Friedrich Nietzsche and the Future of Western Civilization

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This talk features Ronald Beiner, Shilo Brooks, Steven Pittz, and Michael W. Grenke
Ronald Beiner is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Toronto and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His books include Political Judgment (1983), What’s the Matter with Liberalism? (1992), Philosophy in a Time of Lost Spirit (1997), Liberalism, Nationalism, Citizenship (2003), Civil Religion: A Dialogue in the History of Political Philosophy (2011), Political Philosophy: What It Is and Why It Matters (2014), and most recently, Dangerous Minds: Nietzsche, Heidegger, and the Return of the Far Right (2018). He is also the editor of Hannah Arendt’s Lectures on Kant’s Political Philosophy (1982), which has been published in a large number of foreign-language editions.
Shilo Brooks is Executive Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and Lecturer in the Department of Politics. He is author of Nietzsche’s Culture War, in addition to scholarly and journalistic articles on a variety of topics in politics and the humanities. His teaching and research interests lie in the history of political philosophy, politics and literature, and statesmanship.
Steven Pittz is the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Government and the Individual. He is also currently the Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and Chair of the Political Science Department. He is a graduate of the UCCS Political Science Dept. (BA 2004) and is excited to be back at his alma mater, after stints in graduate school at the University of Texas (Ph.D 2014) and a postdoctoral fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta. Steven's research focuses primarily on political liberalism and current challenges to the liberal order. He approaches these topics primarily through explorations of the status of individualism and spiritual fulfillment in modern liberal societies. Steven also writes on other topics in both political theory and international politics and economics. His first book, Recovering the Liberal Spirit: Nietzsche, Individuality and Spiritual Freedom, was published by SUNY Press in 2020. A second, with Joseph Postell, American Citizenship and Constitutionalism in Principle and Practice, was published by Oklahoma Press in 2022. In addition, he has recently written several pieces on atomism (individualism), conspiracism in liberal democratic societies, and the ethics of creative destruction in entrepreneurship.
Michael W. Grenke is a member of the senior faculty at St. John’s College. He has taught at both the Santa Fe and Annapolis campuses. He has also taught at the University of New Hampshire, Boston College, and Michigan State University. He has published two translations of Nietzsche, On the Future of Our Educational Institutions and Prefaces to Unwritten Works. Another translation of Nietzsche and a translation of Euclid’s Optics are forthcoming soon. He has published articles on Nietzsche and on Heidegger in various academic journals. He recently wrote the introduction for Lise van Boxel’s posthumously published book, Warspeak: Nietzsche’s Victory Over Nihilism.
Moderated by: Paul Diduch and Alex Priou, Benson Center faculty fellows
About the Benson Center:
The Benson Center promotes study of the intellectual, artistic and political traditions that characterize Western civilization. Central to this mission is our commitment to fostering dialogue about fundamental values and controversial questions. The Center provides a forum for free inquiry and open debate, and it promotes academic freedom and intellectual diversity on campus in a time of increasing political polarization and homogeneity.
The Center supports research that explores the ideas emerging from historically Western traditions and traces their continued influence. It focuses particularly on their role in establishing the foundational ideals and institutions of the United States. The Center promotes balanced discourse that engages both liberal and conservative viewpoints, in order to maintain a wide range of political, economic and philosophical perspectives at CU Boulder.
The Center is committed to intellectual rigor and the highest academic standards. It seeks to provide a premier academic venue for the study of our nation's political and cultural traditions. Its focus on the values of political and economic freedom, moral and legal equality, and individual liberty offers students, scholars, and residents of Colorado the opportunity to study ideals that have shaped fundamental aspects of the American intellectual heritage.

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[@cyberista]

Good to see a polarised panel argue things out (in the end ... regarding readings and possible misreadings of Nietzche). It really got down into the weeds and I learned a lot. I thought Shilo's overview particularly brilliant and was impressed by Michael Grenke's riposte to Beiner's provocative takes. The body language of the panel all together was interesting - the awkwardness of people sitting together who hold sharply divided views. I'm glad you didn't shy away from showing that. But where on earth did Michael G get his point about Nietzsche thinking everyone should carry guns from?

[@Nightmareofthelibs]

Yes hello

[@wanderingpoet9999]

A fascinating series of contradictory presentations thank you so much for making them public. My own small comment: if liberal democratic societies are indeed suffering from slackness and addiction to comfort we need not worry, seems to me climate change and many other factors are soon going to make life all over the world much much more difficult, whether we like it or not the bow will be tautened...

[@FadiAkil]

1:15:05 Yes, hello!

[@ericadler9680]

"the dictatorial right and the democratic left" - ? You're surely making it easy for yourself.