A Conflict of Visions and Why Conservatism Needs Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

Thomas Sowell's Conflict of Visions is on track to be one of the great classics of Conservatism and rightly so. I can think of no more clear and distinct exposition of the concept of "constrained vision". Perhaps no other single concept, that man's ability to predict the consequences of his actions is limited, is more blindingly obvious yet unapplied in politics. Simultaneously, it provides one of the most compelling reasons to look to tradition for truth, since real tradition is merely accumulated experience of what works and what doesn't.

The greatness of this book is crippled however, by it's own fundamentally secular worldview. Ultimately it leaves the reader with a kind of dark Stoicism, that a dark fate for mankind is fundamentally inevitable because man will always seek to create Heaven on earth and his fumbling attempts to do so will result in unleashing Hell. It's depressing because any attempt to explain the world without God is depressing.

This is where Leftism Revisited, and indeed most works by the forgotten greatest conservative mind of the twentieth century, Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, comes through in spades. EVKL was the first writer that really introduced me to the concept of the constrained vision, however his treatment of the subject is foundationally different. That difference being, EVKL acts and writes as though Christianity is actually true.

My sister, studying Medieval Philosophy at Notre Dame by the way, once told me that one of the defining shifts in Western philosophy occured when the focus moved towards giving purely secular reasons for Western ideas of morality, previously justified by the Christian religion. The idea being, since non-Christians don't accept our fundamental premises, alternative lines of argument must be used to encourage cooperation towards various goals. Not a bad idea, surely, however we pretty much chucked using anything but secular arguments.

This shift has not produced the most sanguine effects for Western Conservatives. As my own conservatism grew deeper, I developed a deep distaste for much popular conservatism, seeing it as infected by a kind of mechanical and inhuman stiffness in discourse, often bolstered by disingenuous claims of secularism. While Sowell's book clearly does not fall in this category, he makes the same fundamental mistake as those who do.

EVKL's works are less Christian books and more books written by a Christian. They aren't secular philosophy with a Bible verse tacked on, but show how the most powerful, individualistic, and free civilization the world has ever produced became so through the application of Christian principles. You don't even have to be a Christian to accept this, witness Charles Maurras (albeit a rather grim example).

EVKL acts as though God actually exists and shows how the constrained vision ensures the greatest spiritual and material good for mankind, and ends with the certain hope of a better future, albeit not one that man may create. A perfect blend of hope and reality, and an approach that does not leave this blogger cold.