Daniel Doneson joins us after teaching for the Lauder School for Government,
Strategy and Diplomacy at The Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel.
In addition he has held fellowships at the Rosenzweig-Minerva Research
Center, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, the Centre Raymond Aron, École
Des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris and the Frei Universität,
Berlin. Dr. Doneson was educated at Swarthmore, Harvard and the University
of Chicago where he received his PhD from the Committee on Social Thought.
Dr. Doneson’s scholarly research and teaching focus on classical
political philosophy, Jewish political thought, and the theory and practice
of modern liberal democracy, especially on the problematic relation between
religion and politics. Recently he has written and lectured on Thucydides,
Aristotle, Spinoza, Nietzsche and Heidegger. Currently, he has academic
papers forthcoming or under revision for several volumes and journals.
He has also edited and contributed essays, commentary, analysis and reviews
for journals in Israel, the United States and Europe.
Matthew Sitman, Ph.D. Candidate, Georgetown University
Matthew is a doctoral candidate studying political theory in the Department
of Government at Georgetown University. His research interest lies in
the relationship between political thought and theology in the West.
Matthew's dissertation, "Redeeming Modernity: The Reformation Self
and the Politics of Faith," deals with Calvin's understanding of
both Christian freedom and man's divided self, and the way these innovations
haunted early modern political thought, particularly in the work of
Hobbes and Rousseau. He has published on Tocqueville, Walker Percy,
and Ronald Reagan.
Lynn Uzzell, Ph.D. University of Dallas
Lynn has a B.A. in Speech Communications from Black Hills State University
(with an emphasis in classical rhetoric) and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics
from the University of Dallas (with an emphasis in Aristotle and the
American Founding). She found a way to bring her interests together
in her dissertation topic, a rhetorical analysis of the debates at the
Constitutional Convention titled, Because Men Are Not Angels: The Understanding
of Human Nature Informing the United States Constitution.
2007-2008
Jeremy Mhire, Ph.D. Louisiana State University
Jeremy joined
the Program on Constitutionalism and Democracy in the fall of 2006.
He specializes in ancient Greek political thought, having written his
dissertation on the use of Socrates as a model for contemporary citizenship.
His current research focuses on questions of natural right in ancient
thought, especially in the comedies of Aristophanes.
Carl Scott, Ph.D. Candidate, Fordham University
Carl is currently
a FordhamUniversity candidate
for the PhD. in
Political Science, with an emphasis in Political Philosophy. He
is currently working on his dissertation entitled “The Inconstant
Democratic Character: A Comparison of Plato’s Republic
and Tocqueville’s
Democracy
in America.”
His main scholarly interests are Tocqueville, classical political philosophy,
American constitutionalism, and the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.
He has taught at FordhamUniversity
and St.
John’sCollege,
Santa
Fe.
Derek A. Webb, Ph.D. University of Notre Dame
Derek received his B.A. in Philosophy from Yale University and his
M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame.
His dissertation, “Paving the Rights Infrastructure: Civic Education
in the Presidencies of Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin
Roosevelt” investigates the extent to which these three statesmen
encouraged various civic virtues (vigilance, civic religion, and group
solidarity) in the service of liberal ends (protection of political,
natural, and economic rights). Before coming to the Program on Constitutionalism
and Democracy, Derek was the inaugural Wilson Carey McWilliams Fellow
in American Politics and Political Theory at the Miller Center of Public
Affairs.
2006-2007
Jeremy Mhire, Ph.D. Louisiana State University
Jeremy joined
the Program on Constitutionalism and Democracy in the fall of 2006.
He specializes in ancient Greek political thought, having written his
dissertation on the use of Socrates as a model for contemporary citizenship.
His current research focuses on questions of natural right in ancient
thought, especially in the comedies of Aristophanes.
Benjamin Mitchell, Ph.D. University of Virginia
Benjamin is a doctoral candidate at the University of Virginia whose
major field of study is the history of political philosophy with a minor
in American government. He has taught courses on ancient and modern
political thought, conservatism, the American political tradition, and
the problem of friendship. Mr. Mitchell has written essays and presented
research on Thucydides, Plato, Hobbes, Burke, and Nietzsche. Most recently,
he has explored the problem of constitutionalism in the thought of the
American Founders. He is currently completing a dissertation on Edmund
Burke, aesthetics, and the "idea of the constitution of the British
Empire."
Carl Scott, Ph.D. Candidate, Fordham University
Carl is currently
a FordhamUniversity candidate
for the PhD. in
Political Science, with an emphasis in Political Philosophy. He
is currently working on his dissertation entitled “The Inconstant
Democratic Character: A Comparison of Plato’s Republic
and Tocqueville’s
Democracy
in America.”
His main scholarly interests are Tocqueville, classical political philosophy,
American constitutionalism, and the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.
He has taught at FordhamUniversity
and St.
John’sCollege,
Santa
Fe.
Jeffrey Sikkenga, Ph.D. University of Toronto
Jeffrey is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the Department
of History and Political Science at AshlandUniversity (Ashland,
OH). He has written and
edited a number of books and articles and is currently working on a
manuscript entitled, “The Most Sacred Property: The Debate over
Freedom of Conscience as a Natural Right in the Political Thought of
John Locke and the American Founding.”