Theoria

”Theoria” is an ancient Greek word meaning “to see” or “observe,” a form of vision with particular intensity, an activity that came to have deeper implications as it was used to designate a city’s emissaries who were charged with “seeing” how other cities worshipped, celebrated, mourned, competed, organized their political offices, etc. The human mind is designed to compare, and in engaging in comparison, our minds almost instantly turn to questions of superlatives. Comparisons of better and worse leads to considerations of the best and worst. Theoria, then, is the activity leading to philosophy, ground in experience but inviting contemplation of eu-topia - the Good Place.

I am a political theorist who studies and teaches political philosophy. Much of my day is spent in the activity of rheoria, the activity of observing, comparing, and contemplating the better and best, the worse and worst. I am blessed with both years of training in my discipline - mostly involving reading and re-reading of great and worthy texts, and discussing these texts and their ideas now with several generations of smart, inquisitive students and engaged colleagues, both near and far. I have also been blessed to have written several books that have drawn widespread attention and generated extensive debate, which in turn have expanded my circles of conversational partners and engagements.

I will be reporting here on my theoretical journeys during these troubled days and years in our Republic and our world, attempting to offer to readers what I have “seen.” Commentary will be political in the broadest sense - always concerned with our lives as political animals, but also touching on culture, arts, domestic affairs, random observations. I will strive to do so regularly, amid a busy schedule of teaching, speaking, and research. Some posts will be reserved for paid subscribers, which I hope you will consider becoming, now or in the future; but I will regularly post a number of theoretical musings for unpaid subscribers as well.

I have written for a number of venues over the years, including group projects such as “Front Porch Republic” and “Postliberal Order,” but have not been a solo author at a publication since the years (while I taught at Georgetown) that I wrote a “blog” called “What I Saw in America” - roughly from 2007-2013. The material of that blog eventually was distilled into my 2018 book Why Liberalism Failed, a long preparation for a short book that concentrated years of thought into several hundred pages and thousands upon thousands of subsequent words, both by others and by me in response. It’s my hope that this site may contribute toward a similar end and purpose - a proving ground leading at some yet undetermined point to a concise conclusion. But we’ll meander here first for some time, observing and theorizing, comparing always with an eye to the superlative, in the search for understanding.

==PJD