Plato’s Big Mistake

By |2024-01-31T21:32:52-06:00January 31st, 2024|Categories: Classics, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Louis Markos, Plato, Timeless Essays, Virtue|

Every time I reread the “Protagoras” or “Meno,” I am surprised anew that a man of Plato’s towering intellect and searing insight into human nature could have been so mistaken about the human propensity to sin and rebellion. Plato never cared much for the sophists, viewing them as amoral peddlers of a relativistic kind of [...]

Permanent Things: T.S. Eliot’s Conservatism

By |2024-01-03T21:50:31-06:00January 3rd, 2024|Categories: Benjamin Lockerd, Conservatism, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Russell Kirk, T.S. Eliot, Timeless Essays|

T.S. Eliot’s conservatism is “pre-political,” offering no simple formula for the modern polity. He reminds us that even if we could have our way in the political arena we would be unable to create a perfect society, given our own fallen nature. Such a wise mixture of hope and humility is what can keep conservatism [...]

Leviathan, Inc.: Robert Nisbet & the Modern Nation-State

By |2023-09-29T17:48:04-05:00September 29th, 2023|Categories: Alexis de Tocqueville, American Republic, Bradley J. Birzer, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Robert Nisbet, Senior Contributors, Timeless Essays, Western Civilization|

Robert Nisbet feared that modern totalitarians had succeeded in undermining the very foundations of goodness, truth, and morality. They had not only redefined liberty as power, but they had transformed the modern political state into a secular church, exchanging real religion for civic religion, creating a “New Leviathan.” Like most Americans during the Great Depression, [...]

Books That Make Us Human

By |2022-11-07T16:14:54-06:00November 7th, 2022|Categories: Books, Books that Make Us Human, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Timeless Essays|Tags: |

My canon of the very best books that help us understand our humanity would contain no surprises. But allow me instead to suggest some works that are instructive for reasons quite different from those of the recognized classics. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson – It’s an untrue truism that good monster stories are really [...]

“Equality” and the Tyranny of the Majority

By |2022-10-12T17:11:10-05:00October 12th, 2022|Categories: Alexis de Tocqueville, Equality, Jean-Jacques Rousseau|

In order to flourish, democracy must be firmly grounded in principle. In order to remain stable, power must be decentralized, and therefore liberty and equality under the law must be valued over abstract and ambiguous ideals such as “equality” or “progress.” I am a democrat because I believe in the Fall of Man. I think [...]

Antonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest Rediscovered

By |2022-07-27T18:05:09-05:00July 27th, 2022|Categories: Antonio Vivaldi, Audio/Video, Culture, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Music, Stephen M. Klugewicz, Timeless Essays|

The popularity of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” has paradoxically led us to underestimate the Venetian’s true greatness. Once renowned across Europe, by the early twentieth century Vivaldi was considered a minor composer. Then, several events occurred to re-awaken interest in the music of “The Red Priest.” Inevitably, when one hears the name of Antonio Vivaldi, one [...]

Confucianism: The Conservatism of the East

By |2021-09-04T10:00:33-05:00August 30th, 2021|Categories: Confucius, Conservatism, Eastern Thought, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Russell Kirk, Timeless Essays|

How close are Confucian ideas to the American conservatism of our day? Confucius himself is known in Chinese tradition as the “Model Sage for Ten Thousand Ages.” Thus, Confucius and his disciples and later followers held that there are indeed “permanent things,” to borrow the telling phrase employed to such great effect by Russell Kirk. [...]

Robert Nisbet’s “The Social Group in French Thought”

By |2021-02-24T19:24:01-06:00February 24th, 2021|Categories: Bradley J. Birzer, Civilization, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Political Philosophy, Politics, Robert Nisbet, Senior Contributors|

In “The Social Group in French Thought,” Robert Nisbet explains that social philosophers such as Bodin, Hobbes, and Rousseau undermined and sabotaged private law and intermediary institutions. Their thought culminated in the French Revolution and in its radical and nationalist legislation. Robert Nisbet’s dissertation began by lamenting that the history of freedom has been written [...]

Rousseau’s and Kant’s Competing Interpretations of the Enlightenment

By |2020-12-15T09:27:57-06:00December 13th, 2020|Categories: Great Books, Immanuel Kant, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Philosophy, Political Philosophy|

Immanuel Kant and Jean-Jacques Rousseau stand at contrary poles in their assessments of the Enlightenment. As modern citizens grapple with the choice between cosmopolitan integration into the global community and a civic affection for their particular society, they will be forced to confront the arguments advanced by these thinkers almost three centuries ago. Introduction At [...]

Pantheism and Politics

By |2020-11-05T14:26:58-06:00November 9th, 2020|Categories: Government, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Philosophy, Politics, Religion|

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s insertion of pantheism into politics makes the state into the church and creates a coercive political religion in the service of messianic purposes—as seen during the French Revolution. Overcoming this pantheistic desire for ultimate harmony is an important step in the quest for political rationality. In 1749, a solitary man walked out of [...]

The Original Perversity in the Socialist Heart

By |2020-02-19T00:05:53-06:00February 18th, 2020|Categories: Conservatism, History, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Liberalism, Politics, Socialism|

Socialism’s nuances and ideological subtleties can be latent, unknown, and often unrecognizable. To truly grasp the depth of the socialists’ arguments, we must first look at socialism’s ideological origins—specifically, Jean Rousseau’s invalidation of Original Sin. As socialism ascends in prominence, many of its proponents are open and outspoken with their socialist political positions. These socialist [...]

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