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‘No Ad Hominem Arguments’: A Conversation with Charles Lipson

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This week Steve Hayward talks with Charles Lipson, the Peter Ritzma Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Chicago, about how to talk and argue about matters amidst the increasingly bitter polarization of our time. But along the way we revisit his idiosyncratic intellectual odyssey that brought him from rural Mississippi to the Ivy leagues. In addition to his academic work on international relations, you can read Charles's popular writing on current events at RealClearPolitics, where his most recent article explores how the spying on the Trump campaign in 2016 may come back to haunt Joe Biden's candidacy.

The main takeaway from our discussion is "no ad hominem arguments." If we all strove to live by this rule, this would be a better world. But you're going to want to stick around to the very end of the conversation, where Charles indulges us with his spot-on Henry Kissinger impersonation.

Exit music this week is "Arms Akimbo" by Hot Buttered Rum.

Host:
Steve Hayward
Guest:
CLCharles Lipson

Discussion (1)

  • Al Sparks@AlSparks

    I recognized his voice from the Milt Rosenberg Show. Since he was a frequent contributor, and Milt had a home at Ricochet for a short time, a shout out would have been good.

    I could have done without the Henry Kissinger impersonation.