Lessons from the 19th Century
In the Lockean or Cartesian dispensation that Americans tacitly adopt, tradition is subject to a hermeneutic of suspicion. Our default is to think that inherited wisdom does little more than perpetuate forms of oppression, offered in bad faith as so-called knowledge. But cutting ourselves off from the past in this way, out of a determination not to... See more
The most direct method for comprehending a world in which not all human beings are homo economicus would therefore appear to involve a return to some version of the older tradition. However, why did the older tradition fail in the first place? After all, it seemed to ask some obvious and important questions. How could these questions simply be... See more
Peter Thiel • The Straussian Moment
For such a large economy, it is oddly unsure of its purpose—even in conflict with itself. As is the case with so many of our inherited legacies, we participate in this enormous social system yet remain unfamiliar with its history, naive to the conflicting values at play, and disengaged from the cultural battle for its future.