Action Versus Contemplation: Why An Ancient Debate Still Matters
Jennifer Summit and Blakely Vermeule
University of Chicago Press, 2018
I found this a very valuable discussion of the various forms this ancient dialectic has taken, from ancient Greece to the modern era of industry and knowledge work.
The authors use a
touch of philosophy and history to some small degree but mostly selected
literature to illustrate how we have come to see the active life and the life
of contemplation. Their conclusion is
one I find myself agreeing strongly with, that the split between the life of
action and the life of contemplation turns out to be artificial and
historically contingent rather than something we can (as we typically seem to
do) confidently take sides on. Each of
us has within us, "two contrary states of the soul" that each serve
us in different ways. Our need to make
sense of these contrary motivational states pushes us ever toward telling moral
stories that emphasize one or the other in different cultural
environments.
The argument mostly
takes the form of examples where what seems to be reasons supporting one path
or the other turn out to be better supporting some difficult balance of action
and contemplation. Herman Melville and
George Eliot feature in particular. The
authors take pains to prepare the reader that they will not be comfortable with
this conclusion, they will want to take sides, and it is opposing this deep
temptation rather than defending a particular way of life that is the
motivation for their book.
Among the forms that
the dialectic takes in this book are: the moral tale of the prudent industrious
ant vs. the pleasure seeking grasshopper, skill vs. knowledge, theory vs.
practice, worldly engagement vs. otherworldly
reflection, goal-oriented action vs. more broadly construed action, frenzied
busyness vs. idleness, stress and relaxation, work and leisure, and ultimately
they focus in on the modern University and its deeply entrenched division of
sciences and humanities. Taking the
history and purposes of the modern college education into account, the authors
make their final bid for reconciliation of the divided states of the soul.
At the very least
the point is well taken here that we cannot afford to see our reflective nature
as mere "idle navel gazing" nor can we afford to lose our goal
orientation and love of efficiency. We
need to take the contrary motivational states that drive us to action and to
reflection collectively as vital aspects of ourselves. Though there are some intriguing and valuable
examples such as trans-disciplinary studies and examples from art and fiction,
just how to accomplish that reconciliation for ourselves is left mostly as an
exercise for the reader.
My review on Amazon
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