Benson Center Newsletter - November 2021

Available Nov. 9, 2021   Listen and subscribe 

The Free Mind, a new podcast from the Benson Center, explores topics in Western philosophy, politics, literature, and history with adventurous disregard for academic fashions and intellectual trends. In this episode, Joshua Katz, Cotsen Professor in the Humanities and professor of classics at Princeton University, considers the implications of the new cancel culture. Host: Shilo Brooks. Available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and YouTube. 

Hybrid event: Nov. 11, 2021, 6 p.m. | Hellems 201 Register for Nelson lecture 

Lisa Nelson, associate professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, discusses the evolution of the internet and social media in the context of a Constitutional democracy, and the future of the relationship between freedom and the internet. Moderator: Daniel Jacobson. 

Hybrid event: Nov. 15, 2021, 6 p.m. | Eaton Humanities 250 Register for Mumford lecture 

James Mumford, British writer and self-described recovering academic, discusses the polarization of political groups in the democratic West and questions why having certain political views means automatically adopting other views. Full lecture title: "Clowns to the Left, Jokers to the Right... The Challenge of Addressing 'Live Rail' Moral Questions in an Age of Political Tribalism." Moderator: David McPherson. 

Hybrid event: Nov. 16, 2021, 6 p.m. | Hellems 201 Register for Smith lecture 

Bradley A. Smith, the Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Professor of Law at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, discusses the 1962 Supreme Court case of Baker v. Carr. He explains what the Court got right, what it got wrong, and how the case changed the way Americans think about voting and self-governance. Moderator: Daniel Jacobson.

Hybrid event: Nov. 17, 2021, 3 p.m. | CASE Building, Chancellor's Hall Register for NAS event 

Tim Fuller (Colorado College), Wilfred McClay (Hillsdale College), Cary Nederman (Texas A&M Univesity) and Lynn Uzzel (Washington and Lee University) discuss civic education in the United States. Co-sponsors: National Association of Scholars and the Benson Center.

Hybrid event: Nov. 30, 2021, 6 p.m. | Eaton Humanities 135 Register for Rosenblatt lecture 

Helena Rosenblatt, professor of history, political science, and French at CUNY, sheds light on the origins and nature of French liberalism through the story of Jacques Necker, finance minister to King Louis XVI of France. Part of the Benson Center's "Capitalism and Ethics" series. Moderator: Alan Kahan.

Hybrid event: Feb. 3, 2022, 6 p.m. | Location TBA Learn more 

Gianna Englert, assistant professor in the political science department at Southern Methodist University gives a lecture. Part of the "Capitalism and Ethics" series. Moderator: Alan Kahan. 

Hybrid event: Apr. 7, 2022, 6 p.m. | Location TBA Learn more 

Alberto Mingardi, associate professor of the history of political thought at IULM University in Milan, discusses the liberalism of Vilfredo Pareto, a founding father of both modern sociology and contemporary, neoclassical economics. Part of the "Capitalism and Ethics" series. Moderator: Alan Kahan. 

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