Moldbug on Carlyle

by Mencius Moldbug

Challenge your political preconceptions with Mencius Moldbug’s controversial introduction to the ultimate reactionary, Victorian writer and historian Thomas Carlyle.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, History, Nonfiction

107 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 5, 2016

About the author

Pen name of American political theorist and software developer Curtis Yarvin.

Reviews

[Owlseyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

"What is Democracy; this huge inevitable Product of the Destinies, which is everywhere the portion of our Europe in these latter days ? There lies the question for us. Whence comes it, this universal big black Democracy ; whither tends it ; what is the meaning of it ?
(...)
But there is one modern instance of Democracy nearly perfect, the Republic of the United States, which has actually subsisted for threescore years or more, with immense success as is affirmed; to which many still appeal, as to a sign of hope for all nations, and a "Model Republic." Is not America an instance in point? Why should not all Nations subsist and flourish on Democracy, as America does?"
Thomas Carlyle in LATTER-DAY PAMPHLETS.




"Who cares that he [Carlyle] wrote about Dr. Francia, and “Shooting Niagara”—and “the Nigger Question,”—and didn’t at all admire our United States?
Walt Whitman

"Carlyle did not believe in democracy. But he must have believed in something. What, then, was this something?"🤔
Mencius Moldbug

Democracy ain't good for Mencius, nor Socialism, nor Fascism. Monarchy is good [Elisabeth I-style for example, but not Elisabeth II]. Mencius is a libertarian and a monarchist.

Carlyle didn't like sham-kings, however, it seems, he admired the USA Republic.

Puzzling enough.

So, one question for Mencius: who's the king he's got to appoint for the USA Republic?

[Sean Chick · Rating 1 out of 5]

To call this book indirect, opaque, and sophomoric is just the tip of the iceberg. I have read Carlyle and gained no new appreciation for him after reading this. Moldbug/Yarvin has little interesting to say. If this is a "classic" of the Dark Enlightenment, then this intellectual movement has no traction. You are better off reading Nick Land. Sure, his prose is difficult, but the insights are stronger and without Moldbug's witless asides in failed humor. What a pity, as I looked forward to reading this book the moment I saw it.

But hey, at least I learned about General Butt Naked.

[Edward III · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of three essays by Curtis Yarvin on his favourite writer and general muse, the Scottish man-of-letters Thomas Carlyle. Yarvin (AKA "Mencius Moldbug") is a gifted writer and an interesting political thinker--two categories which rarely overlap in the 21st century--and ably sketches the broad anti-democratic outlines of Carlyle's thought.

In the first of the essays, "From Mises to Carlyle," we learn that Carlyle subsumes Mises (as Einstein subsumes Newton, if in chronologically reverse order, which ought to tell you something about the relative trajectory of the political sciences vis a vis the physical), that the bridge from Mises to Carlyle is Hoppe, that one absolutely must read Carlyle before reading about Carlyle, and basically that Mises isn't wrong, but instead narrow--to risk conjuring a rather unseemly Jerry Maguire-esque image, Carlyle "completes" him. In the second essay, "Why Carlyle Matters," we find that Whitman was a big fan(!), that your choices are twofold: Carlyle or Alinsky, that slavery has its virtues, and that your choices are twofold: Henry VIII or Haiti. Perhaps most crucially, here Moldbug gives us his basic Carlylean syllabus; in order: Chartism > Latter-Day Pamphlets > Shooting Niagara > Occasional Discourse. Again, be sure to read them before reading about them. In the third and final essay, "Carlyle in the 20th Century," we come to understand that Carlyle knew the 20th century better than most of its denizens (not wrong), and that fascism and socialism are both democratic phenomena (also lacking in errancy).

I'm not sure who compiled this collection, but whomever it was they have done us all a favour. That said, the Moldbug essay "Join the Froude Society" would have fit handily here, as there the author ties Carlyle to other contemporaneous authors and provides another, overlapping syllabus for the 19th-century-reactionary-curious which includes Carlyle as well as Froude, Maine, and others.

[Will E Hazell]

This is a collection of 3 essays by punk reactionary Curtis Yarvin on his political identity and the ‘Cult of Carlyle’. In style and content he’s an almost parody techno tyrant fit for a Heinlein utopia. His ideology? A corrupted libertarianism taken to the utmost evil of property ideation. His rants are esoteric, and intoxicating; cultivating a long-gone Jacobite aesthetic. This seems to be a Futurism for the 21st century - radicalised by the internet rather than WW1.

He’s absorbed Rothbard and Mises “ass to elbow”, so he says, but has run up against a wall. Libertarianism, being confined to electoral oblivion, he’s shifted out of it entirely into a new corporatist (somehow Catholic-coded) esoterica. To him, Libertarianism is a mode of government that’s success was only secured in its opposition to the old aristocracy. Without this enemy, the people now hold ultimate political power, and limited government has become a discarded priority. He therefore rejects democracy outright. Enter Carlyle. Yarvin stills obsesses the Austrian Economists, and is one still in spirit. The difference being that he is more concerned with Austrian monarchy than economics.

If you want to understand the fascist pipeline built into Libertarianism, read Moldbug. Ron Paul type Libertarianism is an inherently unstable ideology, and it presents 2 paths: 1. follow Hayek into moderate Neoliberalism, or 2. embrace Hoppe’s crypto-fascist monster.

His closest political system today is Lichtenstein. I struggle to understand how his same monarchist arguments wouldn’t also apply to Saudi Arabia.

There’s no one to match this man in pop-culture prose, he’s an easy read. Of recent interest, he is friends with JD Vance.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Royalist (as apposed to democratic) Moldbug's explanation of why he respects Carlyle as one of the most prominent writers to have lived. The key here is that we in the modern day miss the forest for the trees when it comes to politics. We have grave misunderstandings of democracy and the inevitable slide into the left's entropy and destruction.

Cool points of interest:


Here is a simple Carlylean puzzle for Misesians. Answer the following questions:

1. Do you live in a city? If not, why not?
2. If so, can you safely walk anywhere in that city, at any time of day?
3. If not, what authority is restricting your freedom?

Your answers will reveal that either (a) the planet you live in is not Earth as we know it, or (b) your natural rights are most directly and saliently threatened not by official forces, but unofficial forces. I.e.: not by the police, but by criminals.

To a Carlylean, Satan is the Lord of Chaos and the Father of Lies. Right is right, and left is wrong. Metaphysically evil.

Carlylean and Alinskyist perspectives, is a monotonic slope. This is the slope of order. Order slopes up to the right: true right, which is reactionary, is always the direction of increasing order, and true left the direction of increasing disorder.

Most tactics (as James O’Keefe is finding out) that are effective from the left, are not effective from the right. There is no such thing as effective right-wing Alinskyism

Libertarianism only works with the framework of assumed democracy

Carlyleism vs Alinskisim (the right can't operate in the left's Alinskyism rulebook)

Socialism (democracy) gives power away for support. But in that exchange when everyone has a slice of power, nobody can wield any of it. Socialism is the end state of democracy.

[Pedro Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

For progressives, conservatives, and libertarians of all colours and cultures who sense there's something off in Western democracies, I can't think of a better book to read. 'Moldbug on Carlyle' has forced me to question a lot of the dogma I've questioned, accepted, and rejected. If you're truly open-minded about politics, you will get something out of this book. Beyond that, I can't make any promises or guarantees. Proceed with caution.

[Artur · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great review of Carlyle's work in the context of his contemporaries from one of his most prominent modern successors, Mencius Moldbug. A lot of qoutes, links to the interesting literature and works to unerstand Carlyle and his heritage along with a concise and content review of modern political system and history of XXth century on his behalf. Must read for anyone interested in Carlyle and reactionary thought.

[Xenophon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short but really sweet read. It sketches out the contours of what could be called late Carlylean with a very broad biographical sketch. Very probably my favorite Moldbug piece out there.

Overall, it reminds me of how we live in such intellectually stultifying times. Walt Wittman and the other great (lowercase d) democrats of his age could hail Carlyle as an intellectual titan. Today, saying you read his successor leads to a pointless round of namecalling rather than an actual discussion of ideas.

It would be a stretch to say Yarvin is the Carlyle of our times, but he would've done better 140 years ago. That's a compliment to those of you in Rio Linda.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

not sure if im just no longer finding Moldbug novel or if these other essays are just meh.

[Emir Catovic]

Really Good

It's really good but be aware it was written in a informal format. Still there is quite a lot to be learnt from here. A must read for all Libertarians btw

[Eva Haneborg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly entertaining idea generator. Not to be trusted too much

[American · Rating 2 out of 5]

Curtis Yarvin never fails to disappoint

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some difficult passages from Carlyle are the only thing holding this back (and that's merely an indication of my lack of solid education). As always, some nice surprises from Moldbug, especially in ch. 3 on socialism and fascism.

[Cathbad Bozhko · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me about five readings over the course of a year before I was ready to appreciate this book, along with the rest of Moldbug’s writing.

The explanation of the “Carlylian Roadmap” was the lightbulb moment that broke me out of Libertarianism.