When I started my Nietzsche project, my daughter warned me that one should only take Nietzsche in small doses. Much to my chagrin, I ignored her advice and soon found myself in the deep, dark woods of pessimism and despair. Little did I know that it would be Carl Jung who would lead me out. […]
Category Archives: Western Civilization
95. Nietzsche I, The Encroachment of Modernism
The biggest problem I see when discussing Friedrich Nietzsche is that we tend to pull his sayings out of context and use them like aphorisms, especially his more controversial or poignant statements. It’s not surprising, though, that we approach Nietzsche in this way, given that we live in an age of soundbites and we acclamate […]
92. Philosophy in the Age of Scientism
I see Western Civilization as two distinct ages, the of philosophy and age of empirical science. The age of philosophy, starting with the Greeks, spanned from the 6th century B.C. until the birth of Modernism in the 16th century. The age of Empiricism, spanning until the present, began in 1543 with the Copernican Revolution. The […]
84. Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Divisive Harvard Address, ‘A World Split Apart’,1978, Part 4
This is the final installment of a four-part series on Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He is the man who achieved with a pen what the nuclear arms buildup of the 20th century could not do. He helped bring down the mighty Soviet Union. I left off in POST 83 discussing Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s ideas about the spiritual poverty […]
83. Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Divisive Harvard Address, ‘A World Split Apart’,1978, Part 3
Solzhenitsyn proved that the pen is mightier than the sword, for his writings were instrumental in toppling an evil superpower. If you would like to start at the beginning, see Post 81. Click the link to read his speech in its entirety.
82. Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Divisive Harvard Address, ‘A World Split Apart’,1978, Part 2
Just as Solzhenitsyn agitated the Soviet Union with his criticisms, so he agitated the West with his critique of the United States during his 1978 Harvard address. This is Part 2 of that address. See Post 81 for background and discussion of Part 1.
81. Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Divisive Harvard Address, ‘A World Split Apart’,1978, Part 1
When I was growing up, in the midst of the Cold War, Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) was a household name. Older readers, like myself, will remember his name. Younger readers, tragically, have never heard of him. He was known for being the Soviet dissident who spent years in a Soviet gulag for a simple critique of […]
74. Faith and Reason -The Regensburg Address of Pope Benedict XVI, Part 3
This is the third and final part of a series on Pope Benedict’s Regensburg Address on “Faith and Reason”. If you wish, you can start at post 72 if you have not read it yet, and then proceed post 73, but that is not necessary. You can also read this as a standalone. Benedict gave […]
73. The Regensburg Address of Pope Benedict XVI, Part 2
In the above photo, Pope Benedict prepares to give his Regensburg Address, which resulted in a firestorm of controversy throughout the world. Please read post 72 to get the essential background of this address. In that post, I discussed Pope Benedict’s idea that it was the relationship between Greek philosophy and Christian revelation that built […]
72. The Regensburg Address of Pope Benedict XVI, Part 1
On Tuesday, September 12, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI gave an address to representatives of science from Bavaria at the University of Regensburg, Germany entitled Faith, Reason and the University Memories and Reflections. His 4,000-word address dealt with the very theme of this blog – the relationship between faith and reason, particularly from the perspective of […]