Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Summary
Reade not to Contradict, and Confute; Not to Beleeve and Take for granted; Nor to Finde Talke and Discourse; But to weigh and Consider. Some Bookes are to be Tasted, Others to be Swallowed, and Some Few to be Chewed and Digested: That is, some Bookes are to be read onely in Parts; Others to be read but not Curiously; and some Few to be read wholly, and with Diligence and Attention.
Francis Bacon, “Of Studies,” The Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall (1597–1625)This book addresses the cultural dimension of the radical left's critique of traditional humanism. In the epilogue to the 1991 edition of Tenured Radicals: How Politics Has Corrupted Our Higher Education, Roger Kimball, who comfortably places himself within the conservative camp, observes that “the real battle that is now shaping up is not between radicals and conservatives but between radicals and old-style liberals.” Although I join that battle as an “old-style liberal,” I am less concerned with assaulting the radical position than in offering guidance in the quest for meaning in the arts and letters, understood according to the humanist tradition, as they sustain an attack from the political and cultural tendencies of leftist thought. It has not been my intention to contribute to the ongoing animosity of today's so-called culture wars by engaging in the facile quip or the rapid put down. Rather, I have attempted to adhere to Francis Bacon's counsel to “read not to contradict and confute … but to weigh and consider.”
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- In Defense of HumanismValue in the Arts and Letters, pp. xiii - xviiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996