Everyone supports civility, in theory, when the “other side” is behaving themselves.  But what is the role of civility in an era of growing political division?  Is civility a weakness that can be exploited by our political opponents?  Is it simply being well-mannered and exceedingly nice, or is there more to it?

 

Those are the very questions Alexandra Hudson set out to answer in her new book, The Soul of Civility.  Alexandra joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to unpackage how civility holds the timeless answers for humanity’s timeless struggle with living alongside the “other side”.

 

About Alexandra Hudson

From Alexandra’s website:

Alexandra Hudson is a writer, popular speaker, and the founder of Civic Renaissance, a publication and intellectual community dedicated to beauty, goodness and truth. She was named the 2020 Novak Journalism Fellow, and contributes to Fox News, CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, TIME Magazine, POLITICO Magazine, and Newsweek. She earned a master’s degree in public policy at the London School of Economics as a Rotary Scholar, and is an adjunct professor at the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy. She is also the creator of a series for The Teaching Company called Storytelling and The Human Condition.  She lives in Indianapolis, IN with her husband and children.

 

But wait, there’s more…

During the conversation Josh and Alexandra briefly discuss Edmund Burke’s take on social contract theory.  This is a complex issue and there simply wasn’t adequate time to explore it fully.  So, after the conversation with Alexandra, Josh shares his thoughts on how Burke’s understanding of social contract theory might rescue Lockean liberalism from being merely a tool of the Left to something conservatives can embrace themselves.