Aristocratic Voices

Richard Avramenko is director of the Arizona State University School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership.Ethan Alexander-Davey is associate professor of political science at Campbell University.

• Chapter 1. Aristocrat as Citizen, Citizen as Aristocrat: Plutarch’s Spartan, Rousseau’s General Will, and Tocqueville’s AmericansChapter 2. Representation, Consent and the Aristocratic Ethos: Two Late Medieval TheoriesChapter 3. Consent of the Governed, Natural Law, and Religious Toleration in the Pre-Liberal TraditionChapter 4. Thomas Elyot and Self-Government – Why the Rulers of Realms Must also Rule ThemselvesPart Two: Modern Aristocratic VoicesChapter 5. Vico and the Aristocratic Origin of Political OrderChapter 6. Newman’s Fearful Gentleman: Discourse Eight of The Idea of a UniversityChapter 7. W.H. Riehl’s Cure for Modernity: A Defense of National, Regional, and Social DifferentiationChapter 8. Henry Adams: An Aristocrat Out of TimeChapter 9. Against the Tarantulas: Nietzsche on AristocracyChapter 10. Irving Babbitt on Democracy and LeadershipChapter 11. Oswald Spengler, Aristocratic Virtues, Democracy, and the Decline and Death Of The West Chapter 12. Julius Evola’s Aristocratic Critique of MachiavellianismChapter 13. Authority, Hierarchy, and the Social Bond in the Aristocratic Mind of Robert Nisbet

The crisis faced by liberal democracies over the past several years shows that, not only do leaders matter, but their character matters when it comes to promoting the common good. The crisis has sharpened to the point whereby widespread doubts concerning the ability of liberal democracies to produce virtuous leaders, rather than technocrats, experts, or oligarchs. This makes it necessary to consider long neglected aristocratic voices for understanding the true meaning of “rule of the best,” and how it contributes to the good regime. Richard Avramenko and Ethan Alexander-Davey have convened a council of notables to stand upon the shoulders of ancient and modern giants of political thought, and to explore this important question of our time.