One of the themes in my Philosophy of Politics courses (Part 1, Part 2) is the vast gulf between the Continental and Anglo-American traditions over the desirability of war and peace. Relevant to that discussion are these quotations from Nietzsche on war: Why war is necessary: “War essential. It is vain rhapsodizing and sentimentality to […]
Friedrich Nietzsche on the necessity of war Read More »
Frederick Douglass’s connection to the British Enlightenment. Via David Henderson and David Beito, here is an excerpt from a letter Douglass wrote on November 17, 1864: “The old doctrine that the slavery of the black, is essential to the freedom of the white race, can maintain itself only in the presence of slavery, where interest
Frederick Douglass and Adam Smith Read More »
In 1770, tensions were high between the American colonists and their British rulers. Anxious soldiers confronting an angry mob precipitated the Boston Massacre. Eight soldiers were then put on trial for murder. The lawyer John Adams was a strong American patriot, yet he took on the defense of the British soldiers. His purpose was explicitly
Revolutionary justice: French versus American style Read More »
Wisdom from a giant of the nineteenth-century — Frederick Douglass (c. 1818-1895): “Everybody has asked the question … ‘What shall we do with the Negro?’ I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the
Frederick Douglass and self-respect Read More »
Reprising this post on Zeev Sternhell, an ally in the battle against the nihilism of the Anti-Enlightenment and its heirs. His book is written for scholars, but note this ringing conclusion: “To prevent the people of the twenty-first century from sinking into a new ice age of resignation, the Enlightenment vision of the individual as
Sternhell on the Enlightenment vision Read More »
In an earlier post on the Nazis’ efforts to collectivize sex and family life, I quoted from Dr. Franz Hamburger’s address to the German Medical Profession. As further evidence that National Socialists and Communist socialists are two variations on a common theme, here are some excerpts from Alexandra Kollontai’s Theses on Communist Morality in the
Collectivizing sex — Alexandra Kollontai’s communist version Read More »
“National-Socialism and Medicine” is Hamburger‘s address to the German medical profession. The University of Vienna professor outlines the philosophical basis for the Nazis’ collectivizing medicine, sex, and family life. Three passages caught my attention. 1. The importance of religion to National Socialist medicine: “we scientists and doctors simply and soberly affirm the principle of strength
Dr. Franz Hamburger and the National Socialist collectivizing of reproduction Read More »
Un-edited transcription of this previously released podcast. Audio links: iTunes. Stitcher. YouTube. Transcription: The Initial Debate It’s a faux pas in some intellectual circles — mostly conservative ones — to say that there was a Dark Ages in European history. But the mainstream view, by contrast, has been that the Middle Ages were a dark
Conservatives: Get Over the Dark Ages [Open College transcript] Read More »