Colin Pearce | Clemson University (original) (raw)

Papers by Colin Pearce

This essay seeks to demonstrate a certain overlap between the political thought of Leo Strauss (1... more This essay seeks to demonstrate a certain overlap between the political thought of Leo Strauss (1899-1973) and H. L. Mencken (1888-1956). The argument fully recognizes that Strauss is a political philosopher inclined to the classics and natural right, and Mencken is a journalist inclined to the moderns and the power of scientific progress, they nevertheless occupy the same terrain in respect of certain opinions on the purely political plane. Allowing a great distance between the two men philosophically speaking, we can still see them come together in arguing that a regime which looks up to certain individuals of ability, talents, character, intellect and virtue has to be the standard by which the discipline of political science makes its judgments concerning the phenomena of political life.

McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2015

Social Science Research Network, 2023

Social Science Research Network, 2009

This is a 3,000 word review of Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene D. Genovese's monumental stu... more This is a 3,000 word review of Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene D. Genovese's monumental study of the intellectual life of the ante-bellum South entitled "The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholders' Worldview "(Cambridge University Press, 2005) While acknowledging the book as an outstanding achievement in terms of the sheer comprehensiveness of its scope and the breadth of its coverage of southern intellectual culture it concludes that the authors' pre-existing methodological assumptions imposed severe limitations on how deeply they could penetrate into the philosophical spirit animating "The Mind of the South" prior to the onset of the Civil War.

Explicator, 2001

... 8. See Simon 0. Lesser, “The Image of the Father: A Reading of 'My Kinsman, Major Mo... more ... 8. See Simon 0. Lesser, “The Image of the Father: A Reading of 'My Kinsman, Major Molineux' and 'I Want to Know Why,' ” Partisan Review (Summer, 1955), 370-390; Seymour L. Gross, “Hawthorne's 'My Kinsman, Major Molineux': History as Moral Adventure,” Nineteenth ...

Social Science Research Network, 2018

Routledge eBooks, Jan 19, 2023

Social Science Research Network, May 1, 2018

But as perfect men I regard those who are able to mingle and fuse political capacity with philoso... more But as perfect men I regard those who are able to mingle and fuse political capacity with philosophy. Such men, I take it, are masters of the two greatest goods there are: as statesmen, a life of public usefulness, and a tranquil existence of untroubled serenity in the pursuit of philosophy…We must apply our best endeavours, therefore, both to perform public duties and to hold fast to philosophy as far as opportunity permits."-Plutarch. "The good botanist will find flowers between the street pavements, and any man filled with an idea or a purpose will find examples and illustrations and coadjutors wherever he goes.....Why complain, as if a man's debt to his inferiors were not at least equal to his debt to his superiors? If men were equals, the waters would not move; but the difference of level which makes Niagara a cataract, makes eloquence, indignation, poetry, in him who finds there is much to communicate."-Emerson Fiat liberalismus; pereat Plato.-Leo Strauss "I personally have always been conservative."-Leo Strauss. Introduction: Then and Now In his review of H.L. Mencken's Notes on Democracy Walter Lippmann said that the "Mencken attack is always a frontal attack (and) is always explicit." "The charge is all there. (Mencken) does not leave the worst unsaid. He says it." Despite or because of these qualities Mencken became "the most powerful personal influence on this whole generation of educated people" Lippmann observes. 1 What Lippmann describes as Mencken's "gargantuan attack upon the habits of the American nation" involved the Baltimorean in arguing that when push comes to shove, "the rights of other persons do not seem to interest (liberals)." Thus "if a law were passed

This short document juxtaposes two quotes from H.L. Mencken and Leo Strauss respectively. It show... more This short document juxtaposes two quotes from H.L. Mencken and Leo Strauss respectively. It shows both men dealing with the problem of radically ascetic morality.

THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE, 2023

Jan Patocka (1907-1977) was the philosophical godfather of the Czechoslovakian “Charter 77” movem... more Jan Patocka (1907-1977) was the philosophical godfather of the Czechoslovakian “Charter 77” movement and the corresponding politics of the famous dissident playwright and later president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel (1936-2011). In a Times column, Roger Scruton described Patocka as “the greatest luminary of modern Czech culture.” Studying in Prague, Paris, Berlin, and Freiburg, Patocka worked under Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) and Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) before completing his thesis in 1936. He soon became the editor of a journal named The Czech Spirit and went on to produce studies of his countrymen Comenius (1592-1670) and Thomas Masaryk (1850-1937) amongst other thinkers.

Patocka’s best known works in English are Plato and Europe (1973) and Heretical Essays in the Philosophy of History (1975), the latter of which received some careful treatment at the hands of Jacques Derrida, while Paul Ricoeur wrote the preface to a subsequent edition (1999). French readers will find Patocka’s Eternite et Historicite to be readily available. In the period from 1968 to his passing, Patocka was banned from teaching in the Czech universities. A film about his life and work, entitled The Socrates of Prague, appeared in 2017.

During the 1950’s and early 1960’s Murray N. Rothbard was writing “private” book reviews in his c... more During the 1950’s and early 1960’s Murray N. Rothbard was writing “private” book reviews in his capacity as a research analyst for the Volcker Fund. Towards the end of his tenure in this position Rothbard penned reviews of Strauss’s What is Political Philosophy? Thoughts on Machiavelli, On Tyranny and essay entitled “Relativism.” The recent publication of these reviews affords us an opportunity to place the thought of Rothbard into comparative perspective with that of Leo Strauss. In so doing we are examining two figures who are frequently identified, whether rightly or wrongly, as the intellectual godfathers of contemporary libertarianism and neo-conservatism respectively.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015

Do not great crimes and the spirit of pure evil spring out of a fullness of nature ruined by educ... more Do not great crimes and the spirit of pure evil spring out of a fullness of nature ruined by education rather than from any inferiority, whereas weak natures are scarcely capable of any very great good or very great evil?-Plato, Republic 491e2-4 Ambition is one of the ungovernable Passions of the human Heart.-John Adams, "Oration at Braintree". Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods… 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.-Tennyson. The motives of arrogance and generosity are always inextricably mixed.-T.S. Eliot Introduction: A Powerful Novel The theme of Mary Johnston's now all but forgotten eponymous novel Lewis Rand (1908) is political ambition. 1 At the time of the novel's appearance the New York Times reviewer said that Johnston had produced "one of the strongest works of fiction that has seen the light of day in America." The reviewer explained that the fault of its protagonist lies in "his incapacity to restrain the course of an overleaping ambition within the bounds of law" driven as he was by "the fever of boundless pride in an age when no dream seemed too splendid for man to realize" 2 Another contemporary reviewer said that it is "impossible not to offer homage to 1 For an overview of Johnston's career and life (1870-1936) and a critical review of her various novels, short stories and poems see Cella (1981). 2 "Powerful Novel by Mary Johnston" New York Times (October 3, 1908). Johnston's selection of the name "Lewis Rand" for her protagonist might be derived from the fact that there was a "Lewis" (Louis) Napoleon (1808-1873) who was the first President of France elected by a direct popular vote in 1848. He then staged a coup d'etat a few years later to become Napoleon III, Emperor of the Second French Empire in which capacity he ruled France until the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. He was a modernizing "dirigiste" leader investing in public works, reconstructing Paris and aiding the working classes and the poor. His foreign policy adventures included installing Emperor Maximilian I in Mexico at the time of

Liberal Education, Civic Education and the Canadian Regime ed. David W. Livingstone, 2015

A discussion of the modern state building ideas of Egerton Ryerson

DIA-NOESIS, 2022

This essay seeks to demonstrate a certain overlap between the political thought of Leo Strauss (1... more This essay seeks to demonstrate a certain overlap between the political thought of Leo Strauss (1899-1973) and H. L. Mencken (1888-1956). The argument fully recognizes that Strauss is a political philosopher inclined to the classics and natural right, and Mencken is a journalist inclined to the moderns and the power of scientific progress, they nevertheless occupy the same terrain in respect of certain opinions on the purely political plane. Allowing a great distance between the two men philosophically speaking, we can still see them come together in arguing that a regime which looks up to certain individuals of ability, talents, character, intellect and virtue has to be the standard by which the discipline of political science makes its judgments concerning the phenomena of political life.

The Kipling Journal , 2004

Abstract This paper discusses Rudyard Kipling's famous story 'The Man Who Would Be King' in terms... more Abstract
This paper discusses Rudyard Kipling's famous story 'The Man Who Would Be King' in terms of the leitmotif of Machiavellian political philosophy that is to be discerned in the unfolding of the story. Kipling introduces us to the twin founders of the new order in Kafiristan in the same way that Machiavelli dedicates his 'Discourses' to two young nobles. He then proceeds to describe how they acquired their new kingdom and then how they lost it. On closer examination it becomes apparent that the initial success of the two English adventurers in the Hindu Kush was attributable to their following Machiavellian principles while their ultimate demise was rooted in their failure to to adhere to them once they had secured their new state and all the benefits which accompany princely rule over a subject population.

Keywords: Kipling, Machiavelli, Kingship, Empire, Prudence, Religion, Virtue, Progress, Women

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2009

This paper discusses Rudyard Kipling's famous story 'The Man Who Would Be King' in te... more This paper discusses Rudyard Kipling's famous story 'The Man Who Would Be King' in terms of the leitmotif of Machiavellian political philosophy that is to be discerned in the unfolding of the story. Kipling introduces us to the twin founders of the new order in Kafiristan in the same way that Machiavelli dedicates his 'Discourses' to two young nobles. He then proceeds to describe how they acquired their new kingdom and then how they lost it. On closer examination it becomes apparent that the initial success of the two English adventurers in the Hindu Kush was attributable to their following Machiavellian principles while their ultimate demise was rooted in their failure to to adhere to them once they had secured their new state and all the benefits which accompany princely rule over a subject population.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014

This article seeks to go some way toward shedding light on a certain dimension of Canadian intell... more This article seeks to go some way toward shedding light on a certain dimension of Canadian intellectual history, specifically that dimension wherein the changing theoretical approaches to the phenomenon of Canadian political culture is the core subject matter. Canadian political culture will be defined here as that collation of ideas, principles, thoughts and opinions which foster the establishment and continuation of a set of political structures and institutions which are liberal democratic at their foundations. With this as a guiding definition the article examines the "paradigm shifts" in the study of English Canadian political culture that have taken place from the days of "The Makers of Canada," through the ascendancy of the "Fragment Thesis," to the more contemporary postmodernism of the "Liberal Order Framework." The foundational assumption of the article is that debate and discussion about the Canadian experience in such fields as political philosophy, intellectual history, party ideology, constitutional structure, legislative procedure, executive power, judicial authority and local governance will tend to be shaped by the historiographical paradigm which has been most successful in making itself the accepted "orthodoxy" in the academic and intellectual circles of the period.

VoeglinView, 2020

An analytical review of H.D. Forbes' "Multiculturalism in Canada: Constructing a Model Multicultu... more An analytical review of H.D. Forbes' "Multiculturalism in Canada: Constructing a Model Multiculture with Multicultural Values"

D. H. Lawrence, Technology, and Modernity, 2019

This chapter from "D. H. Lawrence, Technology, and Modernity" edited by Indrek ... more This chapter from "D. H. Lawrence, Technology, and Modernity" edited by Indrek Männiste, University of Tartu, Estonia (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019) seeks to present the inner spirit of David Herbert Lawrence's alienation from modern civilization and the grounds for his arrival at this condition.

This essay seeks to demonstrate a certain overlap between the political thought of Leo Strauss (1... more This essay seeks to demonstrate a certain overlap between the political thought of Leo Strauss (1899-1973) and H. L. Mencken (1888-1956). The argument fully recognizes that Strauss is a political philosopher inclined to the classics and natural right, and Mencken is a journalist inclined to the moderns and the power of scientific progress, they nevertheless occupy the same terrain in respect of certain opinions on the purely political plane. Allowing a great distance between the two men philosophically speaking, we can still see them come together in arguing that a regime which looks up to certain individuals of ability, talents, character, intellect and virtue has to be the standard by which the discipline of political science makes its judgments concerning the phenomena of political life.

McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2015

Social Science Research Network, 2023

Social Science Research Network, 2009

This is a 3,000 word review of Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene D. Genovese's monumental stu... more This is a 3,000 word review of Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene D. Genovese's monumental study of the intellectual life of the ante-bellum South entitled "The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholders' Worldview "(Cambridge University Press, 2005) While acknowledging the book as an outstanding achievement in terms of the sheer comprehensiveness of its scope and the breadth of its coverage of southern intellectual culture it concludes that the authors' pre-existing methodological assumptions imposed severe limitations on how deeply they could penetrate into the philosophical spirit animating "The Mind of the South" prior to the onset of the Civil War.

Explicator, 2001

... 8. See Simon 0. Lesser, “The Image of the Father: A Reading of 'My Kinsman, Major Mo... more ... 8. See Simon 0. Lesser, “The Image of the Father: A Reading of 'My Kinsman, Major Molineux' and 'I Want to Know Why,' ” Partisan Review (Summer, 1955), 370-390; Seymour L. Gross, “Hawthorne's 'My Kinsman, Major Molineux': History as Moral Adventure,” Nineteenth ...

Social Science Research Network, 2018

Routledge eBooks, Jan 19, 2023

Social Science Research Network, May 1, 2018

But as perfect men I regard those who are able to mingle and fuse political capacity with philoso... more But as perfect men I regard those who are able to mingle and fuse political capacity with philosophy. Such men, I take it, are masters of the two greatest goods there are: as statesmen, a life of public usefulness, and a tranquil existence of untroubled serenity in the pursuit of philosophy…We must apply our best endeavours, therefore, both to perform public duties and to hold fast to philosophy as far as opportunity permits."-Plutarch. "The good botanist will find flowers between the street pavements, and any man filled with an idea or a purpose will find examples and illustrations and coadjutors wherever he goes.....Why complain, as if a man's debt to his inferiors were not at least equal to his debt to his superiors? If men were equals, the waters would not move; but the difference of level which makes Niagara a cataract, makes eloquence, indignation, poetry, in him who finds there is much to communicate."-Emerson Fiat liberalismus; pereat Plato.-Leo Strauss "I personally have always been conservative."-Leo Strauss. Introduction: Then and Now In his review of H.L. Mencken's Notes on Democracy Walter Lippmann said that the "Mencken attack is always a frontal attack (and) is always explicit." "The charge is all there. (Mencken) does not leave the worst unsaid. He says it." Despite or because of these qualities Mencken became "the most powerful personal influence on this whole generation of educated people" Lippmann observes. 1 What Lippmann describes as Mencken's "gargantuan attack upon the habits of the American nation" involved the Baltimorean in arguing that when push comes to shove, "the rights of other persons do not seem to interest (liberals)." Thus "if a law were passed

This short document juxtaposes two quotes from H.L. Mencken and Leo Strauss respectively. It show... more This short document juxtaposes two quotes from H.L. Mencken and Leo Strauss respectively. It shows both men dealing with the problem of radically ascetic morality.

THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE, 2023

Jan Patocka (1907-1977) was the philosophical godfather of the Czechoslovakian “Charter 77” movem... more Jan Patocka (1907-1977) was the philosophical godfather of the Czechoslovakian “Charter 77” movement and the corresponding politics of the famous dissident playwright and later president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel (1936-2011). In a Times column, Roger Scruton described Patocka as “the greatest luminary of modern Czech culture.” Studying in Prague, Paris, Berlin, and Freiburg, Patocka worked under Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) and Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) before completing his thesis in 1936. He soon became the editor of a journal named The Czech Spirit and went on to produce studies of his countrymen Comenius (1592-1670) and Thomas Masaryk (1850-1937) amongst other thinkers.

Patocka’s best known works in English are Plato and Europe (1973) and Heretical Essays in the Philosophy of History (1975), the latter of which received some careful treatment at the hands of Jacques Derrida, while Paul Ricoeur wrote the preface to a subsequent edition (1999). French readers will find Patocka’s Eternite et Historicite to be readily available. In the period from 1968 to his passing, Patocka was banned from teaching in the Czech universities. A film about his life and work, entitled The Socrates of Prague, appeared in 2017.

During the 1950’s and early 1960’s Murray N. Rothbard was writing “private” book reviews in his c... more During the 1950’s and early 1960’s Murray N. Rothbard was writing “private” book reviews in his capacity as a research analyst for the Volcker Fund. Towards the end of his tenure in this position Rothbard penned reviews of Strauss’s What is Political Philosophy? Thoughts on Machiavelli, On Tyranny and essay entitled “Relativism.” The recent publication of these reviews affords us an opportunity to place the thought of Rothbard into comparative perspective with that of Leo Strauss. In so doing we are examining two figures who are frequently identified, whether rightly or wrongly, as the intellectual godfathers of contemporary libertarianism and neo-conservatism respectively.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015

Do not great crimes and the spirit of pure evil spring out of a fullness of nature ruined by educ... more Do not great crimes and the spirit of pure evil spring out of a fullness of nature ruined by education rather than from any inferiority, whereas weak natures are scarcely capable of any very great good or very great evil?-Plato, Republic 491e2-4 Ambition is one of the ungovernable Passions of the human Heart.-John Adams, "Oration at Braintree". Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods… 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.-Tennyson. The motives of arrogance and generosity are always inextricably mixed.-T.S. Eliot Introduction: A Powerful Novel The theme of Mary Johnston's now all but forgotten eponymous novel Lewis Rand (1908) is political ambition. 1 At the time of the novel's appearance the New York Times reviewer said that Johnston had produced "one of the strongest works of fiction that has seen the light of day in America." The reviewer explained that the fault of its protagonist lies in "his incapacity to restrain the course of an overleaping ambition within the bounds of law" driven as he was by "the fever of boundless pride in an age when no dream seemed too splendid for man to realize" 2 Another contemporary reviewer said that it is "impossible not to offer homage to 1 For an overview of Johnston's career and life (1870-1936) and a critical review of her various novels, short stories and poems see Cella (1981). 2 "Powerful Novel by Mary Johnston" New York Times (October 3, 1908). Johnston's selection of the name "Lewis Rand" for her protagonist might be derived from the fact that there was a "Lewis" (Louis) Napoleon (1808-1873) who was the first President of France elected by a direct popular vote in 1848. He then staged a coup d'etat a few years later to become Napoleon III, Emperor of the Second French Empire in which capacity he ruled France until the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. He was a modernizing "dirigiste" leader investing in public works, reconstructing Paris and aiding the working classes and the poor. His foreign policy adventures included installing Emperor Maximilian I in Mexico at the time of

Liberal Education, Civic Education and the Canadian Regime ed. David W. Livingstone, 2015

A discussion of the modern state building ideas of Egerton Ryerson

DIA-NOESIS, 2022

This essay seeks to demonstrate a certain overlap between the political thought of Leo Strauss (1... more This essay seeks to demonstrate a certain overlap between the political thought of Leo Strauss (1899-1973) and H. L. Mencken (1888-1956). The argument fully recognizes that Strauss is a political philosopher inclined to the classics and natural right, and Mencken is a journalist inclined to the moderns and the power of scientific progress, they nevertheless occupy the same terrain in respect of certain opinions on the purely political plane. Allowing a great distance between the two men philosophically speaking, we can still see them come together in arguing that a regime which looks up to certain individuals of ability, talents, character, intellect and virtue has to be the standard by which the discipline of political science makes its judgments concerning the phenomena of political life.

The Kipling Journal , 2004

Abstract This paper discusses Rudyard Kipling's famous story 'The Man Who Would Be King' in terms... more Abstract
This paper discusses Rudyard Kipling's famous story 'The Man Who Would Be King' in terms of the leitmotif of Machiavellian political philosophy that is to be discerned in the unfolding of the story. Kipling introduces us to the twin founders of the new order in Kafiristan in the same way that Machiavelli dedicates his 'Discourses' to two young nobles. He then proceeds to describe how they acquired their new kingdom and then how they lost it. On closer examination it becomes apparent that the initial success of the two English adventurers in the Hindu Kush was attributable to their following Machiavellian principles while their ultimate demise was rooted in their failure to to adhere to them once they had secured their new state and all the benefits which accompany princely rule over a subject population.

Keywords: Kipling, Machiavelli, Kingship, Empire, Prudence, Religion, Virtue, Progress, Women

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2009

This paper discusses Rudyard Kipling's famous story 'The Man Who Would Be King' in te... more This paper discusses Rudyard Kipling's famous story 'The Man Who Would Be King' in terms of the leitmotif of Machiavellian political philosophy that is to be discerned in the unfolding of the story. Kipling introduces us to the twin founders of the new order in Kafiristan in the same way that Machiavelli dedicates his 'Discourses' to two young nobles. He then proceeds to describe how they acquired their new kingdom and then how they lost it. On closer examination it becomes apparent that the initial success of the two English adventurers in the Hindu Kush was attributable to their following Machiavellian principles while their ultimate demise was rooted in their failure to to adhere to them once they had secured their new state and all the benefits which accompany princely rule over a subject population.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014

This article seeks to go some way toward shedding light on a certain dimension of Canadian intell... more This article seeks to go some way toward shedding light on a certain dimension of Canadian intellectual history, specifically that dimension wherein the changing theoretical approaches to the phenomenon of Canadian political culture is the core subject matter. Canadian political culture will be defined here as that collation of ideas, principles, thoughts and opinions which foster the establishment and continuation of a set of political structures and institutions which are liberal democratic at their foundations. With this as a guiding definition the article examines the "paradigm shifts" in the study of English Canadian political culture that have taken place from the days of "The Makers of Canada," through the ascendancy of the "Fragment Thesis," to the more contemporary postmodernism of the "Liberal Order Framework." The foundational assumption of the article is that debate and discussion about the Canadian experience in such fields as political philosophy, intellectual history, party ideology, constitutional structure, legislative procedure, executive power, judicial authority and local governance will tend to be shaped by the historiographical paradigm which has been most successful in making itself the accepted "orthodoxy" in the academic and intellectual circles of the period.

VoeglinView, 2020

An analytical review of H.D. Forbes' "Multiculturalism in Canada: Constructing a Model Multicultu... more An analytical review of H.D. Forbes' "Multiculturalism in Canada: Constructing a Model Multiculture with Multicultural Values"

D. H. Lawrence, Technology, and Modernity, 2019

This chapter from "D. H. Lawrence, Technology, and Modernity" edited by Indrek ... more This chapter from "D. H. Lawrence, Technology, and Modernity" edited by Indrek Männiste, University of Tartu, Estonia (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019) seeks to present the inner spirit of David Herbert Lawrence's alienation from modern civilization and the grounds for his arrival at this condition.

Brief statement on how to approach the thought of H.L. Mencken

Short statement suggesting an approach form the better understanding of the thought of H.L. Mencken.

THE TRUE HISTORIAN: FACTS, VALUES AND THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS - Colin D. Pea... more THE TRUE HISTORIAN:
FACTS, VALUES AND THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS - Colin D. Pearce -Clemson University

In 1991 Simon Schama stirred much controversy when he published a book in which he presented certain invented material to do with American history as factual in what was ostensibly a book of history.1 No doubt just as much as Schama, William Gilmore Simms, would fail to qualify as a “scientific” historian by modern standards. But Schama takes a fatal step unthinkable to Simms - he indicates a certain doubt as to the historian’s ultimate obligation to the concept of “Truth” with a capital “T.” This paper then will consider Simms’s historiography in the light of the limits of “scientific history” on the one hand and the validity of “humanist history” with its place for the active imagination on the other. The paper begins from Sean Busick’s assumption that William Gilmore Simms thought long and deeply about “the nature of history and its relationship to fiction, epic, and myth” and that this theme is of the essence in seeking a fuller understanding of Simms’s oeuvre.2

1. Simon Schama, Dead Certainties (Unwarranted Speculations) (London: Granta Books/Penguin,1991).
2. Sean Busick, A Sober Desire for History: William Gilmore Simms as Historian (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 2005),p.xxi.

This paper discusses two statements in defense of Israel and the Zionist cause. One takes the fo... more This paper discusses two statements in defense of Israel and the Zionist cause. One takes the form of a 1956 letter from a controversial German-American political philosopher to a journal of opinion. The other takes the form of a famous 1975 address to the General Assembly of the United Nations by a distinguished Irish-American Senator who was at that time the United States Ambassador to that body. Both Professor Leo Strauss and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan were vigorous in their defense of the claims, purposes and goals of the Israeli State. But a careful study of Strauss’s letter and Moynihan’s address reveals a great divergence of premises underlying their respective apologiae for the Israeli experiment. Strauss’s letter to the then fledgling National Review seeks to justify Israel as a “conservative” project to a “conservative” readership. Senator Moynihan’s speech to the United Nations by contrast insists that it is the duty of all honest “liberals” to condemn the U.N. Resolution and stand tall with the State of Israel as deserving of membership in the liberal family of nations.

CANADIAN CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL THOUGHT , 2023

A comparative discussion of limits of 19th Century and 20th/21st Century liberalism in the light ... more A comparative discussion of limits of 19th Century and 20th/21st Century liberalism in the light of the case that a Global State is the necessary historical terminus of liberal modernity.