“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” —Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough For Love
Welcome to the Renaissance Humans Newsletter, where I focus on sense-making and story-telling in the turbulent twenties. The Renaissance (“rebirth,” in French) spanned from the 14th to the 17th century and marked a period of cultural, artistic, and intellectual renewal in Europe. A Renaissance Human fosters curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, and character in a journey of never-ending learning. They cultivate Mind, Body, and Spirit, in service of Community, and oriented to the Transcendentals.
“To ponder interminably over the reason for one’s own existence or the meaning of life in general seems to me, from an objective point of view, to be sheer folly. And yet everyone holds certain ideals by which he guides his aspiration and his judgment. The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.” — Taylor Swift1
What are these things called the Transcendentals?
For this essay, I am going to lean on Howard Gardner’s Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed: Educating for the Virtues in the Age of Truthiness and Twitter. Gardner is an American developmental psychologist and Harvard professor, known for his theory of Multiple Intelligences, which identifies distinct types like linguistic, spatial, and interpersonal.
The Transcendentals are concepts considered by many faiths and philosophical traditions around the world to be universal properties of being. They “transcend” beyond our material existence and apply to all that exists. Plato and Aristotle discussed the Transcendentals, and thinkers like St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas integrated them into Christian theology. Briefly:
The True corresponds to ultimate reality and connects to cosmic principles.
The Beautiful celebrates harmony, natural order, and aesthetic expressions of the sacred.
The Good reflects ethical living and compassionate action in relations with self, other, and nature.
These concepts are intertwined, suggesting where one is found, the others are present as well. For example, what is true is also good and beautiful in a certain respect, and vice versa.2
Let's break them down a bit, using Gardner’s definitions:
Truth (Verum): The property of statements, it refers to the conformity of thought, statement, or representation to reality. A necessary condition for knowledge and a fundamental aspect of reality.
Beauty (Pulchrum): Property of experiences, understood as the quality or collection of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or exalts the mind or spirit; Objective feature of world recognized subjectively.
Goodness (Bonum): Pertaining to relations among human, it represents the value found in actions, things, or people, and is characterized by qualities like virtue, righteousness, or ethical value. Gardner separates Good into neighborly morality (ex. being a good neighbor) and the ethics of roles (ex. being an excellent physician)
But it’s not just the Greco-Roman world where these concepts can be found.
In Hinduism, we have Satya (Truth or Essence), Sundaram (Beauty), and Dharma (moral law governing individual conduct).
Indigenous worldviews emphasize harmony with the natural order, where Truth is living in alignment with the cycles and spirits of the natural world. Ceremonies, songs, and visual art emphasize the Beauty of all life. The Lakota concept of Mitakuye Oyasin, or "All My Relations" reflects the interconnectedness of the Good.
In Confucianism, Truth can be found in the cultivation of Zhi (wisdom), Beauty in Yue (joy, music, and harmony), and Good in Ren (Benevolence).
In the Buddhist tradition, Truth in the Four Noble Truths, Beauty in the impermanence and imperfection of Wabi Sabi, and Good in the Eightfold Path.
We can keep going with examples from other faiths and philosophies. These are universal concepts. Humans from different times and parts of the world are pointing towards something beyond the material plane.
Gardner asserts the Transcendentals are under attack from two sources—one philosophical/pseudo-religious, and one technological.
First, from philosophy. Postmodernism and relativism challenge the very notion of timeless concepts like the Transcendentals. Thinkers in this camp believe notions of Truth, Beauty, and Good are too fuzzy and subjective to nail down. My truth is not your truth, and I can make no claim on your truth, nor you on mine.
Gardner critiques this view, arguing that while some truths may be contextual, there are domains, like science, where objective truths can and must be established. With Beauty, Gardner acknowledges that while aesthetic judgments can vary, criteria such as coherence, complexity, and elegance for cross-cultural appreciation of beauty (See his page 43 example above). Finally, he warns that relativism leads to moral paralysis or cynicism, making it harder to cultivate shared values or foster societal cohesion.
On the technological front, the emergence of digital media has brought fractured attention spans and spawned polarized and splintered media landscapes. This makes it harder to discern the Transcendentals—to find the Signal amidst the Noise.
Gardner argues that technology encourages echo chambers and erodes trust in traditional sources of truth, such as science or journalism.3 He suggests algorithms and commercialization promote superficial or fleeting aesthetic experiences over deeply meaningful ones. Finally, he cautions technology’s emphasis on speed and connectivity prioritizes individual expression over collective well-being, undermining shared ethical norms.
We have a choice, here.
We can give up on these concepts. We can throw our hands up and have everyone individually create their own niche, a la carte moral systems. With no limits, no constraints, we can do what feels right.
Or, we can reach for the insights of the ancients, find a way to incorporate them into our worldviews and lives. We can do this by powering through the two threats that Gardner identified.
On the postmodern front, we can acknowledge that some beliefs are culturally and socially contextual, that some things are about power. But not everything.
We can use postmodernism to see the warts and imperfections of existing systems and seek to renew old ways of being into a more perfect synthesis. Instead of lingering on the tragic front, we can punch into the post-tragic realm and get to work.
With technology, it’s clear we are living through a transformative moment in human history. The answer isn’t to become Luddites, but to put ourselves into the right relationship with social media, smartphones, and the rest.
Digital hygiene— daily habits to husband our attention and focus, periodic internet fasts, tech free socializing, and moving our bodies in nature. Get the ratio of virtual world to meatspace right, or at least a bit more balanced.
We are awash in a tidal flux— floating out to sea on a moonless, wind chopped night.
Tossed to and fro in a vortex by primal and systemic forces.
In the midst of all this tumult, we’re jettisoning the wisdom our forebears clawed from bloody engagement with reality.
The Transcendentals are the stars that lead us home.
Currere Certamen Tuum
Albert Einstein. 1930 October, Forum and Century, Volume 84, Number 4, Living Philosophies XIII: What I Believe by Albert Einstein, Start Page 193, Quote Page 193, Forum Publishing Company, New York. (Verified with scans) https://quoteinvestigator.com/2023/08/02/goodness-beauty/
Also - the Greek term of "arete" might be considered to reflect all three aspects - truth, beauty, and goodness.
Excellent overview of a vital topic Adam! 👏 So sad that we humans are capable of espousing the loftiest values/virtues and committing the most horrid acts, and all the while rationalizing away the conflict between the two. That's why peace and prosperity are always uneasy and temporary truces between battles.