Program for Visiting Scholars, 2009-2010
Graduate Students who have proposed a dissertation prospectus will have the opportunity to invite a scholar to campus whose research is relevant to his or her dissertation or other research agenda. In addition to conferring with the graduate student host about his or her dissertation work, the visiting scholar will lead a seminar discussion with graduate students and faculty on his or her own research—specifically, a published article, book chapter, or conference paper that will be distributed to faculty and students before the seminar. This program is co-sponsored by Baylor’s Department of Political Science and Graduate School.
Dan Mahoney discusses new book, The Conservative Foundations of the Liberal Order
Dan Mahoney is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts. On April 15 at 1:30 pm, he will discuss his new book, The Conservative Foundations of the Liberal Order. His lecture is sponsored by the Visiting Scholars Program, and will be hosted by doctoral candidate, Jerome Foss. Professor Mahoney has further published on statesmanship and liberalism as well as on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. His books include: editing The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New and Essential Writings, 1947-2005 (ISI Books, 2006 with Edward E. Ericson, Jr.); Bertrand de Jouvenel: The Conservative Liberal and the Illusions of Modernity (ISI Books, 2005); Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Ascent from Ideology (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001); De Gaulle: Statesmanship, Grandeur, and Modern Democracy (Praeger, 1996); and The Liberal Political Science of Raymond Aron (Rowman & Littlefield, 1992).The lecture will be held on April 15, 2011 in Burleson 309 at 1:30 pm. Professor Mahoney will discuss two chapters from his book: Chapter One titled "Tocqueville and the Conservative Foundations of the Liberal Order" and Chapter Three titled "Taking Greatness Seriously: Statesmanship in a Democratic Age." Participants should also look at an interview for his new book and the suggested readings for each of the two chapters.
Lee Ward holds Seminar on "John Locke on International Relations"
Lee Ward, Alpha Sigma Nu Distinguished Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan will discuss a chapter of his forthcoming book, John Locke and Modern Life, titled "John Locke on International Relations" with faculty and students on Friday, April 23 at 2:00 pm. His seminar is sponsored by the Visiting Scholars Program, and will be hosted by doctoral candidate Patrick Cain. Professor Ward has published extensively on the political philosophy of Locke, including articles on punishment and property, moral knowledge, toleration, international relations, executive power, and liberal constitutionalism. He has also published chapters discussing the theories of thinkers such as Spinoza, Hugo, and Leibniz, as well as an article on Montesquieu, titled "Montesquieu on Federalism and Anglo-Gothic Constitutionalism" (The Journal of Federalism, 2007). His books include The Politics of Liberty in England and Revolutionary America (Cambridge University Press, 2004), and the forthcoming John Locke and Modern Life (Cambridge University Press). Professor Ward discussed his chapter titled, "John Locke on International Relations."
Michael Davis Discusses "The Soul of the Greeks" at Baylor
Michael Davis, Professor of Philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, held a seminar at Baylor hosted by doctoral candidate Steve Block. Professor Davis has published widely on Greek philosophy and tragedy as well as on such philosophers as Descartes, Rousseau, and Nietzsche. His books include Wonderlust: Ruminations on Liberal Education (St. Augustine's Press, 2006); The Autobiography of Philosophy: Rousseau's The Reveries of the Solitary Walker (Rowman and Littlefield, 1999); The Politics of Philosophy: A Commentary on Aristotle's Politics (Rowman and Littlefield, 1996); Aristotle's Poetics: The Poetry of Philosophy (Rowman and Littlefield, 1992); and Ancient Tragedy and the Origins of Modern Science (Southern Illinois University Press, 1988). He also is the co-translator of Aristotle's Poetics (with Seth Benardete) (St. Augustine's Press, 2002).
Professor Davis discussed his new book The Soul of the Greeks with faculty and graduate students on Friday, November 20, at 1:30 PM in Burleson 309. Participants read the "Introduction: The Soul of Achilles" and Chapter 3, "The Soul as Self and Self-aware" (on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics).
Tulis Speaks on "Structure and Power in The Federalist"
Jeffrey K. Tulis, Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, spoke to students and faculty on October 26, 2009 on "Structure and Power in The Federalist." Professor Tulis visited campus as part of our Visiting Scholars Program. In addition to his seminar on The Federalist, he met with PhD candidate Joseph Wysocki, who is writing a dissertation titled "Congressional Rhetoric: Going Public and Its Effects on the Institution," and with other graduate students in the program.
Professor Tulis's interests include American political development, the presidency, and constitutional theory. His publications include The Presidency in the Constitutional Order (LSU, 1981), and The Rhetorical Presidency (Princeton, 1987), and journal articles and chapters on topics that recently include constitutional interpretation, the logic of political change, and the meaning of political success. Several collections of essays on The Rhetorical Presidency with responses by Tulis have been published, most recently a special double issue of Critical Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Politics and Society, 2007. His current research spans topics in political theory and American politics, including problems of constitutional design, Tocqueville, and the effects of major political loss on American political development. He is completing a book on the problem of institutional deference, and is working on the Legacies of Loss in American Politics.
Professor Tulis has served as President of the Politics and History Section of the American Political Science Association, and has held research fellowships from NEH, ACLS, Olin Foundation, Harvard Law School, and the Mellon Preceptorship at Princeton University, where he taught before moving to Texas. He has held visiting positions at Notre Dame and Harvard. He is co-editor of the Johns Hopkins Series in Constitutional Thought.
Kessler Talks to Students and Faculty about his Work on Tocqueville
April 2009, Professor Sanford H. Kessler held a seminar at Baylor on his work on "Tocqueville's Puritans: Christianity and the American Founding." Professor Kessler is Associate Professor of Political Science at North Carolina State University, and also teaches as an adjunct professor at Duke University. His book on Tocqueville's Civil Religion: American Christianity and the Prospects for Freedom was published in the SUNY Series in Religion, Culture, and Society. He also served as the editor of a new translation of Tocqueville's Democracy in America (Hackett 2000).
Professor Kessler's visit was sponsored by a grant from the Jack Miller Center for Teaching American Founding Principles and History, and hosted by PhD candidate Patrick Cain. Professor Kessler's visit became the model for the Department's Visiting Scholars Program.
