Harvey Mansfield on Manliness & Power

Harvey Mansfield is one of the few conservative Harvard professors.
Watch our panel moderated by Modern Age editor-in-chief Daniel McCarthy as Harvey Mansfield, Sam Goldman, and Vickie B. Sullivan discuss “Power, Manliness, and Moderation: From Machiavelli to Montesquieu.”

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7:25 - not shy to provoke or shock if its the type of audience that needs it
7:40 - be enigmatic or mysterious -- if the vulgar can be brought to attention easily with scandal and shock - contradiction paradoxes and riddles can help sustain the interests of those more inclined to reflection -
-- 8:27 - Being Manly - is in his courtly and regal garments- courage to face objection, serious manner for a serious enterprise - not chummy and informal and loose -
separating truth from opinion - beautiful from the ugly - worthy from the unworthy
10:35- manliness is defined as "Courage in the face of Risk" -- [ "Grace in the face of hopelessness" = femininity ]
11:00 manliness is simultaneously necessary and dangerous - something that we cant live with in perfect comfort but something we cannot possibly live with out
20:20 they see the power of the written word and how those who have the most powerful word have the power to rule over the minds of the people
20:36 - montesquieu gives the game/himself away when he mentions only philosophers and indicates the ultimate rulers are the philosophers because they educate the rulers and the ruled alike and he calls the philosophers as legislatures -
26:30 - the most important knowledge in the world/for mankind is the knowledge of justice, of what to do
28:10 - 29:17 - "Displayed great and generous courage and regarded a cowardly act as an IMPOSSIBLE THING"
33:40 - he did bold things in order to gain power but he could not go all the way, "when malice has greatness in itself or is generous in some part, human beings do not know how to enter into it"
41:50 - literature/ the great books -- read journals lik "Modern Age" or "Aeon" -- if you want more read the great books and nourish your self your mind and spirit/soul with these works
49:30 - they did not outright reject machiavelli they wanted to moderate the thought of machiavelli