democracy
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Is Democracy Viable?
A Philosophical Happy Hour inquiring into the long-term institutional viability of democratic governance. Why is democracy the favored form of governance in the modern world? The modern forms of democratic government emerged alongside an emphasis on individual rights, autonomy, and equality. Therefore it seems, at the root of such emergence, we find beliefs both about…
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Reading Circle: Pierre Manent [2026-27]
Description Democracy without Nations?: The Fate of Self-Government in Europe (4 weeks) [March–April]This work, now over twenty years old, retains clear relevance today in light of the current crisis of the nation-state as a political form. The book is an extended essay on some of the consequences of late–twentieth-century changes in European governance. As an…
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On Limits to the Freedom of Expression
A Philosophical Happy Hour on an issue of perennial contention in liberal democracies everywhere: where do we draw the lines around the freedom of expression? In his dissent from the Supreme Court’s 7-2 ruling in Abrams et al. v. United States, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote this since-famous line: “the ultimate good desired is better…
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2024 Summer: A Thomistic Defense of Democracy
Can democracy be saved? Ours, on both the left and the right, seems to be a world viewed increasingly through post-liberal lenses. Must we return to a strict hierarchy if we are to abandon the “liberal experiment” that has rendered increasing ailment in recent decades—if, that is, we are not to lapse into socialist totalitarianism? …
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Political Philosophy: A Thomistic Defense of Democracy
This seminar has been cancelled and will be offered instead at a later date TBD. Can we have a democratic government in an increasingly post-liberal world? Must we return to a strict hierarchy if we are to abandon the “liberal experiment” that has rendered increasing ailment in recent decades? These are not questions with simple…