Ralph Hancock

The essence of Christianity is to love one another, to have compassion, not to judge, but to forgive, to accept – no? Applied to politics, the implication seems obvious: unlimited tolerance, equality of lifestyles, etc: in a word, extreme liberalism. What’s wrong with this picture? . . . . Continue Reading »

The outrage in Arizona has sparked another cycle of mutual recriminations between liberals and conservatives that points up what seems to be a growing chasm running through our political culture.   Each side sees itself as faithful to good old American principles, and sees the other side . . . . Continue Reading »

[The following is the preface to my forthcoming The Responsibility of Reason: Theory and Practice in a Liberal-Democratic Age (Rowman & Littlefield)] Propadeutic to a Thumotic and Erotic Ontology. This is the fanciful and facetious subtitle I used to try out on friends when asked about the book . . . . Continue Reading »

17-20 November 2010 A Conference Hosted by the Tocqueville Project of Brigham Young University, with Funding from The John Adams Center for the Study of Faith, Philosophy and Public Affairs and The Sutherland Institute. Is the Constitution as understood by the Founders at risk?   If so, then . . . . Continue Reading »

[Conclusion of the astute synopsis by Mr. Entel, followed by his even more astute questions:] Plato, Hancock contends, enacts this yoke between being and knowing by seemingly affirming the simple superiority of theory to practice, thus suppressing the question of the relation between the good of . . . . Continue Reading »

  (More excerpts here from Manent’s new book of interviews, Le Regard Politique – i.e., Seeing Things Politically ) When I met Aron I was carried away with admiration for him . . . Aron desired less than any man to exercise influence over people or to dominate a young man [such as I . . . . Continue Reading »

I feel it my duty to pass on some choice tidbits from a scintillating book of interviews with Pierre Manent  (conducted by Benedicte Deloreme-Montini) just published in French under the title: Le Regard Politique ( Flammarion) . Here is the first (in provisional translation), from pages . . . . Continue Reading »

I had the opportunity to share some themes from my forthcoming The Reponsibility of Reason at Yale in September.  A very able graduate student (Lucas Entel) responded to my work, providing a deft summary as well as some valuable questions. Now this is fundamental political philosophy, in . . . . Continue Reading »

Leo Strauss’s “Progress or Return” was on my mind this morning as I listened to NPR’s Weekend Edition.  (I had re-read Strauss’s great essay this week with a class of students.) Unsurprisingly, there were stories and issues on the latter that might be illuminated by . . . . Continue Reading »

As President of the John Adams Center for the Study of Faith, Philosophy and Public Affairs, I’ve been working on a statement of our purposes, and thus on an explanation of the critical importance for society of careful philosophical engagement with the deepest underlying issues.  I . . . . Continue Reading »