Russell Kirk

Russell Kirk (1918, Plymouth, Michigan – 29 April 1994, Mecosta, Michigan), was an American political theorist, historian, social critic, and man of letters, best known for his influence on 20th century American conservatism. His 1953 book, The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Santayana,^[1] gave shape to the amorphous post-World War II conservative movement. It traced the development of conservative thought in the Anglo-American tradition, giving special importance to the ideas of Edmund Burke. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Plymouth is a city in Wayne County of the U.S. state of Michigan. ... April 29 is the 119th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (120th in leap years). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Mecosta is a village located in Mecosta County, Michigan. ... A political theorist is someone who engages in political theory. ... An historian is someone who writes history, a written accounting of the past. ... A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole and typically on a radical basis; a social critic of a given society, but the overlap is large. ... American conservatism is a constellation of political ideologies within the United States under the blanket heading of conservative. ... George Santayana George Santayana (16 December 1863 in Madrid, Spain – 26 September 1952 in Rome, Italy), was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Edmund Burke (12 January 1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher, who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. ...

Life

Russell Kirk was born in a house his grandfather had built. He was the son of Russell Andrew Kirk, a railroad engineer, and Marjorie Pierce Kirk.

Kirk obtained his B.A. at Michigan State University, thanks to a scholarship, then did an M.A. at Duke University. After serving in the American Armed Forces during World War II, he attended the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. In 1953, he became the first American to be awarded the degree of doctor of letters by that university. A Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B.) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or program in the arts and/or sciences. ... Michigan State University (MSU) is a public university in East Lansing, Michigan. ... MA or ma may stand for: ma, a two-letter English word meaning Mother Ma, transliteration of Chinese family name 馬,马,麻 etc. ... Duke University is a private coeducational research university located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews was founded between 1410-1413 and is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the United Kingdom. ... Motto: (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity(English) Wha daur meddle wi me? (Scots)[1] Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic, Scots[2] Government  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I...

Upon completing his studies, Kirk took up an academic position at his alma mater, Michigan State. He resigned in 1959, after having become disenchanted with that university's academic standards, rapid growth in student numbers, and emphasis on intercollegiate athletics and technical training at the expense of the traditional liberal arts. Thereafter he referred to Michigan State as "Cow College" or "Behemoth University." He later wrote that academic political scientists and sociologists were "as a breed--dull dogs."^[2] Late in life, he taught one semester a year at Hillsdale College, where he was Distinguished Visiting Professor of Humanities. In the history of education, the seven liberal arts comprise two groups of studies, the trivium and the quadrivium. ... Hillsdale College is an independent, co-educational, nonsectarian, liberal arts college located on the north side of the city of Hillsdale in central-southern Michigan, United States. ...

Kirk frequently published in two American conservative journals he helped found, National Review in 1955 and Modern Age in 1957. He was the founding editor of the latter, 1957-59. Later he was made a Distinguished Fellow of the Heritage Foundation, where he gave a number of lectures.^[3] National Review (NR) is a biweekly magazine of political opinion, founded by author William F. Buckley Jr. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Heritage Foundation is a public policy research institute based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. ...

After leaving Michigan State, Kirk returned to his ancestral home in Mecosta, Michigan, where he wrote the many books, academic articles, lectures, and the syndicated newspaper column (which ran for 13 years) by which he exerted his influence on American politics and intellectual life. In 1963, Kirk married Annette Courtemanche; they had four daughters. She and Kirk became known for their hospitality, welcoming many political, philosophical, and literary figures in their Mecosta house (known as "Piety Hill"), and giving shelter to political refugees, hoboes, and others. Their home became the site of a sort of seminar on conservative thought for university students. Piety Hill now houses the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal. Mecosta is a village located in Mecosta County, Michigan. ...

Kirk declined to drive, calling cars "mechanical Jacobins", and would have nothing to do with television and what he called "electronic computers."

Ideas

The Conservative Mind

The Conservative Mind, the published version of Kirk's doctoral dissertation, contributed materially to the 20th century Burke revival. It also drew attention to: Edmund Burke (12 January 1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher, who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. ...

• Conservative statesmen such as John Adams, George Canning, John C. Calhoun, Joseph de Maistre, Benjamin Disraeli, and Arthur Balfour;
• The conservative implications of writings by well-known authors such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Russell Lowell, George Gissing, George Santayana, and T. S. Eliot;
• British and American authors such as Fisher Ames, John Randolph of Roanoke, Orestes Brownson, John Henry Newman, Walter Bagehot, Henry James Sumner Maine, William Edward Hartpole Lecky, Edwin Lawrence Godkin, William Hurrell Mallock, Leslie Stephen, Albert Venn Dicey, Paul Elmer More, and Irving Babbitt.

The Portable Conservative Reader (1982), which Kirk edited, contains sample writings by most of the above. John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a politician and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. ... George Canning (11 April 1770-8 August 1827) was a British statesman and politician who served as Foreign Secretary and, briefly, Prime Minister. ... John Caldwell Calhoun (March 18, 1782 – March 31, 1850) was a leading United States Southern politician and political philosopher from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century, best known as a spokesman for slavery, nullification and the rights of electoral minorities, such as slave-holders. ... Joseph de Maistre (portrait by Karl Vogel von Vogelstein, 1810) Joseph-Marie, Comte de Maistre (April 1, 1753- February 26, 1821) was a French-speaking Savoyard lawyer, diplomat, writer, and philosopher. ... Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (December 21, 1804 - April 24, British Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and author. ... Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC (25 July 1848 – 19 March 1930) was a British statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 until 1905. ... Samuel Taylor Coleridge(October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834) (pronounced ) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and one of the Lake Poets. ... Portrait of Sir Walter Scott, by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832) was a prolific Scottish historical novelist and poet popular throughout Europe during his time. ... Cooper portrait by John Wesley Jarvis, 1822 James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. ... Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4, 1804 - May 19, 1864) was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. ... James Russell Lowell circa 1855. ... George Gissing (November 22, 1857 – December 28, 1903) was a British novelist. ... George Santayana George Santayana (16 December 1863 in Madrid, Spain – 26 September 1952 in Rome, Italy), was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. ... Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. ... Fisher Ames Fisher Ames (9 April 1758 - 4 July 1808) was a Representative of the United States Congress from Massachusetts. ... Autographed portrait of John Randolph John Randolph (June 2, 1773 - May 24, 1833) was a Representative and a Senator from Virginia, USA. He was born in Cawsons, Virginia, and was known as John Randolph of Roanoke to distinguish him from relatives. ... Orestes Augustus Brownson (1803-1876) was a New England intellectual and activist, preacher and labor organizer. ... J H Newman age 23 when he preached his first sermon. ... Walter Bagehot (3 February 1826 – 24 March 1877), IPA (see [[1]]), was a nineteenth century British economist. ... Sir Henry James Sumner Maine (August 15, 1822 - February 3, 1888) was a English comparative jurist and historian, son of Dr James Maine, of Kelso, Roxburghshire. ... William Edward Hartpole Lecky, OM (26 March 1838–22 October 1903) was an Irish historian and publicist. ... Edwin Lawrence Godkin (October 2, 1831-May 21, 1902) was an American publicist. ... William Hurrell Mallock (February 7, 1849-April 2, 1923) was an English author. ... Sir Leslie Stephen (November 28, 1832 – February 22, 1904) was an English author and critic, the father of two famous daughters, Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. ... Albert Venn Dicey (February 4, 1835 – April 7, 1922) was a British jurist and constitutional theorist who wrote An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1885). ... Paul Elmer More (December 12, 1864 – March 9, 1937) was an American critic and essayist. ... Irving Babbitt (August 2, 1865 – July 15, 1933) was an American academic and literary critic, noted for his founding role in a movement that became known as the New Humanism, a significant influence on literary discussion and conservative thought in the period 1910 to 1930. ...

Not everyone agreed with Kirk's reading of the conservative heritage and tradition. For example, Harry Jaffa (a student of Leo Strauss) wrote: "Kirk was a poor Burke scholar. Burke's attack on metaphysical reasoning related only to modern philosophy's attempt to eliminate skeptical doubt from its premises and hence from its conclusions." [5] Harry V. Jaffa is an author, and director of the Claremont Institute, a California-based Conservative think tank. ... Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973), was a German-born American political philosopher who specialized in the study of classical philosophy. ...

Russello (2004) argues that Kirk adapted what 19th century American Catholic thinker Orestes Brownson called "territorial democracy" to articulate a version of federalism that was based on premises that differ in part from those of the Founders and other conservatives. Kirk further believed that territorial democracy could reconcile the tension between treating the states as mere provinces of the central government, and as autonomous political units independent of Washington. Finally, territorial democracy allowed Kirk to set out a theory of individual rights grounded in the particular historical circumstances of the United States, while rejecting a universal conception of such rights. Orestes Augustus Brownson (1803-1876) was a New England intellectual and activist, preacher and labor organizer. ...

Principles

Kirk developed six "canons" of conservatism, which Russello (2004) described as follows:

1. A belief in a transcendent order, which Kirk described variously as based in tradition, divine revelation, or natural law;
2. An affection for the "variety and mystery" of human existence;
3. A conviction that society requires orders and classes that emphasize "natural" distinctions;
   
4. A belief that property and freedom are closely linked;
5. A faith in custom, convention, and prescription, and
6. A recognition that innovation must be tied to existing traditions and customs, which entails a respect for the political value of prudence.

Kirk said that Christianity and Western Civilization are "unimaginable apart from one another." [6] and that "all culture arises out of religion. When religious faith decays, culture must decline, though often seeming to flourish for a space after the religion which has nourished it has sunk into disbelief." [7] Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... For alternative meanings for The West in the United States, see the U.S. West and American West. ...

Kirk and Libertarianism

Kirk grounded his Burkean conservatism in tradition, political philosophy, belles lettres, and the strong religious faith of his later years; rather than libertarianism and free market economic reasoning. The Conservative Mind hardly mentions economics at all. Edmund Burke (12 January 1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher, who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. ... Belles lettres are works of writing that are appreciated for their visual appearance (such as the calligraphy employed), as much as or more so than their actual content. ... This article is becoming very long. ... A free market is an idealized market, where all economic decisions and actions by individuals regarding transfer of money, goods, and services are voluntary, and are therefore devoid of coercion and theft (some definitions of coercion are inclusive of theft). Colloquially and loosely, a free market economy is an economy...

In a polemic essay,[8] Kirk (quoting T. S. Eliot) called libertarians "chirping sectaries", adding that they and conservatives have nothing in common. He called the libertarian movement "an ideological clique forever splitting into sects still smaller and odder, but rarely conjugating." He said a line of division exists between believers in "some sort of transcendent moral order" and "utilitarians admitting no transcendent sanctions for conduct." He included libertarians in the latter category.[9] ^[4] Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. ...

Kirk and Neoconservatism

Late in life, Kirk grew disenchanted with American neoconservatives as well. On December 15, 1988, he gave a lecture at the Heritage Foundation, titled "The Neoconservatives: An Endangered Species." As Chronicles editor Scott Richert describes it, Neoconservatism is a political movement, mainly in the United States and Canada, which is generally held to have emerged in the 1960s, coalesced in the 1970s, and has had a significant presence in the administration of George W. Bush and the cabinet of Stephen Harper. ...

[One line] helped define the emerging struggle between neoconservatives and paleoconservatives. "Not seldom has it seemed," Kirk declared, "as if some eminent Neoconservatives mistook Tel Aviv for the capital of the United States." A few years later, in another Heritage Foundation speech, Kirk repeated that line verbatim. In the wake of the Gulf War, which he had opposed, he clearly understood that those words carried even greater meaning.[10]

Midge Decter, director of the Committee for the Free World, called Kirk's line "a bloody outrage, a piece of anti-Semitism by Kirk that impugns the loyalty of neoconservatives." ^[5] She told The New Republic, "It's this notion of a Christian civilization. You have to be part of it or you're not really fit to conserve anything. That's an old line and it's very ignorant."[11] Midge Decter (b. ... The Committee for the Free World (CFW), according to the August 1998 update by Group Watch, was founded in 1981 by Midge Decter who was the organizations executive director. ... For other uses, see the New Republic disambiguation page. ...

Samuel Francis called Kirk's "Tel Aviv" remark "a wisecrack about the slavishly pro-Israel sympathies among neoconservatives.^[6] Samuel Todd Francis (April 29, 1947 – February 15, 2005) was a nationally syndicated paleoconservative columnist known for his opposition to immigration, multiculturalism, and his involvement in debates concerning other controversial issues of the day. ...

The man of letters

Kirk's more important books include Eliot and his Age: T. S. Eliot's Moral Imagination in the Twentieth Century (1972), The Roots of American Order (1974), and the autobiographical Sword of the Imagination: Memoirs of a Half Century of Literary Conflict (1995). As was the case with his hero Edmund Burke, Kirk became renowned for the prose style of his intellectual and polemical writings.^[7] Edmund Burke (12 January 1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher, who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. ...

Fiction

He was also an accomplished teller and writer of fiction, especially ghost stories. His first novel, Old House of Fear, was a gothic. He followed that up with A Creature of the Twilight, a story of revolution and political intrigue in Africa with his continuing character Manfred Arcane, who would appear in many of his ghost stories, as well as the haunted house novel The Lord of the Hollow Dark. Ghost Stories (Japanese: 学校の怪談, Gakkō no Kaidan, School Ghost Stories) is a twenty-one-episode anime series created in 2000 by animation studio Aniplex for Fuji Television, based on a manga series by Yosuke Takahashi. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

His supernatural tales were originally collected in three volumes, The Surly Sullen Bell, The Princess of All Lands, and Watchers at the Strait Gate, the last two volumes from Arkham House. These stories (as well as one previously uncollected story) were gathered in two volumes published by Ash-Tree Press: Off the Sand Road (2002) and What Shadows We Pursue (2003). The story "There's A Long, Long Trail A-Winding" which appears in The Princess of All Lands, won the 1977 World Fantasy Award for best novella. The Princess of All Lands is a collection of stories by author Russell Kirk. ... Watchers at the Strait Gate is a collection of stories by author Russell Kirk. ... Arkham House is a weird fiction specialty publishing house founded by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei. ... Ash-Tree Press is a Canadian company that publishes supernatural and horror literature. ... The Princess of All Lands is a collection of stories by author Russell Kirk. ... First awarded in 1975, the World Fantasy Awards are handed out annually at the World Fantasy Convention (WFC) to recognize outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy. ...

According to Reference.com, the science fiction writer and polymath Jerry Pournelle is a protege of Kirk's.[12] Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Leonardo da Vinci is seen as an epitome of the Renaissance man or polymath A polymath (Greek polymathēs, πολυμαθής, meaning knowing, understanding, or having learnt in quantity, compounded from πολυ- much, many, and the root μαθ-, meaning learning, understanding[1]) is a person well educated in a wide variety of subjects or... Jerry Pournelle at the 2006 Stanford Singularity Summit Jerry Pournelle, (born August 7, 1933) is an American essayist, journalist and science fiction author who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte. ...

Notes

1. ^ Which went into 7 editions, the later ones with the title The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot.
2. ^ Kirk, Russell, ed., 1982. The Portable Conservative Reader. Viking: xxxviii.
3. ^ Many published in his The Politics of Prudence (1993) and Redeeming the Time (1998).
4. ^ Nevertheless, many paleolibertarians respect Kirk's cultural conservatism.
5. ^ She claimed that Kirk "said people like my husband and me put the interest of Israel before the interest of the United States, that we have a dual loyalty."[1] Decter is the spouse of Norman Podhoretz.
6. ^ "[2] He called Decter's response untrue, [3] "reckless" and "vitriolic." Furthermore, he argued that such a denunciation "always plays into the hands of the left, which is then able to repeat the charges and claim conservative endorsement of them." [4]
7. ^ Nash (1998).

Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. ... Paleolibertarianism is a school of thought within American libertarianism founded by Murray Rothbard and Lew Rockwell, and closely associated with the Ludwig von Mises Institute. ... Cultural conservatism is conservatism with respect to culture. ... Norman Podhoretz (born January 16, 1930) is an American intellectual considered to be a prominent neo-conservative thinker and writer. ...

Bibliography

Modern Age articles available online via Ebsco. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... ‹The template below has been proposed for deletion. ...

• Attarian, John, 1998, "Russell Kirk's Political Economy," Modern Age 40: 87-97. Issn: 0026-7457.
• John P. East, 1984, "Russell Kirk as a Political Theorist: Perceiving the Need for Order in the Soul and in Society," Modern Age 28: 33-44. Issn: 0026-7457 .
• Kirk, Russell, 1995. The Sword of Imagination: Memoirs of a Half-Century of Literary Conflict. Kirk's memoirs.
• McDonald, William Wesley, 1982. The Conservative Mind of Russell Kirk: `The Permanent Things' in an Age of Ideology. Ph.D. dissertation, The Catholic University of America. Citation: DAI 1982 43(1): 255-A. DA8213740. Online at ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.
• --------, 1983, "Reason, Natural Law, and Moral Imagination in the Thought of Russell Kirk," Modern Age 27: 15-24. Issn: 0026-7457.
• --------, 2004. "Russell Kirk and The Age of Ideology." University of Missouri Press.
• --------, 1999. "Russell Kirk and the Prospects for Conservatism," Humanitas XII: 56-76.
• --------, 2006. "Kirk, Russell (1918-94)," in "American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia". ISI Books: 471-474. Biographical entry.
• Nash, George H., 1998. The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America.
• Person, Jr., James E., 1999. "Russell Kirk: A Critical Biography of a Conservative Mind". Madison Books.
• Russello, Gerald J., 1996, "The Jurisprudence of Russell Kirk," Modern Age 38: 354-63. Issn: 0026-7457. Reviews Kirk's writings on law, 1976-93, exploring his notion of natural law, his emphasis on the importance of the English common law tradition, and his theories of change and continuity in legal history.
• --------, 2007. "The Postmodern Imagination of Russell Kirk". University of Missouri Press.
• --------, 1999, "Time and Timeless: the Historical Imagination of Russell Kirk," Modern Age 41: 209-19. Issn: 0026-7457.
• --------, 2004, "Russell Kirk and Territorial Democracy," Publius 34: 109-24. Issn: 0048-5950.
• Whitney, Gleaves, 2001, "The Swords of Imagination: Russell Kirk's Battle with Modernity," Modern Age 43: 311-20. Issn: 0026-7457. Argues that Kirk used five "swords of imagination": historical, political, moral, poetic, and prophetic.

Categories: People stubs | 1931 births | 1986 deaths | United States Senators | Suicides ... The Catholic University of America (abbreviated CUA), located in Washington, D.C., is unique as the national university of the Roman Catholic Church and as the only higher education institution founded by U.S. Roman Catholic bishops. ... ProQuest Company is an Ann Arbor, Michigan based company specializing in microfilm and electronic publishing. ... Natural law or the law of nature (Latin lex naturalis) is a law whose content is set by nature, and that therefore has validity everywhere. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... Legal history is a term that has at least two meanings. ...

External links

• Miller, John L., "His Conservative Mind," Traverse (January 2007).
• "From The Academy."
• "Life with Russell Kirk" by Annette Kirk.
• "Russell Kirk on the Draft."
• Biography, at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal. With links to a very incomplete bibliography.
• "Russell Kirk Web Site" .
• Kirk, Russell, "Libertarians: Chirping Sectaries."
• Heritage Foundation lectures by Kirk:
  • "The Neoconservatives: An Endangered Species." Heritage lecture 178, December 15, 1988.
  • "The Conservative Movement: Then And Now." No date.