For anyone to hold “the media” in contempt—for example, over “fake news”—is nothing but a bizarre form of self-loathing… In this digital age of polarized politics, where can we look for guidance on how to turn down the heat? After all, we don’t want to blow ourselves up. Fortunately, although the imperative to use our [...]
When a character imitates the desire of another character, the differences between them dissolve as the similarities in desire increase. This pattern of “undifferentiation” is more and more evident in the plays of the mature Shakespeare, such as “The Taming of the Shrew,” “As You Like It,” and “Twelfth Night. In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s [...]
The world lost one of its keenest philosophical minds when John Deely passed away on January 7, 2017. As a philosopher, John developed his insights by working within the fertile soil of the Catholic intellectual tradition. The influence of the great French Thomist Jacques Maritain was immense, not only in John’s professional life, but also [...]
The Roman poet Catullus translated a masterful love poem by the Greek poet Sappho, adapting it into a Latin version that is neither simply literal nor straightforwardly accurate, but, rather, a brilliant reinterpretation… The Roman poet Catullus translated a masterful love poem by the Greek poet Sappho, adapting it from her Greek (Sappho 31) into [...]
One way to celebrate the Christmas season and the New Year is to relax with family and friends by coming together around a movie. Here’s a list of suggestions: 1. Rogue One To enjoy this film, you have to go into it realizing that you are not going to see a Star Wars episode. It [...]
In keeping with a grand tradition of The Imaginative Conservative, in which we share with one another the precious gift of good reading, I would like to offer my own suggestions for some Christmas gift books. Here are my ten recommendations; feel free to pick and choose: […]
The current generation may always consider itself to be the wisest of all, but High Tory politics strives to avoid the perennial folly of this prejudice... “The next wave of American ‘conservatism’ is not likely to base its appeal on such unsuccessful slogans as the Constitution and free enterprise. Its leader will not be a [...]
As grand strategy evolves in America’s ongoing democratic political process, the essence of the Plato Doctrine will be preserved in any new formulation of a national security doctrine, because such is the nature of human political life… I have argued that there is no Platonic teaching of a “noble lie,” but rather of “some one [...]
Great nations need organizing principles, and the forthright articulation of a Trump Doctrine will define the future of U.S. foreign policy—if Plato’s advice about the people’s consent is followed… Looking ahead to what will be the most defining feature of the Trump administration, Pat Buchanan has noted that it is “Time for a Trump Doctrine.” [...]
The phrase “noble lie” does not even occur in the text of Plato’s Republic. So how have scholars come to misunderstand what Plato means in his discussion of the city’s need for a doctrine to guide its politics? What did Plato actually teach in the Republic about the so-called “noble lie?” For convenience, I shall refer to [...]
“The world exists to end in a book” — Stéphane Mallarmé “Happy is your Grace, That can translate the stubbornness of fortune Into so quiet and so sweet a style.” —Shakespeare, As You Like It (II.i.19-21) “Prayer is reversed thunder.” —George Herbert In Chapter 6 of Understanding Media (1964), “Media as Translators,” Marshall McLuhan starts [...]
When I first discovered Plato, I was delighted to learn that philosophy could be exciting, rather than boring. I learned that Plato wrote eloquently in praise of divine madness. Eros is recognized by many to be a form of madness, and yet without eros how can one be propelled aloft on the quest for wisdom? [...]
“There’s Nothing Like a Best Seller to Set Hollywood a-Tingle” —The New York Times Book Review (Sep 16, 1962) “I’d willingly start my next novel—about a small town—right now, but I need the diversion of a play.” —John O’Hara, The New York Times Book Review (Nov 27, 1955) “For most of our lifetime civil war [...]
He could not go. He wanted neither to eat nor to sleep. Only to lie there — eyes insatiably Gazing into the eyes that were no eyes. This is how his own eyes destroyed him. — Ted Hughes, “Narcissus” […]