How Consequential Can an Idea Be?

In his 1948 work Ideas Have Consequences, Richard Weaver claims that all of our problems can be traced back to the consequences of a single doctrine: nominalism. This claim, developed in the Medieval university system, holds that the concepts we form have no transcendent reality behind them beyond the names we give to things. Weaver believes that the explicit or tacit acceptance of this idea is primarily responsible for what he sees as the decline of the Western world. In this reading group, we will consider the arguments that Weaver makes for this specific view of history, while looking more broadly at the idea that any philosophical doctrine could be influential enough to have the kinds of effects that he claims.

Schedule

Thursday, April 4 | The Dissolution of the West

In this session, we will discuss Weaver's claim that Nominalism, a denial of a reality behind the names we give to objects, has caused the decline of Western society, and look the different relations between feeling and reality that he identifies as symptomatic of this change. We will be covering the introduction and first chapter of Ideas Have Consequences.

Thursday, April 11 | THe Collapse of Hierarchy

In this session, we will discuss the loss of a sense of metaphysical hierarchy—an ordered structure of reality—among the beings that make up the world, and how Weaver claims that this affects both the social order and the pursuit of knowledge. We will be reading chapters 2 and 3 from Ideas Have Consequences.

Thursday, April 18 | Rehabilitating MetaphysicS

In this session, we will turn to the possible solutions which Weaver thinks are available to reverse the decline he identifies: a defense of metaphysical rights, particularly the right to property, and a recognition of the power of words. We will be covering chapters 7 and 8 from Ideas Have Consequences.

Thursday, April 25 | The Case for Piety

In this session, we will discuss Weaver's claims about piety understood as the proper relation between the present and the past, and discuss more generally whether any philosophical idea can have the society-shaping power which Weaver attributed to nominalism. We will be reading the ninth and final chapter of Ideas Have Consequences.