Who Needs Philosophy?
Avey, John
Yea, You Who Needs Philosophy? John Avey Those of you who have spent the last few years in a cave or in a Trappist monastery may not be aware of a popular pastime that has swept America. . .well,...
...All of this is to introduce an idea: we are in a war and it is war of philosophy...
...In all probability, the Lib will fall back on some variation of Moral Relativism, a system that ceased to have any sort of intellectual respectability among the honest liberal intellectuals the moment the Nazis began murdering the Jews during the late 'thirties and early 'forties (I am convinced that it never had any respectablility, but this is my day to practice charity...
...The rules are quite simple...
...There are numerous ploys ("Corruption in Saigon" is one of the most well-known) to be thrown into the argument from time to time until a Certified Public Liberal says: "But the war is immoral...
...No...
...Lippmann is not, say, Leo Strauss, and his argument is not as strong as it might be...
...you know...
...Surely you all remember those good old "Marxist Study Groups...
...the beauty part...
...is irrelevant (according to what standards of relevance, prithee...
...and is, anyhow, not considered to be intellectually respectable (why...
...Not the war in Vietnam, but the war of the mind, the war fought every day, everywhere you go, in and out of the classroom...
...The enemy isn't concerned with the "what" of things, but the "how" of things...
...May I make two suggestions concerning the ways in which conservatives can begin their philosophical renaissance, especially on campus...
...he does not care that a word like "immoral" is meaningless unless placed in some kind of philosophical context...
...The author . . . Russell Kirk...
...It is enough for him that the word defense immediately (it is the most difficult thing in the world to prove to someone that you are not immoral) and begs the question: what system of morality are you using to make the judgment that the war is immoral...
...Walter Lippmann...
...The battles of the war are fought in many areas: in the classroom, in the media, in politics...
...The usual reaction on the part of Liberals when natural law is mentioned is to claim that natural law is wholly connected with Roman Catholic doctrine (it isn't), is outdated (when...
...But it can serve as an opening to the Right in your classroom...
...Try asking that to a practitioner of moralism...
...Conservatives cannot run around prattling about the eternal verities and basic principles until they have intellectually grasped just what those words mean and how they can be intellectually articulated to certain Libs who, for all their faults, show signs every now and then of wanting to join in a discussion instead of a verbal lynching...
...He has to stand there and listen to the rest of the players scream at him about the immorality of it all...
...In short, moral idiocy...
...That's right, that man, the bete noire of conservatives for lo, these many years...
...Ah, the delicious irony of it all...
...It was written in 1955 and is available (or was available...
...How can anyone now say that morality is a private affair and that one man's whims are not to be judged immoral by the whims of another...
...Two or more can play and it can be played anywhere: at parties, in bed, in classrooms, on the beach, in public forums or at private dinners...
...William F. Buckley...
...And that, brothers and teachers, is why we are losing...
...It is a lucid, scholarly, intellectually challenging examination of the idea of natural law in Western society...
...war is immoral and violence is, after all, war, and...
...Shouting, moaning, hand-clasping (your own hands-no time for funny stuff yet) and schreeches of agony descend upon the unfortunate conservative who is the victim...
...And the author of the book is a Liberal of the blood royal, indeed, he is liberalism incarnate...
...It is not, I fear, in parts a particularly readable one...
...I do not agree...
...The first is to ask a subdued liberal professor (one who doesn't foam at the mouth or hide under the desk when, say, Mr...
...It leads to thinking and reason and examination of basic premises and God help us all ...philosophy...
...They have allowed the Libs and the Leftists and the Crazies to take the moral high ground in every debate...
...No conservative group on campus should be considered serious unless it has at least one evening a week set aside for serious discussion of philosophical problems, and that means going back to Burke and all the rest of the heavy hitters...
...Well, why not conservative study groups...
...Someone-anyone, it really doesn't matter, but those of us who like to see the game well-played prefer that it be a Liberal or leftist radical-someone, at any rate, starts an argument about the Viet-nam war...
...The pastime is called Metaphysical Polticial One-Up-Manship or, as it is known among its friends-of whom I am one of the staunchest- "Moralism: the Game the Whole Family Can Play...
...Forget about what the Libs call relevance...
...No...
...At no time must anyone ask: "What do you mean by immoral...
...Young conservatives have forgotten her...
...By that standard, no one could point to, say, Heinrich Himmler and say what he did was immoral...
...Agnew is mentioned) to include as part of the required reading a small book, The Public Philosophy...
...Violence is immoral, you know, and war is, after all, violence...
...But essentially the war is always the same: it is a war for the mind...
...Are you ready...
...It is not an easy book...
...Philosophy is the basic relevance...
...James Burnham . . . it's got to be Burnham...wrong again...
...All a moral relativist can say is: "Himmler happened to think killing Jews was good...
...And she has good reason to kick...
...Then the fun begins...
...I haven't seen it lately) in a Mentor paperback edition...
...It calls for a rediscovery of what the author calls "the public philosophy"-"the premise of the institutions of Western society...
...or is it the other way around...
...Here is a book urging that the Western liberal intellectuals revive the idea of natural law that has been the philosophical foundation of Western society for over two thousand years...
...That sort of thing simply isn't done, old man...
...Yes, Virginia, there is philosophy, and although you don't hear much from her these days, you can bet your subscription to National Review that she is alive and kicking...
...well, not swept it, but brushed it thoroughly ever since the war in Vietnam became an issue...
...My next suggestion is to borrow from the left the "study group" technique...
...Conservatives have made the mistake of fighting their intellectual enemies on ground chosen by the enemy...
...There is only one rule governing the game after this point has been reached...
...yes, that's it...
...Now for the shocker...
...But I can't make any moral judgment on his action...
Vol. 4 • May 1971 • No. 6
