Required Texts
1. Patrick Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed (Yale, 2018)
2. Helena Rosenblatt, The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-
First Century (Princeton, 2018)
3. Robert Louis Wilken, Liberty in the Things of God: The Christian Origins of Religious
Freedom (Yale, 2019)
4. Asad Haider, Mistaken Identity: Race & Class in the Age of Trump (Verso, 2018)
5. Steven Grosby, Nationalism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2005)
6. Dieter Grimm, Sovereignty: The Origin and Future of a Political and Legal Concept
(Columbia, 2015)
7. Charles Howard McIlwain, Constitutionalism Ancient and Modern (Free online at
Liberty Fund, 2010)
8. Frederic Bastiat, Economic Sophisms and "What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen" (free
online at Liberty Fund, 2017)
9. Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government (Oxford, 1999)
10. John Dewey, Liberalism and Social Action (Prometheus, 1999)
11. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, ch. 3: “Of Individuality as One of the Elements of Well
Being” (PDF from Professor Corey)
12. Julian Huxley, Transhumanism, in New Bottles for New Wine: Essays by Julian Huxley
(PDF from Professor Corey)
13. Sir Roger Scruton, Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition (All Points
Books 2018)
Recommended
1. Michael Strain and Stan Veuger, eds., Economic Freedom and Human Flourishing
(AEI, 2016)
2. Max More and Natasha Vita-More, eds., The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and
Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Human Future
(Wiley-Blackwell, 2013)
3. David D. Corey, “Against the Deformations of Liberalism,” Journal of American Affairs
4. George Will, The Conservative Sensibility (Hachette Books, 2019).
COURSE OVERVIEW
Liberalism can be viewed as a philosophical problem: “What is liberalism?” “What drives its
apparently endless change?” “What will (or should) be its future?” Our business this
semester is to grapple with liberalism in such terms, and we should do so with some
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urgency. Liberalism—whatever it is—seems to be in trouble, which is to say that our
political life is in trouble. As Americans we are more politically divided than in the past,
more financially strapped, and less sure about our proper role in the world. At the same
time, momentous political issues are tearing Americans apart: issues relating to
immigration, trade, human sexuality, religious freedom, national debt, and bioethics. The
conflict over such issues exposes serious tensions within liberalism, not a battle between
liberalism and something else. Are we, then, facing a “crisis” of liberalism, and could this
crisis be fatal? Surely such questions demand our attention.
GOALS
I have three primary goals for students in this class. One is that you come to understand the
phenomenon of “liberalism” in its full complexity, especially by understanding its history.
Second is that you come to appreciate the way different freedoms naturally compete with
and even contradict each other, such that some versions of liberalism are more coherent
and sustainable than others. Finally, I expect you to give some thought, especially at the end
of the course, to different possible kinds of liberalism and to the question of which one(s)
might prove most conducive to human flourishing.
Besides these primary goals, I also (as always) have the secondary goal of helping you to
become a clearer thinker and writer. Your papers in this class will thus be evaluated in
terms of substance and style.
ATTENDANCE
As the fruits of this course come largely by way of classroom conversation, attendance is
required. Any student who misses more than 3 classes (excused or unexcused) will see his
or her grade substantially affected. Any student who misses more than seven classes will
automatically fail.
Papers: 40%, based on the cumulative value of the three equally-weighted essays.
Final Exam: 20%, will cover factual material from the readings.
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8/27 Opening Lecture: “Liberalism and the Modern Quest for Freedom”
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VI. Sovereignty: Its Creation and Mysterious Dissipation
10/15 Grimm, Sovereignty, pp. 1-32
10/17 Grimm, Sovereignty, pp. 33-76: Guest Lecture on Soverignty (Jeff Polet, Hope
College)
Paper 2 (10/2)
In what ways might the Protestant Reformation have contributed to the rise of liberalism?
3-4 pages
Paper 3 (11/27), Liberalism houses many kinds of freedom, but these freedoms exist in
tension. Which pair of liberal freedoms-in-tension seems to you to pose the gravest threat
to the future of liberalism? 3-4 pages