The Art of Manliness · The Art of Manliness

The Classical Code of Manhood

October 7, 2025·1 hr·5 clips

Waller Newell argues toxic masculinity is the opposite of classical manliness, rooted in virtuous behavior.

Waller Newell is a professor of political science at Carleton University and the author of The Code of Man, Tyrants: A History of Power, Injustice and Terror, and other books. He appears on Art of Manliness after the book was relaunched following years out of print, prompted by ongoing demand and the intensification of public debate about masculinity. Newell opens by noting that the word manly descends from the Latin virtus, which was not about physical strength but about living with courage, excellence, and commitment to something larger than oneself. His argument is that the crisis in masculinity is not new and is not resolved by either doubling down on aggressive dominance or abandoning masculine identity altogether. The five paths he identifies are: love and beauty, which he describes as the capacity for deep attachment and aesthetic appreciation that gives life meaning; virtue and courage, the classical understanding of facing hardship and acting rightly under pressure; a vocation or calling, the sense that one's work is a contribution to something larger than income; philosophy and self-knowledge, the examined life in the Socratic tradition; and manly honor, the commitment to a code of behavior that persists even when no one is watching. Brett McKay asks how these five paths have evolved since Newell first wrote about them in the context of the early 2000s masculine anxiety discourse, and Newell notes that the explosion of influencers claiming to define masculinity, both those promoting dominance and those arguing masculinity itself is harmful, has made his core argument more relevant: there is a third path rooted in the classical tradition that neither side in the current culture war is drawing on. The updated edition adds material specifically addressing the way social media has amplified both hypermasculinity content and anti-masculinity backlash, and what the Western philosophical tradition actually says about how men should live.

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