Deep Dive S2E1: The Intellectual Revolution That Built the West

This is the first episode of our second Deep Dive series, in which we explore the rise and fall of liberal political ideology in the West. Over four episodes published throughout August, we trace how ideas, and the intellectual cultures that produced them, built the world we live in today, and why the abandonment of that tradition is at the heart of the crisis the West now finds itself in.

We begin in the 18th century. Europe was gearing up to unshackle itself from centuries of despotic monarchy. The printing press had created an educated, knowledge-hungry middle class that was no longer under the control of traditional religious or aristocratic hierarchies. Philosophers and political thinkers, drawing on foundations laid during the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution, began applying empiricism and reason not just to the natural world but to the political one. The result was a flowering of ideas, from Rousseau, Voltaire and Montesquieu in France to Locke and Hume in Britain, that would transform how the West understood itself and what it believed government was for.

In our discussion, Balder and Dario examine why the 18th century matters so much, how intellectualism only becomes politically transformative when it connects with a sufficiently educated and literate mass population, and what the difference is between the ideological debates of that era and the tribal noise that passes for political conversation today. We are, as Balder puts it, more tribal but less ideological than at any point in the past two centuries. The 21st century is not short of opinions. It is short of ideas.

This podcast is an individual project between us, Dario Hasenstab and Balder Hageraats. We are supported by our producer Stefani Obradovic from Western Bubble Insights & Strategy. If you would like to get in touch with us, write us an email at thewesternbubble@gmail.com.