How to Argue About Politics: Statesmanship and Public Debate
What might it mean to win a political debate? And how important is the art of persuasion in public life? In this course, we will examine the state of contemporary political disagreement, study the mechanics of argument, and seek to understand the proper role of rhetoric in a republic. Each week will be centered around the career of a great statesman—Churchill, Hamilton, Lincoln, Disraeli, Begin—and we will examine how each figure employed oratory and the written word to lead the people back to first principles. We will also look to classical Jewish and founding American sources to answer questions about the virtue of argument and what it means to argue well.
This course is generously supported by the David Fleischer Forum on American Civilization
Daniel Shapiro
Daniel Shapiro is an associate at Consovoy McCarthy PLLC where he litigates a wide range of appellate, constitutional, election, administrative, and commercial matters. After graduating from the Antonin Scalia Law School, he clerked for Judge Neomi Rao on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Judge E. Grady Jolly on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. While in law school, Daniel served as the Executive Editor of the Law Review, the President of the Federalist Society, the President of the Jewish Law Students Association, a research assistant for several professors and for the Center for the Study of the Administrative State, and was a member of the law school’s national moot court competition team. During law school, he also interned at the Department of the Treasury, Department of Defense, and White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
Sarah Wapner
Sarah Wapner is the impact and recruitment officer at the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought of Yeshiva University. A native of Toronto, Sarah received her undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto, where she majored in political science and Jewish studies. Sarah is an alumna of summer fellowships at the Tikvah Fund, the Hertog Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute, and she served as a consultant for Tikvah’s College Division. Sarah is a graduate of the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators and she is a member of the Tikvah Young Professionals Policy Forum.
Meet the Instructors
Tikvah aims to make all of our courses available to as many qualified students as possible. In the event that Tikvah needs to add additional sections, this course may be taught by a different faculty member with a similarly high level of expertise.