Podcast appearances and mentions of Jacob T Levy

A liberal society is necessarily an open and diverse one. When people are free to move and free to choose, a country's population and culture will reflect all those differences in tastes, preferences, and ways of living. And that's part of what makes liberalism so great.But a pluralistic society can be bothersome for those who'd prefer everyone be just like them. And if those sorts get uncomfortable enough with cultural diversity and dynamism, they can turn against liberalism itself.To help think through these tensions, and how liberalism can defend itself against those who would rather it weren't so diverse, I've brought on my friend Jacob T. Levy. He's the Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory at McGill University and author of the terrific book Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom.Want to listen to new episodes of ReImagining Liberty two weeks early? Become a supporter and get early access and other perks.Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"There are two kinds of political scientists: The types who deal with noisy data and post on Twitter with a bunch of caveats. And then there are the types who write books about identity politics." Where to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Sam  Huneke's "Yascha Mounk's Woke Straw Man"Jacob T. Levy's "The Defense of Liberty Can't Do Without Identity Politics"Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò's "Elite Capture"Aaron Huertas's "We Need to Talk About Reactionary Centrists"Mary Lin Elementary under federal investigationParents refute claims of segregation at Mary Lin Elementary SchoolSchool Segregation in Metropolitan Regions, 1970–200060 Years After BrownSchool choice and racial segregation in US schoolsStudent Population Has Significantly Diversified, But Many Schools Remain Divided Along Racial, Ethnic, and Economic LinesU.S. public school students often go to schools where at least half of their peers are the same race or ethnicityThe Return of Old-Fashioned Racism to White Americans' Partisan PreferencesWhy The Democrats Have Shifted Left Over The Last 30 YearsWidespread misperceptions of long-term attitude changeTrump, the 2016 Election, and Expressions of SexismChanging Norms Following the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election: The Trump Effect on PrejudiceChanges in Americans' prejudices during the presidency of Donald TrumpThe CDC slide presentationModel-informed COVID-19 vaccine prioritization strategies Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Here's a question we rarely explicitly ask: Who should we honor, celebrate, and remember ... and why? What's the point of it? Scores of statues to confederate soldiers, slaveowners, and other dubious but celebrated characters have been recently toppled from their pedestals. Was this a good idea? Should we worry that we'll forget our history? This week's guest, Jacob T. Levy, argues that the greater risk is that we won't go far enough. We might need to topple a few more statues. We discuss Levy's two-part essay "Honoring the Dishonorable," one on the living and one on the dead. Both turn on an intriguing idea from Adam Smith: that we humans are saddled with a deep-seated bias toward over-praise and over-honor and over-identify with the great, powerful, and famous, even if they're objectively vile. Levy ingeniously applies Smith's idea to question of statue toppling, but also to the question of what to do about notable and notorious Trump administration cronies and collaborators after they return to private life. In addition, we talk about why we both stopped worrying and started to love democracy. We also dig into the question of why we should believe that old dead guys like Adam Smith could be good guides to human nature and the nature of moral truth? Jacob T. Levy is Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory at McGill University. He is the author of "The Multiculturalism of Fear" and "Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom." He's a Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center and the Institute for Humane Studies.

Episode #4 Frédéric Mas est rédacteur en chef par intérim du journal en ligne Contrepoints et spécialiste en philosophie politique et juridique. Ensemble nous parlons des origines communes que trouvent libéralisme et conservatisme dans la pensée des Lumières, ainsi que les différences passées et présentes entre ces courants de pensée parfois présentés comme proches. Interview et production par Pierre Schweitzer. Pensez à vous abonner et faites-nous part de vos commentaires ! Ce podcast est réalisé pour Contrepoints. Vous pouvez soutenir ce travail bénévole en faisant un don : https://www.contrepoints.org/aider-contrepoints Publications mentionnées dans l'entretien ou en lien avec le sujet : - F.A. Hayek, Droit, législation et liberté (1973-79) : https://www.amazon.fr/Droit-l%C3%A9gislation-libert%C3%A9-Friedrich-August/dp/2130625878 - Jacob T. Levy, Rationalism, Pluralism and Freedom (2015) : https://www.amazon.fr/Rationalism-Pluralism-Freedom-Jacob-Levy/dp/0198717148/ - Steven Pinker, Enlightenment now (2017) : https://www.amazon.fr/Enlightenment-Now-Science-Humanism-Progress/dp/0241337011 - Dennis C. Rassmussen, The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought (2019) : https://www.amazon.fr/Infidel-Professor-Friendship-Shaped-Thought/dp/0691192286/ - Roger Scruton, ‘Hayek and Conservatism’ in The Cambridge Companion to Hayek, dir. E. Feser (2007) : https://www.amazon.fr/Cambridge-Companion-Hayek-Author-published/dp/B00XV6BJIC/ - Leo Strauss, Les trois vagues de la Modernité (1975) : https://www.cairn.info/revue-le-philosophoire-2005-2-page-167.htm - Norbert Waszek, L'Écosse des lumières : Hume, Smith, Ferguson (2003) : https://www.amazon.fr/LEcosse-lumi%C3%A8res-Hume-Smith-Ferguson/dp/2130524494 Pour nous contacter : redaction@contrepoints.org pierre.schweitzer@liberaux.org Sur Twitter : @Schweitzer_P et @FredericMasCP

The United States, as Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in his account of the USA, is a country where people spend most of their lives in voluntary associations. He meant clubs, community organizations, and all sorts of activities that tie us together in communities which are not imposed on us by the state. How can we balance this fundamental right of free association (anchored, in the US, in the First Amendment), and the government's obligation to protect its citizens from unjust and illegal treatment? Should the government intervene when there’s a speech controversy on campus? Or should universities be allowed to set their own rules, like other associations such as clubs, homeowner associations, or churches? Jacob Levy has written extensively about the tension between the idea that the state grants or restrict our liberties while allowing private associations to set their own rules for their members. When is the right moment for the state to interfere in a group's (a church, a baseball team, a religious sect, a school, a homeowners' association) rules? And when can a university assert its right to regulate itself without external pressure and political interference? Professor Levy has thought a lot about the tension between allowing people to associate voluntarily in groups that have their own rules, and the state's obligation to make sure no one's constitutional or human rights are infringed upon. Universities here provide a special case. People enter them voluntarily, but then do they leave their constitutional rights at the college gate? Certainly not. So I asked Professor Levy how to make sense of the relationship between associations and the state itself. Can voluntary associations deprive members of rules set otherwise guaranteed by the state? In the context of the university, can the university have speech codes or codes of conduct that are different from those in the public square? How is this different from a church, temple or mosque, which imposes religious conformity on its members while the state allows for religious freedom, and even freedom from religion? Should the state intervene if a university does not grant a political speaker an opportunity to speak, and is this different from forcing a church to host a speaker who questions or attacks that religion? Professor Levy offered a nuanced and precise definition of academic freedom, what constitutes academic speech and external commentary by faculty members, what the purpose of a university is, and how speech controversies turn exceptions into generalizations that will ultimately do more harm than good. Professor Levy is the Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory and Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at McGill University. He is the author of Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom, and The Multiculturalism of Fear, and writes frequently about academic freedom, freedom of speech, and other issues of political importance.    

In the second part of my conversation with professor Jacob T. Levy we look at the need people have for guarantees in their political and moral systems; guarantees that their will of the world will both be actualized and be morally correct. We ask what the world looks like in the absence of such certainty.

Can we know the nature of justice before confronting the conditions of injustice? I’m joined by Jacob T Levy to discuss his upcoming work Justice in Babylon, we cover Ideal theory, Rawls, the nature of politics and the nature of the human condition.

Now that Endgame has been released, we invited Jacob T. Levy to discuss the series as a whole. We talk about how it is possible to analyze the movies through a political lens, but it is important to remember that the message of many of these movies is metaphorical.Is Tony Stark a war monger? What does the Avengers series say about coercion and the abuse of power? What does society look like under the conditions of radical human ability? How should society function with extreme inequalities? Do super hero movies typically have a clean energy story? How do super heroes relate to liability insurance?Further Reading:Movie Review: Avengers: Endgame, written by Kurt LoderReview: What “Avengers: Endgame” Could Have Been, written by Richard BrodyThe Politics of “Avengers: Endgame”: Thanos, Iron Man, and the Malthusian extreme, written by Matthew RozsaRelated Content:10 Tips to Facilitate Collective Action from Elinor and Vincent Ostrom, written by Jayme LemkeAnarchism Versus Limited Government Abolitionism, written by George H. SmithUnbundling the State, Free Thoughts Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A conversation with political theorist Jacob T. Levy about rationalism, pluralism, and freedom.

A conversation with political theorist Jacob T. Levy about accepting political life for what it is, holding fast to your ideals, and making the best of it in a fallen world with people who are not your friends.

A conversation with political theorist Jacob T. Levy about accepting political life for what it is, holding fast to your ideals, and making the best of it in a fallen world with people who are not your friends.

Jacob T. Levy says that the collapse of trust in institutional norms is what’s responsible for a new era of Trump-style authoritarian, “closed-society” populist politics here in America and around the globe.What explains the Trump phenomenon? How did we get President Trump? Just an electoral appetite for “shaking things up,” or is it something deeper? How does Trump think? How does he make decisions?Show Notes and Further ReadingOur other episode with Levy on his book “Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom” is required listening if you’re interested in what’s being played out in the political sphere these days.Levy also mentions this essay he wrote on identity politics, “The Defense of Liberty Can’t Do Without Identity Politics.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Jacob T. Levy joins us to discuss his new book, Rationalism, Pluralism and Freedom (2015).Can rationalism and pluralism be reconciled in the liberal tradition? Why not?How much authority is proper for intermediate groups? When does pluralism shift into illiberalism? How can the balance of power between intermediate groups be used to grow the power of a central state?Show Notes and Further ReadingMontesquieu, The Spirit of Laws (book) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this KosmosOnline podcast, Jeanne Hoffman talks with Professor Jacob T. Levy about book editing. Dr. Levy discusses his experiences with editing his recent book, Colonialism and Its Legacies, and offers advice for apsiring editors. Dr. Levy  is Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Political Science at McGill University and a member of the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. He blogs at http://jacobtlevy.blogspot.com/