Saturday, July 26, 2008

Suicide of the West: An Essay on the Meaning and Destiny of Liberalism

Either liberalism must extend the freedoms of those who are not themselves liberals and even to those whose deliberate purpose is to destroy the liberal society -- in effect, that is, must grant a free hand to its assassins; or liberalism must deny its own principles, restrict the freedoms, and practice discrimination. It is as if the rules of football provided no penalties against those who violated the rules.

Suicide of the West: An Essay on the Meaning and Destiny of Liberalism, James Burnham
1964

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Art as Experience

When the old has not been incorporated, the outcome is mere eccentricity. But great original artists take a tradition into themselves. The have not shunned it but digested it. Then the very conflict set up between it and what is new in themselves and in their environment creates the tension that demands a new mode of expression.

Art as Experience, John Dewey
1934