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Entry: The Pragmatism of Russell Kirk Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_pragmatism_of_russell_kirk#3592 Post contents: I don't mean to sound surly after Scott was nice enough to concede some of my points but it seems to me that that it may be hard hard to find an articulated philosophical statement in Kirk, of the kind that I find in Peirce and Dr. Purcell. Kirk wrote in apodictic phrases and literary metaphors; and I enjoyed sampling his prose. But I never had the sense that he was doing more than offering his opinions and those of his subjects. He used the term "liberal" in a very vague way and then tried to make it apply to a variety of ills that he deplored. The comparison to Newman may be misleading; Newman was far more systematic in his exposition of theology and far more explicitly Catholic.I'm also not sure that I perceive much unity in the "conservative mind," but that's a subject for another day. Sent at: 2008 12 01