Ideas Have Consequences

1948 book by Richard M. Weaver Ideas Have Consequences First editionAuthorRichard M. WeaverLanguageEnglishSubjectPhilosophyPublisherUniversity of Chicago PressPublication date1948Publication placeUnited StatesMedia typePrint (Paperback)Pages190ISBN0-226-87680-2OCLC11120554 Ideas Have Consequences is a philosophical work by Richard M. Weaver, published in 1948 by the University of Chicago Press. The book is largely a treatise on the harmful effects of nominalism on Western civilization since this doctrine gained prominence in the Late Middle Ages, followed by a prescription of a course of action through which Weaver believes the West might be rescued from its decline. Epistemology and approach Weaver rejects the notion that the axioms underlying a human belief system can be arbitrary exercises of ultimate choice not anchored in objective realities without that system declining and ultimately failing. Accordingly, Weaver attacks nominalism using historical analogy and the teleological implications, or "consequences" of such a world view. It is important, however, to distinguish this approach from that of historicism, which contends that history unfolds in deterministic cycles. Weaver