Robert K. Faulkner (1934-2023), who taught political philosophy at Boston College for more than four decades, is commemorated in a new collection of essays. Comprising 17 studies from every period of Faulkner’s distinguished career, Politics, Progress, and the Constitution: Essays in Political Philosophy (Mercer University Press, 2026) ranges widely through the history of moral, legal, and political thought, from Aristotle to Machiavelli, Plato to Francis Bacon, Xenophon to John Locke, John Marshall to Alexander Bickel. These essays examine the theory and practice of constitutional government, the philosophical foundations of modern republicanism, and the principles of great statesmanship as embodied by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln, among others. A beloved teacher and respected scholar, Faulkner was the author of several books, notably The Case for Greatness: Honorable Ambition and Its Critics, The Jurisprudence of John Marshall, and Francis Bacon and the Project of Progress. BC’s Behrakis Professor in Hellenic Political Studies Robert C. Bartlett is editor of Politics, Progress, and the Constitution. More from BC News.