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The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods, by OP A. G. Sertillanges
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"Fr. Sertillanges's teachings are as timeless as any truths which describe the genuine nature of things. . . . This book is highly recommended not only for intellectuals, but also for students and those discerning their vocation in life."―New Oxford Review
"[This] is above all a practical book. It discusses with a wealth of illustration and insight such subjects as the organization of the intellectual worker's time, materials, and his life; the integration of knowledge and the relation of one's specialty to general knowledge; the choice and use of reading; the discipline of memory; the taking of notes, their classification and use; and the preparation and organization of the final production."―The Sign
- Sales Rank: #68153 in Books
- Published on: 1992-08-28
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.25" h x 4.50" w x .75" l, .61 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 264 pages
Review
"Discusses with a wealth of illustration and insight such subjects as the organization of the intellectual worker's time, materials, and his life; the integration of knowledge and the relation of one's specialty to general knowledge; the choice and use of reading; the discipline of memory; the taking of notes, their classification and use; and the preparation and organization of the final production." -- The Sign
About the Author
Sertillanges was a Dominican priest, a gifted teacher, and a prolific scholar.
Mary Ryan is the internationally bestselling author of "Song of the Tide, The Promise, Mask of the Night, Summer's End, Shadows from the Fire, "and "Glenallen," A lawyer for many years, she now devotes her time to writing. Mary Ryan is the great-great niece of Tom Walsh and based this novel on real-life events. She is based in Dublin and is married with two children.
James V. Schall is Professor of Government at Georgetown University.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"I would put The Intellectual Life on the desk of every serious student, and most of the unserious ones. . . . We should read through this classic book, make its teachings ours after our own manner. Adapting what Sertillanges suggests to our own computer, to our own books, to our own hours of the day or night should be no problem. The book will have an abiding, concrete effect on our lives. If we follow its outlines, it will make us alive in that inner, curious, delightful way that is connoted by the words in the book's magnificent title--The Intellectual Life. I see no reason for settling for anything less. The great French Dominican still teaches us how to learn, but only if we are free enough to let him teach us."-from the Foreword by James V. Schall, S.J.
Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Worth Your Time
By Marcus
A. G. Sertillanges (1863-1948) was a French Dominican brother who studied the moral philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, the great Catholic theologian. Sertillanges published this particular work, "The Intellectual Life," primarily for lay Catholic readers who intend to pursue an intellectual activity as at least a part of their life's main work. His model is a short letter attributed to Aquinas that goes by the name of "Sixteen Precepts for Acquiring the Treasure of Knowledge," and his goal is to update Aquinas's vision of intellectual work as expressed principally in this letter for a modern reader. Following Aquinas's lead, Sertillanges gives practical and theoretical guidance in the topics of the proper mode of living for an intellectual and the moral and intellectual framework that should underly a life devoted to study.
Among the most interesting of Sertillanges' arguments is the idea that an intellectual life must be a vocation in the sense that an individual must have an inborn desire for intellectual work, and further that a personal lacking such a call will not have the will to accomplish anything in the intellectual sphere, despite perhaps possessing great intelligence or other virtues. So the first insight is that will to do and an interest in intellectual work is the first, most important qualification, and that success or failure in an intellectual occupation is mainly an issue of disposition rather than intelligence.
Another principal argument is the idea that an intellectual has a moral obligation to the rest of mankind, and that this obligation demands that all intellectual work must have an eventual practical use for society. The same moral obligation also dictates that an intellectual should prefer a project that is within their ability to complete rather than another greater and perhaps more interesting project that is too large for their gifts, because a completed project does service to the world while an uncompleted work does not serve anyone.
Sertillanges also argues that while we should initially develop a broad intellectual base of knowledge to build upon, a deep speciality knowledge is essential to actually understanding the world. He believes that real knowledge is always a knowledge of root causes. One cannot hope to develop this knowledge by a broad survey of many subjects, but instead by endeavoring to understand at least one subject down to the fundamentals. To know one thing is necessarily to neglect others, and a certain amount of ignorance is necessary and unavoidable for a true intellectual.
Other reviewers on this site have criticized Sertillanges as being uncomfortably effusive over religious themes, and this is without a doubt a fair criticism. Additionally, many of his arguments rely on appeals to Catholic theology and morality, and it follows that readers who do not share Sertillanges' beliefs may have trouble accepting certain of his conclusions. The Catholic idea of service and good works does however adapt pretty well to a humanist paradigm, and readers who approach the work from this angle will likely be able to resolve the issue to their satisfaction.
A related criticism is that most of Sertillanges' arguments are unscientific in nature, and rely more on metaphorical examples and biographical episodes than on cause and effect or logic. This criticism is harder to answer, except to say that many of Sertillanges' conclusion really have the ring of truth when contemplated in the context of one's own education experience, and seem to be effective when put into action.
Aside from those qualifications, this book is the most insightful I've read on the topic of education and learning, and among the first rank of anything I've ever read. On an initial approach, many of Sertillanges' conclusions are ideas that you may feel that you have a decent understanding of already. There is, however, a significant functional difference between half-knowledge and actual knowledge, that is to say that you will get more out of an idea that you have developed to enough of a degree to trust in action as compared to another idea with which you are merely familiar. Additionally, many of Sertillanges conclusions share a counterintuitive element with the arguments I summarized above. For those reasons, I give this work my very highest recommendation.
73 of 75 people found the following review helpful.
Contact with Genius
By Andrew Barrett
1998 reprint of 1987 edition, Catholic University of America Press, 296 pages (of which 260 pages form the main body of the book)
Translated from the French (1934 2nd edition) by Mary Ryan
I came across this unusual book when discussing with my most well read friend the problem of deciding how much to read. He told me this topic was covered in Sertillanges' book and suggested I read it.
The title makes it sound as if the book might be pretentious, but it is not. In the same way that Peter Drucker's superb The Effective Executive is a book for any knowledge worker rather than just for managers, Sertillanges' book should be helpful for anyone who wishes to work using their intellect, rather than just for rarefied intellectuals.
The 1998 reissue (the 1992 date listed on Amazon.co.uk is incorrect) of the 1987 edition has a new forward by James Schall. I think he captures the essence of Sertillanges' book very well:
"At first sight...this is a quaint book. At second sight it is an utterly demanding book."
The subtitle of The Intellectual Life describes its contents well: "Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods". For Sertillanges, intellectual work is not something done in isolation of the rest of a person's life. He believes strongly that in order to do intellectual work to one's capacity, one must order the whole of one's life with this goal in mind. And further, that this requires habits of simplicity, detachment, note taking, memory, writing and more. His book is thus a step-by-step manual that sets out these requirements from the general (virtues, character) to the specific (note-taking, writing).
For most people who are not already members of religious orders (Sertillanges was a Dominican friar) it would be terrifically demanding to follow all of Sertillanges' prescriptions - and involve major changes to one's life. Sertillanges does believe, however, that if one takes care with the rest of one's life then intellectual work can be done satisfactorily using only a couple of hours a day. His book is thus a mixture of the extremely demanding and eminently practical - particularly as much of his advice involves cutting out and eliminating habits that waste time and disturb thought (e.g. pointless correspondence and interactions with people, reading of novels and newspapers).
After reading Ben Franklin's autobiography and Charlie Munger's Poor Charlie's Almanack at the beginning of the year, I have become increasingly aware of the crucial role of habits in determining the outcome of peoples' lives. I was stupid enough to have spent a good proportion of my life testing out the truth of Franklin's maxim: "Experience keeps a dear school, yet Fools will learn in no other." I no longer have any doubt that forming good habits - and most especially avoiding forming bad ones - is terribly important. After all, reliability - which Munger considers the single most important determining characteristic for a person's life - is really just another habit.
Sertillanges understood this very well and the importance of habits that facilitate intellectual work is a topic that he brings up repeatedly - and in my view very wisely - in his book:
"One acquires facility in thinking just as one acquires facility in playing the piano, in riding, or painting.... The mind gets into the way of doing what is often demanded of it."
This is not the only resemblance between the advice in Sertillanges' book and that given by Charlie Munger (the best source for his ideas and the most useful book I have ever read is Poor Charlie's Almanack). The importance of a broad base of knowledge, the danger of over-specialisation and the critical importance of only a few ideas in each subject are all covered in this book.
Another striking similarity is Sertillanges' view of the importance of 'contact with genius' and how one goes about acquiring wisdom:
"...the principal profit from reading, at least from reading great works, is not the acquisition of scattered truths, it is the increase of our wisdom."
I was left with somewhat mixed feelings as I progressed through The Intellectual Life. At times Sertillanges' overt religiosity became a little much for me (I am not a religious person) and I found his prescriptions rather daunting.
As I neared the end of the book, however, my view changed and I found myself extremely grateful that Sertillanges' had written this book for us. It was partly because his section on writing answered with great clarity some problems that I had been wrestling with, and partly because I realised that one could simply take what one needed from his book - rather than the whole package.
My difficulty in deciding how much to read remains somewhat unresolved: there is a tension between Sertillanges' advice on reading and that of people like Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger on investment (my own profession/hobby). Sertillanges advises cutting down on excess (particularly undirected) reading, including, for example, newspapers:
"As to newspapers, defend yourself against them with the energy that the continuity and the indiscretion of their assault make indispensable. You must know what the papers contain, but they contain so little..."
Buffett, on the other hand, claims to read five newspapers a day and urges us to read everything in sight!
I suspect the different advice is due to the type of work. Firstly, I am not sure that investing is an inherently intellectual pursuit (Buffett has often said that after an average level of intelligence the right temperament is more important). Secondly, intelligent investment is just applied opportunism - and in order to take advantage of opportunities we must first be aware of their existence.
I did not find this an easy review to write. I have had to leave out various topics that I would like to have discussed more fully (such as Sertillanges' excellent advice on writing) and still feel this review may be overlong. However, I believe a review that does not attempt to set its subject firmly in context is of limited use. I'll leave the final word to Sertillanges:
"There are books everywhere and only a few are necessary."
I commend this unusual book to you as one of the necessary ones.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
A classic text having lost none of its relevance for modern day seekers of Truth
By GTV
Indispensable for anyone desiring to become a genuine and disciplined scholar; it provides an outstanding roadmap for anyone aspiring to the intellectual life and its mastery. A few of Sertillanges' suggestions are antiquated due to the date of the book's publication. This, however, poses no difficulties for the reader as these patches of "elderly wisdom" are easily updated - substituting the era of the typewriter with the age of digital scholarship. The principles taught in this text remain unchanged over time. After all, it is the task of "one who would know" to refashion the specific, temporal elements of "BEING & DOING" in accordance with the essence and ideals which form the timeless core, indeed the heart, of a life lived in pursuit of the highest things. It is the journey that captivates and grips both spirit and mind with a particular awe; overwhelmingly humbling and dazzling the soul of those who bide the perils of such a life and are rewarded, if they do not succumb to their own pride, with the unexpected, dumbfounding flash of perceiving (or more accurately SEEING) an image, a fleeting shadow of "that which IS" - the act of knowing something for the first time which was not taught to you by another, nor derived as the end product of a line of reasoning.
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