“Exploring the moral foundations of the Republic on the occasion of America’s 250th anniversary”
To understand the Founders, you will read works of moral philosophy that informed — directly or indirectly — their views and their decisions, such as those of Aristotle, Cicero, Aquinas, Locke, and others. The tradition the Founders inherited was a varied one, and the weekly pairings of historical and philosophical sources are designed to let you examine its continuities and divergences, not to presume them.
At the same time, the works of moral philosophy gathered here provide accounts of virtue and the good life that have commanded serious attention for millennia. So, although the course takes the historical questions about the Founding as the starting point, the course necessarily invites you to consider the soundness and ongoing relevance of the principles to which the Founders appealed. Are these principles — or some version of these principles — true?
Over eleven weeks, you will read philosophical sources that shaped the Founders’ understanding of the traditional values of virtue. You will also explore the relationship between virtue and individual liberty, and the extent to which the rule of law rests on a foundation of liberty and virtue and, at the same time, also reinforces those values. The course will end with a discussion of virtue in your own life today, both professionally and personally.
