Combating Modernity: Piccone and the Role of Tradition in the Present Age

In: Telos, Heft 131, S. 33-45

Abstract

Draws on 35+ years of Paul Piccone's work for Telos to shed light on what he had to say about the problem of tradition. His intellectual pursuit is seen as rooted in the question of what is required for a healthy, democratic polity. In sum, Piccone's assessment of modernity is negative as Piccone saw the net effect of the modern state, market, & New Class intellectuals to be undermining tradition & traditional lifeworlds; impoverishing experience; & leading to the emergence of "abstract individuals" lacking the capacity for independent thought & the ability to shape democratic institutions. Piccone's strategies for confronting modernity & making tradition more efficacious are then critically examined.