TOS Weekly - William F. Buckley's True Nature
Plus the "real monster" in Frankenstein, William Kingdon' Clifford's "The Ethics of Belief," the life and achievements of Andrew Carnegie, and the importance of commemorating Evacuation Day.
On Monday, conservatives across the U.S. and beyond will celebrate what would have been William F. Buckley’s 100th birthday. Many will agree with the Heritage Foundation’s appraisal that the National Review founder and provocative TV debater was a man of “clarity, sobriety, and intellectual honesty.” But Craig Biddle profoundly disagrees with this assessment, highlighting Buckley’s deeply dishonest treatment of Ayn Rand.
Newly released this week is first-time TOS writer John Devlin’s deep dive into the moral message of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It has become accepted wisdom to claim that the creator, not the creature, is the “real monster,” but that popular bromide, Devlin argues, amounts to sanctioning the creature’s rampages in a way that would be deeply unjust in real life.
I hope you enjoy this week’s articles!
Thomas Walker-Werth
What’s New?
Achievement and Moral Cowardice: Who Is the "Real Monster" in Frankenstein?
With Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein adaptation recently hitting movie theaters and streaming services, it’s worth revisiting Mary Shelley’s classic gothic novel and a persistent misunderstanding of the story’s meaning.
From the Archive
William F. Buckley: Cowardly, Dishonest, Unjust, Racist, and Loved by Conservatives
As William F. Buckley’s 100th birthday nears, conservatives will pretend that he was a man of principle, civility, dignity, and honor. He was not.
The Ethics of Belief
William Kingdon Clifford was a 19th-century English mathematician and philosopher. In this essay, “The Ethics of Belief,” originally published in 1877, he argues that “it is wrong always, everywhere and for any one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.”
Birthdays and Anniversaries
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