On The "Moderation" Principle Of Babbitt's Poetics

The leader of Neo-humanism Babbitt initially proposed Neo-humanism,which combined with the modern spirit of criticism,and integrated with ancient and modern humanistic tradition.Neo-humanism is a cultural and literary criticism of American Anti-Modernity trends from 1910s to 1930s.Babbitt attributed humanism decline in modern society to scientism,materialism and romanticism.Based on the critique of modern American civilization,the expansion of materialism and the overflowing of emotion,Babbitt proposed the principle of "moderation",which was widely applied to literary criticism,education,politics and other fields.Babbitt held that humanism breaks the fundamental principle of "moderation" and "balanc" of the development of Humanism,especially the romanticism represented by Rousseau,which causes a great damage to the modern western society.Babbitt called for emotional constrain and human order recovery to save the chaos and crisis of modern society with moral and cultural strength.Babbitt's Neo-humanism Poetics Studies Collection highlights the ideas of "moderation"and"equilibrium".Babbitt deemed "moderation" as the most fundamental criterion for education,politics,literature,and etc."Moderation" is the core thought of Babbitt's Neo-humanism.He wanted to adjust the relationship between "one" and "many" with "moderation" principle,therefore keep a reasonable balance between "choice" and "sympathy" to deal with the negative consequences caused by spiritual belief loss and the unlimited desire expansion under the aim of individual perfection.In a acquisitive society of immoderate expansion,Babbitt criticized modern people for their excessive desire and moral corruption to save their souls by literary.The standpoint of Babbitt's thought is the nature of human self-promotion.From the view of Babbitt,human nature is binary,and all social problems and mental problems are the consequences of the struggle between the inner and the outer.Literature and art play an important role in the promoting human beings from the lower level to a higher one.He put forward a fine human nature standard--moderate balance,to improve the individual by "moderation" principle,and to balance and coordinate various virtues of people,therefore guide people to a fate of "health" and"dignity" through such "internal balance" constraints.To some extent,his poetic criticism still has a profound significance today,but we may remain a reflection on Babbitt's criticism on the Romanticism represented by Rousseau,and further review its rationality and bias.