Affton Auto Service - P14 Eric Hoffer

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Eric Hoffer, the "Longshoreman Philosopher"

This page is dedicated to a thinking man. But Hoffer was not the typical intellectual. In fact he did not regard himself as such, though in truth he stands head and shoulders above the vast majority of the so-called "elite," who for the most part parrot and echo repackaged thoughts of others. Not so Eric Hoffer. He is an original thinker. Few can claim that title. I regard myself as fortunate to have been exposed to his writings as a young man.

His story is unique, and so his biography is an interesting read, but not as interesting as his insightful, poignant thoughts and ideas. So let's take a look at his life first, and then get to the "meat and potatoes" later.

Eric Hoffer (July 25, 1902 - May 21, 1983) was an American social philosopher. He wrote ten books and won the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His first book, The True Believer, published in 1951, was widely recognized as a classic. This book, which he considered his best, established his reputation, and he remained a successful writer for most of his remaining years.

Hoffer was born in New York City, the son of German immigrants. By the age of five, he could read in both German and English. At age seven, and for unknown reasons, Hoffer went blind. His eyesight inexplicably returned when he was fifteen. Fearing he would again go blind, he seized upon the opportunity to read as much as he could for as long as he could. His eyesight remained, but Hoffer never abandoned his habit of voracious reading.

Both his parents passed away while he was still a young man. Seeking opportunity, and an occupation that would allow him to read constantly, Hoffer made his way across the country to California. There he began to do manual labor while educating himself on the side. He had library cards for borrowing at libraries up and down the train line near his home in San Francisco. He was to continue at odd jobs throughout his life, such as migrant farm laborer, gold prospector, and longshoreman. Despite daily work, often strenuous, he managed to read more books than many academics. He was stirred to writing after felicitously encountering the Essays of Michel de Montaigne in a secondhand bookshop.

Hoffer and the roots of mass movements
Hoffer was among the first to recognize the central importance of self-esteem to psychological well-being. While most recent writers focus on the benefits of a positive self-esteem, Hoffer focused on the consequences of a lack of self-esteem. Concerned about the rise of totalitarian goverments, especially those of Hitler and Stalin, he tried to find the roots of these "madhouses" in human psychology. He discovered that fanaticism and self-righteousness are rooted in self-hatred, self-doubt, and insecurity. As he describes in The True Believer, a passionate obsession with the outside world or with the private lives of other people is merely a craven attempt to compensate for a lack of meaning in one's own life. Extensively researched, this slim volume contains more ideas per page than some entire books.

His work was not only original, it was completely out of step with dominant academic trends. In particular, it was completely non-Freudian, at a time when almost all American psychology was confined to the Freudian paradigm. In avoiding the academic mainstream, Hoffer managed to avoid the straitjacket of established thought. He appeared twice on television with Eric Sevareid, and both times he drew wide response for his patiently considered but unorthodox views.

Hoffer and "Intellectuals"
Hoffer was also one of the most pro-American writers of his day. He did not consider himself an "intellectual", and he scorned the term as descriptive of the mostly anti-American academics of the West. Academics, he believed, most of all craved power; but they were denied it in the democratic countries of the West (though they were not in totalitarian countries, which Hoffer saw as an intellectual's dream). So instead, he believed, they chose to bite the hand that fed them in their quest to feel important.

Hoffer himself drew confidence from his working-class environment, seeing in it vast human potential. He took solace in being an outcast, believing that the outcasts have always been the pioneers of society. Though he felt opposed to "liberal" intellectuals, it would be wrong to call Hoffer's thinking "conservative". Rather, it was completely apart from the mainstream. As he said, "my writing grows out of my life just as a branch from a tree." When called an intellectual, he insisted that he was a longshoreman.