Philosophical Review

Humanistische Reden und Vortrage. by Werner Jaeger

Review by: E. K. Rand
The Philosophical Review, Vol. 47, No. 4 (Jul., 1938), pp. 436-438
Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of Philosophical Review
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436 THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW [VOL. XLVII.

odds the best shortmanual on the historyof politicaltheorynow avail-

able.
CRANE BRINTON
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Humaznistische Reden und Vortrdge.Von WERNER JAEGER. Berlin,Wal-

ter de Gruyter& Co., 1937. Pp. viii, 220.
When Werner Jaegerdelivered these addresses on various occasions
from I914 to I932, he was not quite aware of their historical signifi-
cance. He was concerned with an importantidea, which runs like a
golden thread throughthem all. He applied it to the changing condi-
tions in his own country,where ancient culture seemed swamped in
the multiplexindividualismthat set in with the Revolution after the
War. But he could not foresee the tragic ironythat his words convey
to us, as we contemplatethe sort of order that soon was to arise from
that chaos. For no philosopher-kingbut a new Dionysius of Syracuse,
in several countries,ascends the throne.
The essence of these papers has already been presentedto the Amer-
ican public in two stimulatingaddresses, one given at the Harvard
TercentenaryCelebration and the other at the Christmasmeeting of
the American Philological Association last year. They forma prelude
to the monumentalwork on Greek culture, Paideia, of which one
volume has already appeared. They are being translated into Italian
with the illuminatingtitle Platonismo ed umanesimo-for Plato is at
the centre of Professor Jaeger's thought-and they richly deserve a
renderinginto our own tongue.
The series opens with a debate between History and Philology.
Neither wins, for both are vanquished by Humanism. Jaeger himself
is of course a brilliantexponent of both History and Philology. The
man who traced the developmentof the mindof il maestrodi color che
sanno-an historical theme of considerable scope-is versed in the
technique of both historiographyand philology. He of course would
not reject but encourage the investigationof subjects large and small.
He pays a noble tributein this volumeto the memoryof two colleagues
of his in Berlin,philologiansand historiansof world-widefame, Her-
mann Diels and Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorf.But from his
firstappearance in the scholarly arena, Jaeger has headed a revolt
against the tendencies of the last hundred years in classical scholar-
ship. The world of Boeckh and GottfriedHermann, to whom Philology
meant a unifiedappreciation of all aspects of antiquity,enlarged and
burst its bounds with the progress of diversifiedresearch. To scholars
like Usener and Wilamowitz the vision remained,but the profitable-
ness of so comprehensivea quest has become increasingly dubious.
Moreover, adopting the methodsthat led to great achievementsin the
fieldsof natural science, scholars applied the theory of evolution to

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No. 4.] REVIEWS OF BOOKS 437

literaryhistory,with the resultthat the great writersof the past were

turnedinto an aggregationof causes and influences.Amid this discord,
Jaeger would seek, like his master Plato, a new way to the one in the
many. In the studyof literatureand of art,he would have the learner
contemplategreatnessin and for itself. This means a return,with due
discretion,to hero-worship.It is about time. The late Irving Babbitt
would have rejoiced to see this day.
But further,the humanism that Professor Jaeger advocates pre-
supposes an understandingof what culturemeantto the ancientGreeks.
It is not foundedon a reverence for traditionfor tradition'ssake nor
solely on the studyof Greek literaturefor its suprememerits.It is not
to be attainedmerelyby followingthe historyof Greek ideals in their
influenceon the later literatureof the Occident. While concerned,of
course, with all these matters,the new humanism aims primarilyto
recapturethe effortof the Greeks to train the individual man in all
aspects of his nature-physical, mental,moral,aestheticand spiritual-
and to teach him his properrelationto the larger complex of the state
of whichhe findshimselfa part. Jaegershows that for Plato philosophy
is a part of culture,Paideia, and that his starting-pointwas the idea
of the state, which was crumblingin his day and which he sought to
restore. Our humanistis no blind partisan of the Greeks to the neglect
of those who caught the torch from their hands. His mind is stored
with good literatureof various sorts. He writes of the Roman authors
with penetratingsympathyand many a happy phrase. Goethe and
Dante, Erasmus and Ibsen, Anatole France and Galsworthy furnish
him with apt allusions. His humanism,like Cicero's, is not hostile to
religion. He recognizes the contributionmade by both Protestantism
and Catholicismto the cultureof our day. These broad outlooks,these
broad sympathies,are the natural outcome,if not the immediategoals,
of the humanist'sessential quest, the strivingto teach himself "come
l'uom s'eterna".
Now the road to this goal lies, for one who followsthe argumentsof
Professor Jaeger, in a revival of the Classics in our schools and col-
leges. No courses of "orientation"can give their meaning.These lead
too oftennot to a sunrisebut a sun-setof intelligence.Young mindsnot
burdenedwith much informationwill take the generalizationsof their
teachers-both the happy and the unhappygeneralizations-like dates
and factsto be recordedin note-booksand learned by heart.The learner
will be initiatedinto humanismnot by followinga general course on
ancient literature presented in translations-though something of
course is gained in this way-but by making friendswith a few of the
best writersof Greece and Rome in their own works. He will feed on
thebeautyof theseworks,and he will see how the Romans,thoughlack-
ing the genius of the Greeks,understoodthe principlesof their culture
and applied themto the mouldingof theirown humancitas.

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 438 THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW [VOL. XLVII.

There is hope, therefore,that with such models at hand any people

today, our own for instance,may repeat the experience of the Greeks
in a new effortto know itself,to understandthe relation of the indi-
vidual to the state and thus to establish those social values which
paedogogical theoristsset as a goal in their illusory "integration"of
studies. It would be a landmarkin the progress of education if some
philanthropist,while philanthropistsstill exist, would boldly establish
a novel sort of college, novel because old-fashioned,small and select,
foundedon the principleswhich Professor Jaeger proclaimsand which
could be furtherdeveloped into a well-balanced programmeof liberal
trainingadjusted to the intellectualneeds of our times.
For our colleges are at the cross-roads. Here they are controlledby
glitteringtheories and survey courses; there they are committedto a
variegated specializationthatproduceslittleeconomists,littlescientists,
little Classicists, who cannot speak a common tongue. Specialization,
and the more of it the better,is the functionof the universityor the
technical school. But cultureis the provinceof the college, and culture
cannot be sniffedin with the air, or fromthe talk of a club-table.The
programmemust be definiteand for all. Our larger collegiate institu-
tions must rediscoverthis principle,however it be applied. Meanwhile
it would be highlybeneficialto learning and to public life, if a few
small colleges could return to the ways of our forefatherswith a
new goal in sight. Nothing could betterfertilizeour democracy than
the flow of a small but steady stream of intellectualaristocracy,the
highmindedness,gvyacoVvx(aof Aristotle-mingled, in Jaeger's fash-
ion, with a bit of Christianhumility.It would be pleasant to contem-
plate another Renaissance for just a few.
E. K. RAND
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

G. Pico delta Mirandola. Sincretismo religioso-filosofico,I463-I494.

Per EUGENiOANAGNINE.Bari, Gius. Laterza & Figli, I937. PP. viii,
277.
An earlier studyof Pico by Anagnine appeared in I934 in the Revue
d'histoirede la philosophicet d'histoiregenerate de la civilisation.The
presentbook is a fullerand more thoroughexpositionof the formation
and developmentof Pico's thought,and analyzes the syncretismof this
learned Renaissance philosopherwho, in an environmentusually con-
sidered semi-pagan, 'philosophized piously', and tried to harmonize
Platonic, Aristotelian,Neopythagorean,Chaldaean, Persian, Jewish,
and Arabic thought,the Orphic and Hermetictheosophies,and natural
magic-all these on a basis of Neoplatonism,and all alike in accord
with Christianrevelation.Anagnine skilfullyweaves togetherthe main
threadsof doctrinewhich,in the design of Pico's speculative thinking,
bear testimonyto the one supreme and certain truth.

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