What has defined the West is the convergence between Rome and Athens. Pope Benedict XVI related the phenomenon in his memorable 2006 Regensburg lecture. The “inner rapprochement between Biblical faith and Greek philosophical inquiry” ultimately “created Europe and remains the foundation of what rightly can be called Europe.” It is what makes the West, the West.

The core of this convergence is reason. It is reason, of course, that makes possible human flourishing through the acquisition and development of knowledge. The admonition in commerce and governance that executives and officials must “think outside the box” has nearly achieved bromide status. But it is the most sound of principles. “The box” constitutes our premises, what the former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld—with the humility one must have in the puzzling field of intelligence analysis—would presume to call the “known knowns.” Because knowledge itself constantly reminds us that our knowledge is apt to be imperfect, we frequently need to challenge our basic assumptions in order to solve the vexing problem or find the next Information Age innovation. That is why progress requires reason.

Progress requires reason.

It is one of those cruel ironies that one regularly encounters in political discourse, then, that our society’s forces of anti-reason are known as “progressives”—proving yet again the wisdom in George Orwell’s observation that “the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.” They are winning, which in the context of this conference