Lippmann argues "hopefully and wistfully" for rational inquiry into
those conditions by which a good society may be reconstituted in
order to halt the descent into violence and tyranny. He thinks
there are world citizens who believe in the tenets of "the public
philosophy", once basic to our democracy, and now almost forgotten.
For action to this end there must be belief. And to recover this
belief he explores the decline of the West- and the public
philosophy. He has sensed the sickness of democracy, and the steps
by which it was acquired, the extent to which it has threatened the
public interest. In this process he studies the problem of the
executive dominated by the legislative- concern of our founders,
and of critics then and now. In the derangement of the primary
functions of government he sees the democratic disaster of our
century, an acceptance of the Jacobin doctrine of enfranchisement
by displacement of the governing class. He feels that the
democracies are ceasing to receive the traditions of civility, and
are thereby cut off from a public philosophy. But he feels it still
survives as a positive doctrine, that there still are obligations
binding on all men:- the theory of property, freedom of speech,
etc. Such a restoration as he envisions aims to resist and regulate
desires and opinions - an unpopular program, but necessary to
survival of democracy. He challenges our teachers to return to the
great tradition. Not an easy book to read and digest. Perhaps
Lippmann's name will spark the interest. (Kirkus Reviews)
Begun in 1938 and completed only in 1955, "The Public Philosophy
"offers as much a glimpse into the private philosophy of America's
premier journalist of the twentieth century as it does a public
philosophy.
The basis of Lippmann's effort is "that there is a deep disorder
in our society which comes not from the machinations of our enemies
and from the adversaries of the human condition but from within
ourselves." He also provides a special sort of legacy to liberalism
in its broadest sense - as the root approach to human existence
that could provide civility and accommodation against incivilities
and extremism, and that uniquely stood against the totalitarian
counter-revolutions from Jacobism to Leninism. This work is a
masterful defense of the public philosophy as a constitutional
tradition, and can be easily read as such today.
Paul Roazen, long identified with the analysis of Lippmann's
work, points out that no matter how trenchantly Lippmann dissected
democracy, and the populist faith in the people's wisdom, he still
sought to study the world in order to help govern it. His constant
flow of journalistic writing had the educative intent of raising
the level of the public's knowledge. His rationalist conviction
that clearheadedness on public matters can be effectively relayed
to people is nowhere more evident than in "The Public Philosophy.
"In this sense it is an argument for the democratic ideal that
people can be rallied in defense of the public interest.
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