The great philosophical battle today -- in our post-French Revolution, post-Enlightenment, post-liberal era -- is essentially that of the post-modernists vs. the pre-modernists, or else the progressives vs. the conservatives. Without too much hyperbole, this ideological rivalry could also be referred to as the Dark Age destructors vs. the Dark Age retreaters. Both dreadful philosophical competitors -- and secret allies -- massively reject philosophical and cultural modernity, a.k.a. the 1700s Western European Enlightenment. Both rivals heavily reject the epistemology of reason, the ethics of individualism, and the politics of liberty. Both sides even reject the aesthetics of realistic heroism and the spirituality of authentic triumph.
The philosophical post-modernists, or progressives, or leftists are truly terrifying in that they even repudiate the relatively healthy and happy lifestyles and attitudes of classical America and the West. However the philosophical pre-modernists, or conservatives, or rightists match them by repudiating the relatively healthy and happy lifestyles and attitudes of classical Greece and Rome. It's hard to know which ideological and cultural group is more truly false and evil. Both intellectual constellations and associations don't so much need to be minimized and then eliminated from the earth, as to be eviscerated and annihilated.
The leftist post-moderns oppose the idea of objective and absolute truth in favor of epistemological subjectivism and relativism. The rightest pre-moderns oppose objective and absolute truth in favor or epistemological faith and dogma. Both are highly skeptical of reason and science. Both are shockingly irrational in their confused and corrupt pursuit of the truth. The lefties love and worship something which doesn't actually exist, which they call "the collective". The righties love and worship something which doesn't actually exist, which they call "the lord".
Both philosophical groups seek to destroy the individual -- which is everyone -- in service and servitude to their supposedly higher value. And neither nonsensical, antirational, illiberal, fatuous, and depraved ideological group is very fond of technological advance. Or pleasure. Or human greatness. Or creativity. Or sex. Or humor. Or achievement. Or anything to do with enjoyment and happiness. Such is the essence of our nitwit, dirtbag, left-wing, right-wing planet today!
The world would be better off if it returned to the out-of-date and flawed ideas and ideals of 1700s philosophical modernity and the culture of the Enlightenment. It would be even better off if it discovered a new and radically improved version of them. Then the planet could reverse its two-century ideological and cultural decline, and ascend to the updated standards and ideals of our once-noble Western Civilization.
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