Gus – Gus diZerega

NeoPaganism, the Volk, and the Contemporary Pagan Right

Posted on September 5, 2020December 13, 2020 by Gus

Latest Revison 12/13//2020

Based on a paper delivered at “Paganism and its Discontents,” March 15, 2019. Cherry Hill Seminary, University of South Carolina

The American Heathen community is deeply divided about issues of race, ethnicity, and the political values … Read more

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NeoPaganism, Divine Immanence, and the Sacred Feminine

Posted on August 10, 2020December 30, 2020 by Gus

Introduction

This essay analyzes hotly contested issues within the contemporary American Pagan community. The arguments creating such discord rely on holding two contradictory positions at the same time. First, gender is socially, not biologically, defined. The second is there are … Read more

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What is fascism?

Posted on August 1, 2020August 1, 2020 by Gus

People frequently discuss fascism in America today, in no small part because we now have a significant fascist movement in this country. But many different groups use the term in many different ways. Most basically, some call it “right wing” … Read more

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My New Book–“God is Dead, Long Live the Gods”–is Available!

Posted on July 14, 2020August 10, 2020 by Gus

God is Dead, Long Live the Gods: A case for polytheism

Why does polytheism make more sense than monotheism?
Why do monotheistic religions always manifest as confused forms of polytheism?
Why are successful scientific criticisms of monotheism irrelevant to a

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WORKING PAPER Outgrowing Methodological individualism: Emergence, spontaneous order, and civil society

Posted on July 8, 2020July 8, 2020 by Gus

working paper – comments encouraged.

“It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.”

Deng Xiaoping

“it depends in the end on what one’s definition of methodological individualism is.”

Bruce Caldwell

Abstract

Methodological … Read more

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The troubling case of eugenics

Posted on June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 by Gus

In the late 1880s Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton advocated applying scientific insights to human reproduction. He label his proposed science “eugenics.” Galton argued that just as physical traits were obviously inherited, the same could be said for mental qualities. In … Read more

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The Roots of Religious Nihilism

Posted on June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 by Gus

Medieval theologians wondered about the nature of Divinity as much as anyone. Arguing in opposition to St. Thomas Aquinas’s views that God did what was good because God was good, and so acted reasonably, the scholastic Duns Scotus claimed that … Read more

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The Hypnosis of Texts

Posted on June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 by Gus

The medium we use for communication influences the nature of what we communicate. Because we communicate through these mediums, we are often unaware of how they shape what it is we communicate.

David Abram’s Spell of the Sensuous argued that … Read more

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The Corporation, American Nihilism and Mafia Capitalism

Posted on June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 by Gus

The nihilism growing in America manifests in many ways, but three are particularly worrisome. Two, Neoconservatism and the religious right, will get chapters of their own because they reflect the major forms nihilism takes while battling the cultural and spiritual … Read more

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The DDT Lie

Posted on June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 by Gus

When I was invited a few years ago to attend a meeting of the once classical liberal Mt. Pelerin Society in Salt Lake City I was surprised to hear little in the way of informed conversation about markets and ecologies. … Read more

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