The Classical Code of Manhood

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it mean to be a man? It’s a timeless question that's been answered in different ways across the ages. For the ancient Romans, the word for manliness was virtus — the root of our word virtue. To be a man meant living a life of virtuous excellence.

Waller Newell takes up that same definition in his book The Code of Man, first published twenty years ago and now released in a new edition. Today on the show, Waller, a professor of political science, argues that we need to recover an older vision of manhood rooted in the traditions of Western antiquity. He shares the five paths that, in his view, form the classical code of manliness and how they can continue to be lived out today.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Fall is always busy. Kids are back in school, basketball practices are in full swing, and in the McKay household, we're back to shuttling kids to church activities, student council events, and everything else.
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1:49.4	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.
1:54.6	What does it mean to be a man? It's a timeless question that's been answered in different ways across the ages. For the ancient Romans, the word for manliness was Wirtus, the root of our word
1:59.9	virtue. To be a man meant living a life
2:02.5	of virtuous excellence. Waller Newell takes up that same definition in his book, The Code of Man,
2:07.3	first published 20 years ago and now released in a new edition. Tan the show, Waller, Professor
	...

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