Vital Remnants

In this installment of the Vital Remnants Podcast, Dr. Gary Gregg guides listeners through chapters six and seven of Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince, identifying seven lessons for modern leaders. Those lessons include warnings about founding new enterprises, a caution to grow your enterprise slowly rather than quickly, and a core lesson for contemporary political leaders about the importance of gaining popular support and some techniques for doing it.

Target 3 Reading: Chapters 6-8, pp. 21-38 of Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, Second Edition, Translated and with an Introduction by Harvey C. Mansfield (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998)

Download Dr. Gregg's Guide to The Prince here

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This podcast is a production of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. For more information, including upcoming events, please visit us online at mcconnellcenter.org or on social media at:

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Intro: Natalie Smith, McConnell Center Civic Education Coordinator

Host: Dr. Gary L. Gregg II, McConnell Center Director

Producer: Connor Tracy, McConnell Center SBS Coordinator

In this installment of the Vital Remnants Podcast, Dr. Gary Gregg guides readers through the first five chapters of The Prince, identifying eight keys to leadership from the reading. These include lessons on assuming roles of power, learning before you lose and engaging problems before they become too large to remedy. Dr. Gregg also wrestles with the modern-day application of Machiavelli's ideas.

Target 2 Reading: Chapters 1-5, pp. 5-21 of Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, Second Edition, Translated and with an Introduction by Harvey C. Mansfield (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998)

Download Dr. Gregg's Guide to The Prince here

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive McConnell Center updates directly in your mailbox

Please share any thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns with us via email at [email protected]

This podcast is a production of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. For more information, including upcoming events, please visit us online at mcconnellcenter.org or on social media at:

Facebook: @mcconnellcenter

Instagram: @ulmcenter

Twitter: @ULmCenter

Intro: Natalie Smith, McConnell Center Civic Education Coordinator

Host: Dr. Gary L. Gregg II, McConnell Center Director

Producer: Connor Tracy, McConnell Center SBS Coordinator

For the second season of Vital Remnants, Dr. Gary L. Gregg II will walk listeners through one of the most famous texts on political leadership, Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince. In this first episode, Dr. Gregg briefly details Machiavelli's historical significance and his approach to reading The Prince. He then shares the first key lesson–to learn from contemporaries and the ancients–and ends by focusing on the second lesson from the selected readings, which emphasizes the importance of perspective when considering politics.

Target 1 Reading: Dedicatory Letter, Appendix "Niccolò Machiavelli to Francesco Vettori, Florence, Dec. 10, 1513" pp. 3-4, 107-111 of Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, Second Edition, Translated and with an Introduction by Harvey C. Mansfield (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998)

Download Dr. Gregg's Guide to The Prince here

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive McConnell Center updates directly in your mailbox

Please share any thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns with us via email at [email protected]

This podcast is a production of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. For more information, including upcoming events, please visit us online at mcconnellcenter.org or on social media at:

Facebook: @mcconnellcenter

Instagram: @ulmcenter

Twitter: @ULmCenter

Intro: Natalie Smith, McConnell Center Civic Education Coordinator

Host: Dr. Gary L. Gregg II, McConnell Center Director

Producer: Connor Tracy, McConnell Center SBS Coordinator

In this introductory episode of the Vital Remnants podcast, producer Connor Tracy sits down with show host Dr. Gary L. Gregg II to discuss the inspiration, overall vision, and structure of the podcast.

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive McConnell Center updates directly in your mailbox

Please share any thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns with us via email at [email protected]

This podcast is a production of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. For more information, including upcoming events, please visit us online at mcconnellcenter.org or on social media at:

Facebook: @mcconnellcenter

Instagram: @ulmcenter

Twitter: @ULmCenter

Intro: Natalie Smith, McConnell Center Civic Education Coordinator

Host: Dr. Gary L. Gregg II, McConnell Center Director

Producer: Connor Tracy, McConnell Center SBS Coordinator

Target 8 Reading Recommendation: Arthur Herman, The Cave and the Light: Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization (Random House, 2013)

In this bonus episode, Dr. Gary Gregg recommends a variety of books and authors for listeners to read after finishing up The Republic. Dr. Gregg focuses mainly on Arthur Herman's book, The Cave and the Light: Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization (Random House, 2013), and shares how this work identifies Plato and Aristotle as the two great fountainheads of Western Civilization and traces their influence on future generations, including our own.

We hope you have enjoyed reading The Republic and will stick with us as we move on to one of the most popular treatises on political leadership, Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince.

Download Dr. Gregg's Guide to The Republic here

Download Dr. Gregg's Guide to The Prince here

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive McConnell Center updates directly in your mailbox

Please share any thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns with us via email at [email protected]

This podcast is a production of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. For more information, including upcoming events, please visit us online at mcconnellcenter.org or on social media at:

Facebook: @mcconnellcenter Instagram: @ulmcenter Twitter: @ULmCenter

Intro: Bridget Kim

Host: Dr. Gary L. Gregg II

Editor: Connor Tracy

Music: Selected from freemusicarchive.org/music/Damiano_Baldoni/

In this episode of Vital Remnants, Dr. Gary Gregg guides listeners through the final book of The Republic. He first discusses the opening of Book X, in which Plato presents the conflict between poetry and philosophy and spends a significant amount of time criticizing the poets–Homer in particular. Once again we are reminded of the tripartite soul and are challenged to consider how the types of entertainment we consume can corrupt the order of one's soul over time. Dr. Gregg then examines the "Myth of Er," Plato's imaginative story of one man's travels through the afterlife, and concludes with his thoughts on why Plato chose to end The Republicwith this imaginative tale and what it may mean for us today.

Target 7 Reading: Book X, pp. 277-303 of "The Republic of Plato", 2nd edition, translated by Allan Bloom (Basic Books, 1968 and 1991).

Download Dr. Gregg's Guide to The Republic here

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Please share any thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns with us via email at [email protected]

This podcast is a production of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. For more information, including upcoming events, please visit us online at mcconnellcenter.org or on social media at:

Facebook: @mcconnellcenter Instagram: @ulmcenter Twitter: @ULmCenter

Intro: Bridget Kim Host: Dr. Gary L. Gregg II Editor: Connor Tracy Music: Selected from freemusicarchive.org/music/Damiano_Baldoni/

After considering the other types of governments and individuals in last month's installment, Dr. Gary Gregg takes a deeper dive into Plato's outline of the mind and government of the tyrant. He then discusses a new image Plato provides of the human soul in book IX, and concludes by considering the idea of the proper cultivation of one's soul.

Target 6 Reading: Book IX, pp. 251-275 of "The Republic of Plato", 2nd edition, translated by Allan Bloom (Basic Books, 1968 and 1991).

Download Dr. Gregg's Guide to The Republic here

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive McConnell Center updates directly in your mailbox

Please share any thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns with us via email at [email protected]

This podcast is a production of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. For more information, including upcoming events, please visit us online at mcconnellcenter.org or on social media at:

Facebook: @mcconnellcenter Instagram: @ulmcenter Twitter: @ULmCenter

Intro: Bridget Kim Host: Dr. Gary L. Gregg II Editor: Connor Tracy Music: Selected from freemusicarchive.org/music/Damiano_Baldoni/

Having now arrived at one of the most important sections of The Republic, Dr. Gary Gregg discusses Plato's types of governments and how they decline from the best to the worst. Spoiler alert–democracy is certainly not the best in his view. Listeners are encouraged to consider Plato's strong indictment of democracy and to take a hard look at our American system through this lens to see how closely we compare. Remember too that government is "man writ-large," and therefore he is talking not only about the types of political regimes, but also–and quite possibly more importantly–the types of individual souls.

Target 5 Reading: Book VIII, pp. 221-249 of "The Republic of Plato", 2nd edition, translated by Allan Bloom (Basic Books, 1968 and 1991).

Download Dr. Gregg's Guide to The Republic here

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive McConnell Center updates directly in your mailbox

Please share any thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns with us via email at [email protected]

This podcast is a production of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. For more information, including upcoming events, please visit us online at mcconnellcenter.org or on social media at:

Facebook: @mcconnellcenter Instagram: @ulmcenter Twitter: @ULmCenter

Intro: Bridget Kim Host: Dr. Gary L. Gregg II Editor: Connor Tracy Music: Selected from freemusicarchive.org/music/Damiano_Baldoni/

In this episode, Dr. Gary Gregg outlines Plato's views on political leadership and uses this framework to consider today's institutions and public figures. He walks us through the Allegory of the Ship and the famous Allegory of the Cave. Lastly, Connor Tracy joins Dr. Gregg to discuss Plato's concept of the "Divided Line."

Target 4 Reading: Books V, VI & VII, pp. 153-220 of "The Republic of Plato", 2nd edition, translated by Allan Bloom (Basic Books, 1968 and 1991).

Download Dr. Gregg's Guide to The Republic here

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive McConnell Center updates directly in your mailbox

Please share any thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns with us via email at [email protected]

This podcast is a production of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. For more information, including upcoming events, please visit us online at mcconnellcenter.org or on social media at:

Facebook: @mcconnellcenter Instagram: @ulmcenter Twitter: @ULmCenter

Intro: Bridget Kim Host: Dr. Gary L. Gregg II Guest & Editor: Connor Tracy Music: Selected from freemusicarchive.org/music/Damiano_Baldoni/

In this episode of Vital Remnants, Dr. Gary Gregg discusses Plato's call for the combination of political power and philosophy within our leaders (1:34), the three parts of society (5:00), Plato's tests for leadership (7:31), and the "Myth of the Metals" (15:41). He then revisits education (22:28), the four parts of virtue (26:07), Plato's definition of justice (32:05) and the burden of leadership (36:31). Dr. Gregg concludes by examining the relationship between the virtues and the parts of society (38:03), how the parts of society correlate to parts of the individual soul (39:13), the tripartite soul (42:40), C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man (50:57), and what all of this means for leadership today (54:35).

Target 3 Reading: Books III, IV, & V, pp. 91-152 of "The Republic of Plato", 2nd edition, translated by Allan Bloom (Basic Books, 1968 and 1991).

Download Dr. Gregg's Guide to The Republic here

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive McConnell Center updates directly in your mailbox

Please share any thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns with us via email at [email protected]

This podcast is a production of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. For more information, including upcoming events, please visit us online at mcconnellcenter.org or on social media at:

Facebook: @mcconnellcenter Instagram: @ulmcenter Twitter: @ULmCenter

Intro: Bridget Kim Host: Dr. Gary L. Gregg II Editor: Connor Tracy Music: Selected from http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Damiano_Baldoni/