In 1841, Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle penned On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History. One of the first histories to bring forth the "Great Man" tradition of history--the view that certain individuals are driving forces of history, and simply knowing about such individuals would give one a good command of the history of that era, … Continue reading The Many Faces of Napoleon: A Review of Three Napoleon Books
Book Reviews
Postmodernism and Liberal Accompaniment: A Review of David North’s “The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism and the Politics of the Pseudo-Left: A Marxist Critique”
It is commonplace for many to associate postmodernism with being far-left, and, indeed, part of the Marxist and socialist tradition. We have already explored how social democracy and even democratic socialism are not, by classical and orthodox Marxist standards, part of the Marxist or socialist tradition. Rather, the Second International condemned social democracy and democratic … Continue reading Postmodernism and Liberal Accompaniment: A Review of David North’s “The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism and the Politics of the Pseudo-Left: A Marxist Critique”
The Tragedy of Civilization: Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah
Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah is the “introduction” to his seven-volume history of the Arab and Berber people, and history of the world (up to his time and from what he knew of the world via sources and travelling). The Kitab Al-‘Ibar is the full text name, but it is his lengthy introduction (the Muqaddimah) that is … Continue reading The Tragedy of Civilization: Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah
Roger Scruton’s Lebenswelt: A Review of “The Soul of the World”
Roger Scruton is one of the most eminent English-speaking philosophers; a scholar in aesthetics, political philosophy, Spinoza, and Kant (and subsequently Kantianism and post-Kantianism), he is a well-known conservative in the proper sense and use of the term. A skeptic toward market fundamentalism, a critic of the faux virtue and “care” pretentiously claimed in socialism, … Continue reading Roger Scruton’s Lebenswelt: A Review of “The Soul of the World”
Edward Gibbon’s Daughter: Catherine Nixey’s “The Darkening Age”
The Darkening Age is nothing new and is just the latest iteration of the now tired and decrepit Whig “Myth of Progress” which presents Antiquity in some amazing light, the “Christian Era” as the dark age, and that the light of Antiquity was rekindled in the Enlightenment. Anyone with even a elementary knowledge of philosophy, … Continue reading Edward Gibbon’s Daughter: Catherine Nixey’s “The Darkening Age”
Recovering Subjectivity: Roger Scruton’s “The Face of God”
The Face of God, the book form of Roger Scruton’s Gifford Lectures, is the first of a two-part collection of lectures turned into books that tie together the English philosopher’s assessment and challenge of the modern world (the other being The Soul of the World). “Lord Gifford was not an orthodox adherent of any religion, … Continue reading Recovering Subjectivity: Roger Scruton’s “The Face of God”
The Myth and Lies of Steven Pinker’s “Enlightenment Now!”
Myth is already enlightenment, and enlightenment reverts to mythology. ~ Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, p. xviii. Steven Pinker is the public face of contemporary neo-Whiggism. In the midst of turbulent transformations and discontents, rather than try to understand the predicament of modernity and its possibility crisis brought forth by the … Continue reading The Myth and Lies of Steven Pinker’s “Enlightenment Now!”
