Donald Livingston
Encyclopedia
Donald Livingston is an American philosophy professor based at Emory University
with an expertise in the writings of David Hume
. Livingston received his doctorate at Washington University in 1965. He has been a National Endowment for the Humanities
fellow and is on the editorial board of Hume Studies and Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture
. Livingston's books include Hume's Philosophy of Common Life and Philosophical Melancholy and Delirium.
Livingston has developed some renown as a constitutional scholar and is an expositor of the compact nature of the Union, with its concomitant doctrines of corporate resistance, nullification
, and secession
. Chris Hedges
has called him "one of the intellectual godfathers of the secessionist movement." The doctrine coincides with federalism
, states' rights
, the principle of subsidiarity
. His political philosophy embodies the decentralizing themes echoed by Europeans such as Althusius, David Hume
, and Lord Acton
and Americans such as Thomas Jefferson
, Spencer Roane
, Abel Parker Upshur, Robert Hayne and John Calhoun
, which holds the community and family as the elemental units of political society. As Livingston affirms, the compact nature of the Union is opposed to the innovative nationalist theory of Joseph Story
, Daniel Webster
, and Abraham Lincoln
which contends for an indivisible sovereignty, an inviolable aggregate people, and that the American Union created the States following the American War for Independence. This theory as articulated by Lincoln has been characterized by Livingston as "Lincoln's Spectacular Lie."
Livingston is currently engaged in a book-length study on the moral, legal, and philosophical meaning of secession.
hotbed of secession.
Notable faculty include:
In January 2010, Livingstone told the New York Times the institute is a "way to discuss Southern topics misrepresented in today’s classrooms. Or, as Livingston puts it, to examine Southern tradition 'in terms of its own inner light' rather than 'as a function of the ideological needs of others.'"
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
with an expertise in the writings of David Hume
David Hume
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...
. Livingston received his doctorate at Washington University in 1965. He has been a National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
fellow and is on the editorial board of Hume Studies and Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture
Chronicles (magazine)
Chronicles is a U.S. monthly magazine published by the Rockford Institute. Its full current name is Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. The magazine is known for promoting anti-globalism, anti-intervention and anti-immigration stances within conservative politics, and is considered one of...
. Livingston's books include Hume's Philosophy of Common Life and Philosophical Melancholy and Delirium.
Livingston has developed some renown as a constitutional scholar and is an expositor of the compact nature of the Union, with its concomitant doctrines of corporate resistance, nullification
Nullification (U.S. Constitution)
Nullification is a legal theory that a State has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law which that state has deemed unconstitutional...
, and secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
. Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges
Christopher Lynn Hedges is an American journalist, author, and war correspondent, specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics and societies...
has called him "one of the intellectual godfathers of the secessionist movement." The doctrine coincides with federalism
Federalism
Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and...
, states' rights
States' rights
States' rights in U.S. politics refers to political powers reserved for the U.S. state governments rather than the federal government. It is often considered a loaded term because of its use in opposition to federally mandated racial desegregation...
, the principle of subsidiarity
Subsidiarity
Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which...
. His political philosophy embodies the decentralizing themes echoed by Europeans such as Althusius, David Hume
David Hume
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...
, and Lord Acton
John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton
John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVO, DL , known as Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Bt from 1837 to 1869 and usually referred to simply as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer...
and Americans such as Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, Spencer Roane
Spencer Roane
Spencer Roane was a Virginia lawyer and politician who served in the Virginia House of Delegates and as a judge of the state's highest court.Roane was born in Essex County, Virginia, on April 4, 1762...
, Abel Parker Upshur, Robert Hayne and John Calhoun
John C. Calhoun
John Caldwell Calhoun was a leading politician and political theorist from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun eloquently spoke out on every issue of his day, but often changed positions. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent...
, which holds the community and family as the elemental units of political society. As Livingston affirms, the compact nature of the Union is opposed to the innovative nationalist theory of Joseph Story
Joseph Story
Joseph Story was an American lawyer and jurist who served on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1811 to 1845. He is most remembered today for his opinions in Martin v. Hunter's Lessee and The Amistad, along with his magisterial Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, first...
, Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...
, and Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
which contends for an indivisible sovereignty, an inviolable aggregate people, and that the American Union created the States following the American War for Independence. This theory as articulated by Lincoln has been characterized by Livingston as "Lincoln's Spectacular Lie."
Livingston is currently engaged in a book-length study on the moral, legal, and philosophical meaning of secession.
Abbeville Institute
In 1998, Livingston was instrumental in the founding of the Abbeville Institute. According to its website, the Institute is "an association of scholars in higher education devoted to a critical study of what is true and valuable in the Southern tradition". Its principal activities are a summer school for graduate students and an annual scholar's conference. It focuses particularly on issues of secession which are kept out of mainstream academia. The Institute is named for the South Carolina hometown of John Calhoun, and a pre-Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
hotbed of secession.
Notable faculty include:
- Thomas DiLorenzoThomas DiLorenzoThomas James DiLorenzo is an American economics professor at Loyola University Maryland. He is an adherent of the Austrian School of Economics. He is a senior faculty member of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and an associated scholar of the Abbeville Institute...
- Joseph Stromberg
- Clyde Wilson
- Thomas WoodsThomas WoodsThomas E. "Tom" Woods, Jr. is an American historian, economist, political analyst, and New York Times-bestselling author. He has written extensively on the subjects of American history, contemporary politics, and economic theory...
In January 2010, Livingstone told the New York Times the institute is a "way to discuss Southern topics misrepresented in today’s classrooms. Or, as Livingston puts it, to examine Southern tradition 'in terms of its own inner light' rather than 'as a function of the ideological needs of others.'"
Further reading
- Graham, John Remington. (intro by Donald Livingston) A Constitutional History of Secession, 2002. ISBN 1-58980-066-4
- Hume, David (intro by Donald Livingston) David Hume: Prophet of the Counter-Revolution, 2000. ISBN 0-86597-209-5
- Livingston, Donald Philosophical Melancholy and Delirium, 1993. ISBN 0-226-48717-2.
- Ed. Gary L. Gregg. Vital Remnants: America's Founding and the Western Tradition, 1999. ISBN 1-882926-31-5
External links
- Abbeville Institute Official website
- Hume and the Secession of the American Colonies New Media, UFM
- Socratic Dialogue Hume’s Moral Philosophy New Media, UFM
- Donald Livingstone on "Secession and the Modern State", December 1996