NATIONALHumanities ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 2 • MARCH/APRIL 1988 Robert Nisbet Jefferson Lecturer Humanities Editor's Note Kicking the Giant The achievements of sociologist and historian Robert A. Nisbet can be mea­ sured both concretely—more than twenty books published over a forty-year career of teaching and writing—and abstractly through a lifetime's examina­ tion of the history and philosophy of social thought. On May 11, 1988, Robert A. Nisbet in Bryce Park, near his Nisbet will present the seventeenth Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. The home in Washington, D.C. The park is lecture is the highest honor conferred by the U.S. government for outstand­ named for Viscount James Bryce (1838-1922), ing achievement in the humanities. Nisbet's work, like that of many scholars British historian, diplomat, statesman, and through the ages, is based on the premise, personified by the thirteenth- professor. In Bryce's best-known book, The century allegorical figure of a dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant, American Commonwealth, he disagreed that one cannot understand the present without knowing about the past. with Tocqueville's assertion that majority opinion in the United States terrorized indi­ Through articles about Nisbet and the ideas prominent in his work, Hu­ vidual opinion more than did the Spanish manities considers how the traditions of the past affect the present and influ­ Inquisition. Bryce was British ambassador to ence the future. In "History and the Idea of Progress," Gertrude Himmel- the United States from 1907 to 1913 and one farb discusses the idea of progress and why its disappearance from of the founders of the League of Nations. twentieth-century social thought does not bode well for the West. William (Photo by Nora Stewart) Schambra, in "Tocqueville and the Dangers of Democracy," explains why Alexis de Tocqueville believed the move toward democracy represented a dangerous break with the authority and traditions of the aristocratic age and Humanities A bimonthly review published by the examines what Tocqueville found in American democracy that protected it National Endowment for the Humanities from the kind of "soft tyranny" he feared would be democracy's ultimate Chairman: Lynne V. Cheney stage. Director of Publications Also included in this issue are several articles about NEH-supported proj­ and Public Affairs: ects aimed at exploring how traditions of the past are understood and ob­ Marguerite Hoxie Sullivan served in present-day life. "Religious Resurgence in East and Southeast Assistant Director for Publications Asia," by Susan Burnam, describes a conference that will be held in 1989 to and Editor: Caroline Taylor explore a religious renaissance in Asia. "Poland's Informal Economy," by Consulting Editor: Shirley Sirota Rosenberg Joseph Brown, sheds light on the examination by Polish scholars of the infor­ Production Editor: Scott Sanborn mal economic system that has meant daily survival to the Poles for more Production Assistant: Susan Querry than forty years. And "Buying and Selling Contemporary Art" by Nancy Circulation Manager: Joy Evans Editorial Board: Becker discusses a French sociologist's study of the interaction between aes­ John Agresto, Marjorie Berlincourt, thetic appreciation and financial value in the French art market. Harold Cannon, Richard Ekman, Donald Speaking of financial value, we are pleased to announce that the annual Gibson, Guinevere Griest, Jerry Martin subscription price for Humanities has been decreased from $14 to only $9 per Design: Hausmann/Krohn, Inc. year as the result of a change in the Superintendent of Documents' pricing formula for periodicals. The price change will in no way diminish our cover­ The opinions and conclusions expressed in age. Humanities will continue to offer subscribers thoughtful essays by distin­ Humanities are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect Endowment policy. Material guished writers and scholars on a wide range of subjects, as well as regular appearing in this publication, except for that features on NEH-supported projects and the Humanities Guide, which in already copyrighted, may be freely repro­ this issue features "Right Tool, Wrong Job: What a Challenge Grant Is Not," duced. Please notify the editor in advance so that appropriate credit can be given. The by Harold Cannon. Chairman of the Endowment has determined There could be no more appropriate metaphor for the tradition of the hu­ that the publication of this periodical is neces­ manities than the dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant. An old idea, it sary in the transaction of the public business required by law of this agency. Use of funds is one that has been challenged and even disowned recently. As Robert for printing this periodical has been approved Nisbet has said, "In our art and literature and philosophy, the dwarf has by the director of the Office of Management gotten down from the giant to stand on the ground and kick the giant's and Budget through September 1988. Send requests for subscriptions and other commu­ ankles." There is a price to be paid, he warns, for because we are incapable nications to the editor, Humanities, National of perceiving the future, we find again and again that only through knowl­ Endowment for the Humanities, 1100 Penn­ edge of the past can we effectively handle the problems of the present. sylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20506. Telephone 202/786-0435. Annual sub­ — Caroline Taylor scription rate: $9. (USPS 521-090) ISSN 0018-7526. 2 Contents The Philosophy of Social Thought The Ascendancy of Ideas by Caroline Taylor. The life and work of Robert Nisbet, seventeenth Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities. History and the Idea of Progress by Gertrude Himmelfarb. Abandoning the Western idea of progress may not bode well for the future. Tocqueville and the Dangers of Democracy by William A. Schambra. How America has managed to avoid democracy's darker side. Plato's Political Philosophy by Charles Griswold, Jr. High school teachers examine the legacy of Plato's philosophy. The Humanities and Sociology Poland's Informal Economy by Joseph H. Brown. How informal networks shape the economy in a socialist system. Religious Resurgence in East and Southeast Asia by Susan Burnam. An international conference to examine the growth of religious movements in Asia. Buying and Selling Contemporary Art by Nancy Becker. Exploring the interaction between aesthetic appreciation and financial value in the art market. Features George Caleb Bingham: Missouri Painter by Susan R. Goodman. The life and work of one of America's best narrative painters. The Novels of Charles Brockden Brown by Jennifer Newton. Reevaluating the reputation of America's first professional novelist. Searching for Universals at Home by Thomas D'Evelyn. The annotated collection of the poems of William Carlos Williams. Revamping the Humanities at Community Colleges by Ellen Marsh. Exposure to the humanities enlarges students' horizons. Humanities after School. Five achievers describe the value of an undergraduate humanities degree. The Humanities Guide Right Job, Wrong Tool: What a Challenge Grant Is Not, by Harold C anno n, 43/ 1988 NEH Challenge Grants by Discipline, 44/ Deadlines, 46 The Seventeenth Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities THE ASCENDANCY OF IDEAS BY CAROLINE TAYLOR OBERT NISBET is outrageous. rather than lose him altogether. His among others, the University of R A scholar who has lectured and department was small and built Bologna in Italy, Princeton Univer­ written extensively on the history largely around his own scholarly in­ sity, Smith College, and the Univer­ and philosophy of political and so­ terests—comparative civilizations, sity of Arizona. cial thought, Nisbet finds virtue in major ideas in Western history, In 1974 Nisbet was appointed Al­ prejudice, decadence in democracy, change and progress. He was a fas­ bert Schweitzer Professor of the Hu­ injustice in equality. Some might cinating mind; I was his final Ph.D. manities at Columbia University suggest that his is the work of a before his retirement in 1940." where he stayed until he retired male-centered, Euro-centered schol­ Nisbet stayed on at Berkeley as a from teaching after forty-two years. ar—a man whose entire notion of faculty member until 1953 when he He and his wife moved to Washing­ the decline of Western culture is transferred to the university's new ton, D.C., where he joined the ethnocentric. To that charge, he re­ Riverside campus as its first dean of American Enterprise Institute as first plies with vigor: "You're right!" liberal arts. 1953 also saw the pub­ a resident, then an adjunct scholar. A native of California, Robert lication of his first book, The Quest for Nisbet earned both his undergradu­ Community. THE VIRTUE OF PREJUDICE ate and graduate degrees from the All told, Nisbet spent forty years Robert Nisbet has devoted a lifetime University of California at Berkeley. at the University of California, ex­ to thinking about the ideas embod­ "A man named Frederick J. Teggart cept for three years in the army ied in words. In 1982 he wrote a got me interested in the history of during World War II where he philosophical dictionary that ranged, institutions and ideas," he says. served in the Pacific theater, and alphabetically, from abortion to wit. "Teggart had once been in the histo­ occasional visiting professorships at, He called the book Prejudices— "more ry department, but he clashed with in Burke's than in Mencken's sense." its chairman. The university let him Burke's idea of prejudice, wrote open a department of his own, Nisbet, extends beyond the com­ monly understood meaning to en­ compass the totality of knowing, un­ Caroline Taylor is assistant director of derstanding, and feeling experienced public affairs for publications and editor by human beings. Burke believed of Humanities.