On my last post, [1] I concluded that nations are born and built on notions of liberty—which begs a fundamental, philosophical question: what is liberty for, and how does it arise among a people? In the American experience, the early colonists knew that conflict is inevitable in any society, so
In my last post (Onward Progress), I had intended to give an account of the history of progress from its origins in Medieval Europe, especially in England and France, down to today’s twenty-first century political and social movement defined as progressivism. Since to be “progressive” means so many things to
“In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares.” –Abraham Lincoln Where does one begin? To say that I am at a loss for words would be an understatement. Episodes as this have been echoed
The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. – Ernest Hemingway CIVILIZATION IN HISTORY Civilization, as a salient topic of the Zeitgeist, came to the fore with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This was considered by many as the end of history
Both the informed Christian and the secular educated seem to have forgotten everything about Gabriel Marcel (1887 – 1973). Throughout the twentieth century, Marcel has served as a symbol of France’s greatness as a dramatist, musician, and philosopher. He seminally contributed to the emergence and growth of twentieth century existentialism,
The concept of human rights, if not centered on some grounding principle, is a mere patchwork of inharmonious preferences that incoherently tribalizes people into a Babel* of mutual incomprehensibility. The defense of human rights needs a foundation of some substantial bedrock standard other than feeling or believing that some rights,
With the world becoming increasingly divided into civilizational ‘large spaces’, (the BRICS* group); sovereign states ‘going it alone’, (e.g., Hungary, the United States); and long-established alliances breaking up under the weight of heavy-handed globalism, (e.g., the European Union [EU], the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]), the new buzzword of the
As a blog devoted primarily to culture, I view culture as the moral repository from which all politics and economics are derived. But culture, in itself, cannot be understood without accounting for the historical situation that develops and produces the arts, philosophies, and values that constitute a civilization. This includes
As I pondered the subject of Advent on this unusually mild and sunny Friday afternoon, November 22, my recollections drew me back to a very sad day of remembrance sixty-one years ago, November 22, 1963. As a fourth grader at the time, the principal of my school announced over the
In a previous posting (see Prelude: Towards the Consecration of Learning), I made reference to a gathering storm that burst on the face of Europe, in 794 A.D. at the Lindisfarne monastery. It was a story of looting and plunder, murder and mayhem, as the signature calling card of the
