The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent

At the beginning of the last century, John Erskine, a young scholar in European literature and Columbia professor, delivered a lecture at Amherst on the subject of Virtue, as seen through the eyes of the western literary tradition. He observed that, at least since the time of the Anglo-Saxons, intelligence was considered a peril, and that English (and American) literature continued to support that judgment. I can think of clear examples in Beowulf, Paradise Lost and Tom Jones, for example. His essay also points to the English writers who thought that Intelligence was at least as important as Will or Innate Goodness, but makes it clear that our Anglo-Saxon-derived intellectual history generally distrusts the clever hero, and sides with the "natural" individual who has, at least, good intentions. (Pace George Bush and Karl Rove.)

In an introductory paragraph to a reprint of that address he summarizes with the thought that:

"... intelligence is one of the talents for the use of which we shall be called to account--that if we haven't exhausted every opportunity to know whether what we are doing is right, it will be no excuse for us to say that we meant well."

For me, this encapsulates the key divide in our political reality and challenges the dominant ethic of the neo-conservative right, which I interpret as: it doesn't matter what you do, as long as you meant well (or it achieves the ends you desire). Which only begs the question of how I am supposed to know what you meant.

I propose a couple of rules of thumb:

1. First, I cannot know with any certainty what is in your heart, nor can you know what's in mine. Any claim along those lines is by its nature inappropriate and untrustworthy; it cannot be part of any meaningful dialog, no matter how important as interior monolog.
2. We are left then with words and deed. Words are important, but must be verified, over time, by deeds; and deeds must be verified by consistency. Do your words match your actions? Do your actions display a rational guidance? Do mine?

My takeaway from this: Intelligence is not a trait, or a gift, like perfect pitch or sprinter's speed. Intelligence is a practice, a discipline, a commitment to questioning what we often call common sense and conventional wisdom. It is a recognition that our primary task is to see the world as it really is even when our perceptions and environments--and the tenor of the political and intellectual discussion surrounding us--seem to make it impossible.

In the sense that intelligence is a moral obligation, it is an obligation that this culture does not much respect, and of which much of our news and communication media seems to entirely unaware.