199 – Getting Friendly with John von Heyking

199 – Getting Friendly with John von Heyking

From Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values by Josh Lewis

April 7, 2026 · 1h 4m

About this episode

Josh Lewis and John von Heyking discuss the importance of friendship in politics and the need for civic education.

Friendship is one of the last words you might associate with politics these days. Yet John von Heyking believes recovering a proper, classical understanding of friendship is precisely what our civic order needs to function. Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis and John discuss the differences in how the ancients and medievals viewed friendship and how it's been undervalued by us moderns. They also discuss the important need for civic education and why America has to import Canadians like John to teach American civics. About John von Heyking Bio from Arizona State University John von Heyking is Associate Director and Professor at the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University, where he teaches courses in political philosophy. He is author of Comprehensive Judgment and Absolute Selflessness: Winston Churchill on Politics as Friendship (2018), The Form of Politics: Aristotle and Plato on Friendship (2016), and Augustine and Politics as Longing in the World (2001). He has coedited numerous volumes including two volumes of the Collected Works of Eric Voegelin and, most recently, Friendship Studies: Politics and Practices Across Cultures (2024). He has…

People in this episode

Host: Josh Lewis

Guest: John von Heyking

Topics covered

  • friendship
  • politics
  • civic education
  • classical understanding
  • American civics

Keywords

  • friendship
  • politics
  • civic education
  • John von Heyking
  • Arizona State University
  • classical understanding
  • modern values

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Arizona State University

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