“Yellow Ants,” Fundamentalists, and Cowboys – An interview with Rémi Brague

Interview and translation by Diederik Boomsma & Yoram Stein

We interview the French intellectual Rémi Brague about his life and work. The question of whether and in what way the West is unique figures centrally in our discussion. Whether one can sensibly speak of “three religions of the book”, whether Brague is a Straussian, what the civilisational roles of poverty, humility, and cultural inferiority complexes may be, and whether Americans really are cultural cowboys, are also each discussed in turn.

“Cows too…can easily be made into ideas”: An Interview with Roger Scruton

Interview by Diederik Boomsma

What distinguishes conservatism from classical liberalism?

The problem with classical liberalism is that it never pauses to examine what is involved in ‘not harming others’. Do I leave others unharmed when I destroy my capacity for personal relationships, through drug-taking, promiscuity, or porn addiction? Do I leave them unharmed when I stupefy myself with pop music? I have nothing against individualism, so long as it is recognized that the individual is created by a community and by the moral constraints that prevail in it. The individual is not the foundation of society but its most important by-product.