rocket fuel

mills:

And what of intelligence? I believe intelligence is no more laudable than athleticism, morally; it makes one good at some things and not at others. It is not a moral virtue; it is not a mark of goodness; someone cannot be faulted for not possessing it; and Fowler is right: we should regard the display of knowledge as comparably vulgar to material ostentation.

It may indeed be the case that intelligence is not a moral virtue, but it has certainly become an ethical one, and it therefore differs rather drastically from mere athleticism.

We do not live in the city of philosopher kings; we have a humble republic. My political representation, therefore, along with my livelihood and well-being, become dependent on the intellectual faculties of the citizen in the voting booth next to me. His or her athleticism or good looks mean nothing to me in this respect.

There is no a priori judgment that can establish the ethical mandate for individual intelligence, seeing as it is a purely structural byproduct of our preexisting sociopolitical conditions. The same can be said for personal health: one cannot possibly reason one’s way from a set of limited axioms towards the conclusion that it is morally right to lead a healthy, active, long life; one arrives at this conclusion a posteriori, via ethical-political reasoning, because healthcare costs at the aggregate level are affected by the lifestyle choices (and access to preventative care) of each of the sum’s parts. The health and intelligence of the individual transcend mere personal betterment once entering into the social compact.

In this context it is absolutely fitting for us to laud intelligence—or at least the aspiration thereto—when political contests can be reduced to a battle between Glenn Beck viewers and Jim Lehrer viewers.

 

  1. smellslikesunshine reblogged this from mills
  2. laadeedaa reblogged this from langer
  3. chryselephantine reblogged this from mills
  4. grantheaslip reblogged this from langer
  5. rabsteen reblogged this from tragos and added:
    What are moral virtues and what are...reminded (by Langer et al.’s reply)
  6. tragos reblogged this from nudawn
  7. nudawn reblogged this from langer and added:
    i bet langer was masturbating when he wrote this.
  8. nudawn reblogged this from mills
  9. tragos reblogged this from langer and added:
    This conversation reminded me of the title to Lionel Trilling’s book, “The Moral Obligation to be Intelligent.” We do...
  10. imbibealittle reblogged this from mills and added:
    connection between...intelligence, while capable...being...
  11. langer reblogged this from mills and added:
    It may indeed be...not a moral virtue, but it has certainly become an ethical one,
  12. crepusculoestelar reblogged this from mills
  13. bmichael reblogged this from mills and added:
    zeitgeist of self-improvement that’s arisen with modernity (the technologicalization of human-ness, say) may color my...
  14. bigemptybluesky reblogged this from mills
  15. mills posted this

blog comments powered by Disqus

rocket fuel