PRESTOPUNDIT

Can a person write well and be a philosopher at the same time? Edward Feser proves that one can, and he does so again in an important essay titled "Hayek on Tradition". Feser is that rarest of fine writers -- one who writes well while at the same time thinking well. Not a common thing, that. And it his essay Feser is in top form, explicating uncommon wisdom in common language -- making here the important point that the very idea of tradition has long been under fierce assualt from a critical viewpoint which itself lacks the justification which is demanded of those who perceive the significance of tradition in the make-up of who and what we are. Correctly understood, however, tradition itself might be said to have made possible even such things as critical inquiry itself. A critical tradition which condemns tradition is one advocating the philosophy of the tail-swallow. Only fools need follow there.

So who is Feser? Feser teaches philosophy at Loyola Marymont in Los Angeles and is the author of a solid little introduction to the moral and political philosophy of Robert Nozick titled On Nozick. He's also perhaps the world's leading expert on Friedrich Hayek's philosophy of mind -- no small challenge that (take a look some time at Hayek's landmark work in neuroscience and philosophy titled The Sensory Order if you'd like some sense of the difficulties involved).