Customer Reviews

Four Reasonable Men: Marcus Aurelius, John Stuart Mill, Ernest Renan, Henry Sidgwick

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wow! Who'd have thought that an author could approach such a topic as "reasonableness" and render it so well-defined, so palatable and so attractive. By using four historical examples, with focus not primarily upon their philosophies, but more upon their lives, Blanshard is masterful. As a noted philosophical and social commentator in his own right, the author does an excellent job of inserting his own interpretation on the four subject persons, and upon their historical & intellectual significance. Last, and maybe most important, is Mr. Blanshard's ability to communicate clearly. As far-fetched as it may sound, this book is truly a page-turner! I'd recommend this to anyone who feels the need for a book that makes you go, "Hmmmm." At the very least, it will leave any reader with an increased appetite for more reasonableness in his/her own life.

Brand Blanshard, twentieth-century philosophy's greatest exponent of rationalism, here turns his pen to an examination of reasonableness in action, as exemplified in the lives of Marcus Aurelius, John Stuart Mill, Ernest Renan, and (Blanshard's own favorite exemplar of the "rational temper") Henry Sidgwick. Though himself a rationalist, Blanshard was not under the illusion that only avowed rationalists could be reasonable, as his selection of examples clearly shows. In each essay, he presents a lucid and sympathetic account of his subject's life and thought in a seamless combination that deserves to be called "philosophical biography."

While this volume is of course highly informative about each of its four subjects, it also of interest as regards Blanshard's own thought. He was ninety-two years old when he wrote this delightful and highly readable work, and his examinations of these four men distill a lifetime of his own reflections on the role of reason in the ordering of human affairs. A final chapter -- "The enemy: Prejudice" -- summarizes his mature views on the nature and importance of the rational temper.

The entry under Blanshard's name in the _Oxford Companion to Philosophy_ closes on an uncharacteristically personal note: "Blanshard's personal demeanour," writes the entry's author Prof. Peter H. Hare, "was one of extraordinary graciousness." That graciousness, evident throughout his work, is especially so here, where Blanshard deals less directly with philosophical questions and more directly with reasonableness as instantiated in actual human lives; his generosity and sympathy (much neglected rational virtues!) are almost palpable. If the rest of us could absorb something of his rational temper and spirit, our lives and the life of the world would undoubtedly be transformed for the better. And there is no better place to begin than this volume by a great man whose religion was the service of reason.

I've read a ton on Marcus Aurelius. Quite a bit on John Stuart Mill. Nothing on Ernest Renan. The back cover has a quote from the New York Time's Book Review describing Blanshard's writing style to the purring of a classic Rolls Royce. I didn't really know what to make of that but it turned out to be eerily descriptive. For the men I already knew about, this was an astute and provocative analysis of their lives and work. For the men I did not, it was an accessible introduction to two extraordinary but obscure philosophers. It would seem weird if you only knew a little to see these four men grouped together--an emperor, a child prodigy, an almost-priest/historian of Jesus, and a college professor. This misses Blanshard's practical but critical criteria. Each of them, throughout their long and illustrious careers, were driven by a profound and truly rare sense of reasonableness. From Aurelius's humility and groundedness to Mill's championing of women's rights nearly a 100 years before feminism. What I like about it is that it is a rather attainable characteristic to write a series of biographies about--there is no lauding of Napoleon's strategic brilliance or Frederick Douglass's inhuman perseverance and fortitude. It is just that these men were thoughtful, open minded, honest and restrained. This is something we can all do a little bit better. And they are examples of the heights of personal and academic success that can accompany making it a life's pursuit. Well-written, well-curated, definitely read.

This is a book to be read and reread every few years. With all the irrationality in the world today, this book gives one hope. It's hard to pick a favorate but I've reread the chapters on Marcus Aurelius and John Stuart Mill many times with great pleasure. Blanchard's ideas as well as his beautiful literary style and wonderful story telling are amazing. It's not often that a book about ideas is also a great read.