David Whitney

Written by David Whitney

David Whitney is Associate Editor of VoegelinView and Associate Professor of Political Science at Nicholls State University in Louisiana. He is author of Maladies of Modernity: Scientism and the Deformation of Political Order (St. Augustine's, 2019).

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Inventing the Individual:  The Origins of Western Liberalism. Larry Siedentop. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2014.
 
Liberalism is rightly considered to be an ideology based primarily on individual freedom.  Hobbes and Locke, as philosophical proponents of natural rights, were among the first to argue that government exists primarily for the protection of individual rights. The fear of violent death compels man to…

The interplay between politics and science is certainly not a new phenomenon, but astonishing scientific advances in medicine and technology during the 20th century, and into the first two decades of the 21st, have forced us to reconsider that relationship.  While those advances led to unprecedented wealth and accumulation of material comforts, man’s increased control over nature also meant that…

The Politics of Perfection: Technology and Creation in Literature and Film. Kimberly Hurd Hale. Lexington Books, 2016.
 
In The Politics of Perfection:  Technology and Creation in Literature and Film, Kimberly Hurd Hale confronts one of the most serious political issues facing humanity in the 21st century.  Technology, increasing at an exponential rate, offers unique challenges and opportunities.  While most people have…

Nearly sixty-five years ago, Eric Voegelin delivered a series of lectures at the University of Chicago under the sponsorship of the Walgreen Foundation.  These lectures were subsequently published the following year and The New Science of Politics quickly became a best seller in political theory.[1] Many viewed the book as an apology for political theory and while this is partially…

Revolutions: Finished and Unfinished, from Primal to Final. Paul Caringella, Wayne Critaudo, Glenn Hughes, eds. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2012.
 
Revolution is a term that has found an enduring place within the lexicon of Western civilization over the past century. It would not be much of a stretch to characterize the 20th century as one of revolutionary fervor; and nearly a…

The Religious Foundation of Francis Bacon's Thought. Stephen A. McKnight. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2006.

 
As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, questions about the relationship between science and politics are perhaps more important than ever. We enjoy unprecedented power over nature. We are confronted with issues such as stem cell research, weaponized science,and climate…