Word: trillingã
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...Judeo-Christian overtones here are obvious enough. But to me, at least, Obama’s somewhat oblique reference to the “moral imagination” also recalls the title of Lionel Trilling??s 1950 classic, “The Liberal Imagination.” Writing an introduction to a posthumous collection of Trilling??s essays in 2000, Leon Wieseltier praised the literary critic—along with theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and intellectual historian Isaiah Berlin—for remaining clear-eyed in dark times, a “rationalist with night vision...
What this means is that the months ahead call for us to tread very carefully. The distinction sketched out here between the “moral” view and the “amoral” view is essentially the same as that drawn by another reviewer of Trilling??s book, who divides intellectual life between “fundamentalism” and “relativism.” In his speech, Obama warned that “if you truly believe that you are carrying out divine will, then there is no need for restraint?...
...Trilling??s point in “The Liberal Imagination” was that part of the role of literature is to challenge status quo liberal ideas; while politicians tend to get carried away in abstractions, literature dwells in the details. As Obama continues to unwrap his political philosophy through his actions and words, the lesson that we must temper our admiration with productive criticism remains more potent than ever...
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