Thomas G. West, professor of politics at the University of Dallas, will present a Brigham Young University Wheatley Institution lecture Thursday, Sept. 23, at 3 p.m. in the Harold B. Lee Library Auditorium.
His presentation is titled “The Universalist Assumptions of the American Founding” and is the first of seven lectures being hosted by the institute through January on the topic of “civic virtue.”
“Dr. West will talk about the philosophical roots of America’s founding,” said Richard Williams, director of BYU’s Wheatley Institution. “He’ll answer the question, ‘What are the underlying virtues of the Founding Fathers’ efforts?’”
West has been teaching politics since 1974 and is also a senior fellow of the Claremont Institute in California. Recently he has been lecturing and writing about American political thought and civil rights, as well as about the philosophers Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Leo Strauss. He has held visiting appointments at the Heritage Foundation and at Claremont McKenna College. His pending book, “The Political Theory of the Founding,” will explain the Founding Fathers’ consensus on political principles, focusing on their implications for policies on economics and good character.
A Vietnam veteran, West received a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a doctorate from Claremont Graduate University. He is married to Grace Starry West, who teaches classics at the University of Dallas, and they are the parents of four children.
The Wheatley Institution was founded in 2007 to enhance the academic climate and scholarly reputation of BYU and to enrich faculty and student experiences by contributing recognized scholarship that lifts society by preserving and strengthening its core institutions.
For more information about this presentation or the lecture series, visit wheatley.byu.edu or contact Annalaura Solomon at (801) 422-8230.
Writer: Philip Volmar
