Daniel Schwindt

Daniel Schwindt (born November 4, 1985) is an American writer and social critic. His work focuses on popularizing the principles of Catholic social teaching. In 2015 he published Catholic Social Teaching: A New Synthesis, for use as a textbook on the subject. The book was favorably received. In early 2016 he published a companion volume, The Papist's Guide to America which used Catholic social teaching as a point of departure in order to launch a fierce critique of Liberalism in general and American political and economic structures in particular, claiming that America is the only country founded exclusively on liberal principles. Some saw in this volume an exaggeration of the role of the pope, and accused Schwindt of arguing for a kind of "papalotry." Eventually, Schwindt extended his argument to the modern world in general with The Case Against the Modern World: A Crash Course in Traditionalist Thought.
Ideas
Ignorance
Borrowing heavily from the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville, Schwindt explains that modern democratic societies have combined egalitarianism with individualism in order to create an unprecedented level of individual ignorance, since in such a climate each individual trusts only his own reason and experience, both of which are always very limited in scope. The result is an exaggerated view of one's mental capabilities:
When man viewed himself as generally ignorant of most things from the start, which is true of us all, then knowledge was able to maintain a position of authority and to direct the affairs of men. Once ignorance was forgotten—or denied altogether, particularly in regard to our social consciousness of the fact—the power and influence of knowledge began to evaporate. It began to wane, and has not stopped waning since, and it is reasonable to suggest that it may be ignorance, rather than knowledge, that gives direction to politics, economics, and the sciences of our world today.
Schwindt argues that ignorance in itself is not evil, and when acknowledged it is not a threat to society in general. But when it is denied, and when every individual believes himself capable of dealing with subjects he really knows nothing about, then ignorance is allowed to direct politics, and chaos is the result.
Propaganda
Following Jacques Ellul, Schwindt argues that an inevitable outcome of this situation is widespread government and corporate propaganda. The government, seeing that the individual does not know how to choose what is best for the country, tries to manipulate him into letting the government choose for him. Corporate propaganda, on the other hand, attempts to leverage individual ignorance in order to influence buying decisions. According to Schwindt's view, even the individual craves the guiding hand of propaganda, and is usually a willing participant in the process. This is because the modern citizen is deeply distressed by an awareness of his inability to deal with an incomprehensibly complex society.
Here secularism is also a factor. The great problems of life were once answered by religious authorities. However, in modern societies religious ideas are devalued and discredited, and the individual is left to himself to make sense of life. Inevitably the individual fails and again looks to social authorities for explanations, but since there are no priests he instead turns to politicians, celebrities, and media pundits. He turns to propaganda.
Catholic social teaching
As a positive vision for society that minimizes the dangers posed by human moral and mental frailty, Schwindt offers the principles of Catholic social teaching. Taken as a coherent whole, he believes these principles offer a stable vision of society that could restore economic and political activity to health. This vision would avoid the negatives aspects of both capitalism and socialism, while at the same time minimizing the political disorder which characterizes modern liberal political systems since the Enlightenment.
Schwindt rejects socialism, but has vehemently criticized other Catholic writers who have tried to present a view of Catholic social teaching that can be reconciled with capitalism and the neoconservative vision of society. In a review of Michael Novak's Social Justice Isn't What You Think It Is, co-authored by Paul Adams, Schwindt claimed that the authors "are engaged in a re-invention of Catholic Social Teaching in the image of Hayek...The resulting construction is a bizarre creature indeed."
Positions
* Monarchism
* Catholicism
* Traditionalist School
* Social disintegration
Works
* ', 2013.
* ', 2014.
* ', 2015.
* [https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Social-Teaching-Synthesis-Novarum/dp/0692470387/ Catholic Social Teaching: A New Synthesis (Rerum Novarum to Laudato Si')], 2015.
* ', 2015.
* The Papist's Guide to America, 2016.
* ', 2016.

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