Sandra J. Peart

Chapter 3 If Germs could Sponsor Research: Reflections on Sympathetic Connections among Subjects and Researchers

Our approach is largely historical, argument by example. We leave it to the theoreticians and empiricists to take the argument in a more technical direction.1 Throughout, we suppose that germs are self-interested and they have a research question, for example, how might our species improve the chances of survival, the answer to which might potentially benefit germs (or, harm them by less).

Using Thick Intellectual History to Teach Leadership: Implications of the Carlyle-Mill Exchange

Consider two accounts of leadership theory. One, a “thin” account, sketches a Great Man theory of leadership where leaders are born, leaders make history, and great leaders are born great leaders. A “thin” commentary on this theory may acknowledge that the theory is gendered. On race or the right to self-determination, little is said. Contextualizing the theory entails considering examples of those who might be thought of as Great Men—on the negative side Hitler or Stalin, or on the positive side Churchill or Gandhi.