In Defense of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful: On the Loss of Transcendence and the Decline of the West

by Jordan Cooper

The modern Western world is full of confusion. Divides over religion, politics, and ethics continue to grow faster by the day. In the midst of this turmoil, a number of proposals have been offered as to why this is happening, along with a variety of solutions to these problems. Jordan Cooper argues that most treatments of our cultural condition do not go far enough in capturing the essential philosophical and theological shifts that have shaped the modern world. Cooper contends that the crisis faced by Westerners in the twenty-first century cannot be rightly discussed apart from the three transcendentals that shaped the Western tradition from Socrates through the Protestant truth, goodness, and beauty. Western man's greatest need is not more technological development, better politicians, or radical revolution; our need is to be connected to the transcendental ground of our own God himself. In this work, these three transcendentals are discussed first as they were developed in classic Western thought, and second, as their importance has declined in the modern world.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology, Religion

210 pages, Paperback

Published November 25, 2021

Reviews

[Samuel G. Parkison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this work just in time for it to make its way into my top 10 list! I am a big fan of this book. Cooper engages in a pretty ambitious task: he gives an overview of the development (and subsequent rejection) of the transcendentals of the true, the good, and the beautiful. This is a historical survey of the best kind. It is also an apologetic for a classical vision of these transcendentals. The modern (and late modern) alternative to the classical outlook is just so incredibly drab, boring, tasteless, and dull, and Cooper demonstrates this with excellence. Essentially, Cooper traces how the West has turned into a society of men without chests, and he paints a vivid picture of what it might look like for us to get our chests back. You can expect to see a longer, glowing review from me somewhere, but for now, I’ll simply say this: buy the book.

[StephenM · Rating 3 out of 5]

I follow Jordan Cooper's YouTube channel and have learned a lot from him, but I think this book does expose his limitations a bit. He is strong whenever summarizing the work of other scholars for a young/ignorant audience (like me), but he isn't really an original thinker or an expert on modern debates. Consequently, his chapters on truth, goodness, and beauty in the ancient world and up through Augustine and Aquinas are vastly better than his chapters on developments since the Enlightenment. He follows a basically neo-Thomist reading of philosophical history, with a Protestant twist: Thomas was the peak and perfect balance of all philosophy, and the best Protestant thinkers followed his example up into the 17th century, at which point the Enlightenment came along and ruined everything, and it's been all downhill since. While I am open to large chunks of this narrative, I simply find myself skeptical that it's really all that simple. Surely there are *reasons* the Enlightenment thinkers abandoned the previous consensus beyond a lack of faith; surely the ideas of Kant and Hegel actually opened up new angles on old questions in ways that make them hard to dismiss? And once Cooper gets to the later 20th century in his narrative, things really devolve into tradposting, which is simply unilluminating.

It's a useful book as an intro/overview, but I have to believe that there's better volumes out there for people interested in grappling with them.

[Timothy Hoshiko · Rating 4 out of 5]

shout out Josiah Keating for reading this with me. can’t believe I just happened upon it on google.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read. I enjoyed the discussion of truth, goodness, and beauty in general. I really enjoyed a shallow dive into the philosophical development that has led to our modern understanding of these concepts, or lack thereof. I highly recommend reading! it's not so deep that it's opaque, but deep enough that you'll need to slow down.

[Ryan Cross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Cooper really pulled a literary wedding at Cana on me, starting off with some pretty run of the mill history of western philosophy and the idea of Truth, then moving up to some very interesting conversation about Good, and then brought out the best for last and ended with an incredible section on Beauty. I was left wanting another book just about all the ideas about Christianity, art, and beauty that he ended on. There’s a lot to think about in this book, and it feels very accessible. Dr. Cooper is a joy to read, and his passion about these subjects really comes through (particularly in the section on beauty). Left me with lot to think about!

[Ryan Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction and defense of the transcendentals, truth, goodness, and beauty, and how the west has drifted away from them.

[Isaiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent book, mostly an introduction & summary to the differences between the classical tradition & the modern tradition. Got a couple of typos & grammatical difficulties at the start.

[Ethan Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal read that helped me to understand the connections between truth, goodness, and beauty are systematically connected. Cooper's work also tracks how our opionins on the transcendentals have morphed, and changed from the time of the early Christian platonists.

[Emma Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am appalled by some of the beliefs Cooper expresses. I find the author’s viewpoint to be racist, ableist, sexist, and at points fascist. Not only did Cooper’s beliefs alarm me, but so did his view of the world. I went into reading this book with the assumption that a book about truth, goodness, and beauty would look in depth at the wonder and beauty of God’s creation, love, and mercy. This was not so. Rather than discuss what he considers true, good, and beautiful, Cooper spends most of this book discussing what he finds wrong with the world around him and criticizing both historical figures and the general population for their lack of logic. The author’s pessimism left me feeling distraught over the state of his heart rather than in awe over the supremacy of God’s wisdom.

[Nathan Bozeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent resource for those wanting to learn about the transcendentals, the ideas that shaped the West, and what has gone wrong since our fall from grace.

Highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to learn such topics.

[ryj · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute unit of a banger.

[Michael Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book. Thought provoking. Covers a broad sweep of philosophical thought from the ancients to modern day, but it’s not an overwhelming tome. I believe I will reread this book.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Dr. Cooper's podcast.

[Reece Simmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the read. Cooper's argument is solid with lots of support. The notion that the transcendentals have been lost is correct, and