Briefly Noted: Philosophy v. History

A quick start to the day—Canadian David Warren writes about his country at The Catholic Thing:

Canada, Fortis et Liber

He begins by explaining to his readers what several commenters here have remarked upon, in order to understand the magnitude—we hope—of what is happening in Canada:

We are a notoriously law-abiding people, ...

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The spirit of the thing – a national protest against lockdowns, vaccine passports, face masks, and miscellaneous “mandates” – has not been perfectly shared, however. Our prime minister, the pretty-boy Justin Trudeau, thinks we’re waving Nazi flags and committing other horrors against his medicalization program, which as everywhere else has been going on for two years. His own caucus in Parliament is beginning to walk away from him.

Too, it must be said, the old Canada remains. A certain number of Canadians have not rallied to the Liberal Party, but continue to show caution and what I would call willful obedience to their public health officers.

They have been frustrated by the million demonstrators, who have shown a high degree of logistical wisdom. This includes non-violence. They have consistently refused to take the bait from men wishing to excuse a “crackdown.” Their signs are often rude, but the display of public etiquette and the existence of legal rights have left the smug Left somewhat floating in space.

But he moves on to the difference of these working people, whose lives are still rooted —to a degree that they may themselves not have previously realized—in Tradition. The Tradition that made the West. Understand that Warren uses these words in special senses. The “history” of which he speaks is the “history” of the German Ideology, the “history” worshipped as Geist im Welt by the likes of Hegel and his successors. That is the “history” of our ruling elites, who seek above all to be “on the right side of history”—their form of immortality. That is the “history” of narratives designed to mislead folk who are too busy with their lives to notice what’s going on. It is not the historical struggle of truth against falsehoods and lies.

And “philosophy” in the sense that Warren uses the term is not the precious nattering of ideologues and sophists, those who populate our government run institutions—above all, of “higher education”. It is the passionate search for the Truth that is the source and end of all that lives and breathes and has being.

With that in mind, Warren writes of the Freedom Convoy:

It is, to my mind, a victory of philosophy over history. Freedom has again taken sides with philosophy, as it were.

History takes some time to gather, and changes with the seasons. While there are many who expect history to absolve them, or prove their case, it will never do that – even when the evidence is sifted to a predetermined end. Events, and the interpretation of events, suffer revision after revision.

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Philosophy seeks answers that do not change, as opposed to the mere “trends” that are sought in historical studies. Philosophy can, when it is ambitious, tell us that slavery is wrong, along with murder and a few other “crimes.” Where it succeeds, it can tell what is so.

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By contrast, those who ask if persons or events are “on the right side of history” may mean many things by it, but all of them are false. The “philosopher of history” suffers a terrible disadvantage. He thinks he can control what is impossible to control.

The sudden, unexpected event, whether or not we call it a miracle, is engendered in a world of right and wrong, of beauty and vileness, of truth and lying. Truck drivers may master it.

There’s much more at the link.