"Aurel Kolnai's writing is as exquisitely sophisticated in form as it is sharp in argument and engaging in content. An exile, he wrote in many languages, displaying an astonishing command of literary style, the consequence of his relentless command of ideas. Reading his philosophical essays--some of which are translated for the first time in this collection--the reader cannot avoid experiencing the "shock of recognition": so rarely does the elegance of style coalesce with the power of original thought. The exactingness of Kolnai's conceptual analysis, which gained the admiration of analytical thinkers such as Bernard Williams and David Wiggins, encounters the insights of phenomenology and the breadth of European culture. Kolnai reveals the dangerous fragility of the ideals of 'democracy' and 'equality' if the notions of 'privilege' and 'dignity' are not duly recovered. 'Take, read!'" --Andrea Aldo Robiglio, professor of history of philosophy, KU Leuven, Belgium "Graham McAleer is to be applauded for assembling a rich array of Aurel Kolnai's reflections on morality, civilization, and the totalitarian subversion of human freedom and dignity. The essays from the 1930s are absolute gems. [They] expose the false 'vitalism' of National Socialist ideology and the lamentable indulgence of serious thinkers such as Carl Schmitt and Martin Heidegger (and lesser-known religious and political thinkers) toward the evil of National Socialism.

They are especially compelling for being written contemporaneously with events. More recent essays include a powerful reflection that warns against the confusion of religion with secular humanitarianism and a timely critique of "situation ethics" that distinguishes true morality and Christianity from its relativistic subversion. This is moral and political philosophy of the highest quality, as well as an indispensable guide to understanding the twentieth century." --Daniel J. Mahoney, Augustine Chair in Distinguished Scholarship, Assumption College and the editor of Kolnai's Privilege and Liberty and Other Essays in Political Philosophy.