{"id":6153,"date":"2018-05-11T12:11:26","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T12:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/repeatright.com\/engine\/?p=6153"},"modified":"2018-10-09T04:27:42","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T04:27:42","slug":"babbitt-irving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.repeatright.com\/engine\/babbitt-irving\/","title":{"rendered":"BABBITT, Irving"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453315804311{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531588223-e020d87d-f7dd094f-cf635381-89e5a218-d0e2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cIf a man went simply by what he saw, he might be tempted to affirm that the essence of democracy is melodrama.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Irving Babbitt<\/strong>, Educator, critic & political theorist<\/p>\n

\u201cMatthew Arnold\u201d (2 August 1917) The Nation<\/em>, Vol. CV, No. 2718, in volume The Nation<\/em>, Vol. 105, July 1, 1917 \u2013 December 31, 1917, No. 2718, sec. IV, col. 1, p. 120; online via New York Public Library & Google Books, books.google.com<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531588755-96303790-852e094f-cf635381-89e5a218-d0e2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt <\/em><\/strong>[Essay]:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cVarious views have been put forth as to the essence of democracy. If a man went simply by what he saw, he might be tempted to affirm that the essence of democracy is melodrama. It is the eagerness for the melodramatic thrill to which our newspapers and our \u2018movies\u2019 cater.\u201d (p. 120, column 1)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531589797-29580b31-8c50094f-cf635381-89e5a218-d0e2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: \u201cMatthew Arnold\u201d (2 Aug. 1917) The Nation<\/em>; online via Google Books: https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=vfs4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA109&dq=%E2%80%9CMatthew+Arnold%E2%80%9D+%2B+Irving+Babbitt+%2B+The+Nation&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiBqruCl5TMAhWI5yYKHatpAiQQ6AEIIjAB#v=onepage&q=%22democracy%20is%20melodrama%22&f=false<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315829087-ce67c619-0fbc5381-89e5a218-d0e2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201c[The best that] great teachers can do for us is to help us to discover what is already present in ourselves.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Irving Babbitt<\/strong>, Educator, critic & political theorist<\/p>\n

Democracy and Leadership<\/em> (1924) New York: Houghton, Mifflin Co., pp. 273-274<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315829475-7c82a017-1e625381-89e5a218-d0e2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt\u00a0<\/em><\/strong> [Referring to historic teachers such as Aristotle, Buddha, Christ]:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best, however, that even these great teachers can do for us is to help us to discover what is already present in ourselve<\/span>s.\u201d (pp. 273-274)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1453315829682-63e8fade-cf4c5381-89e5a218-d0e2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/strong><\/em><\/span>: Library \u2013 Democracy and Leadership<\/em> (1924) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 225776<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5a218-d0e2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThe humanities need to be defended today against the encroachments of physical science, as they once needed to be against the encroachment of theology.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Irving Babbitt<\/strong>, Educator, critic & political theorist<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Is Humanism?\u201d (1908) Literature and the American College<\/em>, Boston, MA: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1908, essay part III, p. 31; online via Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5a218-d0e2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Final lines of essay]:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe humanities need to be defended to-day against the encroachments of physical science, as they once needed to be against the encroachment of theology<\/span>. But first we must keep a promise already made, and in the following essay try to trace from its origins that great naturalistic and humanitarian movement which is not only taking the place of the humanistic point of view, but actually rendering it unintelligible for the men of the present generation.\u201d (p. 31)<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: In the preface to Literature and the American College<\/em>, Babbitt notes that \u201cnearly half the matter in this volume has been printed elsewhere.\u201d (p. vii) In his list of re-published material, however, Babbitt does not mention the \u201cWhat Is Humanism\u201d essay\/chapter quoted here — nor have we been able to locate the essay in an earlier source.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5a218-d0e2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Literature and the American College<\/em> (1908) online via Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/literatureandam02babbgoog#page\/n44\/mode\/2up\/search\/humanities+need+to+be+defended<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e5a218-d0e2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cTo harmonize the One with the Many, this is indeed a difficult adjustment, perhaps the most difficult of all, and so important, withal, that nations have perished from their failure to achieve it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Irving Babbitt<\/strong>, Educator, critic & political theorist<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Is Humanism?\u201d (1908) Literature and the American College<\/em>, Boston, MA: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1908, essay part III, pp. 25-26; online via Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e5a218-d0e2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Essay]:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is the One, says Plato, and there is the Many. \u201cShow me the man who can combine the One with the Many and I will follow his footsteps, even as in those of a God.\u201d To harmonize the One with the Many, this is indeed a difficult adjustment, perhaps the most difficult of all, and so important, withal, that nations have perished from their failure to achieve it.<\/span> Ancient India was devoured by a too overpowering sense of the One. The failure of Greece, on the other hand, to attain to this restraining sense of unity led at last to the pernicious pliancy of the \u201chungry Greekling,\u201d whose picture Juvenal has drawn.\u201d (pp. 25-26)<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: In the preface to Literature and the American College<\/em>, Babbitt notes that \u201cnearly half the matter in this volume has been printed elsewhere.\u201d (p. vii) In his list of re-published material, however, Babbitt does not mention the \u201cWhat Is Humanism\u201d essay\/chapter quoted here — nor have we been able to locate the essay in an earlier source.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e5a218-d0e2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Literature and the American College<\/em> (1908) online via Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/literatureandam02babbgoog#page\/n40\/mode\/2up\/search\/One+with+the+many<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n

Resources<\/h4>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”Wrapper-Author-Resources”]Learn more about Irving Babbitt <\/strong><\/span>| Here are a few good places to start –<\/p>\n