Surveys the trajectory of German philosophy 1780-1830, a formative period roughly from Kant’s setting out to prove reason trumps empirical determinism to the passing of Hegel. Kant, the protagonist, sought to establish a priori knowledge (what can I know? what should I do? what may I hope?), and concluded knowledge is bounded by the subject’s understanding of objects. His categorical imperative remains vital in modern society: treat fellow humans as you would yourself, and as ends not means. Subsequent German idealists challenged his principles of first knowledge, changing a critical understanding into absolute viewpoints. Hegel determined subject-object falsely limits understanding of appearances, and moved from knowing to being, thereby concluding man’s reconciliation with the natural world is the primary objective. Religion, art, and philosophy are the practices par excellence. Clear but difficult.
Standouts
5. Ricks, Generals (14 Jun 2014)
A whirlwind study of US army leadership from the time of George Marshall. The military has all but abandoned the practice of rewarding officer success and treating failure by giving another a chance at command (and the relieved officer another chance elsewhere), thereby deferring personnel decisions to civilian oversight, which the army abhors for operational reasons. The trend began with McArthur and has persisted through the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The army reached its quotidian / tactical nadir in Vietnam and then recovered, but has has yet to come to grips with a strategic doctrine for winning (i.e., ending) 21st-century, asymmetric conflict. This remaining gap, Ricks asserts, is attributable to conventional, insular career paths. A fine organizational study free of jargon.
7. Trevelyan, English Revolution (30 Jul 2014)
Crisply narrates the events of the Stuart restoration and Hanoverian succession, focusing on the prudential resolution of unprecedented constitutional questions. Though open to charges of Whiggish history, Trevelyan usefully shows the subsequent sociopolitical consequences of the Glorious Revolution through the long 18th century (i.e., to the Victorian era). But the work exceeds such prescriptive intent: it is masterfully synthesized, the chapter on the settlement’s consequences in Scotland and Ireland also serving to negate the charge of triumphalism. While it is what I had come to understand from derivative works, it remains very good, standing the test of time in argument and writing.
12. Levin, Great Debate (28 Oct 2014)
Modern American politics was presaged by the ideological division between Tom Paine’s Enlightenment rationalism and Edmund Burke’s liberalism. Their opposition is primarily evident in competing notions of man’s nature, the sociopolitical role of history, the ideal of justice and social order, generational independence (‘choice’) and obligations, reason, and ultimately the pace of reform. Richly demonstrated by original quotes, particularly from Burke, such that the work is a useful blueprint for the Anglo-Irishman’s thought. (Relatedly, Burke’s thoughts on the sublime and the beautiful are outlined on p57). Levin raises the question whether Burke is more concerned with organic development of social order and decision making, or natural law. Finds its stylistic footing in later chapters.
13. Bailyn, Origin of American Politics (2 Nov 2014)
The political climate of pre-revolutionary America was based on the worldview of anti-Walpole politicians in Britain. Simultaneously, although formal colonial executive power was in fact stronger than in the British system, the absence of monarchical-aristocratic features (patronage or ‘influence’) reduced the government’s power. Thus the government paradoxically was notionally stronger but actually weaker; royalists meanwhile worried of the democratic (populist) elements threatening the crown and ‘mixed’ constitution. Therefore the situation was latently revolutionary. Overlong sentences but clearly organized and persuasive.
1. Scruton, Meaning of Conservatism (2 Jan 2015)
Sketches core concepts of British paleoconservatism, concluding the virtuous individual – not individual freedom or the social contract – is the objective of community, government, and politics. There is no universal politics of conservatism: it varies depending on the social order, and each society exists through its unique structure. Community and tradition store (institutionalize) social wisdom. Therefore it’s up to progressive philosophies to demonstrate why their wisdom is superior, not to the conservative to show his should persist. The progressive threat to society is authority which does not map to social order or historical identity. Law, which is the will of the state, should also be the will of society: individual freedom and the absence of harm are insufficient objectives. Thus, if the state is the protector, it must support property rights. Institutions, however, must be self-directed with the state playing the role of guardian. ‘Establishment’ is how the state embeds these social institutions within the overall order. Originally written in the late 1970s, the book is concerned not only to address socialism but also liberalism including a free-market worldview the author sees as represented by Hayek, Friedman, and even Thatcher. As ever, Scruton is broadly provocative, draws attention to paradox, and makes frequent reference to Kant. Worth rereading.
4. Pangle, Ennobling of Democracy (2 Feb 2015)
A Straussian (i.e., Socratic) argument for resurrecting Classical republican approaches to citizenship and education in America circa 1990. Postmodernist thought is insufficient to the task of civic education because it considers itself in search of a successor to modern rationalism, and so cannot present youth with a certain basis of inquiry and evaluation. (This school of thought, a dying spasm of Marxism exemplified by Jean-Francois Leotard, is indeed likely to never emerge because it corrupts Nietzsche and Heidegger.) The book then turns to an extensive, fast-moving comparison of modern and ancient conceptions of the republic and democracy, finding the dialectic method is necessary to restore American civic mindedness and also the US university; however, Pangle is careful to underline that the dialectic is dangerous for the under-prepared.
5. Blainey, A Shorter History of Australia (10 Feb 2015)
Geography and economics have been more important to Australian history than politics. The ‘tyranny of distance’ shows itself in Aboriginal culture, Western settlement and economic development, foreign relations, and so on. They have often been interrelated, as in the development of export products (notably wool and mining) or the influence of drought. Owing to scarcity of labor, working conditions and labor law have been advanced, leading to egalitarianism (equality of outcomes) and also devotion to sport (as outside leisure). Black-white relations, obviously one-sided and sometimes fraught, are not more significant than the latter 20th-century influx of Asian peoples, which supplemented steadily decreasing European migration. Crisply written.
9. Kagan, Thucydides (23 Mar 2015)
Critically reviews
- The History of the Peloponnesian War
to assess the validity of Thucydides’ account, with the broader goal of illuminating the Greek’s contribution to the discipline of history. Thucydides favored Pericles (as a worthy leader of Athens) and Nicias (as the general who tried to dissuade the hubristic public for invading Sicily), while scorning Cleon (as lucky at Sphacteria and for rejecting Sparta’s peace offer in 425). These views would have been contrary to popular understanding, therefore Thucydides is revisionist. Kagan also shows holes in Thucydides’ work, such as glossing the Megarian Decree. Thucydides fundamentally sought to get the story right, however, and in so doing established history as of men for men — eschewing divine intervention as explanatory — so that future generations would be able to learn from past affairs. Further, in focusing on politics, war, and statecraft, he narrowed Herodotus’ consideration of society and culture (seen today in Annalisme) and thus connected history to political philosophy, the pursuit of the best life for the whole of the citizenry. Superb conclusion.
12. Zuckerts, Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy (17 May 2015)
The challenge of political philosophy is to understand the best way to govern society. Leo Strauss’s reading of ancient and modern philosophers produced a master narrative, a history of ideas, featuring a ‘Socratic turn’ (when philosophy discarded the gods and began to focus on human nature and affairs) and a ‘Machiavellian turn’ (when the pursuit of virtue was lowered to accommodate how humans are commonly seen to behave). Positivism, which distinguishes between scientific fact and all other ‘values’, and historicism, which asserts ideas and events are chained to contemporary interpretation (and is now intertwined with postmodernism), threaten the tenets of this narrative because they tend to nihilism. The book features Strauss’s readings of leading figures and treats his practice of esotericism, which controversially asserts that many philosophers did not write what they really thought, but only left clues, due to threat of political persecution. A final section considers his practical politics and school of disciples. To be re-read.