An Emblematic American
More and more, educated and cultured Europeans recognize Irving Babbitt as an emblem of an almost hidden and all too easily ignored side of American culture.
Origins of Nihilism: Actual and Alleged
Why did all the leading thinkers feel compelled to take sides or make personal statements? The issue involved the status of Enlightenment reason itself.
Left and Right Eclecticism: Roger Kimball’s Cultural Criticism
Mark Lilla held that for Kimball "the cause of the Sixties was quite simply . . . the Sixties. They just happened, as a kind of miracle, or antimiracle—Why did such a profound revolution take place?" In my opinion, Kimball’s reply is not entirely satisfactory.
Forgotten Roots of Individualism
The opposition between an individualistic and an anti-individualistic culture is not identical with the opposition between a world-affirming and a world-negating culture.