Life of the Political Mind

It is, in many ways, the cornerstone of the socially engaged Catholic's life, and through how we think about politics, we may become closer to God in what we do around politics; one of the ultimate measures of our success in this world.

In this interview with Robert R. Reilly, the Catholic professor James V. Schall, S.J., shares his ideas.

An excerpt.

"Robert R. Reilly: What is the most important thing you teach?

"James V. Schall: One could approach this question several ways: "What is the most important course?" or "What is the most important idea?" or "What is the most important thing that you want students to come away from in your classes having learned?"

"For more than 30 years now, I have been teaching the same course every semester, ranging in size from 90 to 100 students. It is called -- an old-fashioned title, I suppose -- Elements of Political Theory. The title I inherited from the department. In my mind, it is a political philosophy course in the broadest sense of that word.

"To do political philosophy right, you have to include things beyond it, like metaphysics and revelation, and things below it, like practical political life and economics. Geography and history come in, as do wars and rumors of war. Politics, as Aristotle said, is the highest of the practical sciences, but not the highest science as such. This means that politics is limited by what it is not: Politics does not make man to be man, but takes him from nature and guides him to be good, as Aristotle also said.

"Still, I suspect the most important thing I assume in teaching is that students be themselves docile -- that is, as I like to put it, that they be "eminently teachable." I like the remark of Allan Bloom in Shakespeare's Politics: "A man is most what he is as a result of what he does; a man is known, not simply by his existence, but by the character of his actions -- liberal or greedy, courageous or cowardly, frank or sly, moderate or profligate." To be teachable means that a student first realizes in his soul that he does not already know too much. Nor is his purpose in learning simply about grades. Aristotle's notion that there are things worth knowing "for their own sakes" strikes me as the most important thing I have to teach.

"But it is not enough to say, "Look here, son, you need to know about, say, Dante or Cicero." It is alright to say this to him, of course, and a teacher should say it. Authority means something, gives directions. What needs to happen, however, is that a student sees in his own soul that something both can be learned and is worthy of being known. Indeed, he needs suddenly to rouse himself and find delight in something that he now knows. There is a delight in knowing unlike any other delight, the absence of which, as Aristotle also said, is a very dangerous thing, especially for politicians."