Why We Should Study the History of Western Civilization

By |2016-01-13T22:33:13-06:00May 7th, 2014|Categories: Christianity, Education, Freedom of Religion, Liberal Learning, Modernity, Western Civilization|Tags: , |

Over the years I have gotten into trouble more than a few times for things I have written or said in public, but I suppose the chief cause of my notoriety is a speech I gave to the freshmen of Yale College suggesting that they would be wise to make the study of Western civilization [...]

The Classical Muses Unamused

By |2014-02-12T15:56:15-06:00November 9th, 2013|Categories: Culture, Stephen Masty|Tags: |

It was a peculiar board-meeting, thought Daphne, because all of its members were women. It’s most uncommon there, although many small Greek companies are headed by women and most big national conglomerates employ a few female directors. Nor had she heard of MuseCorp, but many firms still survive the economic hardship. These eight ladies were [...]

Insights on the Government Shutdown from Thucydides

By |2015-05-19T23:18:57-05:00October 16th, 2013|Categories: Books, Classics, Robert M. Woods, Thucydides|Tags: |

And if we should know what government is, we should observe, in Thucydides' laconic account of the revolution at Corcyra, what happens when it fails.– Stringfellow Barr Most keen observers would say that our government has been in failure mode for a number of decades, and this is not easily refuted on empirical grounds. Readers of [...]

Happiness: Aristotle and the American Founding

By |2022-02-22T17:58:47-06:00September 18th, 2012|Categories: American Founding, Aristotle, Bradley J. Birzer, Classics, Ethics, George Washington|Tags: |

  The Question: What has the Ethics to do with the Declaration? As the subtitle indicates, we are to examine whether or not Aristotle spoke to the founding generation. Sadly, I must be rather blunt: Aristotle had almost no direct influence on the Founding or the founding generation. And, when he did speak to them, [...]

When Greeks Bear Gifts: On Economy, Philosophy and Freedom

By |2014-01-26T16:07:39-06:00May 13th, 2012|Categories: Economics, Political Economy|Tags: , , |

“To say that private men have nothing to do with government is to say that private men have nothing to do with their own happiness or misery; that people ought not to concern themselves whether they be naked or clothed, fed or starved, deceived or instructed, protected or destroyed.”—Marcus Cato The Elder “Didst thou forget [...]

Russell Kirk and the Roots (and Shoots) of American Order

By |2017-06-22T14:32:10-05:00January 9th, 2011|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, Culture, Edmund Burke, Gleaves Whitney, Roots of American Order, Russell Kirk, Western Civilization|Tags: , |

Russell Kirk and the Roots of American Order Russell Kirk best tells the story of the West in The Roots of American Order. Now in its fourth edition, Roots is “simply one of the finest surveys of the classical, religious, and European influences on American political thought ever composed” (Lee Cheek). In his masterpiece, Dr. [...]

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