- 17
- Episodes
- 2
- Ratings
- Monthly
- Cadence
- 2026
- First episode
About Humane Pursuits Podcast
Welcome to Humane Pursuits, a podcast about the core ideals and concepts relating to the American experiment, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of its founding. humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
- Publisher
- Garrett Brown
- Category
- history · society & culture
- Language
- en
- Explicit
- No
- First episode
- 6 Jan 2026
- Latest episode
- 23 Sept 2026
Latest episodes
17 episodes in the feed.
23 Sept 2026
BONUS: Chad Wellmon on Learning and Intellectual Desire
Summary: Where does real intellectual life happen? Chad Wellmon returns for a short conversation about the teachers, readers, and experiences that taught him how to think—and why universities have no monopoly on the life of the mind. From professors who taught him to read slowly and seriously to a father who studied the Bible at the kitchen table, Wellmon reflects on reading as a social practice and on the people who teach us that ideas matter. He also describes what happened when he brought the liberal arts to working adults at UVA and discovered how powerful it can be simply to take someone seriously as a thinker. The result is a conversation about teaching, learning, and an intellectual desire that Wellmon believes is far more common than we sometimes recognize. Get full access to Humane Pursuits at humanepursuits.substack.com/subscribe (https://humanepursuits.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
21 Sept 2026
Chad Wellmon on the Modern Research University
Summary: What is a university for? Today’s research universities educate students and produce knowledge, but they also run hospitals, manage housing, stage major sporting events, administer sprawling bureaucracies, and prepare workers for the economy. Chad Wellmon joins Humane Pursuits to explain how the university grew from a community of scholars and teachers into the enormous institution we know today — and what may have been lost along the way. Drawing on the history of higher education and his own experiences at the University of Virginia, Wellmon considers the ambitions and contradictions of the modern research university, the changing place of the humanities, and a deceptively simple question: Amid everything universities now do, how much of the institution is still organized around education and learning? Get full access to Humane Pursuits at humanepursuits.substack.com/subscribe (https://humanepursuits.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
19 Aug 2026
Stephanie Slade on Fusionism and the Future of the American Right
Summary What happens when a political tradition stops explaining its own first principles? In this episode, Reason senior editor Stephanie Slade discusses her new book, Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right (https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268211493/fusionism/), and revisits a tradition that sought to unite classical liberal commitments to individual liberty, limited government, and free markets with a Judeo-Christian understanding of virtue and human flourishing. Slade traces fusionism from F. A. Hayek and the Mont Pelerin Society through Frank Meyer, William F. Buckley Jr., and Ronald Reagan, while examining its complicated record on questions such as civil rights and the proper use of state power. She also considers why fusionist ideas lost ground within American conservatism and argues that the separation of liberty from virtue has left an opening for more statist and illiberal alternatives. The conversation ultimately asks whether fusionism can still offer a compelling account of how Americans can live freely while pursuing meaning, moral formation, and the good life. Episode Sections * 1:16 — How American Conservatism Has Changed * 4:34 — Hayek, Mont Pelerin, and the Origins of Fusionism * 9:11 — How Liberty and Virtue Became “Fusionism” * 15:01 — Reagan, Thatcher, and Fusionism in Practice * 19:41 — Is Foreign Policy Part of Fusionism? * 23:33 — Fusionism’s Complicated Record on Civil Rights * 29:52 — Liberty, Religion, and the American Founding * 33:42 — Why Fusionism Lost Ground * 41:28 — Can Fusionism Answer the Search for Meaning? * 46:27 — Can Fusionism Make a Comeback? To learn more, visit Stephanie Slade’s author page at (https://reason.com/people/stephanie-slade/)Reason (https://reason.com/people/stephanie-slade/) or the publisher’s page (https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268211493/fusionism/). For another perspective, read Kevin Vallier’s excellent “Fusionist Manifesto (https://www.acton.org/religion-liberty/volume-35-number-3/fusionist-manifestohttps://www.acton.org/religion-liberty/volume-35-number-3/fusionist-manifesto),” published by the Acton Institute in July 2025. Get full access to Humane Pursuits at humanepursuits.substack.com/subscribe (https://humanepursuits.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
11 Aug 2026
Bart Wilson on Humanomics
Summary: Economics excels at explaining markets, prices, and incentives, but has it overlooked the human beings at the center of economic life? Economist Bart Wilson argues that many of the discipline’s most important questions — from trust and reciprocity to choice and moral judgment — cannot be fully understood through mathematical models alone. Drawing on Adam Smith, experimental economics, and an unexpected cast of literary companions including Jane Austen, John Steinbeck, Mary Shelley, Milton, and Goethe, Wilson explains why the humanities belong alongside economics in the search to understand prosperity and human flourishing. The conversation explores the origins of humanomics, the limits of specialization, and how reading across disciplines can reveal questions — and answers — that neither field would discover on its own. Get full access to Humane Pursuits at humanepursuits.substack.com/subscribe (https://humanepursuits.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
16 Jul 2026
BONUS: Eric Claeys on Ownership and Privacy in the Digital Age
Summary: In this bonus conversation, Eric Claeys applies ideas from property law to a series of contemporary questions that extend far beyond land and real estate. We discuss the shift from owning books, records, and CDs to licensing access through digital platforms and what that change means for consumers and creators alike. From there, the conversation turns to identity, reputation, personal data, and other “personality-rich” resources that blur the boundary between property and personhood. Along the way, Claeys explores how legal concepts such as ownership, separability, and public action can help us think more clearly about online privacy, digital technologies, and the emerging challenges posed by artificial intelligence. Get full access to Humane Pursuits at humanepursuits.substack.com/subscribe (https://humanepursuits.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
13 Jul 2026
Eric Claeys on Property Rights
Summary: Property rights are often invoked in debates about housing, development, regulation, and economic inequality, yet the underlying concepts are rarely examined closely. In this conversation, legal scholar Eric Claeys explores what ownership and property rights actually are, how they differ from one another, and why they have occupied such a central place in legal and political thought. Drawing on examples ranging from mortgages and leases to eminent domain and the curious practice of “snow dibs” in Chicago, Claeys explains how property law structures relationships among people as much as relationships to things. Along the way, we discuss competing understandings of property, the role of natural rights in evaluating positive law, and the enduring question of whether property rights are a safeguard of individual freedom or a source of social tension. Get full access to Humane Pursuits at humanepursuits.substack.com/subscribe (https://humanepursuits.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
15 Jun 2026
Tony Williams on the Declaration of Independence
Summary: The Declaration of Independence is often remembered as the document that announced America’s separation from Great Britain. But for nearly 250 years it has also served as a touchstone for debates about liberty, equality, citizenship, and national purpose. In this conversation, Tony Williams discusses his new book on the Declaration and the generations of Americans who have argued over its significance. From the founding era and the struggle over slavery to debates about suffrage, empire, civil rights, and the nation's future, Williams shows how the Declaration’s principles have been invoked by people across the political spectrum. The result is a conversation not only about a historic document but also about the enduring questions Americans continue to ask about who they are and what kind of country they hope to become. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
11 Jun 2026
Erik Matson and Jordan Ballor on the History of Christian Political Economy
Summary: Modern economics is often presented as a product of the Enlightenment, emerging with figures such as Adam Smith and David Hume. But what if many of its central ideas have much deeper roots? In this conversation, Erik Matson and Jordan Ballor discuss their new books on the history of Christian political economy and the thinkers who wrestled with questions of trade, prices, property, interest, work, and human flourishing long before economics became a distinct discipline. Drawing on sources that span nearly two millennia, they explore the complex relationship between theology and economic thought, challenge familiar narratives about the origins of modern economics, and reflect on what contemporary scholars can learn from a tradition that once treated moral, social, and economic questions as part of a common conversation. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
5 Jun 2026
BONUS: From Polarization to Resilience: Lessons from Benjamin Klutsey’s Work on Civic Dialogue
In this bonus conversation, Benjamin Klutsey reflects on several projects that grew out of his work on pluralism and polarization. We discuss the origins of his podcast Pluralist Points, the lessons he drew from conversations with leading thinkers on civic life and democratic disagreement, and his experience helping to create the documentary Undivide Us. Along the way, Klutsey shares what surprised him most about bringing people with opposing views together and why he remains optimistic about Americans’ capacity to reconnect across differences. The conversation concludes with a preview of his emerging work on resilience and what America’s approaching 250th anniversary can teach us about the institutions, habits, and relationships that help a free society endure and adapt. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
4 Jun 2026
Ben Klutsey on Political Polarization, Pluralism, and Civil Discourse
Before becoming executive director of the Mercatus Center, Benjamin Klutsey spent years studying a question that has become increasingly urgent in American life: how can people who disagree deeply still live, work, and govern together? In this conversation, Klutsey reflects on his work leading the Pluralism and Civil Exchange Project, explains what pluralism means beyond mere diversity, and explores the difference between political disagreement and the more troubling rise of affective polarization. Along the way, we discuss what social science can teach us about division, why many Americans misunderstand one another, and what Klutsey learned from bringing people with conflicting views into conversation. The discussion offers a thoughtful look at the habits, institutions, and relationships that make coexistence possible in a democratic society. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
23 Apr 2026
Bonus Episode: Films of the American Revolution
Summary: In this bonus episode, Garrett Brown continues his conversation with historian Al Zambone, turning to film portrayals of the American Revolution. Zambone explains why the era has proven resistant to compelling cinematic treatment, critiques films such as The Patriot and Drums Along the Mohawk, and reflects on adaptations like Johnny Tremain and the musical 1776. The discussion closes with a more favorable assessment of HBO’s John Adams, highlighting what it gets right about the period — particularly legal culture — while acknowledging the limits of film as a medium for conveying historical ideas. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
18 Apr 2026
Al Zambone on the Great Historians of the American Revolution
Summary: More than two centuries after the American Revolution, historians continue to return to the same events with new questions, methods, and insights. In this episode, historian Al Zambone helps us trace how some of the most important works on the Revolution have approached the subject — from early participant accounts to modern studies shaped by political ideas, social experience, and the wider Atlantic world. What do these different layers of interpretation reveal about the Revolution itself? How have historians expanded the story without discarding what came before? And how do these works deepen our understanding of the American past — and of the variety and ambition of the American experiment? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
19 Feb 2026
Sandra Peart and Erik Matson on The Wealth of Nations
Summary: Two hundred and fifty years after its publication, Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations remains both celebrated and misunderstood. In this episode, scholars Sandra Peart and Erik Matson help us see beyond the caricatures to discover Smith’s moral vision — one that challenges both colonial empires and modern assumptions about markets, virtue, and human equality. Why do both the Left and the Right claim him? What did he really say about slavery, monopolies, and the “sacred thirst for gold”? And what does his “oceanic” masterwork still have to teach us about navigating technological change and economic upheaval? Thanks for reading Humane Pursuits! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
27 Jan 2026
Daniel Dreisbach on Covenant and the Constitution
Summary: In this episode, I interview Daniel Dreisbach about the Hebraic ideas that helped shape American political thought. We discuss his contribution to Jewish Roots of American Liberty and the powerful influence of the Hebrew Bible on the founders — from covenant and political anthropology to the Exodus story that inspired generations of Americans, from the Revolution to the civil rights movement. Dreisbach explains why Deuteronomy was one of the most cited political texts of the founding era, how biblical narratives informed early understandings of liberty, justice, and human nature, and why recovering this literacy matters today. We also reflect on the challenges facing history education, the state of academic publishing, and the pressures of teaching in the age of AI. The result is a wide-ranging, accessible conversation about the ideas that defined the founding — and what they still offer a fractured society. For more information, visit https://humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
20 Jan 2026
Daniel Dreisbach on the Separation of Church and State
Summary: In this episode, I interview Daniel Dreisbach to explore one of the most contested ideas in American political life: the separation of church and state. We trace its deep roots — from biblical sources and colonial debates to Locke, Madison, and the revolution in thinking that made religious liberty a natural right rather than a privilege of toleration. Dreisbach brings to life the theological and political diversity of the colonies, the disestablishment movement, and the surprising ways federalism shaped the First Amendment. He also tells the remarkable story behind Jefferson’s famous “wall of separation” metaphor — complete with a 1,700-pound wheel of cheese — and explains how that private letter later came to dominate Supreme Court jurisprudence. This conversation offers a rich, clarifying tour through ideas that still frame American life today. For more information, visit https://humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
13 Jan 2026
Adam Potkay on the Pursuit of Happiness
Summary: What did Thomas Jefferson really mean by “the pursuit of happiness”? In this conversation, Adam Potkay reveals how 18th-century understandings of happiness differed profoundly from our modern self-help versions. Drawing on classical sources from Plato to Cicero, Jefferson and his contemporaries saw happiness not merely as subjective satisfaction but rather as an objective evaluation of a life well-lived — one centered on virtue, good conscience, and communal bonds. Potkay traces three competing threads in Jefferson’s thought: classical eudaimonism emphasizing tranquility and virtue, Lockean subjective pursuit and acquisition, and sentimental moral philosophy stressing sympathetic community. The Declaration’s original draft reveals Jefferson’s balancing of head and heart, reason and sentiment — dichotomies that defined Enlightenment thinking about human flourishing. Potkay also distinguishes happiness from joy, exploring why “public happiness” became the Enlightenment’s defining contribution to political thought. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
6 Jan 2026
Tony Banout on Academic Freedom
Summary: In this inaugural episode of Humane Pursuits, Tony Banout, the founding executive director of the University of Chicago’s Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, explores the history and meaning of academic freedom in American higher education. The conversation traces the Chicago tradition from William Rainey Harper’s foundational 1899 principles through the landmark 1967 Kalven Report on institutional neutrality. Banout explains how academic freedom emerged as a professional norm distinct from constitutional protections, designed to safeguard the university's core mission of pursuing knowledge and truth. He also discusses common misunderstandings about these principles, explains why speech norms appropriately differ across campus spaces—from open quads to structured classrooms—and clarifies how protest fits within this framework. Drawing on historical documents collected in The Chicago Canon on Free Inquiry and Expression, the discussion examines what makes a living tradition and how universities can best serve their mission of discovering and disseminating knowledge. For more information, visit https://humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit humanepursuits.substack.com (https://humanepursuits.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
- Apple Podcasts (US)
- 5.0 / 5
- 2 ratings
Contact Humane Pursuits Podcast
- Guest appearances
- Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Humane Pursuits Podcast?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show
Podcast research with Pod Engine