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Harvey Mansfield
Harvey Claflin Mansfield Jr. (born March 21, 1932) is an American political philosopher. He was the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he taught from 1962 until his retirement in 2023. He has held Guggenheim and NEH Fellowships and has been a Fellow at the National Humanities Center. In 2004, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President George W. Bush and delivered the Jefferson Lecture in 2007.
Mansfield is a scholar of political history, and was greatly influenced by Leo Strauss. He is also the Carol G. Simon Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. Mansfield is notable for his generally conservative stance on political issues in his writings. At Harvard, he became one of the university's most prominent conservative figures. In 2023, he retired from teaching as one of the university's longest-serving faculty members.
His notable former students include: Mark Blitz, James Ceaser, Tom Cotton, Andrew Sullivan, Charles R. Kesler, Alan Keyes, William Kristol, Clifford Orwin, Paul Cantor, Mark Lilla, Francis Fukuyama, Sharon Krause, Bruno Maçães, and Shen Tong.
Mansfield was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on March 21, 1932. His father, Harvey Mansfield Sr., had been editor of the American Political Science Review and was the Ruggles Professor Emeritus of Public Law and Government at Columbia University at the time of his death in 1988 at the age of 83. Mansfield Sr., who had also taught at Yale and been the departmant chairman at Ohio State, was described by his son as "a New Deal Democrat, a liberal who had an aversion to the Left." At Ohio State, Mansfield had met Harry V. Jaffa, a young assistant professor whose anti-Communist conservatism was also an influence. Like Jaffa, Mansfield eventually joined the Republican Party over the issue of communism.
Mansfield was educated at public schools before college. In 1949, he enrolled at Harvard University with a focus in studying government, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in 1953. As an undergraduate, he was a liberal who supported Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 presidential election. His professors included Samuel Beer and William Yandell Elliott.
After graduating, Mansfield received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in England for a year. Thanks to Beer's influence, he was able to attend a speech by Winston Churchill, which left an impression on him. From 1954 to 1956, he served in the United States Army in Virginia and France. With his academic background, Mansfield was ordered to give lectures to the troops on topics in United States history. He returned to Harvard and received his Ph.D. in 1961, with a dissertation published in 1965 as Statesmanship and Party Government: A Study of Burke and Bolingbroke. Mansfield initially began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, for a few years before lecturing at Harvard. In 1969, he was appointed as a full professor and was chair of the university's government department from 1973 to 1976.
Mansfield was married to Delba Winthrop, with whom he co-translated and co-authored work on Tocqueville. Winthrop's doctoral dissertation (supervised by Mansfield), on Aristotle's view of democracy, was posthumously published in 2018.
In his 2001 book A Student's Guide to Political Philosophy, Mansfield traces the history of political philosophy in "the great books" written by Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Rousseau, and others of the "highest rank" (1). He also finds political philosophy in practical politics, which Mansfield considers necessarily partisan, because it involves citizens "arguing passionately pro and con with advocacy and denigration, accusation and defense" (2). He argues that politics does not merely consist of liberal and conservative options, but rather, they are fundamentally opposed to each other, with each side defending its own interest as it attempts to appeal to the common good (2). Since such adversarial sides in a political dispute appeal to the common good, an observer of the dispute can use his capacity to reason to judge which side supplies the most compelling arguments. If such an observer is competent to be a judge, he or she may be thought of as a political philosopher, or as at least on the way to engaging in political philosophy (2–3).
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Harvey Mansfield
Harvey Claflin Mansfield Jr. (born March 21, 1932) is an American political philosopher. He was the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he taught from 1962 until his retirement in 2023. He has held Guggenheim and NEH Fellowships and has been a Fellow at the National Humanities Center. In 2004, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President George W. Bush and delivered the Jefferson Lecture in 2007.
Mansfield is a scholar of political history, and was greatly influenced by Leo Strauss. He is also the Carol G. Simon Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. Mansfield is notable for his generally conservative stance on political issues in his writings. At Harvard, he became one of the university's most prominent conservative figures. In 2023, he retired from teaching as one of the university's longest-serving faculty members.
His notable former students include: Mark Blitz, James Ceaser, Tom Cotton, Andrew Sullivan, Charles R. Kesler, Alan Keyes, William Kristol, Clifford Orwin, Paul Cantor, Mark Lilla, Francis Fukuyama, Sharon Krause, Bruno Maçães, and Shen Tong.
Mansfield was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on March 21, 1932. His father, Harvey Mansfield Sr., had been editor of the American Political Science Review and was the Ruggles Professor Emeritus of Public Law and Government at Columbia University at the time of his death in 1988 at the age of 83. Mansfield Sr., who had also taught at Yale and been the departmant chairman at Ohio State, was described by his son as "a New Deal Democrat, a liberal who had an aversion to the Left." At Ohio State, Mansfield had met Harry V. Jaffa, a young assistant professor whose anti-Communist conservatism was also an influence. Like Jaffa, Mansfield eventually joined the Republican Party over the issue of communism.
Mansfield was educated at public schools before college. In 1949, he enrolled at Harvard University with a focus in studying government, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in 1953. As an undergraduate, he was a liberal who supported Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 presidential election. His professors included Samuel Beer and William Yandell Elliott.
After graduating, Mansfield received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in England for a year. Thanks to Beer's influence, he was able to attend a speech by Winston Churchill, which left an impression on him. From 1954 to 1956, he served in the United States Army in Virginia and France. With his academic background, Mansfield was ordered to give lectures to the troops on topics in United States history. He returned to Harvard and received his Ph.D. in 1961, with a dissertation published in 1965 as Statesmanship and Party Government: A Study of Burke and Bolingbroke. Mansfield initially began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, for a few years before lecturing at Harvard. In 1969, he was appointed as a full professor and was chair of the university's government department from 1973 to 1976.
Mansfield was married to Delba Winthrop, with whom he co-translated and co-authored work on Tocqueville. Winthrop's doctoral dissertation (supervised by Mansfield), on Aristotle's view of democracy, was posthumously published in 2018.
In his 2001 book A Student's Guide to Political Philosophy, Mansfield traces the history of political philosophy in "the great books" written by Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Rousseau, and others of the "highest rank" (1). He also finds political philosophy in practical politics, which Mansfield considers necessarily partisan, because it involves citizens "arguing passionately pro and con with advocacy and denigration, accusation and defense" (2). He argues that politics does not merely consist of liberal and conservative options, but rather, they are fundamentally opposed to each other, with each side defending its own interest as it attempts to appeal to the common good (2). Since such adversarial sides in a political dispute appeal to the common good, an observer of the dispute can use his capacity to reason to judge which side supplies the most compelling arguments. If such an observer is competent to be a judge, he or she may be thought of as a political philosopher, or as at least on the way to engaging in political philosophy (2–3).