Just as the philosophy of Aristotle is foundational to Western thought, it is also central to the mission and work of the James Wilson Institute. Our weeklong fellowships and seminars on Natural Law Jurisprudence typically begin not with the writings of our institute’s namesake or even other familiar figures from the Founding, but rather with with the opening pages of Aristotle’s Politics regarding the nature of the polis and how our understanding of rights and obligations springs from objective facts about human nature.
Joining us on this week’s Anchoring Truths Podcast episode to discuss the philosophy of Aristotle and its connection with natural rights is scholar and expert on Aristotle’s writings, Alex Petkas. His insightful remarks offer something of a deep dive into the philosophy animating much of our work at the Institute.
Petkas holds a PhD in Classics from Princeton. He taught ancient philosophy, rhetoric, and Greco-Roman history at Princeton, UC San Diego, and on the tenure track at Cal State Fresno. He also hosts The Cost of Glory Podcast, on which he retells Plutarch’s Parallel Lives—the biographies of statesmen, generals, orators, and founders that have trained ambitious men for two thousand years.
