The Challenges that Confront the United States
With the inauguration of the new president approaching, I thought it might be worthwhile to review some of the challenges that the new administration will confront.[1] Although…
Natural Law
Natural law is both a moral and legal theory that posits the existence of a law whose content is set by nature and therefore has validity everywhere…
Reflections on Aristotle’s Politics
Reflections on Aristotle’s Politics. Mogens Herman Hansen, Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2013. Reflections on Aristotle’s Politics is another innovative and interesting work by Mogens Herman Hansen…
Aristotle on the Nature of Community
Aristotle on the Nature of Community. Adriel M. Trott. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Adriel M. Trott’s Aristotle on the Nature of the Community examines…
Reason’s Dark Champions
Reason's Dark Champions: Constructive Strategies of Sophistic Argument. Christopher W. Tindale. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2010. Christopher W. Tindale’s book traces the reputation,…
Politics, Philosophy, Writing: Plato’s Art of Caring for Souls
Politics, Philosophy, Writing: Plato's Art of Caring for Souls. Zdravko Planinc, ed. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. Too often Plato's dialogues are presented according to…
Eros, Wisdom, and Silence: Plato’s Erotic Dialogues
Eros, Wisdom, and Silence: Plato's Erotic Dialogues. James M. Rhodes. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2003. Although his name and his disciples have dominated American political…
Cosmopolitanism: Citizens Without States?
While our political and cultural elites debate about what to do with the millions of illegal immigrants in this country, it may be worthwhile to pause for…
The Limits of Identity Politics
After the election, a student came into my office and asked me, “What is my major good for?”[1] The quote perfectly captured the post-election state of my…
The American Political System: What We Can Be Thankful For
With another presidential election when there was no mandate to do anything, one would be excused to be cynical and jaded about the state of our politics…
Obama’s Paradoxical Legacy
As we are about to elect a new president, President Obama only has a few months left in office. What will his legacy be? Although it is…
Tocqueville, Weber, and Democracy: The Condition of Equality and the Possibility of Charisma in America
Both Tocqueville and Weber confronted the injection of mass suffrage into the liberal democratic polity with trepidation and caution but for different reasons: for Tocqueville, democracy produced…