Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Activism and Quietism

  • The Coalition of the Sane and the Reasonable

    I have been using the title phrase for some time now to refer to Trump-supporting conservatives. But what makes us sane and reasonable? Victor Davis Hanson compiles a list in The Trump Counterrevolution is a Return to Sanity. In an earlier post I referred to the take-back of our country as a National Sanitation Project,…

  • On Mixing Politics with Philosophy

    I have been asked why I intersperse political entries with narrowly philosophical ones.  But in every case the question was put to me by someone who tilts leftward.  If my politics were leftist, would anyone complain?  Probably not.  Academe and academic philosophy are dominated by leftists, and to these types it seems entirely natural that…

  • American Paralysis and Decline

    Yet another by Victor Davis Hanson. There is nothing to disagree with here. But Victor, what is to be done? Surely you have some suggestions! You have demonstrated great civil courage by speaking your mind openly. What prevents you from taking the next step? Is it because you think it would be 'unprofessional' to do…

  • Realpolitik and What it Excludes

    It has been said that war is politics with bloodshed while politics is war without bloodshed. The saying is strongly reminiscent of Carl von Clausewitz: "War is politics by other means." Both exemplify Realpolitik. What does Realpolitik exclude? It excludes any politics based on otherworldly principles such as Christian principles. Does it not? The exclusion is implied…

  • Crises There Will Always Be

    I cite the example of Nicolai Hartmann in a Substack entry from March, 2022. So buck up and fight on. Philosophy is a great consolation. We lesser lights ought to look up to the luminaries, and their example. Boethius wrote in prison, Nicolai Hartmann in Berlin in 1945 in the midst of the Allied assault.…

  • Rod Dreher on Leftism

    Here: What a clarifying moment this is in the West. We have all seen the jaw-dropping alacrity with which so many leftists, especially within the academy, have rushed to defend the Hamas storm troopers. If you think this is merely about Israel and Hamas, you need to wake up. The people who are celebrating the…

  • Why Mix Philosophy and Politics?

    I have been asked why I intersperse political entries with narrowly philosophical ones.  But in every case the question was put to me by someone who tilts leftward.  If my politics were leftist, would anyone complain?  Probably not.  Academe and academic philosophy are dominated by leftists, and to these types it seems entirely natural that…

  • I Get a Rise out of Aristotle

    Substack latest. Is the political life the highest life?

  • The Only Way Out is Through

    The urge to retreat is tempting, but the only way out is through. To float above the fray in the manner of a Rod Dreher is not the way; the only way out is through. Minervic flights and the consolations of philosophy cannot be enjoyed when the barbarians are at the gates of one's stoa.  Now…

  • Lifestyle Rightism

    Sohrab Ahmari is against it. Clean living and self-improvement are no substitute for political action. One form of Lifestyle Rightism is Rod Dreher's Benedict Option which Ahmari dubs "the New Frontierism" and criticizes for its ahistoricity. Ahmari's article rehearses  one aspect of the old problem of activism versus quietism. Can one productively blend the two?…

  • Thought, Action, Dogma, and De Maistre

    Substack latest

  • Polarization and Flotation in Politics

    Can we avoid both polarization and a noncommittal floating above the fray that does not commit to one side or the other? I fear not. Politics is war. You must take a side. You can't play the philosopher on the battlefield. A warrior at war cannot be "a spectator of all time and existence," as…

  • Against Marx

    "The philosophers have variously interpreted the world, but the point is to change it." (Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach, #11) No, the point is to understand it, and to understand it so well that one understands that it cannot be changed in any but metaphysically inessential and unimportant ways.

  • Which Side Are You On?

    I have criticized Rod Dreher and others for "floating above the fray," for trying to be objective and impartial in those practical situations in which immediate action is required and in which the requisite action is impeded by the otherwise laudable attempt to arrive at the objective truth of the situation.  "Can't you see that…

  • Between Time and Eternity

    Tom O. asks, How does one reconcile the temporal with the eternal, in a personal/spiritual or experiential manner? The political situation of our time strikes me as dire and incredibly important. Yet such things are transitory and will, ultimately, pass away, and so in another sense are not so important. I am torn between these…