/lit/ - Literature

>>18270214
On Persecution and The Art of Writing

No book on writing as important as this.

you know who

>>17256387

>>17256879
This, just convert already

>>17083047
>What was I supposed to get out of this?
That if we entertain utopian thought experiments, we will ultimately arrive at the notion of their own impossibility. This is precisely what Plato tried to point out and which is echoed through time in other utopian thought experiments, most notably Cicero's Republic, Averroes' Epitome of Plato's Republic and More's Utopia.

Don't believe me? Cicero attests to that notion in De Re Publica 2.52 which reads that the regime described in the Republic is intended "not as possibly existing, but as making it possible that the principle of political things be seen [non quae posset esse, sed in qua ratio rerum civilium perspici posset]." For more information read Leo Strauss' essay on esoteric writing.

>>17078247
We just need to add the notion of final cause or telos back into science and we will have a valid understanding of all of reality. Time to return to Aristotle (pbuh).

>>17076632
you just got filtered, son

>>17053519
You can embrace Aristotelian ethics right here and now by cultivating proper virtues through earnest and constant practice. Embrace your telos and join me.

>>17020825
Yes, any idea of a "retvrn" is a historicist cope. Instead, you should focus on reordering your life according to natural law. Time to get into Aristotle, my friend.

>>17025137
Any conservative intellectual that believes in the Burkean conception of conservatism as a dialectical process is not worth his salt. Such a conservatism incontrovertably leads to the preservation of "liberal progress", moral relativism and ultimately nihilism. Instead, we should rediscover the Ancient Greeks and return to a conception of society according to natural law.

>>16967704
reject Burke and return to Aristotle

>>13800806
>reading a text closely is the worst thing you can do in philosophy

>>11373456
he was masking his political views esoterically

>>11343829
The Republic is satire, you dolt.

>>11328152
Why? He got BTFO by a Jew.

>>11285117
>thinks plato wrote for plebs like op
>thinks plato wasn't a secret atheist
>thinks plato believed in the forms
>thinks plato wasn't being ironical as shit in the republic

This is such a massive generalization where exceptions are all over the place. There's Philo of Alexandria, not to mention Ram-Fucking-Bam as early Jewish figures influenced by philosophy. And Christianity has had plenty of discomfort with the status of "pagan" philosophy. Strauss once again being a pleb

>>10497072
>>10497104
>>10497690
Yesssssssss

>>10492493
Indeed.

Where were you when Strauss explained /pol/ once and for all?

>German nihilism desires the destruction of modern civilisation as far as modern civilisation has a moral meaning. As everyone knows, it does not object so much to modem technical* devices. That moral meaning of modem civilisation to which the German nihilists object, is expressed in formulations such as these: to relieve man's estate; or: to safeguard the rights of man; or: the greatest possible happiness of the greatest possible number. What is the motive underlying the protest against modem civilisation, against the spirit of the West*, and in particular of the Anglo-Saxon* West?

>The answer must be: it is a moral protest. That protest proceeds from the conviction that the internationalism inherent in modem civilisation, or, more precisely, that the establishment of a perfectly open society which is as it were the goal of modem civilisation, and therefore all aspirations directed toward that goal, are irreconcilable with the basic demands of moral life. That protest proceeds from the conviction that the root of all moral life is essentially and therefore eternally the closed society; from the conviction that the open society is bound to be, if not immoral, at least amoral: the meeting ground of seekers of pleasure, of gain, of irresponsible power, indeed of any kind of irresponsibility and lack of seriousness.3 Moral life, it is asserted, means serious life. Seriousness, and the ceremonial of seriousness the flag and the oath to the flag, are the distinctive features of the closed society, of the society which by its very nature, is constantly confronted with, and basically oriented toward, the Ernstfall, the serious moment, M-day, war. Only life in such a tense atmosphere, only a life which is based on constant awareness of the sacrifices* to which it owes its existence, and of the necessity, the duty of sacrifice of life and all worldly goods, is truly human: the sublime is unknown to the open society." The societies of the West which claim to aspire toward the open society, actually are closed societies in a state of disintegration: their moral value, their respectability, depends entirely on their still being closed societies.

>German nihilism rejects then the principles of civilisation as such in favor of war and conquest, in favor of the warlike virtues. German nihilism is therefore akin to German militarism. This compels us to raise the question what militarism is. Militarism can be identified as the view expressed by the older Moltke in these terms: "Eternal peace is a dream, and not even a beautiful one."26 To believe that eternal peace is a dream, is not militarism, but perhaps plain commonsense; it is at any rate not bound up with a particular moral taste. But to believe that eternal peace is not a beautiful dream, is tantamount to believing that war is something desirable in itself; and to believe that war is something desirable in itself, betrays a cruel, inhuman disposition. The view that war is good in itself, implies the rejection of the distinction between just and unjust wars, between wars of defence and wars of aggression. It is ulti mately irreconcilable with the very idea of a law of nations.

What's your position on this opinion?

I just read Leo Strauss' lecture on German Nihilism and damn

>German nihilism desires the destruction of modern civilisation as far as modern civilisation has a moral meaning. As everyone knows, it does not object so much to modem technical* devices. That moral meaning of modem civilisation to which the German nihilists object, is expressed in formulations such as these: to relieve man's estate; or: to safeguard the rights of man; or: the greatest possible happiness of the greatest possible number. What is the motive underlying the protest against modem civilisation, against the spirit of the West*, and in particular of the Anglo-Saxon* West?

>The answer must be: it is a moral protest. That protest proceeds from the conviction that the internationalism inherent in modem civilisation, or, more precisely, that the establishment of a perfectly open society which is as it were the goal of modem civilisation, and therefore all aspirations directed toward that goal, are irreconcilable with the basic demands of moral life. That protest proceeds from the conviction that the root of all moral life is essentially and therefore eternally the closed society; from the conviction that the open society is bound to be, if not immoral, at least amoral: the meeting ground of seekers of pleasure, of gain, of irresponsible power, indeed of any kind of irresponsibility and lack of seriousness.3 Moral life, it is asserted, means serious life. Seriousness, and the ceremonial of seriousness the flag and the oath to the flag, are the distinctive features of the closed society, of the society which by its very nature, is constantly confronted with, and basically oriented toward, the Ernstfall, the serious moment, M-day, war. Only life in such a tense atmosphere, only a life which is based on constant awareness of the sacrifices* to which it owes its existence, and of the necessity, the duty of sacrifice of life and all worldly goods, is truly human: the sublime is unknown to the open society." The societies of the West which claim to aspire toward the open society, actually are closed societies in a state of disintegration: their moral value, their respectability, depends entirely on their still being closed societies.

>>9661955
Majoring in political science was worth it. Can't tell you much about philosophy.

>>8781778
Are you european? I found Kirk to be a good introduction to the fact that southern US had culture and intellectuals at some point. Too bad the North put a lot of resources to brush that off from pop-culture.

>>8782210
The liberal Issiah Berlin while being against them, made a career writing about reactionary philosophers. Read his essays on De Maistre, Hamman, Vico and Herder.

>>8628145
I don't think he is.