Todd J. Zywicki, George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia School of Law, will join the Bruce D. Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado Boulder as the Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy for fall 2023. 

Zywicki is described as a distinguished legal scholar with expertise in law and economics, the regulation of consumer finance and bankruptcy law. He has testified before Congress on consumer-bankruptcy law and consumer credit and is the author of more than 130 law review and peer-reviewed economics journal articles. 

At 91��Ƶ, Zywicki will offer undergraduate courses on "The Rule of Law" and "Hayek and his Critics" and host public events for students, faculty, staff and the broader community.

 "I am thrilled to have the opportunity to join the CU community for the fall semester,” Zywicki said, adding: 

“For years, I have watched the Benson Center grow as an intellectual force on the CU campus and the national academy. In this time of national polarization, I applaud the support of the university administration to encourage dialogue and diversity of thought on campus and to do my part to live up to that charge."  

Zywicki received his JD from the University of Virginia, an MA in economics from Clemson University, and an AB from Dartmouth College.

Top of the page:  is an expert in Bankruptcy Law, Consumer Credit and Consumer Lending, Consumer Protection Law, Law and Economics, Obesity and Advertising.

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Historian Alan S. Kahan, who has held the position this year, to continue in fall

Alan S. Kahan has been appointed as the fall 2022 visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy at the University of Colorado Boulder, the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization has announced.

Kahan served in this role this academic year. Kahan, a historian, political theorist and author, is professor of British civilization at the Université de Paris-Saclay. He will teach two courses for the fall semester, “The European Union” and “History of Liberalism.”

At the top of the page: 91��Ƶ has reappointed professor Alan S. Kahan as the fall 2022 visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy. Above: Professor Kahan will teach two courses for the fall semester and initiate a speaker series on the theme of why the Western tradition is worth studying.

He will also initiate a speaker series for fall semester on the theme of why the Western tradition is worth studying. This series is aimed at a general audience from the campus and community. 

Kahan said he’s “delighted” to be reappointed: “I've much enjoyed teaching at 91��Ƶ this past year and look forward to doing it again next fall.”

In the past year, he’s completed a book manuscript titled Liberalism: An Incomplete History, which will be published soon by Princeton University Press.

Kahan said he’s enjoyed speaking to groups like the Boulder Rotary Club and the Boulder Freedom Group, and he’ll also be speaking during Constitution Week next September in Grand Lake, Colorado. He added that he’s been grateful for the opportunity to run a “very successful speaker series this year on capitalism and ethics.”

Benson Center Director Daniel Jacobson said he is delighted to have Kahan continue his work in the center.

“Professor Kahan has been a great addition to the Benson Center and ambassador for it. His scholarship and teaching, as well as the events he’s organized, have added to the richness of the intellectual atmosphere at CU,” Jacobson said, adding:

“Kahan’s work on the liberal tradition is especially exciting because, like Tocqueville, he brings an outsider’s understanding to bear on his examination of American democracy.”

Kahan is the author of Aristocratic Liberalism: The Social and Political Thought of Jacob Burckhardt, John Stuart Mill and Alexis de Tocqueville; Liberalism in Nineteenth-Century Europe: the Political Culture of Limited Suffrage; Alexis de Tocqueville; Mind vs. Money: The War Between Intellectuals and Capitalism; and Tocqueville, Democracy and Religion.

He is also the translator of Alexis de Tocqueville’s The Old Regime and the Revolution and Benjamin Constant’s Commentary on Filangieri's Works.

Kahan has lived in France since 2007. Previously, he taught at Florida International University in Miami. He received his PhD in history from the University of Chicago in 1987.

The Benson Center promotes study of the intellectual, artistic and political traditions that characterize Western civilization.

 

Professor Kahan’s scholarship and teaching, as well as the events he’s organized, have added to the richness of the intellectual atmosphere at CU.”

“Central to this mission is our commitment to fostering dialogue about fundamental values and controversial questions,” the center states, adding:

“The center provides a forum for free inquiry and open debate, and it promotes academic freedom and intellectual diversity on campus in a time of increasing political polarization and homogeneity.”

The conservative thought and policy search committee includes five voting members, which comprise four tenured 91��Ƶ faculty representing political science, economics, philosophy and history and one additional faculty member. The committee also includes five external, nonvoting advisory members.

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Historian Alan S. Kahan and philosopher David McPherson to join 91��Ƶ for the 2021-22 academic year

The Bruce D. Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado Boulder has appointed Alan S. Kahan as the visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy for the 2021-22 academic year, and it has appointed David McPherson as its first-ever sabbatical scholar.

Kahan, a historian, political theorist and author, is professor of British Civilization at the Université de Paris-Saclay.

Kahan is the author of ; ; Alexis de Tocqueville; ; and .

At the top of the page, Colleen Sheehan was the 2019-20 visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy. Above, Alan S. Kahan is the visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy for the 2021-22 academic year.

He is also the translator of and Benjamin Constant’s .

He is currently working on Liberalism – An Incomplete History, which will be published by Princeton University Press.

Kahan says that his current book project is “very much in line” with the Benson Center’s aims, characterizing the work as an effort to “reorient debate about liberalism through an analytical history of its development, from the proto-liberalisms of the 18th century to the libertarian and egalitarian liberalisms of the late 20th.”

Kahan has been living in France since 2007. Previously, he taught at Florida International University in Miami. He received his PhD in history from The University of Chicago in 1987.

McPherson is the Benson Center’s first sabbatical fellow and will serve as a visiting research professor during the next academic year.

McPherson is an associate professor of philosophy at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He received a PhD in philosophy in 2013 and an MA in philosophy from Marquette University, and a BA in philosophy summa cum laude from Bethel University.

Benson Center Director Daniel Jacobson said he is “delighted to welcome Professors Kahan and McPherson to the Benson Center and the 91��Ƶ campus. Kahan’s work on the liberal tradition is especially exciting because, like Tocqueville, he brings an outsider’s understanding to bear on his examination of American democracy and McPherson is an extremely energetic and original philosopher exploring central issues in virtue theory and the philosophy of religion.”

“They bring different perspectives and approaches, both of which will contribute to the community of scholars we aspire to build at the Benson Center.”

Jacobson noted that for several years, it has been fundamental to the center’s mission to bring a diversity of voices into the university by sponsoring annual fellowships, both for academics from other institutions and from 91��Ƶ, of diverse political, intellectual and philosophical thought from various academic fields. These scholars teach, research, present papers and provide outreach to the larger community.

Jacobson commented, “This new sabbatical program offers a further opportunity to expand the reach and national impact of the Benson Center’s model to other academic institutions by hosting visiting research scholars on the CU campus.”

David McPherson is the 2020-21 sabbatical scholar.

At the Benson Center, McPherson will work on a book project titled Spiritual Alienation and the Quest for God. This book articulates, explores and responds to the problem of spiritual alienation, which is the state of being “estranged from human fulfillment,” and which he argues is a perennial feature of the human condition but is exacerbated within the conditions of Western modernity, such as secularity.

This book project builds on his previous book monographs, and The Virtues of Limits (forthcoming), as well as his edited volume, .

His research specializations are in ethics (especially virtue ethics), political philosophy, meaning in life, and philosophy of religion.

McPherson said he is “excited to be a part of a scholarly community at the Benson Center, where intellectual and political diversity are genuinely valued, and where exchanges across different viewpoints are encouraged.”

He added: “Given that my book project is concerned with the spiritual condition of the modern West, it is also wonderful to be at a place that values and seeks to explores the riches of our Western tradition. My family is also excited to explore the beauties of Colorado!” 

Sabbatical fellowships, a longstanding tradition in academia, are an opportunity for faculty to focus intensely on scholarly research and production, usually after a period of successful teaching and accomplishment. Such work is vital to themselves, their students and their home institutions and also provides access to new knowledge that benefits to the scholar’s visiting institution.

Along with his scholarly pursuits, McPherson also intends to be fully immersed in family life while at 91��Ƶ. Outside of work, he loves spending time with his wife Kirstin and their four children, Clare (8 years old), John (5 years old), Peter (two and a half years old), and Andrew (four months old).

He said, “My wife and I both play folk music together (I play guitar, and she plays fiddle and guitar), and our daughter Clare is now joining us on piano, and she and I also like to sing John Prine songs together. With John and Peter, I like building and playing with Star Wars Legos.” 

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