Claes G. Ryn
Encyclopedia
Dr. Claes Gösta Ryn is a Swedish
-born, American
academic and educator.
in Sweden
. He attended the Latin Gymnasium, Norrköpings Högre Allmänna Läroverk' (1959-63). He was an undergraduate and a doctoral student at Uppsala University
. He did further doctoral study at Louisiana State University
, Baton Rouge
, United States
, (Ph.D. 1974). He has taught at the University of Virginia
and at Georgetown University
.
and editor of the academic journal Humanitas
. He is president of the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. He is a past president of the Philadelphia Society (2001 to 2002).
Ryn's fields of teaching and research include ethics and politics; epistemology; historicism; politics and culture; the history of Western political thought; conservatism; the theory of constitutionalism and democracy; Jean-Jacques Rousseau
; Irving Babbitt
; Benedetto Croce
.
He has written much on ethics and politics and on the central role of culture, specifically, the imagination, in shaping politics and society. He has sought to reconstitute the epistemology of the humanities and social sciences, paying close attention to the interaction of will, imagination and reason. He has criticized abstract, ahistorical conceptions of rationality as inadequate to the study of distinctively human life and to the study of real universality. He has argued that there is a much different, experientially grounded form of rationality, the reason of philosophy proper, that is capable of at once humble and penetrating observation. He has developed a philosophy known as value-centered historicism, which demonstrates the potential union of universality and historical particularity. In political theory he has been a sharp critic of Straussian
anti-historical thinking and so-called neoconservatism
. He has argued that in essential ways neoconservatism resembles the ideology of the French Jacobins
and is neo-Jacobin.
Ryn's discussion of democracy emphasizes that popular government can assume radically different forms, only some of which can be judged compatible with a higher, ethical striving. Theories of what he calls plebiscitary democracy assume romantic and utopian notions of human nature and society. Constitutional democracy is based on a more realistic view of man and is more consonant with the actual moral terms of human existence. This form of government has demanding moral and cultural preconditions and is endangered wherever those preconditions are not satisfied.
In 2000 he gave the Distinguished Foreign Scholar Lectures at Beijing University, which also published this lecture series in Chinese translation as a book, Unity Through Diversity (2001). He has lectured and published widely in China
. In 2007 he gave a keynote address at the Chinese Academy of Social Science in Beijing. The Chinese
edition (2007) of his book America the Virtuous became one of the most hotly discussed in China. Dushu, China's preeminent intellectual magazine, described it as "the kind of classical work that will be read over the generations."
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
-born, American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
academic and educator.
Background
Ryn was born and raised in NorrköpingNorrköping
Norrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...
in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. He attended the Latin Gymnasium, Norrköpings Högre Allmänna Läroverk' (1959-63). He was an undergraduate and a doctoral student at Uppsala University
Uppsala University
Uppsala University is a research university in Uppsala, Sweden, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of...
. He did further doctoral study at Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
, Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, (Ph.D. 1974). He has taught at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
and at Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
.
Career
He is presently a professor of politics at Catholic University of America (CUA), where he was also chairperson of his department. He is chairperson of the National Humanities InstituteNational Humanities Institute
The National Humanities Institute is a nonprofit interdisciplinary educational organization founded in 1984. It is known to be affiliated with traditionalist conservatism.It publishes Humanitas and the Epistulae Occasional Papers....
and editor of the academic journal Humanitas
Humanitas (journal)
Humanitas is an interdisciplinary journal published by the National Humanities Institute. It is known for its affiliation with traditionalist conservatism....
. He is president of the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. He is a past president of the Philadelphia Society (2001 to 2002).
Ryn's fields of teaching and research include ethics and politics; epistemology; historicism; politics and culture; the history of Western political thought; conservatism; the theory of constitutionalism and democracy; Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
; Irving Babbitt
Irving Babbitt
Irving Babbitt was an American academic and literary critic, noted for his founding role in a movement that became known as the New Humanism, a significant influence on literary discussion and conservative thought in the period between 1910 to 1930...
; Benedetto Croce
Benedetto Croce
Benedetto Croce was an Italian idealist philosopher, and occasionally also politician. He wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, methodology of history writing and aesthetics, and was a prominent liberal, although he opposed laissez-faire free trade...
.
He has written much on ethics and politics and on the central role of culture, specifically, the imagination, in shaping politics and society. He has sought to reconstitute the epistemology of the humanities and social sciences, paying close attention to the interaction of will, imagination and reason. He has criticized abstract, ahistorical conceptions of rationality as inadequate to the study of distinctively human life and to the study of real universality. He has argued that there is a much different, experientially grounded form of rationality, the reason of philosophy proper, that is capable of at once humble and penetrating observation. He has developed a philosophy known as value-centered historicism, which demonstrates the potential union of universality and historical particularity. In political theory he has been a sharp critic of Straussian
Leo Strauss
Leo Strauss was a political philosopher and classicist who specialized in classical political philosophy. He was born in Germany to Jewish parents and later emigrated to the United States...
anti-historical thinking and so-called neoconservatism
Neoconservatism
Neoconservatism in the United States is a branch of American conservatism. Since 2001, neoconservatism has been associated with democracy promotion, that is with assisting movements for democracy, in some cases by economic sanctions or military action....
. He has argued that in essential ways neoconservatism resembles the ideology of the French Jacobins
Jacobin (politics)
A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
and is neo-Jacobin.
Ryn's discussion of democracy emphasizes that popular government can assume radically different forms, only some of which can be judged compatible with a higher, ethical striving. Theories of what he calls plebiscitary democracy assume romantic and utopian notions of human nature and society. Constitutional democracy is based on a more realistic view of man and is more consonant with the actual moral terms of human existence. This form of government has demanding moral and cultural preconditions and is endangered wherever those preconditions are not satisfied.
In 2000 he gave the Distinguished Foreign Scholar Lectures at Beijing University, which also published this lecture series in Chinese translation as a book, Unity Through Diversity (2001). He has lectured and published widely in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. In 2007 he gave a keynote address at the Chinese Academy of Social Science in Beijing. The Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
edition (2007) of his book America the Virtuous became one of the most hotly discussed in China. Dushu, China's preeminent intellectual magazine, described it as "the kind of classical work that will be read over the generations."
Students
Students whom he has mentored include:- Dr. William F. Byrne, St. John's University
- Dr. Carl Johan Ljungberg, author of several books
- Dr. Linda Raeder, author of John Stuart Mill and the Religion of Humanity
- Dr. Joseph Devaney
- Dr. Justin Garrison
- Dr. James Miclot
- Dr. James Boitano
- Dr. Patricia M. Lines
- Dr. Saleh Zahrany
- Dr. Gregory Ahern
- Dr. Gregory Cleva, author of Henry Kissinger and the American Approach to Foreign Policy
- Dr. Ryan Holston
- Dr. Michael P. Federici, Mercyhurst College, author of Eric Voegelin and The Challenge of Populism
- Dr. W. Wesley McDonald, Elizabethtown College, author of the definitive intellectual study of Russell Kirk, Russell Kirk and the Age of Ideology
- Dr. H. Lee Cheek, Jr., a leading scholar of American political thought, author of Calhoun and Popular Rule
- Dr. Laurence Reardon
- Dr. Edward Hudgins, who has worked in think tanks including the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, and The Atlas Society.
- Dr. Charles R. Smith
Selected bibliography
The following is a partial list of Dr. Ryn's published works:- America the Virtuous: The Crisis of Democracy and the Quest for Empire (2003)
- The New Jacobinism (1991; 2011)
- Democracy and the Ethical Life: A Philosophy of Politics and Community (1990)
- Will, Imagination and Reason: Babbitt, Croce and the Problem of Reality (1987, 1997)
- A Common Human Ground: Universality and Particularity in a Multicultural World (2003)