Ernest Gellner and Modernity

Political Philosophy Now

by Michael Lessnoff

 Ernest Gellner (1925–1995) was one of the major thinkers of the twentieth-century. He held major chairs in philosophy, sociology and social anthropology during his distinguished career and contributed to a wide range of political and philosophical debates, from linguistic philosophy to the theory of political nationalism and the theory of history. As an outspoken defender of the Enlightenment tradition and of liberal pluralism, Gellner was a committed opponent of theocracy, totalitarianism and libertarianism, and also acquired a deserved reputation as a scourge of a number of the twentieth century’s intellectual idols, most notably Marx, Freud and Wittgenstein. Ernest Gellner and Modernity is a groundbreaking book which provides the first comprehensive discussion of this polymathic writer and thinker. Michael Lessnoff presents a lucid and coherent exposition of Gellner’s thought, making clear both his major contributions to the diverse areas in which he worked and the underlying consistency and unity of his thought. He shows how Gellner’s analysis of the social, economic and cognitive forms intrinsic to modernity carried forward the work of Max Weber and Karl Popper and also enabled him to develop a profound and original philosophy of science which is at the same time a political philosophy.

Genres: Philosophy, Sociology

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[John David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ernest Gellner (1925-1995) was a French-born Czech-Englishman whose interests are as varied as his string of ethnonyms would suggest. In addition to holding well-known chairs in sociology, anthropology, and philosophy, he was also interested in the methodological foundations of science, the political culture of Islamic societies, and dismantling what he considered to be three of the biggest con-games that have taken in intellectuals of the twentieth century: postmodernism, Freudianism, and Marxism. Perhaps his best-known book is “Plough, Sword, and Book.”

This is an imprint from the University of Wales called “Political Philosophy Now,” and aims to summarize Gellner’s oeuvre. Lessnoff does a competent job at this, even if his approach isn’t nearly as witty and sharp as Gellner’s notoriously was. His delivery is flat and academic, but he’s clearly very familiar with Gellner’s work, and especially the conversations in which Gellner was intellectually engaged. Since I haven’t read any of Gellner’s original work, I can only assume that his interpretation of Gellner is accurate. He’s certainly not an apologist for Gellner, and openly criticizes him when he feels it is necessary.

I won’t discuss all of the topics here, but I thought that some of Gellner’s work deserved particular attention. The best part of the book is the last chapter of the book called “Relativism and Cognitive Ethics.” Cognitive ethics is, as I understand it, essentially Gellner’s way of defining intellectual honesty, and is loosely synonymous with the scientific standards of testability and falsifiability in the Popperian sense. He accuses Freudians and Marxists of lacking this cognitive ethic, because imbedded in these systems are ways of deflecting all criticisms. If you’re not a Freudian, you’re simply in a state of false consciousness (note the similarity to Marxist rhetoric); you’re in denial of Freud’s truth. If you deny Marxism, you’re a useful idiot for the bourgeoisie, blind to the alienating effects of capitalism. Basically, all these systems (he goes on to critique postmodernism along the same lines), have internally coopted all criticisms, and therefore completely protects itself from attack. They’re unfalsifiable, and therefore necessarily unscientific – which is a problem when many of their practitioners wear the cloak of scientific respectability.

There are also chapters on nationalism, Gellner’s theory of history (as presented in “Plough, Sword, and Book”), politics in modern society, and a blistering attack on the linguistic philosophy popular at Oxford during the middle of the century, especially that of Wittgenstein (found in “Words and Things”). The only chapter that I didn’t find convincing was the one on Islamic society in which he states, quite oddly, that theocracies are particularly adept at conforming to modernist ideals and suggests a distinction between high and low Islam. This was counterintuitive at best.

Lessnoff’s book is a great survey of Gellner’s life’s work. I would certainly suggest this for anyone in reading one of Gellner’s books, which many of which seem difficult but very rewarding.