What Is This Thing Called Virtue?
Believe it or not, in at least one specific area public discourse in the United States is a bit better than it was a few decades ago.…
The Progressive Enlightened Error of the Elevation of the Human Understanding
There are two diametrically opposed ways of viewing the social and political tensions in the West today that are typically classified as progressive and conservative (or alt.right).…
Enlightening the enlightenment
Recently, some European politicians and journalists have been making well-intentioned appeals to the "spirit of the Enlightenment" or the "values of the Enlightenment". In the face of…
Hume and the Politics of the Enlightenment
Hume and the Politics of Enlightenment. Thomas W. Merrill. Cambridge University Press, 1915. Thomas Merrill of American University introduces this book with reflections on the difficult relation…
Caught up in 18th Century Thought
A Forerunner: Helvétius The historian of ideas has to do more than report the doctrine advanced by a thinker or give an account of a few great…
What Enlightenment, Exactly?
How Lucky we are to be Free of Obscurantism! The term "Enlightenment" is an ideological term with no utility in studying the structures of reality. But it…