Reviewed by Timothy Niedermann
Much of the world today is in a crisis of trust. Our societies are polarized; our faith in our institutions and our leaders has been severely shaken. The causes vary, of course, but the problem is real.
Question Authority by U. of Toronto philosophy professor Mark Kingwell, addresses this. It is, to quote its subtitle with, “a polemic about trust in five meditations.” The central problem, as Kingwell views it, is the tension between trusting institutional authority while also being critical of it in order to ensure that the institution maintains its relevance and integrity.
Too often what happens is that the dialogue over change becomes stymied by the rigid convictions held by one party or another, making compromise impossible. Kingwell coins a new word to describe this: doxalholism, i.e., addiction to conviction (from the Greek word for opinion, doxa). It is this personal rigidity, the refusal or inability to listen to opposing views, that lies at the heart of doxaholism, and Kingwell spends a lot of time analyzing the nuances of this issue.
Each of the five “meditations” has a theme, with the chapters within them addressing aspects of that theme. Kingwell explores the various ways authority and trust interact, discussing government, religion, education, even parenting.
A constant theme throughout the book is the need for critical thinking about our social institutions. But Kingwell also insists we apply critical thinking to ourselves, in order to avoid becoming a doxaholic. Practice humility, in other words.
Kingwell often turns his eye on the US, which of late has been exhibiting a clear crisis of social polarization and addiction to conviction. People like Donald Rumsfeld, and, of course, Donald Trump, are easy grist for his critical mill.
But Kingwell can be funny. He likes to talk about the Star Wars movie franchise, and digresses more than once onto Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda.
By calling Question Authority a “polemic,” Kingwell is allowing himself to go wherever his mind takes him, often digressing from his main themes into long discussions of related ideas, sometimes not returning to where he began. In one chapter he begins with a discussion of parental authority and the differences between fathers and mothers on that score, but wanders from that into first, a rumination on religion, then, yes, Star Wars, and on to F. Scott Fitzgerald and Edith Wharton. It is meaty and at times very entertaining stuff.
But be forewarned: Mark Kingwell is a philosopher and an academic as well. So, his language can get mired a bit in scholarly usage and terminology. Though to be fair, his discussions of Plato, Socrates, Hume, and other philosophers are very informative, especially to those of us who never studied philosophy. And his vocabulary is extensive. Every so often it might be necessary to consult a dictionary. At times, however, his articulateness clouds the urgency of his message, and his frequent digressions add substantial length to the book.
That said, this is a very timely and important book. So excuse its occasional academic presumptuousness, and savour the wisdom within it.
Question Authority is published by Biblioasis.