In this book, Anthony Esolen zeroes in on a series of falsehoods that in our time we are nearly compelled to accept, either explicitly or implicitly, or falsehoods that the "elites" among us accept, without their always telling us so. A falsehood is not just an opinion that happens to be incorrect, but a radically wrong way of viewing the world and man's place in it. The falsehoods in question are related; they follow from one another. The chapters of the book thus move from one falsehood to the next, from the most fundamental and ultimately destructive, to the falsehoods that spring from them and do the proximate work of destruction.
Introduction:
- The First Lie: There is No God
- The Second Lie: There is No Objective Moral Truth
- The Third Lie: There is No Such Thing as Beauty
- The Fourth Lie: Human Nature Does Not Exist
- The Fifth Lie: Equality is the Foundation and Fulfillment of All Human Society
- The Sixth Lie: Cultural Progress is Inevitable
- The Seventh Lie: Western Christian Men are to Blame for Everything
- A Series of Lies, and Their Typical Forms
- Conclusion: What is to Be Done?