“Clothes, Roofs, and ‘The Thing Itself: Unaccommodated Man’” - Dr. Michael West

Continuing our Valor Institute retreat on King Lear, Dr. Michael West spoke to participants on April 23, 2026, about Shakespeare’s presentation of the human animal among our fellow creatures. While various “unaccommodated” characters within the play appear unimpressive in comparison to wild beasts, they remind us that accommodation—clothes, housing, culture, among other things—befit the dependent animals that we are.

If you’d like to attend an academic retreat with the Valor Institute, please see our calendar of events.

The Valor Institute for Studies in Person and Community exists to promote an adequate philosophical anthropology and capacious understanding of the human person flourishing in authentic community.