Radically Moderate Round Up
We're taking a break from our usual radically moderate commentary on the world around us to drop some links about Radical Moderation that readers might find interesting. Some are recent pieces on moderation and some are much older approaches that have either inspired us in our radically moderate journey or that we find helpful in thinking about what radical moderation is supposed to do. So, without further ado, here's our first Radically Moderate Roundup!
Recent Writings on Moderation
The Radicalism of Moderation: We like Aurelian Craiutu's approach because it's both thoughtful and, by our standards at least, radical. He also does a good job here of discussing when moderation applies and when it doesn't. No spoilers: go read the piece!
Radical, Moderate, and Necessary: This is an interesting article on modern Catholicism in an uncertain age, particularly referencing the always delicate balance between "individual rights and the common good." While we disagree with some of the conclusions here, the article asks us to think more deeply about the ways in which our private lives and our public commitments serve God's purposes for us, here and in the afterlife.
In Search of a New Balance: This piece from the Niskanen Center think tank is an excellent overview of the perils facing moderation in an increasingly partisan and divided age. As the authors point out, "Moderates are not centrists; they embrace an eclectic mix of bold policies that range from conservative to progressive, based on where the evidence leads." Aurelian Craiutu is one of the authors on this, so there's some overlap with his other article we linked to above, but this is a much deeper dive. You can also check out his recent book on moderation here.
What all of these readings have in common is the conviction that Radical Moderation places us above and outside of the current bipartisan fray, animated by broader and more complex questions than simply identity politics or purity tests can illuminate. We need to step outside of our current political binary and start looking for all the complex gray areas where truly Radically Moderate principles can make a fundamental difference.
We need to step outside of our current political binary and start looking for all the complex gray areas where truly Radically Moderate principles can make a fundamental difference.
Ancient Radical Moderates to Know and Love
The Buddha, Aristotle, and Jesus: the OG Radical Moderates
We like to think of Jesus as putting the "radical" in radical moderate, but Aristotle and Buddha both made moderation cool and, dare we say it, radical. We'll do more posts in the future on the philosophic and religious roots of Radical Moderation, but for now here are some foundational links and resources to check out.
Buddha and the Middle Way: The Buddha began his life in excess, living in a palace before doing a total 180 and becoming a starving ascetic. His enlightenment came as a result of the realization that the middle way between the extremes of lavish opulence and intentional starvation represented another way of thinking about the world. As a result, he counseled his followers to take the Middle Way, which eventually became a philosophic rejection of dualism and binary thinking that we could all learn from. Very exciting!
Aristotle's Radically Moderate Ethics: You should really read the Nichomachean Ethics at some point in your life, but the TL;DR version is that the purpose of life is to flourish and the way you get flourishing is through virtue. And Aristotle doesn't leave us hanging on virtue either. Virtue is the moderate pursuit of the good life in accordance with reason, balancing between too much or too little of any particular thing. As one might expect, making the right decisions about the truly moderate path requires prudence, or the ability to apply broader theoretical truths to the specifics of time and place (a major part of what we try to do with this blog). He's great!
Jesus, The Radically Moderate Son of God: We might of course see Jesus's lessons as purely radical, since he was not only the son of God but also God himself and of course he also radically challenged the corrupt practices of the time. Not much moderation in all that. But in Jesus's teachings we find a radically moderate reorientation back toward the true purpose of religion, faith, and leadership; one characterized not by the desire to serve the purposes of the world but by the guiding principle of serving God and others. As part of that service, the rules of radical moderation apply, all bound together by the radical affirmation of God's love. Pretty cool!
If there's one thing Buddha, Aristotle, and Jesus all agree on it's that Radical Moderation is work that's worth doing and that human life - both individually and in community - will be incomplete without it.
The crucial thing that ties all these thinkers together for the purposes of our project here is that their moderation is deeply, foundationally, radical. None of these thinkers choose moderation because it's comfortable or easy or because it makes people like them or because shallow compromise keeps the world running. These thinkers chose moderation of a very particular sort precisely because they recognized that true moderation is good, true, and just. Unfortunately for all of us, it's hard. Unlike shallow moderation, radical moderation requires (to plagiarize ourselves) "humility, a respect for complexity, an appreciation of real diversity, a commitment to community and civility, an awareness of tradeoffs, and ultimately a deep respect for individual human beings, because humans are what this is all about." It requires prudence to put this all together and it requires discipline to not allow anger and outrage to color our perception of other people. It's hard work! But if there's one thing Buddha, Aristotle, and Jesus all agree on is that it's work that's worth doing and that human life, both individually and in community, will be incomplete without it.
What about you? What OG Radical Moderates would you add here? Are there other Radical Moderates we should know about? Post them in the comments!