¶3 In a traditional civilisation, it is almost inconceivable that a man should pretend to claim the property of an idea, and, in any case, if he does so, he thereby deprives himself of all credit and all authority, for he thus reduces it to being only a sort of fancy without any real scope: if an idea is true, it belongs equally to all those who are capable of understanding it; if it is false, there is no reason to boast of having invented it.1 A true idea cannot be ‘new’, for truth is not a product of the human mind, it exists independently of us, and we have only to know it; outside this knowledge, there can only be error; but, at bottom, do moderns care about truth, and do they even know any longer what it is? Here too, words have lost their meaning, since some, like the contemporary ‘pragmatists’, go so far as to abusively give this name of ‘truth’ to what is simply practical utility, that is to say to something that is entirely foreign to the intellectual order; this is, as the logical culmination of the modern deviation, the very negation of truth, as well as of the intelligence of which it is the proper object.2 But let us not anticipate further, and, on this point, let us only note further that the kind of individualism we have just been discussing is the source of the illusions concerning the role of ‘great men’, or so-called such; ‘genius’, understood in the ‘profane’ sense, is very little indeed in reality, and it can in no way compensate for the lack of true knowledge.3
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Summary

Guénon observes that in a traditional civilisation, claiming ownership of an idea is almost unthinkable, as it reduces the idea to mere fancy and destroys one’s authority: a true idea belongs to all who can understand it, while a false one is nothing to boast about. A true idea cannot be ‘new’ because truth exists independently of the human mind, which can only know it; anything outside such knowledge is merely error. Moderns, however, seem indifferent to truth, and some like the pragmatists even abuse the term by applying it to practical utility, thereby negating truth and intelligence altogether. This form of individualism is the source of illusions about so‑called ‘great men’, for ‘genius’ in the profane sense is very little and cannot compensate for the lack of true knowledge.

General notes

  1. propriété d’une idée — Rendered as ‘property of an idea’. Guénon here attacks the modern conception of ‘intellectual property’ (copyright, patents). In a traditional civilisation, truth is not an individual creation but a discovery or a revelation. The sage does not say ‘this is my idea’, but ‘this is the truth, which is eternal and universal’. To claim property of an idea is to enclose it in individuality, to reduce it to a subjective opinion, and thereby to lose all authority. Tradition ignores the notion of ‘individual genius’ in the modern sense. ↩︎
  2. pragmatistes / vérité comme utilité — Rendered as ‘pragmatists / truth as utility’. Guénon targets pragmatism (Peirce, James, Dewey) which defines the truth of a proposition by its practical consequences: true is what ‘works’, what is useful. For Guénon, this definition is a complete inversion: practical utility belongs to the corporeal and social order, not to the intellectual order. To identify truth with utility is to deny truth itself, for truth can be practically useless (e.g., metaphysical knowledge) and the useful can be false (an effective lie). Pragmatism is ‘the logical culmination of the modern deviation’: it completes the reduction of knowledge to action. ↩︎
  3. génie profane / grands hommes — Rendered as ‘profane genius / great men’. Guénon denounces the modern cult of ‘great men’ (heroes, artists, inventors, geniuses). From the traditional perspective, what matters is not the individual person, but the function or the knowledge that he embodies. A ‘genius’ in the profane sense may be endowed with exceptional talents (artistic, scientific, strategic), but if he lacks metaphysical knowledge, his productions remain vain and limited. Genius cannot ‘compensate for the lack of true knowledge’, for knowledge of the truth transcends all particular talents. The ‘great men’ of modern history are often brilliant individuals but spiritually blind. ↩︎