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Culture and Society

One of the biggest challenges facing modern society is the maintenance of a culture in which virtue flourishes in tandem with freedom and material progress. This section of the website gathers together AEI research, books, and events focused on culture and society.

Feature: Duty and Virtue

Charles Murray

Leon R. Kass, M.D.

In an exchange on AEI's Enterprise Blog on the meaning of virtue and duty today, Charles Murray and Leon R. Kass, M.D., lament the fustiness of those once proud words and call for their restoration as properly understood. Visit the Enterprise Blog by clicking here.

Murray wrote: "if we are to restore that ethic [of obligation], it won't be done by passing laws saying that miscreants should be ashamed of themselves. It will be done by restoring the language of virtue to everyday life." Click here to read Mr. Murray's full response.
Kass responded: "Murray needs to be more careful in describing what he thinks is missing. On the one hand, he appeals to the need for personal virtue; on the other hand, he calls for an ethic of duty. Both are good, but they are not the same." Click here to read Dr. Kass's full response.

Scholars on
Culture and Society

Featured Project

W. H. Brady Program in Culture and Freedom

Recent Publications

People and Programs, November 13, 2009

By AEI Staff
AEI People and Programs
Friday, November 13, 2009

This issue covers innovation in education, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the new documentary Poliwood, and more.

AEI People and Programs, October 30, 2009

By AEI Staff
AEI People and Programs
Friday, October 30, 2009

This issue covers the health care debate, the Legatum Institute's Prosperity Index, the swine flu and more.

When Politics and Baseball Collide

By David Frum
National Post
Saturday, October 24, 2009

What do you do when the party affiliation of a president affects your favorite sports team?

» List all Recent Publications

Books

We the People The Story of Our Constitution

By Lynne V. Cheney
Simon & Schuster
(September 2008)

America had won the Revolution, but our troubles were far from over. Was our country, which had fought so hard for its independence, going to survive?

Why Groups Go to Extremes

By Cass R. Sunstein
AEI Press
(September 2008)

Cass R. Sunstein argues that the key to preventing the spread of extremist views is ensuring that like-minded groups encounter a diversity of opinions within civil society.

Fighting Words A Tale of How Liberals Created Neo-Conservatism

By Ben J. Wattenberg
St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne Books
(July 2008)

Replete with stories never told before, Fighting Words is Wattenberg's firsthand account of the remarkable transformation of American politics over the last four decades.

» List all Books

Events

UPCOMING EVENTS

Conservatism and the Quest for Community

Tuesday, December 8, 2009
05:30 PM - 07:00 PM

Please note that the date of the December Bradley Lecture has changed. It will be held on Tuesday, December 8.

» List all Upcoming Events

PAST EVENTS

The New Progressivism?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
05:30 PM - 07:00 PM

Peter Berkowitz will deliver the November Bradley Lecture.

Imago Dei and the Fall

Monday, November 9, 2009
06:00 PM - 08:30 PM

P. J. Hill, the George F. Bennett Professor of Economics at Wheaton College, will discuss the theology of human nature, humanity's relationship to God, and the role of Christian beliefs in the understanding of economic systems.

» List all Past Events

Scholars on Culture and Society

Scholars on
Culture and Society