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JLA--- since some of the foregoing is technical, and presupposes an interest in, and knowledge of, modern philosophy, I am not sure if it made much sense to you. But the gist is that the modern world is characterized by a kind of traumatic blow to settled arrangements and traditional certainties, occasioned by varied processes, such as industrialization; urbanization; the revolution in science and technology; the breakdown of Christendom into competing sects and the making of civil peace through the quasi- secularization of society; and the radical questioning of the ground of knowledge and ethics into which philosophy fell. Conservatives cannot reverse these trends, but try to "ride the tiger", so to speak, affirming the continuities in our culture over the discontinuities, and taking a stand for maintaining human values. However, to do this properly it is necessary to realize how traumatic all of this has been, and in order to convey conservative insights to a larger audience it is necessary to appreciate that they inherited a bit of a mess, and that the mess is bigger than this generation, and part of something that transcends the responsibility of particular individuals, although it demands from us a response.... |
