 | A Course with Professor Thomas Patrick Burke
Wednesday, January 16 to Wednesday, March 5Listen to the audio recording:
Session 1 - Part I & Part II
Session 2 - Part I & Part II
Session 3 - Part I & Part II
Session 4 - Part I & Part II
Session 5 - Part I & Part II
Session 6 - Part I & Part II
Session 7 - Part I & Part II
Session 8 - Part I & Part II
Session 9 - Part I & Part II
If you feel that you have benefited from the recordings of this course, please help us continue our work -- make a donation to the Wynnewood Institute. We are a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible.
It is a distinctive feature of America as a nation that it was founded
on a philosophy. The Declaration of Independence not only declared
America 's independence, but gave a philosophical explanation for it, a
set of reasons that the Founding Fathers believed demonstrated its
moral and political justification. They went on to embody that
philosophy in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But they were
not the creators of that philosophy. It had already been created by an
Englishman who lived a century before them, during the "Glorious
Revolution" that brought parliamentary government to England in 1688.
Thomas Jefferson remarked that the political philosophy of the American
people was best reflected in the writings of John Locke.
Locke's main writing for our purposes is the second of his Two
Treatises of Government, from which Jefferson used passages verbatim in
writing his Declaration. Locke argues that everyone has a fundamental
right not to be harmed, and that representative government is necessary
to protect that right, not only against other individuals but also
against the power of government itself. The book is especially
renowned for his defense of private property. We will read and discuss
this work over a period of eight weeks. Familiarity with Locke's ideas
will give you unique insight into the nature and the ideals of the
American Revolution and the Constitution, ideals that are not merely of
the past, but that continue to offer hope to Americans and to many
others around the world.
Commencement:
Wednesday, January 16
7:30 to 9:30 p.m
Duration:
8 weeks; Wednesdays
Concluding on March 5
Location:
104 Haverford Road
Wynnewood, PA 19096
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