Chautauqua NY
It was Professor Khalib M. Habib’s experience as an immigrant, originally from Lebanon, that led him to study American politics. He said that the idea of 350 million people co-existing peacefully seemed like a political miracle. Through his studies of America’s founding he realized that this was not an accident. The ideas of the nation’s founding in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution go back to Aristotle and John Locke.
Habib, a professor of political philosophy and American political thought at Hillsdale College, is the Advocates for Balance at Chautauqua speaker for Week 8 of the Chautauqua Season.
The title of his talk is “The History of Progressivism in the United States”. It will take place Monday, August 14 at 3pm, at the Athenaeum Hotel parlor.
Advocates for Balance at Chautauqua aims to provide intellectual diversity to Chautauqua audiences. Their mission is “to achieve a balance of speakers in a mutually civil and respectful environment consistent with the historic mission of Chautauqua.”
ABC events are not included in the Chautauqua Institution publications. But they have more than 700 supporters and their lectures are very well-attended.
Habib said he used to complain about gridlock in Washington. Then he learned that American government is built on gridlock. “You want to have gridlock, according to the founders,” he said.
In the early 20th century, the ideas of the founders were countered by a new political theory called progressivism. Progressives thought that the government should no longer be hamstrung by the separation of powers and checks and balances. They believed the government had to adapt to new circumstances. They did not believe that individuals are endowed with rights by a creator. Progressive thinker John Dewey, influenced by the ideas of German philosophers, called individual rights rigid, only useful during a certain period.
Habib earned his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Maine, his master’s degree in political science from the University of Toronto and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University.
In 2018, Habib began teaching at Hillsdale College, in southern Michigan. The college requires that all students take a course in the U.S. Constitution, which includes readings from the original sources that laid the theoretical foundations of the Constitution.
Since his arrival at the college, Habib has received glowing recommendations from his students. One of them wrote in the college magazine:
“You really understand these founding principles in a different way than if you were taught by someone who was born in America, who is accustomed to and doesn’t really appreciate how completely radical it is that the American experience was successful.”
Hillsdale College was founded by abolitionist, Free Will Baptist preachers in 1844. “Today, the college is known as a home for smart young conservatives who wish to engage seriously with the liberal arts,” according to an article in the April 10, 2023 edition of The New Yorker magazine. “Hillsdale education has several hallmarks: a devotion to the Western canon, an emphasis on primary sources over academic theory, and a focus on equipping students to be able, virtuous citizens.”
or those unable to attend the lecture in person, it will be available at a later time for on demand viewing on the ABC website, abcatchq.com.