Leo Strauss is a polarizing figure to some; those who have never read his works and indulge in wanton conspiracy theories assert he was some sort of closet fascist and the godfather to the neo-conservative movement in America. The accusations of Strauss as a war-mongering imperialist has been refuted by many scholars, so there is … Continue reading Leo Strauss: Natural Right and History
conservatism
Carl Schmitt’s “Concept of the Political”: Understanding Liberalism
In continuing an examination of Carl Schmitt’s Concept of the Political, we turn to focus in one his widely influential and much debated understanding and critique of liberalism. Schmitt’s critique of liberalism has been influential to those on the New Left (post-Marxist Left) as well as those on the political Right (conservatives proper) who share an … Continue reading Carl Schmitt’s “Concept of the Political”: Understanding Liberalism
Carl Schmitt and the Concept of Sovereignty
Carl Schmitt begins his essay on political theology by discussing sovereignty. As he famously opens, “Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.” What exactly does this all entail? Schmitt’s definition that the sovereign is he who decides on the exception is one of the most famous sentences of all modern political philosophy. In fact, the last … Continue reading Carl Schmitt and the Concept of Sovereignty
Reflections on Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) was an Anglo-Irish philosopher, statesman, and man of letters. He wrote numerous philosophical tracts and political treatises, as well as hundreds of letters. He happens to also be the subject of my current thesis on political aesthetics. I have made mention of him in various posts on politics and aesthetics here on … Continue reading Reflections on Edmund Burke
The Suicide of Conservatism: Jonah Goldberg’s “Suicide of the West”
Jonah Goldberg is the most recent of a cadre of popular writers and academics, all of a decisively neo-Whig orientation and consciousness, who has written a defense of the greatest myth ever told since the publication of Francis Bacon’s Novum Organum. Goldberg’s tale of the “suicide of the West” is nothing new. It is just … Continue reading The Suicide of Conservatism: Jonah Goldberg’s “Suicide of the West”
Aesthetics, Morality, Spirituality and the Ecological Crisis
Conservation is at the heart of conservatism. And the root of our contemporary ecological crisis is a careless, profligate mode of relating to the world; Francis Bacon would be proud of our current disposition as tormentors of nature. Conservatism’s stance toward the natural world, and the ecological crisis, sets it apart from the other philosophies … Continue reading Aesthetics, Morality, Spirituality and the Ecological Crisis
Introduction to Political Aesthetics
Political aesthetics has been an important topic of political philosophy ever since the publication of Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France. For Burke’s critics, his sudden criticism of the French Revolution was shocking if not an act of apostasy given his previous support for the American Revolution. For Burke and his defenders, both … Continue reading Introduction to Political Aesthetics
