5,462 words
“Socialism” is intrinsic to the “Right.” When journalists and academics refer in one breath to “liberalism, neoliberalism, and the Right-wing,” that attests to their ignorance, not to the accuracy of any such bastardization. Even at its most basic level of understanding, it seems to have been forgotten that in Britain there were Tories and Whigs in opposition. Now, Toryism has become so detached from its origins (more…)
Max Weber
4,535 words
Part 1 here
The Intellectual Bankruptcy of the Present Age
Not only does Strauss claim that historicism is a healthy reaction to the intellectual bankruptcy of the modern world, in the next section of his essay, he also attributes this bankruptcy to non-historicist causes.
First, Strauss talks about Max Weber’s Learning and Science as Vocation. He specifically objects to Weber’s claim that reason cannot speak about the ultimate aims of life: (more…)
Giambattista Vico
5,481 words
Author’s Note:
This is the transcript by V.S. of my speech “Vico and Modern Anti-Liberalism,” given at The London Forum on Saturday, September 27, 2014. I have heavily edited it, rewriting it in places. I want to thank Jez Turner and The London Forum team for a memorable event.
Today I’m going to talk about a topic that’s somewhat esoteric. (more…)
2,835 words
Our “progressive” obsessions for change neglect to consider consequences. Change is demanded for the sake of a fad or a slogan: “equality,” “democracy,” “reproductive rights” . . . Even a word of caution is damned as “reactionary,” “old-fashioned,” or “fascist.” Traditions, customs, and beliefs are regarded as being as transient as the planned obsolescence of computers. (more…)
3,758 slov
English original here
Často se říká, že nihilismus je jednou z nejvýraznějších charakteristik naší moderní doby – co to ale vlastně nihilismus vůbec je? Nihilismus znamená cosi jako „smrt“ Boha, popření objektivního smyslu a hodnot, rozostření morálních kategorií a hierarchií, rozklad společného světa na individuální náhledy i společné kultury do subjektivních „osobních preferencí.“ (more…)
2,495 words
Johann Gottfried Herder
Song Loves the Masses: Herder on Music and Nationalism
Translated and edited by Philip V. Bohlman
Oakland: University of California Press, 2017
Johann Gottfried Herder was an 18th-century German philosopher, theologian, translator, and critic. He wrote on many subjects: political philosophy, philosophy of mind, philosophy of history, metaphysics, linguistics, philology, art, religion, mythology, and music. (more…)
3,263 words
English original here
On dit souvent que le nihilisme est l’une des principales caractéristiques de l’âge moderne, mais qu’est-ce que le nihilisme ? Le nihilisme signifie quelque chose comme la « mort » de Dieu, la négation du sens et de la valeur objectifs, l’effacement des distinctions morales et des hiérarchies, la dissolution d’un monde commun en perspectives individuelles, et la dissolution d’une culture commune en « préférences données » subjectives. (more…)
3,318 words
English original here
Frecuentemente se dice que el nihilismo es una de las características de la era moderna pero, ¿qué es el nihilismo? El nihilismo significa algo así como la “muerte” de Dios, la negación del valor y del significado objetivo, la borradura de las distinciones morales y jerárquicas, la disolución de un mundo común a las perspectivas individuales, y la disolución de una cultura común a las “preferencias dadas” subjetivas. (more…)
3,009 words
Translations: French, Spanish, Czech
It is often said that nihilism is one of the leading characteristics of the modern age, but what is nihilism? Nihilism means something like the “death” of God, the denial of objective meaning and value, the erasure of moral distinctions and hierarchies, the dissolution of a common world into individual perspectives, and the dissolution of a common culture into subjective “given preferences.” (more…)
1,248 words
English original here
Wenn Science-Fiction typischerweise „progressiv“ und Fantasy-Literatur „rückwärtsgewandt“ ist, dann brauchen wir eine dritte Kategorie für die sechs Dune-Bücher von Frank Herbert (1920-1986) – gar nicht zu reden von George Lucas’ sechs Star Wars-Filmen –, die futuristische Sci-Fi-Elemente mit den archaischen Werten und magischen Welten der Fantasy verbinden.
2,511 words
Translated by Cologero
In his Life of Romulus (I,8), Plutarch writes:
Rome would not have risen to such power had it not had, in any way, a divine origin, (more…)
8,871 words
Editor’s Note:
This is the transcript by Lee and Donna Hancock of Part 2 of Greg Johnson’s interview of Mark Dyal, which you can listen to here. Please post any corrections below as comments.
GJ: So Mark, you did your doctoral dissertation on the Ultras. Can you tell me a bit about the basic thesis of the dissertation and the things that you’ve studied, the things that you discovered? (more…)
1,234 words
On Saturday, September 27, 2014, I was one of four speakers at a meeting of the London Forum in central London. More than 70 people were present.
The London Forum and similar events, such as The End of the Present World conference, are models of organization and execution. (more…)
1,610 words
German translation here, Greek translation here
If science fiction is quintessentially “progressive” and fantasy literature is “reactionary,” then we need a third category for the six Dune books by Frank Herbert (1920–1986)—not to mention George Lucas’ six Star Wars movies—which combine futuristic, sci-fi elements with the archaic values and magical universes of fantasy.
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, 1533–1592
40:58 / 148 words
Audio Version: To listen in a player, click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save target or link as.” To subscribe to our podcasts, click here.
Beginning in August of 1999, I gave a series of eight lectures on “The Pursuit of Happiness: Philosophies East and West,” dealing with different conceptions of the good life. (more…)
1,845 words
Giambattista Vico
Editor’s Note:
In this text, Evola distinguishes the race of the body (biological race–race as such, in my opinion), the race of the soul (which I would call non-hereditary character types, shaped by culture, ideas, and education), and race of the spirit, which has to do with “vertical,” “superhistorical” heredity, i.e., man’s alleged descent from superhuman or divine beings. It is unfortunate that Evola speaks disparagingly of evolution as a “myth” — only to replace it with genuine myths (more…)
67:57 / 150 words
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To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save link as” or “save target as.”
To subscribe to our podcasts, click here.
Transcript here
Dr. Mark Dyal is an American scholar and writer. He has an M.A. in black studies and a Ph.D. in anthropology. (more…)
5,326 words
With the likes of Oswald Spengler, whose Decline he translated for an Italian readership, and Jose Ortega y Gasset, Julius Evola (1898–1974) stands as one of the notably incisive mid-Twentieth Century critics of modernity. Like Spengler and Ortega, Evola understood himself to owe a formative debt to Friedrich Nietzsche, but more forcefully than Spengler or Ortega, Evola saw the limitations – the contradictions and inconsistencies–in Nietzsche’s thinking.
4,116 words
Oswald Spengler was born in Blankenburg (Harz) in central Germany in 1880, the eldest of four children, and the only boy. His mother’s side of the family was quite artistically bent. His father, who had originally been a mining technician and came from a long line of mineworkers, was an official in the German postal bureaucracy, and he provided his family with a simple but comfortable middle class home.
