Brennan McDavid

Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy. Generalist/Fox. Plato-obsessed Aristotelian.

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

@JamesWHankins1 I think her argument is more subtle than this. She argues that, in the Laws, Plato takes up the thorny question of how *obedience to the law* fits with the development of virtue. He had not faced that question in Republic, on her reading.

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

@olivertraldi @jjosephporter Wait are you in dc right now too? Can we all get together on Tuesday or Wednesday?

[Merriam-Webster @MerriamWebster]

Why is it ‘cancelled’ in the U.K. but ‘canceled’ in the U.S.?

Because we gave them that L in 1776.

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

I think we are sleeping on ostracism. It lets us satisfy the urge to purge, but it’s temporally bound, so everyone gets time to think it out.

Surprise bonus: sometimes these banishments issue in great books like The History of the Peloponnesian War or The Divine Comedy.

[Hollis Robbins @anecdotal]

Excommunicate is a better concept than cancel. Discuss.

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

@zenahitz Augustine's pondus consuetudinis carnalis in Confessions 7.17.

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

❤️

[Zena Hitz @zenahitz]

I prepared for this conversation by reading a lot of Lincoln and crying. Have a beautiful 250th everyone!

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

I'm so honored to have been included in this series! Hug America big tomorrow! Re-read the Declaration! 🎆

[Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Ed @ufhamilton]

Incoming Hamilton School Professor Brennan McDavid recently spoke at @stjohnscollege as part of its "Thinking About America" summer series, presenting on Adam Smith's case for public education in commercial society and liberal education as a civic enterprise.🇺🇸

You can watch Dr. McDavid's lecture here:
https://t.co/qkySDFFDXG

#UFHamilton

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

Interesting, but misleading, sketch of Plato's political theory by @LayWilliams. In reality, Plato isn't a bleeding heart about inequality. He makes property classes legible, not flat. He enfranchises classes unevenly. He thinks the rich are *better*.

https://t.co/TOjHDBu2AV

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

Indeed. This is *essential*. We are bad at seeing ourselves. We need to look into other selves. Hit up great book Alcibiades 1 for this one trick.

[Zena Hitz @zenahitz]

I think there's a typo! Let me fix it. The essential thing about the Great Books is that many of them take place before the conditions of modernity: industrialization, modern media, mass scale cities and institutions, the therapeutic/managerial state, and modern technology.

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

Anything that helps them to dump the false belief that humans are terrible. Human beings are amazing!

A great book on this theme, though maybe a bit technologically dated by now, is Matt Ridley's The Rational Optimist.

[University of Austin (UATX) @uaustinorg]

If you could require every college freshman in America to study one specific book, what would it be?

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

@BrandonWarmke @MattNoahSmith That’s just scholarship, Brandon. Scholarship with purpose.

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

Most faculty are already insulated from true controversy in a way that makes this self-report pretty meaningless.

What is a “bold or politically sensitive topic” for an academic? Probably something marginally relevant and nowhere even adjacent to the actually tough stuff.

[Cicero Institute @InstituteCicero]

87% of university faculty say there's at least one topic they can't discuss honestly on campus.

That isn't just a free speech problem. It's a policy problem.

Too often, researchers avoid important questions because controversial findings could jeopardize their careers.

Without disruptive researchers asking bold questions, the social sciences stagnate. This inevitably produces policy failures.

How can we fix this?

Isabella Romboldi, one of Cicero's student research assistants, investigates:

[Bob Elder @southernphd]

I never met Gordon Wood, but I have a story about him.

In one of my grad school seminars, we read Wood’s Creation of the American Republic. The sheer erudition and evidentiary depth of the book bowled me over.

Back then, before kids and before life accelerated to warp speed, I used to call my mother every Sunday to catch up. Lots of times, we ended up talking about what I was reading that week in my grad seminars or for leisure. Mom had an omnivorous mind, and she was always looking for something else to read. She was a true intellectual—curious about almost everything, always eager to integrate new arguments or ideas into her existing schemas of how the world worked or to have those schemas challenged and changed.

When we talked that particular Sunday, I think I tried to describe to her part of Wood’s argument about the relationship between the state constitutions during the Articles of Confederation era and the federal Constitution. Maybe I was tired, maybe I didn’t completely understand her questions, but the end result of the conversation was that Mom had questions about Wood’s argument that I didn’t answer satisfactorily. I told her that she should probably just read the book, and we said goodbye.

She did eventually read the book, but the next Sunday, Mom started our conversation by saying, “Well, I had a lovely conversation with Gordon Wood this week.” For a split second, I thought she was joking, but then I remembered who I was dealing with. I started to sweat. “How?” I asked. A whole variety of unlikely scenarios in which the foremost historian of the American Revolution and my mother, who lived in Wichita, Kansas, might have met ran through my mind. “Oh, I just looked up his office phone number on Brown’s website and called, and he picked up!” Mom said. I decided I would have to find another profession.

As it ended up, Gordon Wood spent about an hour on the phone with my mother answering her questions about the Constitution. Ever since, I’ve had a soft spot for the man when I imagine him picking up the phone in Providence and finding Becky Elder from Wichita on the other end of the line. His generosity in that moment spoke very well of him.

Rest in peace, professor.

[Jason Roberts @ProfJRoberts]

Tenure Committees Are Too Tolerant of Mediocrity https://t.co/yZTaU7Boii

[Garett Jones @GarettJones]

Had a great experience Tuesday speaking to @ChapmanU students who had read 10% Less Democracy for their Dangerous Ideas course.

Thoughtful, piercing questions.

My thanks to philosopher Brennan McDavid and economist Erik Kimbrough for inviting me into their classroom.

[Brandon Warmke @BrandonWarmke]

There’s a kind of high prestige normie academic who from 2015-2025 blindly went along with every progressive trend, never did anything controversial, truly loved the ride, who in 2026 now thinks academia needs reform and is very publicly and confidently going to show you the way.

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

@EmiratesSupport departure is São Paulo, Brazil.

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

@EmiratesSupport, can I take a stopover in Dubai with you? Do you still run that program?

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

@drlesko @oiselle Ooooh I'd love to see you here! Have the flock fly down!

[Brennan McDavid @profbmcd]

@drlesko ...and in training for next month's Melbourne Half Marathon. I found my stride again.