Thomas Hobbes’ morbid outlook holds that there are no goods higher than material success and life. People are reduced to the mediocrity of their whims and desires. The COVID-19 disaster represents the triumph of the Leviathan nightmare. People used to face challenges and risks to obtain higher goals in life. They understood that there were [...]
With the loss of traditional religion as the guiding force of the Western world, following the collapse of the Medieval around 1350, politics quickly became not just a substitute, but a religion in and of itself, a proto-ideology serving as a glue for the emerging nation-states of Europe. Certainties that the Medievals had taken for [...]
Despite their contrasting metaphysics, Thomas Hobbes and John Bramhall were Royalist supporters during the English Civil War. Both men believed that monarchy was the best form of government despite their opposing perceptions of liberty. If philosophy influences politics, why then would two thinkers’ opposing philosophical views result in support for the same form of government? [...]
At its finest, the new conception of nature enabled people to appreciate, and wish to safeguard, the natural environment on which life depends. At its worst, this reverence for the natural world gave rise to a mindless sentimentality that regarded all human activity as harmful and exploitive. I. The English mathematician and philosopher Alfred North [...]
The Renaissance and Enlightenment thinkers hollowed Western culture out of the very spiritual body that held it together: the mystical body of Christ… Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords readers the opportunity to join Wayne Allen as he explores Romano Guardini’s understanding of the dissolution of Western culture via the de-spiritualization of the West, [...]
Are superheroes members of society? The movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice introduces a new development in the cinematic universe of Batman and Superman. We are invited to question the godlike status of such superheroes. Are they fit to live among us? Because superheroes possess unusual superpowers, they are designated as “meta-humans.” Do such [...]
Some conservatives, and our libertarian friends in particular, have been rather enjoying hearing about recent Obama Administration scandals. I would not begrudge anyone a certain amount of perverse pleasure in the discomforts of an administration that has been seeking to undermine our culture, way of life, and economic freedom since day one. But I honestly [...]
Last week, two of my Twitter friends (and friends of The Imaginative Conservative: @hencole and @Sir_Geechie) were happily discussing the 1965 Russell Kirk piece on Malcolm X; the one Winston graciously posted. After @henrole called it a birthday gift of sorts, @Sir_Geechie replied, “You know folks want narrative not knowledge.” I have found each of [...]
The following quotes are all from Russell Kirk, “Return to Principle in Politics: Conservatives and Liberals Take Thought,” Southwest Review 41 (Spring 1956): 142-152. “Ever since the Civil War, political thought has languished in the United States. For original political theory almost always is developed out of a time of troubles, when thinking men, forced [...]
In this article, “The Trap of Disintegrated Liberalism,” Russell Kirk challenged an argument advanced by an economist, Professor Bruce Knight, who seems to have defended a twentieth-century conception of “Social Justice.” I have not found Knight’s original piece. When writing or speaking of liberal utilitarianism, Kirk frequently used the dismissive term, as Gleaves Whitney first [...]
Today is special, of course: it’s the Feast of St. Cecilia, patroness of music. It’s also the birthday of a good friend. Happy Birthday, Laura! You are truly an amazing witness to your community. TSA As readers of the The Imaginative Conservative already know, the TSA is nasty, and it seems to be getting nastier [...]
The Washington Post published a series of articles on the–seemingly out of control–growth of Leviathan. While the growth began at the beginning of the previous century with the presidency of TR, it skyrocketed at the beginning of this century under Bush II and continues under King B. Hussein Obama. All of this is being done by [...]