Modern liberalism, for most liberals is not a consciously understood set of rational beliefs, but a bundle of unexamined prejudices and conjoined sentiments. The basic ideas and beliefs seem more satisfactory when they are not made fully explicit, when they merely lurk rather obscurely in the background, coloring the rhetoric and adding a certain emotive glow.
Interpretation
Modern liberalism often consists of unexamined beliefs and sentiments rather than rational thought.
In this quote, James Burnham suggests that many liberals may not be fully aware of the foundational beliefs that underpin their ideology. Instead, these beliefs linger in the subconscious, influencing their rhetoric and emotional responses without being critically examined, which can lead to a lack of clarity and rationality in their approach to liberalism.
In practice
In a discussion about political ideologies, you might use this quote to emphasize the importance of critical thinking.
Really, I have to laugh because there was a whole set of stories that made me sound like the Dragon Lady, you know, 'tough this and tough that.' Then there is this business about 'gooey.' The bottom line is I am a pragmatic idealist.
The stone that was rolled before Christ's tomb might appropriately be called the philosopher's stone because its removal gave not only the pharisees but, now for 1800 years, the philosophers so much to think about.
If you look at all the notions we accept about who we are, you find that they are all based upon our perceptual experiences.
The central function of imaginative literature is to make you realize that other people act on moral convictions different from your own.
Science will never be able to reduce the value of a sunset to arithmetic. Nor can it reduce friendship to formula. Laughter and love, pain and loneliness, the challenge of beauty and truth: these will always surpass the scientific mastery of nature.
He was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all
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