Political Theory Institute at American University

Here is our event schedule for the rest of the semester.

All events 5:30-7:00 pm ET & live online via Zoom – except for the 11/11 event which will be both in person on campus and live streamed.

10/7: Sophie Marcotte-Chenard, Carleton University (Canada), on “What Can We Learn from Political History? Strauss and Aron on Thucydides.” In Conversation with Alan Levine.

10/25: Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University, on “Populism, Polarization, and National Identity.” In Conversation with Alan Levine.

11/11: Anika Prather, founder, The Living Water School, on “The Black Classical Tradition.” Lincoln Scholars Lecture. In Conversation with Thomas W. Merrill.

12/2: Benjamin and Jenna Storey, Furman University, on “Why We Are Restless: The Modern Quest for Contentment.” In Conversation with Alan Levine.

Here is our Spring Lecture Schedule!

1. February 18 (Tuesday): Terrence Johnson, Georgetown University, on “The Souls of Black Folk: Double Consciousness and the Grammar of Black Politics.”

2. March 3 (Tuesday): Yuval Levin, Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and the editor of National Affairs, on “A Time to Build.”

3. March 23 (Monday): Remi Brague, University Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris I), emeritus, “What Went Wrong with Modernity?”

4. April 7 (Tuesday): Roosevelt Montas, Director of the Great Books Program at Columbia University, "Democratizing the Great Books"

5. April 21 (Tuesday): “The Life and Work of Gertrude Himmelfarb” – a panel discussion featuring: Matthew Continetti, Founding Editor of the Washington Free Beacon and adjunct professor at American University; Jerry Muller, Catholic University; Samuel Moyn, Yale University; William Kristol, Director, Defending Democracy Together and former Sine Fellow at American University.

Our speaker for tomorrow's event Danielle Allen has a new essay in The Atlantic. Check it out and join us tomorrow for her lecture on The Declaration of Independence.

The Road From Serfdom How Americans can become citizens again

Political Theory Institute at American University updated their business hours.

Wow, thanks, Marissa, and Project of Civil Discourse!

A Reflection on “The Purpose of a Liberal Education” By Marissa Klass, AU SPA “Are you being challenged in your fundamental beliefs?” asked Dr. Robert George, a political philosopher and American legal scholar at Princeton University. Robert George w…

This Thursday! DC friends, please come!

We asked some of our 2018 PTI grads what their favorite political theory books are: https://youtu.be/W8Uxidp2DVU

AU School of Public Affairs Political Theory Institute Political theory is the study of political ideas and values like justice, power, and democracy that we use to describe, understand and assess political pract...

Facebook friends, if you attended one of our lecture this semester please consider taking the time to fill out a brief survey about the lecture. We are planning next semester's events and would love to hear what you think.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WZGLK5C

Political Theory Institute Lecture Series Spring 2018 Survey Web survey powered by SurveyMonkey.com. Create your own online survey now with SurveyMonkey's expert certified FREE templates.

In case you are interested in Calhoun, here is Tom Merrill's review of a new book on JC: http://www.libertylawsite.org/book-review/john-c-calhoun-madisonian-manque/

John C. Calhoun, Madisonian Manqué - Law & Liberty A quixotic attempt to read classical republicanism into Calhoun’s concurrent majority idea and his interpretation of the American constitutional tradition.

Pics from last night's panel discussion.

Apologies to anyone who tried to RSVP for the panel next week and was't able to. The problem has now been fixed.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reading-the-bible-with-the-founding-fathers-panel-discussion-tickets-43172410843

Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers: Panel Discussion Join us for a panel discussion of Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers by Daniel Dreisbach, a professor in the Department of Justice, Law and Criminology at American University. In his book, Prof. Dreisbach broaches the perennial question of the role of religion in the American founding by ca...

Thanks to our great speakers at the first session of PTI's class "Working As a Political Theorist": Ryan Sabot, Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, Shanaysha Sauls, and Joshua Miller. Here is one of the videos shown by Shanaysha Sauls, really good stuff:

Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women

If you heard Vickie Sullivan's lecture last night this shouldn't surprise you.
https://twitter.com/ptiatau/status/977266493216972801

Political Theory Institute at American University on Twitter “Montesquieu’s opinion of the greats: “ARISTOTLE wanted to indulge sometimes his jealousy against Plato, and sometimes his passion for Alexander. Plato was incensed against the tyranny of the people of Athens. Machiavel was full of his idol, the duke of Valentinois.””

https://twitter.com/ptiatau/status/975450109671542785

Political Theory Institute at American University on Twitter “In honor of Vickie Sullivan's upcoming lecture, a bit of Machiavellian advice for your Sunday: "It is necessary for a prince to know well how to use the beast and the man."”

Shanaysha Sauls of the Baltimore Community Foundation is only one of our speakers in the "Working as a Political Theorist" class on March 24th and April 7th. Spaces are still available, sign up now!

José Antonio Bowen and Shanaysha M. Sauls The educators reveal why relationships trump content, high school graduations are better than college ones, and liberal arts colleges are more inclusive than…

Shanaysha Sauls of the Baltimore Community Foundation will be speaking at PTI's class, "Working as a Political Theorist." Here's an interview with her. Spaces are still available, sign up now:

José Antonio Bowen and Shanaysha M. Sauls The educators reveal why relationships trump content, high school graduations are better than college ones, and liberal arts colleges are more inclusive than…

https://twitter.com/ptiatau/status/969294985798602753

Political Theory Institute at American University on Twitter “PTI's 2017 Constitution Day speaker Greg Weiner on the Second Amendment. https://t.co/5ONz3Ife64”

PTI Tweets!
https://twitter.com/ptiatau/status/967153590992293890

Political Theory Institute at American University on Twitter “Thanks to everyone who was able to make it to last night's lecture by Matthew Slaboch. By way of continuing the conversation here is another analysis of Christopher Lasch's views of progress by previous PTI speaker Roger Kimball. https://t.co/zmaRch2jPQ”

Thanks to Matthew Slaboch for a great talk. Please do check out his book on amazon:

A Road to Nowhere: The Idea of Progress and Its Critics Since the Enlightenment, the idea of progress has spanned right- and left-wing politics, secular and spiritual philosophy, and most every school of art or culture. The belief that humans are capable of making lasting improvements—intellectual, scientific, material, moral, and cultural&mdash...

For undergraduates and other political theorists wondering what to do with their lives:

The anticipation is growing:

https://twitter.com/ptiatau/status/964174082932707328

Political Theory Institute at American University on Twitter “Happy Birthday to Jeremy Bentham, one of the founders of utilitarianism, whose head is currently on display at University College London. They are even having a wake for him. https://t.co/Objt4SSXr3”

PTI is now on Twitter!
https://twitter.com/ptiatau

Political Theory Institute at American University (@ptiatau) | Twitter The latest Tweets from Political Theory Institute at American University (). We encourage the serious study of the great questions of political theory & bring the insights of political theorists to bear on current issues & events. Washington, DC

For those of you working on Smith or Hume:

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

Here is the video of an event that PTI sponsored with Students for Free Expression: Jonathan Rauch on "Why Free Speech is the Only Safe Space for Minorities":

Jonathan Rauch Reminds Us Why Free Speech is the Only Safe Space for Minorities Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and the author of six books and many articles on public policy, culture, a...

PTI friend Michael Weinman and colleagues have a new e book about Charlottesville. . . .recommended.

#Charlottesville: Before and Beyond Confronting Fundamental Problems of the Human Condition and Pressing Problems of the Day