Hunting & Virtue recovers one of the oldest themes in civilization: hunting is an exercise of virtue. It instills self-command, practical judgment, and reverence. For the ancients, hunting was a divine gift that elevated man above the animals and prepared him for military life and statesmanship. It formed the virtues necessary for men who must defend themselves and live rightly within the created order. Over time, hunting's connection to piety and political life diminished, while its importance for sport and conservation came to the foreground. From The Epic of Gilgamesh, the Bible, Xenophon, Plato, and Machiavelli to Jefferson, Boone, Roosevelt, Leopold, and Roger Scruton, this book gathers classic texts that show hunting as a mirror of man's relationship to politics, nature, and God. Hunting & Virtue illuminates the varied ways one of man's oldest activity has shaped our civilization.
With an introduction by Khalil Habib and a chronological arrangement, this book is meant for outdoorsmen, conservationists, classical educators, and general readers who suspect that modern life has lost something vital by separating man from nature and hunting. It gives hunters a language for what they already know and gives non-hunters a serious way to understand why hunting has occupied such an important place in literature, politics, education, and moral formation.