Description
Excerpt from The False Assumptions of Democracy
Now the supreme importance of abstract or general terms lies in the fact that they are the words with which we guide our lives, mark out our goals and direct our effort. It is therefore urgently necessary that they should stand for very precise ideas, and that as the current coinage of speech they should mean the same things to all men of the same group, body, or nation.
As opposed to the effort of the Middle Ages, however, the effort of this Age, or the Muddle Age, seems to be directed towards turning every nation into a Europe - into a unit, that is to say, without unity. And this lack Of unity is nowhere more acute and more apparent than in the realm of abstract or general terms. People Of the same nation, nowadays, no longer speak the same language. They no longer mean the same things, or convey the same ideas, when they speak Of Happiness, Beauty, Order, Right, Freedom, Liberty, Justice, etc. The frame has gone. The common culture has been replaced by a congeries Of pseudo-cultures, all in active con?ict. The consequence is that the all-important words Of this class have fallen out of place in the design Of life they have no unifying whole in which they can find a stable position, they are. At a loose end, so to speak, and they can be used not as intelligent missives, but only as missiles between isolated groups and parties that are doomed to eternal con?ict.
A word at a loose end, however, is a word devoid Of definite associations and therefore Of meaning. Can a word devoid of meaning be used as a missile? Certainly it can, provided that it be given, despite its loss of an intellectual appeal, sufficient motive power to provoke an emotion. But of this anon.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Now the supreme importance of abstract or general terms lies in the fact that they are the words with which we guide our lives, mark out our goals and direct our effort. It is therefore urgently necessary that they should stand for very precise ideas, and that as the current coinage of speech they should mean the same things to all men of the same group, body, or nation.
As opposed to the effort of the Middle Ages, however, the effort of this Age, or the Muddle Age, seems to be directed towards turning every nation into a Europe - into a unit, that is to say, without unity. And this lack Of unity is nowhere more acute and more apparent than in the realm of abstract or general terms. People Of the same nation, nowadays, no longer speak the same language. They no longer mean the same things, or convey the same ideas, when they speak Of Happiness, Beauty, Order, Right, Freedom, Liberty, Justice, etc. The frame has gone. The common culture has been replaced by a congeries Of pseudo-cultures, all in active con?ict. The consequence is that the all-important words Of this class have fallen out of place in the design Of life they have no unifying whole in which they can find a stable position, they are. At a loose end, so to speak, and they can be used not as intelligent missives, but only as missiles between isolated groups and parties that are doomed to eternal con?ict.
A word at a loose end, however, is a word devoid Of definite associations and therefore Of meaning. Can a word devoid of meaning be used as a missile? Certainly it can, provided that it be given, despite its loss of an intellectual appeal, sufficient motive power to provoke an emotion. But of this anon.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Details
Publisher - Forgotten Books
Author(s) - Anthony M. Ludovici
Hardback
Published Date -
ISBN - 9780266788225
Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm
Page Count - 228
Paperback
Published Date -
ISBN - 9781332416561
Dimensions -
Page Count -
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