Customer Reviews

Lives of the Mind: The Use and Abuse of Intelligence from Hegel to Wodehouse

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Roger Kimball is managing editor of The New Criterion, a neo-conservative journal of arts and letters. I gather that most of these essays were published as book reviews and essays in that publication. (Strangely, the book nowhere tells you where the essays come from.)

I enjoyed this book a great deal. Kimball is an excellent writer and all of the essays are well written and lively. Because many of the essays are book reviews, the essays actually provide handy introductions to certain thinkers. The essays on Schopenhauer and Descartes are a good mix of biographical background and philosophical explanation. There is also an enjoyable introduction to David Stove, an Australian philosopher that Kimball helped introduce to the American public when he edited a collection of his essays a few years back (called AGAINST THE IDOLS OF THE AGE).

That Roger Kimball is armed with a formidable erudition has been conceded even by those whose loathing is his highest honor. But an arsenal of erudition is available to anyone with the time, the interest and an IQ slightly above average; it is the deployment of his intellectual armament that distinguishes this author above all but a few others now writing.

All the essays in this volume exhibit identical elements: 1) an elegant, lucid, and vigorous style that carries the reader smoothly into, and through, the subject; 2) command of the writings of the author under consideration; 3) mastery of a wide range of the best biographical and critical material; 4) an extended examination of some recent work; 5) a structure which binds all the elements seamlessly together; 6) evaluations that excite an interest in further exploration OR clarify the reader's predilections OR summarize in a cogent manner the reader's pre-existing distaste OR justify the reader's disinclination to waste his time on some over-rated windsock.

It is my considered judgement--founded upon prayer and long hours of solitary meditation--that any reader who fails to find these essays interesting should consider confining his future intellecutal explorations to the pages of the TV Guide.

I am ecstatic to inform you of the noble presence of Roger Kimball. This man, the Managing Editor of The New Criterion, had made his career a tenacious crusade to save our history and to publicize the great minds and ideas that have made our culture the greatest on this earth.
Kimball is one of the few men who recognized the cultural calamity from its beginnings. His Tenured Radicals was one of the first publications to identify and showcase the current bizarre practices in our universities. It came out over a decade ago and, since that time, he has written numerous books that examine the major figures and trends within literature, art, philosophy, history, and political science. Unlike the rest of us, Kimball has the ability to specialize in the liberal arts on the whole.
Even though it lacks the earth-shattering power of The Long March; Lives of the Mind is an exquisite endeavor.
The book showcases 18 "minds" or intellectuals and its theme is that "intelligence, like fire, is a power that is neither good nor bad in itself but rather takes its virtue, its moral coloring from its application." Although, no chapter is assigned for him in the text, Karl Marx would be the perfect example of the misapplication of intelligence. Hegel and Wittgenstein, who both receive treatment in Lives of the Mind, would be two others.
All of the 18 essays originally appeared in The New Criterion, and, as I have a subscription to the excellent journal, it was my second chance to read many of them. My favorites involved Plutarch, P.G. Wodehouse, and George Santayana. Yet, all of them have value as they inform us of lives and works of writers who are rarely discussed within the current Kultursmog.
Many of his subjects like Descartes, Schopenhauer, Plutarch, and Tocqueville are familiar to most of our readers, but how much time do we have as adults to devote ourselves to their actual achievements? The answer is not much. One of his most enjoyable essays concerns G.C. Lichtenberg, and I can honestly state that I had never even heard his name before I read Kimball's chapter. Lives offers a brief tutorial for those of us who have forgotten about these men or never had a chance to learn about them in the first place.
What makes Kimball so important? Well, first of all, Kimball stands up to phonies and charlatans with a combination of bravery and erudition that few others possess. There appears to be no living person that he is afraid to refute, and he could care less about popular opinion.
This may sound odd but I think that his intelligence is best expressed in the way that he makes his paragraphs accessible to the reader. There's no need for him to hide behind amalgamations of post-modernist verbal diarrhea like other contemporary scholars. Kimball readily reveals his words and analysis to the reader.
Yet, to leave it at intelligence and courage is to sell the writer short. I would be leaving out his wit, which has to be his most endearing characteristic. For a man who is earnestly serious, his very creative sense of humor is integral to his success.
There's no reason to take my word for it. Let's let the author speak for himself. At one point, he labels the leftist obfuscators, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, as having crafted a "reader-proof tome." He, later in the text, describes Alcibiades as being "the perfect contemporary hero: rich, handsome, brilliant, amoral: he had it all. He was even bisexual, virtually a prerequisite for appearing well-rounded these days."
This next line, concerning the German poet Schiller, made me laugh aloud: "Schiller once spoke of himself in a letter as an intellectual Zwitterart, a hermaphrodite, a remark that doubtless will form the basis of some Ph.D thesis in `queer theory' before long." Apparently, Kimball has forgotten that Schiller was too white, too male, and too talented to be the focus of modern dissertations.
Lastly, in reference to the moronic quote of one of his subjects ("I think to be born under Bolshevism would not be worse than to be born in Boston"), he sardonically adds, in reference to the Brahmin families of Boston, "Moscow, where Stalins speak only to Lenins, and the Lenins speak only to Marx."
The book is rife with primary source materials and Kimball always uses his subjects' words to enliven his discussion. A good example would be in his essay on Walter Bagehot (one of Kimball's favorites) . He quotes "the greatest Victorian" statement that, "the best institutions will not keep right a nation that will go wrong." Bagehot's analysis proves to be surprising topical considering that he wrote them over a century ago. In this same lively chapter, we read Bagehot's unknowing description of the post-modernist malarkey that suffocates our current university scholarship: "In the faculty of writing non-sense, stupidity is no match for genius." After reading this line, one has the sensation of Michael Foucault and Jacques Derrida whisking into the room and clamoring for more flouts of Krug and packs of Sobranies.

Those unfamiliar with Kimball's work will be surprised to find out that essays which explore the intellectual and moral lives of various century-old writers and philosophers can actually be quite accessible and entertaining. This is Kimball's best quality as a writer: his ability to pull himself above the jumble of scholastic dissertation when covering subjects that usually invite prolix pontification and (in today's academic environment) wild speculation.

Kimball is especially good at deciphering philosophy; he has a knack for relating an individual philosopher's ideas to the world of philosophy in whole. He also has the intellectual restraint to investigate the relationships between the philosopher's ideas and the philosopher's personal life without drowning in the vague conjecture of Freudian interpretation. (We can hope for Kimball to produce a Durant-style survey of philosophy some day).

Lives of the Mind deals mainly with philosophers, mainly from the Modern era, and it shows Kimball at his best. The compositional nature of the book, a collection of original essays and book reviews, gives the book uneven pacing and a disappointing lack of structure. After a first reading, however, most readers will keep the book on the shelf for the occasional glimpse into the individual essay, and the book serves this purpose well.

Some readers may also complain that Kimball rarely gives a pronounced judgment about which intellectuals use and which abuse. One reviewer on Amazon contends that Kimball shows Wittgenstein as an abuser of intelligence; I came to the opposite conclusion after reading that chapter. This, rather than being a shortcoming, shows Kimball's judicious treatment of his subjects as he avoids forcing these complicated lives and ideas into becoming the servants of a narrow political agenda. I give this book a solid B.

I enjoyed this book very much. I purchased it after reading a review by Stephen Barbara, writing in the Weekly Standard, who wrote: "'Lives of the Mind' is a work of generous humanity.

"The intention of 'Lives of the Mind' is to hold various intellectuals up to ethical standards, so that figures from Schiller to Kierkegaard are judged in part by their use of their intellectual gifts.

"The essays are so well written, and in general so full of color and biographical anecdote, that even the intellectuals Kimball comes out against, like Hegel, survive."

I'd say this commentary is right on the money.

I gave this reading 3 stars because of my expectations. I bought this book for the subtitle "The use and abuse of intelligence" thinking that it would talk further about logical fallacies through history and how they were resolved. While the book lead up to the title "Lives of the Mind", it doesn't really do much in the way of weaving the thread of logical fallacy and it's evolution.

First, I could not give it lower than 3 stars because the book is obviously well researched. Each chapter had excellent information on the personal and professional lives of the various philosophers.

However, it didn't do a fantastic job of weaving the themes of the "abuse of intellect" through time. There were a few pointed exceptions. The chapter on Kierkegard, is a bit more to the point, as is the chapter on Toqueville.

If the book had been without the subtitle, I think I would have rated it differently as my expectations would have been different. Then again, if the subtitle had not been there, I wouldn't have purchased the book.

This book is a collection of essays about various literary or otherwise important personages, some better known like Hegel or Wittgenstein, and some not very well known, like Raymond Aaron and Walter Bagehot. For each personage covered, author Kimball provides his views on both the author's works, their impact on intellectual life and thought, and, on the works about and opinions of others on the selected subject. For example, Kimball discusses Hegel's works and notes how obscure and difficult to understand they can be. This viewpoint was actually quite satisfying since for many of the individuals covered - like Hegel and Wittgenstein, for example - I always suspected that it was I that was lacking rather than their work that failed to communicate clearly their thoughts. Kimball also covers the major works written about some of his subjects, like biographies of Santayana and Trollope for example. Here Kimball also provides the reader with thought provoking insights about both the biographer and the subject. In some respects, Kimball's work is at the same level of the works of those whom he portrays as Kimball's book is erudite and intellectually stimulating. Lives of the Mind has motivated me to read further not only into the works of the authors covered, like the philosopher David Stove, for example, but also the works of those who reported on the main subjects, like the biographies mentioned above. I have a special appreciation for books like this that essentially start a conversation and give you the leads to keep it going. Be warned: a dictionary at hand is essential, as Kimball uses unfamiliar words with frequency.

Well, this is a book from Roger Kimball -- so of course it's worth reading. Beware, however: this particular volume is written on the level of graduate seminars; it is most definitely not a popular treatment for a mass audience.

This book is a collection of book reviews: not one-paragraph notices, but long and thorough reviews of books. It begins with a review of Aron's classic "Opium of the Masses" but then proceeds to a sort of mini-history of philosophy, done through book reviews.

In my humble opinion, he wastes a lot of costly ink on mountebanks such as Hegel and Marx, and somehow manages to downplay the greatest working philosopher of the 20th century, Santayana.

In sum, great food for the hungry brain! :-) You get your Raymond Aron here, and your Plutarch, your Daumier, and your Bagehot. Then you get your Descartes, your Schiller, your Hegel, and your Schopenhauer. Free bonus: Strange Soren Kierkegaard! :-) After that, you get your Santayana, your Wittlessstein, your Lord Bertie, and your David Stove. (Who he??)

In conclusion, you get your Trollope, your P.G. Wodehouse, your Tocqueville, and a few others.

Frankly I would recommend reading Santayana's "The Life of Reason" as you read this book. I think mankind as a species has wasted enough time on Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Heidegger, but if you follow my reading plan you can ignore witless me and hear what Roger Kimball and George Santayana have to say! :-)

I was completely blown away by the power of this book. Not only was it informative for its content, but it really did make me feel quite smarter after completing it. While it did at times appear very dense, and I wished I payed more attention in college, I cannot say enough good things about this book. This collection of essays are truly wise and full of passion.

His command of the written word is borderline on staggering. I highly recommend this book to anyone who ever said, "If the world only uses 10% of their brain, how much can I possibly be using right now?"

The use and abuse of intelligence is covered in Lives Of The Mind, a lively and highly recommended discourse blending philosophy, psychology, science and social criticism. Intelligence can be abused and used, and the love of ideas and language can be detrimental at times: individual chapters probe the work of intellectual psychologists and philosophers examining the nature of intelligence.