MD

Jacques Lyotard, a prominent postmodernist, has this to say about the status of knowledge in modernity:

“Our working hypothesis is that the status of knowledge is altered as societies enter what is known as the postindustrial age and cultures enter … Read more

The issue is secularization. The term has many definitions and contours, and many have offered various descriptions and explanations.

Steven Weinberg is a Nobel particle physicist, working presently at the University of Texas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Weinberg

Weinberg recently published a piece in … Read more

Tufts materialist philosopher Daniel Dennett wrote a book entitled “Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon.”

David Hart reviewed the book in the January issue of First Things, “Daniel Dennett Hunts the Snark.”

http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=5428

The thesis of Dennett’s book … Read more

Arthur Schlesinger, a fine embodiment of modern liberal stasis, died last week. Schlesinger, along with JK Galbraith, represented that satisfied liberalism that died an unnoticed death sometime in the late 60’s or early 70’s. Figures like Schlesinger and Galbraith—and the … Read more

We’re all familiar with Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins, and their staunchly anti-religious views.

How about Sam Harris, author of best-sellers “The End of Faith” and “Letter to a Christian Nation”? You may have heard of him from newspapers or … Read more

Mr. Kalb referred, in his post on Weaver, to nominalism and its impact on Western intellectual history and the Western worldview. In this connection, I ran across the transcription of a lecture by Tillich—in a series of lectures on the … Read more

I take this excerpt from Hugh Hewitt’s site, summarizing a thesis of James Caesar of the University of Virginia that the Left seeks to implement an ideology of “non-foundationalism.” I think Caesar is superficially correct and substantively wrong.

“The left … Read more

I’ve mentioned that IMHO, modernity, as a matter of principle, does not value human life.

“Human life,” within modernity, is just another fact, and as such is treated like any other fact: with neutrality and devoid of any intrinsic value.… Read more

William MacClain maintains an Eric Voegelin study page, and I found the following at his site, which summarizes Voegelin’s comparisons of classical understanding of human nature and modern/liberal understandings. I quote from his page:

“A reflection on the purposes and … Read more

Mr. Kalb has suggested, that in the liberal understanding of the world, “rationality” determines the way in which one must think about things in a liberal society. “Rationality” therefore becomes a criterion for both the mode of discourse and the … Read more