1,320 words
Igor Shafarevich
The Socialist Phenomenon
New York: Harper & Row, 1980
In his landmark 1980 work The Socialist Phenomenon (first published in Russian in 1975), mathematician Igor Shafarevich recounts dozens of socialist doctrines throughout history to demonstrate how their common features, even among those from many centuries ago, can still be found in the repressive socialist states of the day. (more…)
The Blood Compact Monument in the Philippines, which commemorates the blood compact between that country and Spain that was made in 1565.
2,089 words
Most classical liberal thinking, which is still ultimately liberal and thus subversive, is based on the idea of the Lockean social contract. But what if the idea of a social contract is a complete farce? Given that classical liberalism underpins much of lukewarm conservatism, if we knock out the idea of social contracts, we also knock out conservatism. (more…)
2,434 words
How does memory work? What enables us to conjure up experiences, facts, and events from our past? St. Augustine wrote that our experience becomes memory by “going to a place which is yet not a place,” pre-empting Freud’s work on memory.
Incidentally, if you are ever racking your brains to try to remember some event, person, or fact, take this tip I learned from Freud (although, ironically, I can’t remember where): Don’t try to remember, don’t thrash your memory. Simply get on with something else and, in a minute or two, the memory will arrive. It works for me every time. (more…)
3,808 words
Translated by F. Roger Devlin
Communities, whether old or recent, whether ethno-cultural, linguistic, religious, sexual, or something else, are natural dimensions of belonging. No individual can exist without belonging, even if only to distance himself from it. (more…)
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Greg Johnson was the guest on Academic Agent‘s Cigar Stream recently to discuss the importance of the Italian Enlightenment philosopher and historian Giambattista Vico, and it is now available on Counter-Currents’ Odysee channel. (more…)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, left, and David Hume.
3,901 words
“No good deed goes unpunished,” as the old saw goes. It puts a cynical, waggish twist on the perspicacious observation that acts of genuine generosity and kindness too often come to grief. Benefactors beware! Shades of Thomas Hobbes: “Man to man is a wolf.” (more…)
2,076 words
Seth David Radwell
American Schism: How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing Our Nation
Austin: Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2021
It is no secret that the American political scene is polarized. The last two election cycles have brought considerable political violence — most fueled by the Democratic Party and its mainstream media enablers. Recently, Seth Radwell, a Manhattan businessman, took several years off work to write a book that explores this divide. (more…)
German school in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 1866
1,455 words
Where do decent white folks go from here, when it’s all but too late?
What is their life going to be like when the demographic scales are tipped and the usual pathways to success and respect are blocked by the unforgiving, power-thirsty trolls drunk on woke? (more…)
1974 West German Bundespost stamp, commemorating Kant’s 250th birthday
5,568 words
Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here
1. Introduction
In the previous essay in this series, we saw Heidegger claiming that Leibniz “prepares” the completion of the metaphysical tradition, but that it is Nietzsche who actually brings it about. I will devote a future essay to Heidegger’s interpretation of Nietzsche, but we may note here that the completion of metaphysics would have been impossible without Kant, who answers Leibniz and inadvertently prepares the way for Nietzsche. (more…)
Dimitar Pandilov, Harvesters, 1936.
2,226 words
Let’s talk about nationalism.
You’ve probably been told that there are two kinds of nationalism: ethnic and civic. This is true. You’ve probably been told that nationalism is a Left-wing phenomenon. This is partially true. (more…)
Hieronymus Bosch, Outer Wings of the Garden of Delights, ca. 1510.
4,305 words
1. Introduction: From Objectivism to Subjectivism
In the previous two installments (Part Three here, Part Four here) we have discussed at length Heidegger’s treatment of the “objectification of beings” in early modernity: how beings come to be seen as “objects” related to a “subject” that confronts them (indirectly) from within an interior space that is called “mind,” “awareness,” or even “self.” This objectification is essentially identical with the representationalist theory of knowledge, which holds that we are only indirectly aware of the “external world,” via internal images which “represent” external objects. So far, however, this may not be the account of modernity that my readers were expecting. (more…)
Phil Eiger Newmann, Beethoven, 2020.
2,640 words
Today is the 250th anniversary of the christening of Ludwig van Beethoven, a titan of classical music and one of the greatest composers of all time. Beethoven transformed every genre in which he wrote and singlehandedly changed the trajectory of classical music. Rooted in the Classical idiom of Mozart and Haydn, he paved the way for the Romantic era and influenced composers such as Brahms, Liszt, and Wagner. His works remain cornerstones of the classical repertoire. (more…)