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asher553'The two visions differ fundamentally, not only in how they see the world, but also in how those who believe in these visions see themselves. If you happen to believe in free markets, judicial restraint, traditional values and other features of the tragic vision, then you are just someone who believes in free markets, judicial restraint and traditional values. There is no personal exaltation inherent in those beleifs. But to be for "social justice" and "saving the environment" or to be "anti-war" is more than just a set of hypotheses about empirical facts. This vision puts you on a higher moral plane as someone concerned and compassionate ...
In short, one vision makes you somebody special and the other does not. These visions are not symmetrical.'
- Thomas Sowell, 'Intellectuals and Society'
I think this passage gets a lot of things right about the appeal of the leftist program: if you believe the doctrine, then you believe that what distinguishes you from people who disagree with you is that you're a *better person* than they are.
A few pages earlier, Sowell fleshes out the concept of the tragic vision:
'..."the darker picture" painted by Thucydides of "a human race that escaped chaos and barbarism by preserving with difficulty a thin layer of civilization" based on "moderation and prudence" growing out of experience.'
I do not think conservatism, as Sowell formulates it here, needs to accept that it is doomed to follow an uninspiring vision, i.e. the tragic vision. I'm not keen on the term "tragic vision" because it sounds too, well, tragic. I would prefer to call it the "triumphant vision" because it affirms the possibility of triumph at every moment over the forces that would make us less than we truly are.
In short, one vision makes you somebody special and the other does not. These visions are not symmetrical.'
- Thomas Sowell, 'Intellectuals and Society'
I think this passage gets a lot of things right about the appeal of the leftist program: if you believe the doctrine, then you believe that what distinguishes you from people who disagree with you is that you're a *better person* than they are.
A few pages earlier, Sowell fleshes out the concept of the tragic vision:
'..."the darker picture" painted by Thucydides of "a human race that escaped chaos and barbarism by preserving with difficulty a thin layer of civilization" based on "moderation and prudence" growing out of experience.'
I do not think conservatism, as Sowell formulates it here, needs to accept that it is doomed to follow an uninspiring vision, i.e. the tragic vision. I'm not keen on the term "tragic vision" because it sounds too, well, tragic. I would prefer to call it the "triumphant vision" because it affirms the possibility of triumph at every moment over the forces that would make us less than we truly are.
