Fr. Schall's Foreward for Leisure: The Basis of Culture

Today is a world of novelty. It revels in new things, no doubt a result of Sarte's existentialism. Fr. Schall promotes the preeminence of ancient philosophy, something considered by most to be outdated. How can we defend his statement "knowing little or nothing before Machiavelli or Descartes is a formula for philosophical incoherence." against the culture of novelty and the denigration of the past?