John Gray is one of the UK’s most important and influential political thinkers. Sceptical of ideas about progress and the perfectibility of human nature, he is an arch critic of liberalism, believing that history moves in cycles rather than inexorably towards a better future.
On September 14 he comes to Intelligence Squared where he will be joined by David Runciman, a political scientist known for his clear analysis of modern political complexities. Together they will explore the themes of Gray’s new book The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism, which looks at the world of the 2020s through the prism of the great 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, famous for saying that without government, life would be ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Traversing 20th-century Russia, India and China, and referencing thinkers from Nietzsche and Hegel to Pinker and Fukuyama, Gray will share his realist vision for what the future may hold and explain how, in a world of absurdity, meaning can be found not in grandiose ideas but in a more modest ethics.
Join us for a compelling conversation on the complex nature of governance, history and the human condition.
Up Next in 2023
-
The Battle for Your Brain, with Nita ...
Imagine a world where people who suffer from epilepsy receive alerts moments before a seizure, where the average person can peer into their own mind to eliminate painful memories and we can easily cure addictions. This is also a world where your brain could be interrogated to learn your political...
-
Ravinder Bhogal and Kavita Puri on Ta...
Food has always been more than just fuel. Beyond mere nourishment, food carries deep meaning in our lives. It evokes feelings of comfort and joy and it can ignite disagreement and discord. It serves as a powerful link to culture and identity, creating a sense of belonging and community. When migr...
-
The Untold Story of Messalina: The mo...
Messalina was the third wife of the Emperor Claudius and one of the most notorious women of the Roman world. Historians Tacitus and Suetonius wrote that the Empress Messalina was 'a ruthless and sexually insatiable schemer.' The stories they told about her included nightly visits to a brothel and...
1 Comment