A welcome reminder that ignorance is not the antithesis of knowledge but essential to self-knowledge.
Essays on the ill-advised retreat from “evident truths” and the false comforts of certainty.
In this “intellectual travelogue,” Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia University and author of The Once and Future Liberal, muses on the unavoidable conflicts that arise between the will to knowledge and the will to ignorance. Ignorance, he asserts, is not a human flaw but essential to our “not-at-oneness” and to self-awareness in a world saturated with contradictory ideas and disturbing experiences. To react by embracing an unquestionable truth is to abandon the moral obligations we have to ourselves and others. This is a book about more than knowledge and ignorance, though. It is also about truth and delusion, certainty and uncertainty, authority and freedom, and dependence and autonomy. Today, when the turn “against reason” and “the resistance to knowledge” are particularly strong, navigating these tensions is even more necessary. Lilla draws his examples from classical myths, religious texts, and novels, as well as from Socrates, Plato, and Freud, and he groups his thoughts under the headings of evasions, taboos, emptiness, innocence, and nostalgia. He refers to nostalgia, for example, to point out how our aversion to knowledge is historical and social, as when national traditions distort history and function as strategic forms of ignorance, leading him to suggest that “innocence is central to the American political mythos.” Lilla is a fluid, perceptive, and engaging essayist, with ignorance both the book’s thematic motivation and the excuse for wandering onto adjacent intellectual terrain. Consequently, the will to not know, like a weak radio signal, fades in and out. The enjoyment of the book is in experiencing a supple mind and lucid writer.
A welcome reminder that ignorance is not the antithesis of knowledge but essential to self-knowledge.Pub Date: yesterday
ISBN: 9780374174354
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
An incisive, urgently relevant analysis of—and call to action on—America’s foundational ideal.
An examination of how the U.S. can revitalize its commitment to freedom.
In this ambitious study, Snyder, author of On Tyranny, The Road to Unfreedom, and other books, explores how American freedom might be reconceived not simply in negative terms—as freedom from coercion, especially by the state—but positive ones: the freedom to develop our human potential within sustaining communal structures. The author blends extensive personal reflections on his own evolving understanding of liberty with definitions of the concept by a range of philosophers, historians, politicians, and social activists. Americans, he explains, often wrongly assume that freedom simply means the removal of some barrier: “An individual is free, we think, when the government is out of the way. Negative freedom is our common sense.” In his careful and impassioned description of the profound implications of this conceptual limitation, Snyder provides a compelling account of the circumstances necessary for the realization of positive freedom, along with a set of detailed recommendations for specific sociopolitical reforms and policy initiatives. “We have to see freedom as positive, as beginning from virtues, as shared among people, and as built into institutions,” he writes. The author argues that it’s absurd to think of government as the enemy of freedom; instead, we ought to reimagine how a strong government might focus on creating the appropriate conditions for human flourishing and genuine liberty. Another essential and overlooked element of freedom is the fostering of a culture of solidarity, in which an awareness of and concern for the disadvantaged becomes a guiding virtue. Particularly striking and persuasive are the sections devoted to eviscerating the false promises of libertarianism, exposing the brutal injustices of the nation’s penitentiaries, and documenting the wide-ranging pathologies that flow from a tax system favoring the ultrawealthy.
An incisive, urgently relevant analysis of—and call to action on—America’s foundational ideal.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9780593728727
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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