Jacques Barzun

Jacques Barzun (1907–2012) was a French-American historian, cultural critic, and educator whose books examined Western civilization, education, and the history of ideas.

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Western civilization: A historical tradition shaped by societies and institutions of Europe and their global extensions. Barzun treated its intellectual and cultural history as a central subject.
From Dawn to Decadence: Jacques Barzun’s 2000 history of Western culture from the fourteenth century to the twentieth. This late synthesis presents his account of Western civilization’s rise and exhaustion.
Lionel Trilling: An American literary critic and Columbia University professor known for essays on literature and liberalism. Trilling was Barzun’s Columbia colleague and fellow critic of modern intellectual life.
Positivism: A philosophical approach that treats empirical observation and scientific methods as the basis of reliable knowledge. Barzun criticized the elevation of scientific method into a universal model for the humanities.
Pulitzer Prize for History: An annual American prize recognizing a distinguished book on United States history. Barzun shared the 1961 prize for The American University with Henry F. May.
Intellectual history: The study of how ideas develop, circulate, and shape societies over time. His histories connect thinkers’ ideas with the cultures that produced them.
The Use and Abuse of Art: Jacques Barzun’s 1974 book of essays on art, criticism, and cultural understanding. It applies his historical approach to the purposes and interpretation of art.
Mortimer J. Adler: An American philosopher and educator associated with the Great Books movement. Adler shared Barzun’s interest in liberal education while advancing a distinct Great Books program.
Specialization: The concentration of work or study within a narrow area of knowledge or practice. He argued that excessive academic specialization fragments intellectual understanding.
National Humanities Medal: An annual United States award honoring contributions to the humanities. Barzun received the medal in 2003 for his work on Western culture and the humanities.