Christopher Scott McClure
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After earning a PhD in political philosophy at Georgetown University, publishing a book with Cambridge University Press, and spending two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, Chris realized his real calling was creative writing. Now an experienced storyteller, producer and script editor, he is the solo creator of The Milkman of St. Gaff’s, a wildly popular bi- weekly audio drama distributed by Rusty Quill, a UK-based leading independent podcast network for scripted originals. In March 2021, he won a generous grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. In addition to podcasting, Chris is an instructor for the Toronto Film School at Yorkville University and a sought-after script editor, researcher and reader. Check out my Fiction Podcast, The Milkman of St. Gaff's. Get the First Season Book!
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My Book: Hobbes and the Artifice of Eternity
Thomas Hobbes argues that the fear of violent death is the most reliable passion on which to found political society. His role in shaping the contemporary view of religion and honor in the West is pivotal, yet his ideas are famously riddled with contradictions. In this breakthrough study, McClure finds evidence that Hobbes' apparent inconsistencies are intentional, part of a sophisticated rhetorical strategy meant to make man more afraid of death than he naturally is. Hobbes subtly undermined two of the most powerful manifestations of man's desire for immortality: the religious belief in an afterlife and the secular desire for eternal fame through honor. McClure argues that Hobbes purposefully stirred up controversy, provoking his adversaries into attacking him and unwittingly spreading his message. This study will appeal to scholars of Hobbes, political theorists, historians of early modern political thought and anyone interested in the genesis of modern Western attitudes toward mortality.
Academic Articles
Sculpting Modernity: Machiavelli and Michelangelo's David/ 2016
Interpretation
Interpretation
Learning from Franklin's Mistakes/ 2014
The Review of Politics
The Review of Politics
War, Madness and Death in Hobbes's Leviathan / 2014
The Journal of Politics
The Journal of Politics
Hell and Anxiety in Hobbes's Leviathan/ 2011
The Review of Politics
The Review of Politics
No Country for Old Gods / 2010
Perspectives on Political Science
Perspectives on Political Science
Stopping to Smell the Roses/ 2008
Perspectives on Political Science
Perspectives on Political Science
Book Chapter
Reconstructing Islam in a Post-Metaphysical Age: Muhammad Iqbal’s Interpretation of Immortality” in Muhammad Iqbal: Essays on the Reconstruction of Modern Muslim Thought/ 2015
University of Edinburgh Press
Reconstructing Islam in a Post-Metaphysical Age: Muhammad Iqbal’s Interpretation of Immortality” in Muhammad Iqbal: Essays on the Reconstruction of Modern Muslim Thought/ 2015
University of Edinburgh Press