A reading group focused on the role of the virtues in democratic life

virtues in American thought. We will examine

significant moments of continuity between several American thinkers (including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, and Frederick Douglass) and the ancient tradition of political republicanism, which maintained that civic virtue among the rulers and the ruled was essential for the preservation of freedom. We will also examine how virtue and the virtues change when they encounter the egalitarian logic of American democracy.

This reading group is open to graduate students in any discipline. Space is limited; to sign up or for more information please contact Peter Wicks.