Unfortunately, what has been called philosophy for more than a century has virtually destroyed any belief in the possibility of objective truth, and with it the possibility of philosophy. Our chaotic politics reflects this chaos of the mind.
—Harry Jaffa in this past weekend’s New York Times Book Review
I’ve since surrendered the book review to my daughter, but I believe that this excerpt is from a review of a new translation of Aristotle. Both the reviewed work and the review itself are well worth reading. In particular the reviewer makes the point that western civilization is, at its core, a synthesis of biblical revelation and Greek philosophy (which he short-hads, a la Leo Strauss, as the pole stars of Jerusalem and Athens). A very good read that suggests that a well-read citizen doesn’t necessarily have to read books, as long as he can find time to read well thought through reviews of books.