For me, a question remains. Following the horrors of the 2 world wars, did the West too hastily discard all forms of nationalism, traditionalism and populism - including its positive social aspects - thus permitting the ugly head of liberalism to emerge (atomization of society, commodification of everything, lack of meaning, etc.) ?
Is liberalism, pushed to its essence, really the optimal end game ?
I think that's a central question. And here's another: Post-WWII, some ideologues attributed the horrors of total war to the lingering vestiges of traditionalism (e.g., a lot of the "authoritarian personality" discourse). Were they in fact mistaken--that the horrors of world-war era had distinctively *modern* sources? (If that's the case, then extinguishing traditionalist cultural bonds would worsen--not cure--modern alienation.)
For me, a question remains. Following the horrors of the 2 world wars, did the West too hastily discard all forms of nationalism, traditionalism and populism - including its positive social aspects - thus permitting the ugly head of liberalism to emerge (atomization of society, commodification of everything, lack of meaning, etc.) ?
Is liberalism, pushed to its essence, really the optimal end game ?
I think that's a central question. And here's another: Post-WWII, some ideologues attributed the horrors of total war to the lingering vestiges of traditionalism (e.g., a lot of the "authoritarian personality" discourse). Were they in fact mistaken--that the horrors of world-war era had distinctively *modern* sources? (If that's the case, then extinguishing traditionalist cultural bonds would worsen--not cure--modern alienation.)