Visiting Professor for Spring 2010
The Tocqueville Forum is pleased to sponsor Robert Kraynak, Professor of Political Science, of Colgate University, as a Visiting Professor here at Georgetown for the Spring 2010 semester. Dr. Kraynak will teach an upper level undergraduate/graduate seminar titled “Catholic Natural Law.” The course examines the development of natural law, corresponding to five distinct periods: Thomas Aquinas, Francisco Suarez, Pope Leo XIII, Jacques Maritain-Vatican II, and John Finnis.
Robert P. Kraynak came to Colgate in 1978 from Harvard University where he received his Ph.D. in Government. He teaches courses in the fields of political philosophy and general education, including courses on American political thought, the history of Western political philosophy, natural law, religion and politics, and conservative political thought. He received the Colgate Alumni Corporation "Distinguished Teaching Award" in 2006, and he directs Colgate's Center for Freedom and Western Civilization.
His published books are History and Modernity in the Thought of Thomas Hobbes (Cornell Press, 1990), Christian Faith and Modern Democracy (Notre Dame Press, 2001), In Defense of Human Dignity, edited with Glenn Tinder (Notre Dame Press, 2003), and Reason, Faith, and Politics, edited with Arthur M. Melzer (Lexington, 2008). He also contributed to Human Dignity and Bioethics, published by the President's Council on Bioethics (2008). His book on Catholic natural law is forthcoming.
"The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens."