Conflicting metaphysics

This interview with with Shadi Hamid and this column by Rusty Reno point in a similar direction. Ideas matter.

Never, ever wonder at anything

Neil Degrasse Tyson as the embodiment of absolute positivism.

Christianity is for bad people

It's the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Evelyn Waugh. He was, by all accounts, an awful man and that's why he sought God.

Only one way of thinking

Harvey Mansfield on why multiculturalism is really monoculturalism. See also Camille Paglia on the history of American Universities since 1968.

How democracies end

Whether you agree or not with Andrew Sullivan's assessment of Donald Trump, at least he read Plato.

Understanding the pain

David Brooks tries to understand the human crisis behind the Trump phenomenon. At bottom what is needed are shared ideals that somehow recognize people's humanity, i.e. their religious dimension. Purely sociological fixes are not enough.

Babbling about inequality

Why should the liberal elite care about the masses if the two do not share in any ideal bond?

Metaphysical dreams

John Gray points out that the rise of ISIS is most of all a document of the mental atrophy of the Western liberal elite.

Myth vs. reality

There is a lot of bad science out there.

Perfectly empty universality

An interesting reflection by Pierre Manent.

Education first

The life and works of John Hughes.

New arrangement

Cruxnow is "joining" the Knights of Columbus.

Anti-anti-politics

David Brooks emphasizes that we need more politics, not less. Unfortunately, it is hard to envision political give-and-take when people no longer share common cultural committments.

Loss of materiality

A piece by Fabrice Hadjadj.

The truth as sacred

An interview with Jonathan Haidt on academic totalitarianism. As a social psychologist, he typically ignores the philosophical root of the problem: the idea that power is everything, and knowledge a tool to obtain it. When Haidt says that social psychology is "first and foremost about changing the world, rather than understanding it," he seems unaware of being quoting almost verbatim Marx's 11th Thesis on Feuerbach. The idea that the truth is more important that ideology ("justice") is not to be taken for granted.