The Objective Standard Blog

Author: Christian Beenfeldt

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

A Noteworthy Thrashing of Unreason

Posted by Christian Beenfeldt at 1:32 am

In a recent opinion piece in the Guardian, professor of philosophy Anthony Grayling offers a forthright attack on unreason. Mincing no words, he denounces “the spread of a…virulent cancer of unreason, which is affecting not just the mental culture of our own country but the fate of the world itself.” The unreason he has in mind is religious faith.

Grayling observes that appeals to faith are used to legitimize anything “from superstition to mass murder,” that people of faith are in constant and irresolvable conflict with each other, and that the faith-embracing mindset is “an essentially infantile attitude of acceptance of fairy-stories.” Unlike American conservatives, he understands that faith in Islam, in Christianity, in pagan mythology, and even in garden gnomes all belong in the same category: unreason. He even observes that Stalinism and Nazism are thus fundamentally similar to religion. The alternative to reining in religion, upholding intellectual rigor in education, and increasing enrollment in science, concludes Grayling, is a return to the Dark Ages.

This is all true.

Grayling’s view of reason, however, is critically compromised. To begin with, he offers no definition of reason, leaving the implication that reason is a woozy, contradictory mess that involves being “literate,” “numerate,” “broadly knowledgeable,” and “reflective”—while also being uncertain, tolerant, and pluralistic. But it is not rational to be certain of nothing, tolerant of anything, or accepting of everything.

Worse still, Grayling argues that the fundamental similarity uniting religion and totalitarianism is that they are “monolithic ideologies.” The implication here is that the rational man is a skeptic who makes no broad generalizations and holds no firm philosophical views. Yet, without a comprehensive, reality-based philosophy that defines and stalwartly defends reason, the remaining Enlightenment values in our culture—such as the respect for science and the protection of individual rights—will continue to be eroded by the torrent of skepticism and subjectivism pounding the West. And, without rational answers to the fundamental questions in life, the culture will turn evermore eagerly toward religion—because people need answers to such questions, and religion provides answers, dreadfully wrong though they are.

The solution to the problem of unreason is not a woozy half-skepticism, but a principled defense of rational philosophy. With this in mind, Grayling’s article is worth reading as an example of what the best minds in today’s cultural mainstream can and cannot offer in defense of reason.

Posted in: Philosophy, Religion

Tuesday, August 1, 2006

Hezbollah Analyzed

Posted by Christian Beenfeldt at 9:57 pm

Israel is currently fighting (and, sadly, capitulating to) the murderous Hezbollah terrorist outfit. To understand the nature of the enemy Israel is facing, it is helpful to find a reliable and well-researched document that presents important facts about Hezbollah and its supporters. In 2003, Foreign Affairs published such a document, “Should Hezbollah Be Next?” by Professor Daniel Byman.

Unfortunately, the work is marred by an anemic proposal for concrete action. Byman’s proposal amounts to the pragmatic “solution” of talking tougher to Hezbollah-supporter Syria. This is a tried and true method of guaranteed failure. Such tactics, along with similar toothless diplomatic maneuvers, have obviously done nothing to sway either Syria or Iran from their terror-supporting ways in the three years that have passed since the article was published—or, for that matter, in the twenty-some years of failed diplomacy that preceded it.

Yet, the very quality of Byman’s analysis makes the illogic of his pragmatic proposal clear. Here, for example, is a paragraph on Hezbollah and terror:

In the U.S. demonology of terrorism, Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda are relative newcomers. For most of the past two decades, Hezbollah has claimed pride of place as the top concern of U.S. counterterrorism officials. It was Hezbollah that pioneered the use of suicide bombing, and its record of attacks on the United States and its allies would make even bin Laden proud: the bombing of the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the U.S. embassy there in 1983 and 1984; the hijacking of twa flight 847 and murder of U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem in 1985; a series of lethal attacks on Israeli targets in Lebanon; the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina in 1992 and of a Buenos Aires Jewish community center in 1994. More recently, Hezbollah operatives have plotted to blow up the Israeli embassy in Thailand, and a Lebanese member of Hezbollah was indicted for helping to design the truck bomb that flattened the Khobar Towers U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia in 1996. As CIA director George Tenet testified earlier this year, “Hezbollah, as an organization with capability and worldwide presence, is [al Qaeda's] equal, if not a far more capable organization. I actually think they’re a notch above in many respects.

And here is a paragraph on Iran’s profound support of Hezbollah:

Tehran provided the initial inspiration for Hezbollah and continues to offer organizational aid and ideological guidance. Indeed, Iran’s sponsorship of the movement consistently puts the country at the top of the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Hezbollah adheres to Iran’s ideology of the velayat-e faqih (rule by the Islamic jurist), and Tehran provides approximately $100 million to the group every year. Hezbollah’s senior terrorist, Imad Mugniyah, is reportedly an Iranian citizen and regularly travels there. Other top operatives maintain close ties to Iranian intelligence and to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is directly connected to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Hezbollah’s leaders proclaim their loyalty to Khamenei, and he reportedly acts as an arbiter in their decisions. Tehran exercises particular influence over Hezbollah’s overseas activities. For example, Hezbollah cells in Europe ended attacks after Iran decided to halt violent activity there. In exchange for its support of the group, Iran gets a valuable weapon against Israel and influence far beyond its borders. In some cases, Tehran has also used Hezbollah to kill dissidents and strike at U.S. targets.

Both Hezbollah and the Iranian regime must be exterminated. Now.

Posted in: Foreign Policy and War