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Plagues of the
Mind: The New Epidemic of False
Knowledge
Rather than cleaving contemporary
intellectual foolishness to its historical
roots, Thornton starts at those roots,
advances from the crucial eighteenth
century to the present, and concludes with
case studies of three modern loci of
falsehood--romantic environmentalism, the
American Indian as ethical paragon, and
goddess worship. The trouble all began
with the Enlightenment assumption, founded
on similar dispositions in classical Greek
philosophy and scholastic Christianity,
that knowledge bred virtue. Once a person
knew the good, reason would compel
realizing it, for humans are naturally
inclined to goodness. Thereafter,
romanticism demoted reason and preferred
feeling but didn't dispute natural human
goodness.
Thus the stage was set for "if it feels
good, it is good" as the highest ethical
standard, and all three current follies
that Thornton analyzes are rife with the
sentimental indulgence,
self-righteousness, and contempt for
empirical evidence, especially about human
behavior, that the feel-good ethic
fosters. Thornton's exposition is complex,
yet as he draws the thoughts and
interpretations of an impressive array of
social critics into his grand
intellectual-historical argument, his
prose never becomes obscure, though Al
Gore, Vine Deloria, Carol Christ, and
other targets of his criticism have reason
to wish it had.
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Realism and
Truth
This book, which defends realism and
objective truth, is for the advanced
student of philosophy and professional
philosopher. It is highly technical and
not recommended for the casual reader.
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The
Objectivist View
CLICK HERE
for more books on Ayn Rand and the
philosophy of
Objectivism.
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