James F Pontuso
Biographic Data
| ID | 702211 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James F Pontuso |
| GIVEN NAMES | James F |
| FAMILY NAME | Pontuso |
| SIGNATURE | PONTUSO J F |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hampden–Sydney College |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 22 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Becoming “Woke” Rightly Understood
Becoming “Woke” Rightly Understood is an examination of Peter Augustine Lawler’s sometimes lighthearted, often ironic, and yet equally profound analysis of the current state of higher education. Lawler’s treatment is panoramic; it presents both the warts and beauty marks of higher education. The book itself is an example of the traditional goals of higher education. It forces readers to think by offering arguments for and against the liberal arts…
Aristotle
The Greengrocer and Compassion in Time of War
This is a personal reflection on the effects of The Power of the Powerless on students living in post-tyrannical societies—the Czech Republic in 1993 and Iraq in 2010. Czech students read the essay as an indictment of Marxist ideology, one-party rule, bureaucratic stagnation, and their former educational system. Havel was a symbol of resistance, human rights, and courage. Iraqi students found a different lesson. The Power of the Powerless does no…
Guest Editors' Introduction
Friendship and the Shortage of Time
On May 23, 2017, my oldest academic friendship ended when Peter Augustine Lawler passed away. We met in 1975 when I was going through a line to register for my first semester of graduate study. He
Men Behaving Fretfully
Can the Free Market Work without Virtue
Libertarianism has become one of the most influential movements of the last twenty years. Its political effects can be seen as the driving force behind many in the ranks of the Republican-controlled Congress. This article is a presentation and critical examination of the founding principles of Libertarianism. It argues that much is valid in free-market ideas, especially at the microeconomic level. However, Libertarianism overstates the case for r…
Being, Time, and Art
An Interview with Václav Havel
Aristophanes as the Founder of Postmodernism Rightly Understood
An ironic exploration of Aristophanes' anticipation of many of the doctrines of postmodernism including the notions that social conventions can be deconstructed, that speech constructs reality, and that poets, or writers, are the creators of human horizons. Despite his seeming agreement with postmodernists, Aristophanes comes to quite different conclusions about how readily the "truth" of postmodern ideas should be disseminated. Aristophanes' Clo…
Benjamin Franklin Unmasked
Benjamin Franklin Unmasked: On the Unity of His Moral, Religious, and Political Thought. By Jerry Weinberger. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005. 352p. $34.95. There are two important issues raised by Jerry Weinberger's intricate, probing, and insightful book: whether his portrayal of Franklin is accurate and whether Franklin's understanding of existence is correct. Weinberger's thesis is controversial: From age 15, when Franklin read his…
Václav Havel
Vaclav Havel
Havel's Vanek Plays
Vaclav Havel
Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 A Life like a Work of Art Chapter 3 A Hesitant Philosopher Chapter 4 A Dissident in an Unnatural World Chapter 5 An Ironic Playwright Chapter 6 Free Markets and Civil Society: Citizen in the Global Economy Chapter 7 An Untactical President Chapter 8 Index Chapter 9 About the Author
Clear Writing Means Clear Thinking
Anyone who has ever graded a term paper knows that students seem to forget most everything they learned in freshman composition class when it comes time to write an analytical essay in another course. “Writing across the curriculum” has become almost a mantra that schools have adopted to counter this problem. Yet it is unclear exactly what “writing across the curriculum” means, and it is more uncertain how to implement the concept. This paper gro…
The political philosophy of Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a political hero to many for his brave opposition to Communist tyranny. His plays are less well understood than his political persona. His plays have been labelled 'absurd, depressing, upsetting, shocking', and a 'dead end'. They are certainly ambitious, complex, and difficult to interpret. Havel's seemingly absurd plays are an effort to counteract what he calls 'the crisis of human identity', a crisis that has occurred because of…
Transformation Politics
Books in review
The Fragility of Existence
Additional informationNotes on contributorsSteven BelcherJames F. Pontuso is William W. Elliott Professor of Political Science and director of the Western Culture Program at Hampden-Sydney College. Steven Belcher, who researched the constitutional law cases, is a senior honors student in political science at Hampden-Sydney College. Thanks, as always, to Rosalind Warfield-Brown for editing this paper
The Master Fool
(1996). The Master Fool: The Conspiracy of Machiavelli's Mondragola. Perspectives on Political Science: Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 124-132
Political Passions and the Creation of the American National Community
The Master Fool
(1996). The Master Fool: The Conspiracy of Machiavelli's Mondragola. Perspectives on Political Science: Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 124-132
Vaclav Havel
Clear Writing Means Clear Thinking
Anyone who has ever graded a term paper knows that students seem to forget most everything they learned in freshman composition class when it comes time to write an analytical essay in another course. “Writing across the curriculum” has become almost a mantra that schools have adopted to counter this problem. Yet it is unclear exactly what “writing across the curriculum” means, and it is more uncertain how to implement the concept. This paper gro…
The political philosophy of Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a political hero to many for his brave opposition to Communist tyranny. His plays are less well understood than his political persona. His plays have been labelled 'absurd, depressing, upsetting, shocking', and a 'dead end'. They are certainly ambitious, complex, and difficult to interpret. Havel's seemingly absurd plays are an effort to counteract what he calls 'the crisis of human identity', a crisis that has occurred because of…
Transformation Politics
Political Passions and the Creation of the American National Community
The Master Fool
(1996). The Master Fool: The Conspiracy of Machiavelli's Mondragola. Perspectives on Political Science: Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 124-132
The political philosophy of Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a political hero to many for his brave opposition to Communist tyranny. His plays are less well understood than his political persona. His plays have been labelled 'absurd, depressing, upsetting, shocking', and a 'dead end'. They are certainly ambitious, complex, and difficult to interpret. Havel's seemingly absurd plays are an effort to counteract what he calls 'the crisis of human identity', a crisis that has occurred because of…
Transformation Politics
Books in review
The Fragility of Existence
Additional informationNotes on contributorsSteven BelcherJames F. Pontuso is William W. Elliott Professor of Political Science and director of the Western Culture Program at Hampden-Sydney College. Steven Belcher, who researched the constitutional law cases, is a senior honors student in political science at Hampden-Sydney College. Thanks, as always, to Rosalind Warfield-Brown for editing this paper
Vaclav Havel
Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 A Life like a Work of Art Chapter 3 A Hesitant Philosopher Chapter 4 A Dissident in an Unnatural World Chapter 5 An Ironic Playwright Chapter 6 Free Markets and Civil Society: Citizen in the Global Economy Chapter 7 An Untactical President Chapter 8 Index Chapter 9 About the Author
Clear Writing Means Clear Thinking
Anyone who has ever graded a term paper knows that students seem to forget most everything they learned in freshman composition class when it comes time to write an analytical essay in another course. “Writing across the curriculum” has become almost a mantra that schools have adopted to counter this problem. Yet it is unclear exactly what “writing across the curriculum” means, and it is more uncertain how to implement the concept. This paper gro…
Václav Havel
Vaclav Havel
Havel's Vanek Plays
Benjamin Franklin Unmasked
Benjamin Franklin Unmasked: On the Unity of His Moral, Religious, and Political Thought. By Jerry Weinberger. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005. 352p. $34.95. There are two important issues raised by Jerry Weinberger's intricate, probing, and insightful book: whether his portrayal of Franklin is accurate and whether Franklin's understanding of existence is correct. Weinberger's thesis is controversial: From age 15, when Franklin read his…
Aristophanes as the Founder of Postmodernism Rightly Understood
An ironic exploration of Aristophanes' anticipation of many of the doctrines of postmodernism including the notions that social conventions can be deconstructed, that speech constructs reality, and that poets, or writers, are the creators of human horizons. Despite his seeming agreement with postmodernists, Aristophanes comes to quite different conclusions about how readily the "truth" of postmodern ideas should be disseminated. Aristophanes' Clo…
An Interview with Václav Havel
Being, Time, and Art
Can the Free Market Work without Virtue
Libertarianism has become one of the most influential movements of the last twenty years. Its political effects can be seen as the driving force behind many in the ranks of the Republican-controlled Congress. This article is a presentation and critical examination of the founding principles of Libertarianism. It argues that much is valid in free-market ideas, especially at the microeconomic level. However, Libertarianism overstates the case for r…
Men Behaving Fretfully
The Greengrocer and Compassion in Time of War
This is a personal reflection on the effects of The Power of the Powerless on students living in post-tyrannical societies—the Czech Republic in 1993 and Iraq in 2010. Czech students read the essay as an indictment of Marxist ideology, one-party rule, bureaucratic stagnation, and their former educational system. Havel was a symbol of resistance, human rights, and courage. Iraqi students found a different lesson. The Power of the Powerless does no…
Guest Editors' Introduction
Friendship and the Shortage of Time
On May 23, 2017, my oldest academic friendship ended when Peter Augustine Lawler passed away. We met in 1975 when I was going through a line to register for my first semester of graduate study. He
Aristotle
Becoming “Woke” Rightly Understood
Becoming “Woke” Rightly Understood is an examination of Peter Augustine Lawler’s sometimes lighthearted, often ironic, and yet equally profound analysis of the current state of higher education. Lawler’s treatment is panoramic; it presents both the warts and beauty marks of higher education. The book itself is an example of the traditional goals of higher education. It forces readers to think by offering arguments for and against the liberal arts…
Political science (19 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Philosophy (16 works) · Law (15 works) · Politics (13 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Eastern European Communism and Reforms (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Psychology (6 works)