One of the most prominent political philosophy scholars in America, Dr. Harvey C. Mansfield is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he studies and teaches political philosophy.
He has written on Edmund Burke and the nature of political parties, on Machiavelli and the invention of indirect government, in defense of a defensible liberalism and in favor of a Constitutional American political science. He has also written on the discovery and development of the theory of executive power, and has translated three books of Machiavelli’s and (with Delba Winthrop) Tocqueville's Democracy in America. He has also published a book on manliness, as well as an introduction to Tocqueville.
He was Chairman of the Government Department from 1973-1977, has held Guggenheim and NEH Fellowships, and has been a Fellow at the National Humanities Center. He won the Joseph R. Levenson award for his teaching at Harvard, received the Sidney Hook Memorial award from the National Association of Scholars, and in 2004 accepted a National Humanities Medal from the President.
He has hardly left Harvard since his first arrival in 1949, and has been on the faculty since 1962.
This lecture engages with the ideals of democracy and meritocracy through the lens of great political theorists. Highlighting democracy as both a form of government and an endpoint aiming for equality and freedom, the speaker delves into the intricacies of how aristocratic institutions can paradoxically serve as a means to achieve democratic ends.
Referring to Tocqueville's works, the discussion examines the dynamics between democracy and aristocracy and how attention to particulars, rather than general ideas, can enhance our democratic spirit-an insight derived from aristocratic advice.
The lecture also revisits the legacy of Abraham Lincoln, exploring how his leadership and the Democratic Revolution led to the end of slavery, illustrating democracy's capacity for nobility, but also its susceptibility to defending injustices.
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