 1979 publication (Liberty Fund Inc.) | |
| Author | Irving Babbitt |
|---|---|
| Original title | Democracy and Leadership |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Political Science |
| Genre | politics |
| Published | 1924 by Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Company. The Riverside Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 392 |
| ISBN | 0913966541 |
Democracy and Leadership is a book byIrving Babbitt, first published by Houghton Mifflin in 1924. A new edition was published by Liberty Fund Inc. in 1979, with an introduction by Russell Kirk.
Babbitt criticizes what he calls the naturalistic movement in modern Western society. He distinguishes two aspects of this movement, lettingFrancis Bacon exemplify its mechanistic andutilitarian side andJean-Jacques Rousseau its sentimental side. Both ignore the need to order human life with reference to atranscendent ethical principle. The utilitarian and sentimental dispositions are frequently joined in a single individual. According to Babbitt, no amount of sentimental “love” or sociopolitical activism can substitute for a lack of realmoral character.[1] The book rejects historicaldeterministic philosophies fromSaint Augustine toBossuet. It detailspolitical philosophy fromAristotle onwards, explaining how governmental philosophies have tried and failed over time. In the book, Babbitt provides a convincing critique of "uncheckedmajoritarianism," while dealing with the issue of how to find leaders who have high standards.[2]
Babbitt considered moral character so important that it could not be superseded bysocio-politicalactivism orsentimentality. In some cases, he believed social reform could be helpful, but never as a replacement for individual conscience. He explains: "With the present trend toward 'social justice,' the time is rapidly approaching when everybody will be minding everybody else’s business. For the conscience that is felt as a still, small voice and that is the basis of real justice, we have substituted asocial conscience that operates rather through amegaphone. Thebusybody, for the first time perhaps in the history of the world, has been taken at his own estimate of himself."[3]