Michael P Zuckert
Biographic Data
| ID | 444396 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael P Zuckert |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael P |
| FAMILY NAME | Zuckert |
| SIGNATURE | ZUCKERT M P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Notre Dame |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 38 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1974 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Our Ancient Faith
America’s Philosopher
Muñoz, Madison, Rights
Ruth Grant’s Liberalism
I want to address Ruth Grant’s work on John Locke, in particular her 1987 book, John Locke’s Liberalism.1 I have now read Ruth’s book—cover to cover—for the third time. I first read it when it firs
Catherine Zuckert on Politics and Literature
Catherine Zuckert's earliest published work was in the area of Politics and Literature. From the start she saw this work as an important supplement to the dominant forms of political science and American political thought. Her work in this area, especially her manifesto-like journal articles and her first book, Natural Right and the American Imagination , made the case that literature provides insight into both the internal and hidden lives of de…
Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self
This chapter reviews Charles Taylor’s Sources of the Self. The book displays Taylor’s mastery not only of the history of philosophy, but of theology, poetry, and art. He also shares Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s commitment to synthesizing competing and conflicting elements of the culture. Unlike Hegel, however, Taylor does not see philosophy as the highest and truest expression of the human mind or spirit; rather he sees the artists—the poets m…
Something Wicked This Way Comes”
As in all or almost all Shakespeare plays the opening scenes of Macbeth are key to setting up the problem the play addresses. In his Scottish play Shakespeare uses the opening scenes to set the two main contexts in which the regicide, usurpation, tyranny, and fall of the tyrant occur. The two are, we might say, the earthly or political context and the cosmic or superhuman context represented by the witches. In presenting these two contexts Shakes…
On the Esoteric Boomerang Effect
In Philosophy Between the Lines Arthur Melzer credits Leo Strauss with the rediscovery of esoteric writing. The purpose of esoteric writing, Strauss argued, was originally to defend an author from persecution by the authorities. We point out the extraordinary reversal that has occurred as a result of the application of that rediscovery to Strauss' own writings. Critics feel empowered to deny that Strauss meant what he wrote, especially in defense…
Strauss–Cropsey
Joseph Cropsey is usually associated in the public mind with his teacher and friend, Leo Strauss. But in his writings he seldom mentioned or cited Strauss and never explicitly addressed the question of how his thinking related to that of Strauss. When one examines closely Cropsey's thinking on central topics such as “the return to the ancients,” a major theme of Strauss's, or “ancients and moderns,” a major conceptual distinction for Strauss, we …
Crisis of the Strauss Divided
“Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was the greatest mind in political philosophy in the twentieth century, and possibly in other centuries as well. That, I am well aware, is a judgment I share with very few, if any.” So writes Harry V. Jaffa in his epilogue to this volume. Including an extensive unpublished essay entitled “Straussian Geography: A Memoir and Commentary,” Crisis of the Strauss Divided brings together a collection of Jaffa’s published argumen…
The Locke Essay
Strauss's essay on Locke is devoted to Locke's early lectures on the law of nature, a text unpublished when he initially wrote on Locke in Natural Right and History. One purpose of his essay was to show that the Locke text did not contradict the position on the law of nature that Strauss had earlier attributed to him. Strauss also used the essay as an opportunity to further his own reflections on traditional natural law doctrine
Jaffa's New Birth
With the publication of Harry Jaffa's New Birth of Freedom , it is possible to see the overall trajectory of his thinking and to come to some assessment of it. New Birth redeems a forty-year-old promise for a sequel to Crisis of the House Divided . One problem, however, is that the sequel contradicts many of the claims in Crisis. These differences provide an ingress for reconsidering Jaffa's overall project and, in particular, his relation with h…
On Allan Bloom
Research Article| January 01 2008 On Allan Bloom Michael Zuckert Michael Zuckert Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google The Good Society (2008) 17 (2): 81–83. https://doi.org/10.2307/20711304 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Michael Zuckert; On Allan Bloom. The Good Society 1 January 2008; 17 (2): 81–83. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/20711304 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manag…
The Truth about Leo Strauss
A Noble Rhetoric
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The Fullness of Being
Interest in natural law theory regularly revives but the question of whether Aquinas' classic version is viable depends on whether his doctrine has the resources to respond to the classic early modern critiques that were made of it. It is argued that he does have the resources to so respond, although the response pushes the ultimate philosophic question back to the issue of the validity of his natural theology
The Truth about Leo Strauss
Locke—Religion—Equality
Jeremy Waldron's much noted book, God, Locke, and Equality, has put the topic of “God and Equality in Locke” at the center of many perhaps most, discussions of Locke these days. I am going to raise some critical objections to Waldron's interpretations, but all the more reason to begin by noting the very many things about this book that I admire.First, he rejects the insistence by many of the most outspoken Locke scholars that a proper understandi…
"Free Speech, "The People's Darling Privilege
This very fine book is a successor to the author's No State Shall Abridge (1990), a book that establishes as authoritatively as can be done the thesis that the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was intended to “incorporate” the Bill of Rights. Free Speech succeeds the earlier book in two important ways. First, the incorporation thesis has always met with great resistance for the reason, among others, that the Fourteenth…
John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court
Journal Article John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court Get access John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court. By Newmyer R. Kent. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001. xx, 511 pp. $39.95, isbn0-8071-2701-9.) Michael Zuckert Michael Zuckert University of Notre DameNotre Dame, Indiana Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 89, Issue 3, De…
John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty
Journal Article John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty. By C. Bradley Thompson. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998. xx, 340 pp. $39.95, ISBN 0-7006-0915-6.) Get access Michael P. Zuckert Michael P. Zuckert University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 86, Issue 4, March 2000, Pages 1759–1760, https://doi.org/10.2307/2567610 Publishe…
The Natural Rights Republic
Journal Article The Natural Rights Republic: Studies in the Foundation of the American Political Tradition. By Michael P. Zuckert. (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1996. xii, 298 pp. $32.95, ISBN 0-268-01480-9.) Get access Willi Paul Adams Willi Paul Adams Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 85, Issue 2, September 1998, …
The Natural Rights Republic
Journal Article The Natural Rights Republic: Studies in the Foundation of the American Political Tradition Get access Zuckert Michael P., The Natural Rights Republic: Studies in the Foundation of the American Political Tradition. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1996. xi, 298 pp. $32.95. Michael H. Hoffheimer Michael H. Hoffheimer University of Mississippi School of Law Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Go…
The Natural Rights Republic
Awards
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Federalism and the Founding
The issue of federalism at the Constitutional Convention was considerably more complex than it is normally taken to have been, and most of the prevailing understandings of the settlement of the federalism issue in the Constitution suffer from failing to appreciate that complexity. There were at least six rather distinct versions of federalism “on the table” in Philadelphia; most found embodiment in one or another of the major plans before the Con…
Locke—Religion—Equality
Jeremy Waldron's much noted book, God, Locke, and Equality, has put the topic of “God and Equality in Locke” at the center of many perhaps most, discussions of Locke these days. I am going to raise some critical objections to Waldron's interpretations, but all the more reason to begin by noting the very many things about this book that I admire.First, he rejects the insistence by many of the most outspoken Locke scholars that a proper understandi…
Rationalism & Political Responsibility
Almost a quarter century before the Athenians tried Socrates for impiety and for corrupting the youth, Aristophanes, the comic poet, had made similar accusations against him in his play, the Clouds. Reading Plato's Apology, the principal account of Socrates' trial, alongside the Clouds, Michael Zuckert observes that the two works are similar in structure, and that the Apology is a response to Aristophanes' claim, implicit in his criticism of Socr…
The Fullness of Being
Interest in natural law theory regularly revives but the question of whether Aquinas' classic version is viable depends on whether his doctrine has the resources to respond to the classic early modern critiques that were made of it. It is argued that he does have the resources to so respond, although the response pushes the ultimate philosophic question back to the issue of the validity of his natural theology
The Virtuous Polity, The Accountable Polity
The Federalist claims to present a republican response to the typical political problems faced by republics. That solution required a departure from all models of republics known at that time, and in particular a break with Anti-Federalist models that posited heavy reliance on responsibility, understood as either political accountability or as moral and political virtue. The Federalist challenges the Anti-Federalist notion that a “no-gap polity” …
Completing the Constitution
Journal Article Completing the Constitution: The Fourteenth Amendment and Constitutional Rights Get access Michael P. Zuckert Michael P. Zuckert Carleton College Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Volume 22, Issue 2, Spring 1992, Pages 69–91, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubjof.a038011 Published: 01 January 1992
Bringing Philosophy Down from the Heavens
The treatment of the natural law in the Roman law is puzzling because the relationship between jus naturale and the two other forms of law, jus gentium and jus civile, is far from clear in the texts. Moreover, the jus naturale does not appear to have the dignity most readers expect it to have. This article attempts to sort out the relationships among the three types of jus by showing that the various classifications the jurists use are based on t…
Muñoz, Madison, Rights
Jaffa's New Birth
With the publication of Harry Jaffa's New Birth of Freedom , it is possible to see the overall trajectory of his thinking and to come to some assessment of it. New Birth redeems a forty-year-old promise for a sequel to Crisis of the House Divided . One problem, however, is that the sequel contradicts many of the claims in Crisis. These differences provide an ingress for reconsidering Jaffa's overall project and, in particular, his relation with h…
Fools and Knaves
Ever since Leo Strauss and C. B. Macpherson, at almost the same moment, challenged the received view of Locke with their novel interpretations of his political philosophy, the question of how Locke wrote, and therefore of how he is to be read, has been prominent in most discussions of Locke. Strauss brought the issue to the fore by arguing the thesis that Locke engaged in “esoteric writing,” that is, that he intentionally said things he did not b…
Fools and Knaves
Ever since Leo Strauss and C. B. Macpherson, at almost the same moment, challenged the received view of Locke with their novel interpretations of his political philosophy, the question of how Locke wrote, and therefore of how he is to be read, has been prominent in most discussions of Locke. Strauss brought the issue to the fore by arguing the thesis that Locke engaged in “esoteric writing,” that is, that he intentionally said things he did not b…
Justice Deserted
John Rawls' A Theory of Justice has received a great deal of attention. While some would argue it has received too much attention (and one of our reviewers called it "greatly overrated"), there can be no doubt of the enormity of the book's impact. Professor Zuckert here provides a fresh critique of Rawls, arguing that he has misinterpreted the very logic and concept of justice. Professor Zuckert suggests that more careful attention needs to be pa…
Rationalism & Political Responsibility
Almost a quarter century before the Athenians tried Socrates for impiety and for corrupting the youth, Aristophanes, the comic poet, had made similar accusations against him in his play, the Clouds. Reading Plato's Apology, the principal account of Socrates' trial, alongside the Clouds, Michael Zuckert observes that the two works are similar in structure, and that the Apology is a response to Aristophanes' claim, implicit in his criticism of Socr…
Federalism and the Founding
The issue of federalism at the Constitutional Convention was considerably more complex than it is normally taken to have been, and most of the prevailing understandings of the settlement of the federalism issue in the Constitution suffer from failing to appreciate that complexity. There were at least six rather distinct versions of federalism “on the table” in Philadelphia; most found embodiment in one or another of the major plans before the Con…
Bringing Philosophy Down from the Heavens
The treatment of the natural law in the Roman law is puzzling because the relationship between jus naturale and the two other forms of law, jus gentium and jus civile, is far from clear in the texts. Moreover, the jus naturale does not appear to have the dignity most readers expect it to have. This article attempts to sort out the relationships among the three types of jus by showing that the various classifications the jurists use are based on t…
The Virtuous Polity, The Accountable Polity
The Federalist claims to present a republican response to the typical political problems faced by republics. That solution required a departure from all models of republics known at that time, and in particular a break with Anti-Federalist models that posited heavy reliance on responsibility, understood as either political accountability or as moral and political virtue. The Federalist challenges the Anti-Federalist notion that a “no-gap polity” …
Completing the Constitution
Journal Article Completing the Constitution: The Fourteenth Amendment and Constitutional Rights Get access Michael P. Zuckert Michael P. Zuckert Carleton College Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Volume 22, Issue 2, Spring 1992, Pages 69–91, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubjof.a038011 Published: 01 January 1992
A Culture of Rights
The Political Philosophy of Thomas Jefferson
Natural rights and the new republicanism
In Natural Rights and the New Republicanism, Michael Zuckert proposes a new view of the political philosophy that lay behind the founding of the United States. In a book that will interest political scientists, historians, and philosophers, Zuckert looks at the Whig or opposition tradition as it developed in England. He argues that there were, in fact, three opposition traditions: Protestant, Grotian, and Lockean. Before the English Civil War the…
To Make a Nation
Journal Article To Make a Nation: The Rediscovery of American Federalism. By Samuel H. Beer. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993. xxii, 474 pp. $29.95, ISBN 0-674-89317-4.) Get access Michael P. Zuckert Michael P. Zuckert Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 81, Issue 3, December 1994, Pages 1292–1293, https://doi.org/10.2307/208…
Regime and Discipline
The Myth of American Individualism
Awards
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
The Natural Rights Republic
Journal Article The Natural Rights Republic: Studies in the Foundation of the American Political Tradition. By Michael P. Zuckert. (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1996. xii, 298 pp. $32.95, ISBN 0-268-01480-9.) Get access Willi Paul Adams Willi Paul Adams Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 85, Issue 2, September 1998, …
The Natural Rights Republic
Journal Article The Natural Rights Republic: Studies in the Foundation of the American Political Tradition Get access Zuckert Michael P., The Natural Rights Republic: Studies in the Foundation of the American Political Tradition. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1996. xi, 298 pp. $32.95. Michael H. Hoffheimer Michael H. Hoffheimer University of Mississippi School of Law Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Go…
The Natural Rights Republic
John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty
Journal Article John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty. By C. Bradley Thompson. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998. xx, 340 pp. $39.95, ISBN 0-7006-0915-6.) Get access Michael P. Zuckert Michael P. Zuckert University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 86, Issue 4, March 2000, Pages 1759–1760, https://doi.org/10.2307/2567610 Publishe…
"Free Speech, "The People's Darling Privilege
This very fine book is a successor to the author's No State Shall Abridge (1990), a book that establishes as authoritatively as can be done the thesis that the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was intended to “incorporate” the Bill of Rights. Free Speech succeeds the earlier book in two important ways. First, the incorporation thesis has always met with great resistance for the reason, among others, that the Fourteenth…
John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court
Journal Article John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court Get access John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court. By Newmyer R. Kent. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001. xx, 511 pp. $39.95, isbn0-8071-2701-9.) Michael Zuckert Michael Zuckert University of Notre DameNotre Dame, Indiana Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 89, Issue 3, De…
Locke—Religion—Equality
Jeremy Waldron's much noted book, God, Locke, and Equality, has put the topic of “God and Equality in Locke” at the center of many perhaps most, discussions of Locke these days. I am going to raise some critical objections to Waldron's interpretations, but all the more reason to begin by noting the very many things about this book that I admire.First, he rejects the insistence by many of the most outspoken Locke scholars that a proper understandi…
The Truth about Leo Strauss
A Noble Rhetoric
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The Fullness of Being
Interest in natural law theory regularly revives but the question of whether Aquinas' classic version is viable depends on whether his doctrine has the resources to respond to the classic early modern critiques that were made of it. It is argued that he does have the resources to so respond, although the response pushes the ultimate philosophic question back to the issue of the validity of his natural theology
On Allan Bloom
Research Article| January 01 2008 On Allan Bloom Michael Zuckert Michael Zuckert Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google The Good Society (2008) 17 (2): 81–83. https://doi.org/10.2307/20711304 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Michael Zuckert; On Allan Bloom. The Good Society 1 January 2008; 17 (2): 81–83. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/20711304 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manag…
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