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| Meghan Waters |
This semester I’m enrolled in an honors seminar titled “Civility and Community.” We just finished reading Walter Lippmann’s The Public Philosophy. While some of my classmates were no doubt lulled to sleep by Lippmann, I found the book to be very insightful. The book also jogged my memory of past classes (namely, Dr. Gregg’s Political Leadership class), as well as topics that we often discuss in McConnell Center seminars. As the product of a classical liberal education, I particularly enjoyed Chapter 8, “The Eclipse of the Public Philosophy,” where Lippmann addresses modern men’s rejection of philosophy and the “outdated” lessons of history.
Lippmann’s argument throughout the book is that we’ve abandoned the public philosophy that, according to him, is the bedrock of democratic states. One of the reasons we’ve abandoned this philosophy, he says, is because we modern-day folk fail to see the power of ideas and have ultimately lost our ability to wrestle with these ideas. We “have a low capacity to believe in the invisible, the intangible, the imponderable.” After all, “those who can, do; those who cannot, teach and theorize.” What we don’t realize is that ideas are much more powerful and tangible than we think. I agree with Lippmann that a significant portion of “reality” depends upon our perceptions of said reality. He states: “Human behavior takes place in relation to a pseudo-environment – a representation, which is not quite the same for any two individuals, of what they suppose to be – not what is – the reality of things.” Ideas, then, “are efficacious because men react to their ideas and images, to their pictures and notions of the world, treating these pictures as if they were the reality.” In the context of Lippmann’s argument, the public philosophy cannot be revived unless people abandon the notion that ideas “are mere airy nothings without mass or energy” and realize the power of ideas. In a larger context, if ideas are this powerful (and I argue that they are), it’s essential to constantly consider and challenge our beliefs.
In addition to changing our notion of ideas and philosophy, Lippmann also argues that we must look to the past as a guide if we intend to revive the public philosophy. He remarks: “They [liberal democracies] have forgotten too much of what their predecessors had learned before them. The newly enfranchised democracies are like men who have kept their appetites but have forgotten how to grow food” (135-136). Despite what some people think, history is not irrelevant or obsolete. Mankind has and continues to be plagued with the same problems. The great thinkers of history have much to teach us; we need only just listen.
Reflecting on Lippmann makes me value even more the discussions we have at the McConnell Center. The emphasis placed on history and philosophy makes me confident that I am actively shaping the “pictures in my head” by constantly challenging my beliefs.
Meghan Waters, of Campbell County, Ky., is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. She is studying justice administration, political science, and classical languages.