Seven Prophets and the Culture War: Undoing the Philosophies of a World in Crisis,
by Alexandre Havard
(Scepter Publishers, $17.95; available online through Amazon)
This is a study which should be in the hands of every thinking person, university graduate and those who influence public opinion. At the outset the author describes the culture war which has raged across the US and Western Europe during the past few decades.
Then he indicates how Descartes, Rousseau and Nietzsche facilitated the woke ideology and flight from objective reality adopted by so many people today. Descartes begins his philosophy with the thought – ‘Cogito, ergo sum’ – I think therefore I am- and subsequently did not leave the realm of thought. This led inexorably to subjectivism.
Havard describes the effect of Subjectivism as “Being depends on my thought. Being is subjective. So are truth and the good … There is no objective existence, no objective truth, no objective good. There is no such thing as a human being, truth or objective good…. There is only my thought…. Since there is only my thought and no objective good, I demand ‘tolerance’ for all my ideas, my opinions, my whims.”
Subjectivism
Moreover, subjectivism engenders contempt for reason which is replaced by emotions. The void caused by the dismissal of reason is filled by an ideology of sentiment whose new ‘inquisitors’ subject entire peoples by ‘cancelling’ those who do not share their convictions and who they consider to be inadequate. This is how the culture of ‘tolerance’ morphs into the ‘cancel culture’, a notorious feature of the ubiquitous culture war.
He is devoid of reason. Socially he exists only as part of a whole. He fulfils himself in being politically and culturally correct”
Rousseau is another philosopher who facilitates the ‘Woke’ culture. For him man is a ‘noble savage’ who was corrupted by civilization. In his publications the emotions and the feelings are the North Star. The individual has no other rule of life other than his emotions.They are his conscience and his religion. He is devoid of reason. Socially he exists only as part of a whole. He fulfils himself in being politically and culturally correct. He belongs to the herd. ‘Progress’ is his religion.
Nietzsche
Nietzsche’s philosophy and convictions also find an airing in the culture war. In his world we must free ourselves once and for all from traditional values, from the vestiges of Christian civilisation. ‘Become what you want to be. Be the creator of yourself’. The consequences of the death of God must be manifested in all their fullness.
As an antidote to the subjectivism of Descartes, Rousseau and Nietzsche the author also views the culture war through the lens of the philosophy of Pascal and Kierkegaard. The epistemology they share could be described as that of Direct Realism, namely when we know we are in direct contact with objective reality – we know not the concept of something but what Kant referred to as the ‘ding an sinch’ – the thing-in-itself.
Each of these philosophies has his own take on life as well as on reality. To live according to Pascal is to find one’s heart, to accept it as the centre of one’s personality and as the foundation of one’s intellect and will, to search constantly for truth and to communicate this truth to people with empathy and elegance.
For Dostoyevsky to live is to have a measureless passion for man, his dignity, his freedom and his immortal soul”
To live according to Kierkegaard is to live an authentic life. It is to renounce the culturally, religiously and politically correct and to make conscious, free and resolute choices and to affirm the primacy of the individual.
The author also highlights the thoughts and convictions of those two great Russian writers: Dostoyevsky and Soloviev. For Dostoyevsky to live is to have a measureless passion for man, his dignity, his freedom and his immortal soul. Soloviev’s thought was more Christocentric.
There is much more in this scholarly monograph.The reader will see how some of these are reflected in current conflicts. But this is to set aside much that we are called upon to do in the Gospels, where love rather than conflict is seen as mankind’s end.
For him to live was to sanctify the world by filling it with the Christian spirit, to build the Kingdom of God at the very heart of society.
Those who intend to engage in a serious discussion of the culture war will find Alexandre Havard’s musings very helpful.
