Philosophy

Returning to First Things to Save Civilization 7
- Culture, Philosophy
- February 19, 2024
In this most rare and radiant of Wisconsin February’s, with record-high temperatures and ample sunshine, my wife has been tapping trees and making maple syrup. I applaud her efforts, and I gratefully ingest the fruit of her labors. The sap has been running steadily, recklessly, almost, overflowing the pails she uses, turning their sides sleek
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What Did Nietzsche Mean by ‘God is Dead’?3
- Culture, Philosophy, Religion
- February 5, 2024
In The Gay Science (1882), Friedrich Nietzsche’s character of the madman had proclaimed, “God is dead.” The Time cover for April 8, 1966, turned this proclamation into a provocative question for a world where religious practice was waning: But, though most people have heard of Nietzsche’s “God is dead” claim, there are few who understand
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Dostoevsky and American Despair: The Penalty of Nihilism 3
- Literature, Philosophy
- February 1, 2024
These chilling words, ringing with despair, come from one of the most striking characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1866 novel Crime and Punishment, Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov: We always imagine eternity as something beyond our conception, something vast, vast! But why must it be vast? Instead of all that, what if it’s one little room, like a
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Is Nihilism the Logical End of Atheism?7
- Philosophy, Featured, Religion
- January 31, 2024
What happens when nihilism is taken to its logical and philosophical conclusion? “Human rights are just like heaven and like God. It’s just a fictional story that we have invented and spread around. It may be a very nice story… but it’s just a story. It’s not a reality.” So says Noah Yuval Hariri, a
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Imagined Virtue: What News Can Make Us Miss 4
- Culture, Featured, Philosophy
- January 11, 2024
Clicking on my car radio, I hear two voices discussing—vehemently—a federal government conflict. Opening my podcast app, I find an entire category dedicated to “News,” or informing listeners of the latest scandals or controversies. And scrolling through YouTube, I find a host of suggestions for dogmatic political commentary. The mere volume of news outlets, encompassing
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My New Year’s Resolution: Have More Enemies 1
- Culture, Philosophy, Religion
- January 8, 2024
How are your New Year’s resolutions going? I rarely make them, but this year I have. Please do not mistake the title. I did not write “make more enemies,” though to be honest that might not be a bad one for some people. That would be a different essay, however. This is not an essay
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