Nature and the Nation: Recent Episodes
Dylan John
Nature and the Nation explores politics, philosophy, psychology, sociology and economics from a naturalistic, paleoconservative perspective, using the format of a book review. I examine books published in a wide array of time periods, with a special emphasis on the early to middle 20th century, the ancient Greeks, and of course the present.
In this episode I examine medieval philosophy and its tangled relationship with Christian theology.
In this episode I look at the connections and distinctions between Aquinas and Aristotle in Ernest Fortin's essay Aquinas. I focus on the four cardinal virtues and the different between natural law and human law.
In this episode I look at Augustine's distinction between the city of God and the earthly city, as described in the History of Political Philosophy essay by Ernest L. Fortin. I focus on the disctinction between Pagan and Christian patriotism.
In this episode I return once again to the magnificent History of Political Philosophy to look at James E. Holton's essay on Cicero. I focus on the mixed regime and Cicero's conservative tendencies.
In this episode I look at the first volume of Frederick Copleston's nine volume History of Philosophy. I focus on the Epicureans, with a special focus on their proposal of pleasure as the purpose or end of life.
In this episode I look at John Sellars' Stoicism, exploring Stoicism's grappling with the eternal question of whether virtue is its own reward, or if happiness is the reward of a virtuous life.
In this episode I examine Allan Bloom's interpretative essay on Plato's Republic, focusing on Book 1 of the Republic and its attempt to define justice.
In this episode I return to Revolt Against the Modern World, Julius Evola's most famous book about the metaphysical nature of the Traditional life and culture. I focus in this episode on Monarchy, Aristocracy, and the materialist reading of Evola's anti-materialism.
In this episode I look at Page duBois' examination of polytheism in theory and practice in her book A Million and One Gods. I focus on the Greek Gods Artemis and Dionysus, and the political implications of polytheism.
In this episode I look at Oriana Fallaci's controversial book, The Rage and the Pride. I focus on her examination of the effects of migration of Italy and her relationship with Christianity.
In this episode I look at Reno's phenomenal examination of the gods as shared loves and social values. I focus on his analysis of Popper, Hayek and Durkheim.
In this book I look at Mark Green's exposition of his religious system, Atheopaganism. I focus on the evolutionary aspect of religion, and Green's positions on values and hierarchy.
In this episode I explore Douglas Murray's phenomenal best-seller, The Strange Death of Europe, with a focus on the history of post-war migration into the United Kingdom.
In this episode I return to The New Polytheism by David Miller, focusing exlusively on the the essay in the appendix by James Hillman called Psychology: Monotheistic or Polytheistic. This essay discusses how our theological inclinations affect our approach to psychoanalysis.
In this episode I look at David Miller's insightful examination of polytheism in sociology, psychology, and philosophy. I focus on his discussions of Niebuhr, Cornford, and Heidegger.
In this episode I look at Heidegger's theories about the role of the poet in carrying the message of the gods to the people, as described in his 1936 essay Holderlin and the Essence of Poetry.
In this episode I explore the myth of Parsifal and the quest for the Holy Grail as presented in Robert Johnson's Jungian analysis, He: Understanding Masculine Psychology.
In this episode I look at The Process of Individuation, an essay by Jung's close friend and colleague, Marie-Louise von Franz, in the anthology Man and his Symbols. I focus on the shadow and the anima, as well as the individualist nature of Jungian psychoanalysis.
In this episode I look at Carl Jung's bird's eye view of his whole life's work, as presented in his contribution to the anthology Man and his Symbols, edited by Jung and published after his death.
In this essay I look at Heidegger's famous essay 'What is Metaphysics?' as well as the accompanying essay by Werner Brock that examines and interprets the essays in the book. I explore Heidegger's assertion that nothingness is a critical component of metaphysics and that metaphysics is a critical compenent of science and the human experience.
Edith Hamilton's The Greek Way is a masterpiece in helping the reader really understand the vital spirit and love of life that contributed to Classical Greek greatness. In this episode I cover this Greek vitalism and also look at Pindar and the true value of Greek aristocracy.
In this episode I look at George Williams' famous rebuke to group selection theory as outlined in Adaptation and Natural Selection. I focus on secondary adaptations, sexual reproduction as an organic adaptation, and the difference between male and female mating strategies.
In this episode I examine William James' 1904 address to the American Psychological Association, The Experience of Activity, as presented in Essays in Radical Empiricism. I focus on the illusory aspect of agency and the need to operate within the version of reality that accessible to our experiences.
In this episode I look at John Dewey's 1900 essay Some Stages in Logical Thought, as published in this 1916 collection, Essays in Experimental Logic. I focus on Dewey's assertion that both some fixity and some flexibility is required on the part of ideas for them to serve in the human task of overcoming obstacles.
In this episode I return to Strauss and Cropsey's magisterial History of Political Philosophy to examine the essay on Kant. I focus on the split between science and morality, and the contradiction formed by Kant's fundamental mistake.
In this episode I engage in an extra-long two-hour examination of the basic philosophy of Martin Heidegger, as described in Michael Inwood's study, Heidegger. Inwood focuses primarily on Heidegger's magnum opus, Being and Time. In this episode I pay particular attention to Heidegger's discussion of the state of being he calls 'ready-to-hand,' as well as authenticity and being-toward-death.
In this episode I revisit Niccolo Machiavelli through the lens of Erica Benner's biography of the Renaissance Italian thinker, Be Like the Fox. I examine Machiavelli's dedication to the ideals of the Florentine Republic and his opposition to leaders who come to rule by the blessings of Fortune.
In this episode I return to Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey's History of Political Philosophy, to look at Strauss' own examination of Machiavelli. I focus on Machiavelli's strategic deployment of virtue and vice, and his comparison of Christianity and Paganism.
In this episode I look again at the Sophists with a focus on their dedication to rhetoric, as described by classicist Bernard Knox in his collection of essays, The Oldest Dead White European Males.
In this episode I examine sexual selection and basic mating strategies, plus a look at the possibility of escaping the our evolutionarily acquired behaviors as described in Jerry Coyne's Why Evolution is True.
In this episode I review the basic elements of Aristotle's philosophy, discussing his conception of nature, the four causes, and the four elements. I also continue the discussion from the previous two episodes regarding eudaimonia, phronesis, ethics, and politics.
In this episode I review Aristotle's political and ethical premises with a focus on eudaimonia, arete, and the mixed regime, as described by Carnes Lord in Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey's essay collection, History of Political Philosophy.
In this episode I examine various forms of happiness, the difference between happiness and eudaimonia, and the basics of Aristotelian virtue ethics as described by Edith Hall in Aristotle's Way.
In this episode I cover Marc Fasteau and Ian Fletcher's new, massive, authoritative tome on industrial policy, Industrial Policy for the United States. I look particularly at the qualities of advantageous industries, England's initiation of industrial policy under Henry VII, and Sematech's creation and development.
In this episode I look at how birthrates and population prompt replacement migration, and how it all ties to feminism as described in another Pat Buchanan masterpiece, The Death of the West.
In this episode I examine Evola's impression of the nation and it's constrast to the state, as well as his discussion of population and birth rates, as described in his primary political work, Men Among the Ruins.
In this episode I look at the immigration crisis is terms of population control and the environment, as well as the long failure of politicians to respond to the overwhelming opposition of the American public to the ongoing flood of both legal and illegal immigration, as detailed in Immigration and the American Identity from Chronicles Magazine and Thomas Fleming.
In this episode I look at the Goldwater campaign, the battle over human nature in academia, and the revival of antiestablishment fusionism among the paleocons and paleolibertarians, as described by Paul Gottfried in The Conservative Movement.
In this episode I look at the birth of National Review, its controversies, and the resolution provided by Fusionism, all described in George Nash's expansive Conservative Intellectual Movement in America SInce 1945.
In this episode, I look at the Old Right, its birth in the lead-up to World War 2, and its death at the hands of Wall Street Republicans, Dwight Eisenhower, and National Review as described in the fantastic book, The Betrayal of the American Right by Murray Rothbard.
In this episode I continue my exploration of William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience, with a focus on the conversion process and the subconscious mind.
In this episode I dive into the healthy mind and the sick soul, the foundational concepts of William James' masterpiece, The Varieties of Religious Experience. This is the first of a two-part series.
In this episode I explore the early nationalism of the Republican Party from the New Deal to the Cold War, as described in Michael Miles' Odessey of the American Right, with particular attention paid to US foreign policy at that time.
In this episode I look at the contrast, ruptures, and uncertainties among three early Pragmatists: Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey, as detailed in Louis Menand's bestselling The Metaphysical Club. I also examine Randolph Bourne's use of Pragmatism to justify cosmopolitan immigration and the unaccountable bureaucracy of the American Association of University Professors.
In this episode I look at the two writers Oswald Garrison Villard and John Flynn, and their associations with the America First Committee as depicted in Ronald Radosh's Prophets on the Right.
In this episode I look at Jean-Paul Sartre's Existentialism and Human Emotions with a focus on the failure of existentialism to acknowledge human nature.
In this episode I dive deeper into William James' lecture series Talks to Students with the essays On a 'Certain Blindness in Human Beings' and 'What Makes a Life Significant' as presented in Ralph Barton Perry's collection of James' essays, Essays on Faith and Morals. I look particularly at the practicality of this blindness and the balance between ideals and practicality.
In this episode I arrive at Richard Weaver's classic statement of post-war Conservatism, Ideas Have Consequences, in particular the the traditionalist, hierarchical, formal aspects of enduring culture.
In this episode, I discuss William James' consequential essay Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results and his lecture to students, The Gospel of Relaxation, as collected in The Heart of William James, edited by Robert Richardson.
In this episode I continue my examination of Darwinism and Human Affairs, this time exploring the connections between cultural evolution and genetic evolution. I focus on ways that cultural evolution both aligns with and betrays our genetic drive to reproduction.
In this episode I return to evolutionary theory, discussing the controversy surrounding group selection and its relationship with kin selection and inclusive fitness as described by Richard Alexander in his book Darwinism and Human Affairs.
In this episode I look at William James' further discussions of psychology in Talks to Teachers, in which he draws on prior psychological writings to address the needs of teachers. I pay particular attention to the practical and pragmatic aspect of his discussion of competing drives and ideas, and his limited domain of the activity of the will.
In this episode I return to John Dewey for a look at his essay The Practical Character of Reality, included in the compilation Pragmatism: The Classic Writings edited by H. S. Thayer. I focus on Dewey's examination of the nature of knowledge and awareness.
In this episode I look at John Dewey's overview of the early history of pragmatism as described in Pragmatism: The Classic Writings edited by H. S. Thayer. I examine the major themes of pragmatism, including the importance of consequences, human conduct, the vaguery of ends, and the approximateness of knowledge.
In this episode I revisit History of Political Philosophy to look at Leo Strauss' examination of the political theory of Plato. I look at the attempts to define Justice, the viability of absolute communism, and make my first foray into Plato's theory of ideas.
In this episode I look at the classic text of Western philosophy, Plato's Republic, as detailed by Constance Meinwald in her wide-ranging book Plato. I focus on the early portions of The Republic dealing with the quest for a definition of Justice, including the arguments of Glaucon and Thrasymachus.
In this episode I analyze I. F. Stone's critique of Socrates and his followers, as described in his book The Trial of Socrates. I focus on Socrates' hostility to democracy, the inadequecy of universalist philosophy, and the classical understanding of the gods.
In this episode I revisit Thucydides as discussed by David Bolotin in the classic History of Political Philosophy edited by Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey. I focus on Alcibiades, Nicias, and the Sicilian Expedition.
In this episode I look at the conflict between Democracy and Oligarchy in the Peloponnesian War as described by Thucydides and translated and abridged by Paul Woodruff.
In this episode I look at the late 19th Century Darwinian Conservatism of Herbert Spencer, William Graham Sumner, and reactions by William James and others as described in Richard Hofstadter's Social Darwinism in American Thought.
In this episode I look at Gregory Kavka's 'Hobbes's War of All Against All' in The Social Contract Theorists edited by Christopher W. Morris, with a special focus on the prisoner's dilemma and nation size.
In this episode I return to Strauss and Cropsey collection, History of Political Philosophy, to focus on Alan Bloom's examination of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the general will, and the potential conflict between nature and custom.
In this episode I wander through Rousseau's final book, published posthumously, The Reveries of the Solitary Walker. I look at the difference between youth and old age, trusting yourself and others, and the nature of reverie itself.
In this episode I take a first look at Scottish Common Sense Philosophy as described by Douglas McDermid in The Rise and Fall of Scottish Common Sense Realism, with the aim of providing an overview of the major themes of Thomas Reid and his contemporaries.
In this episode I examine Buchanan's case for non-interventionism, or isolationism, as made in A Republic, Not an Empire. I take a look a the League of Nations and US policy after the Cold War.
In this episode I look at Jonah Goldberg's examination of the fascist tendencies of President Woodrow Wilson in his classic book, Liberal Fascism.
In this episode I look at two Republican Presidents, Taft and Harding, as detailed in Heather Cox Richardson's history of the Republican Party, To Make Men Free.
In this episode I look at Letwin's collection of philosophical biographies, The Pursuit of Certainty, with a special focus on David Hume and his thoughts on virtue, prudence, and politics.
In this episode, I explore Eric Hoffer's description of the various types of people that constitute the leaders and followers of mass movements, as described in his classic 1951 book, The True Believer.
In this episode I examine the competing forces of Physis (Nature) and Nomos (Custom) as detailed in the erudite examination The Sophists by W. K. C. Guthrie.
In this episode I examine the connections between Nomos, Physis, and Moira in early Greek philosophy as detailed by Cornford in From Religion to Philosophy.
In this episode I look at the violent glory of war in Homer's Iliad, as detailed in Bernard Knox's introduction to the Robert Fagles translation of this classic epic poem of war, and several choice readings of the battle for the Argive ships.
In this episode I look at Thomas Cahill's examination of Ancient Greece in Sailing the Wine Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter. I pay special attention to the first three chapter where Cahill discusses Homer and his great works, The Iliad and the Odessey.
In this episode I explore another essay in Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey's massive History of Political Philosophy 3rd Edition. This time it's David Hume and his so-called skepticism, which I call into question on account of his deference to habit and custom. This episode is the fourth of a series.
In this episode I explore another essays in Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey's massive History of Political Philosophy 3rd Edition, this time looking at an essay by David Lowenthal that discusses Montesquieu and the various types of regimes, and the English synthesis of them. This episode is the third of a series.
In this episode I explore another essays in Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey's massive History of Political Philosophy 3rd Edition, this time looking at an essay by Robert A. Goldwin discussing John Locke and his theories of the state of nature vs the state of war, and his thoughts on the right of rebellion. This episode is the second of a series.
In this episode I examine one of the many essays in Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey's massive History of Political Philosophy 3rd Edition, detailing the thoughts of Thomas Hobbes. This essay by Laurence Berns discusses the weaknesses of Hobbes' conception of sovereignty. This episode is the first of a series.
In this episode I revisit the history of trade policy in America, with Gill's book Trade Wars Against America. I look especially at the 2nd half of the 19th Century and Woodrow Wilson.
In this episode I revisit Louis Menand's collection of Pragmatist writings, Pragmatism: A Reader, with an eye toward the more recent writers. I discuss Richard Rorty's Postmodernist Bourgeois Liberalism and Richard Bernstein's Pragmatism, Pluralism, and the Healing of Wounds.
In this episode I look at some of the early pragmatist writings, in particular The Will to Believe by William James, and The Ethics of Democracy by John Dewey. This episode is the first of a two part series on this book.
In this episode I look at the evolutionary exposition of Richard Dawkins in his classic The Blind Watchmaker, with a closer look at how DNA replicates and evolves.
In this episode I look at a few of William James' early essays What Is an Emotion? and The Function of Cognition, and I make a particular examination of his essay The Dilemma of Determinism.
In this episode I examine the deterministic vision of the nature of the universe as described by P. W. Atkins in The Creation.
In this episode I explore the myth of the divine child, viewed through both historical myths and the archetypes of the collective unconscious, in the collaborative book by both Carl Jung and Carl Kerenyi, Essays on a Science of Mythology.
In this episode I look at the ancient Roman god of Saturn and the festival of Saturnalia, as described in Samuel Macey's Patriarchs of Time.
In this episode I explore the lack of myth in our modern world, as described by Rollo May in The Cry for Myth.
In this episode I look at The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, with a particular emphasis on his definitions of myth, archetype, metaphor, and transcendence.
In this episode I look at the phenomenal book Free Trade Doesn't Work by Ian Fletcher. I focus on Fletcher's overview of trade deficits and his explanation of the theory of comparative advantage.
In this episode I look at one of the most important of protectionist treatises, The National System of Political Economy by Friedrich List, with a particular focus on Book 2: The Theory.
In this episode, I look at the connections between ecosystems and economies, as described by Jane Jacobs in The Nature of Economies.
In this episode I look at Henry Clay's attempts to get tariff legislation passed in the early 19th Century, in Maurice Baxter's Henry Clay and they American System.
In this episode I look at the basic premise of economic theory as presented by Henry Hazlitt in his classic Economics in One Lesson. I look closely at his discussion of tariffs, and provide a counter-argument that examines the tax burden of tariffs and the elasticity of supply and demand.
In this episode I examine the case for protectionism and against free trade, as described by Pat Buchanan in his book The Great Betrayal.
In this episode I look at several types of American Nationalism as described by F. H. Buckley in his book The Republican Workers Party. I argue against his position on Liberal Nationalism.
In this episode I examine the essay 'The Sentiment of Rationality' from William James' collection of essays, The Will to Believe. This essay shows the early signs of James' Pragmatism.
In this episode I look at the origins of philosophical Pragmatism in John Muphy's Pragmatism. I look especially at Charles Peirce and his ideas about doubt and truth.
In this episode I explore Teddy Roosevelt's relationship with Japan, as described in T. R. The Last Romantic by H. W. Brands. I pay particular attention to Roosevelt's failure to heed the concerns of California's immigration restrictionists.
In this episode I look at the Ted Kaczynski's Industrial Society and its Future, with a special focus on his critiques of leftism and his explanation of the power process, as well as his assertions about the possibility of social change and the self-perpetuating system.
In this episode I explore the Nature and Nationalism tradition of German political and ecological thought, as detailed by Jonathan Olsen in Nature and Nationalism. I look at its origins in Romanticism, and its expression in the volkisch, heimat, and wandervogel movements.
In this episode I dig deeper into the search for the natural social arrangement of man, with a look at The Rule of the Clan by Mark Weiner. I examine the structure of clannism and look especially at the rise of Anglo-Saxon England.
In this episode I examine Jean-Jacques Rousseau's early work, Discourse on the Origin and Foundation of Inequality among Mankind. I look at his examination of the natural man, and his accusations against property and the beginnings of strife.
In this episode I look at Richard McKirahan's study of the presocratics in Philosophy Before Socrates, with a focus on Empedocles, Homer and Pindar.
In this episode I look at the relentless hunger of technology, as described by Friedrich Junger in The Failure of Technology.
In this episode, I examine Karl Jaspers presentation of the masses, and the global apparatus and technique that sustains them, as presented in Man in the Modern Age.
In this episode, I examine the connection between naturalism and crunchy conservatism, as described by Rd Dreher in Crunchy Cons. I especially focus on food and our relationship to it, exploring a secular or pantheistic response to Dreher's Christian approach.
In this episode, I examine the connection between conservatism and nationalism as described in The Case for Nationalism by Rich Lowry, with a focus on the premises that nationalism is old, natural, and powerful.
In this episode I look at the long-running populist current in conservative thought, as detailed by Laura Ingrahan in Billionaire at the Barricades, later released as Busting the Barricades. I pay special attention to Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot, and our failing international trade policies.
In this episode I examine Jeff Flake's Conscience of a Conservative, with a critical examination of Flake's failure to anticipate or understand the rise of Trump. I discuss how, while I share Flake's desire for decency in politics, his principled political stance is ultimately too naive to effectively respond to the corrosive anti-American attacks of modern leftism.
In this episode I examine the classic text The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater, drawing attention to the focus of Goldwater and others of his era on federalism and the struggle against communism, with an evaluation of the ultimate result of 20th Century conservatism.
In this episode, I look at Lasch's collection of his last essays, The Revolt of the Elites. I examine his support for populism, criticism of liberal snobbery, and support the use of pragmatism to rebuke the academic left.
In this episode I examine the Mass Man of Ortega y Gasset's Revolt of the Masses, with a focus on the origins of the Mass Man in liberal abundance and the abolition of limitation.
In this episode I examine the friend/enemy distinction in Carl Schmitt's The Concept of the Political, including the liberal tendency to deny the political and aim toward a post-political world.
In this episode I examine Alexander Dugin's statements about the division between technical and social modernity and it's relation to the West, in the Rise of the Fourth Political Theory.
In this episode I look at the organic lifecycle of the culture and civilization as described by Spengler in the abridged version of his classic book The Decline of the West.
In this episode I look at the leftward direction of Pragmatism led by John Dewey, as outlined in his book Reconstruction in Philosophy, as well as his restatement of principles near the end of his life.
In this episode I review William James' Psychology (Briefer Course), the abridged version Principles of Psychology. I focus on the biological nature of habit and instinct.
In this episode I return to the topic of the philosophical pragmatism of William James, John Dewey and others with a review of Pragmatic Naturalism, an Introduction by S. Morris Eames, with a special focus on the affinity between pragmatism and evolutionary theory.
In this episode I look at the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides, the goddess Ananke, the biases of scholars, mythology, and determinism in John Burnet's Early Greek Philosophy.
In this episode I examine Philip Wheelwright's Heraclitus, in particular the study of Heraclitus as a pluralist opposed to the monism of Parmenides.
In this episode I look at the beginning of the question of Being in Martin Heidegger's The Beginning of Western Philosophy. I spend the most time in the middle section of the book, which provides a condensed and comprehensible overview of Heidegger's project and his search for the origins of Western philosophy in the pre-Socratic Greek thinkers such as Anaximander.
In this episode I review and respond to Elements of Pantheism by Paul Harrison. I include my comments and questions regarding Reality, Matter, the Universe, Nature, and Justice.
In this episode I look at Nietzsche's early examination of the Pre-Socratic philosophers, with a focus on Anaximander, Heraclitus, and Parmenides. The concepts of being and becoming, and the differences among philosophers regarding these concepts, are addressed.
In this episode I examine Ancient Greek concepts such as aidos, sebas, eulabeia, nomos, and themis through Kerenyi's ground-breaking Religion of the Greeks and Romans. I also examine the ancient acceptance of death, in the context of our own modern hostility to human mortality.
In this episode I examine some of the qualities of polytheism, with a particular focus on Athena as presented by Walter Burkert in his classic treatise, Greek Religion.
In this episode I look at Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae, in particular her deep dive into Apollo and Dionysus as archetypal social drives.
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In this episode, I look at Nietzsche's first book, The Birth of Tragedy. I take care to examine his impressions of Apollo and Dionysus as potentially political archetypes of social, aesthetic, behavioral and ontological experiences.
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In this episode I look at the most fundamental components of the Basic Writings of Carl Jung including empiricism, the unconscious especially the collective unconscious, and the archetype.
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In this episode I look at Carl Jung's Modern Man in Search of a Soul, where Jung details the relationship of the unconscious and the psyche to religion. I talk about the evolution of the collective unconscious and it's role as a carrier of intergenerational wisdom, and the plurality of forces that play upon the psyche, holding each other in balance and keeping any part of the psyche from dominating the others.
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In this episode, I look at Alain de Benoist's On Being a Pagan. De Benoist makes a comprehensive comparison between paganism and Christianity, and I focus in the value comparisons that echo Nietzsche, the criticisms of duality, and the effect of original sin and innocence at birth on the two ethical systems and senses of guilt.
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In this episode I look at Larry Arnhart's Darwinian Conservatism, a great book that explores many of the same themes I've been spotlighting elsewhere, but all in one spot and finally putting the tail on the donkey and labeling the evolutionary premise behind Burke's and Hayek's ideas: Darwinian Conservatism. Arnhart talks about spontaneous order and the natural order, customary order, and rational order. I also point out Arnhart's take on the differences between men and women.
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In this episode, I explore James Burnham description of liberalism as an ideology founded on an unsound notion of the pliability of human nature. I also look at his notion of guilt as the driving emotion of liberal activity.
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In this episode I look at What is Conservatism, Frank Meyer's collection of essays by mid-20th century conservative thinkers. The essays I focus on give a deeper analysis of the ways in which the state is dependent upon the particular traditions of a people, and the traditions of the people are dependent on a transcendent shared appraisal of reality. The authors I focus on include Russell Kirk, Garry Wills, and Stanley Parry.
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In this episode I explore Viktor Frankl's moving exploration into the meaning of life, Man's Search for Meaning. I focus on virtuous behavior in the face of suffering, the importance of having tasks to fulfill, obligations, and the need for love.
In this episode I explore the 'master' and 'slave' morality proposed by Friedrich Nietzsche in The Genealogy of Morals, with a particular focus of how the master morality may relate to Aristotle and the ancient Greeks, and how it relates to modern conservatism and progressivism.
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In this episode I explore Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. I look at eudaimonia and the mean between defect and excess in virtuous behavior. I also examine Aristotle's work on courage and pride, two natural virtues he describes.
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In this episode I continue the exploration of the evolutionary roots of morality with Jonathan Haidt's fantastic book, The Righteous Mind. In this book, Haidt delivers the killing blow to the rationalist delusion that I've been discussing since the early episodes. In addition, I examine the broad array of virtues encompassed by Haidt's moral foundations theory. This theory, and its political ramifications, continue to draw together evolutionary psychology, conservatism, and the golden mean proposed by Aristotle.
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In this episode, we explore Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow, in which he explains his research in the two modes of thought: System 1, the fast, intuitive, unconscious thought of associations and heuristics, and System 2, the slow, deliberate, calculative, resource-depleting conscious thought.
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In this episode I look at Matt Ridley's The Origins of Virtue. In particular I look at the prisoner's dilemna and potential strategies to achieve cooperation and reciprocity among evolving selfish genes. I also examine the sexual division of labor in early humans, with males doing most of the hunting and women doing most of the gathering.
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Richard Dawkins' best-selling book, The Selfish Gene, examines the fundamental nature of the replicating gene in a competitive environment, and all of the consequences thereof. I look specifically at the origins of life and DNA, and the evolutionarily stable strategy of behavior development in a game theory context.
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In Suicide, Emile Durkheim explores the sociological factors that lead a society toward greater or lesser rates of suicide. I specifically explore his analysis of egoistic suicide, or suicide driven by the breakdown of integrated social institutions and the dominance of individualism in a culture. I also touch on anomie, the disappearance of social norms that, in a healthy society, provide the structure of culture that help provide people with a sense of social stability.
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In this episode I look at Michael Anton's After the Flight 93 Election, a discussion of the danger, both to conservatism and the nation as a whole, posed by the post 1960s left. Anton's famous essay explains the need to elect Trump and to hold the left at bay at all costs, and the failure of conservatives to do so for decades. I also explore Anton' explanation for the the basis of republican government.
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In this episode I explore Bronze Age Mindset, the independently produced exhoration that calls for a renewed dedication to the pursuit of vitality, beauty, and excellence in our ugly modern bug world. I look at Bronze Age Pervert's recommendations for political and social action.
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In this episode I look at the functions of myth and ritual, and the challenge that is posed by science to the enduring viability of mythology. I also look at the premise of the Jungian archetype. This is all in Joseph Campbell's classic, Myths to Live By.
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In this episode I look at the concepts of wholeness and arate (excellence) as envisioned by the ancient Greeks, through H. D. F. Kitto's superb overview, The Greeks. I look at the polis and how it impacted the life and thought of the Greeks.
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In this episode I examine Ben Shapiro's theory of Athens and Jerusalem as the twin roots of Western civilization, as presented in The Right Side of History. I look at his prerequisites for a flourishing society, and the connection between the Enlightenment and Western values.
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In this episode I look an array of Julius Evola's essays collected after his death into A Handbook for Right-Wing Youth. I explore the need to have a positive doctrine as opposed to a negative critique, democracy vs monarchy, and the modern world's fascination with the young.
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In this episode, I look at Russian philosopher and geopolitical strategist Alexander Dugin's vision of a new political order to replace both liberalism and its natural culmination, post-liberalism. I mention the need to differentiate a specifically American version of the fourth political theory, moving toward a position of pragmatic eclecticism that can absorb some of the disjointed remnants of liberalism that infuse our Constitution and society.
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In this episode, we look at Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick Deneen. In particular, we examine Deneen's claim that fundamental to liberalism is a rejection of the constraints imposed upon us by nature, and the attempt to overcome those constraints through science, technology, and the destruction of culture's symbiosis with nature. We also examine Deneen's ideas about what comes after liberalism.
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In 'The Virtue of Nationalism' Yoram Hazony describes the benefits of a political order based on a multiplicity of nation-states. This order is compared to the state of anarchy and the imperial drive toward conquest. We look at those components of Hazony's theory that most closely support a philosophically naturalistic approach to nationalism.
more at www.neofusionist.com
Edited by Joseph Scotchie, The Paleoconservatives: A New Voice for the Old Right is a collection of essays that explores many aspects of paleoconservatism, as envisioned by writers from both the old right era and the 1990s paleoconservative revival. I discuss Russell Kirk's essay on traditionalism, William Hawkins on protectionism, Clyde Wilson on populism, and Sam Francis on nationalism.
more at www.neofusionist.com
In this episode we look deeper into the political environment of the first half of the 20th century, from the populist movement to the start of the Cold War, through Bill Kauffman's book, America First! Its History, Culture, and Politics. We look at such figures as Amos Pinchot, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, and Jack Kerouac. We look at the politicians of that era and dip into what it means to be an American.
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In this episode I explore Tucker Carlson's best-selling book, 'Ship of Fools.' Carlson lays out the case that the American elites have been completely derelict in their management of the nation. I pay particular attention to the rending of our social fabric by infatuation with multiculturalism at the expense of cultural integrity.
More at www.neofusionist.com
In this episode I look toward the thinkers of the pre-WWII American right wing, commonly referred to as the Old Right, and the usurpation of the conservative movement by successive waves of neoconservatives. Raimondo weighs the prospects of the libertarians and paleoconservatives, and explores the notion of a new fusionism between the two. I contrast this with my own vision of neofusionism.
More at www.neofusionist.com
In this episode I look at the origins of the concept of fusionism, from which neofusionism takes its cue. In 'In Defense of Freedom and Related Essays' Frank Meyer lays out the 1960s fusionist vision of merging libertarianism with traditionalism to create what we now call conservatism. I examine the relation between freedom, reason, virtue, and tradition, as well as the associated different roles of the state and the culture in maintaining a society that is both free and virtuous.
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In this episode I dive into Richard Weaver's vast array of essays contained in the collection 'In Defense of Tradition.' Weaver covers such topics as dialectic vs rhetoric, the existence of human nature, and the effect of technology on the human condition.
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In this episode I examine the fundamental principles of Heidegger's existentialism, seeking the ways in which he describes Being from the experiential perspective of dasein, or the human being. This examination explores thrownness and facticity, and the striving toward authenticity that we can utilize in building a naturalistic foundation for paleoconservatism.
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In this episode I look at the conflict between modernity and tradition from a pre-Christian, spriritually Traditionalist perspective in Julius Evola's Revolt Against the Modern World. I explore how we can look at time cyclically, and embrace the past though the notion of home. I begin to explore the similarities between ancient pagan thought and modern conservatism.
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In this episode I explore the Romantic response to the Enlightenment, in Isaiah Berlin's The Roots of Romanticism. I look at the German thinkers Hamann and Herder and their focus on the incapacity of the Enlightenment paradigm to account for the full richness of the individual and group identity.
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In this episode I take a deeper look at the philosophical concepts that undergird the Age of Enlightenment, through my examination of Peter Gay's 'The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism.' In this book, Gay examines the connections that the philosophes felt with the ancient Greek and Roman thinkers, and the culture of criticism that they fostered in their conflict with Christianity.
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In this episode I track the conflict between realism and idealism all the way back to Plato and Aristotle in Arthur Herman's epic 'The Cave and the Light: Plato Versus Aristotle and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization.' We explore Aristotle's influence on John Locke and the Enlightenment, and seek to assemble a philosophy that embraces empiricism, pragmatism, and the constrained vision.
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In this episode I will dive deeper into the philosophical divide that I explored last episode. This is well exemplified in the debate between Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine. I look closely at tradition as the inheritance that connects generations and man's nature as a social being in a given circumstance.
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In this important work, Thomas Sowell explains the difference between the constrained and unconstrained vision. I compare this dichotomy to those we've seen in previous eposides. I take a particular interest in the constrained vision, as this is the one which allows for a distinct human nature crafted by the processes of evolution.
More at www.natureandthenation.com
In this classic of American philosophy, William James introduces us to the tender- and tough-minded temperaments and the flaws in rationalistic, idealistic philosophy. We also begin to look at the nature of truth, its instrumentality, and its dependence on approximation and shorthand.
more at www.neofusionist.com
In Steven Pinker's classic 2002 masterpiece, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, Pinker gives us a panoramic view of the landscape of human nature and the politically motivated rejection of the science of evolutionary psychology by the established leftist academia.
More at neofusionist.com.
In this episode I begin to zero in on that aspect of nature that most impacts politics: human nature. On Human Nature by E. O. Wilson presents some of the language and metaphors I will using while I explore that intersection of biology, behavior, public policy and political philosophy.
more at http://www.neofusionist.com/2019/03/7-review-on-human-nature-by-edward-o.html
In this episode, I explore the more religious side of naturalism, pantheism. Standing in the Light by Sharman Apt Russell takes us on a path through the history of pantheism, from the ancient Greeks to Spinoza and evolutionary theory.
More at http://www.neofusionist.com/2019/03/06-review-standing-in-light-my-life-as.html
In this episode, I explore naturalism as a hard deterministic view of reality. Ahmad Safavy presents a stepwise explanation of the cause and effect nature of matter and energy, tracing the structure and function of particles, molecules, and life forms from the big bang to the present, with additional discussions of chaos theory and quantum mechanics.
You can find me on social media at facebook.com/neofusionist
or twitter.com/neofusionist
or, if you want to help support the show, you can find me at patreon.com/neofusionist
or you can just drop me a line at neofusionist@gmail.com
Day of Reckoning by Pat Buchanan can be considered a paleoconservative manifesto. The three most prominent themes of this book are restrictionist immigration, protectionist trade, and isolationist foreign policy. In this 2007 masterpiece, Buchanan lays the groundwork for an America First policy that would later be embraced by Donald Trump.
Buy Day of Reckoning at:
https://www.amazon.com/Day-Reckoning-Ideology-Tearing-America/dp/0312376960
I am on social media at:
facebook.com/neofusionist
twitter.com/neofusionist
support the show at:
patreon.com/neofusionist
In this episode I look at a book that concisely describes core components of philosophical naturalism, but ties them inexorably with progressive politics. I try to separate the concepts, pointing out where naturalism yields competitive survival instincts and a hard-wired sense of self. Join me for a defense of right-wing naturalism.
FInd Thomas Clark's book at:
https://www.amazon.com/Encountering-Naturalism-Worldview-Its-Uses/dp/0979111102
I am on social media at:
facebook.com/neofusionist
twitter.com/neofusionist
support the show at:
patreon.com/neofusionist
Mark Levin's 'Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto' sat at the top of the New York Times bestseller list for weeks in the late aughts. It can be considered a definitive explanation of Obama-era conservatism: hints of neoconservative thought, skepticism of climate change, full-throated support for capitalism and global free trade, dedication to Abrahamic faith, and Constitutional fidelity and federalism.
In this episode I examine the ways in which Levin's boilerplate conservatism differs from a neofusionist perspective. Neofusionism embraces the paleoconservative revolt against free-trade and the naturalistic rejection of faith-based governing and embrace of environmental concerns. This episode provides a jumping off point for an exploration of what makes neofusionism a distinct branch of Republicanism. It is related to mainstream conservatism, but it is not the same.
You can find me on social media at facebook.com/neofusionist
or twitter.com/neofusionist
or, if you want to help support the show, you can find me at patreon.com/neofusionist
or you can just drop me a line at neofusionist@gmail.com
In this first episode, I provide a basic explanation of what neofusionism is and why I feel it is important to the future of the Republican Party. I describe paleoconservatism, naturalism and provide a rough outline of some philosophical principles I've been putting together to create a foundation for the further development of the synthesis of the two. I do not review any books in this first episode; I only provide the framework within which future books will be examined.
You can find me on social media at
facebook.com/neofusionist
or
twitter.com/neofusionist
or, if you want to help support the show, you can find me at
patreon.com/neofusionist
or you can just drop me a line at
neofusionist@gmail.com