A lecture (presented by the Society for the Preservation of the Greek Heritage) by Stephen Miller, free-lance writer, essayist and author of the recent book Conversation: A History of a Declining Art on "Ancient Greece and Modern Conversation: The View from Hume." Philosopher David Hume was deeply concerned about political stability in Britain, a country that had experienced a terrible civil war roughly a half-century before he was born in 1711. Hume worried that liberty could lead to political instability and possibly even violent civil discord.  In his thinking about how to maintain political stability in Britain without curtailing freedom, Hume was greatly influenced by his reading of ancient Greek history and ancient Greek philosophy. In the first half of the lecture, Mr. Miller will discuss Hume’s indebtedness to ancient Greece. In the second half, he will look at how Hume’s ideas--what he calls Hume's political economy of conversation--remain relevant to contemporary American life, especially to political conversation in America.    

Cost is $15 for SPGH members, $20 for non-members, and FREE for students.