In his talk on the Declaration, Professor Gish argues that the document should be read not merely as a justification for American independence but as a statement of timeless principles that establish the political foundation of the American constitutional order and guide us in the exercises of prudence for republican citizenship.
Through a close reading of the Declaration as a text, we discover not only the principle of natural rights (articulated in the most famous phrase) but also often-overlooked timeless principles defining popular sovereignty, prudent deliberation, republican constitutionalism, justice, and civic obligation.
Reading the Declaration in light of Jefferson's own understanding of the document as the new nation's enduring charter makes possible the frequent recurrence to principles that is indispensable for citizens living in turbulent times and vital to the preservation of republican self-government.
This event is open and free to the community. Light refreshments will be provided.
About the Speaker
Dr. Dustin Gish
Dr. Dustin Gish holds the rank of full professor (Instructional) in The Honors College at the University of Houston, where he teaches the college's signature Great Books course, "The Human Situation: Antiquity and Modernity," as well as courses in the history of political philosophy and American political thought.
Gish's major publications range from classical political philosophy to the political thought in the plays of William Shakespeare and early American political thought. He is the author of Xenophon's Socratic Rhetoric: Philosophy, Erōs, and Virtue in the Symposium (Bloomsbury 2022) -- the only monograph-length commentary on this charming dialogue. He is also the Senior Editor of Brill's Companion to the Reception of Xenophon, which will be published in 2026 as one of the forthcoming Volumes in Brill's Companions to Classical Reception Series. In his early American scholarship, he is the co-author of Thomas Jefferson and the Science of Republican Government (Cambridge University Press, 2017) -- a monograph-length study of the political thought in Jefferson’s only published book, "Notes on the State of Virginia." Gish is also the contributing co-editor of the edited volume, Rival Visions: How Jefferson and His Contemporaries Defined the Early American Republic published in The Jeffersonian America Series, University of Virginia Press, 2021). He is currently at work on two books projects: one, an account of Thomas Jefferson's diplomatic career in France; and the other, an in-depth political study of Machiavelli's princes.
Gish received his interdisciplinary doctorate from the Institute of Philosophic Studies at the University of Dallas (2004), with a concentration in politics. He earned a master's in politics at the University of Dallas (1995), and a master's in Liberal Education at St. John's College in Santa Fe (1992). His undergraduate degrees are in political science, philosophy, and history from the University of Oklahoma (1991). Prior to his arrival at the Honors College, he taught political theory and american government courses as visiting assistant professor of political science at the College of the Holy Cross (2007-2012) and held visiting appointments in the Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage at the University of Oklahoma (2012-2013), and the Center for American Studies at Christopher Newport University in Virginia (2013-2014). In 2013, he received a residential fellowship for research at the International Center for Jefferson Studies and the Jefferson Foundation Library at Monticello. From 1999 until 2006, Gish also lived in Italy, teaching a wide variety of courses in classical rhetoric and political philosophy at the University of Dallas Rome Campus, John Cabot University, and the American University of Rome.
