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scientism comments on "NRx" vs. "Prog" Assumptions: Locating the Sources of Disagreement Between Neoreactionaries and Progressives (Part 1) - Less Wrong Discussion

6 Post author: Matthew_Opitz 04 September 2014 04:58PM

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Comment author: scientism 04 September 2014 08:49:28PM *  7 points [-]

All three projects - liberalism, socialism and progressivism - are related by common commitments that have their origins in Enlightenment political philosophy. Because progressives believe in systemic oppression, they have to alleviate systemic oppression in order to achieve liberty: we won't be truly free until we're free from racism, sexism, etc. They're still committed to value pluralism. All three projects faced the (paradoxical) issue of having to attain state power in order to enforce their vision. Liberal democracy was often created on the back of violent revolution, for example.

Libertarians typically identify with classical liberalism and decry progressivism as statist and oppressive, it's true, but that doesn't mean that progressives aren't committed to liberty and value pluralism on their own terms. They have a different notion of what those things mean, they don't reject them.

Comment author: Matthew_Opitz 04 September 2014 10:36:11PM 1 point [-]

Yes, the common thread is the Enlightenment. See my response to Lumifer regarding who are the "progressives" I am talking about. They are not necessarily the people in America who flock to the Democratic Party. I don't think neoreactionaries are just complaining about democrats when they go after "progressivism." They have a far more broad target in mind—the Enlightenment, I guess, more or less.

Comment author: Lumifer 05 September 2014 12:35:10AM 3 points [-]

They have a far more broad target in mind—the Enlightenment, I guess, more or less.

No need to guess, rejecting the Enlightenment is one of the big NR themes...

Comment author: Azathoth123 05 September 2014 02:36:09AM *  4 points [-]

rejecting the Enlightenment is one of the big NR themes...

It's also a big thing in modern Progressivism on the grounds that the Enlightenment was a bunch of dead white men. The difference, and this is the reason why it's so easy to get confused by the relationship between the Enlightenment and Progressivism, is that modern Progressives seek to reject the Enlightenment in the name of the Enlightenment.