Preface : the town hall revolts -- Freedom and its ambiguities -- The populist revolt against utopia -- The waning of American exceptionalism -- A post-American America -- Enlightenment in power -- The life cycle of liberty -- Crazy for liberty -- Self-made men, self-made societies -- The importance of being ornery -- The populist revolt of 1828 -- The religions of free men -- The point of pointless rebellion -- Liberty versus civilization -- Conserving the spirit of liberty -- Conclusion : advice from the Phoenix
Fanaticism and the myth of modernity -- The denial of fanaticism -- Fanaticism and resentment -- The end of history? -- Clash or crash? -- The fanaticism of reason -- De-mystifying reason -- Thomas Hobbes and the politics of reason -- Condorcet's tenth stage -- Reason and autonomy -- Liberal exceptionalism -- The logic of fanaticism -- The legacy and future of jihad -- Can carpe diem societies survive? -- Our new world disorder
Die vorherrschende Deutung der Terroranschläge des 11. September 2001 als einer Kriegshandlung beruht nach Meinung des Autors auf der Annahme, dass eine Gewalttat von dieser Größenordnung nur darauf gerichtet sein konnte, ein politisches Ziel zu verfolgen. Dahinter steht die Gestalt Clausewitz' und dessen berühmte Definition des Krieges als Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln. Ist dies aber das richtige Modell für ein Verständnis des 11. September? Der Autor stellt in seinem Beitrag eine Argumentation vor, die von einer Bemerkung des Komponisten Karlheinz Stockhausen über den 11. September stammt, nämlich seinem vielzitierten Kommentar, es handle sich dabei um "das größte Kunstwerk, was es überhaupt gibt". Trotz des problematischen Nihilismus, der Stockhausens ästhetischem Urteil zugrunde liegt, enthält es nach Ansicht des Autors eine wichtige Einsicht und kommt einer Beurteilung des 11. September näher als die konkurrierende Interpretation nach dem Modell eines Clausewitz'schen Krieges. Denn Stockhausen hatte eine wichtige Wahrheit erfasst: Der 11. September war die Realinszenierung einer Phantasievorstellung. Der Autor diskutiert vor diesem Hintergrund die Phantasie-Ideologie von Faschismus und Terrorismus sowie die Macht des magischen Denkens. Die Zerstörung der Symbole amerikanischer Macht am 11. September war nach seiner Interpretation eine "spektakuläre Theateraufführung" und geschah in einem "bombastischen Spektakel, worin die Kollektivphantasie des radikalen Islam anschaulich verkörpert wurde". (ICI2)
In the context of the current US culture war, & in particular the gay marriage debate, the mutual exclusion of tradition & reason is acknowledged & the future of tradition in the face of an ever more rationalized world is contemplated. Various theories of tradition are looked at, along with the defense of tradition with reason & the link between "ethical obviousness of tradition" & cultural relativism. Three defenses of tradition as valuable in & of itself are then laid out: tradition as useful fiction; the argument from skepticism, & Friedrich Hayek's defense. Attention is also given to Karl Popper's fable of the harmless tigers tradition, the implications of Moses Maimonides's defense of tradition & the declarative-sentence paradigm, traditions as recipes, transformative customs & traditions, & the transgenerational stability of civilization. A theory of tradition is offered whereby tradition acts to maintain civilization & acts as a civilizing agent that fosters the construction of a social reality ethically superior to the one preceding it; the issue of deciding which ethical plane is higher than another is addressed in terms of childrearing. Ethical ideals are then considered in terms of Aristotle's telos, which manifests in the form of an individual referred to here as "the shining example"; this perspective is used to view the gay marriage debate. M. Ruben
A comment on Martha Nussbaum's "Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism" (1994) assesses her arguments in favor of cosmopolitanism by tracing the roots of the concepts to ancient Greece & Rome, attempting to visual the fulfillment of the cosmopolitan ideal, & considering this ideal in terms of the globalization of the Rawlsian "veil of ignorance." In this light, problems with the cosmopolitan ideal are identified & the false choice between patriotism & cosmopolitanism is discussed. Adapted from the source document.
Describes Sept. 11, 2001 attacks as motivated by fantasy ideology, defined as seizing an opportunity offered by a political group's lack of realism and dreams of reviving ancient glories, and how fantasists use symbols and rituals; historical perspective on European eruptions of collective fantasy since the French Revolution. European examples of fantasy ideology are the French Jacobin fantasy of reviving the Roman Republic, Mussolini's of reviving the Roman Empire, and Hitler's of reviving German paganism in the 1000-year Reich; Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) was a Prussian military scientist who wrote the classic work "On war" and defined war as rational and as politics carried out by other means.
Critically examines the Marxist roots of contemporary anti-Americanism. Discussion begins with a look at Marx's immiserization thesis, Paul Baran's radical reformulation of it, & the latter's fleshing out by Immanuel Wallerstein, referred to here as a global immiserization thesis or the Baran-Wallerstein revision. At issue is the role of this thesis in strengthening & revitalizing 20th-century Marxism, arguing that therein lies the intellectual origins of international anti-Americanism. Attention is given to rejecting 9/11 as what proponents of the global immiserization thesis see as evidence of what the Third World might do to advanced capitalist societies; the 9/11 attacks are deemed an embodiment of fantasy ideology. In this light, it is argued that the Baran-Wallerstein revision is little more than fantasy ideology masked as Marxism & provides only a theoretical justification for uncritical America bashing. Adapted from the source document.
