A writer, a polemicist, a war correspondent, quite at home critcizing the abdication of personal responsibility by religious believers and leftists, a former Marxist/Socialist, a secularist, an anti-religionist, a builder of the humanist project upon Enlightenment ideals (especially against fascistic theocracies), and a Briton born of its class structure.
What are some advantages and drawbacks of the humanist project seeking to enshrine ideals assumed to be universal in international legal framework? Better than what we have?
Mentioned: Mother Theresa, Isaiah Berlin, The Generation of ’68, Thomas Paine, The Materialist Conception of History, British Conservatism, the end of the British Empire, The International Left.
Also On This Site: Via YouTube: ‘Christopher Hitchens Vs. Ahmed Younis On CNN (2005)’…Christopher Hitchens At Slate: Yale Surrenders
A Few Thoughts On Isaiah Berlin’s “Two Concepts Of Liberty”…
Both Kant and Hegel provide deep roots in the expansion of Western ideals through foreign policy: Daniel Deudney On YouTube Responding to Robert Kagan: Liberal Democracy Vs. Autocracy…From The Atlantic: Samuel Huntington’s Death And Life’s Work…From The American Interest Online: Francis Fukuyama On Samuel Huntington
How does Natural Law Philosophy deal with these problems, and those of knowledge?
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A year after his demise, I have been reading Hitchens’ memoir, and then found this interview with Harry Kreisler, ten years after it was filmed and about two years after I watched Kreisler’s contemporary interviews with H Dreyfus and P Anderson. I find Hitchens a much less substantial interviewee than either of the above. I find I don’t trust his knee-jerk displays of erudition.
Alastair, thanks for stopping by.
I’ll check out Dreyfus and Anderson. I think you’re right about the knee-jerk displays of erudition. I saw a video of him discussing how he lives for debate in the British style, where the object is to win the debate.
As a writer and contemporary journalist, and a popular figure, he’s got to bring out the deeper stuff to prove he’s not just fluff.
The materialist account of history, the new atheism etc.