Low But Solid Ground

"It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization [Kultur] is built up upon a renunciation of instinct.” ― Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents

                                

As I said last week, the awareness of the fact that the world consists of many diverse cultures is not a new insight and has been recognized for at least 2500+ years. Yet, oddly enough, the word “Culture" is of relatively recent vintage in the Western lexicon.

There is simply no ancient Greek word that can be translated as such—even despite the fact that the recognition of the disparity between Nature and Convention is the foundation of all Political Philosophy. Plato, in his Allegory of the Cave, even basically gives a perfect description of what Culture is: a collection of symbols and signs, virtues and heroes that unite a group of individuals into a united whole. This failure to specifically name it mainly arises from the fact that all pre-Modern societies were wholistic—i.e. there was no distinction between public life and private. Modern, pluralistic societies, though, have invented a way in which individuals and groups with differing conceptions of the “Good” can live together more or less peacefully: our Laws are not considered divinely inspired, instead, are based on calculation and Reason.

Exoteric Exercises

Have three new pieces up over at Thought Catalog, and have been slacking on updating about them over here.

1) Why White People Appropriate Black Culture

An exploration of the history that our current debate about Multiculturalism and diversity was cultivated in—which, of course, no one knows anymore. It seems we believe today that the only way to create peace and unity is through Nihilism, through destroying the past and starting over at year zero—we saw how well that worked out during the French Revolution (or for the Khmer Rouge).

This House Is Not A Home

The early 20th century German philosopher Martin Heidegger, in his monumental work Being and Time, made the claim that “language is the house of Being.” What all he meant by this oblique statement I do not wish to delve into here, but the main point he was trying to make was the power of language for Human Beings. Language shapes our conception of the world by giving shape to our consciousness. And it is for this reason that I have created my Dictionopolis section to explore important words that we commonly use today when talking about the nature of reality, despite them having lost all meaning; or that we use as answers to the mystery of existence, when all they actually do is point to questions.

Today, the word I have chosen is Creativity.

The Specter of Perfection

"We have discovered happiness, say the last men, and blink thereby." — Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

                                

For the last 500ish years, we have been in what historians have dubbed “Modernity,” as opposed to the Middle Ages or Antiquity. And one of the single most powerful driving forces behind the events of History in our current period (although some speculate that we have now moved into Post-Modernity) has been the idea of Progress—that the past was flawed and that we are moving forward, linearly, toward something better.

"Conservatives" Are the True Multiculturalists

Can you believe in Science and still support Multiculturalism?

In my new piece, I explore the contradictions at the heart of Liberalism's recent push for Multiculturalism in academia and pretty much every other institution in America today. The entire point of Liberalism, as originally conceived during the Enlightenment, was to replace opinion with fact based on evidence, i.e. Science. In order to undermine the power of the church and the nobility, they sought to show that Culture is accidental, whereas Truth is universal. Yet today Liberals hold themselves up as promoters of diversity and cultural difference. But Science is trans-cultural, meaning it necessarily undermines Culture.

So does that mean by default that "Conservatives" are the true Multiculturalists?