Josh Bowman leads a discussion of Aristocratic Voices: Forgotten Arguments about Virtue, Authority, and Inequality (Lexington Books, 2025) co-edited by Richard Avramenko and Ethan Alexander-Davey. Ethan joins us for the talk along with two chapter authors, Luke Sheahan and Michael Harding. Our conversation covers a lot of ground, considering the thought of W.H. Riehl, Robert Nisbet, and Nietzsche, as well as some discussion of Hegel, Cicero, Tocqueville, Burke, Philip Rieff, the French Revolution and much more. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/aristocratic-voices-9781666933147/ The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. Panel and paper proposals are due September 1, 2025. To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/ 0:00 Introduction 3:37 Three Implications of Inequality 13:41 Nisbet's Diagnosis 19:42 Bureaucracy as New Elite? 23:07 Nietzsche 36:37 Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl 47:27 Lack of Courage 53:22 Tarantulas, Eternal Recurrence 59:52 Nisbet & Civic Associations 1:08:08 Next Research Steps Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:03:37) - Three Implications of Inequality (00:13:41) - Nisbet's Diagnosis (00:19:42) - Bureaucracy as New Elite? (00:23:07) - Nietzsche (00:36:37) - Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl (00:47:27) - Lack of Courage (00:53:22) - Tarantulas, Eternal Recurrence (00:59:52) - Nisbet & Civic Associations (01:08:08) - Next Research Steps
