Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Culture Matters

  • Inheritance and Appropriation

    Resist the erasure of our culture.  Substack latest.

  • As We Slide into the Abyss . . .

    . . . the thought that demonic agents are at work behind the scenes becomes ever more credible. Or do you think that the depth of human depravity has an adequate naturalistic explanation?  Our moral trajectory is decidedly downward. Anyone who is not morally obtuse can see that.  Rod Dreher is a good source of…

  • Half-Way Cultural Appropriation

    You appropriate our science and technology, why not then appropriate the values, virtues, attitudes, and behaviors that led to the science and technology? Here are some of them: hard work, self-control, self-knowledge, deferral of gratification, focus, protracted study, objectivity, rational thinking, coherent speech, respect for legitimate authorities, respect for elders, and punctuality.   Why the…

  • Moral Progress in the West and its Benchmarks

    A London correspondent writes, A question for you: is there a set of verifiable practices that would act as a benchmark for the Western Enlightenment? I can think of (i) widespread (but not universal) respect for science (ii) separation of church and state (iii) end of judicial torture (iv) abolition of slavery, etc. 1) I…

  • Two Related Political Mistakes

    1) One is the idea that we can all live together and get along despite deep differences in language, race, religion, culture, political convictions and basic values.  This, the contemporary liberal position, either is or tends towards the idea that there are no limits on productive and mutually beneficial interaction among  very different types of…

  • Why Haven’t Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s Day Been Cancelled?

    Is it because they are occasions of debauchery and drunkenness, and therefore conducive, along with legalized dope, mindless sporting spectacles, prime-time Grammy Awards pornography, infantilizing government handouts, allowance of opioid smuggling and distribution, et cetera ad nauseam,  unto the ever-deepening stupefaction of Hilary's deplorables and Obama's clingers the better to rule them?  It's worth thinking…

  • High Culture under the Joey B Administration

    Enjoy!

  • ‘Progressives’ Need to Preach What They Practice

    Substack latest.

  • In Defense of Double Cultural Appropriation

    I read the Dhammapada (CA 1) in translation (CA2)! Today's Substack entry

  • Diversity Worth Having

    Diversity worth having presupposes a principle of unity that controls the diversity. Diversity must be checked and balanced by the competing value of unity, a value with an equal claim on our respect. Example.  One language only in the public sphere makes possible many voices to be heard and understood by all.  To communicate our…

  • Guest Post: Vito Caiati on David Brooks

    I asked long-time reader Dr. Vito Caiati, historian, to comment on David Brook's Atlantic article, America is Having a Moral Convulsion.  Vito responded with alacrity and acerbity, and I have thrown in my two cents. Comments enabled. …………………………… 1.  The essay is entirely descriptive rather than analytical in that it presents various economic and sociological…

  • Politeness and the Belief in Objectivity Really Do Have to Go

    And you wonder why blacks are on the bottom?

  • Half-Way Cultural Appropriation

    You appropriate our science and technology, why not then appropriate the values, virtues, attitudes, and behaviors that led to the science and technology?  Here are some of them: hard work, self-control, self-knowledge, deferral of gratification, focus, protracted study, objectivity, rational thinking, coherent speech, respect for legitimate authorities, and so on. Why the half-way cultural appropriation?…

  • ‘Conservative’ Andrew Sullivan Gets the Boot

    The defenestration of Andrew Sullivan by New York Magazine shows once again that for the Left one cannot be too far left. This is rich: The latest study of Harvard University faculty, for example, finds that only 1.46 percent call themselves conservative. But that’s probably higher than the proportion of journalists who call themselves conservative…

  • Red Bull ‘Wokesters’ Purged

    Here: Red Bull just reminded their ‘wokest’ employees who calls the shots in a total massacre of “social justice warrior” employees. Not only were the top two North American executives fired, but so were entire marketing teams and “culture” teams that were dedicated to pushing the lie of systemic racism. Red Bull has just shown…