What do you think?
Rate this book
The Vision of Richard Weaver
The Vision of Richard Weaver is the first collection of essays about the seminal thinker. It examines the dual nature of human beings and the quest for civilized communities in a corrupted age that believed in the religion of science and in the "natural goodness" of man.
250 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
1 person is currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Scotchie
11 books3 followersJoseph Scotchie is the author or editor of eight books, including The Vision of Richard Weaver, Barbarians in the Saddle, The Paleoconservatives, and Revolt from the Heartland. His work has won awards from the New York State Press Association and the North Carolina Society of Historians. A graduate of both the University of North Carolina at Asheville and the City College of New York, Scotchie has worked for three decades as a journalist in the New York City area.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 6, 2023
“The Vision of Richard Weaver” is a collection of essays about Weaver, a language philosopher and thinker, edited by Joseph Scotchie. Various writers examine Weaver’s works about language, the dual nature of man, and the decline of the West.
In “Ideas Have Consequences,” Weaver analyzed William of Occam's nominalism, and quirkily attributed many of modernity’s woes to this 14th century thinker. Nominalism, the denial of universals, sees only particulars. As Weaver noted, nominalism results in solipsism and relativism, and leaves us without a method to measure Truth. Thus, Weaver warned, each man becomes his own "priest and ethics professor." Weaver averred that this left modern men in the condition of "moral idiots, ... incapable of distinguishing between better and worse".
Weaver was outspoken in decrying America's moral decline and its move toward a culture of materialism. A civilization that no longer believed in universals, according to Weaver, cannot comprehend Truth. The result, in Weaver's words, is a "shattered world."
Weaver's moderns have undermined the natural distinctions among individuals.The idea of equity contravenes the natural order of being. Weaver spoke of "social groupings," and warned of the corrosive acids wrought by the sin of envy. Organic structures such as family and community create duties grounded in sentiments unrelated to equity; they are essential to human flourishing.
Like Orwell, Weaver believed that language and thought are inextricably linked. As a study in rhetoric, Weaver’s “The Ethics of Rhetoric” is a must read. The ideal of persuasion informed by Truth is no longer considered a subject to be taught in American universities, where assertion has replaced argument, and violence has usurped right. A consideration of Weaver, is therefore, essential. Weaver foresaw that a society that attempts to eradicate social distinctions through semantic policing and regulation, cannot be classless. He predicted that the policing bureaucracy itself would become a ruling class.
In “Ideas Have Consequences,” Weaver analyzed William of Occam's nominalism, and quirkily attributed many of modernity’s woes to this 14th century thinker. Nominalism, the denial of universals, sees only particulars. As Weaver noted, nominalism results in solipsism and relativism, and leaves us without a method to measure Truth. Thus, Weaver warned, each man becomes his own "priest and ethics professor." Weaver averred that this left modern men in the condition of "moral idiots, ... incapable of distinguishing between better and worse".
Weaver was outspoken in decrying America's moral decline and its move toward a culture of materialism. A civilization that no longer believed in universals, according to Weaver, cannot comprehend Truth. The result, in Weaver's words, is a "shattered world."
Weaver's moderns have undermined the natural distinctions among individuals.The idea of equity contravenes the natural order of being. Weaver spoke of "social groupings," and warned of the corrosive acids wrought by the sin of envy. Organic structures such as family and community create duties grounded in sentiments unrelated to equity; they are essential to human flourishing.
Like Orwell, Weaver believed that language and thought are inextricably linked. As a study in rhetoric, Weaver’s “The Ethics of Rhetoric” is a must read. The ideal of persuasion informed by Truth is no longer considered a subject to be taught in American universities, where assertion has replaced argument, and violence has usurped right. A consideration of Weaver, is therefore, essential. Weaver foresaw that a society that attempts to eradicate social distinctions through semantic policing and regulation, cannot be classless. He predicted that the policing bureaucracy itself would become a ruling class.
Displaying 1 of 1 review