The Sword and Sceptre

Those who refuse the sword must renounce the sceptre. In ancient times, this principle was widely accepted. Those were the times of simple politics. We live in a complicated age—an age when political movements appear suddenly and unexpectedly and usurp power. What is the source of their power: Is sword their source of power? Is it ideology? Is it the size of their mob? Is it the nature of their political agenda?

Russell on Aristotle’s Definition of Man

Aristotle defines man as a rational animal. In his essay, “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish,” Bertrand Russell responds to the Aristotelian notion by invoking a list of human irrationalities and follies. Russell writes: “Man is a rational animal—so at least I have been told. Throughout a long life, I have looked diligently for evidence in favor of this statement, but so far I have not had the good fortune to come across it, though I have searched in many countries spread over three continents. On the contrary, I have seen the world plunging continually further into madness. I have seen great nations, formerly leaders of civilization, led astray by preachers of bombastic nonsense. I have seen cruelty, persecution, and superstition increasing by leaps and bounds, until we have almost reached the point where praise of rationality is held to mark a man as an old fogey regrettably surviving from a bygone age.”  Russell is calling men irrational because he judges their actions by rational standards. When Aristotle defines man as a rational being he too is invoking the rational standards. Therefore, Russell is, not rejecting the Aristotelian definition of man.

There is No Magic Wand for Prosperity

Liberty and free markets are not the magic wand, a wave of which will make a nation prosperous. There are several nations in which there is hardly any economic regulation, primarily because their economy is too meager to be worth regulating—these nations are the world’s most backward places where people live in hellholes inflicted with poverty, disease, and crime. A nation might have liberty and free markets, but the people will not be able to take advantage of these values if they are lacking in intelligence, honesty, knowledge, moral principles, ambition to excel, and work ethic.

The Pitfalls of the 21st Century

The twenty-first century will be the first century in three thousand years to record a steep decline in human population. Perhaps this century will herald the beginning of the end for our species. In this universe, there is no mercy for creatures that have lost their will to survive. The fate of the dinosaurs awaits us if we can’t rediscover that instinct which Nietzsche calls “the barbaric (romanticist) will to power (survival).”

Religious Movements Versus Ideological Movements

The religious movements are more influential and long-lasting than the ideological movements. The appeal of the ideological movements never extends beyond the intellectual and political circles in one or two nations, and they become obsolete within a generation. But the religious movements like Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and others have survived for several millennia—they have had a massive impact on the culture and politics of not only the nation where they were founded but in many other nations.

How to Read History?

History is not meant to be read as a story of the past events; it is meant to be read philosophically, in the sense that it offers perspectives on the rise and fall of cultural and political institutions and on the religious and moral thought which once enabled large groups of people to identify with each other and cooperate for establishing and defending political communities (city-states or nations).

Aristotle’s Definition of Man Versus the Individualists

The individualists think that they are outside Aristotle’s definition of man. They think that they don’t need to be part of a political community (culture and nation) to survive and thrive.

Burke, Gibbon, and the Jacobins

Edward Gibbon and Edmund Burke were contemporaries, but they did not see eye to eye on political matters. Gibbon, inspired by the atheistic thought of the French philosophes, was a supporter of the French Revolution and the Jacobin cause, whereas Burke stood for a conservative worldview and was a critic of the French Revolution and the Jacobins. After 1790, when it became clear that the French Revolution was a failure, as Burke had predicted, Gibbon tried to dissociate himself from the French philosophes by claiming that his atheism was inspired by the work of Conyers Middleton and not the philosophy that was driving the French Revolution. He became an admirer of Burke’s work—in a letter to Lord Sheffield (5 February 1791), Gibbon wrote: “Burke's book is a most admirable medication against the French disease, which has made too much progress even in this happy country. I admire his eloquence, I approve his politics, I adore his chivalry, and I can even forgive his superstition.”

Transforming The Past by Writing History

History transforms the past, instead of explaining it. When a historian writes a work of history, he develops a new view of the past. All works of history are a compromise between what really happened, and how the historian has interpreted the events. No historian can take all the historical events of any age into account. He concentrates on some of the events which he considers important and he ignores the other events—no work of history can provide a full picture of the past. There are as many versions of the past as there are works of history.

The Danger of “Total Liberty”

Liberty is a good thing, but the demand for total liberty is a conspiracy to push society into nihilism and lawlessness which are usually a prelude to the establishment of a new tyranny. Those who become part of movements which demand total liberty miss one essential feature of liberty: the concept characterizes freedom within the limits of not only human psychology and human body but also culture and traditions. Liberty does not imply freedom from everything. No man can ever be so free that he is free of his mental capacities, skills, just obligations, gender, sexuality, the traditions of his ancestors, and the laws of his society. To demand freedom from everything is as ridiculous (or vile) as demanding freedom from gravity.

Plato on The Love of the Half-Creatures

Plato’s Symposium is set in a drinking party where Agathon’s victory in a dramatic competition is being celebrated. The guests at the party compete with each other in making speeches about the nature of love. Aristophanes narrates the myth of the origin of the human race. At first, he says, the humans had four arms, four legs, and so on—they were like two humans of our time fixed to each other, and they possessed enough strength and competence to challenge the hegemony of the gods. To outclass the humans, the gods split them two—thus the “half-creatures,” the humans with two legs, two arms, and so on, came into being. From that point of time, the men, who were transformed into the half-creatures, have been lusting for the other half of their body. They ineffectively try to satiate this lust through sexual love of the opposite sex. When a man loves a woman, or a woman loves a man, they are, at a subconscious  level, trying to love the lost half of their own body. In his speech, Socrates spoke about what he had learned from the priestess Diotima, who preached that love is never satisfied with anything in this world, because nothing in this world can be good. You have to make an ascent from the particulars of this world to the abstractions of the world of Forms to discover the good.

Critics Versus Devotees

A wise philosopher will treat his critics with respect because he knows that good philosophy owes more to the critics than to the blind devotees.

The Problem of Man’s Rights

The concept of man’s rights is intelligible only against the background of a social order. When there is no social order, the concept of man’s rights becomes incoherent. The natural world does not recognize man’s rights. In a state of nature, man has no rights. The existence of a social order or a nation is a necessary condition for the concept of man’s rights to become coherent.

The Hunter and the Hunted: Man’s Eternal Struggle for Dominance

The natural world divides its creatures into two fundamental kinds: the hunters and the hunted. This brutal binary applies to humans as well. In the theatre of human affairs, men often assume the roles of either predator or prey—wolves who dominate or sheep who submit. 

But unlike animals, whose instincts are governed by the immediate needs of food, sex, and shelter, human beings possess the faculty of reason, which complicates and magnifies their desires. For men, the basic appetites evolve into a deeper, more insatiable hunger—for power, pleasure, and property.

Politics becomes the ultimate arena where these ambitions play out. It is here that the wolves sharpen their fangs, manipulating both the greed of their fellow predators and the insecurities of the docile. The most successful political actors are those who know how to exploit both vice and vulnerability—flattering the powerful, while stoking the anxieties of the powerless. 

In doing so, they convert base instincts into instruments of control, cloaking primal dominance in the language of policy, patriotism, or public service. Beneath the surface of civil society, the ancient struggle continues—only now, the hunt is waged with rhetoric, influence, and law.

Action Versus Philosophy

Creating a nation of liberty and free markets is one thing, and asking and answering philosophical questions about liberty and free markets quite another thing. Philosophy is not politics; it is not action; it is essentially an after-the-event activity. Philosophy can be used to explain the nature of liberty and free markets, but it cannot be used to create a nation which enjoys the values of liberty and free markets.

Amoralism and Irrationalism

Being an amoralist is not the sign of irrationalism. An intellectual can be lacking in moral sense, while an uneducated person can be a staunch moralist. The choice of moral principles is pre-rational or pre-reason: people pick up their basic moral ideas between the ages of two and five when they are too young to make use of their faculty of reason. Amoralism, on the other hand, is the conscious choice of a rational adult. To deny the moral ideas that you had picked up as a child, you need to make full use of your reason. This is why nihilism, a social manifestation of amoralism, generally effects the intellectualized sections of society. Those who have no exposure to philosophy and art rarely fall prey to nihilism.

Between Marcus and Machiavelli

Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius stands at the beginning of the Middle Ages, and Machiavelli, the diplomat and classical realist philosopher and historian, stands at the end of it. The distance between Marcus and Machiavelli, of about 1300 years, is known as the Middle Ages. In history of philosophy, the Middle Ages do not get even a fraction of the attention that is given to Ancient and Modern philosophy because, when philosophy took an atheistic turn in the eighteenth century, the philosophers started suppressing the achievements of the Middle Ages when the religious institutions were the driving force in philosophy, science, art, and politics.

The Dangerous Game of the “Worst”

When people are consumed by fear of the worst and they start preparing for it, they are playing an extremely dangerous game, which has the potential to inspire the political forces, which want to bring the society to its knees, to redouble their efforts for ensuring that the worst is unleashed.

What Makes The Great Novelist

In his review of Sartre's novel Nausea, Camus describes what makes the great novelist: “A novel is never anything but a philosophy put into images. And in a good novel, the whole of the philosophy has passed into the images. But if once the philosophy overflows the characters and action, and therefore looks like a label stuck on the work, the plot loses its authenticity and the novel its life. Nevertheless, a work that is to last cannot dispense with profound ideas. And this secret fusion between experiences and ideas, between life and reflection on the meaning of life, is what makes the great novelist.”

The Opium of Political Movements

Racism is the opium of the liberals. The idea of ‘good old days’ is the opium of the conservatives. Stateless society is the opium of the libertarians.

Expansion and Expression

History tells us that “expansion” and “expression” march hand in hand. The nations which are successful in “expanding” their frontiers, by military, economic, and diplomatic measures, generally excel in “expression.” They are overflowing with intellectual energy and they “express” themselves in great works of art, literature, history, philosophy, and theology. But the communities which remain confined to their own geographical area, and rarely try to conquer new territories, tend to become intellectually stagnant. They have no art, no history, no literature, no philosophy, and no theology. The ability to conduct brutal military campaigns is conducive for intellectual activities (as long as the military campaigns are successful and the empire is politically stable).

The Julian Calendar

When Julius Caesar defied the authority of the senate, crossed the Rubicon, and marched into Rome in 49 BC, the Roman calendar was off by 41 days. One of his first major decisions was to order a reform of the Roman calendar. With the help of Greek scholars such as Sosigenes of Alexandria, in four years, the Romans created a new calendar called the Julian calendar, which took effect from 1 January 45 BC. Several features of this calendar are in use till this day. History records 15th March 44 BC (the ides of March) as the day when Caesar was assassinated because the days were being counted through the Julian calendar. If the earlier calendar was being used, then the record keepers of that period would have recorded another date.

Four Ways of Venerating God

There are four ways by which you can venerate god: first, by acquiring wisdom; second, by performing moral deeds; third, by being emotionally balanced; fourth, by studying philosophy (theological and secular).

A Spector is Haunting the World

20th century: A specter is haunting the world—the specter of communism, nazism, and fascism. 

21st century: A specter is haunting the world—the specter of climate change, racism, sexism, misogyny, gender-deniers, and global pandemic.

At least, the people in the 20th century had the sense to battle the real threats.

On The Utopians

The utopian leader chastises the past. The past is naive. It is irrational and vile. It is an abomination which has bedeviled society for too long. The time has now come to demolish it by any means, including terror. Once we are free of the past, we will begin the work of creating a new social system, a utopia based on the new set of values prescribed by the party doctrine. He is convinced that the cause of human progress stands or falls with him. The fight for truth is his fight. He will readily sacrifice his life for his utopia provided there is a large audience to witness him making the ultimate sacrifice.

Caveat Emptor

I like this line by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.” The louder the politician talks of the free stuff that he is going to give me, the faster I count the money in my wallet. The louder the philosopher talks of a utopia, the faster I count the loonies who are congregating around him.

Gibbon’s Description of Commodus’s Gladiatorial Performance

In November 192 AD, Commodus became the first Roman Emperor to enter the arena (during the Plebeian Games) as a gladiator. He believed that he had the attributes of a Roman Hercules, and that no man or beast could kill him. 

In his History of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, (Volume 1, Chapter 4), Edward Gibbon has given a colorful account of Commodus’s feats as the star-gladiator at the Plebeian Games: “Whether he aimed at the head or heart of the animal, the wound was alike certain and mortal. With arrows whose point was shaped into the form of crescent, Commodus often intercepted the rapid career, and cut asunder the long, bony neck of the ostrich. A panther was let loose; and the archer waited till he had leaped upon a trembling malefactor. In the same instant the shaft flew, the beast dropped dead, and the man remained unhurt. The dens of the amphitheater disgorged at once a hundred lions: a hundred darts from the unerring hand of Commodus laid them dead as they run raging round the Arena. Neither the huge bulk of the elephant, nor the scaly hide of the rhinoceros, could defend them from his stroke. Ethiopia and India yielded their most extraordinary productions; and several animals were slain in the amphitheater, which had been seen only in the representations of art, or perhaps of fancy. In all these exhibitions, the securest precautions were used to protect the person of the Roman Hercules from the desperate spring of any savage, who might possibly disregard the dignity of the emperor and the sanctity of the god.” 

Commodus’s gladiatorial performance was not enough to win the the respect of the Roman people. He was murdered on December 31, 192 AD by a gladiator called Narcissus.

Imperialism and Capitalism

Lenin saw imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism. In his 1917 essay, “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism,” he says that when capitalism reaches its final stage, the capitalists try to maximize profits by conquering new colonies. But the truth is that the founding of colonies went hand in hand with the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent manufacturing boom in the European countries. The Industrial Revolution happened between 1760 and 1840, and this period was followed by a phase of capitalist expansion which lasted for a century, till the Second World War. Between 1760 and 1920, Britain, Spain, France, and other European powers took major initiatives to conquer new colonies. Imperialism was finished after the Second World War, when the European powers started moving away from capitalism and towards socialism.

The Search for Nirvana

Every thinking man strives to attain nirvana (salvation) in his own way. A religious man seeks nirvana in his theological musings and prayers. An artist seeks nirvana in his works of art. A philosopher seeks nirvana in his philosophy. A politician seeks nirvana in his politics. A businessman seeks nirvana in his material achievements. Nirvana denotes the stage of intellectual, moral, and psychological perfection, the stage where there is total self-realization and self-fulfillment. Man cannot become perfect. He cannot attain nirvana. He may strive for it.

Knowledge, Intelligence, Creativity, Wisdom

Knowledge is effort. Intelligence is focus. Creativity is instinct. Wisdom is character.

Nietzsche on Liberalism

In his book Twilight of the Idols (1888), Nietzsche makes a comment on liberalism: “Liberal institutions cease to be liberal as soon as they are attained: later on, there are no worse and no more thorough injurers of freedom than liberal institutions. Their effects are known well enough: they undermine the will to power; they level mountain and valley, and call that morality; they make men small, cowardly, and hedonistic — every time it is the herd animal that triumphs with them. Liberalism: in other words, herd-animalization." Nietzsche is right. Once liberal institutions attain power, they start undermining the good ideas in politics, culture, and morality, and they lead to a decline in the intellectual standards.

Kant on Achieving Wisdom

In Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View (1798), Immanuel Kant says that the guideline for achieving wisdom is contrived from three maxims: first, think for yourself; second, (in communication with other people) put yourself in the place of the other person; third, always think by remaining faithful to your own self.

In Defense of Barbarism

Barbarism is not a bad thing. It is the lifeblood of a civilization. It enables a civilization to defend itself and conquer. It fuels a civilization’s creativity and cruelty. Both culture and carnage are the hallmark of barbaric people. Every civilization of the past has been founded by the barbarians. In his book The Hour of Decision, Oswald Spengler writes: “Barbarism is that which I call strong race*, the eternal warlike in the type of the beast-of-prey man. It often seems to have ceased to exist, but it is crouching in the soul ready to spring. Given a big challenge—and it is on top of the enemy. It is dead only when Late urban pacifism, with its weary desire for peace at any price, short of that of its own life, has rolled its mud over the generations. That is the spiritual self-disarmament, following on the physical, which comes of unfruitfulness.”

"*I repeat: race that one has, not a race to which one belongs. The one is ethos, the other—zoology."

On Illiberalism of the Liberals

The political method of the liberals is most illiberal. They conceive a social theory first and then they try to find the evidence that might substantiate it. When no evidence is found to back the claims on which the theory is founded then, instead of rejecting their theory and admitting their mistake, they try to save their reputation by blaming their political opponents and forcing society to transform itself.

The Young Marx Versus the Mature Marx

The young Marx was a philosopher, but the mature Marx was a political activist and a revolutionary. Communism is based on the work of the mature Marx, the political activist and revolutionary. The communists ignore the work of the young Marx. They are not interested in philosophy. They never try to win the philosophical argument; they are focused on annihilating their opponents in a revolutionary war.

The Old Dreamers and the Young Utopians

The old men see dreams; the young men see visions. The longest dream doesn’t last for more than a few hours and then the person wakes up, but a vision can last for years and even decades. That is why many young men become enamored by socialism, communism, liberalism, and other utopian ideologies.

The Roman Thinking on “Equality”

The idea of equality was not part of Roman thinking. Pliny the Younger, the lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome, has said in one of his letters that “nothing is more unequal than equality itself.” He holds that the people who deserve respect and don’t get it are being treated unfairly.

The Age of Anxiety

The principate system, Augustus’s solution to the problems of the Roman Republic, brought stability and good governance, and led to the rise of the Roman Empire. For the Roman people, the principate system was a vast improvement. They prospered under Augustus’s long reign (27 BC–AD 14) and for two centuries after his demise. But the principate system had one flaw—the problem of succession. After the death of every emperor a war between the various claimants to the throne became inevitable. The Roman Empire started unravelling between the second and the third centuries. These two centuries are known as the “Age of Anxiety”. Romans started looking for ways of finding solace in a world in which life was becoming increasingly difficult. Many turned towards Gods and oracles, and some discovered Christianity which in another century became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. The year 2020, I believe, is turning out to be an “Year of Anxiety”—and it might drive people into the arms of religion.

Groups That Are Doomed To Suffer

There are some groups that are doomed to suffer and to make others suffer. Their thinking is mired in nihilism, hatred, and negativism. They go against the ebb-tide of history. Such groups must never be pampered and supported. They are like parasites which feed on the body of the society in which they live. Even when they march towards political victory, they reach a tragic dead-end. Once they acquire political power, they drive their nation towards decline and fall.

Utopian Philosophers Versus Normal Philosophers

Between the utopian philosophers and the normal philosophers there is a fundamental difference. The utopians cannot perceive ordinary human beings. They see only the idealized man who is fit to inhabit their utopia. The normal philosophers see the world as it is and with a certain simplicity of heart they reflect upon the life of people in their society. The utopian philosopher’s vision is abstract and idealized, while the normal philosopher’s vision is historical and real.

Free Speech For Whom?

Free speech for whom?—Free speech is a value only for those who have the will, passion, and knowledge to speak against the cultural, political, and economic centers of power. The ordinary man is not concerned about freedom of speech. He is focused on things like his source of income, security of his property, the wellbeing of his family, and the welfare of his neighborhood. When you fight for free speech, you are not fighting for the masses. You are fighting for a small coterie of intellectuals, politicians, and activists who have political and cultural agendas, and it is not necessary that all of these intellectuals and politicians care for the masses. Often the worst elements of society are the beneficiaries of free speech culture: nihilists, immoralists, anarchists, nazis, communists, and fascists.

Hegel’s World-Historical Man: Julius Caesar

Hegel says that the world-historical man is firm, decisive, and blessed with a sense of history, and through his words and deeds, he gets recognized as the great hero of his epoch. He holds Julius Caesar as an exemplar of a world-historical man. Caesar fought and conquered his rivals, and destroyed the constitution of Rome to gain a position of supremacy in Roman politics—and with such actions, Hegel says, Caesar became the world-historical man. He says that Caesar’s autocratic and violent political methods were necessary for unifying the Roman Empire and driving history in the right direction.

The Liberal Problem

You can win national elections by smiling, waving, and shaking hands, but to safeguard the interests of your nation in the international arena, you need to use political and economic power, and if need arises, military strength. But the liberal politicians in the democratic countries are doing the opposite—they try to win their national political battles by using coercive and even violent methods, while in the international arena, they smile, wave, shake hands, and cut deals with their nation’s enemies.

Motivations Behind the Roman Empire

Why did the Romans create an empire? The Romans were too down to earth to try to find a philosophical justification for their empire. The Roman Empire was something that just came to them through a natural process—they had the power and will to have an empire, and so they had an empire. A few Roman leaders have claimed that fortune favored them because the Roman State was devoted to the Gods (the Pagan Gods). Others have vaguely surmised that their success in building a great Empire was the result of the Roman values of morality, justice, hard work, courage, frugality, and industriousness.

The Roman Empire

The intellectuals see Ancient Greece as the fountainhead of the western civilization, but, in my opinion, the real fountainhead of the western civilization is the Roman Empire, which, at its height, stretched from Syria to Scotland, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea, and endured for almost five hundred years (the Eastern Roman Empire lasted for fifteen hundred years). To conquer and rule such a large area is a towering achievement, unparalleled in history; so grand was the Roman influence that many so-called barbarians kingdoms, which ravaged the Roman Empire, gave up their own culture, and started calling themselves Romans—some historians suggest that the Roman Empire didn’t “fall” at all, it merely changed the character of its political leadership. Rulers from Charlemagne to Napoleon, from the British, Spanish, and Portuguese monarchs in the age of imperialism to Hitler and Stalin in the twentieth century were, to some extent, inspired by the Roman Achievement. Till this day, the idea or Roman Empire continues to play a role in politics and culture. The intellectuals, politicians, and journalists often rely on the parallels between our own time and the Roman history to defend or decry the existence of common defense initiatives like NATO, the herding of the European nations into a unified European Union, and the American wars in Middle East and other parts of the world. The influence of Roman Empire on modern world in the spheres of art, architecture, language, legal system, and trade is inestimable.

Men of Straw

Once upon a time, the scarecrows made out of straw would scare the birds, but today the democratic nations are being led by men of straw who are scaring the people.

On Values

Values are not natural, they are manmade. Values do not exist in nature but inside the mind of the thinking man. Values are an appeal for a certain kind of standard. Only a thinking man can have values.

Marx’s Eleventh “Theses on Feuerbach”

When Karl Marx said, in his eleventh “Theses on Feuerbach,” that “Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it,” he was not rejecting philosophy. He was articulating his ambitions for his own philosophical work. He was saying that the goal of his philosophy is to change the world. 

Marx’s real obsession was practical politics, not philosophy. He was disinterested in the theories, discussions, and arguments that traditional philosophy is known for. His focus was on using philosophy to provide intellectual and moral support to the trade unionists, activists, and revolutionaries who were fighting for the socialist cause.

Are Progressives Better Writers?

In his book Studies in European Realism, the Marxist philosopher George Lukacs says that progressivism comes naturally to the writer because he is sensitive to the situation of the most suffering class. When I look at the world around me, I realize that several good writers are progressives (though a few of them are conservatives). I think Lukacs is right. The progressives know how to write books that are highly influential.