In the past twenty years John Haldane has established himself as a philosopher who has something to say to the non‐specialist. Through articles in British Catholic weekly newspapers and Scottish daily newspapers he has assumed not only the mantle of a Public Intellectual, but a Catholic Public Intellectual, an altogether rarer breed.
Seeking Meaning and Making Sense collects twenty pieces of Haldane's journalism of the past decade. That this represents only a part of Haldane's newspaper output during this time is clear from the fact that he has also published in 2008 another collection of articles, The Church and the World, where Haldane's Catholic interests are much more to the fore. (The latter was reviewed by Margaret Atkins in the January 2009 issue of New Blackfriars.)
Yet there are points of continuity. A philosopher is interested in ideas, and bringing one's Catholicism to one's philosophy not surprisingly helps make one receptive to ideas from the past, especially from classical and medieval thought. To this Haldane brings the analytical rigour of Anglophone philosophy, along with a desire to challenge those currents of contemporary thought scornful of the past, as if unaware that modernity has its own vulnerabilities. From the first of the essays Haldane makes his general perspective clear. There are, he claims, three options. The first two are rejected: Romantic Reaffirmation, with its attempt at recreating the past; and Self‐Conscious Irony, where intellectual enquiry is treated as a highly sophisticated form of play (p. 6). Haldane's position is that of Reform and Renewal: “rearticulating and where necessary amending older conceptions of human nature and human values so as to show their coherence, plausibility and contemporary relevance” (p. 138).
The way Haldane has put this into practice has earned him the epithet: “a medievalist in modern clothes.” However, this is not obvious in Seeking Meaning and Making Sense. St Thomas Aquinas, Haldane's principal medieval interlocutor, is, for example, mentioned only three times. Unlike in The Church and the World, Haldane's spirit of reform and renewal takes the form of a proud Scot calling his compatriots to appreciate the richness of their nation's intellectual heritage, reminding them that this great tradition lives on – to some extent. Of course, Haldane would doubtless point out that the fact that an academic philosopher such as he is published in the daily Scottish press reflects the continued strengths of Scotland: “As one moves north, the soil of moral community grows deeper. Cross the border and one enters another country with its own religious tradition, and its own education and legal systems. Until recently moral philosophy was more or less compulsory in Scottish universities and it is still pursued by large numbers of first year arts students” (p. 35).
Alongside such affirmations are many passages exhibiting a certain elegiac tone, sadness that his nation risks betraying its heritage, as shown in the disappointingly low effect of the Scottish moral tradition on recent government policy, despite the disproportionate number of Scots in the corridors of power. Haldane points out that the Scottish university whose Chair of Moral Philosophy was once occupied by the philosopher Thomas Reid, the “philosopher of common sense”, in 2001 awarded a Doctor of Letters to Billy Connolly, that other great exemplar of common sense. Haldane is tantalisingly reserved about what he thinks about this particular case, and good‐naturedly does not stoop to moralism. Yet the basic point seems clear: great traditions can all too easily be eroded.
Here, as in so many of the other essays, Haldane shows a keen appreciation of contemporary British life, not least its moral and intellectual health, arguing for the view that they are closely related. When addressing such questions, the spirit of renewal and reform is not just about taking on board older conceptions of human nature and human values, but challenging a society whose moral sensitivities risk becoming coarsened and corrupted. This is most evident in two of the essays, on the status of the embryo and on the ethics of war. In these essays contemporary ethics stands accused of preferring inferior conceptions to past wisdom, manifested in its unexamined utilitarianism and the ease with which it dilutes moral principles foundational within human morality. On abortion: “An embryo is not a potential human being but a human being with potential. To kill it is to kill a human being” (p. 55); and on war: “Ironically, however, had the scholastic doctrine of just war been better known, it might have been that an artefact of medieval ethical theory would have inhibited contemporary consequentialist strategies of war, and saved our leaders from incurring harms to their own people as well as inflicting terrible and longstanding suffering upon the people of Iraq” (p. 61).
This is, of course, to enter into controversial territory and Haldane's tone is often critical. However, such conclusions as these are preceded by disciplined argument, where rigour is trusted more than the emotional heat that so often derails proper debate. Throughout, accessibility to an educated daily newspaper reading public is seemingly effortlessly achieved, without avoiding difficult concepts or argumentative precision. In this respect he is not unlike his great Scottish Enlightenment predecessors.
There is a breadth to this collection that is highly impressive: bioethics, aesthetics, the legacy of the Scottish Enlightenment, the British Union, the problem of evil, the intellectual achievement of Elizabeth Anscombe and the change of opinion on the existence of God of the erstwhile atheist, Anthony Flew. Yet, there is arguably something missing. Haldane's writings on the state of contemporary Catholicism, applauded by some and dismissed by others, are surely the part of his journalistic oeuvre that has elicited most comment and controversy, and distinguishes him most from other conservative commentators writing for the quality press. Publishing those pieces in a separate collection may make this one more acceptable to the general public, but simultaneously undercuts its raison d’être: to acquaint us properly with an outstandingly lucid voice whose Catholicism is central to the perspective from which he views the world. It is an acquaintance well worth making. He is a man of conviction who respects the reader enough to lay his cards on the table, presenting his own beliefs to the same scrutiny to which he submits those of others.
