In 1425 died, in Constantinople, a wise king, Manuel II Palaiologos, who left us, among other writings, a mirror of prince, written for his son and heir John. These letters reflect the mind of a ruler who, despite circumstances, tried to uphold the virtues of wisdom and moderation in his ... More
Arendt, however, is not saying that racism or any other element of totalitarianism caused the regimes of Hitler or Stalin, but rather that those elements, which include anti-Semitism, the decline of the nation-state, expansionism for its own sake, and the alliance between capital and mob, ... More
Human language is ordained according to certain rules and principles which “codify” the place of words in a sentence (syntax), the appropriate word usage (semantics), verb tense, and so on. For instance, we acquire, from childhood, the rule that English places the subject at the ... More
Pierre Manent’s Les Metamorphoses de la Cité is a work that seeks to trace the identity of Western civilization through its political history. To him, the polis, and by extension, the political sphere, is unique to Western identity. He is not the first philosopher to argue for this ... More
What is this “Western” civilization which is our own? What are the characteristics that define it vis-à-vis others? Are these characteristics proper to its own nature, or are they also found elswhere? Philippe nemo attempts to answer these questions. To him, the “West” is ... More
