Peter Lawler
Professor of Government, Berry College
Peter Lawler is Dana Professor of Government and former chair of the department of Government and International Studies at Berry College. He serves as executive editor of the journal Perspectives on Political Science, and has been chair of the politics and literature section of the American Political Science Association. He also served on the editorial board of the new bilingual critical edition of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, and serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He has written or edited fifteen books and over 200 articles and chapters in a wide variety of venues. He was the 2007 winner of the Weaver Prize in Scholarly Letters.rnrnLawler served on President Bush's Council on Bioethics from 2004 – 09. His most recent book, Modern and American Dignity, is available from ISI Books.rnrnFollow him on Twitter @peteralawler.
This New Republic author shares with us abundant evidence that Republican leaders of various kinds have turned on Sarah Palin. It’s true enough that many were seduced by the promise of […]
I will talk about the work of each of the speakers below over the next few weeks. But it should be clear enough that this conference will explore most of […]
If you remember, I’ve decided to “celebrate” the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War by remembering failures of Southern and Confederate statesmanship. My first post affirmed the […]
So I’ve been thinking some about the fact that “The Social Network” portrays people–even techno-meritocrats–as worse than they really are. I’ve been criticized, of course, for not recognizing the artistry […]
Those who pass for heroes these days—those at the top of our meritocracy defined largely by productivity—display none of the virtues of the heroes of the past.
The blogging scientist Minerva agrees with ME against the transhumanist on the future pressure to design or enhance your offspring or else. She’s surprised that it’s possible to agree with someone […]
Listen, I’m too old to REALLY care about Lady Gaga. But I’ve seen her on a couple of award shows and interviewed on SIXTY MINUTES. I gotta admit it: She […]
The transhumanist Kyle Munkittrick has come after me for not making arguments. Mainly he seems ticked off that I speculated that the biotechnological enhancement of children might well not be so […]
So I’ve said before evolution is getting more personal. I’m now going to say a few things about the personal point of view of our time. I’m just trying to […]
So the BIG THINKers have reminded us that one of the most personal and technologically promising ideas of our time is DESIGNING BABIES–or making the result of our reproduction better than natural. I’ve […]
Before talking more about happiness, I need to say something about the middle-class way of life we almost all live. To be middle class is to be a free being […]
1. According to our really cool BIG THINK physicist, Michio Kaku, evolution has stopped for our species. 2. But that doesn’t mean we can’t change ourselves. 3. So, in the […]
The author of our Declaration, Thomas Jefferson, carefully distinguished in private letters between the modern life devoted to the pursuit of happiness and happiness itself. He says that Epicurean philosophers […]
So for the slow weekend, I thought I’d stick in some more thoughts of movies I saw a year or so ago, before I became a BIG THINKer. I saw A Single […]
After saying something really controversial like Tea Partiers aren’t Fascists, I thought it safer to return to a relatively trans-partisan commentary on a good movie. This is part of my […]
My fellow BIG THINK blogger, Mark Seddon, has written that Glenn Beck is “Goebbels” or a Fascist or Nazi rousing the masses up in a dangerous, murderous way. Palin and the Tea […]
Bob Duggan, BIG THINK’s artistic blogger, worries that nobody is thinking about the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. I agree that there’s not enough political reflection about that war. Political […]
I hesitate to undermine the good will I might have built up with BIG THINK readers by writing about uniter-not-divider topics like movies and happiness. But Reagan’s birthday is this weekend, […]
BIG THINK’s great little interview with Danny Rubin got me thinking about the relationship between happiness and mortality. His very philosophic film is all about our “rightly understood” theme of the connections […]
The author of the Declaration of Independence and surely our most “intellectual” president, Thomas Jefferson, wrote that we have life and liberty for the pursuit of happiness. In his private letters, […]
Blue Valentine is a psychologically ambitious and impressively subversive effort by a new filmmaker. It is, in a subtle but clear way, a pro-life movie. It’s quite jarring and claustrophobic; […]
BIG THINK has displayed a taste of the astute social commentary of Robert Putnam–the man who was so worried that so many Americans were bowling alone. The success of the megachurch, […]
So the headline is a bit extreme to get your attention. But let me share with you my favorite conservative response to our president’s challenging and unevenly interesting speech last […]
Ronald Reagan would have been 100 on February 6. If they had a cure for Alzheimer’s, you know he would have made it. Health-obsessed Americans today (disproportionally sophisticated liberals) should at least look to Reagan for longevity tips.
The modern world may have been inaugurated with the thought that we can and should make ourselves happy in this world. No longer should we be, as St. Augustine wrote, […]
BIG THINK has done has the big service of presenting many, many excellent and expert views on what happiness is and how to be happy. Surely, we increasingly think, this […]
So, in the wake of the boring–yet annoying–Golden Globes, I’ve been asked what movies of last year I’d recommend that the foreign correspondents slighted. Let me say, to begin with, […]
BIG THINK displays a large number wonderful accounts of how science today is transforming our lives–appealing to our hopes, our pride, and, occasionally, our humility. I thought I’d share with […]
Most of you won’t believe this, but I’ve actually gotten several requests to say more about Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, rightly called the best book ever written on […]
Here’s the most thoughtful conservative appreciation of the President’s speech. And here are some points I want to emphasize: 1. The president did not blame the shooting on “inflammatory rhetoric.” There’s no evidence […]