Richard Weaver's
Ideas Have Consequences is a classic worth reading in the 21st century. Read my full essay on the book
here, but below are some of his solutions--you know the problems!
Solutions
Weaver’s book is broken into two
parts—the first tracing the history of the decline of the West due to
the ideas spun off from the original attack on universal truths, and the
second providing some idea of a means toward the restoration of order.
How might we begin to undo the
damage? First, by defending the individual’s right to private property,
because in holding to his or her own property, a person may find some
means of defending his or her privacy, fighting for truth, and may find
some refuge from an encroaching state. In other words, property gives us
a place from which we may take a stand.
Second, he argues, we must reclaim
language from those who have reduced it to sentiments, twisted it for
political usage, and scrubbed it of common meaning with which we can
seek truth and discuss our differences.
Third, to counter the selfish egoism
of modern man, we must return to a state of piety—piety toward nature,
toward our neighbors, and toward the past. There is much wisdom for
modern America to be found in Weaver’s diagnosis and in his
prescriptions.
Beyond the specifics of this
important and challenging work, Weaver’s title reminds us that ideas can
be powerful things to toy with—as likely to bring great damage as to
serve progress.
Whether or not we read Weaver’s great
work again in the 21st century (and we would profit from it), we should
at least use it to encourage us all to think—seriously think—about the
potential consequences of new ideas, and to think about them, not only
through the lens of temporary politics and our own emotions, but in
terms of the long-term health of civilization itself.
The events of the 20th century should
ever remind us all of how close to the edge civilization resides and
how consequential bad ideas can be.
