New Humanists Straussian Aristocracy, feat. Pavlos Papadopoulos | Episode CV
Liberal education is for the man of leisure: Either a gentleman engaged in politics, or a philosopher engaged in contemplation. What role, then, can liberal learning have in a mass democracy? In the lecture "Liberal Education and Responsibility," the political theorist Leo Strauss defends his statement that "Liberal education is the ladder by which we try to ascend from mass democracy to democracy as originally meant. Liberal education is the necessary endavor to found an aristocracy within democratic mass society." Along the way, he also discusses religious education, the distinction between the gentleman and the philosopher, and the insufficiency of the great books movement. Wyoming Catholic College professor Pavlos Papadopoulos rejoins the podcast for another dive into Strauss.
Leo Strauss's Liberal Education and Responsibility: https://archive.org/details/LeoStraussOnLiberalEducation/Strauss-LiberalEducationResponsibility/
NH episode on Leo Strauss's What Is Liberal Education?: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/episodes/18277048-big-bad-leo-strauss-feat-pavlos-papadopoulos-episode-ci
Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781451683202
Jonathan Swift's The Battle of the Books: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781507890530
Mark A. Noll's The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780802882042
Greg Lukianoff's and Jonathan Haidt's The Coddling of the American Mind: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780735224919
Pete Hegseth's and David Goodwin's Battle for the American Mind: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780063215054
Robert R. Reilly's The Closing of the Muslim Mind: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781610170024
Allan Bloom's translation of The Republic of Plato: https://amzn.to/49ZMPIs
Alexis De Tocqueville's Democracy in America (trans. Harvey Mansfield): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780226805368
Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta: https://amzn.to/4buKd7W
C.S. Lewis' The Abolition of Man: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652944
Josef Pieper's Leisure The Basis of Culture: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781586172565
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com