Harrington vs. Hobbes: There will be blood
… [T]he principles of government are twofold: internal, or the goods of the mind; and external, or the goods of…
Running for it
The top American-born runner at the New York City marathon this year was Dathan Ritzenhein. Ritzenhein’s time of 2:12:33 was respectable,…
Film Review: The Devil and Daniel Johnston
It’s always a good time attacking the Enlightenment. You can find firebrands on the right (Peter Leithart) and on the…
Persona
Evangelical Outpost contains a recent article about the play Cyrano de Bergerac, the story of an ugly soldier with beautiful…
Universities haven’t changed since the 12th century
Peter Abelard writes in “The Story of My Calamities,” c. 1130 AD: The thing which at that time chiefly led…
Kierkegaard says no to Hegel
J.M. Bernstein has an interesting article on NYTimes Online Opinionator. Interesting, because G.W.F. Hegel is rarely discussed in a newspaper. Or…
Eric Hoffer, Stoic
By the age of five, Eric Hoffer could read English and German. At seven, he went blind. At fifteen, he…
Communicability
On my way back home, The other day, afternoon, I skipped past a shadow, then another. The umbrage hid a…
Negative and Positive Political Philosophy
The surplus of sarcasm, of critics, should suggest to us how much easier it is to deny something than affirm….
Martial Law at the School Board!
Well, not quite. But hard-and-fast localists are sure to quease and wheeze at the Wall Street Journal’s cover story on school…
Spirituality, Psychology
Strictly psychologically, some very interesting stuff via Rod Dreher the other day. He summarizes some of the theory of Jonathan…
Facts and Values, Jerusalem and Athens
In Natural Right and History, Leo Strauss laid out his case against Max Weber. According to Strauss, Weber had thrown…
Happiness and the eudaimonist
All Joy and No Fun: Why Parents Hate Parenting As a rule, most studies show that mothers are less happy…
What WASPs?
The WASPs are finally losing their grip on power. Finally. Again. The Wall Street Journal reports on the decline of…
Kierkegaard: the soul’s education
Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling: Suppose someone wanting to learn to dance said: “For hundreds of years now one generation…
Great Books? Great Scott!
On a second reading of Dr. Patrick Deneen’s criticism of conservatives’ Great Books love affair, I think I hear what…
Noah’s Shame, Noah’s Honor
Mark Olson at the First Things Evangel blog wonders how Genesis 6-9 would look in a parallel Bible, with the…
Why I am a Hypocrite
I don’t have a TV, but I might watch my neighbors’. I don’t use Facebook, but old friends contact me…
Western Citizens and the Revoker of the Edict of Nantes
It is May 13, which makes today the 412th anniversary of the Edict of Nantes, a document granting religious toleration…
Two arguments for a better ice cream shop
1. Marx 2. Berry Good localists do not simply fetishize the familiar for its own sake. They also aren’t totalizing some…