Russell Kirk and the Moral Imagination

This thesis is a comprehensive investigation of Russell Kirk's doctrine of the Moral

Imagination. It focuses especially on the nature of the Moral Imagination as integrative and

non-reductionist, or what Kirk sometimes describes as illative. It explores Kirk's develop of

this concept as one through which the individual can grasp his fully human nature and

dignity, and which makes use of all the important areas of human social interactions and all

the human faculties of knowing, providing man with immersive moral knowledge and

support. The thesis is significant for its unique focus on Kirk's Christian humanist influences -

especially T. S. Eliot, Christopher Dawson, G. K. Chesterton, and C. S. Lewis.