In Memoriam: Robert K. Faulkner

As a political scientist, Dr. Faulkner—who joined the BC faculty in 1968 and continued to work as a research professor following his retirement in 2014—focused on the foundational, classical, and historical aspects of the discipline.  His research and writing encompassed such topics as Abraham Lincoln’s prescriptions for liberal democracy; Thomas Carlyle’s ruminations on the hero; the differences between Xenophon’s and Herodotus’s biographies of Cyrus the Great; Aristotle’s doubts about executive power; John Locke's republicanism and critique of religion; and Francis Bacon's scientific method and use of the essay as a literary form.

His widely acclaimed 2007 book The Case for Greatness: Honorable Ambition and Its Critics sought to recover, as he put it, “a reasonable understanding of excellence” associated with the quality of ambition, which he argued had come to be regarded as a negative trait for leaders. According to Dr. Faulkner, too many modern accounts of leadership slighted such things as determination to excel, good judgment, justice, and a sense of honor—the very qualities that distinguish the truly great leaders, such as Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, from lesser ones.

The Case for Greatness examined Aristotle’s “great-souled man,” the Athenian politician Alcibiades, and the life of imperial conquerer Cyrus the Great; it also dissected military and imperial ambition, the art of leadership, and, in the case of George Washington, ambition in the service of popular self-government. Dr. Faulkner scrutinized modern indictments of even the best forms of political greatness: in the critical thinking of Thomas Hobbes, the idealism of Immanuel Kant, the relativism and brutalism of Friederich Nietzsche, or the egalitarianism of John Rawls and Hannah Arendt.

Bernard Dobski, writing in Society, called The Case for Greatness “an example of scholarly theoretical reflection at its peak” that combined “a mastery of texts and thinkers with an impeccable sense of the political and human relevance of grand ambition. Scholars and laymen will find this book eminently readable and richly rewarding.”

“Faulkner begins with common sense,” wrote Paul Rahe in the Claremont Review of Books, “and from it he never strays far.”

In a 2018 talk on YouTube, presented by Boston College Libraries, Dr. Faulkner discussed  The Case for Greatness.

Dr. Faulkner’s other books included Francis Bacon and the Project of Progress, in which he cast Bacon as a key architect of the Enlightenment and one of the seminal founders of modernity.

“Bacon helps us realize what an intricately arranged thing is modern industrial civilization,” he explained in a 1994 Boston College Chronicle interview. “He talks of a special relationship with religion, a politics of administration, a diluted popular government, and a science that mysteriously but automatically breeds technology. It all helps us grasp the delicacy, fragility and grandiosity of what we live in.”

In addition to authoring Richard Hooker and the Politics of a Christian England and The Jurisprudence of John Marshall, Dr. Faulkner co-edited America at Risk and Marshall's Life of George Washington.

“He was in the first rank of contemporary political theorists and students of constitutional law,” said Professor of Political Science Marc Landy. “His book on John Marshall is a masterpiece. He had a profound understanding of Lincoln. My trusted political theory colleagues accord similar praise for his works on Francis Bacon, Thomas Hooker, and political ambition. He also had a profound understanding of the plight of contemporary America. He was especially insightful regarding how American liberalism descended into ‘liberationism.’”

Dr. Faulkner had an equally significant impact on the undergraduate and graduate students he taught, one of whom became his colleague: Professor Gerald Easter ’81, chair of the Political Science Department—a post Dr. Faulkner held for six years during his BC tenure.

“His enthusiasm and inspiration encouraged me to pursue an academic career in political science,” said Easter. “Bob Faulkner's profound influence on the Political Science Department will be long recognized and much appreciated. For four decades, he infused the department with intellectual prowess, dedicated collegiality, and reliable wit. He had many friends and admirers, who will miss him dearly.”

Easter noted Dr. Faulkner’s contributions to the department as founder of its graduate program, and a member of 65 doctoral dissertation committees and main supervisor for 16 others.

Students’ appreciation for Dr. Faulkner (“brilliant but never condescending”) over the years included praise for his “dynamic lecturing style which makes what could be dry material exciting and enjoyable” and his interest in “students' thoughts on material and what they're doing outside of class.”  

He also was known for writing to the parents of exceptional students, highlighting their talent and inspiring the student to pursue the field.

“Bob Faulkner must have had character flaws but I never found them,” said Landy. “I knew him for almost 50 years and he was unfailingly honorable, kind, courteous, modest, civil, generous, and a straight shooter. He was the first person to invite me to his home and he always made me welcome there. He was also brave, savvy, and judicious. He was the consummate officer in the various academic wars I soldiered in under his command and a wise and skillful chief executive of our department. What I mean by ‘straight shooter’ is that he always spoke directly to the point: no obfuscation, no academese, no pomposity, no ‘b.s.’”  

“Robert Faulkner personified the Aristotelean virtues, both intellectual and moral,” said Professor of Political Science Susan Shell. “He was a natural leader, whose unfailing generosity to students and colleagues, along with a remarkable gift for friendship, naturally drew others toward him.  His considerable scholarly achievements were accompanied by a keen appreciation for the importance of ordinary decency. No one contributed more than Bob to the flourishing of our department over the last 50-some years.”

Dr. Faulkner had roles in milestone Boston College events. In 1981, he was acting Political Science chair at the official inauguration of the Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. Chair in American Politics, a symposium on the United States Congress that drew some 500 political scientists, politicians, journalists, and other interested observers. As part of a University-wide tribute to President J. Donald Monan, S.J., upon his retirement in 1996, Dr. Faulkner was among a panel of senior University administrators and faculty members that discussed Fr. Monan’s achievements and key milestones of his presidency.

In March of 2021, the BC Institute for the Liberal Arts organized the virtual symposium “Honorable Ambition: A Celebration of the Career of Robert Faulkner” that included Easter and Shell, among other speakers. Introducing the event, Professor of Political Science Christopher Kelly highlighted Dr. Faulkner’s leadership role in helping obtain funding for graduate student fellowships. About 15 percent of all Ph.D. recipients in the department’s history received support due to the efforts of Dr. Faulkner and his colleagues, Kelly explained, which in turn made possible valuable teaching and research assistance for many Political Science faculty members.

One of Dr. Faulkner’s former students, Allison Levy ’08, M.A. ’08, Ph.D. ’15—now a tutor at St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NM—expressed her gratitude in her presentation: “Professor Faulkner gave me an education that far surpassed anything that I hoped for when I went to college. He did as much as anyone to show me that one could think seriously about one’s life; to show the importance and the pleasure of getting as clear as possible about the situation we’re in and what’s best in life; and to provide a truly excellent example of such thoughtfulness.”

Dr. Faulkner received a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar; he also held master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago, where he studied under renowned scholar Leo Strauss.

Prior to BC, he was an instructor and assistant professor at Princeton University for six years; he served as a visiting professor at Dartmouth, Wellesley College, and Portuguese Catholic University.

He earned prestigious fellowships from the Ford, Mellon, Earhart, and Bradley foundations and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and served as president of the New England Political Science Association in 1985.

Dr. Faulkner is survived by his son Robert, daughter Elizabeth, and three grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife Margaret in 2016.

Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Boston College, Political Science Department, in memory of Robert K. Faulkner.

For more on Dr. Faulkner, read an obituary on Legacy.com.