Josh Bowman leads a discussion of Aristocratic Voices: Forgotten Arguments about Virtue, Authority, and Inequality (Lexington Books, 2025) co-edited by Richard Avramenko and Ethan Alexander-Davey. Ethan joins us for the talk along with two chapter authors, Luke Sheahan and Michael Harding. 
Our conversation covers a lot of ground, considering the thought of W.H. Riehl, Robert Nisbet, and Nietzsche, as well as some discussion of Hegel, Cicero, Tocqueville, Burke, Philip Rieff, the French Revolution and much more. 
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/aristocratic-voices-9781666933147/
The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. Panel and paper proposals are due September 1, 2025.
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0:00 Introduction3:37 Three Implications of Inequality13:41 Nisbet's Diagnosis19:42 Bureaucracy as New Elite?23:07 Nietzsche36:37 Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl47:27 Lack of Courage53:22 Tarantulas, Eternal Recurrence59:52 Nisbet & Civic Associations1:08:08 Next Research Steps
Chapters
(00:00:00) - Introduction(00:03:37) - Three Implications of Inequality(00:13:41) - Nisbet's Diagnosis(00:19:42) - Bureaucracy as New Elite?(00:23:07) - Nietzsche(00:36:37) - Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl(00:47:27) - Lack of Courage(00:53:22) - Tarantulas, Eternal Recurrence(00:59:52) - Nisbet & Civic Associations(01:08:08) - Next Research Steps

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