A Heretic’s Log: A series of philosophical essays written between September 20, 2002 and July 15, 2004. 

The rise and fall of civilizations, or to frame things in more dramatic terms, the birth and death of civilizations, is not, and has not never exactly been, a smooth and quiet affair. Indeed, there is much tumult involved in this, and the event is bound to have many repercussions for all concerned. Still, the implications for the people affected by this, and their neighbors, are not necessarily numerous as they are profound. Moreover, when the death under discussion is not that of a single civilization, such as the Islamic, Indian or Chinese Civilization, but that of an entire “civilizational complex,” namely the “East,” the implications are simply bound to be global and enduring (see in this regard the previous Log: The Imperium between East and West). Continue reading “The Meaning of Civilizational Death” →

A Heretic’s Log: A series of philosophical essays written between September 20, 2002 and July 15, 2004. 

Values are the result of individual and collective experiences. They are not products that can be exported or imported, or some contagious microbes that can be avoided or quarantined. Nor are they behavioral patterns per se so that they can be expected to spread by mimicry, or, to be more philosophical, mimesis. Indeed, the spread of values depends heavily on two things: education and experience, not imposition, contagion or mimesis. Continue reading “Democracy and Mimesis” →