From Basel to Brooklyn: Liberal Cultural Pessimism in Burckhardt, Röpke, and the American Neoconservatives

Abstract

Kahan argues that cultural pessimism has always been a characteristic of some strands of liberal thought and that therefore Wilhelm Röpke’s cultural pessimism does not mean that he was a conservative. Liberal cultural pessimism can be found in both anti-modernist and modernist forms. Jacob Burckhardt and Röpke share an anti-modernist liberal cultural pessimism, whereas the American neoconservative Irving Kristol is an example of a modernist liberal cultural pessimism. Even though many liberals have been optimists, optimism has never been a requirement for liberalism.