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Dr. Pat and Dr. Karl

From First Thoughts

Here’s my response to Deneen’s just concern that his fans my be scared off by my accusing him of being too Marxist: Here’s Marx: Who a human being is is determined by HISTORY (you paleos should love him—he really, really takes history seriously)—that is, by the . . . . Continue Reading »

Contra Porchers

From First Thoughts

So here’s something I just posted on their site to rile them up: Postmodern conservatives aren’t first wave liberals and are anti-Cartesian in the spirit of Maritain/Percy/Deneen/MacIntyre, while thinking Maritain himself is too Kantian and Deneen/MacIntyre are too Marxist. So the . . . . Continue Reading »

The Postmoderns vs. The Front Porchers

From First Thoughts

Dr. Patrick Deneen has gotten all uppity and wants some kind of showdown at one of his people’s corrals between the Postmodern Conservatives and the “Front Porch Republicans” (none of whom would be caught dead doing something REALLY conservative like voting REPUBLICAN). I emailed . . . . Continue Reading »

KASS ON ROUSSEAU—Part 1

From First Thoughts

Kass reports that he was prepared by his experiences at Harvard (with privileged scientific intellectuals) and in Mississippi (with the nobility of the poor and oppressed) for reading “Rousseau’s Discourse on the Arts and Sciences .” This book was the first major effort of a . . . . Continue Reading »

Kass the Natural Scientist

From First Thoughts

Let me begin by admitting that I should have called my previous post on Leon “Kass, the Dissenting Physician.” Despite “inchoate reservations” coming from both personal experience and reading Great Books, Kass, M.D. went on to pursue a PhD in biochemistry. (He couldn’t get . . . . Continue Reading »

Dr. Pat Deneen on Marriage and Place

From First Thoughts

PAT does a very fine job reminding us that gay marriage only became plausible at a certain point in the long process of the Lockeanization of marriage. If the institution is all about rights with no corresponding duties then we really can’t explain why all Americans — including, of . . . . Continue Reading »

Kass the Dissenting Scientist

From First Thoughts

The next stage of Kass’s education was the “educational prejudice” he acquired at the University of Chicago “in favor of discussing the great questions and reading the Great Books.” There he was inspired by the “exemplary” dignity of the life devoted to . . . . Continue Reading »