One Take on Capitalism

In fact, capitalism and vice are the twin motors of modernity, two sides of the same coin. The essence of virtue is restraint. Restraint does not make for large profits. So all of our God-given natural capacities are distended, corrupted and exploited to serve mammon.

— Capel Lofft (@CapelLofft) October 9, 2020

A Man's Word

"I made a promise, and I'd rather lose it [the ranch and the land] than break it. And he'd rather me lose it too."John Dutton, Yellowstone, S03E08

I don't know what surprises the season finale may have, but we will see how many of the season's story arcs are wrapped up neatly.



Updated:

On the latest episode of the Working Cows podcast, @AllanRSavory joins @YPClayConry to continue an earlier discussion about saving western ranching culture. https://t.co/hN5gzQ9i6U

— Savory Institute (@SavoryInstitute) August 11, 2020

Moral Imagination and Paideia

The claim that the United States is now in a “post-Constitutional age,” requires even less explanation than just a few months ago. https://t.co/aJg8HeU9Ux

— Richard Reinsch (@Reinsch84) July 15, 2020

L&L review by Joshua Bowman of The Historical Mind: Humanistic Renewal in a Post-Constitutional Age

In this way, the book exemplifies a tradition of “moral realism” and resistance to abstract moral idealism. This realism requires, as one might expect, a sufficient attunement to reality in the broadest sense. That attunement takes place in the interplay between will, reason, and especially “imagination,” a word emphasized by nearly every author in the book.

“Imagination” as understood by Ryn and Babbitt, drawing on Burke, Benedetto Croce, S.T. Coleridge and others, is a pre-rational intuition of the good, the true, and the beautiful. “The imagination,” the editors explain, “always gives a unity, but it does not always give one that is real, which is to say, it is not always commensurate with the concrete, historical experience of human life.” Put simply, then, an imagination rooted in reality is what Ryn and Babbitt see as the Burkean “moral imagination,” while an imagination disconnected from reality is termed the “Romantic” or “idyllic” imagination of Rousseau.


By focusing on the imagination, the contributors emphasize the centrality of ethical character and culture which can be nourished or corrupted by experience and works of philosophy, history, theology, literature, art, and film.

The same as Kirk's use of the term "moral imagination"? It would seem so, as he, too, draws from Burke. It may be time to revisit this, the sharpening of synderesis through paideia, and what role art has to play in paideia. Imagination should be subject to right reason, not perverse appetite, I think we can agree with these traditional conservatives on that. But does the shaping of the "moral imagination" through the human letters, as offered by traditional conservatives, differ from the Renaissance humanists and contemporary intellectuals who are trying to resurrect them? There must already be something to a rightly-formed character in the youth for there to be a moral imagination which can receive something from the human letters. But paideia is not limited to humane studies alone, as Kirk admitted: "Of course it was not by books alone that the normative understanding of the framers of the Constitution, for instance, was formed. Their apprehension of norms was acquired also in family, church, and school, and in the business of ordinary life." The question is whether we have these other sources of moral formation now. I would say that many of them no longer exist or have been vitiated by both the presence of moral error and also by people who have fallen from the standards of Christian morality.

Also, let us not forget that the sort of paideia and handing on of tradition necessary to maintain American republicanism and to preserve the federal order given by the Constitution was already failing in the first half of the 19th cent, not the 20th, as is revealed by Lincoln's successful initiation and pursuit of the Late Unpleasantness. Second, the reviewer admits: "A country as large as the United States could hardly expect to achieve a kind of Aristotelian politeia" but "a genuine, widespread constitutional ethos is possible." It is probably an unreasonable fantasy that a "Constitutional imagination that informs morality" can be possibly restored at a national level. But we can work for the restoration of a good and healthy paideia, republicanism, and Aristotelian politeia at the local level.

Virtue Politics

HUP: Virtue Politics: Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy by James Hankins

Liberal democracy’s difficulties are always with us. But a reasonably just regime seems more prudent than claims for a non-partisan regime of truly virtuous rulers. https://t.co/9pStu0e77G

— Law & Liberty (@LawLiberty) May 12, 2020

When James Hankins’ humanists promote virtue and humanist learning as solutions for tyranny they are being naïve. https://t.co/VCVTThNfyb

— Richard Reinsch (@Reinsch84) May 12, 2020

The Complicated Politics of Virtue by Mark Blitz

Mark Blitz is probably a Straussian. Still, it doesn't seem like the book is that helpful and one should probably read the primary sources themselves instead. As for a book detailing the influence these Renaissance thinkers had on actual statesmen... what book covers that?

God Bless Him.

This is real republican virtue.

I think his understanding of the Constitution as supreme is wrong, but he is following his conscience and believes it is part of his duty to protect the liberty of the people.

ZeroHedge: Seattle Cop Prepares To Be Fired After Refusing To Remove Viral Video Reminding Officers Not To Obey 'Tyrannical Orders'

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I’ve received tons of questions regarding my termination from the Port of Seattle Police. So I figured I should explain. I have been placed on administrative leave (still being paid) pending investigation. I was told by both the agency and my union that this will result in termination due to it being an insubordination charge for refusing to take down the video. I’m not sure what the timeline looks like. I walk un-intimidated into the fray. Thank you for all the support🙏🏻 #police #liberty #constitution #quarantine @unclesamsmisguidedchildren @eddiebravo10p @cameronrhanes @granderson33

A post shared by Greg Anderson (@granderson33) on May 11, 2020 at 6:15am PDT

Herman: Port of Seattle cop reminded officers to respect the Bill of Rights — now his bosses want him fired By Todd Herman
Seattle Times
KIRO7

Habits Are Culture-Specific

Peoples of different cultures do raise children with certain patterns of behavior that differ from other peoples. And the education may differ not only with the virtues that are produced but also with respect to how it is handled. But this does not justify some sort of moral relativistic claim that these habits are "equal" -- the habits may serve the good of the individuals, or the people, or the state, but that doesn't entail that the ends they satisfy are fulfilled in a proper (or reasonable) way, or that the ends they satisfy are necessarily the right ones. Only now is our generation understanding what happens to children when the father has very little involvement with paideia.

A Warrior

Masculine Excellence or Stupidity?

Or both? Is that accomplishment worth the risk of his life?

"Captain Kirk tried to do it!"





Vanity Fair

Free Solo 360
What if He Falls? The Terrifying Reality Behind Filming “Free Solo” | Op-Docs
Bonus: Free Soloing with Alex Honnold | Nat Geo Live
The ascent of Alex Honnold
Jimmy Kimmel
TED
Documentary Roundtable: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Bing Liu, Rashida Jones | Close Up

"I Feel"

As men have become subjugated to a female-centered social order, they have adopted female speech patterns and diction, with one example being the replacement of "I think" with "I feel." This is true even in academic discourse or discussion, though with the increasing number of women displacing men, I should say "especially true." This underscores the old stereotype of women being emotional, but it needs to be explicated through modern psychology -- RT talks about female behavior, Instinct-Emotion-Reason.

With respect to speculative matters, judgement of particulars is perhaps not so influenced by emotion, but there could be associations that nonetheless have an effect on judgment. But with respect to practical matters? Emotion can easily prevent right judgment from being developed. Perceiving or judging whether someone is a good or evil? Easily affected by emotion, and if one by nature perceives the world through emotion first, then it is necessary to have some sort of external check on this.

Similarly, with respect to general statements, a woman can take a negative general statement (such as generalizations about female [behavioral] psychology) and think that it applies to her as well, or that it is an implicit criticism of her. (NAWALT) And there is also the phenomenon of female outrage, which may be driven by a separate need but is nonetheless linked to this. Third, there is the need to protect one's self-image from anything that might affect it. We hear about low self-esteem among women, but is that really due to social pressure? Or is it linked to a desire for some good, and perceiving defects in herself that would impede her from attaining that good?

Does emotion contribute to practical reason? Of course it does. But is it the sole determinant? No. Perception of moral reality is dependent upon virtue to govern the emotions. But male virtue is different from female virtue because male psychology is different from female psychology. Hence the talk of developing a female-centered ethics by women is pointless, because most women need an external check on their emotion and to order it properly.

Always Get It in Writing

Take a Punch in the Face

Something Vox has said several times in recent months is that everyone should experience being punched in the face -- it gives them a dose of humility and also teaches something about themselves and their reaction to violence.

Bossiness among girls and women -- assertiveness, or being able to boss people around, is not leadership. How many woman would be willing to take punch to the face in order to be trained for leadership? And to receive a punch in order to protect their role or to be accountable if they are given leadership?

A Call to Aristotelianism

Resilience: Why Liberals Should be Conservative: Climate Change, Excellence, and the Practice of Happiness, Part 2 by Erik Lindberg
The Resurgent Aristotelians: Hopkins, Fleming, Francis, and Holmgren

Inspired by Liberty and Virtue

Do They?

Moral Crisis in China

Are Chinese Women Heartless?

Tidying Up with Marie Kondo

Marie Kondo on Ellen

The Old-Fashioned Art of Visiting

Mitchell Kalpakgian

Nietzschean? Or virtus-based morality?

What does charity require?

I have no reason that even for Christians the liberal assumption that all people are equally rational is true, or that all Christians are capable of dialectic, as opposed to being accustomed to rhetoric. Are we required by charity to maintain the pretense that Christians are? Or should we instead relate to them according to how they actually are?

Charity is not opposed to justice.

Crisis: Dignitas: The Manners of Humility by Fr. George W. Rutler

Two on Love and Friendship

Love & Friendship: Whit Stillman & Jane Austen Contemplate Virtue by Christopher Morrissey
New Jane Austen film returns to virtue