Trump and Political Philosophy: Patriotism, Cosmopolitanism, and Civic Virtue

369 Pages·2018·2.59 MB·English

by  Marc Benjamin Sable, Angel Jaramillo Torres

TRUMP AND
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Patriotism, Cosmopolitanism,
and Civic Virtue
edited by
marc benjamin sable ·angel jaramillo torres
Praise for Trump and Political Philosophy
“Bringing the wisdom contained within the history of political philosophy to bear
on the shocking events of the past few years, these essays give us what we need
most of all: illumination in place of obfuscation.”
—Damon Linker, Senior Correspondent, The Week
“Anyone who believes that philosophy has the ability and responsibility to reflect
upon the concerns of the present will find these volumes utterly compelling.”
—Jeffrey Bernstein, Professor, Philosophy,
College of the Holy Cross, USA
“Certainly we have had a plethora of books speaking about the rise of Trump…
but there is nothing from this timeless perspective.”
—Bryan Paul-Frost, Associate Professor, Political Science,
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA
Marc Benjamin Sable
Angel Jaramillo Torres
Editors
Trump and Political
Philosophy
Patriotism, Cosmopolitanism, and Civic Virtue
Editors
Marc Benjamin Sable Angel Jaramillo Torres
Universidad Iberoamericana National Autonomous University
Mexico City, Mexico of Mexico
Universidad de las Americas Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
Mexico City, Mexico Mexico
ISBN 978-3-319-74426-1 ISBN 978-3-319-74427-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74427-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018935936
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
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Cover illustration: Donald Trump © Lorie Shaull The Noun Project
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To our parents,
Socorro Torres Garduño and Angel Jaramillo Mendoza
and
Twyla Silverstein Sable and Robert Gerald Sable,
to whom we each owe so much.
P
reface
To edit a volume compiling essays on the hypothetical opinions of classical
and modern philosophers on the 45th Presidency of the United States is
undoubtedly a challenge.
The predicament is compounded by the inescapable fact that Donald
Trump is unlikely to be interested in philosophy. According to his own
public testimonies, his favorite books are the Bible and The Art of the
Deal—not necessarily in that order. But perhaps this book will find a place
on the bookshelves of citizens interested in the fate of American democ-
racy, and more generally the world they are living in as the twentieth-first
century approaches its third decade.
Following a venerable tradition, we have divided this volume into three
parts: Classical Political Thought, Modern and Liberal Thought, and
Continental Perspectives.1 We believe that the quarrel between ancient
and moderns can help us to better understand the themes of patriotism,
cosmopolitanism and civic virtue—themes critical for the America which
has witnessed the rise of Trump. Political philosophy is, among other
things, a meditation about the nature of justice and the character of citi-
zens, both universally and in the particular case.
It should be noted that this book has a companion volume, Trump and
Political Philosophy: Leadership, Statesmanship and Tyranny, and the project
was original intended as a single volume. If the reader finds some great thinker
or political stance lacking here, we hope that they will look there for insights.
This collection is undoubtedly diverse, not only in terms of the thinkers
with whom our contributors engage, but in their politics. We have included
authors who believe, explicitly or implicitly, that Donald Trump lacks the
vii
viii PrEFACE
moral, political, and technical capacities to govern the United States. But
we have decided to give voice as well to those who are optimistic about
Trump and believe that he deserves a chance to demonstrate that he can
deliver the goods.
Our decision is likely not to garner much assent from either side of the
political spectrum, but since this book is written from the point of view of
philosophy, we think that dogmatism is the most perfidious of intellectual
vices. All in all, we subscribe to the Socratic injunction that one is an edu-
cated person to the extent one knows one’s ignorance. Moreover, it is our
conviction that the strengthening of the public sphere needs an open and
non-dogmatic discussion of ideas about what Trump’s surprising electoral
victory means. If, as several of contributors point out, the dangers of the
present political landscape stem from our inability to rationally discuss the
great issues of our time—since we are more comfortable arguing with the
like-minded—we hope that to foster a dialog across political divides that
can improve the quality of American democracy.
Of course, this book cannot provide all the insights of the philosophers
might bring to bear on contemporary politics, or even just Trump, even
taken together with its companion volume. But like the proverbial exiled
poet, we have launched this book like a bottle thrown into the sea. We
hope some fishermen in search of human messages will take it up and read
it. Perhaps it can help them to find their bearings amidst a troubled
moment in the American political landscape.
Note
1. The term “liberal” is not used here in the typical contemporary American
political sense, i.e., in opposition to postwar conservatism. We use the term
“liberal” to refer to all those political philosophies and ideologies which
place an emphasis of formal, legal freedom, and the constitutional orders
which support it. Our use of the term does not entail any particular stance
as to the proper role of government in regulation of business, about which
our contributors disagree, i.e., some of them are liberal, some conservative,
and some radical in the conventional terminology of American politics.
Depending on context, “neoliberal” might refer to a general acceptance of
free markets, which has dominated thinking worldwide since the 1980s, or
it might refer to the specific position represented by the Clintons’ reformist
politics within the broad parameters of contemporary corporate capitalism.
a
ckNowledgmeNts
A project like this—which we count as including its sister volume, Trump
and Political Philosophy: Leadership, Statesmanship and Tyranny—neces-
sarily generates different sorts of debts than a work consisting of a single
argument authored by a single scholar. These are the debts of friendship,
in the broad sense of the Greek word, philia. We are indebted in three
ways: institutionally, professionally and personally.
First, we thank the organizations which facilitated this project: The
Northeastern Political Science Association (NPSA), where we organized
the first “Trump in the Face of Political Philosophy” panels that took place
three days after the 2016 presidential election. We thank the NPSA also
for the two roundtables based on essays in this book, one year later, and,
more generally, as a forum where we met many of the contributors. The
Association for Core Texts and Courses was also an excellent venue, where
in the spring of 2017 we met a number of the contributors to this volume,
who have quickly become friends.
In addition, Angel Jaramillo was able to work on this project thanks to
a postdoctoral fellowship provided by CONACYT (Mexico’s equivalent of
the National Science Foundation.) He was able to work on this project as
part of a postdoctoral position at the Coordinación de Estudios de
Posgrado at UNAM. He wishes thus to thank the coordinator in the area
of philosophy at that time, Leticia Flores Farfán.
Second, there are also numerous individuals who facilitated this proj-
ect, by helping to foster the conversation that we hope these two books
constitute. We owe particular thanks to Nathan Tarcov of the University
of Chicago, richard Velkley of Tulane University, Joshua Parens of the
ix
x ACkNOWLEDGMENTS
University of Dallas, William kristol of the Weekly Standard, and Jeffrey
Bernstein of the College of the Holy Cross. Although none contributed
essays, each made suggestions for inclusions in the volume and generously
put us in contact with scholars who did participate. Three others who did
contribute essays—Catherine Zuckert, Susan Shell and Gladden Pappin—
also helped us to identify scholars whose essays likewise grace this
volume.
Above all, this project would have been impossible without the scholars
who wrote essays for this book, and its sister volume. We believe their
essays exhibit not only a very high quality of scholarship, but also a seri-
ousness about politics. More prosaically, they were patient with two edi-
tors who learned “on-the-job” how to manage an intellectual project with
thirty-seven contributors. Moreover, they were fine colleagues, respond-
ing to comments on drafts and providing materials in a prompt fashion.
We thank them all.
We are, of course, grateful to the staff at Palgrave Macmillan, especially
Michelle Chen and John Stegner who helped these novice co-editors
through the process of turning a collection of essays into a finished manu-
script. We are also highly appreciative of the Palgrave team for the striking
cover designs. A thanks is also due to Chris robinson, no longer at
Palgrave, who first suggested that we turn two academic conference panels
into a book-length project.
Finally, we wish to thank our teachers. In the case of Marc Sable, these
include, especially, Amy kass, David Greenstone, Susanne rudolph, David
Smigelskis and William Sewell, Jr. In the case of Angel Jaramillo, these
include particularly, rafael Segovia, James Miller, Heinrich Meier and
Christopher Hitchens. Like the vast majority of human beings, our first
teachers were our parents. We thank them, for helping us to become the
people we are, and for their support, both emotional and material, which
has enabled us both to become scholars and to bring this project to
completion.
c
oNteNts
1 Patriotism, Cosmopolitanism and Civic Virtue:
Trumpians and Trumpism 1
Marc Benjamin Sable and Angel Jaramillo Torres
Part I Classical Political Thought 23
2 Aristotle’s Account of Factional Conflict and the Rise
of Donald Trump 25
Carson Holloway
3 Roman Parallels: Plutarch and the Trump Election 43
Mark Shiffman
4 Thomism and Trumpism 61
Douglas kries
Part II Modern and Liberal Thought 71
5 Trump as a Machiavellian Prince? Reflections
on Corruption and American Constitutionalism 73
Catherine Zuckert
xi