Marilynne Robinson: “Humanism”

 Marilynne Robinson’s voice is one I expect to argue against. And so I’m surprised by points of agreement.

Here are a couple from her essay “Humanism.”

I like the Greek word psyche, despite problems. Here’s Robinson:

 

I find the soul a valuable concept, a statement of the dignity of a human life and of the unutterable gravity of human action and experience.

 

I also think that one of the appalling features of our common life is its corporate culture. If I were young again, I’d wonder what I, friends, taxpayers and idealistic teachers were doing to prepare the next generation for a life that could be described as “full.” Here’s Robinson:

 

In any case, the spirit of the times is one of joyless urgency, many of us preparing ourselves and our children to be means to inscrutable ends that are utterly not our own. In such an environment the humanities do see to have little place. They are poor preparation for economic servitude. 

• Source: Marilynne Robinson, The Givenness of Things; New York; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015, pp. 9 and 4.