thoughts in and out of season
James Kalb The idea that change as such is good, and resistance to change ignorant, weak, fearful, self-centered, and at least mildly pathological, goes with the view that the past is a mass of bigotry and oppression redeemed only by its foreshadowing of the here-and-now. There are obvious problems with such views:
A wholesale objection to conservatism is that things have always changed, conservatives have always objected to changes, and the way things are now is obviously better—as even conservatives agree.
An obvious rejoinder is that there’s always a lot more stability than change, and a lot of radical initiatives have ended in catastrophe. There’s no conservatism … More ...
The word “fundamentalism” is confusing because the real point of interest is not a particular religious movement but a basic philosophical issue, whether God is symbol or reality. Is religious language just a way of talking about human ideals and concerns, or does it sometimes mean what it says? Since the former view is presupposed … More ...
Welcome to On to Restoration!, the center on the web for counterrevolutionaries, restorationists, and the unreconstructed. We include reflections on what it’s about and links to discussions, projects and resources. You may also listen to a spoken introduction to our site (requiring RealPlayer).
Bringing back what has been lost, when … More ...
Roger Scruton has a really excellent article on Islam and politics (*.pdf format). A notable aspect of the piece is the light it sheds on the strength of Islam in relation to modernity. Scruton’s account confirms that radical Islam isn’t medieval at all. It reflects, for example, in the form of Wahhabism, the Protestant Reformation … More ...
The demand for control of opinion, incorporated into human rights conventions and increasingly enacted into law, calls the coherence of human rights thought into question. Human rights forbid prosecution of those who deny God, but demand it for those who deny the gas chambers.They require stamping out advocacy of sexism, but favor advocacy of … More ...
Atrocities in a shrinking world create a demand for clear principles of human rights. Recent developments have made clear the necessity of limiting attempts to enforce them directly, and placing them in a system that recognizes the human need for particularity and substantive concrete loyalties. To facilitate discussion, we have put together a proposal for … More ...
Here are links and discussions relating to human rights from the perspective of the human rights movement:
The following sites present criticisms and complaints regarding “human rights,” at least as now generally understood and institutionalized.
At present there are practical limits to the effects of human rights theory. However, it is in principle an absolutist ideology that enjoys the support of elites worldwide. In order to safeguard its beneficial aspects, principled limitations are necessary to make it consistent with tradition and subsidiarity.
What is to be done about human rights?… More ...