Introducing the Lincoln Letter

In chapter 5 of my book, Virtue in an Age of Identity Politics, I presented a defense of former President Abraham Lincoln in the face of attempts to delegitimize his legacy by student groups at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I also made the case that President Lincoln, though not a practicing Stoic, was in practice an exemplar of Stoic philosophy in his effective adherence to the four cardinal virtues of Stoic philosophy - namely, wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice.

I have admired Lincoln for many years. His exacting logic and clarity of thought, especially on the most pressing issue of his time, in public speeches, debates, and writing. His charitable spirit even amidst vicious attacks on his name and character. His strategic and tactical brilliance in guiding the nation to victory during the Civil War.

The extremely polarized society in which we now live is reminiscent of the divisions that plagued American society in the 1850s. I do not mean to suggest that I have a crystal ball in which I see a country slouching toward civil war. I only mean to observe a parallel in the extent of seemingly irreconcilable differences of perspective, as well as the vituperative tone with which those perspectives are expressed, that once divided the North and the South, and now divide what we might call the Red and the Blue, the anti-woke and the woke, Republicans and Democrats. Perhaps the most salient aspect of these divisions is a seeming inability or unwillingness on the part of partisans of either side to make a concerted and honest attempt to engage in constructive dialogue rather than destructive debates, reasoned discourse rather than rhetorical polemics, and to prioritize truth over the falsehoods born of intense partisan fealty. There seems to be little or no interest in taking a charitable approach to understanding “the other side”.

The visceral urge to argue rather than talk seems rooted in the inability or unwillingness to believe that we can have dialogue with malice toward none and charity towards all. The goal of the Lincoln Letter is to write substantively about ideas and issues in a civil, objective, and thoughtful manner. The point is not to avoid rigorous and vigorous disagreement. But when those disagreements arise or are expressed, the point is to prefer a dialogue rather than a debate, to promote reason over rhetoric, and, I hope, to advance the cause of truth over falsehood. It is to make an honest attempt to understand an interlocutor’s argument or perspective before proceeding to advance one’s own argument or perspective, or to engage in a critique of the interlocutor’s argument or perspective. It is to take seriously the presumption of former President Lincoln: a house divided cannot stand. It is to presume also that a house will remain divided if we refuse to believe that we can learn something from the people with whom we disagree, or at least do them the honor of understanding what they have to say before dismissing it.

Going forward, I aim to address a broad range of issues while doing my best to employ the factual, logical, and principled approach of the former president, while extending as charitable an interpretation of the views of those with whom I may disagree as it is in my power to do so.