Enjoying the view from Limbo
The writer’s primary goal is not to appeal to readers, nor even to appeal to good readers, but rather to be worthy of good readers. He cannot control whether any such readers will exist, or whether, if they do exist, they will ever discover or appreciate his writing. He must concern himself only with what he can control — though even that only...
Practical freedom is the best condition for the development of good men — but freedom itself is no guarantor that good men will indeed develop, any more than having a comfortable notebook and a smooth-flowing pen will inevitably produce good writing. More often than not, good writing tools have facilitated the production of mountains of sludge. What if good political conditions are analogous...
Hegel said the owl of Minerva flies at dusk, meaning that wisdom is gained at the end of history, which Hegel needed to believe because he embodied, and indeed largely ignited, the essential “progressive” urge to stop the world and get off. It was not really history that attracted his mind, nor even wisdom per se, but rather the end. Progressivism, of which...
Ideas and Reflections / What is Progressivism?
by Daren Jonescu · Published October 1, 2016 · Last modified October 10, 2016
As we know from the climate change farce, progressives are never deterred by reality’s refusal to fall in line with the theories they use to justify their authoritarian advances. This obstinacy reveals the extent to which, contrary to honest reasoning, their political agenda determines their theoretical framework, rather than vice versa. Nowhere is this more evident than with regard to the most fundamental...
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