Ralph Hancock

Here are a couple of excerpts from a brilliant decoding of Balzac’s esotericism, accomplished by Scott Sprenger, a colleague of mine at BYU. Consider the applications to the analysis of Straussianism, and to a post-Straussian postmodern critique of modernity: The fundamental problem that . . . . Continue Reading »

Charles Taylor’s monumental (or at least huge) A Secular Age is, I suppose, old news already, but, as usual, it has taken me a long time to figure out how to undo Taylor with his own statements, and so now of course I have to share. Finally I’ve figured out this out, and I thought you . . . . Continue Reading »

Mr. Poulos, in reference to my recently posted “Draft Manifesto 2.0,” set me to reconsidering the last pages of Leo Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli. Whether he suspected how many hours this invitation would cost me, I do not know, but, now that the ordeal is (temporarily) over, I . . . . Continue Reading »

Mr. Poulos has nicely framed the point of “Postmodern Conservatism” in a capacious and open-ended fashion, and Prof. Lawler has filled in some essential content in such a way as to compel my complete assent, as usual. Of course there is something a little ironic at the outset in the . . . . Continue Reading »

It was my wife – really – who wanted to have a look at the Miss U.S.A. pageant on television last Sunday night. I obliged her just in time for us to catch the last round, in which five finalists (each more gorgeous than the last – in my wife’s, Julie’s view, that is — . . . . Continue Reading »

Mr. Deneen’s take (post just before this one) on the Inaugural is the most penetrating I’ve seen, or expect to see. The collusion between Kantianism and Machiavellianism is a very important insight, and in fact one that Harvey Mansfield has always seen very clearly (as in his “Moral Reasoning . . . . Continue Reading »

1. Reason has somehow become tyrannical; this tyranny manifest itself in broad daylight in ideocratic totalitarianism, but it also threatens liberal democracy.  2. Human beings are subject to an elusive compound of reason and power. The rule of reason is as fragile and tainted as it is . . . . Continue Reading »

Thomas Pangle, author of numerous acclaimed studies spanning the entire history of political philosophy from Socrates to today’s various postmodernisms, is arguably the most prominent and accomplished of the many distinguished students of Leo Strauss (1899-1973), himself one of the most . . . . Continue Reading »