HESBURGH LECTURE SERIES 2012 Program - Alumni Association ...

Walter J. Nicgorski, Ph.D.
Professor, Program of Liberal Studies; Concurrent Professor, Political
Science
Biography
Walter Nicgorski joined the University of Notre Dame faculty in 1964, coming from the
University of Chicago where he completed his M.A. and Ph.D. Recently, he completed 20 years
of editorial service at The Review of Politics, where he was chief editor from 1994-2004. Earlier,
he chaired the Program of Liberal Studies, Notre Dame’s 61-year-old Great Books Program.
He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University and at Cambridge University, as well as a
visiting tutor in the Graduate Institute of St. John’s College (Santa Fe, N.M.).
Under the sponsorship of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Nicgorski has directed
summer seminars at Notre Dame for high school teachers, taught in the University’s Alumni
College program, and chaired the Committee on Academic Progress, an Arts and Letters
honors program in the 1960s. He is a classically trained political theorist who has published
essays on Cicero, liberal and character education, American political foundations, Leo Strauss,
Yves Simon, and Allan Bloom. He is co-editor of, and contributor to An Almost Chosen People:
The Moral Aspirations of Americans (1976) and Leo Strauss: Political Philosopher and Jewish
Thinker (1999).
Lectures
Categories
Education, Family,
Government, History
The American Constitutional Tradition: Historic Strengths and Current Challenges
Set against the background of the Constitution’s remarkable endurance, rare amendment, and often helpful flexibility, this lecture
explores four challenges to the present American political order. They are the apparent erosion of the moral foundations of
citizenship, the tension between liberty and security in the age of terrorism, the perplexity posed in part by globalization over the
right size or scale for political community, and the economic “crisis” of our time.
Classical Perspectives on Friendship and Aging
Drawing especially from the writings of Aristotle and Cicero, the lecture illuminates aspects of friendship and aging that remain
vitally important for human happiness in the present time. This lecture highlights the role of moral character in friendship and
aging, the rarity of true friendship, and the difficulties for friendship in old age.
The Federalist Papers: A Unique and American Great Book
This lecture explores the origin and nature of the influential collection. The Federalist Papers samples the book’s rich insights into
political life and human nature, and traces its role in good and bad times from the creation of the power of judicial review to the
Nixon resignation and the Clinton impeachment.
The Morality of the Liberal Arts
This lecture addresses the following question: does the exercise of the critical faculties and the broadening experience of a liberal
education contribute to or undermine good character and good citizenship? In addressing this question, this lecture clarifies the
differences between general learning, technical expertise, the liberal arts, and the humanities.
A Superb Statesman and Thinker: Cicero’s Achievements in the Roman Republic
This lecture explores a slice of history around the achievements of Cicero as orator, lawyer, philosopher, political leader, and
correspondent. It brings to light his wisdom and alleged weaknesses while introducing his ancient as well as modern enemies.
The Hesburgh Lecture Series, 2012 Program 81