april 11-12, 2019 james madison university
TRANSCRIPT
Integrity, Civility and Grace: Yesterday’s Virtues?
April 11-12, 2019
James Madison University
17th Annual Conference of
the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Proceedings
Table of Contents
Conference Schedule Page 1
Papers and Abstracts Page 5
Page 5
Abstract: “Where Less Civility is Better: Rehnquist Meets Aristotle”
Lawrence A. Lengbeyer
Department of Leadership, Ethics, & Law United States Naval Academy
Page 7
Abstract: “Responsabilidad cívica durante los cambios políticos y sociales del siglo XX en
España a través de la literatura: Josefina Aldecoa y Antonio Buero Vallejo”
Moderator: Yenesei Montes de Oca,
Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, James Madison University
Presentations by SPAN 461 Class
Page 8
Abstract and Paper: “Teaching Students that Values Matter: Values-based Behavioral
Instruction in the Classroom”
Eric Pappas School of Integrated Sciences/Kiersten Sanok, Dept. of Psychology, James Madison University
James Madison University
Page 18
Paper: “Quevedo y los espejos de príncipes”
José Ignacio Barrio Olano, Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, James
Madison University
Schedule 1
Conference Schedule
THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019
SESSIONS 1 and 2
MADISON UNION – 405
9:30AM - 12:30PM
Moderators:
9:30-11:00AM → Verónica Haun, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU,
11:00AM-12:30PM → Jennifer Lang-Rigal, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU,
“From Safe Spaces to Classroom Civility: A Better Metaphora for our Classes”.
Diana Galarreta, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU, [email protected]
“Memory of the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s Dictatorship: Seeking Justice in an Uncivil
World” Jessica Davidson, History Department, JMU, [email protected]
“Civility, Neo-Classical Rhetoric, and the Fragility of Deliberative Debate in the late 18th century
United States: the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788”
Kevin Hardwick, History Department, JMU, [email protected]
“The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso”
Louise Loe, Department of History, JMU, [email protected]
“Reliable” and “Righteous” or “Weak” and a “Liar”: Integrity, Civility, and Grace in Muslim
Religious Scholars’ Criticism of Each Other.
Aram Shahin, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU, [email protected]
Guests:
Dr. Jeyaseelan Gnanaseelan, University of Jaffna, Vavuniya, Sri Lanka
Dr. Subajana Jeyaseelan, University of Jaffna, Vavuniya, Sri Lanka
Schedule 2
SESSION 3
MADISON UNION 404
11:00AM – 12:30PM
Moderator and contact person: Yenisei Montes de Oca, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and
Cultures, JMU [email protected]
PRESENTATION BY STUDENTS IN SPAN 461
Responsabilidad civica durante los cambios politicos y sociales del siglo XX en
Espana a traves de la literature: Josefina Aldecoa y Antonio Buero Vallejo.
“Crítica al gobierno durante la época de la Segunda República y el Franquismo en España:
Josefina Aldecoa”.
Cecelia Hogan ([email protected]) y Nicholas Federovitch ([email protected])
“El papel cívico de las mujeres en medio de una sociedad dividida en ‘dos Españas’ durante la
Segunda República en Historia de una maestra”.
Amanda Kelly ([email protected]) y Paige Moody ([email protected])
“La honradez en los tiempos de Franco: Antonio Buero Vallejo”. Malia High
“El riesgo y el mérito de la integridad durante épocas difíciles en En la ardiente oscuridad y La
doble historia del doctor Valmy”. Savannah Lee ([email protected]) y Dionna Parker ([email protected])
SESSION 4
MADSION UNION 405
12:30PM – 2:00PM
Moderator: Dr. José Ignacio Barrio Olano, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU,
SESSION IN SPANISH
“Quevedo y los espejos de principes”
Jose Ignacio Barrio Olano, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU, [email protected]
“Un caso de Integridad intelectual: la edición y transcripcion de ‘La poética del infierno’, de Ignacio
Padilla”
Tomas Regalado, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU, [email protected]
“Unas Reflexiones sobre la civility en las obras de Juan Eslava Galán”
John Tkac, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU, [email protected]
“Civility in the face of adversity: Michael Sather and Balthasar Hubmaier”
Samuel Hernandez, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU, [email protected]
Schedule 3
SESSION 5
MADISON UNION – 405
2:00PM – 3:30PM
Moderator: Christiane Szeps-Fralin, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU,
WORLD POETRY
“Tu es, donc j’apprends” by Charles Aznavour & Grand Corps Malade (Poem/song enactment)
Christiane Szeps-Fralin, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU
Ally Fisher, French major, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU,
“Respect” by Yves Duteil
Alfred G. Fralin, Jr., Prof. Emeritus, Dept. of Romance Languages, Washington & Lee University,
“Rèspé” by Joby Bernabé (read in French Creole)
Christiane Szeps-Fralin, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU, [email protected]
“Hearing the Zither Played in Tune” and “On Seeing Wang Shiyi Leave for the South”, by Liu
Changqing (726-786), Tang Dynasty Yunju Wang (Louisa), Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU,
Jack Caldwell, senior from the Management program, JMU, [email protected]
“La Aurora” and “New York. Oficina y Denuncia” from Poeta en Nueva York, by Federico Garcia
Lorca
Jose Ignacio Barrio Olano, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU, [email protected]
Selected German poems: original translations from students in GER 341: Translation
Competencies
Holly Yanacek, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU, [email protected]
“Alexandra, Alexandra” by Yuri Vizbor and Dmuharev (a poem and a song)
Elena Vasilyeva, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU, [email protected]
“Quelle come me” by Alda Merini Giuliana Fazzion, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU, [email protected]
Schedule 4
SESSION 6
MADISON UNION – 404
3:30PM – 5:00PM
Moderator: Valnora Leister, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU,
STUDENTS – HUM 252 (GLOBAL CULTURE – BRAZIL)
Lives of Brazilians who have contributed to Brazilian culture, by showing Integrity, Civility and
Grace in their actions.
https://sites.lib.jmu. edu/brazilianculture/
FRIDAY, APRIL 2019
SESSION 7
MADISON UNION – 404
09:30AM – 11:00AM
Moderator: Mélanie Caskill, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU,
“Kinds of Civility and Calls for Civility”
Thomas Adajian, Dept. of Philosophy and Religion, JMU, [email protected]
“Classical Virtues”
Michael Allain, History Department, JMU, [email protected]
“Teaching Students that Values Matter: Values-based Behavioral Instruction in the Classroom”
Eric Pappas, School of Integrated Sciences/Kiersten Sanok, Dept. of Psychology, JMU,
SESSION 8
MADISON UNION - 404
11:00AM – 12:30PM
Moderator: Mariagrazia Fiorello, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, JMU,
“Incivility, bullying, and Violence in Health Care: an occupational health Perspective”
Ozlem Ersin, Health Professions, College of Health and Behavioral Studies, JMU, [email protected]
“Where Less Civility is Better: Rehnquist Meets Aristotele.”
Lawrence Lengbeyer, Department of Leadership, Ethics & Law, United States Naval Academy,
Papers and Abstracts 5
Papers and Abstracts
Abstract: Where Less Civility is Better: Rehnquist Meets Aristotle
Lawrence A. Lengbeyer
Associate Professor of Philosophy Department of Leadership, Ethics, & Law
United States Naval Academy
Civility, like courage and humility, is both a moral virtue serving ethical ends for persons and
their relationships, and an intellectual virtue serving epistemic ends like truth and knowledge.
Both aspects are essential to (in Justice Rehnquist’s phrase) “the art of government”—
collaborative deliberation aimed at sound decisions.
During such deliberation, as Rehnquist notes, it is important that participants refrain from
conduct—e.g., mockery or vituperation—that will impede others from contributing productively.
But to such ‘passive,’ self-restraint civility must be added the ‘active’ variety, affirmatively
encouragement of others to participate, to share and develop their useful efforts and ideas.
Today’s climate of public discourse is obviously beset by shortfalls in passive civility. But this
familiar complaint overlooks half of a double-sided disorder. An Aristotelian perspective
instructs that virtues are surrounded on multiple sides by vices—excesses as well as
deficiencies.1 Constructive collaborative discussion is undermined by knee-jerk attacks on
presumed opponents (deficient passive civility), but also by knee-jerk support for allies and their
doctrines (excessive active civility)—failures to question, to dissent, to entertain preconception-
defying ideas, or to promote these practices by others.
Such undue deference is sometimes the fault of a doctrine’s ‘self-sealing’ logic:
1 I am simplifying the Aristotelian schema, as his ‘doctrine of the mean’ actually posits, for any given
dimension of character, vices deviating in diverse directions from the virtuous optimum. They are not
merely deficiencies or excesses along a single continuum. “Goodness is one, evil is multiform.” [CITE
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, bk.2, ch.6.]
Papers and Abstracts 6
defining critical questioning of itself as censure-worthy depravity2 (e.g., questioning
Ibram Kendi’s racist-antiracist dichotomy makes one racist3; questioning Jordan
Peterson’s worldview makes one a cuck4); and/or
defining ‘resistance’ to its appraisals as confirmations of them (thus limiting skeptics’
ability to defend against charges of, say, liberal false consciousness, gaslighting, denial,
passive-aggressiveness, mansplaining, or white fragility5).
Much of the fault, however, lies with group dynamics—social pressures to enforce conformity to
orthodoxy in both oneself and others. When a potentially-heterodox rumination surfaces, the in-
group audience goes visibly on alert. Sensing the threat social sanction, it gives the critical
questioner a cold shoulder, or worse.
Morality aside, this is a practically ineffective way to conduct collaborative deliberation (about,
say, increasing faculty diversity). Unchallenged consensus closes minds, narrows and slants
thinking and evidence-gathering, and perverts decisionmaking.6 Worst, while skeptics may be
silenced and defeated in the short run, they are not persuaded. They may feel resentful,
contemptuous, vengeful—and inclined to oppose, not embrace, the doctrine in the future.
Widespread exposure of the mechanisms of excess civility, however, and a meta-discourse
practice of pointing these out when they appear, might perhaps erode their influence.
2 Also relevant here are corporate mission statements or policies that define uncompromising devotion as
a fundamental aspect of employee performance, or the leadership philosophies of those, like Donald
Trump, that prize in subordinates loyalty above all. 3 More specifically, in Kendi’s conception, “[a]ll policies, ideas and people are either being racist or
antiracist;” antiracism “recognizes” certain supposed truths; hence those who raise critical doubts about
those truths are not antiracist; hence the doubters are racist. See, e.g., Ibram X. Kendi, “This is what an
antiracist America would look like. How do we get there?” The Guardian, Dec. 6, 2018,
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/06/antiracism-and-america-white-nationalism (1-
22-19); Ibram X. Kendi, “A House Still Divided,” Atlantic Monthly, October 2018,
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/a-house-still-divided/568348/ (1-13-19). 4 John Ganz & Steven Klein, “A Serious Man: On Jordan Peterson,” Feb. 7 2018,
https://thebaffler.com/latest/peterson-ganz-klein (2-8-18). 5 That is, efforts to provide counterarguments to such charges are construable as being simply further
manifestations of false consciousness, or further efforts to gaslight by denying the accuser’s perspective,
or further proof that the accused is in denial about the problem, or further passive-aggressiveness, or yet
another instance of mansplaining instead of listening, or more evidence of a defensive argumentativeness
when confronted with the reality of one’s racism. 6 Charlan Nemeth, In Defense of Troublemakers: The Power of Dissent in Life and Business (Basic Books
2018).
Papers and Abstracts 7
Abstract: Responsabilidad cívica durante los cambios políticos y sociales del siglo XX en España a través de la literatura:
Josefina Aldecoa y Antonio Buero Vallejo.
Moderator:
Yenisei Montes de Oca, James Madison University
La Segunda República, la Guerra Civil y el Franquismo representan eventos importantes
durante la mayor parte del siglo XX en España. Sin duda el papel que la integridad y la
civilidad juegan en la sociedad española durante este periodo tumultuoso se convierte en un
tema fundamental en producciones culturales del momento. En este panel haremos un
recuento histórico relevante al periodo e indagaremos en dos autores cuyas obras literarias
elaboran en este tema y son representativas de la literatura de posguerra española. El primer
ensayo discutirá la manera en que la autora Josefina Aldecoa cuestiona y critica el gobierno
español durante la Segunda República y el Franquismo. El hecho de que hace esto décadas
después del evento histórico, lo relaciona al presente y demuestra que la integridad, la
civilidad y la gracia no sólo son virtudes de ayer, sino que también se refieren a asuntos
sociales contemporáneos. El segundo estudio hablará sobre el papel cívico de las mujeres
durante la Segunda República en su lucha por obtener derechos y libertad. Utilizando el
personaje de Gabriela en Historia de una maestra, se discutirá cómo las mujeres tomaron un
papel activo y solidario al exigir reformas positivas e inclusivas en España para ellas mismas y
para generaciones futuras. El tercer ensayo será sobre Antonio Buero Vallejo e indagará en su
responsabilidad como figura literaria y la agencia política que esto supone durante la dictadura
franquista. Se elaborará en el concepto de la honradez mediante su papel como autor y a través
de sus obras literarias. Finalmente, el cuarto estudio se enfocará en dos obras específicas de
Antonio Buero Vallejo en donde sus personajes representan civilidad e integridad y el riesgo
que esto conlleva al actuar en contra de la injusticia durante el franquismo. Se hablará también
sobre la forma en que estas obras teatrales hacen a la audiencia partícipe y es invitada a ser
parte de la responsabilidad cívica.
Presentations (Students from SPAN 461):
“Crítica al gobierno durante la época de la Segunda República y el Franquismo en
España: Josefina Aldecoa”.
Cecelia Hogan ([email protected]) y Nicholas Federovitch ([email protected])
“El papel cívico de las mujeres en medio de una sociedad dividida en ‘dos
Españas’ durante la Segunda República en Historia de una maestra”.
Amanda Kelly ([email protected]) y Paige Moody ([email protected])
“La honradez en los tiempos de Franco: Antonio Buero Vallejo”.
Malia High ([email protected]) y Nicolette Chuss ([email protected])
“El riesgo y el mérito de la integridad durante épocas difíciles en En la ardiente oscuridad y
La doble historia del doctor Valmy”.
Savannah Lee ([email protected]) y Dionna Parker ([email protected])
Papers and Abstracts 8
Abstract and Paper: Teaching Students that Values Matter: Values-based
Behavioral Instruction in the Classroom
Eric Pappas
James Madison University
Abstract:
It might be easy to say that life-affirming values are the foundation for personality,
community, or even global well-being…as well as integrity, civility, and grace. Despite our
efforts to teach values and ethics in higher education, however, many of our students fail to
internalize the instruction; that is, they may successfully complete ethics-related case studies
“correctly,” but they often fail to internalize and practice the values needed to lead a life of
integrity and humanistic balance. It is our assertion, however, that a conscious approach to life
and a harmonious personality lead to the development and demonstration of humanistic values,
integrity, and empathy.
Well-balanced and ethical individuals are characterized by creating harmony,
interconnection, and relatively high levels of self-awareness in their values, thoughts, behaviors,
and actions as well as cultivating continued individual growth in their physical, emotional,
social, philosophical, and intellectual abilities. This state of ethical being includes possessing a
well-developed and demonstrated value system that acknowledges the importance and
interconnectedness of all global biological and social systems, and our appropriate place within
them.
This paper describes how intentional change behavioral projects used by one author
(E.P.) for over 20 years move students to become more balanced, conscious, and ethical
individuals. These behavioral projects are designed to support the acquisition of values in the
context of students’ daily lives. Projects focus on students understanding themselves and others,
challenging and developing values, as well as understanding the nature of the human community
(e.g. the commonalities all individuals share). The objectives of these projects are to have
students experience a more harmonious state of being, be more adept at effective
communications, gain a sense of increasing personal consciousness (including understanding
one’s place in the global community), and learn how to change intentionally.
More importantly, the many projects described here are the foundation for students
understanding, developing, and assessing their own values, living with integrity…and more
importantly, aligning their values and behaviors in everyday life.
Keywords: values and behaviors, values instruction, cognitive dissonance
Papers and Abstracts 9
1. Introduction
Despite our efforts to teach values and ethics in higher education, many of our students
fail to internalize the instruction; that is, they may successfully complete an ethics-related case
study “correctly,” but they often fail to internalize and practice the values needed to lead a life of
integrity and humanistic balance. It is our assertion, however, that a conscious approach to life
and a harmonious personality lead to the development and demonstration of humanistic values
and empathy.
Individual behavior creates the foundation for action in social, economic, and
environmental sustainability and potentially guides our ability to work with one another to make
life-affirming decisions. Skills that support value acquisition, practice, and evaluation are the
ones that result in true human integrity that go beyond individual affairs to align with the Natural
World and the character of a global community. In short, it is a matter of aligning our day-to-
day behaviors with our well-stated values that will result in greater individual harmony and
sustainable community action. This topic is a controversial one, as students often appear to be
unable to align their demonstrated behaviors with their admirable values related to individual
ethics and personal integrity. Even more so, students seems unable to define and demonstrate
the values needed to create a sustainable civilization.
Well-balanced and ethical individuals are characterized by creating harmony,
interconnection, and relatively high levels of self-awareness in their values, thoughts, behaviors,
and actions as well as cultivating continued individual growth in their physical, emotional,
social, philosophical, and intellectual abilities. This state of ethical being includes possessing a
well-developed and demonstrated value system that acknowledges the importance and
interconnectedness of all global biological and social systems, and our appropriate place within
them.
This paper describes how intentional change behavioral projects used by the author for
over 20 years move students to become more balanced, conscious, and ethical individuals.
These behavioral projects are designed to support the acquisition of values in the context of
students’ daily lives. Projects focus on students understanding themselves and others,
challenging and developing values, as well as understanding the nature of the human community
(e.g. the commonalities all individuals share). The objectives of these projects are to have
students experience a more harmonious state of being, be more adept at effective
communications, gain a sense of increasing personal consciousness, and learn how to change
intentionally.
More importantly, the many projects described here are the foundation for students
understanding, developing, and assessing their own values, living with integrity…and more
importantly, aligning their values and behaviors in everyday life.
The central purpose of these projects is to help students become highly functional and
authentic adults through learning and practicing intentional self-development and self-regulation;
that is, to develop a values-based personality. We believe that such an individual has a natural
foundation for understanding the nature of ethics.
II. Literature Review / Background
The general dispositions that support a life of integrity are awareness, motivation, and the
ability to engage in intentional self-development. This includes possessing a well-developed and
demonstrated value system that acknowledges the interconnectedness of all global biological
systems and our appropriate place in the Natural World.
A considerable number of psychologists, educators, and philosophers have noted the
complex nature of what constitutes personality and how it manifests itself, and some have
Papers and Abstracts 10
indicated that personality characteristics are dependent upon each other—in a context of well-
developed values— in order to produce a highly functioning individual. What these writers have
in common is the understanding that personality is related to a variety of factors, and that these
factors comprise a complex system…and that a change in one factor may well produce
unpredictable changes in the other factors.
If one understands the complexities and interconnectedness of one’s own individual
personality contexts, then he or she might well transfer this systems understanding to address
community environmental, social, and economic problems. Such growth may be difficult for
some, and the challenges to individual development may be hindered by personal, career, family,
and psychological issues, as well as a dysfunctional relationship with time or technology (Pappas
& Pappas 2011).
The are countless historical roots here. Bertrand Russell (1921), in his lecture on Belief,
outlines the mutually dependent components of a holistic intellectual life which consists of
“beliefs, reasoning, theories of knowledge, and metaphysics...out of which our philosophical
outlook evolves” (p.139). Hegel (1805) views the “whole” of existence as a non-self-
contradictory complex system. His philosophy always considers Reality as a whole. James
(1890/1950) delineates the constituents of the self as “the material self, the social self, the
spiritual self, and the pure ego” (p.292). These factors, he says, provide the human foundation
for self-seeking and self-preservation, an understanding of one’s self in the broadest sense,
including ethically.
John Dewey (1916/2004) refers to consciousness as composed of “natural and social
operations” (p.244) and is a “connected course of experience” (p.249). Further, he proposes the
synthesis of human processes “in which elements combine into complex wholes and series”
(p.245). He notes “knowing, willing, feeling [are the] name states of consciousness” (p.252),
and acts and attitudes all found in experience. He later refers to consciousness as a “system of
truth” (p.257). A few years later, Dewey outlines a similar system guiding successful education:
“Education, we received from three sources—Nature, men [sic], and things”—that the
“concurrence of three kinds of education is necessary to their completeness” (p.108). Each kind
of education, he stresses, determines the success of the other two.
Abraham Maslow (1968) describes the 13 characteristics of a self-actualized individual
as follows, several of which are fundamentally dependent upon life-affirming individual values
(See *):
1) Superior perception of reality
2) Increased acceptance of self, others, and of nature*
3) Increased spontaneity
4) Increase in problem-centering
5) Increased detachment and desire for privacy
6) Increased autonomy and resistance to enculturation
7) Greater freshness of appreciation, and richness of emotional reaction
8) Higher frequency of peak experiences
9) Increased identification with the human species*
10) Changed (the clinician would say improved) interpersonal relations*
11) More democratic character structure*
12) Greatly improved creativeness
13) Certain changes in the value system* (p.24)
He notes these characteristics as a path to “a fuller knowledge of, and acceptance of, the person’s
own intrinsic nature, as an unceasing trend toward unity, integration, or synergy within the
Papers and Abstracts 11
person” (p.25)…or, more generally as the “self as a project” (pg. 12), terminology he likely lifted
from Sartre.
Carl Rogers (1980), a decade of so later, notes the “Qualities of the Person of
Tomorrow,” twelve characteristics of a highly functioning and balanced individual, a list clearly
reminiscent of Maslow’s and characterized by “a world in which the mind, in its larger sense, is
both aware of, and creates, the new reality” (p.352). Most of his list in based on a developed
sense of human values, as follows:
1) Openness
2) Desire for authenticity*
3) Skepticism regarding science and technology*
4) Desire for wholeness
5) The wish for intimacy*
6) Process persona
7) Caring*
8) Attitude toward Nature*
9) Anti-institutional
10) The authority within*
11) The unimportance of material things*
12) A yearning for the spiritual*
Capra (1982) offers his systems view of personality “based on awareness of the essential
interrelatedness and interdependence of all phenomena—physical, biological, psychological,
social, and cultural” (p.265). He notes that there is no established framework for such an
approach, either conceptual or institutional, that would accommodate paradigm change, but that
individuals, communities, and networks develop their own approaches to such growth. In
addition, Capra notes that “systems thinking is process thinking, form becomes associated with
interaction, interrelation with interaction…” (p.267). Csikszentmihalyi (1993) takes a similar
interactive approach and reflects on the complexity of consciousness, stating that knowledge or
intelligence need be in harmony with feelings and actions—“to create harmony between goals
and desires, sensations and experiences” (p.207).
Some writers, like Thoresen (2004), describe what she considers responsible citizenship,
from the perspective of “empathy, relationships, critical skills, co-operation, self-awareness,
equality, feeling concerned” (p.8)—individual attributes that would increase our chances of
survival. She groups over two dozen human behaviors and values into three general areas:
“Biological determinants, Social expectations, and Moral imperatives.” While Thoresen’s
approach is not quite as expansive and inclusive as those of Maslow, Rogers, or Capra, her
approach does cover an extensive variety of intellectual, affective, and ethical skills and
dispositions as well as provides a foundation for instruction in higher education.
“Higher education should foster learning new attitudes, perspectives, and values that
guide and impel people to live their lives in a more sustainable way” (p.63), according to Gadotti
(2009). Feeling, simplicity and quietness, identity, justice, and a culture of peace characterize
sustainable societies, notes the author, who further encourages political and social revolution
based on an “anthropocentric and individualistic view of humanity’s well-being” (p.96).
III. Course descriptions
This section briefly describes the two courses in which the projects described herein have
been assigned. Projects differed from semester-to-semester and year-to-year in order to provide
Papers and Abstracts 12
material for formal research efforts and to experiment with new projects. The courses have no
textbook, tests, or quizzes, and students are graded on their reflective responses to the behavioral
change projects.
The projects described in this section were developed and tested in two courses: One is a
senior-lever experimental personality class and the other a freshman critical thinking course
focused on social psychology. The senior-level course addresses intentional self-development
using cognitive behavioral change methods. Students concentrate on honing intentional self-
development skills and making beneficial modifications to their own habits, routines, and
behaviors. This special study course is capped at 25 students and has been offered each semester
since 2004.
Our approach is directive and competency-based: Students are instructed to change their
daily habits, routines, and behaviors in specific ways and then reflect on the results. Initially, the
projects and exercises are designed to be highly structured, then slowly to allow students to take
ownership of the behavior (“personalizing”), and finally to make it fit their personal lifestyles
and daily routines. The course projects described below illustrate our gradual approach.
The second course, a critical thinking class, was developed after the senior-level course
to determine if behavioral change strategies employed successfully with seniors would be
effective with first-year students. Many of the projects in this course are the same as the senior-
level course, but with modifications to allow for the greatly increased number of students in the
class.
Projects are described below. Each dispositional project includes the following: a) in-
class instruction and a philosophical rationale, b) supervision by experienced teaching assistants,
c) in-class discussions, d) weekly progress reports and reflective papers, e) a formal final self-
assessment for each project, and f) an analytical individual portfolio including plans for
maintaining the changes and explanations of how students “personalized” each project.
We describe some of these projects below, but not the qualitative or quantitative data
derived from our research assessing these projects. This information can be found in the
following studies: Barrella, E., Pyburn Spratto, E., Pappas, E. & Nagel, R. (2018); Pappas, E.,
Lynch, R., Pappas, J., & Chamberlin, M. (2018); Nagel, R., Pappas, E., Swain, M. and Hazard,
G. (2015); Pappas, J. & Pappas, E. (2015); Pappas, E., Pappas, J., & Sweeney, D. (2014); Pappas
& Pappas (2011); and Benton, M., Pappas, J., & Pappas, E. (2011) .
IV. The Projects
In the almost two decades since we’ve been developing and assigning these projects
(some longer than others as we continue to create new projects) , we have been encouraged by
our research results (see just above). Most specifically, students seem to like our instructional
approach as well as the character of the class and projects.
The central purpose of these projects, if they can be viewed as a whole, is to help students
become functional and authentic adults through learning and practicing intentional self-
development and self-regulation. All the projects have a foundation—though some more than
others—in values development. The projects focus on behaviors, not simply good thinking or
easily stated values, for both can be expressed without any true evidence for their existence.
Students, in short, need “to come to terms” with themselves, see themselves as they really are…a
process that normally results in cognitive dissonance: “Maybe I’m not the person I claim to be”
can be a devastating and motivating revelation. Does that make one a fraud? We’ve found that
this has been significant motivation for students to align their values and behaviors.
Papers and Abstracts 13
We have developed and tested over three dozen behavioral projects in the classroom.
Included here are some of the ones students deemed most transformational.
Listening Project
The objectives of the Listening Project are to develop focused listening and questioning
skills through practicing and evaluating questioning strategies and to discover the increased
information one gains from listening. Students complete the project over the duration of six
weeks in stages lasting a week or two, depending upon individual progress. For the first stage,
students choose three individuals they see most days, and they are to remain about 20% quieter
than usual when conversing with these individuals. The objective here is to learn to focus on
listening and allow another person to talk without being interrupted. In stage two, students
engage in the topic of conversation started by the individual and subtly ask for more information
or explanation. Stage three requires the students to ask specific and pointed questions of these
individuals meant to help them go into greater depth on a topic. In stage four, students learn to
“steer” conversations in order to stay on a specific topic or move the conversation to more
interesting material. Students then continue to employ all four stages with an increasing number
of friends, family, and professors as a way of integrating these dispositions into their daily lives.
Time and Technology Project
The objectives of the Time and Technology Project are to examine how personal
electronic devices (such as television, stereo, radio, computer, video games, and cell phones) and
cultural and professional norms (being busy all the time, multi- tasking) distract one from clear
and self-directed thinking and action. Students are directed to refrain from the use of television,
radio, cell phones, video games, stereos, iPod, social networks, or surfing the net for three
consecutive days of typical activities (with exceptions for assigned school work, safety,
employment, and family responsibilities). Students have to spend some time with their own
thoughts, experience a new way of thinking and looking at themselves and their worlds, and
adjust their daily routines and habits away from constant electronic stimulation.
Intentional Change Project (Intentional Self-development)
The objectives of the Intentional Change Project are to identify a personal or academic
change, develop a plan for achieving this change, and carry out the change by directing and
monitoring one’s progress. This semester-long project is central to instruction in all dispositional
projects and exercises in the course as all projects are, to a great degree, intentional change
projects. Students decide on a positive change they would like to make in their lives such as
working out, losing weight, studying more, sleeping less (or more), reading more, eating healthy
foods, playing a musical instrument, or writing poetry. They then draft a 12-week plan to make
the desired change. The plan must detail a slow and concerted approach to the change, noting
the changes in their lives that this project will require and the adjustments they must make to
daily schedules. Slowly, students confront the following issues: how they react and adjust to
self-imposed change in their lives, the nature of the motivation and discipline required to make
intentional changes, the reactions to what they perceive as failure (usually temporary), the
benefits of reaching weekly goals and a final goal, and the confidence required to attempt other
changes.
Issues Related to Time
The objectives of the these projects are to develop a personal awareness of time, to
balance and prioritize one’s use of time in a variety of personal and academic contexts, to
Papers and Abstracts 14
recognize when one performs certain tasks most effectively, and to understand and practice
having control of one’s time (“owning time”). These are not “time management” projects;
rather, they address one’s relationship with time and the conceptual understanding of the nature
of time.
In the Time Log Project students keep track of and analyze their activities such as
studying, attending class, eating, being on-line, sleeping, talking on the phone, and socializing
for an entire week, by the half hour, in order to get a more comprehensive understanding of how
they spend their time.
In the Best Time to Do Things Project, students are asked to determine the times of the
day they most effectively and efficiently perform certain tasks such as studying, socializing,
reflecting, and writing. They are then directed to adjust their daily schedules for two weeks to
reflect their findings and report the results in writing.
The week-long Waking up Two Hours before Class Project required students to awaken
two hours before they had to be in class and keep track of their activities and thinking during that
time as well as throughout the remainder of the day. Following a week of waking up early, they
write an analysis of their experiences and thoughts.
The Half-speed Day Project, which is not quite appropriately named, directed students to
allot a specific, and more than ample, amount of time to perform certain tasks they have planned
for a day (e.g., studying, cleaning, eating, walking to school), usually closer to “time and a half.”
They then write a reflective response detailing their experiences.
Reflection Exercises
The objectives of these exercises are to develop and practice reflection and focused
reflection to solve problems, generate ideas, and reduce stress. For this assignment, students are
required to be entirely silent and reflect on a variety of assigned topics for an hour once each
week for the entire semester. The process for the assignment is strict—students must just sit
entirely undisturbed for one hour: no telephone, television, radio, stereo, or computer and no
cleaning, sleeping, talking, eating, or reading. Following the reflection, they write about what
happened during the hour.
Non-argumentative Conversation Exercises
The objectives of these three exercises are to develop and employ conversational
strategies that lead to an exchange of ideas so as to increase knowledge, to identify verbal
exchanges that are competitive in nature, and to “steer” argumentative situations towards a non-
argumentative format.
In the first exercise, Don’t Argue for a Week, students must refrain from initiating or
taking part in arguments for an entire week and keep a journal of their experiences. This
assignment is made understanding that argumentation and competitive conversations are
accepted as “normal” conversation and that all too frequently little cooperative exchange of ideas
occurs.
The second exercise, Process Observing in Group Conversations, directed students to be
“process observers” during group conversations such as in the dining hall, at parties, or in
residence halls. This involves watching how others interact verbally in a group, analyzing
others’ intents in a conversation, and critiquing the content and process of the conversations.
This assignment is made understanding that the norm of conversation is too often “winning an
argument” or being at the center of a conversation is the objective…rather than simply enjoying
sharing ideas or thoughts, or solving problems.
In the third exercise, Process Observing in Individual Conversations, students are
directed to observe their own conversations in order to determine their contribution to
Papers and Abstracts 15
competitive, rather than cooperative, conversations. The purpose of this project is to motivate
students to learn new conversational skills that build knowledge and exchange ideas.
In the results of these projects, detailed in Pappas & Pappas 2011, students reported
having a sharp increase in awareness of how they were able to make changes to their lives, how
they have been controlled by time, and how they lacked some personal control over their
activities and lives. Many were embarrassed by their pre-project behaviors, but often just this
awareness was enough to motivate students to continue making intentional changes in their lives.
Personality Pad
This section describes Personality Pad (https://personalitypad.org/), a website whose
goal is to foster intentional self-development in the area of personal sustainability (intellectual,
emotional, physical, philosophical, and social). Personality Pad automates the process of 360°
evaluation, also known as multi-source feedback, allowing an individual to guide a large number
of people through a process of self-discovery and personal growth (Benton, Pappas, & Pappas
2011). A 360° evaluation offers a number of opportunities and challenges in an academic
setting. To start, students receive automated personality feedback from peers, friends, and
family member, all anonymously. While peer-evaluation already forms a part of many college
course syllabi, 360° evaluation adds certain elements that do not exist in most peer-evaluation
scenarios. For one, students are be able to compare self-ratings to the aggregate ratings provided
by a peer group. In other words, the student would get information about how he or she
perceives himself/herself, side-by-side with information about peers’ opinions, side-by-side with
how peers rated themselves. Also, students are asked to not only provide an evaluation of their
current performance on a task, but also an ideal estimation of how the student would ideally like
to perform.
Fast Change Project
In this most dramatic and immersive project, we address questions about the purpose,
practice, and consequences of an immersive, week-long intentional self-development project
intended to produce durable and lasting positive changes in the self (Pappas, Lynch, Pappas, &
Chamberlin 2018). This project examines the immediate and longer-term effects of an original
self-development intervention that uses cognitive dissonance (the tension produced by the lack of
alignment between one’s values and behaviors) (Festinger 1957) to motivate and sustain a series
of intentional changes made in the service of becoming one’s “ideal self” across all life contexts
for one full week.
Briefly, students describe and assess their real and ideal selves in three assignments: 1)
Identity Project in which students write a minimum of five pages about their identity (real selves)
in five contexts (intellectual, emotional, physical, philosophical, and social); 2) Shortly after,
they complete the same assignment, but for their “Ideal Selves”; 3) Student then write an
analysis of their two papers…the differences between their “Real Selves” and their “Ideal
Selves.” We then require students to be their Ideal Selves in every situation they find themselves
for one week (and report in writing to their teaching assistant each evening). Students take
assessment surveys on their behaviors following this immersive week, the first six weeks
following the conclusion of the week, and a third assessment six months later.
V. Discussion
It might be easy to say that values are the foundation for personality, community, or even
global well-being…as well as for integrity, civility, and grace. What values are the critical issue.
Many religions, political philosophies, and social and economic philosophies embrace values
Papers and Abstracts 16
that are not life affirming (to say the least), but are brazenly discriminatory, violence producing,
or simply serve the rich and powerful. Too often, human values favor a specific belief system or
personal gain, and not the concerns of a global community. We see this every day.
So, the issue here is embracing values that allow for human survival and evolution.
While Darwin doesn’t address this in Origin of Species (since he mentions human beings only
once, and very briefly), he does 12 years later in his 1871 Descent of Man. He intimates what
constitutes evolutionary behavior…self-knowledge. And while he does not state that values are
not enough, it is clear that believing something passionately (as so many do) is clearly not
enough. Honoring the process of believing is not the point.
It appears that most individuals approach values (if they do) with a focus on believing the
“right things” (which depends upon your religion, political philosophy, etc.). What is clear is
that we too often believe in the right things, but we do not demonstrate them. We may try…or
say we try…but most individuals, if questioned, would admit that their behaviors do not come
close to reflecting their values. This is true throughout our planet’s history of violence,
oppression, and war.
While this topic is far too broad to discuss here (and do justice to it), it might be fair to
suggest that perhaps our species was not designed for a long evolution (Pappas & Blaine 2018).
Could it be that the human species is simply not capable of evolutionary behavior, at least in
numbers enough to secure species survival? Considering the state of the planet in the last half
century, this is a premise that must be at least considered. How much can we say we have
evolved in the last millennium? Is the evolution swift enough to guarantee long-term survival, or
should we continue to exist on simply being hopeful?
This terribly depressing view of human beings’ biological and social nature is not what
most of us believe or even wish to entertain. Our denial may be part of the deficit we exhibit in
our nature. Is it so incredible to believe that our species may be living out its biological pre-
determined span of existence?
This brings us back to Darwin in Descent of Man in which he posits that human beings
may well not be subject to the characteristics of less evolved species. We may well have some
influence over our own destiny because we have emotions and intellect we can develop that
drives intentional behavior. Our values constitute the driving force for such intentional behavior.
As noted just above, there are those individuals who appear to be more understanding of the
nature of evolution and species survival, and may demonstrate harmonious behavior…behavior
that in greater numbers might offer us a better chance at longer-term survival.
References
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10(8).
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New Pedagogy to Develop Personal Sustainability via 360° Evaluation.” AMCIS 2011: 17th Americas
Conference on Information Systems, Detroit, August.
Papers and Abstracts 17
Capra, F. (1982). The turning point. New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1993). The evolving self. New York: Harper Collins.
Dewey, J. (1916/2004). Democracy and education. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications Inc.
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Evanston, Illinois: Row, Peterson.
Gadotti, M. (2009). Education for sustainability: A contribution to the decade of education for
sustainable development. Produção de Terceiros Sobre Paulo Freire: Série Livros.
Hegel, G.W.F. (1805-6). Lectures on the History of Philosophy. Translation by E. S. Haldane, 1892-6.
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/hp/hpconten.htm
James, W. (1890/1950). The principles of psychology: Volume one. New York: Dover Publications.
Maslow, A. (1968). Toward a psychology of being. New York: Van Nostrand.
Pappas, E. and Blaine, C. (2018). “Are We a Species in Decline.” James Madison University TEDx
video. May. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvEFNFGecO8&feature=youtu.be
Pappas, E. & Pappas, J. (2011) A dispositional behavioral approach to teaching cognitive processes that
support effective thought and action. Innovative Higher Education, 36(5).
Nagel, R., Pappas, E., Swain, M. and Hazard, G. (2015). Understanding students’ values toward
individual behaviors when in an engineering group. International Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 4,
No. 2.
Pappas, J. & Pappas, E. (2015). The Sustainable Personality: Values and behaviors in
individual sustainability. International Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 4(1).
Pappas, E., Pappas, J., & Sweeney, D. (2014). Walking the walk: Conceptual foundations of the
Sustainable Personality. Journal of Cleaner Production, 86(1), 323-334.
Pappas, E., Lynch, R., Pappas, J., & Chamberlin, M. (2018). Fast change: Immersive self-development
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Rogers, C. (1980). A way of being. New York: Houghton-Mifflin.
Russell, B. (1921). The analysis of mind. London: George Allen & Unwin.
Thoresen, V.W. (2004). “Cultivating sustainable lifestyles.” UNESCO, IEF Conference, University of
Thessaloniki, Greece.
Papers and Abstracts 18
Quevedo y los Espejos de Príncipes
José Ignacio Barrio Olano,
James Madison University
La literatura de espejos de príncipes es un subgénero literario político y moral que podría
definirse como un manual de prudencia para consejo y uso de gobernantes en general, sean
reyes, príncipes u otros. Uno de los ejemplos más emblemáticos sería El Príncipe de Maquiavelo
(1531). En la España medieval e influenciados por los tratados De regimine principum de Santo
Tomás de Aquino y de Egidius Romanus, se ocuparon de la literatura de espejo autores como
Francisco Eximenis (Llibre de regiment de princeps), el Marqués de Santillana (Doctrinal de
privados), Gómez Manrique (Regimiento de príncipes), Arnaldo de Vilanova (Allocutio
christiani), Diego de Valera (Doctrinal de príncipes), Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo (Vergel de
príncipes) y Pedro Belluga (Speculum principum).
Se trata de una literatura didáctica que se manifestará a lo largo del barroco bajo la forma
de “máximas”, “avisos” y “advertencias” (Oráculo manual, de Gracián); “empresas” y
“emblemas” (Empresas políticas, de Saavedra Fajardo); “epigramas” (El príncipe advertido y
declaración de los epigramas de Nápoles la víspera de San Juan, de Martínez de Herrera). Se
relaciona por tanto esta literatura con las colecciones de “ejemplos” o “apólogos”, como El
Conde Lucanor del Infante don Juan Manuel.
Con el propósito de educar al príncipe, gran parte de esta literatura recurre a modelos
dignos de imitación: a personajes bíblicos, como en Política de Dios y gobierno de Cristo, de
Quevedo; El Gobernador cristiano, deducido de las vidas de Moisés y Josué, de Fray Juan
Márquez; Aviso de príncipes, en aforismos políticos y morales, meditados en la historia de Saúl,
de Pedro de Figueroa, El Privado Christiano, deducido de las vidas de José y Daniel, de José
Laynez; a personajes de la Historia Antigua, como en El Príncipe en la guerra y en la paz,
copiado de la vida del Emperador Justiniano, de Vicente Mut; Arte Real para el buen gobierno
de los Reyes y Príncipes y de sus vasallos [Trajano], de Jerónimo de Zeballos; El Despertador
que avisa a un Príncipe Católico. Hecho de la vida del Emperador Constante, de Jerónimo
Ortega y Robles; recurre también a modelos de la historia patria, especialmente a Fernando el
Católico, como en las obras de Saavedra Fajardo (Política y Razón de Estado del Rey Católico
don Fernando), Blázquez Mayorazgo (Perfecta razón de Estado, deducida de los hechos del
Señor Rey Don Fernando el Católico) y Gracián (El político don Fernando).
Los impactantes eventos políticos y religiosos que jalonan los siglos XVI y XVII en
Europa con el advenimiento de la Reforma y la Contrarreforma, junto con los debates sobre el
origen del poder político y sobre la separación entre la política y la moral, permiten registrar los
siguientes modelos de espejos de príncipes: 1) el príncipe cristiano, postulado por Erasmo y los
erasmistas en la época de Carlos V; 2) el príncipe secular, motivado por la razón de estado, la
doctrina maquiavélica y el arte político puro; 3) el príncipe político-cristiano, que intenta
reconciliar la política y la ética dejando a Maquiavelo y buscando inspiración en el naturalismo
de Tácito; y 4) el príncipe católico, contrarreformista y antimaquiavélico, que condena la razón
de estado.
“Razón de estado” no es propiamente un término acuñado por Maquiavelo, sino que fue
aplicado con posterioridad al conjunto de sus postulados. La expresión “materia de estado”
aparece en las Instrucciones de Carlos V a Felipe II (1543) y en escritores como Vicente Espinel
Papers and Abstracts 19
(Vida de Marcos de Obregón, 1618). Fue el tacistista Giovanni Botero (Della ragion di Stato,
1589) contribuyó a popularizar la expresión razón de Estado, pero fue Giovanni della Casa
(Orazione a Carolo V, 1547-49) el primero que utilizó la expresión razón de Estado con una
connotación peyorativa. La razón de Estado ha sido definida de distinta manera según sus
apologistas o sus detractores. Para José Antonio Maravall la razón de estado supone la aparición
del arte politico puro como resultado del pensamiento de Maquiavelo y Jean Bodin y “no es
más que la transcripción a la esfera de la política de la razón natural no iluminada por la gracia”
(Maravall 1, 378)
Fue precisamente en Francia donde la razón de Estado halló más favorable acogida.
Sobre las premisas de Bodin y de Maquiavelo se sustenta el absolutismo monárquico de Luis
XIII y Luis XIV, de Richelieu y Mazarino. “La France” –dirá Mathieu de Morgues- “… n’a pas
d’autre religion que celle de l’État, fondée sur les maximes de Machiavel.” (Thuau 9)
En un intento de conciliar política y ética, los tratadistas que reconocen y aceptan la novedad
de su tiempo, el arte político, se aplican a la búsqueda de fundamentos y “nortes” que necesitará
el Príncipe para que pueda ser político sin dejar de ser cristiano. Estos escritores españoles de los
siglos XVI y XVII a los que José Antonio Fernández-Santamaría llama “realistas”, sutilizan
sobre conceptos tales como “simulación y disimulación” (Saavedra Fajardo), “prudencia” (Juan
de Mariana), “sagacidad” (Juan de Santa María), “afectos” (Álamos de Barrientos) y otros.
En la España tridentina se desató una acérrima literatura antimaquiavélica que José Luis
Abellán ha llamado la segunda Contrarreforma. (Abellán III 60 y ss). Como un eco del anatema
lanzado por el Papa Pío V contra la razón de Estado tachándola de raison d’Enfer, (Thuau 120)
tratadistas como Pedro de Rivadeneira, Claudio Clemente. Fray Juan de Salazar y Quevedo,
entre otros, proponen una teoría contrarreformista del Estado y un maquiavelismo eterno con
antecedentes o escatológicos o remotos. Así, Quevedo atribuye a Luzbel arcángel la paternidad
de la razón de Estado, de la que Herodes Antipas, Pilatos, Judas y Richelieu no serán sino
secuaces inmanentes (Política de Dios, 1617 y 1635; Anatomía de la cabeza de Richelieu, 1635;
Relación sobre las trazas de Francia, 1637). Juan de Salazar (Política española, 1619) considera
al pueblo español como un pueblo escogido por Dios para una misión trascendental (Abellán III
31 y ss). Claudio Clemente (El Machiavelismo degollado por la Cristiana sabiduría de España
y Austria, 1618 y 1637) intenta, según él mismo declara, “referir los aumentos de la Iglesia
católica y de España originados de las recíprocas obligaciones y socorros con que la una a la otra
se han sabido dar las manos para sus adelantados progresos.” (Maravall 1, 389). En Francia, se
manifiestan en este mismo sentido autores como Nicolas Caussin (Regnum Dei, 1650), Claude
Vaure (L´état chretien, 1626) y Etienne Molinier (Les politiques chrétiennes, 1621).
En la teoría política de Quevedo, la razón de Estado aparece como un elemento
desestabilizador del orden establecido en la tierra como reflejo del divino y que desacraliza, por
tanto, la fundamentación cristiana de la monarquía absoluta. Para Quevedo, la razón de Estado
tiene origen diabólico (Política de Dios, 1621 y 1635) y es el arma disidente, traidora e hipócrita
de que se sirven Lucifer, Judas y Pilatos. Razón de Estado va a ser todo aquello que introduzca
una alteración de ese orden monárquico-señorial que él defiende y al que le interesa pertenecer.
Partiendo del origen divino de la monarquía - “Per Me reges regnant” (Proverbios); “Non
est potestas nisi a Deo” (San Pablo, Romanos)-, Quevedo advierte a Felipe IV, a quien dedica la
Primera Parte de Política de Dios, que existe un orden divino sobre el poder y del que emana el
poder. Quevedo hace por tanto hincapié en situar a la dignidad real dentro de un
antivoluntarismo -al igual que otros escritores como Furió Ceriol y Alfonso Ramón y Barbosa-
Papers and Abstracts 20
que contrasta con el voluntarismo que el príncipe renacentista había heredado de Scoto y Ockam.
Quevedo y los tratadistas españoles reivindican que “toda jurisdicción es anterior a su
magistrado.” (Maravall 1, 125, 194) Por ello, para Quevedo reinar mayormente es un oficio,
sujeto a la doctrina evangélica. Precisamente el leitmotiv de Política de Dios es saber ser rey:
“Sólo Cristo supo ser rey y sólo lo sabrá ser quien le imitare.” (538) Obviamente, en el
pensamiento de Quevedo la unidad religiosa es imprescindible para la unidad política: la
república conforma con la Iglesia la túnica inconsútil de Cristo que los herejes y los príncipes
que intentan negociar con ellos intentan dividir.
James O. Crosby (Quevedo in Italy: A Satirist in Politics, 1954) ha destacado la
importancia que tuvo para la escritura de Política de Dios la experiencia de Quevedo como
diplomático al servicio del Duque de Osuna (1613-1619), lo que le permitió conocer a fondo la
Corte de Felipe III. Sólo este contacto directo y los reveses dramáticos que se produjeron, le iban
a motivar para concentrar su suasoria a Felipe IV en advertirle contra la delegación del poder real
en los validos. Felipe III, por la cédula de 1612, había concedido al Duque de Lerma plenos
poderes que le equiparaban al soberano. Con su ataque al sistema de valimiento –o por lo menos
al mal uso de él-, Quevedo parece añorar el sistema de Consejo y Secretarios del Rey de los
primeros Austrias, cargo este último que quedó eclipsado con el nombramiento de validos a
partir de Felipe III.
Es mayormente en Richelieu en quien carga Quevedo su condena de la razón de Estado.
El cardenal francés “ha estudiado en los cartapacios de Lucifer” (909) y “tiene en la voluntad
todo lo que tiene en el entendimiento.” ( 909) Merced a la intriga y a la conspiración
maquiavélicas, el cardenal se ha encumbrado a sus alturas clerical y gubernativa, y no vacilará, a
pesar de servir al Rey Cristianísimo, en poner a Francia en connivencia con los protestantes de
los Países Bajos, los calvinistas, los hugonotes y los luteranos alemanes –y por ello enfrentada a
la Casa de Austria- en aras de la gloria del Estado. Quevedo traza un paralelo entre el reinado de
Luis XIII y la época de las Guerras de Religión (1562-1589) que habían enfrentado a católicos y
protestantes, y sugiere que, de la misma manera que Enrique de Navarra fuera declarado inhábil
por Sixto V para ocupar el trono de Francia por ser protestante, Luis XIII debiera ser también
declarado inhábil para la corona por proteger a la herejía. Es interesante el contraste entre
España y Francia es esa época, pues, a pesar de que el Conde-Duque de Olivares fue tachado de
maquiavelista por Quevedo (La isla de los monopantos), jamás hubiera podido conducir a
España en la dirección de que Richelieu condujo a Francia hacia el Estado absoluto construido
sobre la Razón de Estado, precisamente porque en España no se dio la disyuntiva política entre
una tendencia católica e hispanófila (la de María de Médici) y una tendencia nacional y
secularizada (Luis XIII y Richelieu)
En La isla de los monopantos (La hora de todos, ca. 1633), Quevedo cambia la actitud
laudatoria hacia el Conde-Duque de Olivares que había caracterizado a Cómo ha de ser el
privado (1629) y El Chitón de las tarabillas (1630), y lanza un ataque contra el régimen
olivarista y su nueva política de negociaciones comerciales con los judíos portugueses. En esta
sátira de La hora de todos, judíos y monopantos (o conjunto de grandes potentados) atendiendo a
la universal soberanía del dinero en el mundo y pretendiendo destruir la cristiandad, deciden
coaligarse “para fundar la nueva secta del dinerismo, mudando el nombre de ateístas en
dineranos” (271):
el dinero es un dios de rebozo que en ninguna parte tiene altar público y en todas
tiene adoración secreta. Es la riqueza una secta universal en que convienen los
más espíritus del mundo… dejemos los apellidos a las repúblicas y a los reyes…
que ellos sean señores del mundo y nosotros de ellos (270)
Papers and Abstracts 21
En la obra, El Conde-Duque de Olivares aparece bajo el nombre de Gaspar Conchillos,
jefe de los monopantos, los cuales han encontrado su inspiración en Maquiavelo:
¿Cuyas son estas obras?
Respondió Pacasmazo
- De nuestras palabras. El autor es Nicolás Maquiavelo, que escribió el
canto llano de nuestro contrapunto (271)
Con Vida de Marco Bruto, 1644, probablemente escrita en 1631, Quevedo evoluciona
hacia el biografismo político, un género, junto con el de la hagiografía, por el que el último
Quevedo mostró un claro interés, ya que en Providencia de Dios anuncia la escritura de
biografías tanto políticas como religiosas. Ángel Ferrari estudió la biografía política barroca
como fruto literario del tacitismo (Fernando el Católico en Baltasar Gracián, Espasa- Calpe,
1945). Es un género literario que responde al propósito empirista de crear una ciencia política
derivada de la Historia y que recrea, por tanto, la idea clásica de la Historia como maestra de la
vida y de sacar quintaesencias de la historia. Ferrari distingue entre biografías originales escritas
en español y biografías traducidas, y divide las primeras en biografías simples -como Séneca de
Mártir Rizo (1625) y Pedro III de Aragón de Castillo Solórzano (1639)- y biografías artificiosas
o valorativas, como Marco Bruto de Quevedo y Justiniano, de Vicente Mut (1640). Entre las
biografías traducidas, se cuentan el Rómulo de Virgilio Malvezzi, traducida por Quevedo y
Enrique IV de Francia, de Pierre Matthieu, traducida por Mártir Rizo (1625). Precisamente la
traducción de Quevedo el Rómulo de Malvezzi marcó una inflexión en su evolución estilística.
Virgilio Malvezzi, instaurador del barroquismo conceptuoso en España y en Italia, hereda el
estilo lacónico y sentencioso de Tácito y Séneca. Se ha considerado que Quevedo sigue en
Marco Bruto el modelo del Rómulo de Malvezzi, no sólo estilísticamente, sino en la estructura,
pues si el Rómulo sirve como comentario parcial a la primera década de Tito Livio, en Marco
Bruto se insertan comentarios a párrafos de Plutarco.
Al igual que Malvezzi en el Rómulo, Quevedo defiende en Marco Bruto la disimulación
como arte político, antes condenada en Política de Dios: “Quien no disimula no adquiere
imperio; quien no sabe disimular lo que disimula, no puede conservarle.” (876) y “La hipocresía
exterior, siendo pecado en la moral, es grande virtud política.” (851) Michèle Gendreau
considera que Marco Bruto es un aviso de príncipes del tipo político-cristiano y una síntesis de
Política de Dios y el Rómulo (Gendreau 226). La paradoja es una clave para entender esta obra
de Quevedo, como demostró Marie Roig Miranda: La paradoja en Marco Bruto se manifiesta no
sólo retóricamente a través de tropos, como el oxímoron, el quiasmo y antimetábola, y figuras de
construcción y de pensamiento, como la oposición y la afirmación perentoria, sino también
porque se yuxtaponen dos concepciones de la Historia, moral y política (Roig Miranda, 125). El
comportamiento de Julio César es paradójico porque no lucha contra su destino, sino que lo
provoca y parece desear su propia muerte (RM, 91). Bruto, calificado al principio como moral
porque sabe distinguir entre oficio político y la persona que lo ejerce, y antepone el bien público
a cualquier afecto, acaba siendo tachado de ineficaz y necio porque el homicidio de César causa
precisamente lo que quería evitar, el establecimiento del imperio. Por eso queda contrapuesto a
Lucio Junio Bruto, ya que éste, por el contrario, cuando asesinó al rey Tarquino estableció la
libertad de la república. Según el texto, “Junio Bruto empezó tonto y acabó sabio, y Marco Bruto
empezó sabio y acabó tonto.” (869) Bruto es también opuesto a Marco Antonio, modelo de
eficacia en materia de estado: “Al fin Antonio prevaleció contra Bruto porque supo ser malo en
extremo, Y Bruto se perdió porque quiso ser malo con templanza.” (867).
Esta última es una premisa eminentemente maquiavélica y el comentario de Quevedo
sobre ella no es peyorativo. “En el segundo punto discurrió uno de los mayores ingenios de
Papers and Abstracts 22
Italia. Dejo de traducirle, no porque desestimo su discurso, sino porque la vida que escribo me
dicta diferentes causas.” (867)
Por otro lado, asoma en Marco Bruto la idea recurrente de la supremacía de la dignidad
real sobre validos y consejeros. La metáfora del sol sirve en traje de meteoro como un aviso para
la conducta del rey, pues, entre otras cualidades, el sol excede en luz a los planetas, es decir, los
ministros, haciéndoles invisibles cuando brilla y es inescrutable para todos. Al mismo tiempo
encontramos de nuevo la prevalencia de la providencia divina y el rechazo del tiranicidio.
“Consiente Dios el tirano, siendo quien le puede castigar y deponer, ¿y no le consentirá el
vasallo, que debe obedecerle?” (860) Según Maravall, “Quevedo escribe su Marco Bruto para
oponerse a la propagación de las doctrinas que en la centuria anterior habían exaltado el
tiranicidio.” (Maravall 1, 407) Junto a ello, la idea recurrente del dinerismo como amo de la
sociedad vuelve a aflorar en Marco Bruto, “el señor perpetuo de las edades es el dinero: o reina
siempre o quieren que siempre reine.” (823)
Se diría, por tanto, que Quevedo relaja en Marco Bruto la actitud dogmática de Política
de Dios para inclinarse hacia un mayor empirismo. El auténtico propósito de la obra permanece
enigmático. Quevedo afirma que, si la primera parte de Marco Bruto resulta provechosa,
“agradecido trabajaré en la segunda, para que en el fin de Marco Bruto se reconozca el fin de los
sediciosos y noveleros” (870), palabras que permiten sospechar que en esa posible segunda parte
Marco Bruto habría salido de nuevo malparado. Cabría también una interpretación estetizante,
pues al igual que se dijo del Buscón, en Marco Bruto el ejercicio retórico, es este caso de
imitación estilística de los clásicos, parece predominar sobre otros elementos o contenidos.
Como comenta Jorge García López, “Malvezzi, Quevedo y Gracián se querían o sabían Lipsios y
Tácitos en romance” (García López 169) y acaso superiores a sus modelos al cultivar su afición
por el laconismo político y el clasicismo literario.
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---. Reason of State and statecraft in Spanish political thought, 1595-1640, Lanham, MD:
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García López, Jorge, “El estilo de una corte: apuntes sobre Virgilio Malvezzi y el laconismo
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---. Estudios de Historia del Pensamiento Español. Serie Tercera- El Siglo del Barroco, Madrid,
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