Prejudices: A Philodophical Dictionary

People who think they are "conservative" should read this book. For that matter, "liberals" should read it too. I put these words in quotes because I don't really know what they mean, and I think half the people who go about using them to describe themselves or others haven't really thought about them, either. We're not much into self-reflection or any kind of reflection these days. In an age of shrill noise from Fox News, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and other self-aggrandizing pygmies, the late Robert Nisbet is someone needed--and largely absent--today: a rational social voice, a well-reasoned professor and philosopher from Columbia University who arrived at his beliefs after careful thought and analysis, rather than someone who adopts or corrupts a dogma and then slants the evidence his way. Nisbet sees no religious or even moral conflict in Abortion, for example, pointing out that the fetus is sanctified neither in the Bible nor in the tradition of the time, and wasn't until the 20th century. Pro-Lifers who go to the Bible for weight to their case have twisted the Scriptures; by the same token, he shows how Roe v. Wade was not good law, or at least wise law. In other words, he sides with neither dogma, but arrives at his conclusion via his own thinking. How refreshing. I discovered this book--and Nisbet--quite by accident in the mid 80s. I was browsing for nothing in particular in a bookshop and found a paperback copy. Even though I knew nothing of the author or many of the subjects then covered, somehow I was attracted to the title, and bought it as an act of faith. I was only in high school at the time and really didn't grasp the intricacies of many of the arguments, nor get all the references. A year later in college, I found myself again browsing it and this time more of the work made sense. By the time I'd graduated college it was one of my favorite books. I regard it so highly that I recently bought a mint-condition used hardback copy to replace my thumbed paperback. I donated my paperback copy to the public library. I was warmly thanked, but months later I did not see it on the shelves or in the catalog. I asked about this and was told that the library sold off or otherwise rejected books it "didn't think most people would be interested in" due to limited shelf space. Yet it found room for "The Way Things Ought To Be" "Savage Nation" and "How to Talk To A Liberal." How sad. The book is an alphabetical listing of terms from A (Abortion) to...well, W (Wit). The concept is sort of an updated Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, which you should also order if you do not own. On such topics as Family, Alienation, Envy, Death, Covetousness, Ritual, Humanities, Intimacy, Progress, Authoritarianism, Comfort, Inflation, Dogma, Darwinism, Crime and Punishment, Racism, Corruption, and Social Change, Nisbet writes with rich insight. A book like this is so important because it teaches you to think. You may believe you already know how to think, than

I am surprised that no one has previously reviewed this book. It is an especially brilliant one, one whose definition of political and social concepts is written with a great knowledge and deep understanding. It is a book which can tell the reader a tremendous amount about the age we live in. Nisbet is a wonderful writer . Here is a small sample from his entry on Fanaticism. FANATICISM This is to zeal what paranoia is to suspicion. There is no area of human behavior exempt from the affliction. Fanaticism is seen in the lifelong labor of the Baconian , certain each day that the next day will bring the long- awaited proof of the non- existence of Shakespeare. It is seen in the relentless hatreds of academics convinced that they have seen the only one true curricular light and feeling betrayed by all who do not see it. And it is to be found in the speculations of ' gold bugs' absolute in their faith that only gold will escape the imminent collapse of all equities and securities. If you take interest in present day political and social realities this book should be part of your library.