possessed

longer

seek

scarcely even the language

the French Revolution, this most

he

which

In

once spoke?

momentous event

in

history?

Was it the
great

politicians of the eighteenth century,

feudal lords?

The

Nothing

great creators of

had

who

knows

one

Among

in the

precisely the men of that time

degree, in the affairs of state. Every

were

slightest

that political writers, political science and often even the most abstract

science planted
grew so

this colossal Revolution

taken part, even

never

the princes, the ministers, the

the kind!

of

many

in the

minds of all our

political

institutions

fathers the

new seeds

and statutes unknown

all civilized peoples, political science gives

least lends them their form. From these then later

birth to the

arise

politicians move and the

laws

ians

whose politics one recognizes

are

the

only

ones

in

gentlemen, has the task

of

determining

It is

its field

of
of

which

they

think

they

from

to their

which

general

the events in

are

suddenly

forefathers.

ideas,

or at

whose midst

inventing.

the

The barbar

only practice. Our Academy,

preparing a place for this useful and fruitful science and
activity. This is its honor, but also a danger.

danger for the very reason that this science could only prosper under
freedom. Tocqueville's speech is a subtle treatment of the

the condition of

decline

of

Now if

freedom

under the

dictatorship

of

knows only (and 1 am getting

Tocqueville's political science

one

tal axiom of

only derivative

and

symptomatic,

except

Louis Napoleon.
ahead of myself)

22.

which

Letter

of

October

else,"22

26.

1853, in

Salomon,

fundamen

was "that
everything in politics is
for the ideas and feelings of the

embody the causes of everything

know that Tocqueville was equally convinced "that
people,

that

op. cit., p.

and

if

one

docs

not

political societies are not

215 (O.C. Beaumont vn,

pp. 300!'.).

Tocqueville'

Perspective

the products of their

laws, but

feelings, beliefs, ideas

67
from the very beginning determined
hearts and minds of their

are

habits

and

then one will not be able to understand why he

to this science. But if what he says

greatness

i.e.,

true,

from

and

felt

compelled

in his

speech

that political science "forms something like

phere around

behavior,"24

the spirits

which

every society,

it is

to

the

ascribe such

Academy

to the

intellectual

an

is

atmos

the ruled and the rulers inhale

of

alike, often unconsciously, draw the

they

which

by

members,"23

of the

principles of

their

why he attributes such fundamental

importance to this science and why he feels himself a part of it.
Nevertheless, one might question whether it is really to the point to ask
then

Tocqueville

whether

understandable

be

should

read as a political scientist or a sociologist.

Is

Tocqueville has to say to us the same in either case? But this is not
To read Tocqueville as a sociologist is to pose questions or ascribe ques

not what
so.

tions to him which were not his. We can not

did

who

not regard

On the

tions.

other

himself

hand,

reply from an author

him
sociological ques
posing
understand what he may have
get a

really

by

as a sociologist

we can not receive or

had to say to us if we refuse to receive it in the language which he speaks.

Everyone knows that in translating a poem from one language to another, much
is lost. But how much more must be lost when we are deaf to the questions
expressed

in the idiom

of a particular science

the correct and, for us,

because

we

believe it

"relevant"

scientific sense

only

when we

will yield

have (to

use

"reconstructed"

the modem

To

the texts to conform to our own questions.

term)
Tocqueville

understand

him. For

stand

citizen

is the

all

truly

central

problem which no

Tocqueville fights

longer
once

using the categories,

26, 1853, Tocqueville

We

belong

might soon

that loved

to

is to

As

successor

to Machiavelli and

private

In

of classical political science.

letter dated October

be displayed in

We

are

natural

freedom, equality

and

to a

certain extent antediluvian animals which

history

museums

honesty. All

to show

are strange

organs on the part of this world's present

manner of

thinking

which

Tocqueville from the incipient sociology

Not that Tocqueville would automatically be

how beings

tastes,

distinguishes the
his time

ours.

understood

p.

Letter

and

political

from that

if he

were

of

to be

September 17, 1853, in Salomon, op. cit., p. 214 (O.C. Beaumont vi, pp. 226f.).
to the Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques in Salomon, op. cit.,

address

144.
25.

zur

of

looked

inhabitants."

of

The

once

which presuppose

science of

24.

Rousseau,

specifically Western struggle against the

and the public. He does this in the tradition,

complains:

"totally

23.

misunder

the

again

different"

It is

fundamentally

thought, the relationship between man and

problem, but for sociological thought it is a

exists.25

another era.

totally different

a sociologist

political

political

disjunction between the

and

as

This is the basic idea

Politik,

ville:

2d ed.

of

Siegfried Landshut's Kritik der Soziologie

(Neuwied: Luchterhand,

1969).

See

Das Zeitalter der Gleichheit (Stuttgart: Kroner,

26.

See

note 22.

also

1954)-

und andere

Schriften

his introduction to Alexis de Tocque

Interpretation

68
read

as

In his
the

decided

is

when one

to be understood.

dences

scientist; but one bars every possibility of understanding

political

Tocqueville

not prepared to understand

Nothing

in his

him

he himself

as

an affinity,

work evidences

wanted

everything

enmity, toward the emerging sociological thought of

evi

his time.

work, Tocqueville's concern was nothing but an attempt to prevent

entire

from

of man

separation

He

citizen.

not

was

concerned,

his

as

younger

contemporary, Marx, was, with the elimination of this polarity in a definitive

solution to this problem. More realistically than Marx, Tocqueville could only
conceive

tyranny.

To

behind his
Just

this

of

this

prevent

form

shape

of

was

driving

the

the fact that he

when we overlook

the

reflected on

science, so also

categories of classical political

is

do

we

obstructed

cal

when we, as

it were,

in the

of politics

problem

obstruct our access to

him the wrong genealogy in the history of

thought. Tocqueville himself precipitated this fate in a peculiar way.

him

force

effort.

to an understanding of Tocqueville's thought

access

democratic

egalitarian

to the problem

of solution

intellectual

passionate

as

in the

solution

problem's

give

politi

II
Insofar

his

brisance

as the effectiveness and

in

placement

particular

family

Aristotle;
in this

the

regard.

In

composed

during

he

"There

wrote:

relation of
an

often-quoted

not

matter of

is concerned,

indifference. A

"exciting"

in the

than one

Hegel to Kant

and of

from

passage

tradition of

Marx to Ricardo is the

one

of

same

Tocqueville's letters

the time he was working on his second volume on America.

are three

in

men

day: Pascal, Montesquieu

each

is

tree

thinker in the tradition of Plato is more

and

of a political thinker

company I find myself for a while

Let us leave Pascal to one

whose

and

Rousseau."27

Diez del Corral has sympathetically investigated Tocqueville's connection

him.28
to
That Tocqueville stands in the intellectual tradition of Montesquieu
side.

is

commonplace

Democracy
disciple
century.
ler,29

Royer-Collard's

with

The Spirit

(Raymond

comparison

of the

Aron),

within

the space of

and one on

Letter to

Kergolay

few

Tocqueville
on

years

which

of

the first

volume

of

Laws. Tocqueville is the "faithful

Montesquieu

the

And Rousseau? An influence is "not

who

27.

in America

Montesquieu"

of

Rousseau

P-

since

the

of

nineteenth

identifiable"

Otto Voss

writes

published

especially

November 10. 1836; O.C.

\m.

large

monograph

emphasizes

p.

418.

on

Tocqueville's

In Salomon,

op.

cit.,

19328.

Luis Diez del Corral. La

Pascal (Madrid,
29.

Vossler,

Tocqueville's
cerning the

mentalidad politico

de Tocqueville

con

especial

referenda

1965).
op.

cit.,

attachment

close

pp.

51,

204.

Although Vossler

to his great-grandfather.

friendship

between Malesherbes

concerning Tocqueville, the "family

emphasizes

Malesherbes, he
and

Rousseau. If

with

mentions
one

such

love

not one

accepts

Vossler 's

man,"

Rousseau

must

have been

of

rather close to

detail

word con

him.

thesis

Tocqueville'

Perspective

freedom,

tradition. The same social origins, the same concern

family

aristocratic

the same open and unbiased spirit

Montesquieu

name

69

and

than to place

erroneous

Tocqueville in the

Tocqueville,

could

what

same

be

breath? What

with

than to

easier

be

could

the great gentleman, in a closer

more

relation

bourgeois from Geneva, the resentful outsider, the patriarch

ship
of the Revolution, Jean-Jacques? However, I know of no "epistemologicalwith

the petty

sociological"

chain of

reasoning that is

decisively

more

misleading than this

one.

Certainly, it is fruitful

to Tocqueville's

regard

with

to compare Montesquieu

domination.

Certainly,

theory concerning

the younger

stands

man

Tocqueville, especially

and

the new

in

sort

forms
of

despotic

of

to

succession

the man born 116 years (and what years!) before him. Nor could

he have any
Montesquieu. Indeed, he wanted to

our seeing in him a new

something similar to what that great man of his own social
had achieved. But under what radically changed conditions! They are

thing

against

accomplish

to their places in

apart with regard

fundamentally different societies, and

intellectually master. "A

to the experiences which each sought to

regard

is

political science

needed

the old political

speaking
which

a world

itself

Tocqueville

classifies

assert,
of

be

no

new

doubt

of

Book 29

appears to

begin

indisputable,

as

roughly:

viewpoints of

common

sense

"I

am

Montes
positions

tacit dismissal of

Typical

of

this

examination

of

honor in the United States,

classic example of a paradigm change.

beginning

familiar

and continue with

elaboration.30

it

can

our

meriting further
Montesquieu is Tocqueville's

and

There

a whole series of passages which

about

not

At the

new."

quite

with

starting point and which contains a judgment of

science, is essentially directed toward Montesquieu. In Democ

racy in America there is

quieu

for

is

that this sentence, which

not

station
worlds

of

sort

Montesquieu is

of

not mentioned at all.

The Spirit of the Laws is the statement: "I

written this work only for the purpose

me, that I have

proving this contention: The spirit of moderation must govern the legisla
Tocqueville writes in order to prove a totally different contention, namely,

tor."

that equality, absent fortunate countervailing forces such as exist in

lead to the degradation

could

moderation, the
to it

but is

him,

and

not

all

creation of

his

of

refresh

but

scorn.

democracy. He

maxims of statecraft aim at

centives to stronger spiritual

For that

"I have

which

of reach of
peoples

which

but

Cf., for

31.

D.i.A. 11,

p.

America,

understanding for
reconciles himself

can produce

within

citizens of

trouble

than the repeated

the

framework

democracies

of

"may

those great and powerful public

which also make

them grow and

is distilled from Montesquieu, he has nothing

is called a mixed government to be

always considered what

example, D.i.A. I, p. 286 (O.C. I, I p. 326); 11, pp.

30.

it

other

nothing

sensitivity

What he fears is that the

become practically out

which do indeed perturb

them."31

seeks to cultivate

mediocrity of
it. The weak, dull souls

end

emotions

He

unavoidable

fond

unavoidable moderation.

in the

of man.

619

(O.C. 1,

2 p. 269).

608-609

(O.C. 1, 2

p. 257).

Interpretation

70
a

And what, if

chimera."32

following

target of the

The

in

chief and,

the

centralizing
believe that

do

so.

almost

may

of

despotism, is

the

necessary in order to succeed in

democratic society is to love equality or to make
Thus the art of despotism, once so complicated, has been
the only

a sense,

in

supreme power

you

simplified; one

Montesquieu's theory

not

proud passage?

condition

say that it has been

reduced

principle!.]"

to a

single

"principle."

According

Montesquieu,

to

domination is.
closes

as

diligence. The
7.

know, fear (crainte). Tocqueville's

we

Survey"

dull "General

with

the pernicious motive, of

the

actual conclusion can

a continuation of

Book IV,

be found

chapter

6,

one need not

from Leo Strauss to

This,

that

ward

for freedom,

and not

molle

et

surely

no coincidence that

which

oisive)

times

makes

in the final

those of

"The

states:

preservation

hearts

makes

men

sink

future

keep

watch

sorte

de

idle terror (cette

and enervates

and

terreur

them."14

dealing

sentence of a work

Tocqueville

democratic

oracle who

of

which

and

reads

It is

with modem

called

penultimate chapter,

with

flabby

men's

despotism,

stalk the semantic nightingale

"salutary."

despotism, fear is
In this

to that

of

the actual conclusion

"Let us then look forward to the

catch the allusion):

in

chapter

bears the title "The Sort

Fear."

have learned to

salutary fear (crainte salutaire)

with

47

Book IV.

the entire work and, at the same time, of his analysis of

(and I believe that

democracy

work on

tortured exercise

at the end of

which

Despotism That Democratic Nations Have to

of

like

that reads

despotic

liberty,

is

and

times.

compares

the dangers of aristocratic

Naturally, he knew

that Federalist No.

always consulted and cited on this subject

separation

of

powers] is the

celebrated

[of the

Montes

quieu."

But

completely.

Madison had

since

The

endangered

written

good

remained

dignity. However, the dangers lurked

in the

these words, the world had changed

the same:

elsewhere.

They

freedom

and

human

harder to recog
Thus Tocqueville

were

equality than in the era of personal rule.

remarked: "Other dangers and other needs [than in aristocratic
times] face the
men of our own day.
The political world changes, and we must now seek
nize

age of

new remedies

of

for

ills."35

new

Montesquieu had little to tell Tocqueville concerning either the identification

the new evil (the degradation of mankind in individualistic egoism and

amour

propre)

Rousseau,

on

or

the

the other

remedy (democratic sharing of responsibility).

hand, could tell him much. In all of Tocqueville 1 find
new

not one sentence which would contradict

correctly
strike one

understood.

as pasted-in excerpts

32.

D.i A. 1,

33.

D.i.A. 11,

p.

654

34.

D.i A. 11,

p.

676 (O.C. 1,

35.

D.i.A. 11,

p.

675

p.

232

Rousseau's teachings

On the contrary, there

(O.C. 1,
(O.C. 1,

(O.C. 1,

p.

from

262).

p. 309).
2 p.

335).

2 p. 334).

are countless of

Jean-Jacques'

work.

when these are

his lines

For,

all

which

differences

Tocqueville'

Perspective

71

aside, the latter's writings bear a

fundamental affinity

Tocqueville's

with

ro

mantic soul.

In the fragments for the Ancien Regime, Tocqueville

the ideas and

feelings
the

absolute power and

At first

one thinks

filled

hastily

beginning
of the

only

the conceptions of the present.

Finally,

One discards the

pears completely.

how the

formation

of

relinquishment

in
of

for the Estates-General.

of the elections

the Estates-General. Thick tomes are

One labors

with undigested erudition.

the change

portrays

French between the king's

of the

whole mess.

Middle Ages to

to reconcile the

the question of the old

Estates-General

In the beginning,

one

disap

speaks of

only

be better balanced, the relationships between classes better

Soon, however, one follows, pursues, then frantically chases the idea of
democracy. At first, Montesquieu is quoted and explained; in the end one
powers might

regulated.
pure

speaks

of

solely

heyday

Rousseau. He became

Thus, I believe
and

his

that the

key

political maxims as

Rousseau insofar

it

the

they

is

subjects

relate to the new

despotism

"forerunner."

can

Rousseau is Tocqueville's

concerned.37

to substance,

indeed,

the substance

Quoted in Landshut, Zeitalter, p.

George W. Pierson in Tocqueville

36.
37.

Montesquieu
undertaken

his

to understanding Tocqueville

be found in any
have been Tocqueville's mentor as far as the form
as

Revolution in its

of the

only teacher

36

and will remain such

which

is

at

the

or
real

principles

is to be found in
Montesquieu may

analytic

ordering

issue: human

freedom.38

240.
and

Beaumont,

op. cit., p.

769, reduces the influence

similarity of the chapter headings. A rebuttal of this aside

Melvin Richter, "The Uses of Theory: Tocqueville's Adaptation of

to the stylistic

by

of

teacher when it comes

of

of

Pierson is

Montesquieu,"

in

M. Richter, ed., Essays in Theory and History (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1970), pp. 74-102. Richter sees Tocqueville as Montesquieu's successor primarily in terms of

in

method,

an adoption of

institutions

stances,

Montesquieu's
is

and morals

analytic

not peculiar to

categories.

Rousseau, in every political thinker who approaches the

of a legislator, i.e., with an eye to purpose and formative
to

tools even

Masters
sity

of

worked out

Press,

1976

Richter
named

Rousseau,

in The Political

Philosophy

Tocqueville in the

humanism."

The thesis that Rousseau

distinction be
principles

governmen

which

context of

made:

that style of thought which J. G. A.

Tocqueville

(popular sovereignty,

a great
"pupil"

Tocqueville's

the

Scots,

"civic
community
of Montesquieu.

a matter of a

prudential,

tasks and possibilities

order

by

and

large

the

Pocock has

Federalist, among

humanism."

This

connec

"teacher"

naturally requires that one very clear

in totally changed circumstances. Rousseau s revolutionary
freedom and equality) are now prevailing law. One must live with
was

writes

them and make them fruitful. Tocqueville's political world also stood open

longer

Roger D.

(Princeton: Princeton Univer

2d ed.

Machiavelli, Harrington, Montesquieu,

many others are assembled by Pocock within

tion is too tenuous to make Tocqueville the
38.

potential.

of Rousseau

Aristotle

polity from the perspective

It belongs to the unquestioned

of a

ordering

the Rousseau of the "maxims of

is,

of circum

and

[1968]).

places

"civic

that

But the differentiation

Montesquieu. We find it from Plato

practical-philosophical

for the legislator,

at whose

"science du

disposition the

for

legislateur,"

change.

but

It

was no

rather of actual

constitutional and administrative

stood.

How little Montesquieu

and

how

much

Rousseau

signified

for

theoretical mind of

Tocque

in understanding the contemporary world, is underscored by Lorenz von Stein. Von

Stein (born in 1815 and thus ten years younger than Tocqueville) wrote in his The History of the
Social Movement in France, 1789-1850 (Totowa, N.J.: Bedminster Press. 1964): "Montesquieu
ville's time

Interpretation

72

deal more closely with the fundamental agreement

an agreement not extending to
Tocqueville's thinking
manner
in which Tocqueville sees
in
the
but
one
course,
consisting

In this essay I
between Rousseau

details,
the

of

problem

Examples

of

and

differences

When

suffice.

Tocqueville,

which

the

conditions of

is

exist

regime,

between them:

intellectually

of equality.

conditions
a

across

in danger

almost

between

connection

underestimating the

of

Rousseau,

still

the

under

the society of equals,

anticipated

society in full development in America,

in its continued existence. Indeed, the belief that a

state could not exist as a republic

political

America

organized

huge empire,
less

whose existence was

chies.

Further, it is

plains

this astonishing

(much

less,

democracy)

in

endangered

than any of

eyes

in

democratic fashion,
the great European monar

republican

without exception with

was one of

before his

theory. Tocqueville saw

the firmest convictions of

a

the

under

stumbles

encountered such a

self-confident and secure

large

of man

one

one

naturally

ancien

Tocqueville

while

and

politics, the future

must

Rousseau

cannot

and

Rousseau's

that

categories

state of affairs and sees and understands what

he

ex

is happen

writes in summary that America's federal form

it to enjoy "the power of a great republic and the security of a small
it matches almost word for word a sentence from Rousseau's work on

in America. When he

ing

allows

one,"

Poland.39

But
ville

more

destiny

basically,

the

of

understand a

laws,

the

which

traditional thinker could have supplied

the categories he needed in order to

with

new

world,

country in

public

which
and

opinion,

in

morals grounded

i.e., democracy? Or

freedom in

religiosity

the

modest

itself through

a will

limited

it from

by

demands, but for that

seemingly
Tocqueville's appropriated Rousseau's

by

Tocque

fundamental

have helped him

the people expressed

of

distinguishing

upon

society

of

the republic as defined

describing
itself,"

of

will

who could

the prejudices of the masses

reason all the more powerful?

of

the

understand

concept

the "slow and quiet action

constitutional

monarchy,

in

authority "in a sense outside the body social, influences it and forces it
"In the United States the motherland's presence is felt every

which

progress."

to

where."40

All the

maxims of

Rousseau's

merely showed what the old constitution

108). Allan Bloom refers to the "intimate

ing discovery

for him,

Education, M. Richter,

as

ed.

might

political genius

have been,

(Princeton:

the

aimed at

produc-

be"

new one was

to

(p.

relation"

between Tocqueville
Texts."

See his "The

well.

not what

had

in
Study of
Princeton University Press.

and

Political

Rousseau

Theory

a surpris

and

Political

1980),'

pp.

135-37.

D.i.A. 1, p. 264 (O.C. 1, 1 p. 300); Rousseau. The Government

of Poland xi. toward the
in CEuvres Completes, Bibl. de la Pleiade 111. p. 1010, translated with an introduction and notes
Willmoore Kendall (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1972), p. 72. To be sure, Montesquieu, too,
39.

end

by

saw

the possibility of a

numbers

federated

lic (The Spirit of the Laws ix,

Schleifer,
40.

republic which would

and, at the same time, thanks to the

op. cit., pp.

D.i.A. 1,

pp.

11

53,

2-

85,

).

Regarding

federation,

benefit from the intrinsic health

of

(small)

command the advantages of a great repub

this question of utmost

importance to Tocqueville,

cf.

18.

362, (O.C. 1, 1

pp. 56,

95, 412) Via

patrie se

fait

sentir partout")

Tocqueville's Perspective
"It is

this result.

ing

73

just

Tocqueville

Hamilton, "the

quotes

commonly intend the public good. This often applies to their very
Rousseau?41
Who could overlook the fact that Hamilton was quoting

people

errors."

of

Tocqueville,

before the

alternative

the egalitarian, free republic and egalitarian despotism. For the

individual,

According
this

to

alternative

equality has

being

means

Tocqueville sees,

the society of equals

ruptured the ties of

brotherhood,

lines

dependence

in

problem

bonds anew,

or to tie these

this is Rousseau's

most

frequently

"bonds"

(liens). No

the word

more than

individuality

to extinguish the

word

which

conceiv

may be,

and

problem, formulated in
concerned with

in Tocqueville's

However, for

the

work

did Rousseau does Tocqueville

the person.

of

in

by forcing men to
To lay upon men

as the case

central

used

bourgeois.

a world

belonging. In every

and

The Social Contract. And Tocqueville is

of

Perhaps the

same thing.

moral

or

citoyen

affairs as well as their own.

to make them legitimate

the first

subject

be broken, diverted, circumvented,

themselves with

the bonds of

or

Rousseau had, the

as

able way, egoism must

concern

citizen

stands

is

wish

the sake of moral

"individualism"

ity

the nobility of the soul, man,

and

(Tocqueville's term for

who

Rousseau

what

is

by

threatened

called amour propre42) and abandoned

"unfettered"

to his egoistic weakness in the egalitarian, anomie,

be

in every

surrounded

conceivable

way

society, must

bonds

the

with

brotherhood.

of

the political order which tears the individual out from behind the

Tocqueville is

they

mental

freedom

of a

from the

order

motive of

the

very

by

and political

the social and

bourgeois. What

man

but

dom

of the

God

upon

Tocqueville

the "satisfaction

of the political problem.

book

deavor itself
nature,

to

him

presented

on

nothing

and

139 (O.C. I,

D.i.A. 1,

Jean-Claude Lamberti, La Notion

versitaires

de France,

1970).

p.

the

constantly laid

unites

not upon

it is

the free

men;

not

own private space.

thoroughly
could

freedom,

"dependent

pedagogical,

formative

say that Plato's Republic

Rousseau's

education,

possible.

As is

well

view

was

philosophical

so much as the elevation of man to

perhaps

41.

p.

being

in summary form in the Emile,

42.

are

services

the spiritual disposition to

of

into his

If Rousseau
written

centered on

needful

Contract is

Rousseau

of

the freedom of the citoyen, not of

This freedom

who withdraws

shares with

magnificent

is

its

and

out

they

govern

But this freedom is active,

free,"

and the

individual

order,

cultivated

law."

that

the individual needs

Certainly

too.

political order

be

must

freedom,"

the "taste for

most

bourgeois liberalism, i.e.,

freedom,

this

of

extent

kind. Neither is interested in the

of

perspective

guarantees

and

to

special

securing freedom for the individual.

oriented to the social

claim

liberal than is Rousseau. To the

no more a

liberals

are

his

these bonds and continually tighten them.

ego can secure

are,

Only

walls of

the
en

his true

known, The Social

book

which

Tocqueville

156).
d'

individual isme

chez

Tocqueville (Paris: Presses

uni

Interpretation

74
must

have known especially well;

in the

second volume of

The

politics

Democracy

America.43

probing is tied to something else which is important

Tocqueville in the light of Rousseau. If we distinguish

Indeed,

book

reflections and

The Social
Right"

Contract

Contract,

on the

principes

one reads:

life, any kind

"I

almost

the pedagogical art.

sentence:

"This collection

of

without order and almost without cohesion

contrary, bears the subtitle, "or Principles

du droit

wish

is

maxims, the Emile

and

of maxims of

itself thus in its first

presents

observations,

(ou

principles

instructions,

a compendium of

the

cal

of

pedagogy between

or

exclusively

of

in

moral-educational

to an understanding

in

to the Emile are particularly evident

parallels

politique).

In the first

sentence of

to determine whether there can

of principle

(regie) for

legitimate

be in the

of

Politi

The Social
civil order

incontestable form

and

of

government."

Generally

then,

"principles"

one

in the

sees

political

Contrat Social. In

this is a tradition extending back to Kant. But The

Germany

Social Contract is only a fragment of

That never completed work

a planned

tutions."

more

than

just

Even

principles.

has been

and an attempt

is,

would

with

the art of governing

its

"Political Insti

have dealt

made to provide the state with

there is to be a consideration of this

how to "lend drive

work on

case

axioms of constitutional

the maxims of the art of governing.

deals

larger

in any

with much

the conclusion of The Social Contract

at

Rousseau writes, "After the true

(iv,9). That

Rousseau only the man of the

the doctrinaire of the

Freedom, Equality, Popular Sovereignty

law

its foundation

foundation

Three-quarters

of

itself,

are established

with

help

the

of

The Social Contract

not with principles as general

rules, but

with

will"

to the

and

preservation"

(n,6),

and with

body

how

politic, with what "must be done

one must alter general goals

for

according to

the circumstances in establishing a good state (n.ii). The perspective (what is

fashionably

termed the "theoretical

interest"

[Erkenntnisinteresse] but is

more

know"

properly called the "need to

[Wissensbediirftigkeit] from which the
knowledge of political science in Rousseau's sense, beyond the question of
universally applicable principles, is sought, is the perspective of the legislator,
and,

in the

course

of

time,

of

the statesman.

His

knowledge,

viewed

as

whole, is empirical, substantive and saturated with experience. Like the Greek

cpgovnoig, it is

from

situation

learned

This is

43.

Democracy

on

Here I

44.

to portray
other

least

at

by

cians of

in

prudential

Precisely

another.
as much

true above all of the third section of

Mores
must

Properly

let these

So

which

suggestions and assertions suffice and

depth Tocqueville's
Rousseau. Only a completely
greater

"identiidren

Volume II,

treats of the "Influence of

Called."

"inspiration" the term

rigidified picture of

is

hope

at a

later time

perhaps more

Rousseau,

to

fitting

be

able

than any

e.g., that of the theoreti

Demokratie."

tionable. (Cf. the convention report

410.)

in character,

able to differentiate one

in these matters, Tocqueville could have
from Rousseau as from Montesquieu.44
and practical

could make the reference to their

by

relationship appear so ques

Jutta Hoffken in Politische Vierteljahrschrift, 21 I1980I, p.

Tocqueville's Perspective

75

III
Guided

Tocqueville's relationship to Rousseau we find the path into the

his thought. What Rousseau says of himself in anti-Cartesian

by

deeper levels

of

fashion, namely that he feels and senses before he thinks, is also true of
Tocqueville. He considers men's feelings as more important, more fundamental
life together, than their thinking, i.e., than their rationally considered
rights and interests. "1 am
he writes in a previously quoted letter
dated September 17, 1853, "that political societies are not the products of their

to their

convinced,"

laws, but

ideas,

from the very

habits of the hearts

and

in turn formed through

are

do

concerns

hoping

determined

beginning

are

and minds of

nature

in his head; the head is

not originate

Like Rousseau, Tocqueville is

soul.

exclusively in the

of man consists

feelings, beliefs,
Tocqueville's

education."45

an organ of

the worrying and

"that the true

convinced

between the

accord

the

their members, and that these latter

through

and

by

feeling

greatness

for freedom

and

sentiment"

and that the question at

religious

issue is "the enlivening

taming

and

soul"

of

(ibid.).

the

If that is so, Tocqueville's true

as

equality,

one

reads

that of

dominant

Rousseau,

Just

do

so

real-historical

can

be that

not

our

as

we ascribe

problem

freedom

of

and

epistemological-sociological

Tocqueville in the tradition

prejudices cause us to see

of

problem

everywhere.

of

Montesquieu instead

to him a problem which

is in fact the

the nineteenth century and still to some

of

fourth estates, liberal

freedom and equality, liberalism

extent of our century: the power struggle of the third and

bourgeoisie
and

and

proletariat,

or

if

you

will, of

democracy. Real-historically, these

franchise,

education, the

this struggle was reflected in the thought of

Weber

instinct,

him the

same

Revolution

as

distance from the

Rousseau

Tocqueville
egalitarian
of a new

society

despotism,

through close

They

enjoyed

always saw
of

but

in the

the free

association.

Each

of

differ in the association, the

possible

for

Democracy,

equals

O.C. [B] vi,

46.

Naturally,
place

pp.

individuals

in the

op.

and

the period after the

either an

under the

defined

unfree,

domination

league,

by

free

equality.

which makes

therewith their

danger

of men

it

freedom.

succumbing

cit., p. 214.

with numerous grains of salt.

political class conflicts of

his

permit

those who remain

these possibilities is

spiritual and political

in Salomon,

be taken

of

society

preserve their strength

226f.,

this must

situation,

human dignity,

and

preceding
for the future:

the equality of conditions, furthers the

45
had his

to

period

egalitarian

bourgeoisie,

it.46

one alternative
and weak

struggle over

the

bourgeois. His

real-historical conflicts of

disconnected
or

no

his bias toward freedom

and

of

from John Stuart Mill to Max

men

Carl Schmitt. But Tocqueville is

and

philosophical

in the

the stakes

were

taxes. From the side

power and

his

day

he

Tocqueville the

always remained a

active politician

"defender

of

prop

(A. Jardin). Michael Hereth convincingly discusses the stale thesis that Tocqueville is the
classical author for the opposition of freedom and equality. "Die Gleichheit als Gegner der Frei
erty"

heit?"

in Aus Politik

und

Zeitgeschichte

b 31/80

(August 2, 1980),

pp. 34ff.

Interpretation

76

to the amour propre of individualism. There

founded

to a society

racy,

upon

together. Even the old, pre-democratic

democratic,

freedom, every

has from his birth

sovereign will can

"From this

manly and proud

is no middle

binds

back to
all

men

freedom is finished.

of

aristoc

tightly

"According

the correct conception of

onwards an equal and perpetual right

alone,"

from

which

in

it follows "that the

obedience"

point

on,

"has

owed obedience

ally

idea

leading

which

from the coming together of the decisions of

Tocqueville here means person

proceed

only

wills."

all

and

touches on himself

which

everything

no road

I dare say

to the modern, the

man

is

inequality

an

the

virtues of

lost its

also

foundation;

moral

citizen and

lowly

between the

and

the slave there

compliance of

ground."47

Thus

men's

freedom;

and

specific task
eration once

detachedness,

mutual

Tocqueville's "new

"of showing
they become

idea

other

side

political

of

must

escape

tyranny

democratic."

Democracy

with which one could summarize

threatens

equality,

itself faced

sees

do to

they
This, Tocqueville

men what

the appearance of the first volume of

general

the

wrote

in

in America

degen

1836

was

the meaning of his

the

with

and

after

the most

book.48

IV
With that

we can

finally

turn our attention to the task of representing, at

science."

least in outline, Tocqueville's "new

more

ing

the Tocqueville literature (to which we owe so much

man), make this difficult.

of the

pher,

his

men of

from this

own class

purpose.

fraternity,

talk of

to

Why

when

is

Rousseau,

47.

and

dination

of one person

freedom)

of

points

of 1836 on

141L).

democracy

also

casts them us

wants to

the

reconcile

and

The

"L'Etat

revolutionary trinity has been

freedom, equality and fraternity concerns

equivalent of the

to those central
social et politique

friendship

ideas from

de la France

strict rejection of all personal

be Rousseau's

domination

important legacy. And just

most

which supports

which

and

something

depuis

avant el

to another in the new state of affairs (the core of

appears to me to

Christianity,

and

this third concept of the

in the noXig, that

op. cit., pp.

understand

political philoso

regular) and religion, in a

which

He

and still

he does nothing which could detract

Rousseau the forefather of the revolution, why

it is fraternity, the

From the essay

Landshut,

missing."49

democracy,
call

democracy

moderate and

swamp into

the

supports

besmirched? But the linkage

harmony

to reconcile

wished

can pull men out of

one of these

as

for the

Tocqueville, like every

"that only freedom (I mean,

joint effort,

so

he

wrote with a purpose:

convinced

soon

Tocqueville,

political

1789"

(in

thus of the subor

Rousseau's
as with

concept of

Rousseau, it is

all the more crucial that those

consequently abandoned to individual isolation (Vereinzelung) be
joined together through intensive "social contracting
That is the fundamental idea, common to
Rousseau and Tocqueville, of the "science politique
The new science of associations is
"

nouvelle."

only its
48.
49.

most

important

subdiscipline.

Letter to Kergolay, December 26,

Letter of December 1, 1859 (O.C.

1836

[B]

(O.C. \m,

vii. p. 295).

1 p. 431)

Salomon,

Salomon,

op. cit., p.

op. cit., p.

213.

193.

Tocqueville's Perspective
like

77

"system"

his "new

of

science"

political

which, once again, sound

a

friend in
You

can

in this
of

very

honorable lady, how

hardly imagine,

if 1

as

the midst of

wrote

to

and to

be

my own kind
pecially the line
of

no

happy

"It is

to be

not good

of man as a

to live

to you this weakness,

and even serene,

to count upon the

able

perhaps more than one can reconcile with wisdom.

applies:

Since Aristotle's definition

in

be

will confess

be

a certain concord with others and to

mc

intellectual community
more difficult for me than

outside the

would

humanity. For. I

frightened me;

always

it is for

painful and terrible

living

were

Solitude in the desert

and time.

isolation in

isolation has

feel

isolation, to

moral

live in

sentences

the elderly Tocqueville

1856:

my country

this

be inferred. In

can

"Rousseauan,"

always

had to

understanding
To me es

alone."50

being

by

characterized

speech,

i.e.,

way by sociality,
munity in order to develop fully as toiov noXirtxov there have been many
linkages made between anthropology and politics. They occur in the central

characterized

special

themes of classical
even

in the

political

Marx

work of

seding them. None

hopelessness"

affirms

in

society

by

making

which

social

this can be

and

society

sible on a

itous

basis

it

of

must

laws,

human

experience.

it is

not

good,

not torn

it

weakens and

Tocqueville

responsibility.

is the

state.

"artificially."

each

instance

shows

The broadest

However,

historically

how it

can

spiritual

his

walls of

ego

association

in

In aristocracy, this happened

pursued

America

prevalently

destroys

from behind the

the historical abundance of social

be

is in

which

and contingent.

stances, the

super

the basis of his entire political thought: It is

if he is

accomplished

account

of equals

a primeval

brotherly

"naturally"

on

and

this oldest pronouncement of our Judaeo-Chris-

history

strength and the soul of man

into constant,

purportedly

radicalizes an experience suffered so much more

oppressive and sad

only

law,

natural

than that of Tocqueville.

tian conception of human

not

of modern rational

at the end of these efforts and

loneliness is

of

this; but he

modem

philosophy,

requiring the political com

them seems to me to be more valid or more modern in its

of

"hoping
The bitterness

and

"liens."

In the

is only pos
therefore fortu

this

given and

be done, for there the

circum

morals, held off an even greater danger of isolation

and

stemming from equality of conditions. It is the task of the legislator,

(from whose ideal perspective and for the sake of
"leaders of

of the

society"

enlightenment

Tocqueville's

a given social

fabric,

political science

is pursued) to

"artificially"

promote the
"natural"

in

bonds

to

of

steps of
50.
p. 224.

Rousseau, he

Letter

brotherhood. Even

aristocratic

equals, Tocqueville is

of

January

reestablish them

strengthen or

society

must

be

when

he insists that that

"artificially"

pursued

not a rational constructionist.

Entirely

seeks social ties within the given.

I, 1856, to Madame Swetchine (O.C.

[B]

To

whose

the ties

utilize all

in

order

in
to

which was

in the society of
within the foot

establish

vn, p. 295).

these ties

Salomon,

op. cit.,

Interpretation

78

from harm is the

them

and protect

just

task of the "leaders of

the task of the educator to guide the pupil in

his talents

accordance with

it is

as

the

and

circumstances.

If the interpretation

freedom

and

dependency
which

will

In

cent

all

societies,

inside their

and

to one

the new

despotism, is

of

explicable.

individualism in the

on

second

"The bond

of

the

affection stretches and

tions of equality, every class comes

racy formed

they

above,

are adja

tied to some

themselves."

In

long

being

be

would

Under the

condi

to the others and mixes with them.

closer

another."

"at the

and

of all citizens a

king; democracy breaks

"closely

loosens."

human

Men become indifferent

speaking,

ready "to forget

devotion to another human

hand,

other

citizens

thus often

and
on

In

a manner of

therefore almost always

are

outside

Thus,

of

mutual

thought, in the light

central

linked to their fellow

are

order of rank.

They

another.

democratic ages,
rarer.

human togetherness in

with

chapters

men

themselves,"

thing

the relationship of

Democracy

aristocratic

below

his doctrine

even

referring to the
in America.

by

clarify this

dealing

are

its starting

takes as

science

we are past

Here lies Tocqueville's

aid.

everything else,

volume of

political

be

to

not good

and

equality

and

Tocqueville's

of

the statement, "It is

point

time,

same

alien

chain that reached

"Aristoc

to one

from the

up to the

peasant

the chain and segregates each link unto

itself."

only does democracy make men forget their ancestors, but it also clouds
descendants and isolates them from their contemporaries. Even

not

their view of their

man

is forever thrown back

up in the

solitude of

This is despotism's

isolation the
it

so suits

himself alone,

on

own

golden opportunity.

does

its

they do

not

Fearful

own

"A despot

egotism.

provided

and

there

is danger that he may be

shut

heart.51

surest guarantee of

as

loving him,

his

love

by

nature,

duration. No

will

it

forgive his

lightly

one another.

in

perceives

vice of

men's

the human heart

for

subjects

not

Despotism, dangerous

democracy."52
times, is therefore particularly to be feared in ages of
How is one to combat this? "Citizens who are bound to take part in public

at all

affairs

must

from their

turn

something
nity's

he

other

affairs,

used

them."

than

In the

everyone notices that

One

not as

help

passions that

Pride

keep

must

hearts

he

asunder must

be disguised;

of

the

at

commu

his fellows

as

his

to

must often offer

D.i.A. 11,
D.i.A. 11,

p. 478

52.
53.

D.i.A. 11,

pp. 481-82

481

(O.C. 1,

(O C.

2 p.

106).

1. 2 p.

109).

(O.C. 1,

2 pp.

then

retreat and

contempt must not

itself.53

p.

independent

look

aid

whose

live.

of consciousness.
afraid of

occasionally take

to attract the esteem and affection of those in

must endeavor

Those frigid

and

common management of

"he is

to suppose and that to get their

midst one must

51.

interests

private

themselves."

iio-ii).

be

hide

seen.

at

the back

Egotism is

Tocqueville'

Perspective

In America, the

perfected

79

democracy. Tocqueville

sees

that it is possible.

any rate, to combat the democratic isolation which leads

morally to the numbing of hearts and politically to despotism. "The Americans
have used liberty to combat the individualism bom of equality; and they have
there at

was possible

won."

By
gave

preventing the
"its

region

every

number of occasions

for the

citizens

Squarely

the path cut

on

free institutions

administration, America's lawgivers

life

political

feel that they depended

should

they

centralization of

own

that there

so

That

on one another.

by Rousseau,

an

infinite

day they

conduc

was wise

Tocqueville virtually

the Americans possess

which

be

should

to act together and so that every

The

enthuses:

the political rights of which

and

make such active use

provide a thousand continual reminders to

moment

every
interest

they bring

of men to

others, since he

be

is

his

useful

back

mind

to their

fellows.

afterward

citizen that

idea,

Having

that

by

choice.

is of

What had been

he lives in

it is the

duty

society.

necessity

to

American's heart easily

becomes instinct.

end acquires a

habit

By

dint

and

spreading this inclination are the

unifying alliances, sometimes for political purposes but more
"which arise in bourgeois life and have no political
great

of

means

importantly

of

taste

"associations,"

The

the

hate

that men attend to the public

calculation

working for the good of his fellow citizens, he in the

for serving them [D.i.A. II, p. 484).

At

as well as

no particular reason

neither their slave nor their master, the

inclines toward benevolence. At first it

interest,

every

to this

the

those

purpose."

How important

for Tocqueville is generally known. It is precisely here that

to be continuing Montesquieu's teaching concerning the freedom-

such alliances are

he

seems

intermediates. But that is entirely incor

different
that the reference to Montesquieu
totally
in Tocqueville's writings. The
rather clouds the meaning of
intermediate powers of Montesquieu only have their place in monarchy; their

preserving function of the

rect; at least the context is

pouvoirs

so

"associations"

presence

the

Laws

"forms the
11,4).

essence of the monarchical

Mechanically, they

form

governm

(Spirit of

of

are necessary to prevent the degeneration of

monarchy into despotism. Because Tocqueville's concept of freedom is entirely

in
different from that of Montesquieu, the task of Tocqueville's
"associations"

preserving freedom, in morally establishing both community and freedom, is

totally different. I can not demonstrate here how subtly Tocqueville distances
himself from Montesquieu on this point. Tocqueville insinuates that even in
relation

to

aristocratic

Montesquieu

limitation
quieu no

society, to

which alone

only the cruder,

These are "easy to

recognized

Montesquieu's teaching applies,

more

mechanical

comprehend."54

of power.

discussion

inclination,

of

the "less

well-known

but

not

morals, religion, provincial prejudice,

less

aspects

of

the

There is in Montes
barriers"

powerful

custom and public

of

opinion,

ring"

which

54.

had formed themselves like

D.i.A. 1,

p.

286

(O.C. 1,

an

"invisible

1 pp. 326-27).

around

the old power of

Interpretation

80

state.55

the

religion

Montesquieu,

failed to

thus

and

despotic regimes,
way he

same

child

the

of

the

recognize

whose roots

in

lay

Enlightenment, had
actual

reason

feeling

religious

underestimated

for the duration

in

the power of religious and moral restraints

misperceived

of

in fear. In the

and not

con

they hindered despotic degeneration. Tocque

is also thoroughly imbued with the
teaching concerning
observational acuity and the moral spirit of Rousseau. This, as he emphasizes,
stitutional

where

monarchy,

ville's

associations

"science

nouvelle"56

of

the

science"

science

impotence
did

men

debility

and

association

of

art

democracy.57

in

mere

itself

and culture

not avail themselves

constantly

becomes

would

be threatened

would

of associations.

"fundamental

the

The individual

by

"Feelings

and

renewed, the heart enlarged, and the understanding developed only

are

reciprocal

action

essence of

Tocqueville's "political

This
atic

being

of men

so, it is

one

upon

interaction."

ideas

by

the

the true

contain

science."

that the true object of political science, its system

clear

center, must be the factors

"human

These lines

another."58

into

sink

barbarism if

or, as the case may

which promote

What brings

be,

oppose

together? What drives them apart? The

men

answer, already found in the Enlightenment and in Hobbes, is clear:

interest. Tocqueville, no less than Rousseau, knew that to move men one must
interests.59
appeal to their
But as on the one hand the "human
inclines
modem

to the

banal, material and useful, so on the other hand it is "naturally drawn

infinite, the spiritual, and the beautiful. Physical needs hold it to the

toward the

earth, but

when

these are relaxed, it rises

Lasting ties can only be

feelings, which always bind
other.

together and take

Revolution,

"it

dust

more than a sort of mental

"restricted

its

accord."60

own

the basis of
even

would seem

ideas,

When,

as

bind

56.

2 p. 1 14).

together

men

that human opinions were no

every side and

in France before the

goals and points of view which are

55-

and

one an

only"

open to the wind on

shape."6'

D.i.A. 1, p. 287 (O.C. 1.

D.i.A. 11, p. 486 (O.C. 1,
Make of Associations in Civil

passions

if in hatred toward

ideas, but interests

danger),

specific

on

together,

men

When "[n]o longer do

(democracy's

come

established

of

unable

to

February

taken from

private

p. 327).

The

chapter entitled

"OI the Use Which the Americans

Life"

begins

with a clear

diaires"

of

the old regime: "Je ne

distinguishes his teaching

of Montesquieu.
57.

D.i.A. 11,

associations must

veu.x pas parler

in the

the thought of his time

has, in

been

An

the absence

overview

is

D.i.A. 11,

Classically

60. D.i.A. 11,

61. D.i.A. 11,

pp.

pouvoir s

"science

consistent choice of

and the

by

486, 487 (O.C. 1, 2 pp. 114, 115).

in The Government of Poland, Chapter IX [op
424 (O.C. 1, 2 p. 44).

(O.C. 1,

power of

early socialists). Tocqueville's position within

minimally satisfactoiy biography, virtually not
Maxime Leroy, Histoire des idees soiiales en

(Paris. 1962).

stated

p. 396

also

words) from that

pp.

p.

interme-

nouvel

117, 174). Tocqueville's belief in the

of even a

provided

France, Vol. II: De Babeuf a Tocqueville

59.

of

"

context of the manifold associational movements of the time

(Buchez, Lacordaire, Lamennais, St. Simon

58.

The designation
(his

"associations

viewed

researched at all.

from the

secondares"

on

488, 494 (O.C. 1,

pp.

be

"

distancing

2 p.

15).

cit., p. 79).

Tocqueville'

Perspective

life

and

interests"

its

progressively take the

ideas,"62

and

81
"general views,

place of

downhill,

the common weal goes

and

the comer. What these lines from the

well-known address of

to the Chamber of

of

Deputies

express

forms the deepest foundation

be bound together in the
interests but feelings
prevent

isolation

state

and

and the

of

sentiments

is just

revolution

January

around

I, 1848,

contemporary political concern,

Tocqueville's political theory. That men
ideas

by

held in common, that

views

form the

opinions

dissolution

and

social

Tocqueville's truly theoretical work, the

America.

that only

cement,

not

they

this is the persistent theme

of the chain

of

also

must

second volume

Democracy in

of

beliefs."

With
It is easily seen "that no society could prosper without such
out ideas in common, there can be no common action; without common action,
there are of course men, but there

So for society to

is

no societal

exist and, even more

the minds of the citizens should always

ideas; but
opinions

happen

that could never

from the

body.

for society to prosper, it is essential that all

be rallied and held together by some leading

unless each of

ready to

same source and was

them sometimes came to draw

beliefs ready

accept some

his

made

[croyanees toutes faites]

Dogmatic
acting in
men

fellows."

his

common with

It is

man's

"living

alone than

for

not conscious choice which causes

to adopt most of their views without examining them for themselves

"the inflexible laws

inflexible de

decisive

might

anthropological

existence compel

the others,

as

him to behave like

long

one must search

and

that."64

La loi

hard to find any

more

declaration in Tocqueville.

"cogito"

formulate it

all

his

of

condition

sa

Tocqueville's

like

less indispensable for

convictions are no

is

diametrically

follows: "I

to that of Descartes. One

opposed

be

am able to

among men because 1,

In the name of freedom

a man

accept most things

human dignity, Tocqueville rehabilitated prejudice. "[A]ny man accepting

continues
any opinion on trust from another puts his mind in
good
use of
to
make
Tocqueville. "it is a salutary bondage, which allows him
and

bondage."

freedom."65

is desirable;

Men

can

not

and of all

survive

scientific perspective, religious

is

"hardly

any human

action

conception which men

without

dogmatic beliefs,

beliefs

of

God,

"the

does

which

have

dogmatic beliefs. Their

regarded

are

of

His

from

purely worldly and

There
desirable of
all."66

most

not result

from

relations with

common

spring from

which

62. Address to the Chamber

63. D.i.A. 11,

p. 398

64. Ibid. (O.C. 1,

of

(O.C. 1, 2

2 p.

p.

66. D.i.A. 11,

p. 408

Deputies
p.

2 p.

(O.C. 1, 2

p.

all

else

not strive

16).

17).

399 (O.C. 1,

65. D.i.A. 11,

do

17).

27).

on

very general
human race, of

some

the

fellows."

"the

possession

the nature of their soul, and of their duties to their

remain within this realm and

"But,"

All

These ideas
religions

are

which

to go beyond it "impose a salutary

January

27, 1848; Landshut,

op. cit., p.

254.

Interpretation

82

intellect."

the

control on

they "greatly
I

leave to

shall

democratic
America
idea

cal

one

side the

in

particular

peoples

and

France
is

which

the

lem,

Rousseau he

is the

Tocqueville

like it if the
of

core problem of modern polit

Hobbes in The Social

of

said

This is Tocqueville's

"Everything
bring man into

These

land. I

that

which

expresses

human

Here is

stamp it

to this collective

someone

deeply

entity

and

by

as

follows:

together. There must be no

on each and

individuals

territory

every

soul

the

spiritless

virtue,

mother

everyone

can

look

over

God's

great associations

liens, by

bound to

are

himself.68

in

individuals

which

indifference regarding the

this indifference

Christians,

God has doubtless founded

which

only then to

ties, the

prob
social

contradiction with

"doubtless"

make visible and tangible the

of

letter

peoples, and their

actually believes he
founded the

who

God

to see that

it in

associations which

associations are called

we might

destroys

which

order to make visible and palpable those ties

belongs first

between

to that central politi

tell men more often that they, even as

priests would

these great

one another.
wish

on

eagle."

can say:

All institutions

are

to one

confers

comparison

worthless."

should

make

of

point

Rousseau

as

the two heads of the

reunite

without value.

belong

der

religion

which

attention once more

patriotism

tried,

men

as well, and with

in

the central

world,

warranty of salvation: the combating of egotism by

From Machiavelli via Hobbes, to Rousseau, the relation

Christian belief in God to

unity is
himself

dignity

next

this."67

in

almost a

ical theory. All three

Contract, "to

in the

not save men

advantages

many

only direct

and

means of socialization.
of

they do

and though

to their happiness and

contribute

are

motherland; nor

"which

weakens

shoul

order

dare

some

to

bound
one

of

our

instincts."

"When

noblest

highest faculties
state
pares

"inevitably
a

people

of

one

which

no

finds

most scarce

hold life together

incapable

of

performing

either

around a myriad

repels us or

forcibly

and

are

in the

world."70

can no

and powerful passions

longer desire,

no

longer love

humanitarianism completely paralyze us; make

good or evil in a grand style; force us to flutter

petty things,

arrests

a skeptical

and

the passions, genuine

it. We

Such

the

relaxing the springs of the will, pre

again he states that skepticism

and

worst evil

today

is destroyed, doubt invades the

paralyzes all

Again

and guide

longer hate. Skepticism

clumsily

soul,

bondage."69

him to be "the

religion

half

mind and

enervates the

for

always seemed to

What

the

a people's

of which not one attracts

us,

and

us

powerfully

us.71

67. D.i.A. 11, pp. 408, 409 (O.C. 1, 2 pp. 27, 28).
68. Letter dated October 20, 1856 (O.C. [B[ vi, p. 347), in Salomon,
69. D.i.A. 11, p. 409 (O.C. 1, 2 p. 28).

op.

cit., pp. 226L

70. Letter dated August 1, 1850 (O.C.

[B] vi, p. 154) in Salomon, op. cit., p, 207. Certainly
Tocqueville, as a modern man, must have repeatedly had to wrestle with skepticism within himself.
Nevertheless, it is a fundamental misunderstanding to think that Tocqueville's way of thinking can

be

reduced

and

to the formula

of

"skeptical

liberalism"

Siiddeutsehe Zeitung, July 26/27, 1980).

71. Letter dated August 10, 1841 (O.C.
[BI

(thus, R. Leicht in

vi, p

117), in

Hoffken,

Salomon,

op.

cit., p. 408.

op. cit., pp.

197L

Tocqueville'

Perspective

83

V
Tocqueville has

how freedom

concern was

been

regarded as a great

could

be

one

was

Tocqueville's

of

in

preserved

whose major

That he,

be in this

would

constant

liberal thinker

equality.

sort,"

then "a liberal of a new

liberal,

stood,

always

who

was,

if

manner misunder

On March 22, 1852, he

worries.

wrote:

They

are

making me a party man, although I am not one. They

I only have opinions; or better, I have only one passion
human dignity.72

set upon

absolutely

ascribe passions to me and

the

love

It is hard to

of

freedom

the typical liberal aims could ever have been Tocque

see where

He had but

ville's.

and

one aim, and

for its

he

sake

to harness politics and

sought

the political order: "to combat the weaknesses of the human

lies in egotism;

of man

ness

liens

of

the old society in the society

by

demands

a new

rule, political life together is

precisely for this

reason

science.

political

not

weak

it. The

the "world

Therefore,

For

The

upon

the dissolution of

isolation,

their

of equals.

new"

quite

follows

self-degradation

is intensified

ever-present weakness of men

the

spiritual

heart."

itself

the mler, but political

It is

what must render our weakness assistance.

important

that political science is the most

of all

the

sciences.

The diagnosis

of

ville's greatest achievement

However, his

this.

with

flections

are

given

undue

spective of our time and

you

of

despotism has been

in the field

weight,

it is

Tocque

One can only agree

is obscured, his institutional re

he is

when

overlooked
of

regarded as

of political science.

accomplishment

in the tradition

political scientist

if

form

the new

Plato

viewed

from the

scientific per

is, precisely here, a

a moral historian, or,

that Tocqueville
and

Rousseau

will, an analyst of the order and disorder of the human soul in the age of

democracy.
In

order
we

mind,

despotism
The
chy

to make Tocqueville's concerns more understandable to the modem

might

with

do

the

well

help

which threatened

of

Louis XIV

to

elucidate

the

his

successor.

unrestricted personal

Tocqueville

democratic world, in

This democratic

i.e.,
not

of personal

interesting,

ville writes that

the

man

72.
73.

who

caesarism no

loyalty. The
and

chain

imposes

corrupts

it,"73

longer bears the

is broken, the

am

Letter dated March 22, 1837 (O.C. [B] vi,

D.i.A. 11, p. 668 (O.C. 1, 2 p. 325).

much
pp.

the context of

character of personal

new master

about

mle,

is faceless. He is

him. Thus Tocque

it

much more

less interested in the

70L), in

mle,

a plebiscitary-democratic

the man who submits to

and, "I

egalitarian

which even caesaristic

Tocqueville had nothing to say

"despotism

of

mle, the "despo

wrote within

any entirely different world: a

such as that of both Bonapartes, legitimized itself in
way.

analysis

Max Weber.

was still confronted was absolute monar

to degenerate into

and

Tocqueville's

categories of

Montesquieu

evil with which

tism"

of

Salomon,

op.

than

question

cit., p. 193.

Interpretation

84
who

is than in the fact

master

my

for the

analytic tools

of

recognition of

If

obedience."74

we adopt

Tocqueville's
man"

despotic dangers, the

is

"strong

of no

interest. He is, as Tocqueville said of Napoleon I, a mere accident.

Tocqueville's theme is no longer personal domination, but in Max Weber
sense, rationally legitimated domination
which

necessary for it in the age of

for submission and obedience to

are

motives

in democratic times, things

the

and

are reversed.

The

pally, as in

domination is

character of

classical

by

politics,

Here the

at

seeks

in

cratic

peoples, a

vain

exactly

for

by

im-

facit

but

the mler,

princi

the

character of

the ruler.

not

a word
word

for the

that would

"tyranny"

do

and

for it, I

to define

try

must

What he describes

domination

I have formed. Such

fit. The thing is new,

not

old words as
cannot

find

a word

it.76

souls'

are

and as

the small

motives

for

submission

in

a system of

legitimizes itself rationally, objectively, through increasing

security and social welfare. He never speaks of a personal

which

provision of
rather

He

threatens demo

new sort of oppression which

express the whole of the conception

"despotism"

"ruler,"

of the

"sovereign,"

power"

the

"tutelary

most

or,

often, entirely

power."

The image

matter-of-factly, the "central

ful

submission are

the analysis of contemporary rule from a personal perspective.

theme

but

for

oboedientia

overtly (but remember that he is addressing the "lead

society"75), does Tocqueville revert to what he considers an antiquated

Nowhere,
ers of

follow the master;

motives

defined

not

times, the

aristocratic

submission:

to submission

those who obey: either free men or slaves.

Thus, Tocqueville's indifference regarding

least

In

equality.

a certain extent

the controlling theme; domination follows

perantem.

specific motives

of

"regulated,

mild and peace

servitude"

which

outward

forms

of

he draws is

freedom than

impossible for it to build its

much more

one might

easily

so that

think,

in the very

nest

assimilable with some of the

"it

would not even

be

sove

shadow of popular

Men
console themselves
chosen

that
the

for

being

under schoolmasters

by thinking

them themselves. Each individual lets them

it is

not a

person, or

a class of persons,

put

they have

that

the collar on,

but society itself

which

for he

holds the

sees

end of

chain.77

Tocqueville

could not yet

in the both democratic

become

slaves

and

form

to the conditions

74.

D.i.A. 11,

75.

Concerning

p.

668 (O.C. 1,
who

these

lies the objective-sociological

a mental picture of

of

this civilization. The

D.i.A. 11,

p.

77.

D.i.A. 11,

pp.

which men

time

pampering

actually be, Tocqueville is as unclear

theoretical dilemma of every political

666 (O.C. 1, 2 p.
667-68 (O.C. 1,

as

would

of amour

Rousseau

theory in

ity.
76.

of our

2 p. 325).

might

and

the extent to

technical-scientific civilization

324).
2 p. 325).

was.

Here

the age of equal

Tocqueville'

Perspective

85

propre, the encouragement of every sort of emancipation

others, has become the guiding maxim
nations. We have difficulties
conceiving

democratic

of

what

from

politics

Tocqueville

could

duties to

one's

in

Western

all

have

meant

by

freedom. Tocqueville's freedom (here, too, in conformity with Rousseau) has

nothing to do with freedom from distress, burdens or the circumstances in
may find himself

which man

his

own

in

self-reliance

kind. But rather, it is

little things.

resulting from rationalism, industry, improved productivity

Certainly, and he clearly says so, the concepts of despotism

cracy.

fit. But

not

illegitimate

and

he describes is the

what

inhuman

because) they find

mate

man's

Rousseau

for him, but Tocqueville. among the theoreticians of politics,

the first realistic analyst of that disenchantment of the modern

nevertheless

world

do

vis-a-vis nature or

of

the path

prepared

is

independence,

of

matter

Here is the

(and

even when

illegitimacy

and

bureau

and

tyranny

of relations

which

are

illegiti

perhaps are made even more

popular approval.

to the significance which Tocqueville attaches to morals in

key

democracy. Political
tures of obedience.

from the

analysis must turn

Thus, he

stmctures of mle to the struc

says again and again

the mler, but with obedience. Nowhere

in any

that he is
case not

concerned not with

although

explicitly,

is Tocqueville concerned with the illumination of rule,

certainly implicitly
but rather with that illumination which might awaken the souls of citizens. That
is his
souls
as

theme, his only theme: How

age of equality which has been

actual

in

an

for Rousseau,
high

the

we prevent

the degradation of

willed by destiny? For Tocqueville

humanity is defined by his freedom. He can choose
road. Keeping him from choosing the more comfort

in his

man

low

road or the

can

determines the many institutional suggestions and considera

tions to be found in Tocqueville. In themselves they are unimportant and
dated.78
What is important is that man's sense for the higher things he pre
able path

is

what

served and that

Therefore he
Let

us

then

his sensitivity to

writes at

The

for freedom,

sink and enervates

political

world

be

prevented

from

falling

asleep.

the end of his major work, and I quote it again:

look forward to the future

watch and ward

hearts

greatness

with

salutary fear which makes men keep

flabby, idle terror which makes men's

that

and not with that

them.79

changes, "and

we must now

seek new remedies

for

new

ills."80

This

challenge toward the end of

demand for

a new political science

formulates the theme

78.
material

Naturally,
for his

of

Democracy

work.

characteristics of

fascinating

political concern,

and

lies beyond these

empirical characteristics.

D.i.A. 11,

p.

676 (O.C. 1,

2 p. 335).

80. D.i.A. 11,

p.

675

(O.C. 1,

2 p. 334).

79.

the

Tocqueville

America furnished him

And certainly the descriptions and

But the "science politique

"classic."

sioned are

a response to

Introduction."

this science as an appeal to the "legislator":

the institutions and empirical

principal

in America is

in the "Author's

reflections which

with

the

these occa

nouvelle,"

his basic

philosophic-

Interpretation

86
It

that

would seem

they

would

try

tance to the work

that a
one

sovereigns now

little

has

devised

yet

long

people energetic when

it is

of

society

his

lines

literary

by

is

each man

should attach

they

they

should

flabby

was

a wonderful

weak, and that no

like to

quote

line in Seneca: "Calamitosus

They
Dog in

feeble.81

and

concerned with

really

Erhart Kastner (the Greek Kastner).

would

that

remember

constantly

individually

wish

less impor

or a political combination which can make a

Tocqueville

what

great things with men.

remains, Der Hund in der Sonne ("The

to give it its peculiar title. I

There is

do

composed of citizens who are

I believe that I have found

some

if

remain great

form

to

great, that

men

to the workman, that

and more

nation cannot

seek

only

to make

more

are

in the

the

Sun")

in

volume of
and

helped

them:
auxins"

animus

/uturi

deeply

unhappy is the soul that anxiously thinks about the future. How true. He who thinks
about the future is not happy. But to think anxiously about the future is human. It is

first

live:

Only

the uncertain, the anxious care, the prospective view, the

hope

truth of the

fear for

the

the

thought for the

has

order and one with which we must

future

only

future is

the

received unexpected

The leaders
sun

for

so

becoming

of peoples

long

in

clear what

Tocqueville

degradation

that

was

the service of

dog

have

does that

in the

honors in

sun.

modern

promised

lies

not

at the

the

no

man

doubt that the

He has become the

threshold,

begin. Without

dog in

the sun

great promise.

in the

is

of

who

it

model.

dog
Gradually it

a colossal contempt

saw

modern civilization.

elevated

distinguishes

There is
times.

look toward

he has become the

bottom

first

which

the

the tormented and untormented the

some countries

by
having first

of man

then

with

at worry's

through

the

new

for

humanity.*2

despotism,

the

This title belongs to Rousseau. But

this theme

of

the

dog

in the sun,

modem

servitude, through a comprehensive analysis, to the central theme of political

science

this accomplishment is most certainly Tocqueville's.

81. D.i.A. n, p. 676 (O.C. 1, 2 pp. 334-35).

82. Erhart Kastner, Der Hund in der Sonne (Frankfurt
1975).

P- 5-

a.

M.: Insel, Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch.

An Account

Recent

of

Scholarship
Philosophy

Medieval Islamic
Charles E.
University

Al-Farabi's

Butterworth

of Maryland

Commentary

tatione. Translated

with

(The British

Academy
University Press, 1981.

Al-Farabi

in

on

Short Treatise

and

Introduction

an

Classical

and

+ 287

clii

Aristotle's De

on

Notes

and

by

Interpre-

F. W. Zimmermann.

Medieval Logic Texts; London: Oxford

pp.:

$145.00.)
Mabadi'

the Perfect State: Abu Nasr

Ara'

Ahl

al-Farabl's

al-Fadila. A Revised Text with Introduction, Translation,

Commentary, by Richard Walzer. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985. vii +
pp.: $65.00.)
al-Madlna

An Introduction to Medieval Islamic Philosophy.

bridge: Cambridge

Averroes
State

the Metaphysics

University

Al-Matn
ace

and

to

Toubkal,

University Press,

of

Causation.

New York Press,

New Reading].
245

By

pp.: paper,

Jamal

accompanying
one detailed

ophy;

paper,

al-DIn

[Averroes'

al-'AlawT.

Corpus: Pref

$12.00.)

comprise

two translations, one with an

the Arabic text; one general account of Islamic philos

Averroes'

analysis

of a

problem

central

to

metaphysical

and one examination of the problems attendant upon

accepted

divisions
what

$16.95.)

(Casablanca: Editions

teaching;

Aristotle. In

$12.95.)

S. Kogan. (Albany:

1985. xi + 348 pp.: paper,

The five books to be discussed here

edition of

pp.:

By Barry

Madkhal li-Qira'ah Jadidah

al-Rushdi:

1986.

of

Oliver Leaman. (Cam

By

+ 208

1985. xii

and

Averroes'

of

follows, I

writings,
will

try

to

especially his

explain

briefly

the heretofore

commentaries

what each

book is

on

about

features. Aware that many readers of Interpretation will

identify
not be totally familiar with the details of scholarship about medieval Islamic
philosophy, I will try to place each book within its scholarly context and draw

its

and

attention to the
whose work

salient

larger

it is

questions

that surround

it

or

the particular philosopher to

addressed.

al-Farabi (about 870-950) is generally considered to

important among the Islamic philosophers. If not the first, that
honor going to Abu Yusuf Ya'qub Ibn Ishaq al-Kindl (d. about 866), Farabi is
certainly the one who most captured the imagination of his readers by his

Abu Nasr Muhammad

be the

subtle

most

investigations

of all aspects of philosophy.

His

acumen was such

that he

Interpretation

88

teacher,"

came

to be known

being

Aristotle.

the Arabic tradition as "the

within

first

the

second

Thanks to Muhsin Mahdi, Farabi's famous treatises The Philosophy of

Plato, The Philosophy of Aristotle and The Attainment of Happiness are now
available in English. Another work, his Aphorisms of the Statesman, is avail
,

in

able

fairly

reliable

English translation;

and

his famous Political

part of

Regime has been aptly translated by Fauzi Najjar in the Lerner-Mahdi Source
book in Medieval Political Philosophy.
But few
ars

of

Farabi's

therefore desirous of

were

Commentary

and

Short Treatise

having

Zimmermann's translation

Aristotle's De Interpretatione

on

the extraordinarily high

ous enough to overlook

were reliable.

logic have been translated into English. Schol

works on

Their hopes

in

were

desir

the work, providing it

price of

Neither the translation

vain.

Farabi's

of

almost

nor

the

long

introduction seeking to explain how Farabi may have gathered the ideas ex
pressed in these works justifies the price. We are told in the introduction that
Farabi

was

general.

also claims

critical

and

anti-Muslim,

anti-Christian,

Zimmermann

thought and expression though aware of Greek to only a limited

norant of

Syriac,

mar and

style.

and without

in

Arabic thought

of

that Farabi was unduly enamored of Greek

knowledge

of

degree,

ig

the basic features of Arabic gram

To buttress this last point, Zimmermann

calls

upon

what

he

takes to be his own superior mastery of Arabic to explain, painstakingly, how

he

would

goes on

rewrite

to revise

many

Farabi's

of

examples

(pp.

Farabi's text in the translation

He then

exxix-exxxvii).

via

emendations, omissions,

and additions.

Zimmermann is best
tradition of
tion to
that

historical accounts, especially

Aristotelian commentary. Here, his wide reading

detail bear fmit. His

he deems

genesis and
tate"

at

history

concern with

a sufficient explanation of an

historical

context.

is

idea to

so

34), he limits himself to

have

prompted

explanation of

how the

Whatever the

an

indication

general

tedious atten

consist

in

however,

a relation of

its

claiming that he intends to "facili

Moreover,

Farabi's

and

pronounced,

"anticipate"

the evaluation of philosophical ideas rather than to

might

recounting the

at

of

the

observations

sources

about

known

by

it

(xi:32-

Farabi that

Aristotle's text

or

to

an

historical setting influenced Farabi's thinking.

for instructing us about the history

merit of such a procedure

of thought prior to

Farabi, it

conjectures

what

about

too

frequently

leads Zimmermann to

Farabi himself thinks.

Farabi

presumes that since

all

was a

Muslim

erroneous

For example, Zimmermann

from the late

living

ninth

to middle

century he must have considered Islam to be above question and philoso

to
be universal religion. Unable to make Farabi's discussion of jurispru
phy
dence (fiqh) and theology (kalam) in Chapter Five of The Enumeration of the
tenth

Sciences

mesh with

that

judgment, Zimmermann

nation or an otherwise obscure

with cxiv-cxv).

Yet

incident to

attention to

seeks a psychological expla

resolve the

Farabi's larger

difficulty

political

(see xliii,

teaching

n.

or reflection

Recent
upon

Farabi's

By far

in the

in the

texts as

number of

body

introduction

or

in

even

ignoring

alters

difficult terms;

more complex

When

style.

Aristotle's

name

by

an

by

Though it
the

hardly

book is the list

Zimmermann
The

compensates

to

of

great

his

1975.

scholars.

Gerhard Endress

them to explain what

parallel

constructions

to Farabi's

Zimmermann introduces

urge,

and the sense of

the sentence

Finally, Zimmermann
be

while

resolved

by

Most often,
would

have

passes over

reference to similar

simply emends them without comment.

for the price, the one uncontestable merit

of

for the Arabic text that

work.

Walzer's

rejoicing among
1970s, its fate had been the

by

omissions and additions.

of variants and of corrected readings

appends

appearance

or

different

adding to the text

which are nonetheless unique

phrasing.

using

Arabic term and,

though Farabi had cited him.

insertion;

in the text

and

uses

the

as

unspecified

as

indirect

justify

such

silence major textual problems that might

passages elsewhere

edition

translation was also a cause for

and

Though it

was

first

subject of much speculation after

explains

in

footnote that he

in the early
Walzer's death in

announced

and

his

colleagues

all

did nothing to add to or correct the manuscript completed

Walzer before his death except for attempting to fill in the cross-references

students of

by

some

into the text

nothing calls for such

been better expressed

in

constructions,

prompted

so as

brackets.

square

devices

stylistic

of

to translate a number of

Zimmermann's notes, he rarely

simple

is

to the translation in citing from other

prompts these emendations or what might

He

Zimmermann's

translate, Farabi's text. He does

and

expression

means of words and clauses placed

as are

Zim

that his own grasp of Arabic style

expressions to translate the same

English

Arabic terms; omitting inconvenient

Plentiful

allowed

the translation. His revisions take the form

of

the same

have

the volume is the translation.

of

revise, rather than

different English

conversely,

would

philosophy

style and confidence

to the

notes

89

Philosophy

pitfall.

the weakest part

for Farabi's

lead him to

superior
much

conception of the task of

to avoid such a

mermann

contempt

in Medieval Islamic

Scholarship

Walzer

left blank in the original, removing mistakes

a bibliography from material

ing, drawing up

and

inconsistencies in the
in the

cited

footnotes,

print

and com

piling detailed indexes. However commendable such dedication on their part, it

did not suffice to overcome many shortcomings.
Walzer holds that the way to understand Farabi is to find the source for his

ideas. The introduction

what

authors

or

commentary are thus replete with suggestions about

texts might have prompted various thoughts by Farabi. His
and

adherence to this type of explanation

identify

a particular author or

or text yet unknown

to

us.

is

so

text, Walzer

Consequently,

deeply

rooted

surmises

all

that

when unable

the existence

to

of an author

the criticisms made of Zimmer

apply to Walzer's.
Once again, the price of the volume is exceedingly high. The

mann's exegesis

price seems all

Interpretation

90

the more unwarranted when the

photocopy

tocopy

that the English text is merely a

reader notes

of a typescript with unadjusted margins and the

Arabic text

a pho

carelessly copied text written by hand. Moreover, the Arabic text is

faint as to be nearly illegible.

of a

sometimes so

Walzer's

learning

tion to historical detail. It is apparent,

extend

that his scholarship

however,

itself,

the proper title

of the Opinions of the Inhabitants of the Virtuous

nor even

as

features]

he

in the Introduction,

suggests

City

importantly,

opposing the

Farabi

when

virtuous

55).

up the

here

The Arabic is

without

should call to mind similar

to "common

State"

(brackets in the

Walzer

by

origi

as

"the

excellent

Walzer translates
cities"

in the

(pp.

various

253-

"weeds"

for thinking that

no room

(nawdbit)

people"

(see Kitdb

Imprimerie Catholique,

as

ambiguity (min afrctd al-nds nawdhit al-mudun) and

terminology in the Political Regime with an exten

leaves

that

sive explanation

common people

teaching

The Principles

The Perfect State

there are "individuals who are weeds within

who make

not

"Principles [i.e. essential

city"

"individuals

did

that in addition to the various

explains

rendered

city

being

and not

p.

the Views of the Citizens of the Best

of

More

cities

careful atten

to political questions. He is so unclear about Farabi's basic

to mistranslate the title of the work

nal).

for his

vast, and he was widely known

was

al-Siydsah al-Madaniyyah, ed.

p.

1964],

87:5-7

or

refers

Najjar [Beirut:

The Political Regime, trans.

Najjar, in Lerner-Mahdi Sourcebook, pp. 41-42).

As with Zimmermann, then, so with Walzer, we
,

better translation

await a

very important text by Farabi. In Walzer's case, it is even

difficult to be grateful for the edition of the Arabic text. Too many errors have
and explanation of a

into the text. Some

slipped

be

instances

understood as

are

errors

in the rendering of
fringements against

key

philosophical

conventional

terms,

not

was ever accepted

The

for

Scholarship and Scholarly

Society 106 [1986], pp. 725-32).

volume

only

manuscripts.

is divided into two

the grievous in

mention

many that one

Since its appearance

are

publication.

so

including

Conventions,"

("On

Oriental

to

scholarly procedure,

the book has been the subject of several attacks,

myself

the Arabic

the nadir of contemporary scholarship on

in English, in the transliteration of Arabic, and

The

how this book

others can

we reach

philosophy.

wonders

but

carelessness,

of mistaken readings of

With Leaman's volume,

Islamic

surely due to

lengthy

one

by

Journal of the American

parts of three chapters

each, one

part con

cerned

primarily with theoretical philosophy and the other with practical. To

introduce his readers to Islamic philosophy, Leaman starts from the arguments

of

Abu

Hamid

theological
nature of

then

al-Ghazal!

questions

the soul

explains

and

how

(1058-1111)

about

its

such

issues

immortality,

philosophers

Avicenna (980-1037), Abu

and

best known for his

as

God's knowledge

like Farabi, Abu 'All

al-Walld

writings

on

the creation of the world, the

of particulars.

He

Ibn Sina

or

Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Rushd

or

al-Husayn

Recent

Scholarship

in Medieval Islamic

Averroes (1126-1198),
same

Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) discuss these

and

issues.

Leaman

offers no

justification for his inclusion

in his introduction to Islamic

philosopher
none

91

Philosophy

either, for the basic explanation is in

Had Leaman

proceeded

historically, he

Jewish

of a theologian and a

philosophy.

The

exegesis provides

way enhanced by their presence.

have introduced his reader to the

no

might

dialectical unfolding of Islamic philosophy and thereby justified including

Ghazali and Maimonides. That is, he might have begun by identifying the
arguments

in Farabi

and

Avicenna that

attacking philosophy
would have been able to

debate

intellectual context,

basic themes

and yet place

the inclusion of Maimonides in

Islamic philosophy, Leaman

how Maimonides takes his

in this larger debate

and

might

is ostensibly

what

have

a slight

made

own philosophical

draws extensively

and

re

order

to

introduction to

an

digression to

bearings from the issues

both the Islamic

on

intro

through time. Then Leaman could have

was carried on

duced Averroes, emphasizing his explicit attempts to refute Ghazali

habilitate philosophy or at least to defend its pursuit. At this point, in

justify

how

the while showing

all

by

In that way, he

philosophers.

concentrate on the same

them within their proper

continuous

himself to defend the faith

upon

especially these two

and

the ire of their coreligionists

aroused

how Ghazali took it

and then explained

explain
set

forth

philosophers

and theologians.

The

part of

the book devoted to practical philosophy is no more successful.

Leaman begins
are

by

deemed to be

considering the

topic of ethics arises in a

better

advised to

of Happiness

is,

or

begin

Farabi's

view.

and

He

to

by Ghazali,

tated

Averroes. Instead, he becomes immersed in

is

by

perceived

leads him

attacked

in Islamic jurisprudence

how

that

moral virtue

then have examined how that

could

is

by Avicenna,

have been

would

the virtues in The Attainment

explain

account

modified

philosophy,

Leaman

context.

account of

in The Political Regime

fits into that larger

ethics

In Islamic

totally different

with

they
however, the

question of religious ethics and whether

subjective or objective.

and theology.

eventually rehabili
discussion of how ethics
and

This

approach

eventually

to Maimonides and to religious, but not necessarily philosophical,

themes.
Philosophy,"

Leaman's final chapter, "How to Read Islamic

attack on those

in

what

is primarily

an

"esoteric"

he terms

of philos

an

reading
namely, Leo Strauss, Ralph Lemer, and myself. For some reason,
ophy
Leaman does not include that other well-known practitioner of esoteric reading,
who engage

Muhsin Mahdi, in this

unwarranted
Averroes'

of
of puerile

coterie.

inference from

His

a phrase

attack

Lemer

on

"Republic"

Commentary

on

Plato's

countersuggestions

about

Maimonides'

explain
reveal more about

procedure

consists of

drawing

an

in the introduction to Lerner's translation

.

how to

read

Strauss is
Farabi

attacked

on

in The Guide to the Perplexed,

Leaman's inadequate grasp

of what

by

means

Plato's Laws
suggestions

Strauss is

about

in

or

that

each

Interpretation

92

shortcomings in his exegesis. But it is my interpreta

Three Short
forth
in the introduction to my
tion of Averroes as set
Commentaries (Albany: SUNY Press, 1977) that receives Leaman's most

instance than

about

any

Averroes'

careful attention.

Since I have
above, I

limit

will

myself

"esoteric"

the

approach.

looking

matter of

at the

his

to

in the

arguments

review

essay mentioned
here to presenting the basic themes of his critique of
Leaman thinks that reading philosophy is "just a

responded

interesting

arguments, picking out

points and

judging

contain"

the strength or otherwise

Those

"seeking
dazzling variety

who prefer

forward

put

out what

"that the

assume

the reasoning

of

conflict

importance to the

is hidden in the text

between

religion

(p.

they

by

(pp.

that

and

Islamic philosophy and

and 186, emphasis in the

all

of

denies that the

the arguments

they

Those familiar

with

these writings

will

recall,

are

In fact, many of the texts Leaman refers to in the first

drawn from those very commentaries and expositions.

Kogan's book differs remarkably from Leaman's.

carefully argued, thoroughly

teaching

about causal efficacy.

attention

judicious

use

he

Kogan

makes of

The book is primarily

17th Discussions of

his

well-written,

and

to traditional and modem

pays

is

It

part of

very thoughtful study of Aver

The general exposition is enhanced by the

researched,

roes'

careful

however,

to explicate issues central to the conflict between religion and

philosophy.

book

Leaman

original).

in fact terribly important and points to the many

expositions on Greek philosophers composed by the Islamic

philosophers as proof.
serve

conflict was

commentaries and

that

182

err, because they

philosophy is of overriding

philosophy"

within

182).

the author and

techniques"

hermeneutic

of

construction

process which

scholarship

and

the

the Arabic and Latin sources.

concerned with the arguments set

Averroes'

Tahdfut

forth in the

3rd and

(Incoherence of the Incoher

ence), that is, his famous reply to Ghazali's attack upon the philosophers in the
Tahdfut al-Faldsifah (Incoherence of the Philosophers). Kogan focuses upon
al-Tahdfut

these two Discussions in order to explain what it means to hold that

produce effects and

basic

position

certain

kinds

are prior

to

divine

the

(b)

implies that
of

effects,

them,

and

know they do

we can

(e)

(a)

causes

(c) have

explain

act

means of an

necessary

(a)

causes

forth here, the

set

agent, (b) have only

connection with

their effects.

and

engaging

as

their effects,

Ghazali's desire to insist

(d)

upon

efficacy leads him to deny the preceding.

is Kogan's explanation, it is not without prob

lems. The study opens with a general

the dispute by placing the argument

ing

As it is

character of all causal

Competent

broader

by

so.

context

in the

history

rhetorical appeal

exegetical task as nonphilosophical.

significance of

efficacy clearly within its

Because he is intent upon follow

about causal

of philosophy.

the philosophical argument in

for the

Averroes'

Instead,

book, Kogan
he

concentrates

rejects

his

the basic

efforts

upon

Recent

in Medieval Islamic

Scholarship

entering into

argument

Averroes. That

and

depriving

consequence of

unfortunate

Ghazali

with

93

Philosophy

has the

procedure

the reader of a coherent account of the

issue. Moreover, Kogan's insistence upon plunging immediately into

intricacies
of the extraordinarily complicated problem of causal efficacy
the
texts at

placing it in a specific
why it arises in the first

without

learning

the philosophers and

Averroes'

In the conclusion, Kogan

defense

of them.

emphasizes

Farabi

constitutes a critique of

Averroes does

teaching

cenna.

Farabi, he
he is

as

Still,

Nor does he

as

strong in his

larger analysis, these

al-'AlawT

is best known for his

or

Avempace (d.
on

logic

censure of

criticisms are minor.

of a

physics

al-Tabfi

(Treatises

blanca

Dar

on

Logic

and

entitled

both

on

in

The

Ibn Bajjah. One

by

known
trea

several

from the

manuscript

al-Tlm

wa

in Casa

was published

two other books

same year,

was a

com

works

otherwise

Maqdldt ff al-Mantiq

Physical Science),

al-Nashr al-Maghribiyyah.

al-'AlawT appeared,

contained

highly

of

publications

In 1983, he brought forth

1138).

and

Escurial Library. This collection,

at

as

those texts reflect Fa

probing investigation
for this he deserves high praise.

Averroes

by

is

original charges

Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Yahya Ibn al-Sarigh,

and

Ibn Bajjah

tises

whether

Avi

as

manner

Ghazali's

conducted a thoughtful and

al-Din

Averroes

support

whether

Avicenna.

of

problem, and

Jamal

leads to

and

It is questionable, however,

that Averroes

show

Ghazali

to

response

Ghazali

as well as of

investigate

to

never pauses

given the excellence of the

Kogan has

Averroes'

this book to criticize Farabi in the same

use

rabi's position.

plex

about causation.

Though Kogan brings forth texts to

against

Farabi

how

Avicenna

and

Averroes'

own

setting prevents the reader from

how it fits into Ghazali's attack upon

contextual
place or

detailed

bibliography

of

by
Ibn

Bajjah's works, Muallifdt Ibn Bajjah (The Writings of Ibn Bajjah), the other a
philosophical treatises by Ibn Bajjah, many of which

presentation of several

had

never

before been

Rasail Falsafiyyah li-Abt Bakr Ibn Bajjah

published

(Philosophical Treatises of Abu Bakr Ibn Bajjah); both books were published in
at Dar al-Nashr al-Maghribiyyah and in Beirut at Dar al-Thaqafah.

Casablanca

Averroes'

year

later

mentary

on

al-'AlawI

University

of

Literature

While
working

Arabic

manuscripts

Leiden libraries; this

of

the

engaged

on

out a critical edition of

Aristotle's De Caelo (Talkhts Kitdb

on the two extant

of

brought

University
in this

questions

of

philosophical

fruition in

rhetoric

as

al-'Alam)

in Fez

at

based
the

and

the

Faculty

Fez.
publishing activity,

al-'Alaw!

was

also

to the way Averroes and other North African

philosophers contemporaneous with

their

Middle Com

located in the Oxford Bodleian

volume was published

extensive

related

wa

it

him discussed

were.

truly exciting book that

These

reconsiders

philosophical

reflections

have

questions, on
now

the whole corpus of

come

to

Averroes'

Interpretation

94

writings, especially his philosophical writings,

in

Arabic.1

us

Averroes'

new book, al-'AlawI calls into question the way

Aristotle have traditionally been divided into Short Commen
(Jawdmf). Middle Commentaries (Talklus, pi. Taldklus), and Long

taries

In his

Commentaries (Sharh, pi. Shurith, or Tafsir,

It is not that al-'Alaw! denies the validity
clature

to denote it.

used

limited in that he

His

point

Tafasir).

pi.

division

of such a

is both

limited

more

or the nomen

broader:

and

more

really fall into this division

division to include works like the

questions whether certain writings

broader in that he

logical
be

down to

come

about

writings

and

have

these

as

to enlarge the

wants

he

and physical treatises

published

in

1983.

The latter he

considers to

many instances of Averroes coming back to precise questions first raised

in one or another of his commentaries and attempting to resolve doubts that had
plagued him in those earlier discussions. This aspect of al-'Alaw!'s argument
so

is flawless. As he

in the book

shows

demonstrate, Averroes indeed

The former

is

point

writings now considered

designations.

Commentary

on

According

and the

on

Logic

and

treatise

now

identified

would give each of

Summary

to indicate in each instance that the

on

the

Short
title,

titles are

new

is the summary

work

as

these a new

The Soul. These

of a subject,

Aristotle.

by

Averroes'

treatises on logic

al-rAlawI's suggestions about the title of

have direct

bearing

"Topics,"

Averroes'

on

my

"Rhetoric,"

Three Short Commentaries

"Poetics"

and

Arabic

cal

to al-rAlawi, only two groups of works

Aristotle's De Anima. He

not of a work or a series of works

Since

such a purpose.

especially since it has as a

to be commentaries on Aristotle must be

treatises on logic now identified as the Short

series of

Aristotle's Logic

namely, Summaries
meant

the

category:
on

for

these treatises

uses

assigned new

fall into this

the treatises themselves amply

somewhat more problematic,

corollary that

Commentaries

and as

edition and an

introduction

and on

in this collection, I
respect to

my

would

(Albany: SUNY

English translation

the title:

(1)

these works,

on

Aristotle's
a criti

1977)

with notes and an

current efforts to edit and translate all of the treatises

like to say something

the logical treatises, al-cAlawI

revision of

of

Press,

that

Averroes

more about

adduces

three

his

reasons

argument.

for his

With

proposed

"Summary"

refers

to them

by

the term

in

(2) that none of the old book lists assigns to them the title "Short
Commentaries"; and (3) that they differ from his other Short Commentaries in
another

work;

structure

and

intent (p. 50; for the details

and

citations

that

follow,

see

pp.

49-57)-

In the introduction to the Three Short

lems

raised

by

decisive (pp.
1

The

5-14).

caveat about

writings are extant

lost for

points

and 2 at some

My

argument

these works

only in

medieval

a number of reasons.

being

Commentaries, 1 discussed

length

and concluded

there, in brief,
in Arabic

Hebrew

or

arises

was

that

from the fact

Latin translations, the

that

they

the prob
were not

Averroes'

reference

that

original

many of Averroes
Arabic having been

Recent

in Medieval Islamic

Scholarship

to these treatises in the opening lines of

Physics
not

his Short Commentary

was of the nature of an allusion rather than a

indicative

of

how he

notoriously inaccurate

meant

and can

95

Philosophy

to name them.

direct

Secondly,

the

on

Aristotle's

citation and

thus

book lists

old

are

therefore not be used to determine titles that are

questionable.

The third
tions.

reason

These treatises

intent.

structure and

by

adduced
on

does, however,

al-cAlaw!

logic do differ from the

differ in

They

structure

other

treatise around a particular Aristotelian text.

tises

introduce the

logic in

Isagoge. In addition,

when

according to
about Farabi

Farabian

what might
and uses

Instead,

the

not organize

first few trea

a manner that calls to mind

Averroes does begin to

considered

organize

Aristotelian texts, he

paradigms to explain

Porphyry's

his discussion

speaks at

the forms

length

of syllogisms.

invert the traditional Aristotelian order, placing the

discussion of sophistry after that of demonstration and before that of dialectic
something tantamount to placing On Sophistical Refutations after the Poste
rior Analytics and before the Topics. He does something similar in the treatise
He

even goes so

on

the soul

as to

in that he divides the

faculties

various

far

be

major ques

Short Commentaries in

in that Averroes does

each

subject of

raise

work

according to his discussions

books or chapters into

of the soul rather than the three

of the
which

Aristotle's text is divided.

In the introduction to the treatises
"is to

purpose

logic, Averroes declares

on

one of the

logical

that

his

arts the arguments neces

the subject matter. As he understands the subject matter, it

consists of

reason

from every

explaining"

sary for
logical

abstract

for

how

identifying

arts of
so

a concept

is formed

demonstration, dialectic,

limiting

and an assent obtained

sophistry, rhetoric,

and

in the

poetics.

His

the scope of his investigation is that:

it is especially necessary to have this extent of the art in order to study the arts that
have already been perfected, in the way most of the arts have been in this time of
ours.

He then
to

goes on to observe that:

speak about

the things that

for studying the

the direction of what is
useless

what

is

more excellent

comprise and constitute

arts that

have already been

more excellent rather

in this

time of ours

in both instances

excellent"

here

can

also

is
be

these arguments

performed or

is

either

it is useful, but in

is necessary and to pursue

impermissible. (The term "more

than what

almost

"superfluous"

understood as

[afdal].)

For al-'AlawT, it is especially significant that Averroes limits himself to

speaking about what is necessary for an understanding of the logical arts in
these treatises because he does something very

similar

in the treatise

in the latter work, namely, at the end of the

he excuses himself for the brevity
"The Discussion of
soul.

At

one point

Taste,"

tion and

says:

on

the

section entitled
of the explana

Interpretation

96

discussion

an exhaustive

this, but

than

is

If God

necessary.

have

by

which

grants

these things

written about

human

the first of the

Averroes then

longer life

way that is clearer,

"For

adds:

Taking

this time of

for

these things calls

discussion

a much more extended

to these things our discussion is merely according to what

with respect

these things in
we

of

and removes

more

distinct,

distress,

this

the extent necessary

is

ranks can

be

for human

Yet

what

perfection and

attained.

grasp it, this

to

anyone able

we will speak about

and more exhaustive.

is

much

this statement together with the

deal in

a great

opening lines

of

the

treatise:

in this discussion is to

our purpose
about

the

explained

al-'AlawT

in

physical science and most

insists that these two

Averroes known

those arguments of the commentators

establish

the soul that we see

science of

as

in

works

in

greatest

stand

Aristotle's

from the

apart

by

arguments, I mean, the

omit

All

he

cites

treatises on logic

Commentaries

as

evidence

to speak about a

none of

book

'AlawT in that I do
differences

the ultimate goal

Averroes

order to

on

and abstract

from them the

ones, that constitute his

that

doctrine;

of other ancients

Averroes has

these citations. Nor do I

Aristotle's

scientific

and we will

besides him.

different

not

attach

and of

other writings

deny

by

purpose

in the

as

Short

that

much

explain

on

Aristotle's understanding
much

clear

logic, it is
of

al-

clear

of

that

the various logical

to criticize as to praise and

Aristotle's teaching. The

particular points of

his intention

Rather, I differ from

importance to these indications

intention. In the treatise

to Farabi as

that Averroes begins

making

than a subject matter.

rather

is to

refers

clarify

the treatise

on

the soul than in the treatises he recognizes

and on

the treatises on

structural

Commentary

on physical science.

Now I dispute
each of

arts.

Aristotle

of

most reliable

anything in them taken from the doctrines

of this

by

declaring:

is to turn to the books

purpose

works

other

He notes, for example, that Averroes begins the Short

Our

purpose

Short Commentaries.

as

Aristotle's Physics

is

with what

conformity

agreement with

same

does

is true

so

in

with

the soul.

Averroes'

about
commenting upon a particular book or books by
Aristotle in these treatises does not appear to me to provide sufficient evidence

silence

of a

different

Commentary
upon

approach
on

either, for I

De Anima he

note

says even

Aristotle's book. Instead, he

studying the human

further

ado.

soul

and

that in the treatise known as the Middle

less

speaks

about
at

his intention

length

about

of

commenting

the importance

then begins to discuss Aristotle's book

The only indication that he is indeed commenting

upon

of

without

Aristotle's

Recent

in Medieval Islamic

Scholarship

De Anima is his
paraphrases of

Aristotle's

Both the treatise

said"

"he

use of

97

Philosophy

(qdl)

the

at

beginning

of quotations

from

or

arguments.2

the soul and those on logic differ from the other Short

on

Commentaries in that Averroes explicitly declares his goal as one of providing

what is necessary to understand the subject matter rather than
explaining
Aristotle's doctrine. In both

instances,

the

importance

the

of

subject

justifies

this limitation. That same emphasis on subject matter seems to account for the

differences

structural

He has

noted above.

no qualms

about

logic from something like a Porphyrean framework

Aristotle's treatises, for he is intent above all on showing

plain

is

and on

correcting

line

same

division

of

current

misunderstandings of

beginning

nor about

the

what

to ex

reordering
logic

art of

Aristotle's teaching. That

reasoning explains his inattention to the traditional tripartite

Aristotle's De Anima in the treatise of the soul.
of

For these reasons, then, I differ

this

al-rAlawi about

with

aspect of

Aver

roes'

writings and continue

entitled a

book

formal

ing

is

this disagreement

Averroes'

his interpretation, I consider

study of Averroes. His emphasis

draws

Republic

not yet clear.

as

his

and

time. Both themes are present

for

in his

Averroes'

al-'AlwaT's conjectures about

impor

that the arts

conviction

his intimation that there is

well, but their significance

Perhaps

our attention to two

teaching, namely, his

in his time

perfected

and

with

characteristics of the treatises

exceptional about

Plato'

De Anima

Logic.

a major contribution to the

have already been

on

on

tant minor themes in

thing

on

Aristotle'

Nonetheless, despite
al-'AlawT's
on these

Aristotle'

Short Commentary

Short Commentaries

is properly
the treatises on logic

to maintain that the treatise on the soul

some

Commentary

broader teach

the date of composi

tion of the different parts of the corpus and the various programs of commen

tary followed by Averroes at various stages in his life

that may be, he clearly provides a solid overview of
corpus and makes it possible

Latin

parts

to investigate

for

whether

scholars with

about

2.

activity

as a commentator of

This work, incidentally, is

Hebrew

characters

extant

However

the Arabic part of the

knowledge

these confirm or

Averroes'

are relevant.

deny

of

the Hebrew and

his many

suggestions

Aristotle.

Arabic written in
only in Judaeo-Arabic manuscripts
by al-'AlawI. The treatises on logic are likewise extant

and was not examined

only in Judaeo-Arabic manuscripts except for my previously cited edition and translation of three of
them. His reference to a phrase from the introduction to these treatises (p. 51, n. 6) mistakenly
cites the Paris Bibliotheque Nationale manuscript as a source. At this point, however, that manu
script

has

a major

lacuna.

Discussion

This is the first of what, it is hoped, will be several rounds of discussion of

Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind.* The editors of Interpreta
tion

comments

welcome

generally.

The

Dannhauser
cussion,

and

from the

author

editors regret that

and

as

well

as

from interested

practical reasons

compelling
Clifford Orwin from contributing to the

hope

that

they

will

find it

present round

possible to take part

in

one.

*New York: Simon & Schuster,

1987.

393

pp.: cloth,

$18.95;

readers

kept Werner J

paper,

$7.95.

of dis

a subsequent

Socratic Reason
The Place

the

of

Lockean Rights

and

in

University

Liberal

Democracy

William A. Galston

I
Like Rousseau
to find

awoke

point of

its

after the

publication

himself famous. Like Rousseau, he

is in fact the

took on

his

virtually

guaranteed to enrage.

in

subject

a manner

Remarkably, his book did

newspapers

best-seller lists. The

event

one of

longings

the

its own,

utterly

its

journals,

and

his

age

suggest

destmctive

the

at

that "our

And

of vices.

Closing
literary

audience.

deeds that

The

of the

and

exceptions, it was

with rare

it quickly
Mind is

and

fashion,

to rapturous in the nation's most

of the American

indication

as an

most

Instead,

respectful

those rare

of

challenged

He dared to

contemptuous of current

not enrage.

in tones ranging from

respected

Discourse. Allan Bloom

turns passionate, ruminative, scornful, sorrowful, Bloom

By

attack!

reviewed

the First

greatest and most unexamined pride.

untrammeled tolerance
what an

of

reveals

reception of

to the

soared
more

the

than a

doubts,

top of the
book, it is an

the

this book deserves an

just beneath the

deep foreboding

fears,

and

inquiry

of

complacent

surface of

contemporary culture.
The Closing of the American Mind has three distinguishable, though inti
strands:

mately related,
v ewed

nation of the

ills

revealed

by

that

description;

are

linked because,

generalizations must proceed

explained"

(p.

255).

American Mind is
and of

the

from the

and

finally,

defense

a proposed cure

for

of a

richest awareness of what

institutional

the university

stmcture

The book is concrete,

It is

also subjectively.
of

is to be

and

speak, but

way

expla

as

and sustains these activities.

count of one man's

American society,

historical-analytical

in many others, The Closing of the

distinctive conception of teaching, of learn

In this respect,

modem

an

Bloom characteristically in
hallmark
of philosophy. All inter
is
the
abstractness,

elements

sists, "Concreteness, not

ing,

of modern

through the prism of university students;

those ills. These

esting

detailed description

an

intensely

life. It is not,

not

personal

as some

have

that shelters

just objectively,
and

so

self-revealing

argued, a

to
ac

jeremiad; it is

Bloom's Apology.

II
On the level

of

description

little to say in this essay,

not

of

contemporary society I will have relatively

am sure Bloom is right but because I do

because I

Interpretation

102

the

not possess

have

lack

alleged

to say he is

requisite evidence

some evidence,

and

I feel

to my

own experience nor

(In

one area,

that his

remark

between fathers

of natural connection

conforms neither

wrong.

to

constrained

though, I do
the

account of

[p. 115]

and their children

to my observation of the men of

my generation.) If there is a difficulty, it lies in the

accuracy of Bloom's description. He states that his

than the

rather

scope

"sample"

in

consists

stu

the future elite. But he some

twenty
thirty best universities
times speaks as though what he says about these students is true of American

dents

the

at

society

or

as a whole.

Based

on

my

include

own experiences, which

lengthy

and

Americans"

discussions

systematic

is

concluded that there

understandings of

inferred from
Bloom is

much

a sample of

and

virtues,

the

family

difficulty,

of opinion

he

and

begin

fact,

wide.

Of

there

has been

elites,

it

as

leaders,

and

finally

and

the general public.

the whole truth.

not

between those

arena of a struggle

those who resist, the trends Bloom rightly deplores.

ativism of the

be

appears to respond to

the

at

wholly implausible, it is

not

American society today is the

cade, in

than might

elite students.

then the students, political

Although this thesis is

and

for traditional

much more respect

gradually filter
top
dangerous philosophy, then the corruption of the intel

changes

comes

this

moral

I have

the country,

across

less relativism,

young

not unaware of

downward. First

"ordinary

individual rights,

follows: Influential

lectuals,

with

who

During

the perceived

a popular revolt against

the gap between popular and elite beliefs

and

it is troubling that
politically influential do

course

so

advance,

the past de
moral rel

is

now

very
many of those who are likely to be
have healthy opinions. But the public

not
socially and
is capable of resisting what it does not like. In
as for worse
it is the people who ultimately

for better

democracy

as well

rule.

Ill
has the

Why
rights of

elite

American

mind

in favor

man, the Bible

deserted its

of an openness

founding

convictions

tinctions and eventually undermines all convictions? Bloom

which provides

the plot

line for

much of

philosophy gradually imposed the

sturdy Enlightenment tradition.
But this
of

can

hardly

be the full

his book, is that

yoke of alien

answer.

official

answer,

relativistic

German

thought on what had been a

To begin with, the

enormous success

this popularized Nietzscheanism forces us to wonder what

American

mind was

Continental victory

occurred.

and whether the unsullied

that

is,

why this

the

that cannot make moral dis

needs

it

so well-ordered

really
Bloom

suggests

gratified

to ask,

two seemingly

contradictory but ultimately reconcilable answers. First, Nietzsche as mediated

through Freud interpreted the higher in light of the lower, an approach that
in

proved

especially

special

claims, and the good is

popular

democracy
supposed

"where there is envy

to be accessible to

of what makes

(p.

232).

But

Socratic Reason
an

second,

autonomous,

whose

low but

by holding

sufficiently,

out the

(p.

age

an essential

foundation failed

corrective

to early

to flatter democratic

possibility that everyone could be creative,

the very definition of nobility in a transIn short, Nietzsche

144).

undermined

country simultaneously

103

provided

solid

a source of new values

postphilosophic

moral,

Lockean Rights

Americanized Nietzsche

democratic theory,
man

and

as

received

in this

the grounds of aristocracy and offered

us

opportunity
being aristocrats.
These suggestions, in turn, make me doubt that the story can simply be the
victory of foreign corruption over domestic health. It is more nearly adequate
all

the

of

to say that vulgarized Nietzschean thought activated

latent problems,

and ac

indigenous trends, already present in American life. Indeed, Bloom

impressive catalogue of such phenomena. Liberal tolerance

celerated

provides us with an

fosters

it

relativism when

to widen its scope

by

placing more and more

knowledge (pp. 30-31). Liberal

seeks

to superiority outside the realm of

freedom fosters relativism when it seeks to become

claims

limits (p.

rational

Democratic

28).

by denying all
by deni

absolute

fosters

egalitarianism

relativism

grating heroism and delegitimating rank-ordering among human beings (pp. 66,
90). Egoistic individualism fosters relativism by denying natural relatedness
among, and duties toward, other human

liberal-contractarian

less it is

view of

that

account suggests

somehow

the

mitigated

by

with which

straints, aristocracy)

especially pp. 251-252).

That this is in fact the deeper

by

family
democracy

liberal

modem

another set of considerations.

beings, a trend exacerbated by the

86, 112). In short, Bloom's own

(pp.

external

it is

is not stably well-ordered un

forces (religion, traditional moral re

stratum of

dangerous

for

religious

for

passions

in the

tmth

his

aristocratic

natural

torted

desires

distinction, for

existence
not
was

169).

But

by

home

of

the effort to

political

power,

living: "Neither
of course

these

be wholly eradicated, and they thus find stunted, dis

in democratic societies (pp. 183, 3296.). The appeal of

that of

leaves fallow,

have to be

(p.

to the

(see

cannot

expression

Nietzsche, like

natural

name of tranquil and commodious

belong

nor enthusiasm

corrode

suggested as well

the

are

Bloom, is defined

bourgeois"

longing

is

argument

Liberal democracies

the bourgeoisie. Bourgeois existence, says

expunge

it tends to

at war and which

Rousseau, is
or

lays

rammed open

swung open
Within.

waste.

by

to the invader

to the part of the soul that bourgeois

The gateway to the

by

inchoate

America did

Enemy Without, for it

longing for the beyond, the

alien philosophy,

our

mind of

the

Enemy
IV
If

relativism

approach

It

was

this

is the

modem

question

in the fall

democratic disease,

what

is the

cure?

can

best

through some personal history.

of

1963,

during

Bloom's

unforgettable

"Introduction to

Interpretation

104

Political

Philosophy,"

History. From the

that I

first

encountered

powerful

first

pages

that

classical

find

is,

an account of

and

in

was

not to

German relativism,

and

it

thought to the seventeenth-century overthrow of

of modem

teleological

the

Americans

challenged

their ancestral faith in the rights of man to

traced the impasse

that I

immediately

sensed

Strauss's Introduction

the presence of greatness.

surrender

Leo Strauss's Natural Right

on, I

natural science.

grounds on which

read on

hoping

eagerly,

to

the Declaration of Independence could

be rationally reaffirmed and the problem posed by modern science surmounted.

But as I finished Natural Right and History, I was perplexed. Far from
reaffirming the

decisively
his

of

rights

man, Strauss argued that the

Hobbes'

those rights

Locke's

and

criticized

predecessors

by Rousseau,

to its logical

culmination and

(My

conclusion.

highest

Strauss had

his discussion to that

perplexity only deepened when 1

that Nietzschean nihilism
thought, the inevi

self-consciousness of modern

made

had been

Philosophy?,"

for the

table consequence of the break with classical rationalism.) As

of natural science:

ground of

the antiteleological premise of

who carried

read, at the end of "What Is Political

is the

philosophic

account of the state of nature

it

clear at

problem

the outset that he would confine

be

aspect of natural right that could

the

clarified within

step in his narrative, Strauss showed

that the political thinkers of modernity accepted the antiteleological implication
of modern science and shaped their political teachings in its light. Evidently the
domain

of the social sciences.

by

problem posed

at each

be deferred but

science could

read more and more of

of

But

Strauss's writings, I

not

indefinitely

could

find

no

evaded.

definitive

Yet

as

account

this matter. In the preface to the seventh impression of Natural Right and

nearly two decades after its initial publication and only shortly
before his death, Strauss explicitly reaffirmed his "inclination to
the
natural right teaching of classical antiquity. But to the best of my knowledge,

History (1971),

he

never cleared

intellectual
is poison,

away

obstacle

he himself had identified

what

to

that

To

reaffirmation.

neither modern nor classical natural right

wardly available as antidotes.

I find precisely these same difficulties

at

the most fundamental

as

summarize:

the heart

while

relativism

teachings are straightfor

of

Bloom's

narrative.

He

suggests, for example, that there is an essential conflict between the human
ities
including philosophy and modem natural science (p. 372). At the
same

time, he

notes that no

pre-Enlightenment

influential

teleological

the point, he never recommends,

would seem

to follow that our

context of modem science.

every

modern

understanding
or suggests

There is

sidestepped, it

must

has tried to

of nature

Yet

much of

(p.

return

181).

to the

More to

the possibility, of such a return. It

account of man must now

Bloom's book

postclassical effort to execute such a

301-302).

thinker

be

situated within

consists

in

strategy (see especially

pp.

no third path.

If the

be addressed,

else the return to classical rationalism

hypothesi impossible. But Bloom

the

a critique of

193.

problem of natural science cannot

be

is

ex

refuses to accept,

or make,

this choice:

he

Socratic Reason

and

Lockean Rights
to

neither consigns natural science

difficulties

by

engendered

Bloom's

its

is

irrelevance

nor confronts

Strauss's

unequivocally that the modem natural rights

it is his
rooted
of

purpose

in the

depicted

Locke (pp.

by

more

(p.

he had

than

The

176).

This

modem

chain of

that

who pointed out

inference has
is

indeed, America itself

book
his

hardly

ise"

profound

problem,

decisively
find

eagerness to
nature

made

do

wrong.

between

nature and

much
do"

a state

implications for liberal democracy. If

If Locke is wrong, then the university

founded. Yet at this critical juncture, in

insecurely

Rousseau, he declares,

pulls

"explodes the

back from the full

simplistic

rigor of

harm-

[Lockean]

society that seems to be the American prem

lurks the
In this ambiguous "seems to
be"

(p.

177;

emphasis

deepest issue. Are the

which most

mine).

natural

Americans

principle of
are the

That is the
otherwise

rights

question.

at

the base of our regime, the rights to

(p. 166), the

rights

the rights that sustain the

of man,

rights

subscribe

still

justice,"

only
ishes

"Locke, in his

deficient in blunt speech, Bloom

argument.

oniousness

that

university Bloom wishes to defend thus rests on

by his own account must be judged defective.

Rousseau is right, Locke is

is

Therein lies the difficulty.

165-66).

a right to expect a mechanical, nonteleological nature to

teaching

of nature

institution

right, in turn,

natural

that Locke's account was

argues

solution to the political

or automatic

the "frame

which

162).

Like Strauss before him, Bloom

by Rousseau,

states

In particular, the American understanding

undergirds the American university, rests on the

(p.

state of nature

the rights of man, which

simple

establishes

(p. 288),

to defend against its enemies. Modern

state of nature as

criticized

teaching

modern

Bloom

entire enterprise.

university"

the atmosphere for the modern

work and

the status of

other conundrum

fundamental to his

even more

head-on the human

antiteleological stance.

recapitulation of

natural right

105

so

conceived, worthy

cannot see that

it

that constitute "our

institutions Bloom
of our rational

cher

devotion?

receives an adequate answer

in this

compelling book.

V
It may be argued that the immediately preceding argument is deeply unfair.
After all, Bloom distinguishes between modern and Socratic rationalism. The
impasse of modern rationalism, which Nietzsche both observed and exem
plified, is not the impasse

of reason simpliciter

is Socratic
of

Socratic

253>

307).

Bloom's

This
return

rationalism
rationalism

that

is the

(p.

310).

for returning to the

provides the strongest motivation

essence of

the

Indeed,

that

impasse

classical understanding.

university, and

It

it is the defense

that constitutes the highest calling of the university (pp.

Locke's defeat

at the

heart

of

Rousseau is therefore irrelevant to

enterprise.

argument

to classical

is however

exposed to serious objections.

rationalism cannot

on

Bloom's

To begin with, the

own account

occur

with-

Interpretation

106

first surmounting the obstacle posed by

which, as 1 have indicated, Bloom does not
out

dition, it is by

or

no means clear whether

modern

Socratic

how

(again,

the vindication of the rights of man. on which

both liberal

count)

rest

Bloom

argues at

classical
civil

democracy

modern

length (pp. 256-68), there is

Classical

Bloom's

rationalism

between philosophy

improved by,
Socratic

both

espouses

it

argues that civil

hospitable to, the

Socratic

conception

between

conception of the relation

public

home for Socratic

a public

providing
highest justification. The

Socrates
contrast,

(pp. 20, 40,

of the mind

of

reason

Those

who spend

presence

(and,

no matter

how

The

for

what

tender sentiments

are

comfortable, no

can

be

for its

society:

Socrates

"The

can

successful

for

than

and

what

hence

become

they do. Without

(p.

252).

childhood whose playfulness can

even useful

proof

its

culmination

of a conflict once considered

Yet

matters are

diluted to

such an

member of civil

that a society can be devoted to

As Bloom

imprisoning

summarizes

ministerial to the

his

the mind

credo:

society

"Never

around

it.

ministerial to the university, and

in turn be

an
a

eternal

blessing

childhood

for some,

I
a

society"

(p.

to

245).

If,

highest task

make the political world safe

reached

their

being

a respected

university is the

the

"become

benefactors

civilized"

called

regime"

maintains,

are

respectable), no society
how technically adept or full of
(p. 21). In and through the univer

society that tolerates and supports

Bloom

is free

matter

did I think that the university was properly

Rather, I thought and think that society is
a

It is in

which

of noninstrumental reason

the well-being of all, without stunting human potential or

to the goals of the

post-

university is the
own
(p. 249).

sity, the classical tension between reason and the regime is

extent that

question

university.

true openness,

human faculties

add, without their

one should
rich or

they

be

essence of the

use of reason

their lives in the exercise

more

can

that the modern university finds its

by fostering

the models for the use of the noblest

to all of us,

and

The

reason and politics.

reason

248-49).

"noninstrumental

cultivation of the

society

the university is to enable students to reach

purpose of

toward the perfection of their nature

have

of

by

of philosophic

exercise

necessarily arises whether this combination is tenable.

This tension comes to a head in Bloom's depiction of the

as

as

that there is an inherent tension

maintains

and politics, and

and rendered

Bloom

reason.

bless

ac

this event as the outcome of a mistaken but corrigible understanding of the

relation

dom

own

disagreement between

between philosophy and politics and that the trial and execution
was a dramatic manifestation of that tension. Modern rationalism,
sees

ad

Finally,

university.

a crucial

In

leads to

rationalism

on

task

science,

undertake.

concerning the relation between reason and

and modern rationalism

society.

the

and

natural

begin to

even

of ancient political
philosophy was to
for philosophy (p. 276), this task would appear to
in modern liberal democracy's artful dissolution

inescapable.

not so simple.

Early

on.

Bloom tells

us that

every

educa-

Socratic Reason
tional system

human

has

being

Lockean Rights

and

specific

it

fundamental

accord with the

01

principles

ad

not, wants and needs to produce men and women who have the

or

knowledge,

tastes,

in

In particular, democratic education, "whether it

their political community.

mits

goal, the production of a certain kind of

moral

citizens who are

107

and character supportive of a

If so, the university is

to

ministerial

or

democracy

predict that

may confidently

inevitably

after all.

it

comes

To the

will

under

later

(p.

not

26).

to become

pressure

it is

extent that

sooner or

regime"

democratic

ministerial,

encounter political

we

oppo

sition.

But Bloom's university is far from wholeheartedly democratic, in at least

three respects. First, modem democracies concentrate on the useful, while the
university is directed toward the noninstrumental (p. 250). Second,
democracies rest on settled principles
equality and the rights of man

it is the

purpose

question

in the

Third,

Athenian
versity]

his

on

251-54).

people"

(p. 311),

must

own

(pp.

be

and

it

call

into

248-49).

equalization and homo-

in the name, in short,

inequality

The university,

insolent

says

distancing

must maintain

Bloom, began in

of

himself from the

that spirit today: "[The uni

opinion"

(p.

contemptuous of public

when

which

the university resists in the name

tendency

gifts, and human

contemptuous and

254).

Bloom is

shocked

this spirit of contempt evokes public anger in return. But

account, this anger, which endangers the

reason, is entirely

ically

which

"Socrates'

dismayed

and

superior

aristocracy (pp.

from

spirit

in universities, to

tend relentlessly toward the

human beings,

high standards,

of natural

sheltered

name of alternative principles of political right

modem universities

genization of
of

of philosophic reason,

modem

natural and predictable.

free

It is the triumph

public exercise of
of

politics,

Socrat-

understood, over the public exercise of Socratic reason. From this stand

point, Bloom's

account

official

the

of

fall

of

the American university

the

must be re
victory of a vulgarized Nietzsche over the vestiges of Socrates
vised. It would be at least as tme to say that the fall of the university represents
the revenge of the demos on the last embattled remnants of aristocracy in an

increasingly

democratic

age

(see

pp.

319, 326,

353).

VI
I come,

finally,

students of the

the tradition of

has

made

kind

to the

question of students.

Bloom

1960s, today's students are nurtured

the Declaration

today's students

of noble openness

of

maintains

neither

Independence. The loss

narrower and

flatter,

without

that,

of

soil

the

nor

in

these traditions

the "felt

need"

for the

that only devotion to philosophic activities can gratify.

in

university teaching can take root,

(pp. 51, 61).
is too thin to "sustain the taller

There is thus less

unlike

in the Bible

which

and

that soil

growths"

I have

no competence to characterize today's students.

But I

can speak of

Interpretation

108

the students of

twenty

fection, for I was

ory of it does not
I do

in the doctrine

families in
reached

them. It

square with

many

families

stable

which

of the

brash,
how

accomplishment.

midst of

was

in large

generation, I

events,

of

measure

As I look

We

across

for

with a

We

boom in

unblemished record of postwar

virtually

We trusted

our government.

(We

were patriots.

willingness

kind

were

We

also

were

not

really

by

relativists,

the

to learn was unqualified; our "felt

of aristocratic

the gulf that

most of which

stagflation, television,

by

separates

the importance

Bloom

hardly

divorce,

distinction that

might

be

possible

speculation,

today's students from those of my

of socioeconomic

and political

War, Watergate,
lines, American hostages in Iran. I

gasoline

afraid of

forces

the Vietnam

mentions:

have helped

suspect economic uncertainties

ented,

respected.

economic

society.

am struck

closed to

learning

biggest, longest

the

dominant force,

was

quickly enough.) The United States had the

Athens before the Sicilian expedition, and we all some

in it. Our

democratic

within a

and

cured us of that

hubris

open

television was not yet a

we were willing to take intellectual risks because

had to worry
about the effects of risk-taking on our
living. At that time, the United States was the undis

or

about anything.

participated

mem

account.

encouraged

future ability to earn a

puted leader of the Free World,

way, but Bloom

nostalgic af

But my

world, and

we never worried

cynical

such

with

particularly well versed in the Bible or

I know I was not. Most of us had how

where

was

reading
in the
university

diplomatic

Bloom's

evokes

a marvelous time.

of us were

age

history

indeed

was

of the rights of man

up in

ever grown

the

fully

not recall that

Bloom

ago that

years

one of

taking

make

today

s students career-ori

risks; that two decades of

foreign

policy fiascoes have undermined confidence; that repeated breaches of public

tmst have bred cynicism; and that television has perceptibly eroded both the
capacity to concentrate and the taste for reading. I also agree with Bloom that

family instability and rising divorce rates have wounded children in ways that
reduce healthy openness when they reach the university.
None of this is to deny Bloom's basic thesis that if true learning is to be
possible,

duly

nature needs the assistance of convention.

denigrates the independent force

in affecting the
em

history

as

conditions

produced

for

thought. I doubt that economic

matter, the
and

epidemic of

un

of political and economic circumstances

openness,

almost

But I believe that he

in the

entirely

by

stagnation and

broken families

name of a conception of mod

the dissemination of

can

military bungling
be laid at the feet

philosophic

or, for that

of

Nietzsche

Heidegger.

One last thought. Bloom takes

Golden Age
about

of

it. But 1

ceptional

by

American higher
am

forced to

as

his baseline

education.

wonder

Tocqueville stresses, the American

It

whether

the standards of American

mind

of comparison an all-too-brief
was a

history
is

Golden Age,

those few years

not

itself. For the

no

were
most

doubt

not

part,

particularly hospitable to

ex
as

the

Socratic Reason

and

Lockean Rights

109

always

be

vulnerable

to the

practical

Bloom is but the latest link in

by

The

problem goes

American

violence of the

the 1980s. I would suggest that Bloom has a quarrel

with

relation

peak of

his

cherishes

bourgeois society

introductory

will

disciplines: the MBA degree denounced

a venerable

deeper than the

America

Philosophy in

cultivation and exercise of noninstrumental reason.

as a whole.

course was the

(Is it

lecture

1960s and the

or at

by

on

chain.

least

vacuity

of

an ambivalent

chance that

the emotional

Madame Bovary'l) Bloom

the freedom that

despises the

absence

of

is only to be found in liberal democracy, but he

longing in the soul of the bourgeois. He wishes to

defend the university through an appeal to the principles

but the thinkers to whom he appeals with the greatest

of

liberal democracy,

frequency

and

effect

his book

are all crit

Socrates, Plato, Rousseau, and Nietzsche
ics of liberal democracy. Locke, he suggests, is more politically salutary than
Rousseau, but less psychologically profound. And besides, he insists, Rous

throughout

ultimately the more consistent thinker. Until the grounds for support
liberal democracy are more firmly established than this, the status of reason

seau was

ing

and

therewith of the

remain unsettled and

university
insecure.

in the

modem

world

will

of

necessity

Certitudes

Humanizing
A Critique

of

The

and

of the American Mind

Closing

Doubts

Impoverishing

Allan Bloom

by

Harry V Jaffa

At the

July

end of

1987, Mark

McGwire,

Claremont, California,

of

the

and

Oakland As, had hit 37 home runs, and led both major leagues. He had equaled
the home run record for rookies in the American League, and was only one
the National League record.

short of

Records, however,

young Mr. McGwire still had nearly half the

without question what in sports is called a
and

for full seasons,

are

year's games

to play. He

is

"Feenom."

At
book

about the

time McGwire

The

was

taking his first

turn at bat that spring, a

of the American Mind, by Allan Bloom, was pub

lished. Its rise to the top of the nonfiction best seller list has been as explosive
as young McGwire's bat. Its staying power at the top of that list
extending
over many months
is no less astonishing than its swift anabasis. The demand
entitled

Closing

for it is
and

widespread
radiating outwards from Chicago, New York, Boston,
Washington (not to mention Paris, where it is said to be going like "hot

to

crepes")

top

lists,

most regional

"Feenom,"

much a

as

Whatever the

be

fact that its

when

the century, made

his

virtuous

Bloom

that it has touched

doubt,

no

must

be

can

an ex

conceded

to the

morality is accompanied by a great deal of

immorality like the famous reformer who, at the

of

lew York City. His

of

book's merits, there

as to the

sales are evidence

Something,

highly

publicized

church was always

(as

congregation

well as numerous

forays into these dens

preaches, and

also

Meanwhile [that is, in the

of

invasions
jammed

does it very

the red

of

on

light districts

the ensuing

assembled

reporters)

iniquity. With

much greater

Sundays,

to hear of his

sophistication,

well.

wake of women's

"liberation"]
Men

one of

the strongest,

old

for marriage is no longer

easily enjoy
previously could be had only in marriage. It is strange that the tiredest
"He won't
stupidest bromide mothers and fathers preached to their daughters
operative.

est motives

the

can now

sex that

respect you or

be the truest

Reading
sion

the

marry

you

and most

first

along the

"Divorce,"

if

you give

probing

part of

The

him

Closing

what

one

(as distinct from theological)

is

turns

too

of the American Mind,

with

the

current situation

topics as

forcibly

aspects of

and

easily"

wants

132).

of such

"Eros,"

he

(p.

analysis of

foregoing lines

"Love,"

and
moral

as

history.

of traditional

denunciation

pmrient
of

"defense"

It is surely

as the national.

well

any
judgment may be

doubt that its tremendous

no

as

recent sports

ultimate

posed nerve of public concern.

turn

in

event

"Equality,"

stmck

by

its

out

to

its discus

"Race,"

"Sex,"

resemblance to the

the sermons of the

Rev.

Jerry

112*

Interpretation

Falwell

the homilies

of

and

correct

about

relativism

troubles

that

"liberated"

of their

pany

by

in the

by

which

revelation,

becomes just

then all moral choices are equally significant,

or

Thus Bloom

Yet the truth is that

wise, leave

an

quotes

sex

is

young

women as

big deal,

always a

There is, however,

one

He is

another

and

those

sex

is "no

big

death in their

wake.

of

indicates. Yet his

observations of

Sixties,"

frozen in "The

his

(Bloom left Cornell for Toronto

end of that

decade,

followed.) His

and remained

remarks about

in

feminism,

women, for example, are dated

not

but because in the

years

Bloom

which

challenge,

not

As 1 have

hardly

intervening

and the

because they
the

'Liberation'

Ethics"

(American Conservatism

can

Founding, Carolina Academic Press, 1984,

sodomy

but

conduct.

the

not

of the same species.

because
species.

The

killing

we recognize an

This is

also

equality
reason

Every

as

wrong.

be

shown to

believe,

of

But the

human

is the

image

of

of opposite

Nature is the

own existence

adds

is

"male

grounded

rights"

"gay

same origin or

movement

the ground of all

who

species

can

human

of other

we are members

The

of cattle

reason we

as

wrong,

is

female

in the

is defined

by

the very
appeal.

the presence

individuals

generate new

describing

created

same

including

ground,

lesbians themselves

in

of the

morality, but maleness and female-

The Bible, in

is then the

morality.

ground of all

and

killing

is because

the sodomites and

sexes

ground of nature.

God,

the

not

most

of all objective stan

of rights among fellow members of the same

for regarding racial or religious or even sex
moral distinction that can be called to mind

have the

which

but

Ameri

the

right represents

we share a common nature.

word nature means generation.

same species.
ness

to

rights

individuals

legal

as murder,

Family

on the

and the

263-78), the demand for

pp.

we regard

why

of cattle

the

can, I

of

reason

That is to say,

discrimination

it

a moral and a

the enslavement of human beings

regard

idea

both

as

theoretical as well as practical

complete repudiation

beings

"gay

movement,

merely to sexual morality, but to all morality.

in "Sodomy and the Academy: The Assault

human

irrelevant,

are mistaken, or

mentions, has emerged as the most radical and sinister

Morality by

of

at the

the decade

roles of men and

argued

the recognition of

the

as the title of

most of

changing

so-called

and

dards

for

self-imposed exile

the

sexual

aberrations of the counterculture seem

most memorable chapter suggests.

deal."

who think and act other

and

surprising omission in Bloom's catalogue

in his portrayal of the human cost of
quotation

insig

or

vigorous

foregoing

promiscuity, as the

saying that

disaster, disease,

ever-widening trail of

evils of relativism.

that

com

and all are

"value"

"opinion"

nificant.

when

boy

and much

all moral choices are

or

reason

other

"values"

If

women.

unsupported

equally

find themselves in,

men

young

in pointing to the

also right

their

thereby saving

women

seducing young

friends that trouble. And he is

greater

Pat Robertson. Bloom is certainly

the Rev.

of

he

man

as

created

them,"

distinction

implying
as

nature's.

ultimate repudiation of

nature,

Of course, sodomy has been

in the

that God's

The

so-called

and

therewith

around

for

long

Humanizing Certitudes
time

as

Impoverishing

and

know from the Bible. What

we

demand that

be

we

Doubts

1 13

faced

with

are

here is

not

between consenting adults. We

homosexuality
faced with a public demand for the admission into law and morality of an

are

right

equal

a private matter

homosexuality

of

heterosexuality. There has

and

been anything like the Gay

campus
with a GLAD week
every

experience

sanctioned

and encouraged

local (and

even

Bloom,

than

today.

I have

and

It is difficult

by

Lesbian Centers,

(Gay

never seen

virtually
Lesbian Awareness Days)

1 have been teaching many

students as

for young people,

enough

and

in my

never

now on

the college administrations, and patronized

politicians.

national)

and

more

by

years

morally confused as they are

Bloom shows so well, to have

as

to work out anew, with no authoritative conventions, the roles to be followed

in boy/girl,

man/woman

relationships.

boy/girl,

thousand times, when the

This is

question.

human

is

race

now

matter

of

of thousands

personal

pressure

overpowering

ganda.

Many

of students across the

do

who

young men,

women, and many

more

(except

not

the great

constituted

Bloom is

almost

entirely

The chronology
public

moral

movement

of

to

refuge

have

and nature

AIDS

upon man's

do

not

epidemic

terrible

will not survive

of

the

retribution.

and

for their

the

discovery

freshmen (and women)

moral allegiance.

"liberated"

with men

lesbianism. This has

and

lesbianism

than

with

precisely
as

in its

this

recommended

disgrace

and the

of

Ameri

endorsement

This lifestyle has

since modem relativism

humanity, chastity
upon

by

with

know how to deal

corresponds

and

some of their standing.

recovering
ways is entirely based

had

of

the attitude of the educational authorities, God

whatever

deathstyle. For the first time

who never

it.

establish

exacted

to the

thousands

(and their lives mined)

in sodomy

sodomy
lifestyle. In nothing has the power of relativism
can higher education
manifested itself more

homosexuality. But

into

the eighties on American campuses, and

crisis of

silent about

the

belong

of

country,

know how to deal

women, who

enemies), take

as

seduced

Tens

called

the official patronage of the gay rights propa

of

"liberated"

any

compounded

relationship is itself

preference.

the least homosexual tendencies, have been

the

is

difficulty

as much as to say, that whether you want to

hundreds

perhaps

But this

man/woman

the monogamous

Unfortunately,

argument

for

has

proved

family

may be

the new argument

self-preservation.

of new scientific cures.

its

mounted

to be a
assault

seen to

for the

This

be
old

argument

Last spring I told a class

God and science,

that there was a race on, between

And, I

added, somewhat sententiously. that it would

be very unwise for them ever to bet against God. A few years ago, this remark
would have provoked gales of laughter. This time I looked out upon the most
solemn

faces I had

ever seen!

Thanks to AIDS then,

we

have

little breath

certitud

ing

time to reassert the tme

Nicomachean Ethics),
must

be seen,

ness, and

not

as

not

Aristotle

merely

arguments

merely

sees

it,

the

Bloom's

"enriching
"humanizing

as a means to

as a restraint upon the

(as in the

doubts."

Morality

implement the desire for happi

desire for

pleasure.

The

arguments

114*

must

Interpretation

be

made not

only
life. But

pursue a good

how

as to

may avoid a bad death, but how one can

find those arguments in The Closing of the

one

one will not

American Mind.

Notwithstanding
the evils

foregoing. Bloom

the

And,

of relativism.

that he is

just

not

speaks

and even

wisely

it turns

to the surprise and pleasure of many,

Bible thumper. (I do

another

eloquently

of

out

to suggest that these

not mean

"elite"

be despised, but only that they have no standing in our

universi
of
of
political
all things, a professor
philosophy, pointing to
ties.) He is, rather,
his fellow university teachers as the source of this poisonous and literally
are to

doctrine. This surely

demoralizing

the book's apparently

Bloom for

Having

solace

guidance

and

eloquently

must go a

wide appeal

concerning

in his

It is

the

not

going lack

In

issue

one

ton

immorality

is

degrading

the

Insight magazine,

implied
with

who

immorality

as

does

and praise of the ancient

"bro

writes

I find

for

that means

"the

our

general

and

relativism, and the easy

lives (p.

in feature

as well as

What is astounding

appalling.

239).

stories

in The

Washing

relati

in the

war against

thus hailed him seemed to assume that his critique of relativism

in favor

a stand

sufficient

hailed

was

short-lived.

rejec

conduct

with which we accept such

of concern about what

of

optimism

implied in its

human

invocation

own

Thus he

of relativism that

dogmatism

Times, Bloom

But those

chastity.

find their

to

apt

are

not advocate a return to those standards of

mides"

way towards accounting for

the disastrous consequences of relativism he

portrayed

tion and, most notably,

long

to middle America. Yet those who turn to

care

of

or

traditional morality. If so,

astuteness.

they did

Bloom does not,

him

not read

not, find "the

repeat

appalling."

What Bloom

of relativism

rejects

is only

"easy

going"

relativism.
"low"

When Bloom looks

out to

be the

nihilism.

One

"extraordinary
might

indifference to the
man version

Heidegger

wrote

cially,

say that American

with
pp.

husband

Bloom's

of

Harry

well

"for the

is "no

"high,"

"high"

the

turns

choices

is

of

comic

for

and

in its Ger

whereas

take on the agonized

heroes

German

in its blandness

dignity

example,

of

high

Nietzsche

Shakespeare did. And Bloom himself

once

Othello. (See Shakespeare's Politics, by Allan

Jaffa, Basic Books, 1964, Chapter 3. See espe
on

53ff.) Desdemona

even

the

human choice,

philosophical

tragedies.

wrote

of

relativism

genuine significance of

extraordinarily

Bloom,

in the light

thought and philosophical

fundamental human

tragedy. But none

or

at the

cannot

imagine that

betray

her

students

for

woman would

world."

One

whole

can

only

surmise

how

deal"

the play. One guesses only that for them it is a

big
black comedy about crazy people. The greatness of Othello is
inextricably
bound up with the fact
once so powerfully expounded
by Bloom himself
whom sex

read

that the covenantal act of choice

nantal act of choice of the

of partners

Children

of

Israel

in

by

marriage reproduces the cove

the

God

of

Israel. Bloom

wants

Humanizing Certitudes
to

his

turn

doubts."

students

But it

Doubts

and

Impoverishing

from their

"impoverishing

115

certitudes"

to

"humanizing

to me that his own argument requires rather that "impov

seems

certitudes"
certitudes."

be

erishing
necessary

condition of

tragedy in Othello

the

the minds of

Othello

in

"Humanizing

and

After all, it

by "enriching

replaced

Desdemona

as to

that there

be

no

doubt

was a

whatever

the absolute significance of

in

fidelity

doubt,"

less than any other kind, would dissolve

the tragedy into a tale of silly mistakes. It seems to me that Nietzsche's and
Heidegger's theoretical teaching is far more profoundly subversive of the
marriage.

universe of

draw

Shakespearean tragedy, than

been

Bloom's

so much of

the

recommended

less

more or

by

and

must

Strauss),

we must ask

which

the same Bloom

who

be
young
benefit from it, if her cheap generic drugstore relativism had
the high and tragic nihilism
of
the parent of all relativism
about

agonize

we

over

chastity,

whether a

want

really

whether

woman would

her to look into the

to have sex

know from the literature (to borrow

the outcome,

in

at

least

first,

the girl agonizes

whether

And

Woody Allen,

"bromide"

Heidegger? Do

and

nothingness

Bloom

attention.

the sitcoms of

apt to

replaced

Nietzsche

no

or

abyss

of

her boyfriend? As

with

familiar

Leo

of

phrase

nine times out of ten, will be the same,

just hops into bed. Thus Aristotle, in the

Nicomachean Ethics
Nor does

goodness or

badness

to

with regard

such

things [viz.

committing adultery with the right woman, at the right time,

but simply to do any of them is to go wrong (i I07ai5ff. ).

Aristotle directs the

already formed

by

education should

argument of

basic

form the basis

his Ethics only to those

He does not

education.

moral

of moral choice

basis

that moral education should form the

seems to

of

on

passions such as

theft, murder] depend

spite, shamelessness, envy, and actions such as adultery,

and

in the

right

upon

way,

whose characters are

suppose

that

liberal

the contrary, he supposes

liberal

education.

Bloom, it

me, has got it exactly backwards.

A moving passage in The Closing of the American Mind, and the one that to
me conveys Bloom's critique of relativism most effectively, is the following:

My

grandparents were

ignorant

people

jobs. But their home

only

lowly

only

what was

ritual,

specifically
in the Bible's

imaginative

grandparents

counterparts

found

reasons

our

standards,
rich

and

because

my
all

grandfather

the things

held

in it,

not
spiritually
found their origins in the Bible's commandments,

and their explanation

their

by

was

stories and

in the deeds

for the

of

the commentaries on

the myriad of

existence of

their

family

them,

and

exemplary heroes.
and the fulfillment

had

My
of

they interpreted their special sufferings with

respect to a great and ennobling past. Their simple faith and practices linked them to
great scholars and thinkers who dealt with the same material, not from outside or
their

duties in

from

an alien perspective,

providing

serious writings, and

guidance.

There

but

believing

as

was real respect

they did, while simply going deeper and

for real learning, because it had a felt

Interpretation

116

1 do

high

inviting

experience

lives. This is

their

connection with

and

what a

low into

community

a single

body

and a

history

a common

mean,

belief (p. 60).

of

not remember a more eloquent evocation of the

idea

tra

of authoritative

how it dignifies human life. Of course, Bloom is referring to

the Jewish tradition
the most conservative of all traditions, beginning as it

dition,

and of

beginning."

does "in the

found

grandparents

am

Synagogue in 1790,
hailed Washington

the

on

as

as

occasion

of political and religious

sity

and even

people

beginning, America

always seen
as

Washington's

who

by

into the Promised Land

who

have

not

to Newport.
the

Lord,

of this new

he

Zion
Rev

at the time of the

become

He

as

victims of a univer

this nation as also a chosen nation. From the

Israel,

the new

visit

had been led

freedom. For American Jews

for those today

have

education

of

Joshua

another

himself had led the American

olution

the American political

within

by Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln.

did Moses Seixas, sexton of Newport's Touro

was represented

they felt,

that

sure

like my

that Bloom's grandparents

am confident

home for that tradition

for them

tradition that

as

light to lighten

all

the nations,

concerning the principles of political and religious liberty, has been a theme of
public discourse. And for the very reason that America could become a Zion to
all the

nations, it

could

become

Zion to the Jews themselves. George Wash

ington's letter to the Touro Synagogue

Jews had been

2,000 years that

sented

the first time in human

and

fellow

tive

because it

and as

history

that

citizens of a non-Jewish polity.

Father

came

his

of

from the

Country,

ton's greeting to the Jews

legal equality, but

as

one man

just

me

order of

in

into

as

who,

Declaration

human participants,

Independence. In Lincoln's

both Old

more

nation.

and

than

repre

as equal

recognition was authorita

President
in

It

and

Head

moral authority.

under

of

State,

Washing

only a technical
the One God, in the
not

that Lincoln's greatest speeches are characterized

New Testaments

by

the

of the moral and providential

no

second

absolute perfection an authoritative tradition

the Bible

any

the source of all the nation's blessings.

of

first time in

possessing

peculiarly American synthesis

the Bible, and of the no less moral and

combination

the

here,

add

And that

recognized them as

equal

the

Jews had been recognized,

surpassed all others

moral and providentia] order which was

Let

represented

recognized as citizens of

less

providential order of

inaugural

address we see

encompassing the teachings of

and the

teachings of the Revolu

tion. I am confident that Bloom's grandparents understood

ble

but

acid solvent of all

right of

this, in their hum

does
Bloom
look
Why
only abroad, to that
German
traditions,
nihilism, for that which is already his by

profound

then

way.

inheritance?

Here is the denouement

of

Bloom's genuinely

poetic

and

nostalgic

tribute to his grandparents.

I do

not

believe that my generation, my cousins who have been educated in the

all of whom are M.D.s or Ph.D.s, have
any comparable learning.

American way,

Humanizing Certitudes
When they talk

heaven

about

earth, the

have

when people

myths to

live by. 1

1 17

between

relations

mean rather

to the truth, that it provides the

things. Without the

real nature of

part of our natural

men and women,

that

life based

for deeper

material

great revelations,

epics,

the

upon

in

research

Book is
to

and access

and philosophies as

vision, there is nothing to see out there, and eventually little left

inside. The Bible is

similar

Doubts

human condition, I hear nothing but cliches, superfici

satire. 1 am not saying
anything so trite as that life is fuller

alities, the material of

the

and

Impoverishing

children, the

parents and

closer

and

the only

not

gravity, read

with

furnish

to

means

the gravity

of

but

mind,

without a

believer, it

the potential

book

of

will remain un

furnished (p. 6o).

Bloom

says that

to that

of

have

cousins

"comparable"

is any

no

learning

attempt

no

learning"

"comparable

to the Torah and the Talmud? Bloom

to understand his grandparents as

he tacitly

and

selves,

his

generation

their grandparents. But why does Bloom assume without argument

that there
makes

his

life,

their way of

rejects

he

as

them

understood

they

even

in it

recognizes

something rich and wonderful that is lacking in his own.

Bloom's evocation of his grandparents is touching, but it is barren. He
denies that he is saying "anything so trite as that life is fuller when people have
What then is he saying? That "a life based on the Book is
myths to live
by."

things?"

closer

But

to the truth

what

is the

[and]

source or ground of

Bible's proximity to the tmth?

knowledge that
to Leo

According

ture"

is

discovery

of

philosophy,

asserting that the world is created

to the real nature of

access

provides

is

and

Bloom to judge the

enables

Strauss,

the

to the Old Testament.

alien

God"

within

of this

is

assimilation

"Without the
"

in

Bible itself

out there

own

our

judgment

Declaration

"revelations."

many

And

Bible is

of the

of

Independence.

from the

are now

We

But books

vision, if

are

artifacts.

without

there is nothing to see

these

to

lower

need them says

vision."

content of our

"

now explicit

such

and

natural

the high in the light of the low.

"revelations"

"philosophies."

"epics"

with

of

Bloom writes,

great

The descent

rabbinic
of nature

the framework of Creation. The perfect expression

of course

Bloom's easy going judgment of the tmth of the Bible is however

viewpoint of the

By

the Torah denies that there is a

by God,

self-subsisting reality independent of the will of God. Of course,

Judaism, like medieval Christianity, assimilated the idea of "the laws
and of nature's

"na

concept of

If, however,

artifacts

being

only

one of

"books,"

case

along

Bloom, "as
artifacts

part of our

determine the

is nothing to see, then

would then be an illusion,

there

vision"

visual

reality is in tmth

although not an optical

there is

such

thing

an artifact.

illusion (since there is

as

sense perception, and of

must

be independent

interpretations

they

speak.

of

"Natural

of

natural

knowledge. And the

books. Books then

reality, but

To say that

not themselves

without

no optical reality)!

vision, then there must

be

Conversely, if

natural

objects of

existence and perception of

would

be

accounts of

these

reality,

or

the ground of the reality of which

books there is nothing to see, is

nihilism.

Yet

Interpretation

118

Bloom's nihilism,

by

his

in these words, is.

manifest

both "natural

reference to

Although the title

of

and

his book from

throughout

contradiction runs

have

as we

"the

contradicted

seen,

things."

vision"

This

real nature of

beginning

to

end.

Mind,"

the book speaks of an "American

there is in

truth little or nothing American about the mind or minds that are characterized,
than Bloom's reports about his students. Bloom writes

other

the great expatriates:

different sense)

what

risian-Bohemians

breathe

Adams. He

reminds

Pa

one of the avant-garde

and

of

and (in a some

Hemingway. He

can

only in the presence of the symbols (and ruins) of Europe's

past. American democracy, as Americans themselves have under

freely

aristocratic
stood

Henry
Henry

the 1920s that included Joyce

of

in the tradition

James, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound,

it, is

Bloom
Names

book to him.

a closed
writes

drop

often

upon

his

about

French
like

pages

and

summer

German philosophy and literature.

flies. There are the great modem

Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Heidegger. There are the

literary types, Ibsen, Joyce, Dostoyevsky, Proust, Kafka, Celine, Mo
liere, Flaubert, Schiller, and of course Goethe. There is not a single reference

thinkers
more

to

Cooper

Dreiser

or

Hawthorne

or

Sinclair Lewis

Emerson

or

Whitman

or

Edith Wharton

or

or

or Howells. Nor any to

Willa Cather. Thoreau is men
"

(p.
tioned, but only because he represented a "side of Rousseau's thought
171). Above all, there is nothing about Melville or Mark Twain! In "Tom
Sawyer: Hero of Middle
(Interpretation, Spring 1972, reprinted in
America,"

The Conditions of Freedom, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975) I

attempted to capture the art by which Mark Twain had transformed Plutarchian

into Machiavellian (and Lockean) heroism, how in Tom Sawyer

refounded, how

regime
which

Tom is

we witness

a new prince

the coming into

[and where] the

boy

being

is father

of a
of

we

the

see

"new order,

of

the man, and the

young."

Tom may be a rogue, but he is a charming one.

Bloom's Tom Sawyer is Celine's Robinson, the hero of Journey to the End of

old are ruled

the

by

the

Night, described

as an

"utterly

selfish

liar,

cheat, and murderer for

pay"

(p.

239)-

Bloom

complains

loud

and

long

that

Americans do

that form and represent national character, as do

Italians

or

the English. There

is because the
political

men,

genius of

institutions,

Jefferson

and

It

was not

Lincoln

the

some

America

and

its

Lincoln

the story of America

is

itself,

and

writers

is

have

national
or

above all to

have been its

story

of

the separation

the

of

books

Germans

complaint.

of

political

books, is

secular redemption of mankind.

the colonies

from the

motherland

|said

his way to Washington in February of 1861] but that sentiment in the

Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this
on

or

But that

be found in its

greatest

Washington. The American book

as the

mere matter of

justification for this

as a civilization

greatest

not

Frenchmen

Humanizing Certitudes
but, I hope,

country,

and

have

that all should

Lincoln's metaphor,
with

Address the

death

the

has

of

the great pack on

messianic

on

America's

Pilgrim's
In the

original sin.

Progress,

Gettysburg

epic

poetry

of a people

and poetic

a coincidence

tragedy

in itself

no

than in the movement

philosophy
kingship
from the Revolution to the Civil War?
and

the Civil War that supplied the themes of

of

Huckleberry

works.

freedom, in

Finn

confronts convention with

uniquely American poetic transforma

Rousseau. It is one that, I believe, equals, if it does not

with

tion of the teachings of

which gave

the nation. What national poetry

rebirth of

of

literary

nature, and slavery

surpass

Christian, in

representing

life story

actual

it is the themes

greatest

that

shoulders of all men

theme would be consummated in the transformation of

thought and of events

course

of

that of Lincoln? When did

in the

was

be lifted from the

that

was

his back

less improbable than that

Of

future time. It

all

119

chance.1

an equal

battlefield into the

the

ever surpassed

ever so coincide

of

for

weight would

course,

Doubts

Impoverishing

to the world,

in due time the

that

promise

and

anything that European literature of the last 200 years can show. The
like the weight that Lincoln wished to see lifted from the

great white whale,

shoulders of men,
of

evil,

within the

Dick too is

Odyssey

a
as

says nothing.

is

also a

framework

"people's

confrontation of the problem

Biblical allegory ("Call me Ishmael").

in the tradition of the Iliad and

of

book"

as much

modem

any
There is

American

distinctively

book

irony

be. Of

could

either of

too in the Foreword

by

Moby
of

the

them, however, Bloom

Saul Bellow,

who seems

only to have this in common with Bloom: that "European observers sometimes
classify me as a hybrid curiosity, neither fully American nor satisfactorily

European,
I had

stuffed with references to the philosophers, the

consumed

higgledy-piggledy

(pp. 14,

historians,

and poets

15).

Bloom

writes:

Reading

decline of Greece was purely political, that

importance for understanding it. Old
little
history
had traditional roots, but philosophy and science took over as rulers in
Thucydides

what we call

regimes

shows us

that the

is

intellectual

modernity, and purely theoretical

cannot
and

imagine

Marx (p.

Leaving
history,

aside

What

history

have decisive

without a

the begged question of what

of

imagine

was acted out

modern politics

discussion

Locke, Rousseau,

beforehand in the

1.

problems

political effects.

discussion

of

One

Locke, Rousseau

197).

can one

"a discussion

modern political

of

in

and

the American and

writings of

(p.

of

Locke

and

is

meant

by "purely
history"

"modem

political

Marx"? Elsewhere Bloom

political"

that is only

asserts

that

French Revolutions had been thought

Rousseau,

the

scenarists

for the drama

162).

Lincoln, Address in Independence Hall, Feb. 22,

1861.

Collected Works, IV,

p. 240.

out

of

Interpretation

120
He

adds that

Hobbes had "led the

and. as

that he regards Locke as essentially Hobbes

ism,

atheism, and

with a

clear

leaf covering the hedon

former, but no less

fig

that is so prominent in the

materialism

in the latter. We

essential although concealed

he proceeds, it becomes

will return

to this point presently.

"scenarios"

But think
Locke

of

and

French Revolutions

the American and

it,

Rousseau! The

farmers

embattled

world"

the

the great

and

lowed

protagonists

Samuel Adams,

who

in the

world

shot

historical

heard

round

that

events

Benjamin Franklin,

Patrick Henry,

by

written

"fired the

fol

John Adams,

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, are mere actors,

following a script. Do we not have here an historical determinism equal to
Hegel's?

history"

Only

the

"cunning

modem philosophers.

Leaving
can

But this is the

the cunning of the

purest nonsense.
comment

the American Founding. The

and

by

replaced

the French Revolution to others, I

Revolution

them those

is

of

just mentioned, were, if

not

"a

graver

of

bench than

the Ameri

on

only

statesmen

the era, among

ever

frowned in

Greece"

or

Rome, certainly

the equal of any

if

possessed a core of conviction which

them as

stand

they

they did. Bloom

to

we are

about

write

m.i.106).

And they

to make any attempt to under

formed the basis

themselves

understood

purports

(Coriolanus,

"the American

of

everything
But he is

mind."

perfectly oblivious of the presence of this expression in one of the most fa

mous documents of American history. In a letter to
Henry Lee, May 8, 1825,
Thomas Jefferson explained the sources, the purpose, and the manner of the
writing of what Lincoln would
Calvin Coolidge (observing in
"the

most

But

important

civil

to our

with respect

those rights, there

was

an appeal
was

the object

subjects.
of

so plain and

but to
firm

as

of principle nor yet copied

to be
tone

an expression of
and spirit called

nizing

sentiments of the

essays or

Sidney,
We

of

deemed

mankind

by

the

day,

proper

resort

for

contravening
All American whigs
to arms

our

for redress,

justification. This

out new principles, or

the common sense of the subject;

to command their assent

from any
American

event)

government

the water.

Independence. Not to find

before

neither

aiming
it

particular and previous writing,

mind, and to

give

at

in

originality
intended

was

to that expression the proper

All its authority rests then on the harmo

expressed in conversations, in letters, printed

occasion.

whether

of public

right, as

Aristotle, Cicero. Locke.

etc.

lay

the greatest emphasis upon Jefferson's

emphasis upon

opinion"

on this side of the water.

phy"

at the

2.

British

When forced therefore to

in the elementary books

must ourselves

the "one

the

for

the acts of the

the world was

place

and
called

world."

one opinion on this side of

the Declaration

of

new arguments

terms

rights and

to the tribunal

humanity,"

1926 the sesquicentennial of the

document in the

but

thought alike on these

that "immortal emblem of

call

time

of

Basic Writings

of

the Revolution and the

Thomas Jefferson,

edited

There really was a "public philoso

Founding. The party conflict of the

by Philip

S. Foner, Halcyon House,

p.

802.

Humanizing

Certitudes
in

1 790s exceeded

Doubts

Impoverishing

and

121

anything that has come after

Jefferson, in his inaugural

intensity

say "We

could

have

by

called

different

brethren

names

Republicans."

Federalists, we are all

letter to Lee, of the "harmonizing

We

are all

the

transcending

consensus

the

normal

To

speak as

differences

of opinion

right"

Of "the elementary books of public

ancient, two are modern. I think it safe to

mentioned

assume that

same principle.

Jefferson did, in

day,"

the

sentiments of

in 1801,

address

the

of

that of the

even

decade before the Civil War. Yet

among

is to
a

imply

free

by Jefferson,

people.

two

are

according to Jefferson's

understanding of the American mind, that mind found harmonizing sentiments

among the books of public right no less than among the conversations, letters,

Certainly

and printed essays.

Americans then

that would suggest that

"harmonizing"

Locke's Second Treatise in its

sense, in

Hooker for authority for his doctrine, and through Hooker

Christian scholasticism, and through it to Aristotle.
Bloom

not

by

scenarios

instructions"

most

for

was not provided

He

read

required

labor (p.

world

162).

Accord

political

and
reading
Locke. But how does

upon which

God

beginning

is

not

care

for

the necessary

himself."

brotherly

(p.

neither

presupposition of

to us that the

love

or

163).

looks

after

The

faith, hope,

him

nor

by

with

Aris

Bloom's Locke.

critical problem

and

was

Man

break

complete

[meaning

spirits,

terrible bereavement for

philosophy, as represented

purged of ghosts or

reveals

Locke's teaching

that "there was no Garden of Eden

was

the

has been

any belief in God

of

What is

is scarcity

charity, but

self-interested rational

165).

"Americans"

says

Bloom,

Lockeans: recognizing that

Eden),

(p.

of

discovery"

as well as with classical

immortality] it

are

at

[therefore]

Cicero, is

Once the
or

just

and

him. Nature's indifference to justice is

must

Biblical religion,
totle and

important

Bloom,

according to

punishes

back to

reaches

Locke?

read

"Perhaps the

man.

like Bloom

history

constitutional

based,

quotes

only believes that the English and American Revolutions were

Locke
he says that "the new English and American regimes

founded themselves according to his [Locke's]

ing to Bloom one can save oneself all the trouble
Bloom

John

read

Locke

which

is necessary (no

work

and will produce well-being;

following

their

longing for

natural

a nonexistent

inclinations moderately,

because they possess the virtue of moderation but because their passions are
balanced and they recognize the reasonableness of that; respecting the rights of
From the point of view of God or heroes,
others so that theirs will be respected
not

the
all this is not very inspiring. But for the poor, the weak, the oppressed
the promise of salvation. As Leo Strauss
it
is
of mankind
overwhelming majority
ground"

put

We
can

it,

the

moderns

need not
mind

has

"built

on

low but

dispute Bloom's interpretation

ever

been the

mind

(p.

solid

of

represented

167).

Locke to

by

that

deny

that the

Ameri

interpretation. Let

us

Interpretation

122

however turn here to Bloom's

dicta

obiter

at

the end of the

foregoing

passage.

This is his only mention (or quotation) of Leo Strauss, although Strauss's
words and Strauss's thoughts echo and re-echo (without attribution) throughout
his book. However,

Strauss

uted to

frequently

as

are not

But

quoted.

unstinting devotion

few;

be

thousand years

is

view of

How

can

regime

in

to

whose

Churchill

which

finest hour

I have

person

adverse or

a regime which

despised

could

so

many
not be of

ever

known to

day, but

such

to

of a

that "the point of

suggest

oppressed."

indifferent to "the poor, the weak, the

Bloom himself

give

would come

glory would
by God and heroes?

a regime whose

a regime

Bloom is the first

God"

can

a regime

to so

owe so much

Kirk Emmert recently reminded me, the words attrib

albeit words Strauss himself
Strauss's but Churchill's

salvat

calls the

"promise

for

of

mankind"

be anything but a theme for the

armies march to battle singing, "As He

"the overwhelming majority of

greatest heroism? Why did the Union
died to

make men

holy, let

us

die to

make men

"

free

did Churchill

Why

for the singing of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, in

Westminster Abbey, at his funeral? Abraham Lincoln is reported as saying that
he made so many of them. But
God must have loved the common people
himself leave

that

who

has

ever read either

Mount in the

on the

labor"

"rational

not

orders

Bloom's

New,
be in

grandparents

the Prophets of the Old

could

have

service of

thought

so.

faith, hope,

Bloom's

Testament,

Bloom

said what

and charity?

own

account

or the

Sermon

here? And may

says

am sure

of the

that

success

of

American Lockeanism is testimony to the proposition that this is precisely the

kind of regime that the God of the Bible, who cares for the poor, the weak, and
the oppressed would

kind

of

lieve

when

most

favor. Bloom to the contrary notwithstanding this is the

always believed in. This is what they be

Americans have

America."

Let
mind

God

they sing "God bless

again consult Jefferson,

us

that it

is

enlightened

his inaugural,

declaring

of the

American

by

benign

religion, professed,

indeed,

and practiced

in

various

forms

inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of

acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispen

yet all of

man;

at

one

them

sations proves that

hereafter

(p.

it delights in the happiness

of man

here

and

his

greater

happiness

333).

As far

as I can see, everything Bloom says on subject of the American Found

is derived from his readings of Hobbes, Locke, or Tocqueville. I have
found not a word of serious interpretation
apart from his birdseed scatter

ing

ings

coming from an American source: not Jefferson, Washington, Madison,

or Lincoln. No one has maintained more
persistently than I have,

Hamilton,

during

the past thirty-five years, the

Locke's teachings
work

by

the

as

Founding

they

importance in the American

were understood and

Fathers. But to say that

Founding

of

incorporated into their handi

a radical atheism

discovered in

Humanizing Certitudes
Locke's

esoteric

teaching

incorporated into their

just

was

It

is

and there

they

should

be

is

noted that sex

more powerful

Surely

love,

than

by

wonder what

only
Father

the

his

of

theme

of

the

all

been

ever

In
1

hardly

it

is

Something

pleasures

(p.

187).

purporting to be

a work

mind: a

serious.

treatise on the

joy

to vindicate the symbolism

fact, Benjamin Franklin

point of

8th

in

have in

could

procreation,

lives to their

their

made

not

penned

of

the

of

some of

And Jefferson's "Dialogue Between the

century.

Heart,"

Head

in

no

way

charged with the passions that are

its

subject.

and

the

although

Paris,

and

would

have approved, if only he had known

Jefferson's

during

But Bloom

bachelor for

only to the thought

whom

divorced

What is tme

romance

directed to the
cat that

is

not even

humans,

the

the political

behavior

be the

to

as

by

declares

political

by

not

civil

old
and

society.

however true

as

the object of

of

self-

cock robin will attack a

the hen is brooding.

In the

case

of

may be transferred from the family to

But whatever the

the instinct of self-preservation is almost

nature

from the

recurring to the

Library Edition,

family,

individual. A

where

Articles,

individual

to the preservation of the

43rd

Federalist

with respect
rather

absolute

which

happens to

to the question of the right

than revise them, that

necessity

of

it is to be

the case; to the great

to the transcendent law of nature and of nature's

and

safety
institutions aim, and to

Modern

to the

well

Madison writes,

that the

individual self-preservation,
and

he

what

only that

the guarantor of the family.

the Convention to scrap the

answered at once

was

generally
notwithstanding Bloom's
love. In nature generally self-preservation is

nest

following

principle of self-preservation;

in

Bloom

nature

and

be directed

Consider the

central number.

which

as

individuals,

of particular

sure

it.

Thomas Hobbes is

of self-preservation

community,

never understood

as such.

fear

too near the

instinct

about

highly

true of Locke. The centrality of property

species rather than to the

comes

Maria Conway. I'm

with

meant

of the political thought of

remarks about

nonetheless

moreover was written

from procreation, the family,

in Locke's teaching gives place

preservation. Nor is it tme of
Hobbesian

That

Thomas Hobbes. For it

of

self-preservation

preservation

the American Founding. It

indecorous, is

the thought underlying the Founding. And

writes about

says can refer

3.

bearing

and

on the

in the thought underlying the

because fear is

mentioned

preservation,

Bloom

country?

monument?

lines

the raciest

of

document

not a shred of evidence to support

and men prefer

has

no sillier remark

can

Washington

who

believed,

understood,

single

every

123

writes:

American Founding. There it is

sex

of what

when

Doubts

plain crazy.

Bloom

One

part

regime

it,

question contradicts

Impoverishing

and

p. 287.

happiness

of

which all such

are

society
institutions

God,

the objects at which all

must

be

sacrificed.3

Interpretation

1 24
There is

safety
very

no question

and

that "the great principle of

and not to

of

the Declaration of

words of

subject.

that document as well, and on "the common

then no contradiction

life,

to

Signers,

pledge of the
honor."

which

It

they had been

cal

life. This is in

the

cost.

Founding,

ends of

by

their

Creator,

happiness,

and

entire agreement with

in

life

political

the

only the American

Founding, but

to act

Founders

to

the alpha and omega of politi

and the

teleological

Federalist,

in

not

sense,

of

takes nature as

the

non-

Bloom has completely misread not

life, since he does not read politi

all political

to discover the form of the consciousness of political men. He

speeches

or

with

basely,

by Madison,

as stated

assumes that political men are mere epigones of philosophers

know it

life,

to

right

was a right

Aristotle's Politics. The teaching

in the Declaration

moral purposeless sense of modern science.

cal

the

the law of nature,

Moreover,

safety

unalienable right

Declaration, and the mutual

"our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred

second paragraph of

endowed

expressed

of

There is

of the

between the

supposed

to each other, of

any

is dedicated to the

ground

have

sense

have been inconceivable to them that the

would

save their skins at

the

as some

in the

proclaimed

to "the

refers

individuals. Moreover, in using the

Independence, Madison gives us a gloss on

society,"

happiness

not.

if

The

political

they

one reads what

Kant say
in the light of the
light of the inequality of man

is however

of man

nature

and not

say,

inequality

only

of man

what

and

Hobbes

beast,

as

they

whether

by

understood
or

well

the

Locke
as

or

in the

God. This understanding corresponds very

the Politics, and as it does with the first chapter of

closely with the first book of

Genesis. But such inequalities
cal

right

are

in

grounded

and

imply

that morality and the principles of

politi

reality accessible to reason, one that

biblical faith. When Madison speaks of

purposeful

corresponds as well to the teachings of

institutions to the safety and happiness of society, he implies

the safety and happiness of individuals may or must be sacrificed

the sacrifice of all

a

fortiori that

too. For the

Founders,

society
in the Declaration

interests
while

the safety

of

or subjective

Independence
judgments

conceding that the

right of revolution as

exercise

or

happiness

of

according to the principles of

constructed

legitimacy

is to

say, of a

and right set

always takes precedence over the mere

individuals. That is why Lincoln in 1861,

of the seceding States possessed the same
denied that they ought to
inconsistent with the purposes for which

Revolutionary

that right for any purpose

ancestors,

their ancestors had exercised that right. To extend slavery was inconsistent
the purposes of the
could conceive of a

Revolution. The
life

worth

forth

of

citizens

their

that

society

Founding Fathers,
living without friendship.

no more

than

with

Aristotle,

The baseness

of

self-

the principle of Hobbesianism

as a moral princi
any cost
beyond their imagination. Hence for them there could be no interest in

preservation at

ple,

was

self-preservation separate

from

or

independent

of the survival and

well-being

everything they loved. In truth, fear is not more powerful than love.
The Founding Fathers, as one of the most exceptional generations

of

of

politi-

Humanizing
cal

men

or

be

are not to

They

were rather

from

of characters

were,

from

not

speculative

his ability to

Doubts

phronimoi, morally and politi

understood what these

thought as such, but from contemplating

these virtues, was

the ground

Aristotle himself drew his

whom

And Aristotle

the virtues as came under

recognize

125

primarily Hobbesians,

understood as

the moral and political virtues.

such actual examples of

of

Impoverishing

and

Aristotelians.

men, the kind

wise

portraits of
virtues

lived,

who ever

Lockeans,
cally

Certitudes

not

his

observation.

The

source

philosophy, but nature, the

Bloom looks to philosophy only as

For him, political philosophy is nothing
more nor less than the cleverly disguised question, What have you done for me
lately? But men who lead revolutions, who found and preserve states, cannot
which was

reality

the source of

be

guided

upon

by

only

of philosophy.

doubts"

"humanizing

doubts.

their

They

convictions.

Looking

no one can comment

the philosophic

The vitality

life

Lincoln

who

does

not

know

what political

life is.

why it is so close to the spirit

is that it is grounded in the

of classical political

said

forgot,

that the rights Americans valued so

they had been

did

others

consent

endowed

not ensue

as

that advantage. Their

to God

on

And

by

their

one

highly
duty

Bloom, following Hobbes,

not speak of

do wrong

the governed could

of

forget,

were

Creator. Their

does

as a right to

as

Lincoln

the rights

never

with which

to respect the rights of

thinks

solely because it

their advantage, however enlightened the self-interest which dictated

was to

Notes

he denied that the

when

the extension of slavery. And we must never

justify

look

only
only to books, politics for Bloom is a closed book. And
instructively on the relationship between political life and

the

as

not

to those who raise doubts about those

philosophy
statesmanship of the American Founding
reality of political life itself. In the light of that reality
rights divorced from right. There can be no such thing
of

And they do

require convictions.

themselves as responsible

duty

duty

which

to respect the rights of others was part of their

was

entirely

unconditional.

duty

Hence Jefferson, in the

Virginia,

can the

liberties

of a people

be thought secure,

when we

have

removed

only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties
gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?

Concerning

the

central

event

in American

in

history

which

their

are of the

Abraham

Lincoln found entirely plausible Jefferson's prophetic judgment concerning the

wrath of God for the sin of slavery
Bloom has this to say:
The only quarrel in our history that really involved fundamental differences was over
slavery. But even the proponents of slavery hardly dared assert that some human

beings

deny
with

by nature to serve other human beings,

humanity of the blacks. Besides, that question

are made

the

the Declaration

of

as

did Aristotle; they had

was

really already

to

settled

Independence. Black slavery was an aberration that had to be

feature of our national life. Not only slavery, but

extinguished, not a permanent

Interpretation

126

aristocracy, monarchy and

Constitution (p.

were

laid to

by

rest

the Declaration and the

248).

excommunicating the Declaration of

not even characteristi
not conspicuously American
not a work of political philosophy or an instrument of

Except for Russell

Independence

theocracy

Kirk's

("

cally Jeffersonian
government") I cannot

allocution

such great

We

in

recall another place

which so

few

words encompassed

errors.4

first

note

Bloom's thesis: that

of all

our

"differences

of principles

fight"

small

very

opinion was certified

who

those

compared to

over

which

men

Tocqueville (who

by

visited

died before the Civil War). It is therefore

theless mistaken. I remember in 1940

used

trying

to

(p.

here in the early

canonical or

are

This

248).

1830s and

Bloom. It is

none

to tutor in English a refugee Polish

university professor. I finally abandoned the effort. My pupil had a German

English textbook that he had brought with him from Europe, and he simply
anything I told him
his German authority!

would not accept

agree with

Bloom

but,

cannot

Aristotle

as

form

him from

to

come

about the

English language that did

not

the United States that has

not

or accept an opinion about

European

says of the

source.

discourses

Tocqueville
of

was a great and wise writer

Socrates, however brilliant,

searching they may have been, "it is difficult to be right about

(Politics, 1265314). It hardly seems to detract from Tocqueville's

original,

every

and

to

greatness

say that he is not the greatest interpreter of a war he did not live to see. Bloom
differences"

writes

about the

to characterize those differences.

attempt

Lincoln,

belong

in the Civil War,

"fundamental

which represent

in the company

the peak of
of

believed the

Gettysburg

Pericles, just

as

University

Chicago Press

I had first

of

Lincoln

what

is American,

Demosthenes. Cicero,

Address to be
was

He ignores the

clearly

a greater

a greater war

and

funeral

yet

there is no

pronouncements

pronouncements

of

that

Burke.

Leo Strauss

oration

than that of

leader. In the Preface to the

Crisis of the House Divided I noted that

the Lincoln- Douglas debates in 1946 when I was

encountered

reprint of

reading Plato's Republic with Leo Strauss. I was astonished to discover that the
issue between Lincoln and Douglas was identical in principle with that between

Socrates

and

Thrasymachus. For Douglas's doctrine

simply the democratic form

of the proposition

of popular

sovereignty was
that justice was the interest of

the stronger.

We in Illinois

finding

that it

tried

was not

slavery [said Douglas], kept it up for twelve years, and

it for that reason
(Joint Debate,

profitable, we abolished

Alton, Illinois, October 15,

p.

297.)

4.

On Kirk's atrocities,

tution of the
380-83.

United

see

States?"

1858.

"What

Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. Ill,

Intentions'

were the

'Original

of

the Framers of the Consti

in The University of Puget Sound Law Review,

Spring

1987. esp. at

Humanizing Certitudes
Whatever the
and

does

course, that when the tyrant

more

less just than the

nor

democratic justice.

Southern

human
Bloom

when

compromise with

"

version

demand that the

of

This is

no

being

of

neither

less justice than

popular

Like Socrates (and Plato

of natural

There is

distant

justice limited

as

and

they

Crisis of the House

echo of

there could be no

(p. 29) that "for Lincoln

but is the
sees

people

condition of their

Lincoln's

having

argument as a

defer to the logic

inquire into the

not

principles

choice.

writes

But Bloom

place

in,

vote

the principle of equality, that it did not depend on the peo

ple's choice or election

he does

is in his interest, he is

Tyrannical justice is

But Lincoln thought differently.

to guide

Divided

out.

vote

as in the
sovereignty
the distinction between tyrannical and democratic justice

Aristotle) he thought that the

ought

Douglas, they may

said

interest, they may

what

people.

In Douglas's

version

disappears.

127

Thrasymachus thought democratic justice to be. This implies,

what

exactly

think is not in their

they

Doubts

Impoverishing

is in their interest,

people think

whatever

and

elections

in the first

demand for consistency,

status of that principle or of the regime

it: is it theirs because it is right,

is it merely

or

embodying
for them because it is

right

theirs? Bloom never asks. He never entertains the possibility that the
"low"

tion of this allegedly

the principle of their regime. But

of

is,

regime

Lincoln believed it to be, "an

as

times"

tmth applicable to all men and all

(Ibid., Ill,

p.

founda
abstract

376).

my knowledge, the election of 1800 in the United States was

the first time in human history that a national government was replaced by its

To the best

bitter

of

enemies on

political

the basis of a free election. Those who lost their

gave them up without any physical struggle. Those who gained the
to execute, imprison, expropriate, or exile
did nothing to proscribe
those who lost. And those who lost looked forward confidently to a future in

offices

offices

or others

they

which

accustomed to such
we

fail to

like themselves

blessings in
the

appreciate

hold those

might again

what we are pleased

uniqueness

of

the

well

King

to bear in

was

changing the

mind

driven into

(or

to call the free world, that

King

Queen)

the Reform Act of 1832. The

the unelected
could

not,

but these

of

and not

course,

govern

by buying

electorate.

"rotten"

the

ministers of

the

effectively

electors

head

of

boroughs

way

of

to Parliament. Al

Parliamentary

supremacy,

the government until after

the crown

remained responsible

without majorities

to

by

in the Commons)

needed

of

the

in the Parliament,

manipulation of

unreformed

as

equally

rural seats

the patronage

by

Parliament

"rotten"

as well as

principles of

to the elected House of Commons. The Crown

the votes it

And the

elections

the principle of

executive

majorities were assembled as much

(that is to say,
to the

Crown,

of

was no constitutional

the basis of the

established

remained

are so

in the Glorious Revolution in England in 1689

just because there

chief executive on

though that Revolution

the

that

exile

We

this event, and to realize how much

everything we hold dear depended upon the successful test

the Declaration of Independence in the election of 1800.
It is

offices.

were

deference
with

its

very far from

Interpretation

128

the American

believe,

King

purged of corruption,

Queen
that

cabinet

who

the people

of

the

But the trail blazed in

national

registered

its

1800.

he

said

in the House

All this is, I

The idea

of a

Prime Minister

and

legislature, had

elected

of

British

that the

unworkable.

and of a

not rule,

the

whenever

Commons,

not
vote

was yet un

resting upon the continuing and changing

in free elections, was a discovery of the
to the

precious gift

1800 proved to

election

become

in

changing the executive

majorities

and was

mind when

democratically

of

of a government

American Founding,

"seceded"

idea

so the

changed

known. The idea

to

was responsible

consent of the governed,

party in

representation

would

but did

reigned

been born. And

yet

democratic

Alexander Hamilton had in

what

Constitution,
or

of

standard

refused

world.

be inconclusive. In i860,

losing

the

to accept the results of the voting,

to form another government.

Here indeed

was

and

test of

supreme

whether

societies of men are

reflection and

really

choice,

capable or not of

or whether

cal constitutions on accident and

Modern

Library

edition,

p.

they

are

establishing

from

good government

forever destined

to

depend for their

politi

force (Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1,

3).

In his inaugural address, Lincoln declared that

A

majority,

held in

changing easily
only true

And

it

so

restraint

with

sovereign of a

remained

by

deliberate
free

constitutional checks and

people

(Collected

for the American

people

that ballots

are

the rightful and peaceful

have

and

constitutionally decided, there

fairly

bullets

(Ibid.,

limitations,

and always

changes of popular opinions and sentiments

Works, IV,

p.

demonstrate

to

successors of

can

be

bullets;

is the

268).

to the world

and

that

when

no successful appeal

ballots

back to

p. 439).

Bloom to the contrary notwithstanding, this question of bullets versus ballots

as fundamental a difference as any over which men have ever
fought.
represented

We

noted

Bloom's

dared

slavery hardly
other human beings,

pronouncement above

assert that some

as

did Aristotle

backwards. The American defenders

that the antebellum "proponents of

human beings

of

just.

"

are made

He has

got

by

the

nature to serve
matter

exactly

Negro slavery did assert that that slav

asserting
long before Nazi theory

They did so by
biological inequality of the races. Aristotle says that someone of human
birth would be servile by nature, if he differed from the generality of mankind
"as widely as the soul does from the body and the human being from the lower
(Politics, 1254a 16). The usefulness of such persons, by reason of the
ery

was

by

nature

the

animal"

imperfection

of

their rational

faculties,

"diverges little from that

of animals;

Humanizing
bodily

Certitudes

for the

service

Aristotle only
to be functionally

as

are

persons

called

world?

"it

is

The

answer

"

to the lower animals. In the modern world,

and

rewarded

confined to what are

are

usually
institutions. (This is

could

men
such

somewhat

to distinguish

supposed

however ask, how

might

is that he did

Aristotle

expect

actually formed in the ancient

In Book VII of the Politics he says that

by freedom,

discussion

of natural

I255bi5).

Aristotle's

not.

have their freedom

all slaves should

(1330332). But

a reward

defective

who are so

such a social class as slaves

that

advantageous

(Ibid.,

akin

retarded,

form

from both

forthcoming

those slaves natural

"mental"

to

life is

129

calls

euphemistically called
them from universities.) One
such persons

Doubts

Impoverishing

necessities of

I254b25).

tally

and

a natural

more

any

slave, properly

than a horse or a

dog

before them

set

so

cannot

called,

as

be

Aristotle's

or an ox.

slavery leads to the conclusion that the actual institution

of slavery rested, not on nature, but on convention or law. Its sanction was
force, or justice understood as the interest of the stronger (cf. 1255319 with
lum America,

in Book VII

proposal

of the

Politics,

to

applied

antebel

have led to the policy that Lincoln commended: that of

compensated
emancipation. The fact that no such policy was politi
gradual,
would

that

conceivable

cally

adopted

by

is to say, that

constitutional means

in fact destroyed

by

legislation to this

no

end

the Civil War inevitable.

made

could

Slavery

be

was

have destroyed it: military

the only means that could

necessity.

The

antebellum

Bloom

recognizes.

"racism,"

Southern defense
Aristotle's

a term of modem politics).

Negro slavery was

has nothing to do

Nothing
by

that American slavery

Declaration

following

shown

by

April

861 (before the fall

the

of the

Nothing

excerpts
of

was

in

violation of

the

by

"cornerstone"

speech

Alexander

of

Stephens, Vice Presi

Now, however,
those ideas

we

were

the

by [Jefferson]
old

laws

and most of

Constitution,
of nature:

were

that it

the

leading

was

wrong in principle,

know that

fundamentally

wrong.

They

rested upon

the assumption

equality of the races. Our new government [the Confederate States of

is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its
rests upon

the

the

statesmen at

that the enslavement of the

and politically.

socially, morally,

slavery

by

Confederacy.

The prevailing ideas entertained

the time of the formation of the
African

was

be further from the tmth. This is

from the famous

Fort Sumter)

Bloom thinks

"settled"

could

(as in

argument would

a stupid white.

whose place

an

Independence.

of

"race"

with

"aberration"

was

harsher than

much

in Aristotle's

the enslavement of an intelligent Negro

justify

dent

of

argument

great

truth that the negro

subordination

is

not

the equal of the white

to the superior race,

is his

of

the

America]
cornerstone

man.

That

natural and normal condi

tion.5

5.

1865,

The Political
p.

103.

History

of the Great Rebellion, Edward McPherson ed.,

Washington, D.C.,

Interpretation

130

inferiority of the Negro his alleg

was a discovery of modern science, and he
for slavery
it to Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood. He identi

Stephens further
edly

asserted that the natural

natural aptitude

compared

fies the idea

progress

The

is therefore

science

"old"

superior

in

were anticipated

just

Constitution

National Socialism

by

all

new

recognition.

justice

and

propriety

the

notorious

Marxism-Leninism

progress of scientific

this most articulate spokesman

for the

had

Stephens'

counterpart of

an

was

conviction

aberration

in

to be extinguished.

if he has not
Bloom simply dismisses
Lincoln's House Divided speech, which warned that the

of

Negro

slavery.

to become all free

nation was

slave"

never

was

The

of 1787.

and

crossroads, and that a decision had to be reached and taken,

nation was at a
whether

advance of

truths, he said, it would take time for its diffusion and general
With this recognition, however, would come acceptance of the

forgotten

altogether

an

that slavery "was an aberration that

assertion

is itself merely the

that opposition to Negro slavery

86 1

such

in the

extinguished"

be

Like

of

principle

Confederate South. Bloom's

to

to the

upon

represented political regimes grounded

they

truth

based

Confederacy

later in behalf both

claims made

that

the social, moral, and political progress of mankind with the

of

of science.

Lincoln

and

possibility,

or all slave.

Bloom

writes as

irresponsible

an

if "all

inflammatory

"revisionist"

American historians wrote

precisely as most
before the publication of Crisis of the House Divided in 1959. In truth, how

He

politician.

writes

ever, the idea of

however,

1861,

The

progress can

to vindicate either

used

freedom

or slavery.

In

no one could tell which would prevail.

question of

government, but it
would continue

be

slavery

extension

went

to the root of the meaning of free

the obverse of the question of whether free elections

was

to decide who

trines of John C. Calhoun

would govern

which

in

By

a republic.

had taken the deepest

root

i860 the

doc

throughout the

South

had completely divorced the idea of natural rights and human equality
from the idea of political sovereignty, and hence from the idea of State sover
It

eignty.

was

this

right of secession.

Independence, is
person to
of

law

be

dictates

which gave

altogether.

were

person.

of

the Declaration

of

the

rule of

be the implementation, in

law. And the

God."

of nature and of nature's

to be both moral and rational.

life, liberty,

In severing the

They

These laws

were understood

property, and the pursuit of

connection

rule

accordance with the

between

happiness

natural rights and

rights, Calhoun severed the connection between law

This fact

mid-century

to the idea of a constitutional

in the light

own consent under

"the laws

to secure the equal rights to

constitutional

his

understood to

of prudence, of

human

seen

the collective expression of the equal right of each human

of nature were understood

of each

legitimacy

Popular sovereignty,

governed with

itself

was

divorce

was

disguised to

commitment to the

scientifically

and

idea

some extent
of progress

technologically

because

of

and morality
Calhoun's typical

to the belief that those

advanced were

morally

superior.

who

Certitudes

Humanizing
The

discovery

between
on

have forever

purposes

military

settled the question of the

barbarous communities, in favor

Cralle
Government,
ed., p. 62. Emphasis added.)

Calhoun

civilized and

assumed

the

written about

conflict,

colored races

that

of

proletariat

indicate

would

and

moral no

force (assumed

the

In his Disquisition there is

Declaration

Those

government.

be moral)

to

who

are

are

was

ultimately to nothing

and

the

certain

the masters, then

This is to

If it

was

theocracy"

Constitution."

Why indeed

was

tion: Calhoun versus

an

true,

as

And if the

slaves

come to
a

event

Madison,"

Bloom's

by

the present

account of

present

parallels

Nazi

youth of

to Calhoun in

tion closely

the Constitution.

resembles

they hated

Founding,

and

A Bicentennial
of

Sixties."

Essay

Dallas.)
Bloom

was

forced to

upon the student radicals as

the 1930s, and there

however, is

and

Thoreau,

is

some

Ameri

validity in

to the historicism and nihil

of the Confederacy
notably in
Alexander Stephens. And there are
contemporaries

abolitionism

nonetheless collaborated

Their

who,

ostensibly on
images of

destroy

each other.

Germany

had

in

and

slavery,

theoretical

way that, had it succeeded,

radical

which

in

hostility

and

practical

would

coopera

our

But Weimar lacked the

no

although

century Nazis and Commu

the Weimar regime, which both hated worse

the way in

nists worked together to

than

writer.

slavery question, were yet nearly perfect mirror

For the fact is that

cmshed

so power

in the intellectual defense

opposite sides of the

have

the Declaration and the

University

the "The

He looked

the thought of both John C. Calhoun

antagonists,

by

C. Calhoun become

revolutionary political event which he never really understood. It

in American history, the serious study of which Bloom has

canized versions of the

each other.

Master

the

there ever a Civil War? (See "Defenders of the Constitu

this analogy. The deeper resemblance,

ism already

of

that Calhoun anticipated, in

rest

thought of John

always regarded as superfluous.

important

suddenly

Bloom says, that "slavery, aristocracy,

the Bicentennial Project of the

by

live through
was

of

each will still

had been "laid to

had the

then why

Next, I

in the

the thought underlying the two great tyrannies of the

monarchy, and

published

as

powers

to be rightfully slaves, and

assumed

correctly, I believe

imply

fundamentals,

twentieth century.

ful?

government.

unjust

Hofstadter, in The American Political Tradition) "the Marx

Class."

and

be rightfully what he is! This

not something Calhoun contemplated, but it follows the logic of his
It is not for nothing that Calhoun has been rightly called (by Richard

arise and enslave

argument.

white

way to distinguish

those who are masters, to be rightfully masters.

latter

then

the command of the

between the just

slaves

that of

or

material superiority.

refers

at

no abstract or rational

Independence

of

ascendancy

former. (A Disquisition

the

bourgeoisie,

less than

State sovereignty, in Calhoun's thought,

more than

of

and their

did his contemporary Karl Marx, whose Manifesto was

time as the Disquisition
that the outcome of physical

as
same

whether

131

impelling force,

of gunpowder and the use of steam as an

to

application

Doubts

Impoverishing

and

Lincoln.

strength of

the

American

Interpretation

132

The Black Power

movement which

brought Cornell

in 1969 (and drove Bloom into exile) was

movement, in the aftermath of the victory
of

University

of

that

movement

by

to

its knees

Civil Rights

a transformation of the

the enactment

the great civil rights laws of 1964 and 1965. In this transformation there was

the same severance of the connection between civil and constitutional rights, on

hand,

the one

and natural rights on

in the thought
ever

of

demands it

exact, just

could

this, because he is

conflict that

as

had been

of slaves

Bloom, however, is

what

justified

least

of

unconscious

the power and magnitude of the

the American Civil War perhaps the

made

once

leading defenders

those of the

tme.

nonetheless

earlier accomplished

justification for

That the ideas animating the Black

same as

unconscious of

own

the ownership

exact.

bottom the

movement were at

slavery, however ironical, is

of

as

the owners of slaves could

whatever

Power

the other,

Calhoun. Black Power became its

ideas in

avoidable great

war ever.

Bloom's
his

pride

ing
in

from the American

alienation

in the fact that

some of

Socrates

characterizes the

demos itself

greatest of the corrupters of the young.

were

not radical

tradition is illuminated

political

students went

Most

as

by

among the rioters distribut

the passage from Plato's Republic

a pamphlet which reprinted

which

his

(49ie-492b)

the greatest of sophists, the

radical students

and

many

who

think that what it revealed most of all was Plato's

would

But the

antidemocratic prejudices.

passage also

lends itself easily to

Marx

ist interpretation
however spurious
because, according to the Republic,
among the causes of the corruption is private property, and the leading cure for
it is communism. It is difficult to imagine what effect
other than inflamma

tory

Bloom thought this Platonic

One

might

however,

reflect,

passage might

Bloom does

as

have had

on

the rioters.

Socrates'

not, that

characteriza

democracy in the Republic is peculiarly inapplicable to the popular

government envisaged by the American Founding Fathers. Theirs was a regime

tion of

of

law

in

extent that
which

principle and

human

equal

designs

of

ingenuity

recognition

Consent

consent.

aspiration, one of reason unaffected

it so, it

could make

was

given

to the

as

(rule

of

the

to the natural question

form
tion

of government

of

[the]

best)

of

is the best,

Professor Colleen Sheehan

in this

6. In What Is Political

of

and

in
of

Plato himself insisted, the

wisdom.

offices of

As Thomas Jefferson

the most

effectually for

put

it, "That

a pure selec

government."6

University

celebrated essay,

that

as the natural answer of all good men

which provides

Philosophy''

of wisdom

remarks

itself

Villanova

desire. To the
as a regime

Philosophy,"

political order.

into the

natural aristoi

point out to me that

presented

the best

as

the claims of

Leo Strauss, in "On Classical Political

"aristocracy"

requirements

necessary however because,

was

tyrants are always masked

by

intended

was

has been kind

Strauss illustrates the

Free Press. 1959,

pp.

85, 86.

enough

to

central thesis

Humanizing Certitudes
of classical political

and

Impoverishing

Doubts

133

the nature of the best regime

with a quota
philosophy
letter of Jefferson to Adams. She has also pointed out

tion from a renowned

it

that

be the

appears to

judges the

ferson,

Founding,

this assimilation

regarded

Elsewhere Strauss has

thought.

Liberal

is the ladder

education

democracy

as

of

by

The

democracy

its guiding

as

try

to

from

ascend

democracy

mass

as

it is

ladder to

as

is

originally
"low."

to say the least

as

many

the

study

more things were the

of

the

the higher ground. He writes,

Constitution,

painstakingly

After

something

to it?

ascend

not altogether oblivious of

Independence,

to

meant"

"democracy

students were unaware that the teachings of equality, the promise of the

tion of

finally

Strauss, like Jef

that

which we

characterized

all, why would anyone need

Yet Bloom is

aristocracy into

one

meant.'

originally

inadequately

However

essay.

there is little doubt that

written

The American Founding, insofar

thus

in Strauss's

central passage

the

wisdom of

knowledge

the

earned and

stored-up

of our

Declara

history

and

capital that supported

them (p. 334).

Someone

the American and French Revolutions as scenarios

who can write of

thought out beforehand

Locke

say that "the

English and American regimes [had been] founded according to [Locke's] in
is hardly in a position to reproach others for the lack of "the study

by

Rousseau,

and

and who can

stmctions,"

history."

of

Bloom
the

But

here

says

Founding

as

or were

"not very

they

in

bottom

misguided

believe that they

were

Bloom's

not

as

own view of

spiritually impoverishing? Was the

a middle class revolt against

American life? Did

of

Bloom himself

agreement with

and as

materialism

not

not

inspiring,"

revolt of the sixties not at

history

the students simply unaware of this

were

the

students

the successful

however

themselves

rejecting the low in favor of the high? Had

forms that he did not

this revolt, even if it took

nurtured

expect or wish?

On
Senate

February
of

days

est

the State

remember all

of

the

President-elect Abraham Lincoln

1861,

New Jersey. He

his childhood,

of

liberties

21,

of a small

accounts

the struggle here at Trenton

the

great

hardships

than any

the

addressed

his recollection, from the

earli

book, Weems's Life of Washington.

there given of the

of the country, and none

Hessians;

spoke of

battle fields

fixed themselves
the crossing

endured at

of

upon

for the

so

deeply

as

the river; the contest with the

that time, all

Revolutionary

and struggles

my imagination

fixed themselves

event; and you

know, for

on

you

my
have

all
memory
been boys, how these early impressions last longer than any others. I recollect think
ing, then, boy even though I was, that there must have been something more than
more

single

common that those men struggled

which

7.

they

struggled

Liberalism Ancient

for;

and

for. I

that something

am

exceedingly

even more

Modern, Basic Books,

1968,

than

p. 5.

anxious that that

National

thing

Independence;

that

Interpretation

1 34

something that held

come; I
the

am

people

struggle was made, and

ment

in the hands

of

shall

be

people of

indeed if I

happy

most

Almighty,

the

and of

this, his

the object of that struggle (Collected

perpetuating

Leo Strauss's

of what the

tion of the disaffected students.

of

for

235, 236).

pp.

is the

Lincoln's

that was

speech

legacy

noble

in the

lacking

the

educa

Socrates'

Trenton,

at

Lin

and

the people of

all

not

to illuminate the

democracy, is what was needed

inheritance,

Like the base Indian, threw

Richer than

Lincoln,
ground

who

a pearl

his tribe (Othello,

all

folly

of the

had

opposed

away,

v.ii).

Douglas's idea

that Socrates had

opposed

nothing but the interest of the stronger,

duction to the Republic than Bloom's. He
between the

connection

principles

could

have

provided a

could

have

shown

of classical

those of the Declaration of Independence.

everything in his
it to be true.
The

account of

skepticism,
sche and

Bloom

political

could

better intro

the

students

the
and

philosophy
do this because

not

the American mind proves that he does not believe

Bloom's book founders

argument of

between the

sovereignty on the same

cynical definition of justice

of popular

Thrasymachus'

as

on the

and the rejection of all rationalism

Heidegger. He is only

fact that he

that his

certain

by

doubt is

for example, in favor

the Declaration of Independence. Yet he

concedes

Socratic

and

and all skepticism

"humanized"

decide

cannot

may be traced to Socrates

classical rationalism that

to any alternative, or to any decision

of

humble instru

an

who, in rejecting their

rioters

inner

be

"democracy as originally
Almighty had promised "to

less than the intellectual foundation

denunciation

shall

Works. IV,

this "his almost chosen

by

the

moral no

to all time to

world

almost chosen people,

world"

all

the

meant,"

Jefferson's

and

idea"

"original

coln's

to all the

out a great promise

exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of
shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that

of

Nietz

superior

the principles

that the issue may yet be

resolved.

Are Nietzsche

and

the question

here,

is

Heidegger
and

both

right about
returned

Plato

and

Aristotle?

They

obsessively to Socrates. Our

saw

rightly

rationalism

that

is his

Perhaps they did not take seriously enough the changes wrought by
hence the possibility that the Socratic way might have
the modern impasse. But certainly all the philosophers, the proponents of

rationalism.

modern rationalists and

avoided

reason, have

Aristotle,

something in

spiritual grandchild.

profoundly modern leads

Socrates is the one thing
degger look to the
possible to

because it

common, and more or

Socrates'

begin
might

inevitably

all over again,

less

directly

reach

was

Socrates

who made

of

be the best thing

try

to figure

available

out what

(p. 310).

the

Niet/sche

For the first time in four hundred

to

back to

serious argument about what

to the conclusion that study

It

needful.

pre-Socratics.

Plato

was

is

most

problem of
and

years,

it

talking

Hei
seems

about,

Certitudes

Humanizing
The study

Socrates

the problem of

of

Doubts

Impoverishing

and

was

life-long

135

Strauss,
passage

might

addition

to his many writings on virtually

political

philosophy, Strauss wrote three books on Xenophon's Socratic

ings,

Bloom's teacher

them

all of

Aristophanes.

Indeed,

and mine.

forewords

with

Together,

by

all

In

conversation.

aspects of classical and modern

Bloom. In addition, he

these constituted

foregoing

the

much of

have been transcribed from Strauss's familiar

Leo

of

preoccupation

who was

exhaustive

an

writ

Socrates

wrote

articulation

of

and

"the

Socrates,"

problem

of

as

Statesman,

Bloom

makes

no

mention.

In his

were

he is

Crito,

the

Socrates'

ophy, "From

as

in

(and

non-Platonic

his

addition to

pre-So

lengthy

com

in the Republic, the Laws,

other dialogues. Of all this

presented

and

yet

the

overview of

to Heidegger's

Apology

in

uncovered

Strauss

Socrates

Apology,

the

be

might

writings of

the Platonic

mentaries on

the

These

sources.

cratic)

it

history

of political

Rektoratsrede"

philos

(pp. 243-312),

there is no mention of Strauss.

In

time, Bloom writes, "it

our

was Heidegger, practically alone, for whom

Greek philosophy became truly central
(p. 309, 310). How
had studied with Strauss
or had read "What Is Political Philoso
"

the study of
anyone who

"On Classical Political

or
most

beyond

To

comprehension.

Philosophy"

have

could
speak thus of

Heidegger,

is

this

written

al

without

mentioning
Strauss, is like speaking of Hitler, without mentioning Churchill. For, if the
tmth were known, Strauss was as surely Heidegger's nemesis as Churchill was

Hitler's. One

can

only

conclude

study

that if Bloom

Socrates,

the study of the problem of

that the one

says

thing

is

needful

and yet makes no mention of

Strauss's

the problem of Socrates (or of Greek philosophy), then he cannot

of

think that Strauss's study is the

Strauss

needful one.

moreover never reached such a

might now

four hundred

after

lame

"try

years

Bloom's,

conclusion as

to

figure

out what

Plato

that we

was

talk

available."

ing about, because it might be the best thing

for the right way of life sound like the quest for

This

prewar

makes

whiskey

the quest

during

the era

out"

is an
In fact, Bloom's "to figure
Strauss's Preface to Spinoza s Critique of Religion:

echo of a passage

of prohibition!

For Spinoza there

but

rational, the

result

"ideal"

notion of

imposed

the

on man

He is therefore

are no natural ends

account of man's end

by

(the life devoted to

of figuring it

as a work of the
nature.

to give a novel

compelled

is

contemplation): man's end

He thus

out

human

mind

(Liberalism Ancient

decisively
as

and

prepares

not natural

the modern

distinguished from

Modern,

p.

241

from

an end

Emphasis

added.)

What Bloom is
at

all, but

modern

looking

for is

out"

"figuring

of

Plato

"ideal,"

a modem

ideals,

to

ostensibly

which

is in fact

not

Plato

in Plato, but designed like

all

gratify a passion, rather than to subordinate passion to

no intention of facing squarely the issue of philosophical

reason.

Bloom has

realism

(Socrates, Plato,

degger). He has

grounded

no such

and

Aristotle)

versus

nihilism

(Nietzsche

intention because he knows that Strauss has

and

Hei

presented

Interpretation

136
the case

for the former in terms he

from the

following

the

Right"

Natural
had

end

in Natural Right

To have

life

of

way

to the state of

for claiming

Rousseau,

interpreted here

as

of

Modern

according to

Strauss,

the

name of

state of nature means to

either compelled or able

to

sake of which the reservation

nature on

freedom from society

"The Crisis

the state of nature.

name of

for the

or the cause or pursuit

notion of a return

level

the

which

is

of

humanity

was

is the

is

made.

The

the ideal basis

Bloom's

of

core

have

indicate the

freedom for something (p.

not

by Strauss,

Consider

will not accept.

on

History. Rousseau,

being

without

society

chapter

society in the

a reservation against

a reservation against

and

society in the

a reservation against

but

cannot refute

Strauss

of

294).

It is

soul.

informs Bloom's reading of Plato's Republic, and who has

tipped the balance within him irrevocably towards Nietzsche and Heidegger.
Rousseau

who

Bloom's ideal
of

state

posed

It

the university is just such a place where one can "return to the

of

nature

return, says

was an

finable,

Strauss, is

ideal basis for

to an ultimate

unjustified.

This

was

humanity."

level

the

on

The

of

attractiveness

this sup

of

that

from society to something indefinite and undethe individual as individual, unredeemed and

an appeal

sanctity

precisely

of

freedom

what

to mean

came

for

a considerable

number of men.

In the "ultimate sanctity

unfettered either

sanctity

individual

of the

by

God

liberalism. And Bloom,

modern

individual"

meaning thereby a
Strauss has defined the core of

as

or nature

a quintessential

liberal, is

one of

that "consid

men."

Concluding, Strauss

erable number of

Every

freedom

reference

which

that

writes

is freedom for something, every freedom

to something higher than the individual

or

than

which

is justified

by

man as mere man, neces

sarily restricts freedom or, which is the same thing, establishes a tenable distinction
between freedom and license. It makes freedom conditional on the purpose for which
it is

Of

claimed.

course

any

Bloom does

more than

not

claim

unconditional

did Rousseau. Nor does he

freedom for

attack

man

in society

those necessary

conven

tions of academic life that make it comfortable and agreeable to persons like

himself. But he does

idea

of

That

excludes

not admit within

freedom that is

conditional

both Athens

and

his

upon

Jerusalem

own soul

nor

does he teach

anything higher than

and Leo Strauss.

man

as

any
man.

Bloom to the contrary notwithstanding, we have known all along what Plato
talking about. He was talking about Justice (for example, in the Republic),

was

and

in the

other

dialogues

what was good and

talking

about,

bad for

about
man.

moderation, courage,

The

or even whether what

the good and bad for

man

was

question about

he

law,

Plato is

said appears wise or

grounded

in any

ultimate

and, in general,
not what

just, but

reality,

he

was

whether

whether

it

Humanizing Certitudes
existed

by

by

nature,

justice do

you

or

nature

through a return to the

In Strauss's

299).

end of

says

must

Machiavelli Strauss,

from

in favor

by being

which

from our peculiarly modern cave. But Strauss,

failed to distinguish books from the "fundamental

emancipation
never

(p.
the

of

men, needing
unlike

Bloom,

experiences"

to articulate. The

were meant

is Strauss's

sis

books

as modem

of

rethought

derived"

it is
the

of return,
us

beneficence

of the

restored

be indispensable to

would

on

notion

be

experiences

rejection of progress

classical philosophers

divine

unknowable

some

Thoughts

"that the

Good

fundamental

by

or

137

is not, What is Justice? It is, Which book

like best? At the

the primacy of the

of

(or law),

question

rejecting Machiavelli's teaching,

Doubts

Impoverishing

convention

dispensation. For Bloom the

about

and

is

primacy

"primacy

of

the

the books

Good"

the upper case empha

books

with respect to all

and all

art,

even that of

Plato.

Plato's dialogues

always

reveal

to us far

more

of our

ignorance

of each

discussed, than knowledge of that subject. In revealing our ignorance,

however, they always reveal something of our knowledge of that ignorance.
subject

And that knowledge

of

ignorance

satisfy us, but something

whet our

do

we

the

tmly

it is that

make us wish

living

life,

skeptical

of unassisted

to the

of what

know. The life lived in

not

rance

light

appetites, to

always reveals

never
something
to know. It is

we wish

to go on,

and

accordance

know

with

of this

life is the best

regime.

All

other

the

regime

lives

to

enough

to

more of what

knowledge

the examined and examining life

human reason, the best life. The

enough

it is that
of

igno

is, by

the

that is best adapted

and regimes are to

be

judged in relationship to this life and this regime. The goodness of the best life
and the best regime is not arbitrary. It is not to be characterized
as Bloom
available."

suggests

is
in

as

merely the "best thing

to
And hence the

On the contrary, that

nature."

"according
harmony with

moral and

intellectual

goodness

virtues which are

this goodness are not arbitrary, but also are good

"according

nature."

to

We

return

to

Bloom's

Socrates."

obsessively to

[Socrates']
ously
might

that Nietzsche and Heidegger "returned

so, he says because "Our

rationalism

is

rationalism."

He adds, however, "perhaps they did

enough

possibility

assertion

They did

the changes wrought

by

the modern rationalists and

that the Socratic way might have avoided the modem

encapsulate

the

life

work

of

not

Leo Strauss in Bloom's

take seri

hence the

impasse."

"perhaps."

One
For

rationalist

Strauss proved, I believe, that "the changes wrought by modem

had mistakenly discredited the possibility that reason might discover the right
way of life and the best regime. According to Strauss, it was not true that "Our

[viz.,

modem

rationalism

is

man's]

rationalism

"scientific"

is his [viz.,

Socrates']

rationalism."

Modem

rationalism, which means that it explains the world

including whatever is regarded as good or bad for man

everything in it
in terms of what Aristotle called efficient and material causes, while denying

and

Interpretation

138

formal

the reality of what he called

causes

are

explain

by-products

the high

This is

as

if

by

force

of

potentiality

is simply

an

any

modern

philosophy

the

They

as

are attempts

it

it effect,

if it had

purpose

accidental

to the

Indeed, it

was.

his human

to the chisel on the marble,

artist

sculptor's

brain,

that Michelangelo's brain

assumes

what

have discovered his

a

by

reference

attempted to give

had discovered

and

final

epiphe-

outcome

modern

purpose, even

that Michelangelo could not

through all

not pre-existed

For

nature.

had

before Michelangelo himself

or even

assumes

philosophy,

eternity
Michelangelo's

utterly indifferent to his art, as they were blind to anything intelligent

intelligible. The premises of modern philosophy are the result of a doubt
to eliminate all further

as

ambition of modern

rationalism

as
art

Michelangelo,

the causes that generated

of

omitting

purpose, and skill.

causes

radical

to

to understand Michelangelo's David as the result

try

applied

rationalism

before his hand

science

and

the low.

one's explanation

Socratic

modern

All formal

causes.

of efficient and material causes.

one would

of the physical

from

in

understood

nomena or

final

and

or
so

to doubt: hence its dogmatism. The

need

to eliminate the skepticism that had ac

was

Socratic rationalism, as its shadow. By replacing skepticism with

dogmatism in philosophy, it would at the same time obviate any need for faith
in God. Strauss, by showing that the self-destruction of reason in modem
companied

philosophy

of modem

rationalism

alone, prepared a

restoring Socratic skepticism, he restored

Socratic
but
the
place that that skepticism left for biblical
rationalism,
only
to premodern rationalism.

return
not

the self-destruction

was

By

faith.
Nietzsche
rejection

have

and

of

Heidegger

modem

they

although

seem

Not seeing
as did Strauss
discovered:
nothing.
rationalism, however, they
good or

purpose,
willed
wills

by

as

man.

good

evil, in any reality

But the
is

"Triumph

of

the

What

good.

justification, because

has

will

outside of

any alternative to
Since there is no

one

there can be

Will,"

whatever

belief that there is

all purpose

wills

as

evil,

Hitler

no other.

its defects

no ground

as

The

evil.
s

famous

must

will

is its

propaganda

art, is an authentic

be

one
own

film

manifestation

core cause of modern nihilism, and

for the

fictions

is

in life

itself. What

no source of guidance outside

Heidegger's teaching. Here then is the

of the

man,

and

with

the same time to

at

rejected all rationalism.

modern

of

the final disillusionment

represented

rationalism,

existence of

God,

or of the noble

pleasing illusions. These must be

willed by man, although
are
believable
they
by hoi polloi only if their origin is
concealed. For the true Thinker
who replaces the Philosopher
there is
and good

things,

except as useful

neither myth nor reality.

abyss

alone

unprecedented

lives

freedom.

freedom, but he has

The Thinker

without

illusions,

Bloom lives

not yet

figured

out

or

having
without
with

triumphed over the terror of the

either

hope

considerable

anything for

which

or

fear, but in

an

discomfort in this
he

would give

it

up.

Philosophy, Science,
the

and

Opening

the American Mind

of

Roger D. Masters

It is exceptionally rare for a philosophic book to find its

way to the New
Best Seller list. It is also unusual for a work condemning Amer
ica's culture and university system to generate widespread praise from the
Times'

York

targets of its criticism. But

to a

book focused

My

own assessment of

rized under

three

it is

extraordinary to

above all

The

Closing

American Mind

of the

headings, corresponding

to the

book's

account of our current situation

in Part 1 is brilliant

limited in that Bloom's

is

from the

flowing

reader

spared

cultural emptiness of

America's

can

be

organization.

and accurate

description

the character of the "best

after all, remember that

of

see such a response

on the souls of our students.

of

the

summa

First,
and

the

only

consequences

educated class.
brightest"

and

One might,

has the

effect

shaping the cultural horizon of everyone else, with results including the cult
in the arts and crafts (often in the name of originality, but some

of ugliness

for its

blatantly

times

trading"

("inside

nessmen

own

sake), the loss of

"guns for

or

hostages"),

morals

and

in business

the decline

of

life

and public

industrial "com

(as American technology is sold to foreigners and American busi

only find profits from buying and selling each other's jobs and corpo

rate names).

Second, Bloom's

analysis of the

impact

of philosophic themes

on American opinion is simply

cially of the German tradition
II of The Closing of the American Mind makes connections of
us

have

what

never

dreamed

and makes them convincingly.

is that Bloom doesn't

added

Aristotle

nihilism.

the university? And

Part

which most of

The only thing to be

reasons (that is,

clearly the historical

the "material and efficient causes") for the spread of

might call

Isn't the lack

elaborate

and espe

awesome.

of spiritual goals

isn't that

linked to the democratic

phenomenon

itself

explicable

on

character of
philosophic

grounds?

Democratization
of

of

higher

high technology. On the

down

with

mechanization

labor-saving

devices in his

the remaining jobs do

The
massive

hand,

after

all, in

different

to the spread

part related

the need for productive workers goes

reason

to express

patterns of work.

least keeps them

off

his

for Corsica);

constitutional proposals

rolls, and a few learn how to

tions (even if

one

(Rousseau had

require

youth through college at

is,

education

opposition to
on

Putting

the other,

most of

the

the streets and the unemployment

run computers or read complicated sets of

instruc

poorly).

effects

impact

of

technology

on

on

our

universities

are,

the character of our youth. Not

in turn,

related

just (or primarily)

to

its

televi-

Interpretation

140

though its effect on the ability to read and think

sion

estimated now that the average

high

time in front of a television set than in a classroom.

brats has been

fuel

and

running hot

should

said

Rather, I
A

water.

generation of spoiled

durables that

the consumer

modern

under

telephones,

mean

"conveniences"

by

spoiled

be

not

to have spent more

our economy.

This is
have

mode.

The

of

account

to Bloom's

not a materialist alternative

corrupted our youth are

Lockean
II

lifts,

cars, ski

refrigerators,

is

school graduate

Rather, it is

the machines that

critique:

fulfilled in

the essence of the Baconian project

a suggestion

that the

of the American Mind could easily be reinforced

Closing

(anthropological in the

Aristotle

old sense) of what

by

a precise

have

would

in Part

philosophic argument

called

life."

our

"way

of

Finally,
about the

the third part of Bloom's book says much that greatly needs saying

way

scholars and universities

might object that

know

some

because
demic

it's

young French

much

world portrayed at one

For this reviewer, there

some

European

universities

But to

key

only two

of the entire aca

points worth

adding to the dia

the negative role that can be played

istrative decisions. In general, university

void of our curriculum with

disarray

see the

time is indeed disconcerting.

are

understates

think

administrators

they

something trendy (for example,

"Theme"

courses, with the

causes called

Some

abandoned serious matters.

in

people who think their system much worse than ours

more preprofessional.

logue. First, Bloom

have

that much different

not

"Theme"

being

by

admin

fill the

can

interdisciplinary

something like "Ideas

that formed the Twentieth Century"). Not all of the baneful effects of contem

porary higher education can be laid to the door of the professors.

A second question gets to my only major disagreement with The
the American Mind.

Among

other

Bloom's image

things, his treatment

"Science"

of
of the

is

natural

no

Closing

longer entirely

sciences

to

seems

of

accurate.
miss

the

profound possibilities of

something new, especially in contemporary biology.

This is especially

noting

worth

since

it

contradicts

some minor points

in his

argument.

can

start with a small

errors that occurs

between humans

in The

but

significant

Closing

and other animals.

On

other than man, when an animal reaches

This

stage

is the

directed. The
starts

end

p.

Only

of

the very few factual

Bloom says, "In

133,

puberty, it is

toward which

all

of

its

all that
growth

activity is reproduction. It lives

in man is puberty just the

animal's

downhill.

tifiable to

clear

detail. One

of the American Mind concerns the relation

it

all

species

will ever

and

be.

learning

on this plateau until

beginning."

ignore the insects (despite Aristotle's interest

It's

perhaps

is

it

jus

in them), though

species"

Bloom does say "all

ment in some
interesting

Bloom clearly had in

here,

and

insects clearly contradict his

But let us focus on the kind of
the social

state

"animals"

ways.

(dogs, horses, birds, wolves, etc.). Even

by the importance of activities other than

mind: mammals

the assertion is contradicted

Philosophy, Science,

the

and

reproduction associated with

Opening
with

play,

of the American Mind

and with

sociability,

learning

141
the

about

environment.

The
in

actions not

"man"

no

virtually
that has

activity

or

not now also

capacity that formerly was attributed uniquely to

been observed in chimpanzees if not in other monkeys

identification

and apes:

clearly very important

speech, moreover, there is

related to reproduction are

narrowly

the other primates. Aside from verbal

most of

individuals, deceit, laugh

of the self and of others as

"culture,"

ter,

self-sacrifice to

altruistic

"brute"

Nietzschean
ing"

is

One

uses

often) has

war.

no

The

"mean

the Hobbesian devaluation of nature.

a continuation of

two eagles playing

cannot watch

others, murder, even

(a term Bloom

assertion that the

think of all nonhuman animals as

save

for hours,

yes, playing

and still

"brutes"

concerned with reproduction.

solely
is emphatically not all he or she will be on reaching
This is important insofar as Bloom appears to have accepted Nie

chimpanzee or gorilla

puberty.

becoming"

is

tzsche's view that "Man

(p.

pure

203).

It is simply incorrect to

say that "the actuality of plants and other animals is contained in their potenti
alities, but this

essentially

On the

is

is indicated

not tme of man as

by

the many cultural flowers

unlike

hand,

one

actuality depends

forms have

living

all

on the environments and

a range of

potentialities, so that

life histories

of organisms; on the

unlike"

other, to say that all cultures are

ophy, experience, common sense,

serve the same

function

all cultures are

birds

different

materials

Bloom's

is

on

by

Nietzsche's

195).

human

philosophic
who made

It

That

Contemporary

themselves may

was

nature

then

not

might

especially by ethology (based as it

This point is linked to a deeper issue.

have been

recognize

implications

science

so

in the

seems

reductionist,

nineteenth

and

century

to be none of these.

deter
but

no

Scientists

the change (the last person to ask about the

of scientific

it). Nonetheless, the

of

and

"materialistic, hence

discovery

change

who

first

is

was

and

overwhelmingly

evident.

that physics wasn't what the eigh

(see Kenneth Deutsch & Walter

Democracy,'

further. Physics is

may, alas, often be the scientist

real and

noted

teenth-century Newtonians thought it

Soffer, eds., The Crisis of Liberal
radically

bad

thus be questioned as outdated and

can

animals).

natural

Nietzsche himself

gone much

of philos

all cultures

Bower-

contemporary biology,

refers to modem science as

(p.

If

give mythic meanings of good and

ministic"

longer.

own project.

alike and

the observation of other

Bloom

and

only differ on superficial matters.

by making gaudy nests, it is said, and each bird builds
but all the nests serve the same function.

of

view

contradicted

say to

essentially

attract mates

flies in the face

"essentially

has been

pp. 48-66).

since

Bohr

Now,
and

things have

Heisenberg

deterministic; emergent properties (novelties)

important than "reductionism"; the formal or

probabilistic rather

than

"ideal"

are

everywhere

1.

more

Albany: SUNY Press,

1987.

Interpretation

142

properties are

itself.

Heisenberg

be

not

may

the

and more elemental than

to

prior

clearly

he

when

representative

perceived

sees

material

modern

physics

notably to Heraclitus
and Plato (see his Physics and Philosophy); Capra may exaggerate in the The
Tao of Physics in seeing Eastern religion imminent in contemporary theories.

forcing

Even so,
and

to return to ancient Greek philosophy

us

with such radical

and

departures from the high

Galileo, it is really important

to

Newton

school physics of

the adequacy of the old catch

question

phrases.

Philosophers
be

could

with

Gaylord Simpson,
follow that

physicists won't

do it for

"absurd"

in

reductionism

depressive

but two

cite

and

biology

illness

(in the

depends to

case of

same

(i)

That is
and

another of

won't

process

being

of

the

withstand

like

mental phenomena

in the

are

Nor does it

is

Aristotle

shocked

recent examples:

schizophrenic

causes

expression

have

would

Much the

us.

One distinguished biologist, George

to biology.

it flatly:

put

myths that

To

biological

regard

science cannot address conscious phenomena.

comfortable
scrutiny.

do this, for

must

added

manic-

traced to

manic-depression, to a specific gene whose

some extent on experience);

(2) dyslexias involve def

icits in reading and writing (and now we are discovering exactly how the brain
handles linguistic information by learning the ways that these processes can be
disturbed).
In general, the

far from
logical

progress

being impossible,

in these
we are

areas

is

only too

so great as to

capable of

be truly dangerous;

learning

about

the neuro

To say nothing is achieved

in studying the soul with contemporary scientific methods is to say that the
Characters of Theophrastus was not a philosophic work. Such assertions can
behavioral

and

only be

maintained

concomitants

if the

of thought.

"soul"

is defined in

word

then, only in

theological

philosophic sense

and,

follow that belief in

a nonmaterial soul endowed with a

serious

discussion

of

even

human

free

rather

traditions

some religious

will

is

than a

would

requisite

it

for

ends or purposes.

It may be true that modern science has simply devastating effects for the
concept of
in some Christian texts. It is not true that modern science has
"soul"

for

the same implications

Plato

or

Aristotle

used

understanding of the soul as

that term. Quite to the contrary, for it is now possible to
a philosophic or rational

conclude that the tabula rasa

tradition is simply wrong on

This
order.

presents

The

us,

psychology

paradoxically,

with

war of reason and revelation

others

seems

of

Hobbes, Locke,

and the

behaviorist

scientific grounds.

theological danger of the highest

put

to sleep

by

our

Founding

to be waking up in time for the Bicentennial

among
American Constitution. Whether

internally

Fathers
of

the

(a judge ruling that "secular hu

manism"

is

a religion

Ayatollah Khomeini
able assertions of
wrong:

God is

not

in the

sense of

describing

the

the first

American

Amendment)

regime as

or externally (the
"Satan"), the comfort

modernity are disappearing. Nietzsche seems to have been

dead
He (like Rip Van Winkle) was just asleep.

Philosophy, Science,

and the

Opening

of the American Mind

Continued scholarly research, particularly linking the

ing of nature with the philosophic issues dear to Bloom,

today

as

it

was

relatively little
Chicago, it is

for Aristotle, Rousseau,

about research, perhaps

worth

or

because its

of

scholarly

These

individuals

learning
inquiry can produce bitter,
will recall

reflections

only

some of our youth need

reinforce

desperately

Mind has

Certainly
a

what

striking way

necessary

at

limiting

the

University

one "s

with experience

who

ol

dialogue to

in

an

insti

demonstrate how the

end

closed minds.

At least

to leam of these issues. If philosophy

forever. But

Bloom himself
of

is

the argument of Bloom's book.

to die now. it might really disappear

sleeping.

author

remembering the dangers of

few friends. Anyone

higher

as

Kant. Although the Closing say s

undergraduates and perhaps a

tution of

understand

scientific
remains

143

writes

perhaps

in The

contradicting his title.

were

it too has just been

Closing

of the American

How Bloom Did It: Rhetoric

in The

Principle

and

of The American Mind

Closing

Will Morrisey

At least two questions arose in the early reviews of Allan Bloom's book.
Given its extraordinary popularity (outstripping even the confessions of Patty
Duke during the long, hot summer of 1987), how much has the. "American
mind"

closed?

really

A citizenry that buys hundreds of thousands

longest chapter is titled "From

Rektoratsrede"

to Heidegger's

deserves

very least. The American bourgeoisie

new picture
anization

album

and

work, after all?

reviewers

assumed

But

that what

more

decided that this,

But

virtues.

saw

Cultivated,

mind.

what

the

and

firmly

powerful,

does it really think? Most

the surface was what

on

upon ancient

they

Greek

hand

a nihilist's

within

were

philoso

challenging view was urged by those

of Nietzsche's argument in the book,

details, betray

and other

the

of

Nietzsche-

"The

Does the Enlightenment really

decadent as Bloom appears to contend?

Allan Bloom's

they

more copies

preferred to read

"Rousseau's Radicalization

of the classics grounded

interesting and
literally central place

the

noticed

denies its

no one

defense

getting: a

quite so

matter of

Apology

open-mindedness at the

Doubts."

"Swift's

Are Americans

And then there is the

incisive, witty

it

for

have bought

could

no:

or

University,"

German

phy.

Elvis, but

some credit

Vice-Versa,"

Left

the

of

about

of copies of a

Socrates'

twenty-dollar volume whose

who
and

a puppet

Plato. Does Bloom secretly revel in the very decadence he decries?

These questions about both minds in question, America's and Bloom's,
were raised

tellingly in

the one

tmly intelligent early

Professor

Harry

V. Jaffa in

by

talk given in

a public

review, "The

Reconsidered"

Allan Bloom's Mind: An Instant Classic

Closing

Charles R.

of

Kesler.1

Washington, D.C., in July,

1987, developed many of the same points, more amply, and added some, as
did Professor Thomas G. West in remarks delivered at the 1987 American
Political Science Convention. These critics agree that Bloom fails sufficiently
to appreciate politics: he has little to say about civic, as distinguished

liberal,

education; he

preaches without

University
of

effects

of

of

Socrates
1.
review

having

he fails to

of eros

but

not enough of

gymnastic,

as

and

therefore exaggerates the

statesmanship of the American

practical Lockeans. Some suspect

the

mere

a politic nihilism, or wonder

if Bloom

an

can choose

between

Nietzsche.

In The American Spectator, Vol. 20, No. 8, August 1987,

by

from

thymos; he

to any discernible religion; a tme son of the

appreciate

regarding them

harboring

and

eloquently

recourse

Chicago, he ignores

music;

founders, instead
Bloom

speaks

intelligent

man, see

Paul Gottfried: "A Half-Open

September 1987,
of American Culture, Vol. 11, No. 9,

pp.

Mind,"

pp. 30-33-

14-17.

For the

most stupid

in Chronicles: A Magazine

Interpretation

146

These

substantial objections

Far from

civic education.

almost

might educate

Bloom

the virtues

for

for,

of

how America

the thorn.

of

competent

men make glaring errors, readers

intention
before
Has
sighing, 'Homer
underlying
interpreter of Plato's Republic and Rousseau's Letter to
when

nods.'

some

the translator and

for

considerations on

few indications

nonetheless gives

D'Alembert suddenly forgotten

the need

political

distinguished from cultivating decent intellectuals.

the rose without its protective thorn. He does not seem to

As Leo Strauss taught,

should search

avoid

as

citizens,

seems to want

appreciate

study because there seems to be

any thorough discussion of

careful

(he introduces

apolitical

Bloom

page).

every

deserve

in them. Bloom does indeed

so much tmth

what makes a political

the nobility of, some

even

Some twenty

civic education?

political

ago, Bloom

years

Has he forgotten

man?

men, and the consequent need

wrote:

religion, philosophy, and politics play little role in the formative years. There
is openness, but that very openness prepares the way for a later indifference, for
the young have little experience of profound attachments to profound things; the soil

Today

is
he

had to free his

unprepared.

Previously

a professor

instill

prejudices

in them if he

must

wishes

students

from

prejudices: now

to give them the experience of

liber

ation.2

Has Bloom
live

its

by

now

given

on religion and politics,

Closing
impoverishing

and prudence ought to give us

American Mind,

of the

souls,

critics

critics nor

works

how

leaving

philosophy to

energy from his

how Bloom writes can one
does

Judge this book

pause, here. A book titled The

subtitle

more

about

failing democracy

professor

to

managed

why he

Only

that way, and

writes

neither
rhetoric

American

after

seeing
he really

what

criticism make sense.

by its

cover, for

a moment.

'liberals,'

The title

'conservatives.'

to

contemporary
American

the

galvanize

own not-simply-American mind.

guess

and

than a pinch of rhetoric in it. But

with confusing politics with rhetoric,

his defenders have shown adequately how Bloom's

semiobscure

then

has

Bloom

mind with

Only

with

likely

most

charge

Bloom's

thinks.

up

wits alone?

Both civility

although

simply

secondarily
has done anything so drastic

appeals

To

primarily to

assert

that "the

mind"

persons

who

matter of

be

themselves

a new social problem

come the

racy.

2.

by

Saul

Allan Bloom, "The Crisis

keeping

repugnance

who also

Bellow"

ropes

of

Liberal

to close,

surely distress
and broad. This

will

their minds open

trouble

to address? These

to conservatives,

"Foreword

and

on

must also

contemporary liberal's

appeals rather

tion

pride

failing democracy

as

intrigue them. Could there

and

locutions
to any

are

just

enough to over
"Souls"

mention of souls.

worry about education failing democ

in just about everyone, too: liberals,

Education,"

in Robert A. Goldwin,

American Democracy, Chicago: Rand McNally, 1966,

pp.

121-40.

ed..

Higher Educa

How Bloom Did It

because
is

one

have

prominent artists must

of

Harvard

respect; conservatives, because Bellow

our

us, sort of. The back cover endorsements cover

liberals

range:

147

(they

will

trust Conor

Cruise O'Brien

won't suspect she's no

liberal);

and

similarly

a woman

professor

from

least

or at

conservatives,

wide

'neo-

conservatives.'

happily

can gaze

at words of praise

vey C. Mansfield, Jr.

Bloom dedicates the book to his
book's

doubt that his task is to

teacher can

fully

dedication

teacher, to teachers. He lets them know he is

speaks as a

the

all

forces

deforming

lets them know he knows

what makes your students

yourself too

much

Har

and

need not reveal a

the preface here gives a better look at that. There Bloom

real audience;

against

But

students.

Walter Berns

by

with

his

assist

of convention

bit

he advises,

angry,

charges of

fulfill human
He

and prejudice").

more about

teaching

("no

one of them

to

pupil

than

real

nature

also tact

they do

(look

at

don't concern
this, subtly
'elitism'). Centrally, he suggests that the
and

number"

"small

of students who

"will

spend their

lives in

to be auton

an effort

omous,"
quest"

use of

for

of philosophy, are "models for the

undertaking the "solitary
the noblest human faculties and hence are benefactors to all of us, more

what

they

are than

do."

for

what

(When

they

Bloom

reviewers call

a philo

man, they are simply telling us what he says of

himself in his first four pages.) Though solitary, philosophers are not apolitical,
paradoxically enough; Bloom concludes the argument of his preface by observ
sophic

ing

and

not

a religious

that in modern regimes, politics and "reason

added)

cohere more

of the relations

among the reason that discovers theories, the reason that finds

(abetting economic
including the political
his

production,

anger,

passion,

soon to

teachers,

an

of the American Mind depends

"Our
resembles

untimely

and

students.

But the

man.

success of

early Paul Eidelberg; its far

writings

Professor

by

Jaffa,

greater popular success owes

to the second thoughts old

now

are

having

or

some

'liberationists'

thing

The

timing. The

upon a rhetorician's good

certain

politics

Bloom has directed the

which

become his

Virtue,"

Introduction,
perhaps the

to

things),

other

among

'fellow'

For years, Allan Bloom has been

Closing

(emphasis

various

than in traditional regimes. This raises the question

tightly

uses

attention of

uses"

in its

about

liber

ation.

Bloom identifies

moral relativism as a symptom of moral

says that such relativism

to

be the

"every
of

"a

traditional

has

American

educational system

certain

kind

of

replaced

has

human

"the inalienable

grounds

for

a moral goal

being,"

Bloom

"openness."

free

that

Observing

characterized

by

the

the new goal "the

Although liberalism

freedom,"

toward "indiscriminate

modem political philosophers

certain

they

read,

the American

finally

insisted

that

attain,"

formation

democratic

personality,"

"tendency"

used

society."

that it tries to
calls

and

egalitarianism,

natural rights

on

as

such

founders,

has

and

the natural basis

discriminations: e.g., the distinction between freedom

and

the
of

slavery,

Interpretation

148

determined

by

not

tion of Independence gets left out

but surely

reasons

for

but

public opinion or popular sentiment

also

for

Bloom's account,

of

Bloom is

rhetorical ones.

traditional

the self-evident

not

Whereas Jefferson

Declara

of the

for

perhaps

addressing

philosophic
an audience

Franklin,

and

who pri
piety
nonetheless appealed to God in the Declara
of
denied
the
Jesus,
vately
divinity
tion, knowing how their countrymen would conceive of God, Bloom's rhetori
whom

cal problem

counts.

by

God. The Creator-God

by

truth that all men are created equal

is different. He

individuals

must address secularized

God, especially in political discourse.

any
Bloom is nonetheless firm on the moral point. Moral

suspicious of

mention of

existence of

the common good

"extinguishes]

and

(here the language turns necessarily moral)

"Openness"

Only

and

because it
in its

Reason-as-modern-science does

wider.

cannot

drive

us or

lure

'up.'

It is

us

not

not

say, simply,

It says,

son,"

in politics, religion,

is the

possible

"What

and education.

transcend

makes

its

the

found

cave,
regime

"Liberty

political

the rational principles of natural right to

use of

thus uniting the good with one's

the

The American

anerotic.

"Liberty!"

form does

original

digs

to transcend the cave, which relativism merely

reason enables men

deeper

life."

good

liberalism defeats itself.

or relativist

contemporary

for the

the search

the real motive of education,

closes the mind:

denies the

relativism

to rea

structure
a

people,

general with a particular people and

place.

Bloom
some

claims

no

ennobling,

gift

of prophecy.

entirely

new

He knows he
that

prejudice

toward the truth. Instead he more prudently argues

of

remnants

liberalism
virtues

(and

on more

and

generosity
for "respectful

dim; Bloom

moral
will

his

assert

readers

shrewdly appealing to the

to the strong will-to-gullibility in contemporary

"error,"

the

of

vices) in

people.

egalitarianism; there

himself

avail

plausibly

to point

treatment"

sometimes real

than

cannot

help

will

it.

of

is

Moral

that inculcate real

myths

relativism often

does

rest

civility involved, however

treatment, however, he

a certain

"respectful"

By

merely living-and-letting-live, but examining these myths as if they

be true, or contain some truth, as determined by reason
"to seek the

means not
might

good

reason."

by

using
(relativism unjustifiably

Showing
exempts

that moral relativism

itself from its

'left'

(fostering
sociate
'facts'

would

extremism, not

reason

from
not

and

toleration,

morality in the
To moralize

minds

with

such

about the

individuals. In

unexamined assumptions or prejudices,

some

features

Bloom divides the

American

body

of

accustomed

Creator-God

order

dissolving

his book into three

reas-

to segregating

or the

natural

law

to liberate them from their

Bloom begins

of them while

itself in theory
in practice

'right'). Bloom aims to

of men

"values.'

work

appealing to

and

refutes

own strictures) and

with

those prejudices.

others.

"Students,"

parts:

Style,"

"Nihilism,

"The University": the taught, the teaching, the teaching

meainstitution. He does not have a section called
preferring to
and

"Teachers."'

How Bloom Did It

his

sure

criticisms of

"Students,"

he begins

^S-^S,

149

his

readers

in small,

when students were

really

sometimes

but

not with criticism

students

new

doses. In

He invokes the

period

usefully for his

"The old was

more

and,

many of today's senior faculty

for these American students, and in that they
when so

purposes,

concentrated

nostalgia.

were students.

for every impor

were right,

fresh."

tant old insight is

But there were also victims, victims of the

perennially
university, which failed to give them a truly liberal education. Bloom thus
begins skillfully to

alternate

flattery
During the course
error seen by his best
subtle

complaints

about

today's

wayward

youth

sympathy for their elders.

these assessments, Bloom does indeed

with

and apparent
of

critics:

he talks books,

That is to say, he dampens

gymnastic.

not

Book; he

the

But this is

spiritedness.

commit

almost
not

the

ignores

nihilism; it

is rhetoric, concededly for a philosophic not a religious purpose. Bloom is

bookish because his audience is accidentally bookish. To put it
another way
as Bloom does in his commentary on Plato
he "abstracts from

deliberately
body,"

the

because he has forgotten it, but because (as Socrates does) he

not

his

wants

auditors

historicism

to forget it. He

toward too much or too

ideology

wants

to get them beyond their

bodily

that supreme combination of the

against

materialism,

books

tends to regard

little thymos. Bloom

and

thus

uses

finally

and

the bookishness of historicist

historicism

against

Far from

as mere epiphenomena.

materialist

bookish, tending

the

believing

itself,

which

books merely

artificial, as some contend, Bloom clearly regards them as written speeches,

partly artificial but also originating in nature and pointing at nature. "Without
is a rhetorical exaggeration; surely no one
books there is nothing to
imagines that, without Bloom's book, there would be no crisis of the university
see"

to see. Least of all does Bloom succumb to the illusion that the American mind
would not

be closing if he had

Physical

eros

not said

characterizes

the

it

was.

student

tendency

of

the middle aged and the elderly,

this state

of

affairs, now aggravated

by

'liberation'

old-fashioned;

do

with

be

unhip.

timing;

overlook
of music.

nearly
such

at

all, some of them grew

this stage of the game

Mesmerized

by

his introduction
He

spoil

shows

it. He

it

up

on

ideology. He
his

Elvis.3

might even

Bloom's discussion

of

remarks

music

can

prepare

deplore

audience

feel too
much

to

become fashionable to
some reviewers

themes into this account

the soul for reasoning, or very

that the Enlightenment

preparation, only to find it had

the

also manages

This too has

eroticism,

of philosophic and political

how

exploits

vices, to

other

to attack the eroticism of the young without making

after

Bloom

generation.

inclined to

believed it

removed a good

defense

could

do

without

against irrational-

"old-fogeyish"

3.

Professor Kesler does

object

to Bloom's

intercourse."

having

"the beat

the Four

Tops?"

of sexual

characterization of rock music as

"Could this really be said

of the

Beatles, Bob Dylan,

'soul'

No, but

pace. Professor

McCartney's cutesy little melodic hooks

paroxysms in the girls of its day.

folksinging

and

if that's rock, it's

aren't rock,
pumice.

And

even

and, as for Paul

it induced

erotic

Interpretation

150

ism

by forgetting

how to tame

bad

consequences

for

jabs

by

Rock

music

stop

makes

with

music

and think

capitalism.

but

one

with

'relationships.'

they

are called

what

happens

by

an

Young

a social

when a nation makes

equality
self-evidently true in

political principle considered

people are

"spiritually

rhetorical

That

will

social

make

consequences;

Here Bloom

latinism,

prim

oddly

yielding

few

no small achievement.

solipsistic world,

in

even gets

horror,

that

subtler ones

with

He

education and politics.

rock

associating

excounterculturites

rougher passions

fact instead

observes

of a moral and

carefully defined sense.

unclad, unconnected, isolate, with no inherited
a

anyone."

or unconditional connection with

ately
but a

exaggerates

in

bookish way, claiming that "America is actually nothing

which theories have been played as tragedy and

come

great stage on

Speaking

to

ideas

of praise and

matter even with respect

Teacher, in

sexuality.

sexual passion to

you: egalitarianism and

sexual

liberalism,

gets

firm

Lacking

shows

how

social

supposed

equality

and

for

sobering thought

"passionlessness,"

liberation

the re-conceiving of

yield

deal."

natural

you

Professor Bloom has

Even com-passion, the very fuel of social

fuel of egalitarianism. For if all are the

colorless

same, why pity? And why desire?

eros.

repre

blame, he

to the stubborn and ever-fascinating nature of

goods?

"no

'abstract'

and

the nadir of

liberalism had

big
diluted by the

as

activity

your

be twin

'concrete'

teachers for whom

a generation of

respectively the apogee

sent

Again, Bloom deliber

or

anything

Self-protectiveness (anger

attachments,

people

young

and

attach

fear)

replaces

themselves

to

themselves, fearful of anything much beyond that. Hectored by moralists who

do not know how to educate either the reasonable or the passionate parts of the
soul, students blink uncomprehendingly

Because

all

but the

eros, Bloom's
students,

youngest

rhetoric

while

The book's

effectively

part,

intellectual foundations

and

"last

men"

but last

teachers have at least some dim

carefully teaching
central

not even

appeals to their sense of

teachers of their own

"Nihilism, American
of

those

persons.

memories of old

superiority to their

longstanding

errors.

Style,"

uncovers

the

moral

Nietzschean egalitarianism,

errors:

Bloom clearly states that the American founders

historicism. But he also says. "The great mystery is

concept no one anticipated.

do
the

not

teach relativism or

kinship of [relativism and historicism]

by education or experience for

to American souls that were not

it."

prepared
response
authors

among Bloom's

as

critics.

This

Critics rightly

point receives no adequate

complain

Cooper, Hawthorne, Emerson, Whitman,

and

that such American

Howells

never

find

way into the book. But to take the central name on the list, Emerson was
the man who popularized German historicism in the United States; the first
their

American
with

'intellectual'

adumbrates

nothing less (or more) than Hegelianism

was one of Nietzsche's intellectual

the rationalism cut out. And Emerson

heroes. This

means

corruption almost

Bloom does

that Americans have been

somewhat

vulnerable

to such

from the beginning.

offer

an

explanation,

albeit

problematic

one.

He describes

How Bloom Did

John Locke

theoretical

subordinated to modern natural rights

tamed,

Nor is this 'self

Lockean

intends "to

man who

finds his

man

in

soul

either the classical

for

quest

joy

too

to the

"Creativity,"

titled

.ve7/Lcentered.

the Christian sense;

'Greek'

not to

when

happi

"creativity,"

or

fifteen),

to all men what

reason."

is,

that
or

joyless, he looks

Christian salvation, but eventually to

Rousseau and perfected by Nietzsche. In his

ness

extend

few: the life according to

This is not
only
but primarily the subspecies of useful reason that serves
the conquest of nature. Eros and thymos do not disappear, but they
preserve of

reason

production,
are

151

Enlightenment

as an

had been the

It'

(the

chapter

central

by

anticipated

as

of

eighth

nihilists'

Bloom

attacks

the

exaltation of

making

at

the expense of thinking. Democratic America shrinks from the pride of these

"there is in America

Rather,

philosophers.

to distinguish oneself,

a mad rush

something has been accepted as distinguished, to package it in

such a way that everyone can feel
Bloom deplores this vain egali
tarianism, in part because it affords so little solid ground for statesmanlike
and, as soon as

included."

prudence, and for politics generally.

statesmen

are

founding

generation, genuine

these few do not much engage Bloom's

and

here.

attention

Hence

modern political philosophy, even

in its

forms, leaves itself

soberest

to the thrust of Nietzsche's terrible swift sword.

vulnerable

divine

replace

in America,

rare

After the

because

providence

scientific progressivism

is

'History'

cannot
a

lie

with respect

to the soul, if not with respect to the body. Insofar as the Founders partake of
that philosophy

and,

Franklin

all

deeply

although

perhaps

did,

of

elitism, his

perennially
passage

if

in

to

will

warlike

by

central

by

with

knowing

the

it is

problem

not

true.

throughout

their

founding

work

passage, Bloom
and

is

also

political

and

vulnerable,

regime

is

not

Nietzsche's

summarizes

describes Nietzsche's irrationalist

Peaceful

power.

commercial

its

republicanism stands

philosophic premises.

Then, in

his critics, Bloom writes,

a cultural relativist must care

while

ways;

those who reject

unnoticed

publicly

let's face it: Jefferson, Madison,

exclusively

same

egalitarianism

rationalist

threatened

aside,

not

the

In the book's

philosophizing.
refutation

not

rhetoric

for

This is

culture more

somehow

his career,

than truth, and

impossible,

perhaps without a

and

fight for

Nietzsche

satisfactory

culture

struggled

resolution.

company with Nietzsche precisely on the issue of the rational

pursuit of tmth. While conceding the force of Nietzsche's objections to En
lightenment rationalism, he concedes nothing to Nietzsche's attack on Socrates

Bloom

parts

Plato. He

and

insists that the Enlightenment, "whatever its

also

center"

least kept

reason

"at the

of

the soul

praising

what

failings,"

at

Nietzsche

con

demns.4

4.

for the

It is true that Nietzsche

sake of

agrees with
one

life. The

Nietzsche that truth,

denies that the

Germany

or

wants

spiritedly to defend

real antagonism of

quest

Athens, but

to

or the rational

of unaided reason

Jerusalem.)

not culture

for its

own

sake, but culture

Nietzsche, is not culture but life. Bloom never

quest for it, are somehow incompatible with life. (If
serves truth, or life, one gets on the road not to

truth, for

Interpretation

152

Nihilism in the American

democracy

breaking

while

takes the egalitarianism of commerce and

style

the

natural

tarianism. The problem, of course,

Nietzsche

when

limits

conventional

and

Fort Lauderdale, is

goes to

that neither may survive the experience. One of Bloom's best

has

ments

"It is

criticism:

attracted

appalling.

What is astounding

we accept

such

ing

as

simply
tract

defects

limited

to deplore

reminded of

at the

an

the

image

audience

'conservative'

downplays the

initially

now)

invites

to

us

no

moral

heads

our

shake

teacher will

good

by

far

so

gone

this? Then Bloom goes

intellectual condition, I

of our current

the

over

that relativism evinces.

our

in

for the

keep being

Frenchmen splashing happily in the water

annual vacations legislated by Leon Blum's

newsreel pictures of

It

government.

Rhineland."

paid

1936, the

was

These

occupy the
stand political

and

his

another

surely

to remain untouched

as

seashore, enjoying the

Popular Front

he

passage

Virtue"

to

not speak

young,
very lives,
heart in the National Educational Association

bourgeois bolshevism
knockout: "As

which

"dogmatism"

unconcern about our

Can there be

he does

his book just

make

In this

(remoralizing,

and

lamentable

with

in "Our

relativism

of

Ignorance,"

would

circulation.

of relativism

demur?

This

moralist.

defects

moral

in this chapter, "Our

with

the

addressed

"Students,"

I find

easygoing lack of concern about what it

(emphases added). Does no one see the wit, here'.' Hav

our

already

or

and our

relativism,

lives"

for

means

and

rhetorical argu

relativism

immorality
degrading is the dogmatism
the

not

that egali

on

same year

Hitler

was permitted

are not the words of a man who

fails to

rhetoric, or who

doesn't

to

under

see that politics consists of more than

mere rhetoric.

"Western

rationalism

has

culminated

in

a rejection of reason.

The book's third part, "The

chapter

in the book, "From

suggesting

a sort of

But he begins

history

Rektoratstrede,"

Apology

to Heidegger's

of reason as embodied

America.

with

Citing

Bloom

to public

result

longest

the

contains

Socrates'

in

Tocqueville

opinion,"

ment

Is this

University,"

echoes the sentence

educational

on the

in the

institutions.

danger

of

"enslave

preface, on

knowing

only by one's students. Democracy increases this danger, and modern

democracy increases it still more, by making popular consent legitimate and

oneself

insisting
sort

of

that it can

be

rational.

prejudice, because

prejudice."

Then there is

challenges their criticisms

formed

by

through with the

help

in two

or

character of

his judgment, dictated

"For

thinkers who did

difficult

'abstract'

or

ways:

by

modern men who

is the

live in

have themselves been transformed

experience man again

of

to experiences that are

prejudice

worst

is the only instrument for liberation from

sentence Bloom's critics overlook, a sentence that

abstractions and who

tions, the only way to

bookish

"Reason transformed into

reason

the character

by thinking

by

these abstractions

not share them and who can

impossible
Bloom's

is

to

have

argument

of

a world
abstrac

lead

us

help."

The

without their

throughout his book

contemporary Americans,

is, in

particu-

How Bloom Did If 153

larly

those

'intellectual'

the

of

effectively challenging it,

of

modernity,

was

Bloom

as

so

nearly

issue

the

except on
'abstract'

founding

Bloom's

classes.

Bloom's understanding

perceive

apparently do

and

contends.

The

education

not

from

this prevents them

American

of whether or not the

distinguished from liberal

effectiveness of civic as

critics

question

the

of

in today's climate,

necessarily depends not only on whether Bloom's rhetorical argument portrays

the founders accurately, but on the extent to which he portrays today's Ameri
cans accurately.

Bloom

"the best

calls

[the]

regimes,"

of

Enlightenment

of

of

makes sense.

Put

'bury'

in the United

rudderless.

and revelation.
a synthesis

between

In my opinion,

Bloom's critics, the founders

in

such

pre

But this kind

of

ignore the fact that the Declara

not

were well aware of

the

it is

if

you

that you

find

Creator-God,
no surprise

and

professedly in the opinion of

the distinction between reason

a politic and political synthesis of the

two,

irreligious hues.
the nature of

given

Bloom's audience,

gious-latitudinarian to atheistic, perhaps

the

States."

authors

in the

that in time made America quite safe for individuals of varying

However,
of

you

reason and

although

Their Declaration is

religious and even

God

"The

not

Kesler- Jaffa-West critique

Here the

that God in the name of reason,

reason mdderless.

Creator-God.

about the

differently, if

inconsistency

tion admits no

therefore

is

somewhat

Again he does

a political

scheme of government would result

ponderance of reason and rational men

reason, Bloom continues,

one."

but

Declaration's language

The Federalist hoped their

which

rationalism,

not even primarily, a scientific project

acknowledge the

liberal democracy, ""entirely

he describes as "perhaps

the modem

Declaration, knowing

minds

by

from

ranges

reli-

must remain silent on the Creator-

he

that the Creator-God

Allan Bloom's

If intellectuals

which

powers,

rhetorical

will not

be

resurrected

formidable though these

be brought to believe, however,

they may
(in fact very old) way, a way that
enables them to discover the ends of human life instead of reducing those ends
to the subhuman. Bloom begins by arguing that Enlightenment philosophers are
are.

will not

be brought to think, to

not

ideologues but tme

reason

in

new

philosophers,

men

who

whole."

"Philosophy is

account of the

not a

attempt

doctrine but

to give "the rational

life"

"openness"

tice,

here, Bloom's

phers, for

all

ultimate

defense

of genuine

than

anyone

with

differ from Socrates

not

no populace,

nonphilosophers,
pretend

and

otherwise.

they

no
philoso

want

nature

Modern

philosophers

political program.

But they

be tmly popular, for it inspires no awe,

person. Reason will never truly enlighten

no

Enlightenment

The

but in their

can never

consoles

program, whereby "the

what

else, even their

in their

too know that philosophy

benefits

way of
"so the

the differences in their teachings, have more in common with one

followers."

another

perhaps

modern

university

powerful

is good"; instead

philosophers
reflects

are persuaded
of

know that,
the

that

even

Enlightenment

as

they

political

letting

the professors do

as

Socrates does, the

educating aristocrats,

Interpretation

1 54

Enlightenment
modern

indeed
would
of

argument

even

demieducated educators,

of

are, and

they logically

what

is,

knew it

They

philosophers.

observes:

an educational

philosophy's

them

those

what

He thus imitates Enlightenment

entail.

Speaking of ancient philosophy,

response to the hostility of civil society is
than philosophic, the

rather more poetic or rhetorical

endeavor,

purpose of which

teaches

and

prejudices

showing its limitations.

while
"

Bloom

the

against

rationalism

popularized

Bloom takes the half-understood Enlightenment

audience

rhetoric

not

is the

enlightenment

pretended

"The fact that

way."

be that

his

hard

is

This

populace.

education.

civic

of

superficial

premises

the

educates

version

is to temper the

softening the

passions of gentlemen's souls,

pity."

passions such as anger, and

hardening

the

Substi

soft ones such as

"gentlemen"

teachers"

tute

for

"contemporary
of what

summary

Bloom is

and

in The

doing

Closing

hard; he is

ern rationalist

fashion

as

often

ideology;

sion and noblesse oblige.

fashion, he is

allergic

Hence his

aristocrat.

have

must

ground,

gone

He

not

find

a post-Christian,

he

needs a civic education

and

therefore need

it) liberal,

but

now

in true

underground, or

be brought back to

illusion that he has transcended it

so

far

political

by

mod

is

modern

not a true

be (and may be if his

is, liberating. A

that

in

makes much of compas

to civility. His patriotism has atrophied. He

to

better

American Mind. Like

passions, crystallized

civic education must appear

ties and temper allow

ambitions

prey to thymotic

the

will

of
has tenure

the gentleman of antiquity, the modern professor

not work too

you

man

aboveground as

to lose

abili

political

whose

sight of

the

thought while remaining under the

the force of his intellect and the

greatness

his heart. It helps if recently he has bruised his foolish head on some reality,
and is ready to listen to a more sober voice. This voice asks him a question:

of

"Does

reason,

society based

does it

or

on

reason

approach more

necessarily
closely

make

unreasonable

demands

on

to reason and submit to the ministra

reasonable?"

To

tions of the
question

by

and

avoided

way Strauss
attention.

intellectuals to think

about that

step in the right direction. And to suggest that

Heidegger "did not take seriously enough the changes wrought
rationalists and hence the possibility that the Socratic way might

a small

the modern

have

modern

"perhaps"

is

Nietzsche

prepare

the modern

rediscovered

Finally,

impasse,"

conveys

namely,

without

the thought of Leo Strauss in a

bringing

Strauss's

name to public

to warn that one way to force reason and egalitarian dogma

be seen in Soviet tyranny, and to do this so that contemporary

may find it plausible, is a public service.
In his final chapter, "The Student and the
Bloom shows how he

to cohabit may
'liberals'

University,"

would reintroduce

humanities,
the classic

in the

soul

the prudent study of politics. "The apolitical character of the

the habitual deformation or suppression of the political

literature,

which should

be

part of a political

that could be filled with any politics,

content

education, left

particularly

in

a void

the most vulgar,

current."

extreme and

their current

Here Bloom

uses

political egalitarianism.

the snobbery

At the

same

of cultivated souls against

time he manages to

suggest

It-

How Bloom Did

'coverup'

has occurred, that Enlightenment has

that a
political

certain

And there is

matters.

it is "the only

relations";
of

all, political

social

wisdom

anger,

both

studies

and

war

in the

enlightened

is

science

peace

looks

science which

fully

not

more

war

com

their

and

face."

"Most

is the only discipline in the university (with

the philosophy department) that has a philosophic

Not only moderation, justice, and courage, then, but even the love of
may be found among members of the American Political Science

Association,
Bloom

"Political

more:

science

the possible exception of

branch."

because it

than economics

prehensive

unusual

155

by

they do

although

would

flattery

the means of

Bloom's judgment, for his

the majority of the Association.

not constitute

reintroduce politics

and

and

chosen

the

prudent

of stem

study

justice

seduction, the art

curiosity

and

of eros.

In

audience, that is the only effective way to do

it.
Neither Nietzsche
A

reveal

first

ted

and

any

nihilist would

face the lack

itself

nor

nihilist
as

say,

Bloom does, "It is the hardest task

for

of cosmic support

by

love

still

of all

about."

But this does

what we care

nihilism; much depends upon who

last

does, "Philosophy is

says, as Bloom

of our own

our

'"we"

Are

are.

lives,

we

beings

not

to

in

anima

Is death the

children, cities?

"we"

for us,

best to be courageously overthrown? Or are

convinced that philosophy means "learning how to die"? Do we regard "the
intense pleasure of
to be sufficient compensation for the knowledge

king

terrors

of

at

insight"

that we must die? Those are the principal alternatives for the Socratic philoso
phers.
are

nihilists.

assertion.

to

their successors, the Epicureans come closest to nihilism, but

Among

not

leave

dote to

Nihilists find insight painful,

Epicureanism

might

sufficient evidence
mental closure

is

be

fight the

and

a plausible charge against

to decide the issue. He does

not.

pain

Bloom,
Part

the raising of questions than the

more

with

self-

were

he

of the anti

delivering

of

answers.

It is right to

regard civic education

liberal

as prior to

nately, too many modern intellectuals imagine themselves

matters,

even

of this
way.

simply
Students

from the

be

Unfortu

liberated from
who see

addressed

in

They

can

be

addressed

in

the

of the

beyond the

universe

civic education
and

there are

majority

of

right

may

passions:

bounded

by

reach them.

yet another way; even the most sophomoric

patriotism, a desire

Sesame Street

But

someone

not enough teachers who can

his

profession.

folly

different

them are only junior ideologues. It isn't hard to disillusion them.

among
have some

civic

'Conservatives'

obligations of civility.

are not part of the problem.

can

education.

Mirabile dictu,

do

and

has to
so.

for

MTV. A
give

Bloom

some are

some

sort
more

Many

of

love

directly

them that education,

speaks

listening.

to the unable

The

Closing

A Review

of

Philosophic Mind

the

of

Bloom's

Closing

of the American Mind

Harry Neumann
Error is
error

Professor Bloom
That

is their

error

for their
liberal I

the

shares

error

book

this

of politics

mean anyone who

to

with

individual freedom

believes that the individual is

individual liberation takes

precedence

over

however that liberation is interpreted. Bloom's brand

his

blindness.
Nietzsche

cowardice.

most

liberals.

unwillingness to realize the nihilism or atheism responsible

subordination

the state;

informing

not

is

for

unqualified preference

of

or

important than

political

obligation

liberalism

gives rise

nonphilosophers, for

philosophers over

By

self-interest.

more

to

philoso

phy over politics, for Socrates over Achilles, for peace over war.
The anger or moral indignation of Achilles, the chief political passion, is,
for Bloom, "of all the experiences of the soul the most inimical to reason and

hence to the

(pp. 327,

To be sure,

philosophy.

daintiness

Mozart to

of

moral

71).

He

it

as

the passion most hostile to

indignation lacks the

Bloom's

whom

sees

aesthetic

good students are

charms

and

eagerly introduced

(p. 69).

Moral indignation is
Bloom

castigates as

(p.

the
minority:

"clearly

324).

"Most

more

akin

to

"McCarthy

nonacademic and

This liberal taste does

and those

antiacademic, the

not place

McCarthy."

professors were against

him"

like

whom

barbarians

Bloom in the

He is

outraged

at

academic

that many

liberals (for example, the AAUP) opposed to McCarthy were not opposed to
freedom in the late sixties. Against these threats,

student threats to academic

Bloom,

the

opponent

of

moral

indignation (politics) in academics, is

indignant. For those faculty-student disrupters

phers:
of

"The tiny band

of men who participate

However bad

the university.

was always a

divination that

about"

(pp.

is the

If

271-72).
of the

soul

an

moral

were

fully

hostile to Bloom's
in (philosophy)

or a

indignation is

antiphilosophical and

university, Bloom's indignation (at threats to

philoso

are the soul

may have been

Newton was what they

universities

Aristotle

most

there
were all

philosophy

"philosophy"

its university) reveals his hostility to the university's very soul.

I believe that Bloom, however unwillingly, is opposed both to philosophy

and

Author's
and

note:

The

research

for this

review was assisted

the John Brown Cook Association for Freedom. The

in the

review

Education's

is

Only

more

fully

Serious

by

grants

from the Earhart Foundation

problem of nihilism and education raised

discussed in my articles: "Political Philosophy or Nihilist Science?

in Natural Right and Political Right: Essavs in Honor of

Question,"

V. Jaffa (Durham, N.C., 1984), pp. 365-74; "Politics or Nothing! Nazism's Origin in
Journal of Value Inquiry (Vol. 19. 1985), pp. 225-34; "Nihilism
Scientific Contempt for
Claremont Review of Books (Fall, 1984), pp. 26-28.
Challenged and

Harry

Politics,"

Defended,"

Interpretation

158

fault him for this opposition, only for the lack of

it. In reality, Bloom shares my atheism or nihilism,

do

the university. I

and

not

courage to acknowledge

however

is

agreement

our

much

his

by

obfuscated

leaves to hide his

(liberal) fig

acceptable

need

nihilist nakedness

for academically
for example, his

books,"

anti-McCarthyism, and Mozart.

championing of "great
I found the chapter informed by Bloom's indignation, his very political
condemnation of his colleagues of the late sixties, to be the most lively and

book (pp. 313-35,

alive part of the

men,"

he

still

dancing

"philosophic"

has

(politics) in him,

some chaos

(pp.

star

194-207)?

It

how

showed

unlike the

to give birth to

perhaps enough

deeply

"last

political,

as opposed

to

(in his sense), Bloom is!

Bloom's

agree with

prejudice

the truth about oneself and one's

of

It indicated that,

347-56).

that politics and its indignation obfuscates

"It is

world:

truth dependent on what is politically

his Thrasymachean

contention that

essential not

to make the pursuit

relevant"

(p.

"ultimately

283).

also agree with

the only authority

America"

in

majority"

is "the

(pp. 246-56,

enormous

Thrasymachus, Bloom

Opposing

319).

nihilists

such

as

myself, Lincoln (p. 29) insisted that the "principle

and

equality"

of

"the

and not

enormous

ity

in

far

more

Lincoln
in

common

if

neither are nor

and

with

we

dethroning "by

dare to know

accurately
Instead he deplores

political and theoretical

to be philo
philosophy's

democracy

democracy

In America anyhow, everybody has

I do. We

or

want

took away

philo

377-78).

Bloom
and

ourselves

self-knowledge.

philosophy's privileges

(PP-

his best

Socrates than Thrasymachus. Bloom,

Bloom lacks this

sophic.

"ultimately the only author

contemporary student, Harry Jaffa, have
was

America."

its

wants

to turn this around, making politics subservient to philosophy

university.

"'Never did I think that the university was properly ministe

the society around it. Rather I thought and think that society is

rial to

ministe

university"

rial

(p.

to the

from

245).

This

ambition

is

misunderstanding of what philosophy is,

tion informed by philosophy
is.
a

Nietzsche knew better. His

philosophy

and

problem of

Socrates is the

schools

opposition

shaped

by

problem.

it.

to Socrates

Bloom

dialogue among

cosmopolitan

constitute

"the

few

real

was

directed

an

institu

against

both

that, for Nietzsche, the

sees

opposi

disputation"

philosophic

Bloom,

political and springs

He wrongly interprets Nietzsche's

tion to Socrates as "a classic

eternal

inherently

and what a school

community

(p.

intellectuals

of man,

in the

308),

of an

part

for

of all ages who,

midst of all

the

self-

"

contradictory
united

by

"their

common

this is the meaning

have

(p.

simulacra of

community
concern for the

of

true

education.

that

Not Nietzsche's!

These

cosmopolitans are

the only real common good

good

the riddle of the

improbable

is exemplary for
community
275-7D. 381-82). This community is the heart
a

381).

all

of

philosopher-kings.

other

Bloom's university

They
(pp.

and

its

The

Nietzsche's

of

and

The

willing.

destructiveness
Venice

rejection of reason and science

his desperate faith in the

its

scious and

Socratic dialogues. In that nihilism, there is

nothing individual! To be something rather than noth

and

Nietzsche's

required

in favor

159

nihilism precluded

common

nothing

ing

of the Philosophic Mind

Closing

horror

real

Wagnerian love

and

its "cries

of

(knowledge

of

Nietzsche's Dionysius, its

death, is

of

of

Dionysian

redemptive virtue of a

uncon

essential

in Mann's Death in

clearer

the damned plunging into

reality)

nothingness"

(p. 234).

Far from sharing Bloom's reverence for his true community of philosopherkings and their ageless dialogues, Nietzsche wanted to purge his state of
anyone with

university education: "'I

just as Plato drove

would

drive

my ideal state the

is my
university springs from rejec

'educated'

so-called

Nietzsche's terrorism
tion of the

heart

Socratic

point of

or at

Nietzsche

revered

rejection of

faith

Bloom's university, for their

to

enslavement

to transpolitical vistas unsullied

pretend

by
is

From

which philoso

men"

politics.

nihilism's core.
responsible

wise

indignation

by

a pure mind.

this faith

or opinion

"the famous

criticizes the philosophers,

terrorism."1

the faith in a nonarbitrary,

least divinable,

view,

phers experience as more than mere

out of

poets; this

and of philosophy,

knowable,

eternal good somehow

philosophic or

Bloom's

against

Socrates

of

out the

However

much

(a

or anger

for

they

powerful

"tarantula,"

political

they really

pretence!),

revenge, that

is,

are

They

of politics.

of the

victims

by

are enslaved

the spirit of

sense, the herd

common

instinct,

and its essentially moral-political bias.

Common sense, the herd instinct, is never egalitarian. It

one chief care

live

to

a good

in

life. This

"cave"

one's

herd members, that

all

or

them.

ing

is informed

care

herd. Unlike

members turn this care

Philosophers,

into

that

radically

There

by

is to

herd members,

herd members,

philosophic

Consequently

question.

for oneself,

good

philosophic

a question whose adequate answer

is,

inculcates

always

is

get what

the moral-political orthodoxies of

unphilosophic

to answer their herd's chief

political.

care

spend

forever

their

herd

eludes

lives

striv

philosophers always are

are no apolitical philosophers,

only

philosophic

herd

members.

The
rational

philosophic

inquiry

is forced

upon

of the moral-political question

primacy

since

both

it

sets

the

philosophic

and

Nietzsche in his Joyful Science (1, 354)

calls the strongest

In his Zarathustra (11:8) he rightly discerns

the hallmark of "the famous
that is exemplary for

is

not revealed

by

inquiry. Faith in its primacy

unphilosophic herd members by what

goal of all rational

enslavement

instinct

of

to the herd

any herd.

instinct

as

men"

comprising Bloom's "true community

(p. 382).

wise

communities"

all other

What Bloom (p. 285) calls "the uncompromising difference that separates
from nonphilosophers is not about death and dying, as he

philosophers"

the

believes, but
1.
p.

about

whether

the

tme

(Nietzsche) Kritische Gesamtausgabe,

172.

common

edited

by

Colli

good
and

without

Montinari, Berlin,

which

both

1967!!., hi 3,

Interpretation

160

is

and politics

philosophy

meaningless

although

they,

unlike

adequate

grasp

of

acquisition of this
main object of

(philosophic)

cal

is

concern

it (cf. Republic,
knowledge both

not

distinguish between theory

members,

also their main theoretical concern.

they

sec

practical need and

the

Aristotle, Rousseau
virtue.

Their

Their thought
which

or

Bloom,

between theoreti

and practice,

main

never

practical

transcends

their birth

(nature)

them.

roots

Scientists

sophists, not philosophers (p.

or

liberated from their

"cave,"

beyond

philosophers are permeated

main

for

question

loyalty: philosophy
phers. Philosophers

Like

is

philosophers

the good

whether

all unphilosophic

good

the sting of the awareness that

or politics?

discredit)

in

are

for unquestioning

really

truly is

what

for themselves;

they do

not.

Thus

life is philosophy

the notion of goodness dominant in one's cave) or unquestioning

(questioning

need

by

lib

256), consider themselves

good and evil.

herd members, they believe they know

the

herd

good

good citizens,

pressing

(moral-political)

practical

and

Like

5053-51 id).
as their most

the original moral-political orientation of the cave in

eral,

all

that it exists,
know,
merely believe!
unphilosophic herd members, believe that they lack an
not

their theoretical inquiry. Unlike

do

philosophers

Like

exists.

the philosophers claim to know

an

This is the
untenable

loyalty

for

never settled question

psychological

between their

tension

(which their ignorance does

not permit them

their need to seriously question that loyalty.

and

misguided, Heidegger's Rektoratsrede reflects the only

philoso

serious

to

However

attempt

in

our

century to recover awareness of philosophy's necessarily political rootedness.

If Bloom really were interested in being philosophic, he would have taken the
Rektoratsrede

much more

Like Socrates, Lincoln,

loyalty

to their people.

"it

consider

essential

seriously (p.
or

Jaffa,

They

not

311).

philosophers must experience

cannot, like

politically
what

is

283).

For

what

is

(p.

381).

Aristotle
what

is

politically is precisely
to know "the only real com

most relevant

the need
philosophically
It is therefore not sufficient philosophically to declare "I
but
(p. 292), unless the man asserting it also

most relevant

good"

mon

or

to make the pursuit of truth dependent on

relevant"

(p.

that depth of

Bloom, Machiavelli,

ignorance"

hold there is

no sin

has, like Lincoln

ness

in

what

necessary, if

or Jaffa, an unquestioning (and therefore "ignorant") rooted

his herd holds to be good and right. Bloom is not alive to this, the
not

sufficient,

condition

phy really is Laputan science,

ignorance of the true common
ority

of

Bloom's

precludes

for

floating

98).
pher.

his

philoso

empty air (pp. 293-97). Philosophic

Laputan confidence in the superi

philosopher-kings

to

ordinary herd members. (Indeed it

herd members!)

characterization of political men as mere

implies that the decisive

not

on

Consequently

good precludes

my
Weber's distinction between facts

tion;

philosophy.

insofar

as

alternative

it legitimates

But Weber, like Bloom

Still he

and

values

is philosophy

is

philosophic

insofar

as

it

or politics, reason or revela

"facts"

a meaningless

or myself, was

realized that the choice

science of

basically

between

(pp.

194-

a scientist, not a philoso

ultimate

values

(philosophy

or

The

Closing

of the Philosophic Mind

161

politics) is far more crucial morally than science, a trivial

did not, like Bloom, hurl philosophy into this

nihilist

business. He

elevating it

(by

emptiness

above

politics).

Genuine philosophy is a risky business, a two-edged sword directed against

politics in the name of
philosophy (""I hold there is no sin but ignorance.") but
also against philosophy in the name of politics ("McCarthyism
my country,
Philosophers

right or wrong!").

true to their political

remain

roots while seri

ously questioning their worth, a difficult, necessarily esoteric enterprise.

Bloom wrongly believes that Thrasymachus "sees the truth about

Socrates"

(p. 283)

when

Socrates both

philosophic,

respects

faith in the primacy

respect, the

for

he "sees that Socrates does

philosophy.

Only

and

city."

not respect

does

"philosophy"

is

Bloom

Nietzsche's Joyful Science

it, Bloom is

closer

Beyond Good

or

Nietzsche

to

real

from Bloom's

or

an

Aristotle's Metaphysics but in

Evil. Without

of

that scientific

men

from the

daring

to realize

tyranny

actual

satirized

politics

of

by

their

"community"

the apolitical

of

mind.

refusal

Bloom's book

Beyond Good

and

"American

of

Mind"

except

in

it is closing or closed
is ministerial to the

notion that

unphilosophic prejudice

Thus America's

Mind

not

simply

community for Bloom (cf. Hippias in Plato's

sity."

its

can

337c-d).

I doubt that there is anything like

catalogues and other propaganda. The

close

concern, is primary

this subordination of politics to

or

and

herd and, therefore, from philosophy, in favor

philosopher-kings, the only

he is

Aschenbach than to Socrates.

or

There is in Bloom's pedagogy much

Aristophanes and Swift which liberates

Protagoras

as

but the

the city

Thrasymachus

or

of

in Bloom's book

clearest not

Insofar

the

respect

of the main moral-political

scientists such as

the city. The consistent elaboration

respect

not

"society

that

college
springs
univer

itself to Bloom's university is said to

called
The Closing of the Philosophic
be

to enslave
should

Evil

or more

accurately, Heart of Darkness or,

paraphrasing Bloom on Swift: How Scientists Exploit The Nonscientists So As

To Live Their Version Of The Contemplative Life (pp. 295-96).

Following Nietzsche,
means

Weber

including

inspiring
primary
which

the
also

those

all

faith that

cares

are

men

moral-political

at

of

Nietzsche knew that

as

living

or

prejudices,

No

man

to speak

bigotries,
can

Hume

called

science was

bluntly

a coherent,

nihilism

or

(p.

1,

intelligible

354).

reality,

nihilist,

revealing

points

of

by

world

Deprived

of

that life is a chaos of

them. As "Europe's

as recommended

superstitions

avoid

in

would realize

nothing but interpretations, hypotheses,

menting,

of

Nietzsche's

cares, the concern with the good, are

home (Joyful Science,

(and beasts)

experiences, impressions
ist"

knowledge

of

inspires the illusion

comforting myth,

that science,

but tme to Schopenhauer,

overpowering reality's nihilism: the heart of

willing, is nothing. Nietzsche saw that the herd instinct

teacher, Weber despaired

existence,

realized

Unlike Nietzsche,

nihilism.

first

a world

view,

in

this

empty

perfect nihil

consisting

methods

of

of experi

Bloom (p. 238), nothing but

253).

be less

nihilist

than another.

Everything,

Interpretation

162

all

particularly

Mann

than

is

transcend nihilism,

ter, than Socrates

man
can
an

Bloom (p.

as

Lincoln's

be

to

or anyone else's.

Dostoyevski's

When

tion, 1

for

attacked

Nietzsche's

or of

despising

those who experience

their views of anything are more than

bigotry

This

of

or science
liberation"

nihilism as

joyous libera

men who

This

or superstition.

bigotry

believe
to

seems

me

or prejudice

course, the assertion that all knowledge is bigotry.

scientific

Weber

world

151).

knowledge is

the scientific attitude, the experience that all

including

(p.

pale criminal

that I rejected this prejudice, but 1 despised only

said

his

would require

(nazi-communist)

soft and permissive with the murderous

Celine

nightmares of a

underground

and

disrupt the dreams

might

bigotries tend to be

to

mat

To be sure, Bloom (or the victory of Russia

of liberal democratic students whose

creation cv nihilo\

America)

for that

or,

observes that

impossible

authentically

something,

rightly
nobody knowledgeable about himself
be or become anything
not even an insect: even to be lazy

over

and

effort

than Aschenbach's

no more realistic

or

239) supposes, more

Celine's futile

Camus.

or

is nothing but empty im

("values"),

passions

Thus Celine is not,

pressions.
nihilist

moral-political

and

therefore essentially bigoted

see

that "the

and

the human

"

Nietzsche

terror

fundamental issue is the

single

good"

(p.

made

Nietzsche

between

relation

reason

It is why in Nietzsche "the joy of

like Marx (p. 218) "has turned into

195).

babies"

that one finds in

awareness

"big

replaces

easygoing or self-satisfied atheism with ago

nized atheism, suffering its human
Rather than suffer those
consequences he would have preferred to be a university professor but, as he

conseque

wrote

Burckhardt

far. His

courage

him to

compelled

whose creation was

been far happier

1889), he

(January 6,

membership in the

university

that

realize

in reality nothing

as a

could not push

his

he, like

private egoism
all

life,
He

created out of nothing!

professor

that

a god

was

would

have

cowardly clinging to the illusion of

"tme community that is exemplary for

all

other commu

nities."

Instead his
war

between

courage

ism) is

repellent

science

(no

emasculated

to passion

more chaos

sense's

unless

remain

Consequently

life's only serious struggle: the

Reason (insight into reality's nihil

confront

is destroyed

passion

to give birth to

(depoliticized)

avoid some evil.

common

doomed him to

reason or science and passion.

dancing

stars).

teleological, striving to

all passions are

teleological world of

goods

or

All

emasculated

by

passions

so

not

obtain some good or

irrational, subsisting

on

faith in

to pursue and selves to pursue

them.

When

liberal education, forces

genuine science,

the wrath and

frustration

liberalism (their
passions now

external

of

tolerate science

the

is directed

faith,

reality itself. Like

reflection) the rabid, because enlightened,
This demand becomes more strident, more

passions

political

demand their

communist or nazi,

the

abandonment of this
against

"rights."

more

its

inanity

is

realized.

No

powerful

desire

can

genuinely liberal, liberating education, unless it is domesti

cated, that is, degraded into uplifting propaganda. Aschenbach's refusal to
or

The

of the Philosophic Mind

Closing

domesticate

embrace an

The

insane

has been

career

leaves him

science

"Dionysius."

of

same

163

insane, destructive fury

powerless against the

is

courage

for Nietzsche's

responsible

apotheosis rather than

become

university

resolve

professor

to

"whose

one"

unusually happy
the importance of
an

and who therefore experiences

"no

education"

need

to prove

Bloom's

22).

celebration of the

he supposes,

university and science (of science, and not, as

philosophy!) is accurately evaluated in his quotation from

of

Weber's Science

Vocation: "Finally,

as a

celebrated science
question aside

in light

the annihilating critique

of

may have
leave this entire

although a naive optimism

happiness, I believe 1

as the path to

men'

'the last

(p.

which

can

Nietzsche has

'have discovered happiness'. Who, then,

who

this with the exception of a

few

babies in university

big

made of

believes in

still

in

chairs or

editorial

offices?"

(p. 194)

As I

Bloom

remarked earlier.

lively

seems most alive and

democratic-egalitarian

indignantly censuring
by his philosopher-kings.

cal,

inspired

threats

This indignation

his

at

to

shows that

most politi

the

university
he took Plato's

Republic too seriously because he did not take its ignorance of the good seri
ously enough. Thus he transformed its philosophy, its wavering between politi

freedom, into

cal repression and philosophic

for Aschenbach's "cries

In

of

nothingn

the damned plunging into

Bloom,

agreement with

the unmitigated terror responsible

the present editors of the

Strauss -Cropsey His

tory of Political Philosophy rejected Jaffa's request that Heidegger and Burke
be balanced by Churchill and Lincoln. Prevented by their scientific orien
tation

from

being

Jaffa, they did

not want to sully a history

Had they had the courage of their
real convictions, their editorial
policy would be that demanded at the end of
Hume's Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding: eliminate (actually Hume
as philosophic as

"philosophy"

of

with

advocates
gin with

tion to

burning)

Hobbes

all

statesmen.

universal

with perhaps a

result

insofar

these

of

Strauss too

good.

with one minor

and the ancients

(that is philosophic-political) books. Be

nonscientific

Nietzsche

and

Socrates'

Bloom's book
ophy
The

mere

exception)

they

as

purges

bow to Aristotle for his

be

would

since

purged

he obviously sided
(p. 289).

or,

more

would

be

scientific

progress

his

reason

to the

accurately

over philosophic

to

have

reasons

for

what we

do. It is

There may be
possibility of community
have to make a case for themselves, but they
.

phers"

(p.

compels

that scientific

one

confusion of scientists with philosophers as

have

realization

substituting
bigotry for another; there is no nonarbi
for anything. Bloom disagrees, but his disagreement is vitiated by

enlightenment means

trary

with philos

were philosophic

"progress"

superstition

opposi

(as he is from

238).

him to

The

seek

philosopher's

knowledge

of

in the

a sign

following statement: "We

humanity and our

of our

some people who

must

essentially

be

either

don't feel they

tramps

or philoso

moral-political

the tme good which alone could

rootedness

justify

his

enterprise.

similar error makes

Bloom

overemphasize

Plato's

opposition to

Homer,

164

Interpretation

Achilles,

the creator of

that personification of the

the spirit of revenge, like philosophy, arise

indignation,
faith that
sider

has

one

Psalm

or needs goods without which

Hatred (Bloom's

137).

and, there

politics

11:7-8).

Anger

or

the herd-instinct

from

life becomes

to those

reaction

vengeance, moral

spirit of

Nietzsche rightly finds at the heart of all

indignation,
fore, of all philosophy (Will to Power, 765; Zarathustra,
which

apostate

unlivable

(con

intellectuals

of

late sixties) is the natural reaction to whoever threatens those goods. Nie
is characterized by redemption from this spirit of revenge or

the

tzsche's superman

hatred. Nietzsche
from the heart
more

Rousseau,

not

Socrates

Without the

of politics.

and

courage

Nietzschean than Platonic Book. The book

Republic,

the

and

as

to

Plato, want this redemption

see it, Bloom has written a

on education

he insists (p. 381), but Beyond Good

and

for Bloom is
Evil

or

not

Death in

Venice \

Reflecting
14,

1897) to

on

these problems, I

upright seaman of the

with an

cultivate

conscious

and great

Understand that

drop

Conrad's reply (December

that

Singleton,

the simple,

Nigger of the Narcissus, be better educated: "You say

Everything is possible. However I think Single

is impossible.

ton with an education

become

suggestion

education'

'Singleton

prepense,

was reminded of

Cunninghame-Graham's

of water

you?"

in that

Would

unconscious man

and much smaller

Would

you

you are

seriously
less than

nothing,

in the ocean,

and

wish

more

fleeting

you

seriously,

of

malice

the power to think? Then he would

very

unhappy.

Now he is

simple

to tell such a man 'Know thyself!

a

shadow,

more

than the illusion

insignificant than
dream?'

of a

Would

The Philosophical Review

A

Quarterly Journal Edited by

the

Sage School of Philosophy

October 1988

The Limits

of

Intelligibility: A Post-Verificationist

Proposal

Christopher Peacocke

The Picture

Theory

of

Mental Images
Michael Tye

Aristotle

on

Temperance

Charles M.

Young

220 Goldwin Smith

Cornell

Ithaca,

University

New York 14853-3201

U.S. Subscription Rates:

Rates

$12.00

$17.00

per year

for students,

the retired, and the unemployed

$20.00

per vear

viduals;

$34.00
$9.00

$6.00

for

other indi-

per single

per year

per single

issue

for institutions
issue

VISA

and

outside the
per year

U.S.:

for students,

the retired and the unemployed

$25.00

per year

viduals;

$8.00

for

other

per single

$39.00

per year

$11.00

per single

indi
issue

for institutions
issue

MasterCard Accepted

The Political
Science Reviewer
Volume Seventeen-Fall 1987
Symposium: The Constitutional Convention
James Madison

the Dynamics

and

of

of

1787

the Constitutional Convention

Lance Banning
James Wilson's Political Thought

and

the Constitutional Convention

George
Washington

A Reconsideration

of

"True

and Franklin Symbols or

Federalism"

at

Carey

Lawmakers?
W.B. Allen

the Constitutional Convention

Gordon Lloyd

The Middle Delegates in the Constitutional Convention

Forrest McDonald

Essays
The Rhetorical Design

and

Theoretical

Teaching

of

The Federalist

The

Slavery

Provisions

of

Federalist No. 10
Paul Peterson

and

Original Intent
Danny Adkison

the U.S. Constitution: Means for Emancipation

John Alvis
The Constitutional Completion

Please

enter

my

subscription

to

of

Liberal Philosophy
Richard G. Stevens

THE POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEWER.

| ]check enclosed
| |enter standing order

|VoIume XVII

[ |Volume
Name

Price

per volume:

All back issues

Address

Volumes I

and

available at

City /state/zip
Mail to:

c/o ISI.14 S. Bryn Mawr Avenue,

Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

PSR,

$10.

except

II

this

are

price.

Journal

Politics

of

Editor: Micheal W. Giles

Journal

Southern Political Science Association

of the

The

University

the

Southern Political Science Association

of

Texas Press

the oldest regional political science

the continuation of

Giles. Guided

JOP

by his

journal,

the

scope of the

Volume 50

will mark

outstanding direction of Micheal

editorship, JOP offers a blend of various

under the

careful

styles of political science and maintains

broad

Journal of Politics for

beginning in 1988. As

will publish the

its

representation of the

discipline. The relatively balanced

fields includes American,

treatments of

international

politi

Deregulatory Snowball: Explaining Deregulation in the

Industry by Thomas H. Hammond and Jack H. Knott.

Finan

comparative and

cal science.

Some
The
cial

recent and

forthcoming

In Defense of the Politics of Ideas

The Politics of "Ideational

Changing Partisanship

include:

articles

by

Policy"

Paul J. Quirk.

by

Paul R. Shulman.

among Southern

Party Activists by Dorothy

Davidson Nesbit.
The Problem of Institutional Constraint
Realist

Theory

Analysis

Robert Grafstein.

Problem of International Cooperation:

Amended Prisoner's Dilemma Model by Joseph M.

and

with an

by

the

Grieco.

Complex Rules

Energy

Congressional Outcomes: An Event

Tax Legislation

Individual
Foreign

and

single

add

by

Thomas W. Gilligan

copy rate/$6; Institution

$2 for

and

single

Study of
Keith Krehbiel.

copy

rate/$8

postage.

Subscription rates (one year): Individual/ $20; Institution/$30

Foreign add $6/subscription for postage.

University

of

Texas Press

Journals, Box 7819, Austin, Texas 78713

social research
AN INTERNATIONAL QUARTERLY

VOLUME 55, NUMBER 1-2

SPRING/SUMMER 1988

OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

THE "SECOND SOCIETY": IS

THERE AN ALTERNATIVE
SOCIAL MODEL EMERGING IN
CONTEMPORARY HUNGARY?
Elemer Hankiss

CENTRAL AND EAST

EUROPEAN SOCIAL

RESEARCH

PART1

US?"

"WITHOUT US BUT FOR

POLITICAL ORIENTATION IN
HUNGARY IN THE PERIOD OF
LATE PATERNALISM
Laszlo Bruszt
INDIVIDUAL ECONOMIC
STRATEGIES AND SOCIAL
CONSCIOUSNESS
Robert Manchin
ANTINOMIES OF COLLECTIVE
SUBCONSCIOUSNESS
Mira

Marody

SOCIAL INTERESTS, EGALITARI

AN ATTITUDES, AND THE
CHANGE OF ECONOMIC ORDER
Lena Kolarska-Bobmska
INDIVIDUALS AND THE SOCIAL
SYSTEM: VALUES, PERCEP
TIONS, AND BEHAVIORAL
STRATEGIES
MarekZiolkowski
COVERT REPRESSIVENESS AND
THE STABILITY OF A POLITICAL
SYSTEM: POLAND AT THE END
OF THE SEVENTIES
Krzysztof Nowak

Individual Subscriptions: $20;

Institutions: $40 Single copies

available on request Editorial and

Business Office: Room GF354
66 West 12th Street,

New

York, N.Y. 10011

Forthcoming
Joseph

Articles

Cropsey

On Pleasure

and the

Human Good: Plato's

Philebus
J. P. Geise & L. A. Lange

Deliberate Belief
Conrad

Heinrich Meier

and

Holes: Joseph

Digging

the Problem of Restraint

The Discourse
of

and

Inequality

on the

Origin

and

the Foundations

among Men

Frederick J. Crosson

Mill's Dilemmas

Drew Hyland

Republic. Book II,

and the

Origins

of

Political

Philosophy
John Alvis

Philosophy

Theodore

Machiavelli's Castruccio Castracani

Sumberg

as

Noblest

Idolatry

in Paradise Lost

Queens College

ISSN 0020-9635

Flushing N.Y.

"0

>

Z
c
00

>
1

CT*

c
[

7;

T3
w
>

3
1

"0

!
0

11367