Ideas Have Consequences

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Ideas Have Consequences (1948), a book by Richard M. Weaver, had a good deal of influence stating a nostalgic, agrarian variant of political conservatism.

The book begins with a clear statement of a view often associated with Oswald Spengler, i.e. that western civilization is in an irrevocable decay.

"Civilization has been an intermittent phenomenon," Weaver wrote, and "to this truth we have allowed ourselves to be blinded by the insolence of material success." Weaver criticizes the nominalist view of the problem of universals, which he saw not only as an epistemological error but as a moral flaw, and as the cause of the decay.

The title has been quoted so often in subsequent decades that it is sometimes considered a cliché. It is especially common in libertarian intellectual circles where it is interpreted in a broad sense to mean that ideology is not irrelevant, i.e. political philosophy impacts politics and society and should not be taken lightly.

According to some sources, the title was the publisher's decision and Weaver himself disliked it.