By Gennady Stolyarov II
August 31, 2016
Introduction
On the fourteenth anniversary of The Rational Argumentator, it is fitting to consider the tagline that has defined TRA since its founding: “A Journal for Western Man.” But who is this Western Man for whom The Rational Argumentator is intended? In 2002, the answer seemed clear to many libertarian, conservative, and Objectivist thinkers, who each understood the Western Man as a symbol of the cultural ideals and noblest aspirations of Western civilization.
Unfortunately, the 2010s, and especially the past two years, have seen the rise of a noxious, fundamentally anti-Western, anti-modern, and anti-civilization movement known as the “alt-right,” which has attempted to appropriate the rhetoric of Western culture and even the Renaissance for itself. The Rational Argumentator will not allow this appropriation to go unchallenged. TRA stands resolutely in opposition to all forms of bigotry, racism, nativism, misogyny, and any other circumstantially rooted intolerance—all of which contradict the ideals of high Western civilization. At the same time, TRA will not cave to the “social justice” campus activism of the far Left, which seeks to banish even the identification of Western culture and civilization, lest it offend the increasingly delicate sensibilities of firebrand youths who refuse to let knowledge of the external world interfere with their “feelings” and subjective experiences. TRA will not abandon the Western Man, but will continue to explain what the Western Man represents and why these principles are more important and enduring than the tumultuous, ephemeral, and likely futile activist movements of our era.
Defining the Western Man
So, who is the Western Man? It is not a particular man from the West, nor is it a descriptor limited to a subset of individuals based on birth, skin color, national origin, or gender. Indeed, my original intent behind the “Western Man” descriptor was to salvage the generic term “man”—meaning an archetypical representative of humankind—from any suggestion that it must be gender-specific. This subtitle transparently implies, “Of course, ‘Western Man’ includes women, too!” Some of the greatest and most courageous Western Men—from Hypatia of Alexandria to Mary Wollstonecraft to Ayn Rand to Ayaan Hirsi Ali—have been women. A Western Man can be born anywhere, have any physical features, age, gender (or lack of gender identity), sexual preferences (or lack thereof), or religion (or lack thereof)—as long as they are a thinking being who accepts the valuable contributions of Western culture and civilization and seeks to build upon them. If self-aware, rational artificial intelligences are developed, or if an intelligent alien species comes into contact with us, these beings could also be Western Men.
A Western Man respects and seeks to learn from the great philosophy, literature, art, music, natural and social sciences, mathematics, and political theory that flourished in Western societies over the past three millennia—though they are not required to focus exclusively on ideas originating in the West. Western culture has unceasingly interacted with and absorbed intellectual contributions from Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Arabic, Persian, Indian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese thinkers and creators, to name a few. Likewise, hope for the future of Western civilization lies with entrepreneurs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America who have spread digital-age technologies, constructed great buildings, and lifted billions out of abject poverty into humane, respectable living standards with ever-increasing longevity.
Core Principles of the Western Man
A Western Man embraces cosmopolitan universalism—a rejection of circumstantially defined tribalism and the casting of people as “one of us” or “the other” based on unchosen attributes. This universalism is the product of a long-evolving philosophical framework and the material abundance that broadened what Adam Smith termed our circles of sympathy to encompass ever more people.
The edifice of Western philosophical thought, built upon by thinkers since Thales, Socrates, and Aristotle, saw its greatest breakthroughs during the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment. The Western Men who embraced these ideals were often flawed, constrained by their time’s practical realities and social mores. Some unfortunately owned slaves, respected individual liberty inconsistently, or held improper prejudices due to ignorance or inconsistent principles. Nonetheless, their legacy—universal, inalienable individual rights and the preciousness of each person’s liberty and humanity—enabled later accomplishments like the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage and liberation, civil and privacy rights, cultural and legal acceptance of homosexuality, and recognition of rights for religious minorities, atheists, and children. We see farther and avoid past moral errors because, to paraphrase Sir Isaac Newton, we stand on the shoulders of intellectual giants.
The ideals of peaceful commerce and cultural exchange—indeed, deliberate and informed cultural appropriation of the best elements from every time, place, and way of life—have reduced warfare, diminished nationalistic and tribal hatreds, and fostered a widespread understanding of our fellows’ essential humanity worldwide. Without Western civilization’s intellectual achievements and the global commercial and industrial networks it birthed, humankind might still be mired in a Hobbesian war of all against all. A Western Man gives these achievements of modernity their deserved recognition and admiration, studying and respecting their forebears and authors. They also seek to build upon these accomplishments, adding their distinctive bricks to the edifice of human progress.
Characteristics of the Western Man
A Western Man is not a fanatic or a bully and sees both as threats to civilization. They do not use ideology to stifle peaceful expression or compel others into a static, totalitarian social order. A Western Man knows others may disagree and respects their right to do so peacefully, though not their right to be shielded from persuasion or contrary views.
A Western Man embraces reason to discover more about the external world and humanity. Reason, not exclusive to any group, requires training, effort, and respect for the intellect. From reason stem the empirical scientific method, deductive logic and mathematics, and technology that improves the human condition. A Western Man does not vilify technology but sees it as a driver of progress and an enabler of moral growth, freeing people from subsistence to contemplate better ways of living and relating.
The Western Man balances conservative and progressive motives—maintaining great achievements while creating new ones. They may identify as “liberal,” “conservative,” “libertarian,” “progressive,” or “apolitical,” but prioritize thought, study, discernment, work ethic, and building what is good over tearing down what exists out of rage or spite. Conservation and progress are not antagonists but essential to the Western Man’s mode of advancing civilization.
The Future and the Western Man
The next level of civilization—the unceasing expansion of human potential—is the Western Man’s preoccupation. Building on Enlightenment humanism, a Western Man can explore transhumanism, promising liberation from death, disease, scarcity, Earth-boundedness, and conflict.
Who is the Western Man? If you accept the challenge and honor of supporting and building upon the great civilization that offers unparalleled opportunities for a glorious future, then the Western Man can be you.
The Rational Argumentator’s Fourteenth Anniversary Manifesto: Who Is the Western Man?
About the AuthorGennady Stolyarov II (G. Stolyarov II) is an actuary, science-fiction novelist, independent philosophical essayist, poet, amateur mathematician, composer, and Editor-in-Chief of The Rational Argumentator, a magazine championing reason, rights, and progress. Mr. Stolyarov regularly produces YouTube videos discussing life extension, libertarianism, and related subjects.
Contact: gennadystolyarovii@gmail.com