Georgetown’s Joshua Mitchell presents Tocqueville lecture

Georgetown University Professor of Political Theory Joshua Mitchell will speak on the Furman University campus Wednesday, March 22 at 5 p.m. in Johns Hall 101.

Joshua Mitchell, Georgetown University Professor of Political Theory

His talk, “Why the State Grows Ever-Stronger,” is free and open to the public. His lecture is the second in the three-part Tocqueville series, “Tocqueville and the American Republic.” All lectures in the series are part of Furman’s Cultural Life Program.

Mitchell served as Chairman of the Government Department and was Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs at the School of Foreign Service in Qatar. During the 2008-10 academic years, Mitchell took a leave from Georgetown to serve as Acting Chancellor of The American University of Iraq – Sulaimani.

Mitchell’s research interest lies in the relationship between political thought and theology in the West. He has published numerous articles and books, including Not by Reason Alone: Religion, History, and Identity in Early Modern Thought (Chicago, 1993), The Fragility of Freedom: Tocqueville on Religion, Democracy, and the American Future (Chicago, 1995), Plato’s Fable: on the Mortal Condition in Shadowy Times (Princeton, 2006), and Tocqueville in Arabia: Dilemmas in a Democratic Age (Chicago, 2013). He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Reinhold Niebuhr and the Politics of Hope.

Mitchell received a bachelor’s from the University of Michigan, a master’s in sociology from the University of Washington, and a master’s/Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago.

In addition to teaching at Georgetown University, Mitchell is an avid conservationist, working to restore his small forest on the Eastern Shore and helping to develop the next generation of solar-electric sailboats.

The third and final Tocqueville lecture is set for Wednesday, April 5 at 5 p.m. in Johns Hall 101. It features Indiana University Bloomington professor Aurelian Craiutu who presents “Moderation: A Virtue for Our Times.”

For more information, contact Paige Blankenship in the Furman Department of Politics and International Affairs, 864-294-3547, or visit: www.furman.edu/tocquevilleprogram.