SOURCE: Lora, Ronald. “The New Humanism of Irving Babbitt and Paul Elmer More.” In Conservative Minds in America, pp. 69-83. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1971.

In the essay below, Lora documents Babbitt's and More's contributions to the New Humanism and traces the development and eventual demise of the movement.

I

Philosophical Conservatism found one of its classic expressions in the New Humanist movement of the first third of the twentieth century. In its two leaders, Irving Babbitt and Paul Elmer More, one sees the Conservative spirit articulating itself—a spirit skeptical of democracy, fearful of the mechanization of life, and desirous of an aristocratic restoration. There is an additional reason for emphasizing the New Humanists. Recent Conservative spokesmen, uneasy about the type of culture emerging out of the industrialization of American society and disillusioned over the defeat of Conservatism on the political front, have sought inspiration from nonpolitical individuals...