Amor Mundi

Reason in Politics: Lawrence Lessig interviews John Gastil

On his podcast Another Way, Larry Lessig spoke with John Gastil of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy. They discussed the polarized media landscape and specific steps we can take to improve deliberation, understanding, and the use of reason. Gastil's book, Hope for Democracy, tells the story of the Citizens' Initiative Review in Oregon.

On Recognition
 

Peter Gordon reviews Axel Honneth’s new book on recognition and argues that recognition is the cornerstone of who we are as well as our claims for justice and inclusion. 

 

The Perils of Invention

The loss of the real world is bound up with the fraying of political truth. In her essay "Truth and Politics," Arendt argues that the loss of truth is more catastrophic for the human activity of politics than is the loss of justice. The Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology, and the Human Condition, edited by HAC Founder and Academic Director Roger Berkowitz, is now available.

Views on the working class, from the left and the right

In his interviews with Reihan Salam of the Manhattan Institute, and then subsequently with Bhashkar Sunkara of Jacobin and The Nation, Ezra Klein helps contextualize different approaches to imagining and approaching workers and working-class voters. A common critique of elite discourse runs through the two interviews.

Arendt in Russia

Roger Berkowitz
After Donald Trump was elected in 2016, sale of Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism skyrocketed. Now, in Russia, both The Origins  and Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem, are in high demand yet only available in private classifieds. 

What we are listening to:
The Invention of Citizens' Juries with Ned Crosby and Pat Benn

Philip Lindsay
Ned Crosby, American inventor of the "Citizens' Jury" process, passed away this past week. On her podcast Facilitating Public Deliberations, Professor Lyn Carson interviewed Crosby and Pat Benn on the contemporary history and philosophy behind the concept. Curiously, the process of bringing together randomly selected citizens to deliberate policy emerged in the U.S. and Germany almost simultaneously. Both of the American organizations which will be leading workshops at the Hannah Arendt Center's July Workshop on Citizens' Assemblies have their roots in Crosby's work.

Tracy Strong

Roger Berkowitz
Tracy Burr Strong died on May 11th. Tracy was one of the greatest contemporary political theorists with an extraordinary range. His first book, Friedrich Nietzsche and the Politics of Transfiguration (1975) is still read widely as both a contribution to Nietzsche studies and to political thinking more broadly. His latest book,  Learning One’s Native Tongue, argues that the essence of American citizenship is not simply a matter of who can vote or whom has rights.

The Sanctimonious Hypocrites

Roger Berkowitz
I wrote about the free-speech case against Princeton Professor Joshua Katz two weeks ago. Now Katz has been fired from his tenure-track position not for his criticisms of colleagues, but for not cooperating with an investigation into a consensual relationship he had with a student nearly two decades ago. Katz’s wife Solveig Lucia Gold writes about her husband and how she has lost all faith in Princeton and Universities.

The Fountain of Eternal Youth

Roger Berkowitz
William Deresiewicz argues that the “young progressive elite” has traded independence and critical thinking for an immaturity that submits to authorities. The result, he argues, is a stunted development for many of the best and brightest young people in the country.