Illiberalism

Two weeks ago, in Epidemic Irrationality, I reviewed Stephen Hicks’ book Explaining Postmodernism. I’d like to build on one feature of his analysis because it goes a long way to explaining some of the political upheaval in recent years. The three-way battle I highlighted in that earlier post used phrases like “classical liberalism,” “leftist illiberalism,” […]

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Being and Time

Roger Scruton is a great contemporary philosopher.  You should run out and read everything he ever wrote.  His specialty is aesthetics, but he is versatile.  I read him in part for his handle on developments in philosophy over the last few hundred years, including especially the influence of Friedrich Hegel, the preeminent late-18th century philosopher. On the key philosophical subject of […]

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Will to Believe

Let’s look at the objection many agnostics make to belief in God: “If I don’t know, I don’t know.  Nor do you.  One believes because he wants to believe, that’s all.”  Even if this were a completely viable position to take, it wouldn’t support a stance of perpetual agnosticism, as we shall see. Williams James was an […]

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