Friends, I recently addressed the Knights of Malta about this convulsive time in our national history, demonstrated by the global pandemic, unstable politics, and outbursts of violence. But not many people understand the ideologies that stand behind the rioting and deep unrest that we see on our city streets. What I do in this brief presentation is to step back a bit from current events and explore four thinkers who have had a profound impact in shaping the world that we are confronting: Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Michel Foucault. Once we understand some of their most basic ideas, we will recognize their influence everywhere today