Russell Kirk and the Age of IdeologyUniversity of Missouri Press, 2004 - 243 Seiten Russell Kirk, author of The Conservative Mind and A Program for Conservatives, has been regarded as one of the foremost figures of the post-World War II revival in conservative thought. While numerous commentators on contemporary political thought have acknowledged his considerable influence on the substance and direction of American conservatism, no analysis of his social and political writing has dealt extensively with the philosophical foundations of his work. In this provocative study, W. Wesley McDonald examines those foundations and demonstrates their impact on the conservative intellectual movement that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. Kirk played a pivotal role in drawing conservatism away from the laissez-faireprinciplesoflibertarianism and toward those of a traditional community grounded in a renewed appreciation of man's social and spiritual nature and the moral prerequisites of genuine liberty. In a humane social order, a community of spirit is fostered in which generations are bound together. According to Kirk, this link is achieved through moral and social norms that transcend the particularities of time and place and, because they form the basis of genuine civilized existence, can only be neglected at great peril. These norms, reflected in religious dogmas, traditions, humane letters, social habit and custom, and prescriptive institutions, create the sources of the true community that is the final end of politics. Although this study does not challenge Kirk's debts to a predominantly Catholic and Anglo-Catholic tradition of natural law, its focus is on his appeal to historical experience as the test of sound institutions. This aspect of his thought was essential to Kirk's understanding of moral, cultural, and aesthetic norms and can be seen in his responses to American humanists Paul Elmer More and Irving Babbitt and to English and American romantic literature.Russell Kirk and the Age of Ideology is particularly relevant because of the growing interest in Kirk's legacy and the current debate over the meaning of conservatism. McDonald addresses both of those developments in the context of examining Kirk's thought, attempting to correct some of the inadequacies contained in earlier studies that assess Kirk as a political thinker. This book will serve as a significant contribution to the commentary on this fascinating figure. |
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Seite 18
... give the entire vast collection the appearance of an actual nineteenth-century American town. One June morning in 1938, a chance meeting, seemingly pregnant with symbolism, took place between the young tour guide, the future champion of ...
... give the entire vast collection the appearance of an actual nineteenth-century American town. One June morning in 1938, a chance meeting, seemingly pregnant with symbolism, took place between the young tour guide, the future champion of ...
Seite 19
... gives way to a forlorn longing after things beyond recall.”10 After graduation, Kirk received a graduate fellowship from Duke University. At Duke, Kirk made his first contact with the American South that had already captured his ...
... gives way to a forlorn longing after things beyond recall.”10 After graduation, Kirk received a graduate fellowship from Duke University. At Duke, Kirk made his first contact with the American South that had already captured his ...
Seite 27
... give, though, some credence to the charge that conservatism was basically about laissez-faire economics. Preceding the publication of The Conservative Mind, the voices on the intellectual Right in America had been dominated by those of ...
... give, though, some credence to the charge that conservatism was basically about laissez-faire economics. Preceding the publication of The Conservative Mind, the voices on the intellectual Right in America had been dominated by those of ...
Seite 37
... give prudent consideration to fact and circumstance, according to Kirk, stand in opposition to conservative principles. The conservative, by contrast, “looks with deep suspicion on the cult of Reason—the worship of an abstract ...
... give prudent consideration to fact and circumstance, according to Kirk, stand in opposition to conservative principles. The conservative, by contrast, “looks with deep suspicion on the cult of Reason—the worship of an abstract ...
Seite 56
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Inhalt
1 | |
14 | |
The Moral Basis of Conservatism | 42 |
The Moral Imagination Reason and Natural Law | 55 |
Tradition and The Permanent Things | 86 |
Order in the Soul and Commonwealth | 115 |
Community and Freedom | 139 |
Leadership and Education | 170 |
The Enduring Legacy | 201 |
Bibliography | 221 |
Index | 239 |
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abstract according American appeared authority Babbitt become believed body Burke Burke’s called central character civilization concept concern consequences conservatism Conservative Mind continuity critics cultural Decadence defense defined Democracy desires direction doctrines economic enduring ethical example existence experience first forces freedom genuine give higher higher learning human ideas ideology impulses individual influence inner institutions intellectual interests intuitive John Kirk Kirk’s knowledge later liberal libertarians liberty literature live man’s means Michigan moral imagination movement natural law never norms past Permanent Things philosophical pointed political position possible preference prescription present principles Program radical rational reason Reflections reform Review role Roots Russell Kirk sense servative social society soul standards teaching thought tion tradition true ultimate understanding universal utilitarian values wisdom wrote