The Moral Imagination: From Adam Smith to Lionel Trilling

331 Pages·2012·0.81 MB·English

by  Gertrude Himmelfarb

PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS EDITION
“The Moral Imagination reminds us why Gertrude Himmelfarb is
our foremost historian of morality.” —Andrew Roberts
“Beautifully written . . . a manual for modern statesmanship.”
—Arnold Beichman, Washington Times
“A complex, challenging book by one of the world’s smartest and
deepest scholars at the top of her game. . . . You must have your
brain turned on every step of the way.” —David Gelernter,
Weekly Standard
“Crisp and judicious. . . . She has a marvelous grasp of the
personal, historical, and intellectual features of her ‘sitters.’”
—Peter Heinegg, America
“Himmelfarb has a signal talent for bringing the figures and
issues she discusses to life, which is to say that she has a signal
talent for inhabiting history with the permanent passions of
mankind.” —Roger Kimball, The New Criterion
“A joy to read. . . . These thoughtful, perceptive, and calm essays
are oases of reflection and concern in an age that screams and
struts and points its fingers in all directions.” —Sam Coale,
Providence Journal
“Enlightening, infectiously enthusiastic.” —Ray Olson, Booklist

The Moral Imagination
ALSO BY GERTRUDE HIMMELFARB
The People of The Book: Philosemitism in England from To Churchill (2011)
The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot (2009)
The Roads to Modernity: The British, French, and American Enlightenments (2004)
One Nation, Two Cultures (2001)
The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values (1995)
On Looking into the Abyss: Untimely Thoughts on Culture and Society (1994)
Poverty and Compassion: The Moral Imagination of the Late Victorians (1991)
The New History and the Old (1987)
Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians (1986)
The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age (1984)
On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill (1974)
Victorian Minds (1968)
Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution (1959)
Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics (1952)
EDITOR OF:
Irving Kristol, The Neoconservative Persuasion(2011)
The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays(2007)
Milton Himmelfarb, Jews and Gentiles(2007)
Alexis de Tocqueville, Memoir on Pauperism (1997)
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1974)
John Stuart Mill, Essays on Politics and Culture (1962)
T. R. Malthus, On Population (1960)
Lord Acton, Essays on Freedom and Power (1948)
The Moral
Imagination
From Adam Smith to Lionel Trilling
Second Edition
Gertrude Himmelfarb
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham (cid:129) Boulder (cid:129) New York (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK
Early versions of these essays appeared in the following journals or books:
Disraeli, Knox, and Churchill, The New Republic(1983, 2000, 2001);
Oakeshott and Eliot, American Scholar(1976, 1994); Burke, American Enterprise
(1997); Bagehot, New York Review of Books(1965); Buchan, Encounter(1960);
Trilling, Weekly Standard(2005); Dickens and Smith, in Himmelfarb, The Idea
of Poverty(New York, 1984); Acton, New Criterion(2000); Marshall, in
Himmelfarb, Poverty and Compassion(1991).
Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com
10Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL67PP, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2012by Gertrude Himmelfarb
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a
reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Himmelfarb, Gertrude.
The moral imagination : from Adam Smith to Lionel Trilling / Gertrude
Himmelfarb. — 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4422-1829-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-1830-7
(ebook)
1. Philosophy, Modern 2. Political science—Philosophy. I. Title.
B791.H56 2012
190‚—dc23
2012020626
TM
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
To my brother, Milton Himmelfarb

Contents
Introduction ix
Adam Smith: Political Economist cum Moral Philosopher 3
Edmund Burke: Apologist for Judaism? 21
George Eliot: The Wisdom of Dorothea 30
Jane Austen: The Education of Emma 43
Charles Dickens: “A Low Writer” 54
Benjamin Disraeli: The Tory Imagination 87
John Stuart Mill: The Other Mill 112
Walter Bagehot: “A Divided Nature” 139
Lord Acton: The Historian as Moralist 153
Alfred Marshall: “The Economics of Chivalry” 167
John Buchan: An Untimely Appreciation 185
The Knoxes: A God-Haunted Family 206
Michael Oakeshott: The Conservative Disposition 227
Winston Churchill: “Quite Simply, a Great Man” 247
Lionel Trilling: The Moral Imagination 269
Notes 281
Index 309
vii