March, 2011

Discussion, Not Hatred

by Douglas B. Rasmussen
The Conversation
March 28th, 2011

I would like to respond for myself in regard to the following two claims Damon Linker’s makes in Strauss, Nationalism, and Fascism: 1. “On capitalism, here I think Thompson (along with Douglas Rasmussen) and I just begin from very different assumptions. They tend to believe that any moral or even utilitarian critique of autonomous capitalism [...]

Read: Discussion, Not Hatred

Response to Brad Thompson

by Patrick J. Deneen
The Conversation
March 25th, 2011

In writing a tough criticism of C. Bradley Thompson’s essay “Neoconservatism Unmasked,” I fully expected and welcomed a hard-hitting response. I certainly received such a response—and then some. Whether its tenor and content reflects more broadly on Thompson’s tendency to caricature opposing viewpoints—including not only my own, but his treatment of neoconservatives—is a matter I’ll [...]

Read: Response to Brad Thompson

Strauss, Nationalism, and Fascism

by Damon Linker
The Conversation
March 23rd, 2011

C. Bradley Thompson makes a number of points in his rejoinder to my critique, and many of them worthy of their own reply. First, Strauss. Thompson and I agree that Strauss’s views were far more complicated than I portrayed them in my two paragraphs on Aristotle. For a much fuller, though still inadequate, treatment of [...]

Read: Strauss, Nationalism, and Fascism

Defining Americanism

by C. Bradley Thompson
The Conversation
March 23rd, 2011

If Patrick Deneen wants to discuss the nature and meaning of Americanism, I’m happy to oblige. Before I do that, though, let me make clear in no uncertain terms what is at stake here. I concluded my Cato Unbound essay with these words: “Those who wish to defend America’s Enlightenment values and the individual-rights republic [...]

Read: Defining Americanism

Response to Damon Linker

by C. Bradley Thompson
The Conversation
March 22nd, 2011

Damon Linker, while appreciating some aspects of my critique of Strauss and the neocons, disagrees with others, and he does so in a thoroughly serious and gentlemanly manner. He is to be commended for writing a model review that is both critical and constructive. Linker identifies what he considers to be three problem areas. The [...]

Read: Response to Damon Linker

Response to Douglas Rasmussen

by C. Bradley Thompson
The Conversation
March 22nd, 2011

Douglas Rasmussen’s response to my essay on “Neoconservatism Unmasked” doubles as a significant critique of Leo Strauss and provides an important defense of classical liberal moral theory. Rasmussen supports my interpretation and assessment of Strauss and the neocons while extending my critique by focusing on one crucially important aspect of Strauss’s thought: his criticism of [...]

Read: Response to Douglas Rasmussen

On Deneen’s Argument, or the Lack Thereof

by C. Bradley Thompson
The Conversation
March 21st, 2011

This was to be a discussion about Leo Strauss and neoconservatism, and from Patrick Deneen we get neither. Douglas Rasmussen and Damon Linker took their responsibilities seriously and addressed the topic in smart and thoughtful ways. By contrast, Deneen says virtually nothing about the assigned topic. How, then, does one respond to a zero? What [...]

Read: On Deneen’s Argument, or the Lack Thereof

On Patrick Deneen’s Intellectual Method

by C. Bradley Thompson
The Conversation
March 21st, 2011

I shall respond to Patrick Deneen’s reply in three separate posts. This first shall examine his intellectual method. The second will take up the substance of his essay. The third shall present my thoughts on the nature of Americanism. One of the goals of Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea is to expose the neocons’ [...]

Read: On Patrick Deneen’s Intellectual Method