In our Fourth, Special DSU Event, we share with you the audio from a DSU Live Event, recorded on October 21, 2017. In this episode, we examine the renewed attempt by powerful groups within American Society and Democracy to ACQUIRE AND EXERCISE POLITICAL POWER FOR THE PURPOSE OF ASSERTING A SPECIFIC CLAIM TO THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF LIFE. This is extraordinarily dangerous. If a particular group ever "WINS" the Culture Wars, if means the END of Liberal Democracy as we know it. No one "WINS" a Culture War.

In the wake of yet another mass shooting that left 17 young people dead at a high school in Parkland, Florida, the nation is once again torn apart by suffering and vicious ideological debate about gun ownership in America. In this episode, "The State of Nature, Social Contract, and Guns," Professor Dungey and Walker approach the issue of guns from the deeper historical and philosophical ideas that animate early Modern political theory, and especially the emergence of Liberal Political Philosophy.

We approach the issue of guns from the perspective of Hobbes's State of Nature, his notion of Radical Equality, his penetrating account of Human Vanity, and the role these ideas play in the escape from the State of Nature through the Social Contract. Despite the presence of legal and political institutions, is contemporary America coming to resemble, more and more, Hobbes's terrifying and violent State of Nature?

Recently, Donald Trump said he "likes governing by chaos." And, there are many who would say that his administration is chaotic. In this episode, Professor Dungey investigates the philosophical origins and meanings of the idea of Chaos as it emerges in Early Modern Political Theory. What role did the idea of "chaos" play in the early development of Modern Political Philosophy? And, what does it mean to govern "chaotically." Much of Modern Political Philosophy is specifically designed to contain and escape chaos. Can Liberal, Democratic Institutions and Processes survive Chaos? Enjoy

For two years we have been told that the informational, social, and political crisis now unfolding has been set in motion by the emergence of the Post-Truth Language and Thoughts of Trump. Indeed, last year, Chuck Todd declared, "Welcome to the Post-Truth Presidency." In this counter-intuitive episode, Walker and Professor Dungey discuss how this Narrative is actually wrong, and more importantly, Dangerous. Enjoy.