The Inflammatory Public Philosopher
A Life of Orestes Brownson in Five Parts: Part Three
Part One: The Forgotten Transcendentalist
Any person who addresses public issues with an uncompromising eye on truth is sure to offend someone. Brownson usually offended everyone.
Brownson wasn’t a subtle person, especially in his writing.
He wrote with logic and force, rarely with sensitivity or tact. And he was also a remarkably-erudite individual with strong opinions and an equally-strong belief that he should express those opinions in uncompromisingly strong words. He simply didn’t see the value of downplaying his points or making them in an indirect or less offensive manner. “There is in Brownson’s style a rhetorical habit of using the harsh blow of a miner’s sledge when the tap of a carpenter’s hammer would be more effective”;[i] he had an “inclination to use a battle ax to crush a butterfly.”[ii]
These traits didn’t change after his conversion and may have become even more pronounced. Brownson, like many intellectual converts, welcomed the “check” provided by the Church’s authority. A Catholic can theorize and speculate wildly, as long as he…
