Humanitas articles from March 22 2005

Humanitas archives from March 22 2005

Leo Strauss, Willmoore Kendall, and the meaning of conservatism.(Who Is Leo Strauss?)
March 22, 2005... Since the end of the Cold War, the meaning of conservatism has been the subject of intense debate. This debate has coincided with a revival of interest in the ideas of Leo Strauss, whose political philosophy has influenced American conservatism...

Strauss and the Straussians.(Who Is Leo Strauss?)
March 22, 2005... Professor Havers's defense of Leo Strauss against his historicist critics offers considerable food for thought. Although Havers says nothing here that has not already been aired, his words are sufficiently provocative to warrant examination. We...

Leo Strauss and history: the philosopher as conspirator.(Who Is Leo Strauss?)
March 22, 2005... Those wishing to understand political and intellectual developments in today's America do well to familiarize themselves with the German-American political theorist Leo Strauss (1899-1973), who was a professor at the University of Chicago....

The unraveling of American constitutionalism: from customary law to permanent innovation.
March 22, 2005... The nearly invariable response of those who are frustrated by court-imposed assaults on America's traditional culture is to propose constitutional amendments crafted to maintain the status quo ante. In 2003, for example, a state court struck...

In the Clearing: continuity and unity in Frost's dualism.(Robert Frost)
March 22, 2005... One of the most significant revelations into Robert Frost's philosophical dualism of mind or spirit and of matter as the basis of all reality is the insight that emerges when his essay "On Emerson" (delivered in 1958) is read in conjunction...

Sentimental hogwash? On Capra's It's a Wonderful Life.(Frank Capra)(Critical essay)
March 22, 2005... Concern about the ethical condition of mankind has exercised great minds from the beginning of time. In Biblical chronology, the Fall follows only Creation. No longer a denizen of paradise, man began his struggle against himself and the...

Classical precariousness vs. modern risk: lessons in prudence from the Battle of Salamis.
March 22, 2005... On September 19, 480 B.C., the ancient world faced a pivotal battle. Under the command of the despotic King Xerxes, a fleet of Persian warships had converged off the Greek coast near Piraeus, the port city that served Athens. Known as...

I met a gentle maid named Democracy.(Poem)
March 22, 2005... She tapped three times at my door, Each time she tapped, I shouted-- "Who is there?" Each time she paused, But dare not reply. I saw her through my side window; I did not open my door, I would rather let her go. I recoiled with...

Herder: on the ethics of nationalism.
March 22, 2005... It would be hard to deny the resurgence of nationalism in the modern world: not only in Serbia and Bosnia and the newly independent republics of the former Soviet Union, but also in Palestine, Scotland, and Quebec as well as in established...

Have we lost humility?
March 22, 2005... Once regarded as the essential Christian virtue, humility has become to many "a weakness or character flaw." (2) A few contemporary thinkers have noted its absence. For example, Claes Ryn has observed that "the humility characteristic of the...

Correction.(Correction notice)
March 22, 2005... In Humanitas, Volume XVII, Nos. 1 and 2, 2004, the article entitled "The Matrix, Liberal Education, and Other Splinters in the Mind" was written by Christine Cornell and Patrick Malcolmson. Because the editors were not made aware that the...