Publisher's Synopsis
Modern theories of morality and politics fall somewhere between Classical Liberal individualism and Leftist collectivism. Both extremes-and everything in between-share common ground of abstract propositions that ignore or defy the facts of human nature. Thomas Fleming, has been working for several decades to articulate a coherent opposition to ideological fanaticism by returning to pre-modern traditions, both pagan and Christian.The alternative point of view is based on no new ideas or original insight but on the traditions that re-modern men and women took for granted. There is no political agenda, no set of policy prescriptions, no blueprint for success or roadmap to a brighter future.Reformers, forever demanding fast action before they have even grasped the fundamental principles at stake, never pause to consider the probable consequences that follow from legislation that subverts the authority of parents, erodes the authority of the family, and breaks the bonds of community.The human race has been around many thousands of years, and our social institutions have evolved to a means of securing natural necessities. Advanced civilizations, in one for or another, have been forming the human character for some three to five thousand years. The attempt to discover brilliant new answers to the ancient problems of flesh and blood is, on the face of it, preposterous.This work is an outgrowth of the writer's earlier books, "The Morality of Everyday Life," whose goal was to demolish the Liberal and Collectivist traditions of moral and political reasoning in order to clear the way for a point of view that combines objective observations with a "decent regard for the opinion of mankind." It proposes no sweeping program for reform, only an invitation to postmodern men and women to take control of their lives.
