Jean-Paul Sartre penned a play about three people trapped in hell with the famous, often quoted line: “Hell is other people”. By that, he did not mean that other people are awful, to be avoided, he meant that when we think of ourselves, we use the knowledge which other people already have about us. We judge ourselves through other people, so we are forever trapped within them, subject to their view of us.
Chapter 4 of Patrick Deneen’s Regime Change (2023) is The Wisdom of the People. I think it’s the best, a superb articulation of undeniable truths (common sense), which are disputed by egghead idealogues in academia and media today. There is an ongoing, ancient debate on who is qualified to rule on behalf of the common good – the expert few, or the many people. Deneen and I both conclude that experts are absolutely needed for medicine, engineering, piloting, law, etc….. but we should be very suspicious of “experts” on morality, on how to live, on the common good.
Deneen approaches the debate for us like a judge hearing argument from two sides at a trial. First, for the experts, Plato, Francis Bacon and John Dewey. Next, for the people, Aristotle, Edmund Burke and Adam Smith. I enjoy this book because I’ve pondered the debate here for years. For example, p. 100 cites Tom Nichols book, The Death of Expertise (2017), analyzed here 2/9/19 – 4/9/19. And Yuval Levin’s majestic, The Great Debate (2013), was explicated here 12/5/17 – 1/30/18, as we listened to arguments between Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke.
The argument for the people, against the experts, begins with Aristotle’s observation that the expert maker of something is not always the best judge of why or how it best works. A homebuilder isn’t as good of a judge on the home as the family who lives in it. Experts are different than users – a boat piolet evaluates rudders better than a carpenter, a diner not the cook is the best judge of a meal. Relying solely on experts ignores the invaluable treasury of knowledge, experience, and wisdom of common sense. And it’s not just that we lose this value, ignoring it results in downright damage, punishment of people. The progressive urge for innovation exhibits a “selfish temper and confined view…. imposed ignorance”.
Deneen’s overarching theme is that human existence is across time, not just in the selfish present, ignoring the past and disregarding the future:
A society oriented toward constant upheaval, innovation and improvement is more than likely to dismantle the place and status of the elderly, to neglect children, to live riotously in the present while denigrating the past and robbing the future…deprived of an inheritance. Having all the wisdom of mayflies, the young not only receive little from the past, but in turn understand that they will have little to pass on as they age. The result is a civilization that lives for the moment – one likely to consume and play “while the sun shines” and store up neither cultural nor financial treasure for the future.
Your Estate Planning War Chest is a store of accumulated knowledge and treasure from the past, bequeathed to the future. Next week, hell is for lawyers (not children).
The Estate Planning WAR CHEST 