民主与领袖——白璧德人文思想述评

Democracy and Leadership:An Introduction to Irving Babbitt's Humanism

本文介绍美国新人文主义学者白璧德的晚年代表作《民主与领袖》一书,认为其核心问题即"在现代状况下民主何以可能"这一问题,以此为出发点梳理了其"新人文主义"的基本概念与思路,并对其理论的内在悖论初步进行了探讨。

Irving Babbitt＇s humanism has been regarded as a literary theory ever since it was introduced into China in the 1920＇s. Babbitt＇s notion of humanism is, in fact, a theory aimed at critiquing the modern western civilization, and it finds its best expression in his last book Democracy and Leadership. The present essay traces the logical route of Babbitt＇s humanism as represented in this book by telescoping such important notions as ＂the higher will＂, ＂the law of measure＂ and ＂men of character＂. His theory is doubtless an effective antidote to western modernity gone mad. The cogency of his remedy, however, abates when he reposes the hope in the education of ＂men of character＂ as future leaders, for ＂men of characters＂ could easily be men with hidden and stronger will to power. In this sense, his humanism is an unfinished design which is still to he perfected.