The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce

other lists 383Self-disciplineCompassionResponsibilityFriendshipWorkCouragePerseveranceHonestyLoyalty[LoveFaithTemperanceLoveCourage, Justicesecular Love? Temperance, Justice, CourageCourageCourageCourage, Justicepolitical Faith (patriotism),Love]religious FaithSource: William J. Bennett, ed., , 1993What system there is in his book is provided by occasional references to histhree masters, Spinoza and two French philosophers, his former colleague,Vladimir Jankélévitch (d. 1985) and “Alain” (the nom du plume of Émile-Auguste Chartier, 1868–1951, a philosopher long at the Ecole NormaleSupérieure; he was Simone Weil’s mentor in left politics during the 1920s).There is much to be learned from Comte-Sponville—such as that Spinozaneeds to be read by anyone serious about ethical philosophy; and thatMessrs. Jankélévitch and Alain need some looking into as well. The chapterson politeness and gratitude are very fine. But the book has the feel of a closedlecture hall at the Sorbonne, redolent of Gauloises. It’s French provincial.In particular Comte-Sponville has sealed himself off from Englishlanguageinfluences, as though to resist Disney and McDonald’s. The text andfootnotes are overwhelmingly francophone in their reference. Even Germanand Italian figures get short shrift. Le centre est Paris. London and especiallyNew York and Chicago barely exist. Comte-Sponville’s translator, CatherineTemerson, did an amazingly thorough job of giving English editions andpage numbers to replace the original French ones for Montaigne, Pascal,La Rochefoucauld, and other heavily used writers, which reduces the francophoneimpression of the notes. Jankélévitch and Alain had not then beentranslated, so for them the French editions had to suffice. 6I am not criticizing Comte-Sponville for relying excessively on the languageof his birth. That would be unpersuasive coming from someone who,