Here’s Daniel Larison (more specifically, one of many good points Daniel Larison makes in response to this post ): If it was absurd to say that an unexamined life was worth living, as the “red state” correspondent claimed, it is perhaps even more absurd to say that a complicated . . . . Continue Reading »
The recent C11 piece about a Red State’s-eye-view of life was, among other things, a juicy piece of blog bait. I’ll bite: Traditional peoples have met opposition from the beginning of history. Our way of life drives some people nuts. We do not subject our values to critical thinking and . . . . Continue Reading »
The uncanny and unsettling distance between what seems and what is pops up again in David Brooks’s latest column . These are my bolds below: If you wanted to pick words to capture Patio Man’s political ideals, they would be responsibility, respectability and order. Patio Man moved to . . . . Continue Reading »
I don’t know when Lakeview Terrace will disappear from movie theatres. It features Samuel L. Jackson brandishing a chainsaw, so my best guess is "soon," which is a shame. A Chicago reviewer called it "one of the toughest racial dramas to come out of Hollywood since the fires . . . . Continue Reading »
Bowing to relentless and overwhelming demand from postmodern-leaning lovers of truth and virtue waiting somewhere out there in cyberspace, I offer this extended version of the Draft Manifesto from a few weeks ago. (I include the previously published first 8 points here, so you won’t . . . . Continue Reading »
Over at the Confabulum, James has raised the following worry about what people are caling the "New Fusionism": "But both Benedictinism and libertarianism are fairly anti-political worldviews. Any fusion between them would deepen and widen the disconnect between Americans, their . . . . Continue Reading »
Cherry-picking my way through Nicola’s re-rejoinder , here’s what pops out: 1. Nicola seems to agree with me that we can’t be certain about our truths because certainty is the wrong standard of assessment for truths. But she says: I don’t know how truth can function as a . . . . Continue Reading »
So this is my ‘much-anticipated’ rejoinder to Freddie . The best way I know how to do this is like sewing a button. I want to sew Freddie to my fabric of understanding (but not so close that he, the button, is too tight to the fabric to be usable as a button!). The back of that fabric, . . . . Continue Reading »
My own attempt to define the conservatism I believe in - the antithesis of much of the current Bush-Cheney-Palin GOP - is in my book, " The Conservative Soul ." If you’re interested in a more abstract and academic account of the philosophical roots of my take on post-modern . . . . Continue Reading »
In reponse to excellent questions and insights regarding my previous post, I’ve decided to offer a sequel. While Jim is certainly right that the whole of the Enlightenment can’t be reduced to its anti-religious premises, and there are surely important thinkers who don’t fit . . . . Continue Reading »