Intellectual Virtue and Civil Discourse in Philosophical Perspective

Our society, universities, and churches are insufficiently characterized by wisdom and good will. Instead, they often manifest irrationality and incivility. Our age of information, individualism, and ideology tends to be devoid of discernment, diplomacy, and dialogue. This course addresses these deficiencies by providing students with a theoretical context that will enable them to understand the topics of intellectual virtue and civil discourse. It also offers students concrete illustrations of people who have succeeded and people who have failed to practice intellectual virtue and civil discourse. These illustrations are intended to further students’ understanding of these topics and to acquaint them with examples to inspire and motivate them to become intellectually virtuous and to engage in civil discourse themselves. Finally, the course will give students opportunities to practice attempting to be intellectually virtuous and civil in conversations with each other about important issues that are currently debated in the public square.

Both the classic liberal arts tradition and the Judeo-Christian tradition prize and promote human excellence. Though the former tradition tends to use the language of intellectual and moral virtue and the latter tradition tends to use the language of wisdom, righteousness, and love, both traditions provide similar and to a large extent harmonious models of human formation and maturation.

But neither of these traditions is dominant in contemporary society and culture. And neither the contemporary academy nor the contemporary Christian church shows adequate evidence of a significant influence of these traditions on the intellectual, moral, and spiritual development of students or parishioners.

As a result of this current inadequate attention to growth in virtue, our societies, our universities, and our churches are insufficiently characterized by wisdom and good will and are rather arenas that all too frequently manifest irrationality and incivility. In sum, our age of information, individualism, and ideology tends to be devoid of discernment, diplomacy, and dialogue.

This course is designed to address these deficiencies by providing students with a theoretical context that will enable them to acquire a general understanding of the topics of intellectual virtue and civil discourse. The course also offers students concrete illustrations of people who have succeeded and people who have failed to practice intellectual virtue and civil discourse. These illustrations are intended both to further students’ understanding of these topics but also to acquaint them with examples to inspire and motivate them to become intellectually virtuous and to engage in civil discourse themselves. Finally, the course will give students opportunities to practice attempting to be intellectually virtuous and civil in conversations with each other about important issues that are currently being debated in the public square.

As the professor of this course, my desire is for students to become both more intellectually virtuous and more able to manifest their virtues in civil discourse about crucial and controversial contemporary issues.

Click here to download the syllabus for Intellectual Virtue and Civil Discourse in Philosophical Perspective

Course Readings

Required Course Texts

The Bible (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)

The Analects of Confucius

Course reader with miscellaneous essays

Franklin, Benjamin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Miles, Sian, ed. Simone Weil: Anthology

Mouw, Richard, Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil World

Plato, The Apology

Roberts, Robert and Wood, Jay, Intellectual Virtues: An Essay in Regulative Epistemology

Sophocles, Antigone

Recommended Reading

Boyle, Fr. Gregory, Tattoes on the Heart

Hammarskjöld, Dag, Markings

Schami, Rafiq, A Handful of Stars

Shelley, Mary, Frankenstein

Course Goals and Student Learning Outcomes

1. Students will demonstrate, in written essay form, their understanding of fundamental philosophical and theological principles about the concepts of intellectual virtue and civil discourse.
2. Students will articulate, through oral presentation, their acquaintance with and appreciation of prominent models of intellectual virtue (and vice) and civil (and uncivil) discourse that they encounter in both (auto)biography and fiction.
3. Students will display, through dialogue and debate about controversial contemporary issues, evidence of their attempts to grow in intellectual virtue and civil discourse.

Course Outline

Course Outline

1. Principles: Philosophical & Theological Foundations (14 class sessions)
   1. Roberts & Wood, Intellectual Virtues: An Essay in Regulative Epistemology
   2. Mouw, Uncommon Decency
   3. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes
2. People: Illustrations from Literature & Life (14 class sessions)
   1. Antigone
   2. Socrates
   3. Confucius
   4. Job
   5. Jesus
   6. Benjamin Franklin
   7. Simone Weil
3. Practice: Contemporary Issues (14 class sessions)
   1. Abortion
   2. Gay marriage
   3. Global warming
   4. Universal health care
   5. Gun control
   6. Immigration
   7. Creation & evolution