Podcast appearances and mentions of Teresa Bejan

Yascha Mounk and Teresa Bejan discuss the secret history of free speech and why the word “problematic” is problematic. Teresa Bejan is a professor of political theory at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Oriel College. She is the author of Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration and the forthcoming First Among Equals, which explores ideas of equality before modern egalitarianism. In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and Teresa Bejan discuss how liberals should think about the role of virtue in society; why a robust culture of free speech requires more than just legal protections; and why "mere" civility is the key to unlocking a broader conception of tolerance. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" is the way Thomas Hobbes described the life of man in a state of nature in his 1651 book The Leviathan. The seventeenth century philosopher reasoned that what men needed was a "common power to keep them in awe". It was a conclusion that has not endeared him to the enlightenment and liberal thinkers of the centuries that followed. The philosopher John Gray thinks that Hobbes' bleak vision of the human condition might help us understand the recent disappointments of progressive politics and the failures of liberal democracies. Anne McElvoy talks to him about this theory and to journalist and author of Politics: A Survivors Guide, Rafael Behr and Teresa Bejan, Professor of Political Theory at the University of Oxford and author of Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration. Producer: Ruth Watts You can find other episodes exploring ideas about politics and history in the Free Thinking archives and available to download as Arts & Ideas podcasts. They include - Utopianism in Politics a discussion about Thomas More's ideas with guests including Kwasi Kwarteng and Gisela Stuart John Maynard Keynes with guests including Adam Tooze and Zachary D. Carter John Rawls's A Theory of Justice with Rupert Read, Teresa Bejan and Jonathan Floyd

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The ideas of equity and equality are all over the news, yet there seems to be little agreement on what exactly each term means. Political theorist and intellectual historian Teresa Bejan of Oriel College, Oxford discusses the origins of our notions of equality, from the Roman Empire to the present, focusing particularly on Early Modernity and the influence of the French Revolution and English political movements like the Levellers, Diggers, and Quakers. Along the way, she uncovers surprising facts like the relationship between equality and hierarchy, and that Marx was not as pro-equality as is now popularly believed. Her recent 3-part Charles E. Test lecture series for the Madison Program, “First Among Equals” Her book Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Harvard UP, 2019). Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program's podcast, Madison's Notes.

The ideas of equity and equality are all over the news, yet there seems to be little agreement on what exactly each term means. Political theorist and intellectual historian Teresa Bejan of Oriel College, Oxford discusses the origins of our notions of equality, from the Roman Empire to the present, focusing particularly on Early Modernity and the influence of the French Revolution and the English political movements like the Levellers, Diggers, and Quakers. Along the way, she uncovers the surprising facts like the relationship between equality and hierarchy, and that Marx was not as pro-equality as popularly believed. Her recent 3-part Charles E. Test lecture series for the Madison Program, “First Among Equals” Her book Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Harvard UP, 2019). Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program's podcast, Madison's Notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The ideas of equity and equality are all over the news, yet there seems to be little agreement on what exactly each term means. Political theorist and intellectual historian Teresa Bejan of Oriel College, Oxford discusses the origins of our notions of equality, from the Roman Empire to the present, focusing particularly on Early Modernity and the influence of the French Revolution and the English political movements like the Levellers, Diggers, and Quakers. Along the way, she uncovers the surprising facts like the relationship between equality and hierarchy, and that Marx was not as pro-equality as popularly believed. Her recent 3-part Charles E. Test lecture series for the Madison Program, “First Among Equals” Her book Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Harvard UP, 2019). Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program's podcast, Madison's Notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The ideas of equity and equality are all over the news, yet there seems to be little agreement on what exactly each term means. Political theorist and intellectual historian Teresa Bejan of Oriel College, Oxford discusses the origins of our notions of equality, from the Roman Empire to the present, focusing particularly on Early Modernity and the influence of the French Revolution and the English political movements like the Levellers, Diggers, and Quakers. Along the way, she uncovers the surprising facts like the relationship between equality and hierarchy, and that Marx was not as pro-equality as popularly believed. Her recent 3-part Charles E. Test lecture series for the Madison Program, “First Among Equals” Her book Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Harvard UP, 2019). Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program's podcast, Madison's Notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

The ideas of equity and equality are all over the news, yet there seems to be little agreement on what exactly each term means. Political theorist and intellectual historian Teresa Bejan of Oriel College, Oxford discusses the origins of our notions of equality, from the Roman Empire to the present, focusing particularly on Early Modernity and the influence of the French Revolution and the English political movements like the Levellers, Diggers, and Quakers. Along the way, she uncovers the surprising facts like the relationship between equality and hierarchy, and that Marx was not as pro-equality as popularly believed. Her recent 3-part Charles E. Test lecture series for the Madison Program, “First Among Equals” Her book Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Harvard UP, 2019). Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program's podcast, Madison's Notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

The ideas of equity and equality are all over the news, yet there seems to be little agreement on what exactly each term means. Political theorist and intellectual historian Teresa Bejan of Oriel College, Oxford discusses the origins of our notions of equality, from the Roman Empire to the present, focusing particularly on Early Modernity and the influence of the French Revolution and the English political movements like the Levellers, Diggers, and Quakers. Along the way, she uncovers the surprising facts like the relationship between equality and hierarchy, and that Marx was not as pro-equality as popularly believed. Her recent 3-part Charles E. Test lecture series for the Madison Program, “First Among Equals” Her book Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Harvard UP, 2019). Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program's podcast, Madison's Notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The ideas of equity and equality are all over the news, yet there seems to be little agreement on what exactly each term means. Political theorist and intellectual historian Teresa Bejan of Oriel College, Oxford discusses the origins of our notions of equality, from the Roman Empire to the present, focusing particularly on Early Modernity and the influence of the French Revolution and the English political movements like the Levellers, Diggers, and Quakers. Along the way, she uncovers the surprising facts like the relationship between equality and hierarchy, and that Marx was not as pro-equality as popularly believed. Her recent 3-part Charles E. Test lecture series for the Madison Program, “First Among Equals” Her book Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Harvard UP, 2019). Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program's podcast, Madison's Notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies

The ideas of equity and equality are all over the news, yet there seems to be little agreement on what exactly each term means. Political theorist and intellectual historian Teresa Bejan of Oriel College, Oxford discusses the origins of our notions of equality, from the Roman Empire to the present, focusing particularly on Early Modernity and the influence of the French Revolution and the English political movements like the Levellers, Diggers, and Quakers. Along the way, she uncovers the surprising facts like the relationship between equality and hierarchy, and that Marx was not as pro-equality as popularly believed. Her recent 3-part Charles E. Test lecture series for the Madison Program, “First Among Equals” Her book Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Harvard UP, 2019). Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program's podcast, Madison's Notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/french-studies

The ideas of equity and equality are all over the news, yet there seems to be little agreement on what exactly each term means. Political theorist and intellectual historian Teresa Bejan of Oriel College, Oxford discusses the origins of our notions of equality, from the Roman Empire to the present, focusing particularly on Early Modernity and the influence of the French Revolution and the English political movements like the Levellers, Diggers, and Quakers. Along the way, she uncovers the surprising facts like the relationship between equality and hierarchy, and that Marx was not as pro-equality as popularly believed. Her recent 3-part Charles E. Test lecture series for the Madison Program, “First Among Equals” Her book Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Harvard UP, 2019). Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program's podcast, Madison's Notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies

This week, Zohar is joined by political philosopher and public intellectual Teresa Bejan to discuss civil and uncivil disagreement, the virtues of localism, why she might have been a winemaker, the necessity of both conflict and forbearance, how to teach liberal arts inclusively, and the wisdom of Roger Williams and Hobbes. Meditations with Zohar is sponsored by Cometeer, an exceptional new coffee company using cutting-edge technology to preserve and deliver specialty coffee in its purest, most original form. Use the link cometeer.com/zohar to get $20 off your first order. Read more from Zohar at his Torah newsletter Etz Hasadeh or his philosophy newsletter What is Called Thinking. Meditations with Zohar is a production of SoulShop and Lyceum Studios.

This week, Zohar is joined by political philosopher and public intellectual Teresa Bejan to discuss civil and uncivil disagreement, the virtues of localism, why she might have been a winemaker, the necessity of both conflict and forbearance, how to teach liberal arts inclusively, and the wisdom of Roger Williams and Hobbes. Meditations with Zohar is sponsored by Cometeer, an exceptional new coffee company using cutting-edge technology to preserve and deliver specialty coffee in its purest, most original form. Use the link cometeer.com/zohar to get $20 off your first order. Read more from Zohar at his Torah newsletter Etz Hasadeh or his philosophy newsletter What is Called Thinking. Meditations with Zohar is a production of SoulShop and Lyceum Studios.

Teresa M. Bejan is Professor of Political Theory and Fellow of Oriel College at the University of Oxford. Professor Bejan writes about political theory and history, bringing past perspectives to bear on contemporary questions. She has written extensively on themes of free speech, civility, tolerance and equality in historical contexts ranging from ancient Athens to 20th-century analytic political philosophy.

Have you ever thought of what it means when people talk about civility? It wouldn’t be hard to find people who think our political culture and societal culture is not very civil. Although it often gets partially defined as politeness, Teresa Bejan believes the two are not the same. A professor of politcal theory at […]

Civility in politics seems to be a subject of almost constant discussion. Our guest today has written and spoken extensively on the topic. Teresa M. Bejan is an associate professor of political theory and fellow of Oriel College at the University of Oxford. She is the author of “Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration,” published in 2017. Bejan will be the keynote speaker at NCSL’s online Base Camp event on Aug. 4 at 11 a.m. ET. In this podcast, she talks about how civility works in politics, the difference between civility and talking about civility, the polarized state of our politics and more. Resources NCSL Base Camp OAS Episode 136 Transcription Teresabejan.com

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episodeSelected References:2:10 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 06 - “What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics”3:07 - See “U.S. Media Polarization and the 2020 Election: A Nation Divided” (Pew Research Center, 2020)3:45 - See “American News Pathways Project,” “How Americans Navigated the News in 2020: A Tumultuous Year in Review,” and “Misinformation and competing views of reality abounded throughout 2020” (Pew Research Center, 2021)4:45 - See “The COVID Confidence Conundrum” (Gallup, 2020), “How misinformation is distorting COVID policies and behaviors” (Brookings, 2020), and “Covid’s Partisan Errors” (New York Times, 2021)10:11 - Watch “How We Figured Out That Earth Goes Around the Sun” from the SciShow Space YouTube channel14:17 - The Atlantic14:45 - Epistemology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)15:40 - Listen to You Are Not So Smart Episode 200 - “Socks and Crocs”16:02 - See “The inside story of the ‘white dress, blue dress’ drama that divided a planet” (Washington Post, 2015)17:00 - See “‘The dress’, 5 years on” (Pascal’s Pensees, 2020), and “Two Years Later, We Finally Know Why People Saw “The Dress” Differently” (Pascal Wallisch writing for Slate, 2017), and “Illumination assumptions account for individual differences in the perceptual interpretation of a profoundly ambiguous stimulus in the color domain: ‘The dress’” (Journal of Vision, 2017)19:45 - See “Liberals and Conservatives React in Wildly Different Ways to Repulsive Pictures” (The Atlantic, 2019)20:00 - Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aaronson27:40 - See “Three kinds of propaganda, and what to do about them” by Cory Doctorow (Boing Boing, 2017)30:06 - Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway30:30 - See “Merchants Of Doubt: How The Tobacco Strategy Obscures the Realities of Global Warming” (Farnam Street, 2016)32:48 - For more on the concept of “negative partisanship” and it’s role in our politics see “‘Negative Partisanship’ Explains Everything” (Politico Magazine, 2017), the research the article is based on, “The rise of negative partisanship and the nationalization of U.S. elections in the 21st century” (Electoral Studies, 2015), and “How Hatred Came To Dominate American Politics” (FiveThirtyEight, 2020)35:14 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 12 - “A New Enlightenment: The Age of Cognitivism”35:40 - See “You Think You Want Media Literacy… Do You?” (or watch the video) by Danah Boyd (Data & Society, 2018)37:13 - Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett40:09 - Social reality40:30 - See “Trust and Distrust in America” and “Key findings about Americans’ declining trust in government and each other”, and “Trust and Mistrust in Americans’ Views of Scientific Experts” (Pew Research Center, 2019)40:05 - See “Why Chimpanzees Don’t Hold Elections: The Power of Social Reality” (Undark, 2021) excerpted from Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett43:12 - Watch Carol Tavris and Elliot Aaronson describe “The Pyramid of Choice” and how it leads to justification of actions and leads to further action and self justification45:10 - See “Our Consensus Reality Has Shattered” (The Atlantic, 2020)50:07 - Listen to Episode 116 of the Mindscape Podcast - “Teresa Bejan on Free Speech, Civility, and Toleration”) - an interview with Teresa Bejan, political scientist and author of Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration53:14 - See “Truth Decay” - a 2018 report from the RAND Corporation57:35 - See “Bad science in the headlines. Who takes responsibility when science is distorted in the mass media?” (EMBO Reports, 2006), “Opinion: The media is ruining science” (Washington Post, 2016), “How the media warp science: the case of the sensationalised satnav” (The Guardian, 2017), “Fake science: Who's to blame when the media gets research wrong?” (National Post, 2018), or “Hyped-up science erodes trust. Here’s how researchers can fight back.” (Vox, 2019)58:38 - See “Op-Ed: I called Arizona for Biden on Fox News. Here's what I learned” by Chris Stirewalt1:00:43 - As Jeff will note in a minute, this is false, for more see “Shattering the infertility myth: What we know about Covid-19 vaccines and pregnancy” by reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist, Dr. Eve Feinberg, who is also an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. For an extremely reasonable and respectful take on vaccine hesitancy and talking with people who may be expressing reservations about vaccination, I recommend listening to a recent episode of The Dispatch Podcast from March 26 which features an excellent interview with former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden1:04:54 - Watch Eli Pariser’s 2011 TED Talk “Beware Online ‘Filter Bubbles’”, and see “How Filter Bubbles Distort Reality: Everything You Need to Know” (Farnam Street, 2017)1:05:48 - See “Facebook Built the Perfect Platform for Covid Vaccine Conspiracies” (Bloomberg Businessweek, 2021)1:07:14 - Difficult Conversations by by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen1:10:48 - See “Social media and the challenge of managing disagreement positively” (Pascal’s Pensees, 2017) - click here for diagram imageThis episode was recorded remotely via Zoom in March 2021The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti

In his 1971 book, A Theory of Justice, John Rawls argued that just societies should allow everyone to enjoy basic liberties while limiting inequality and improving the lives of the least well off. He argued that "the fairest rules are those to which everyone would agree if they did not know how much power they would have". Anne McElvoy discusses how his case for a liberal egalitarianism has fared since. Teresa Bejan is Associate Professor of Political Theory and Fellow of Oriel College at the University of Oxford. Her current work focuses on equality. Her first book, Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration was published in 2017. Jonathan Floyd is Senior Lecturer in Political Theory at the University of Bristol. His work focuses on he way in which we justify political principles and reflective equilibrium - the relationship between political theory and practical reason. His book include: Political Philosophy versus History? (2011); and, Is Political Philosophy Impossible? (2017); What's the point of political philosophy? (2019). Rupert Read is Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia. He has written about environmental ethics, scientism and the precautionary principle. In addition to his academic work he is an environmental activist and a former national spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion. His latest book is Parents for a Future. Producer: Ruth Watts

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episodeSelected References:5:53 - See “This is why you get worked up about politics, according to science” (CNN, 2017)7:58 - Difficult Conversations by by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen11:04 - “According to Peter Ditto, a psychology professor and researcher who studies motivated reasoning and what he refers to as “hot cognition” - the interface between passion and reason,“People think that they think like scientists, But really they think like lawyers. Scientists don't care what the answer is: they look at the data and draw a conclusion, Lawyers know the conclusion they want to reach, then they harness a bunch of facts to support that conclusion.” And this is how we construct our political facts, whether we realize we’re doing it or not.” - For more on this, confirmation bias, motivated reasoning, and other cognitive biases see “When It Comes to Politics You’re Not As Rational As You Think” (University of California News, 2016) and “Cognitive Biases Cheat Sheet” from writer Buster Benson, author of Why Are We Yelling? The Art of Productive Disagreement14:42 - See “This Article Won’t Change Your Mind” (The Atlantic, 2019) or “Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds” (James Clear)15:25 - See “Why Won’t They Listen?” (New York Times, 2012) and Jonathan Haidt interview with Tamler Sommers 17:49 - See “The Psychology Behind Why Politics Can Get So Heated — and How to Show Up Differently” (Healthline)18:29 - “Due to this overlapping of identities, political identity is now sometimes referred to as a mega identity. According to political psychologist and author Liliana Mason, people have a huge number of different group identities, any of which might seem the most salient at any given time. In general, the identity at the top of your mind at any given moment most likely will be the identity facing the most pressing threat. But over the past few decades, the parties have become increasingly aligned with other social identities including race, religion, and rural or urban location. And when these links start connecting our parties and other parts of our social identities, then all of this gets drawn into that one particular political competition. once these mega-identities get formed, we start to think of out-group partisans as quite different from us — not just in terms of their political views, but also racially, religiously, and with any number of overlapping categories. We feel ever more socially distant from these out-group members, which makes it easier to dehumanize them, to think about them with less generosity.” - See “As the Rhetoric Escalates: Talking with Liliana Mason” an interview with Lilliana Mason, political psychologist and author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity22:40 - The exact lyric is “Scotty liked all of the books that I recommended even if he didn't I wouldn't be offended........” in the song “Tire Swing” by Kimya Dawson, which appears on the Juno movie soundtrack20:54 - Social Identity Theory23:52 - “For people who pay attention to such things, New Haven is widely regarded as a pizza mecca, and is home to a few locations, most notably Pepe’s and Sally’s, that frequently appear on best pizza lists. Locals not only identify as being defenders of New Haven pizza, or more appropriately “apizza,” against other cities such as New York and Chicago, but also within New Haven everyone has a particular place that they argue is the best. For what it’s worth, and although I’ve certainly softened in my stance, I still happen to be a Pepe’s partisan, and won’t really argue unless you try to tell me that Modern is better.” For more on the New Haven pizza scene see Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana, and “The Definitive Guide to New Haven Pizza” (Eater, 2014)25:08 - See Negative Partisanship, “Negative Partisanship Explains Everything” (Politico, 2017), “How Hatred Came to Dominate American Politics” (FiveThirtyEight, 2020), and “The rise of negative partisanship and the nationalization of U.S. elections in the 21st century” (Electoral Studies, 2016)28:55 - See Dehumanization, “What Is Dehumanization Anyway?” (Psychology Today, 2018), “The 5 Steps of Dehumanization” (Psychology Today, 2018) and “Dehumanizing Always Starts With Language” (Brene Brown, 2018)30:48 - See “The Age of “Mega-Identity” Politics” (The Ezra Klein Show) - an interview with Lilliana Mason30:52 - Minimal Group Paradigm30:57 - See “Robbers Cave Experiment” (Simply Psychology) and “Revisiting Robbers Cave: The easy spontaneity of intergroup conflict” (Scientific American, 2012)43:08 - “Six of One - Obamacare vs. The Affordable Care Act” (2013  video clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live)44:00 - See “Party Over Policy: The Dominating Impact of Group Influence on Political Beliefs” by Jeffrey Cohen (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2003)51:48 - “Don’t put too many onions in the sauce” (video clip from Goodfellas)55:52 - See “Teresa Bejan on Free Speech, Civility, and Toleration” (Episode 116 of the Mindscape Podcast) - an interview with Teresa Bejan, political scientist and author of Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration56:45 - See “Managing Conversations When You Disagree Politically” (American Psychological Association)This episode was recorded in October 2020The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti

How can, and should, we talk to each other, especially to people with whom we disagree? “Free speech” is rightfully entrenched as an important value in liberal democratic societies, but implementing it consistently and fairly is a tricky business. Political theorist Teresa Bejan comes to this question from a philosophical and historical perspective, managing to relate broad principles to modern hot-button issues. We talk about the importance of tolerating disreputable beliefs, the senses in which speech acts can be harmful, and how “civility” places demands on listeners as well as speakers.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Teresa Bejan received an M.Phil. in Political Thought and Intellectual History from Cambridge and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale. She is currently Associate Professor of Political Theory and Fellow of Oriel College at the University of Oxford. Among her awards are the American Political Science Association’s Leo Strauss Award for the best dissertation in political philosophy and the inaugural Early Career Prize for the greatest overall contribution to research and teaching in political thought from the Britain & Ireland Association for Political Thought. Her book Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration considers political speech through the lens of early modern debates about religious liberty.Web siteOxford web pageMere CivilityGoogle Scholar publicationsWikipediaTalk on “What Was the Point of Equality?”Twitter

In this twentieth episode of the Wisdom for Life radio show, hosts Dan Hayes and Greg Sadler take a pause from their normal topic-focused in-depth discussions to talk about what the Wisdom for Life show is about and how they got it started, what challenges they ran into with producing the show in COVID-19 times, and what they have learned by producing the show for nearly half a year. They also answer a number of questions provided in advance by listeners to the show.  Show Music is by Scott Tarulli - https://www.scotttarulli.com/ The 2017 Atlantic article, "The Two Clashing Meanings of Free Speech" by Teresa Bejan-  https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/two-concepts-of-freedom-of-speech/546791/

In this twentieth episode of the Wisdom for Life radio show, hosts Dan Hayes and Greg Sadler take a pause from their normal topic-focused in-depth discussions to talk about what the Wisdom for Life show is about and how they got it started, what challenges they ran into with producing the show in COVID-19 times, and what they have learned by producing the show for nearly half a year. They also answer a number of questions provided in advance by listeners to the show.  Show Music is by Scott Tarulli - https://www.scotttarulli.com/ The 2017 Atlantic article, "The Two Clashing Meanings of Free Speech" by Teresa Bejan-  https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/two-concepts-of-freedom-of-speech/546791/

In this nineteenth episode of the Wisdom for Life radio show, hosts Dan Hayes and Greg Sadler discuss a topic of seeming perennial interest - freedom of speech - but attempt to shift the focus from framing it in the usual terms of rights, rules, or overall social benefit towards thinking about speech in terms of one's own responsibility.   The conversation ranges over how people think about freedom of speech, or portray it in the demands they make about it to others, what genuinely responsible exercise of one's speech or expression would look like, and a useful distinction between two different modes of freedom of speech. In Greek, these were called isegoria (freedom of speech as equal access) and parrhesia (freedom of speech as saying what one wants, to whom one wants, when one wants). They end the show by discussing a practice that listeners could engage in - "Prudence in use of speech" - making a determination about whether one ought to use one's speech to "make a stand", or whether to devote one's resources where they would be more effective or productive. Show Music is by Scott Tarulli - https://www.scotttarulli.com/ The 2017 Atlantic article, "The Two Clashing Meanings of Free Speech" by Teresa Bejan-  https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/two-concepts-of-freedom-of-speech/546791/

In this nineteenth episode of the Wisdom for Life radio show, hosts Dan Hayes and Greg Sadler discuss a topic of seeming perennial interest - freedom of speech - but attempt to shift the focus from framing it in the usual terms of rights, rules, or overall social benefit towards thinking about speech in terms of one's own responsibility.   The conversation ranges over how people think about freedom of speech, or portray it in the demands they make about it to others, what genuinely responsible exercise of one's speech or expression would look like, and a useful distinction between two different modes of freedom of speech. In Greek, these were called isegoria (freedom of speech as equal access) and parrhesia (freedom of speech as saying what one wants, to whom one wants, when one wants). They end the show by discussing a practice that listeners could engage in - "Prudence in use of speech" - making a determination about whether one ought to use one's speech to "make a stand", or whether to devote one's resources where they would be more effective or productive. Show Music is by Scott Tarulli - https://www.scotttarulli.com/ The 2017 Atlantic article, "The Two Clashing Meanings of Free Speech" by Teresa Bejan-  https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/two-concepts-of-freedom-of-speech/546791/

This month, we're turning Earth Day into Earth Month. Why only celebrate and discuss the power of Mother Nature and what we can do to help for one day? In the midst of the global crisis, we cannot forget about our beautiful Earth. Tune into our next few shows, replays of some of our favorite Earth-related topics, to learn from the experts on what we as citizens of the Earth can do to help! Our first story with Stacy discussed how to repair a fraying democracy. Political theorist Teresa Bejan studied and wrote a book about civility. After concluding her studies, Bejan learned “the virtue that makes un-murderous coexistence possible [in society] is the virtue of civility,” as she states in her TED Talk. “Civility makes our disagreements tolerable so that we can share a life together, even if we don’t share a faith — religious, political or otherwise.” The point of civility, she says, is to allow us to “have fundamental disagreements without denying or destroying the possibility of a common life tomorrow with the people we think are standing in our way today.” It is up to all of us-- teaching our leaders to lead, voting, and putting country above party. AND MORE... (Producer: Kristy Jansen)

Shakespeare has always been central to the American experience, argues the leading scholar James Shapiro. He tells Tom Sutcliffe how Shakespeare has been invoked – and at times weaponised – at pivotal moments in the history of America, from Revolutionary times to today’s divisionary politics. The film critic Mark Kermode celebrates another global phenomenon: cinematic superheroes. The genre stretches back more than eight decades and taps deeply into timeless themes and storytelling traditions. Kermode also shows how spy-heroes such as Bond have shaped our political identity. For the poet Don Paterson, the classic television series The Twilight Zone was the starting point for his latest collection. Elements of horror, science fiction and fantasy provide a backdrop to his exploration of the mid-life crisis. The political theorist Teresa Bejan returns to the world of Shakespeare to explore what appears to be the most modern of dilemmas: Twitter spats and put-downs. Seventeenth-century thinkers understood there were competing conceptions of civility. They thought that outlawing heated political disagreement could lead to silencing dissent. Producer: Katy Hickman

Teresa Bejan discusses with us how early modern debates over religious toleration are an example of how we can disagree well.

Ever since Mary Astell was introduced as the "First English Feminist" in 1986, scholars have been perplexed by her dual commitments to natural equality and social, political, and ecclesiastical hierarchy. But any supposed "paradox" in her though is the product of a modernist conceit that treats equality and hierarchy as antonyms, assuming the former must be prior, normative, and hostile to the latter. Seeing this, two other crucial features of Astell's thought emerge: her ethics of ascent and the psychology of superiority. These, in turn, illuminate her lifelong fascination with ambition as a feminine virtue, as well as her curious embrace of Machiavelli. Astell's politics and ethics are thus doubly worthy of recovery, both as the product of a singularly brilliant early modern mind and as a fascinating but forgotten vision of "equality before egalitarianism" that sheds light on the persistent complexities of equality and hierarchy to this day.   

National Review senior writer and former FIRE President David French has become an “-ism.”  On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, French joins us to discuss “David French-ism” and “the battle dividing conservatives” over civil liberties. Also joining us is FIRE’s current President & CEO Greg Lukianoff, author of The New York Times bestseller “The Coddling of the American Mind,” due out in paperback on Aug. 20. Show notes: Podcast transcript Podcast video “Against David French-ism” by Sohrab Ahmari “In defense of French-ism” by David French “Against conservative cultural defeatism” by David French “How free speech died on campus” by Sohrab Ahmari Greg’s book recommendations: “The Shadow University” by Alan Kors and Harvey Silverglate, “Mere civility” by Teresa Bejan, “The Hollow Men” by Charles Sykes www.sotospeakpodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/freespeechtalk Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast Email us: sotospeak@thefire.org

Book at Lunchtime: Compassion's Edge, Winner of the 2018 Society for Renaissance Studies Book Prize. Compassion's Edge examines the language of fellow-feeling—pity, compassion, and charitable care—that flourished in France in the period from the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which established some degree of religious toleration, to the official breakdown of that toleration with the Revocation of the Edict in 1685. This is not, however, a story about compassion overcoming difference but one of compassion reinforcing division: the seventeenth-century texts of fellow-feeling led not to communal concerns but to paralysis, misreading, and isolation. Early modern fellow-feeling drew distinctions, policed its borders, and far from reaching out to others, kept the other at arm's length. It became a central feature in the debates about the place of religious minorities after the Wars of Religion, and according to Katherine Ibbett, continues to shape the way we think about difference today. Compassion's Edge ranges widely over genres, contexts, and geographies. Ibbett reads epic poetry, novels, moral treatises, dramatic theory, and theological disputes. She takes up major figures such as D'Aubigné, Montaigne, Lafayette, Corneille, and Racine, as well as less familiar Jesuit theologians, Huguenot ministers, and nuns from a Montreal hospital. Although firmly rooted in early modern studies, she reflects on the ways in which the language of compassion figures in contemporary conversations about national and religious communities. Investigating the affective undertow of religious toleration, Compassion's Edge provides a robust corrective to today's hope that fellow-feeling draws us inexorably and usefully together. About the panel Katherine Ibbett is Professor of French in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and Caroline de Jager Fellow and Tutor in French at Trinity College. Katherine’s research focuses on early modern literature, culture and political thought. Previous publications have included a book on tragedy (especially Pierre Corneille) and theories of political action; and a coedited volume thinking through Walter Benjamin’s concept of the Trauerspiel and its relevance to a French corpus. Katherine is currently working on a book on the writing of water in early modern France and its territories, from the lyric poets of the sixteenth century to the Mississippi settlements of the 1700s. Lorna Hutson is Merton Professor of English Literature and a Fellow of Merton College. Her research centres on the literature of the early modern period in England and the complex interrelations of literary form and other forms of cultural practice. Lorna’s books include The Usurer’s Daughter (1994); Rhetoric and Law in Early Modern Europe (2000); The Invention of Suspicion (2007) and Circumstantial Shakespeare (2015). Recently, she edited The Oxford Handbook of English Law and Literature (2017), which won the Roland Bainton Award for the best early modern reference book. Lorna is also a Fellow of the British Academy and the Director of the Centre for Early Modern Studies at Oxford. Teresa Bejan is Associate Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Politics and International Relations and Tutorial Fellow in Politics at Oriel College. Teresa’s research brings perspectives from early modern English and American political thought to bear on questions in contemporary political theory and practice. Her book, Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration, examines contemporary calls for civility in light of seventeenth-century debates about religious toleration. Teresa is currently working on her second book, Acknowledging Equality. Emma Claussen is Career Development Fellow at New College. Emma works on literature and thought in the early modern period, with a particular interest in politics and moral philosophy. She is currently writing a book on sixteenth-century uses of the word politique and attendant conceptions of politics, political behaviour, and correct political action. Her next project will explore the intersection between moral and biological conceptions of life c. 1550-1650.

Book at Lunchtime: Compassion's Edge, Winner of the 2018 Society for Renaissance Studies Book Prize. Compassion's Edge examines the language of fellow-feeling—pity, compassion, and charitable care—that flourished in France in the period from the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which established some degree of religious toleration, to the official breakdown of that toleration with the Revocation of the Edict in 1685. This is not, however, a story about compassion overcoming difference but one of compassion reinforcing division: the seventeenth-century texts of fellow-feeling led not to communal concerns but to paralysis, misreading, and isolation. Early modern fellow-feeling drew distinctions, policed its borders, and far from reaching out to others, kept the other at arm's length. It became a central feature in the debates about the place of religious minorities after the Wars of Religion, and according to Katherine Ibbett, continues to shape the way we think about difference today. Compassion's Edge ranges widely over genres, contexts, and geographies. Ibbett reads epic poetry, novels, moral treatises, dramatic theory, and theological disputes. She takes up major figures such as D'Aubigné, Montaigne, Lafayette, Corneille, and Racine, as well as less familiar Jesuit theologians, Huguenot ministers, and nuns from a Montreal hospital. Although firmly rooted in early modern studies, she reflects on the ways in which the language of compassion figures in contemporary conversations about national and religious communities. Investigating the affective undertow of religious toleration, Compassion's Edge provides a robust corrective to today's hope that fellow-feeling draws us inexorably and usefully together. About the panel Katherine Ibbett is Professor of French in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and Caroline de Jager Fellow and Tutor in French at Trinity College. Katherine’s research focuses on early modern literature, culture and political thought. Previous publications have included a book on tragedy (especially Pierre Corneille) and theories of political action; and a coedited volume thinking through Walter Benjamin’s concept of the Trauerspiel and its relevance to a French corpus. Katherine is currently working on a book on the writing of water in early modern France and its territories, from the lyric poets of the sixteenth century to the Mississippi settlements of the 1700s. Lorna Hutson is Merton Professor of English Literature and a Fellow of Merton College. Her research centres on the literature of the early modern period in England and the complex interrelations of literary form and other forms of cultural practice. Lorna’s books include The Usurer’s Daughter (1994); Rhetoric and Law in Early Modern Europe (2000); The Invention of Suspicion (2007) and Circumstantial Shakespeare (2015). Recently, she edited The Oxford Handbook of English Law and Literature (2017), which won the Roland Bainton Award for the best early modern reference book. Lorna is also a Fellow of the British Academy and the Director of the Centre for Early Modern Studies at Oxford. Teresa Bejan is Associate Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Politics and International Relations and Tutorial Fellow in Politics at Oriel College. Teresa’s research brings perspectives from early modern English and American political thought to bear on questions in contemporary political theory and practice. Her book, Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration, examines contemporary calls for civility in light of seventeenth-century debates about religious toleration. Teresa is currently working on her second book, Acknowledging Equality. Emma Claussen is Career Development Fellow at New College. Emma works on literature and thought in the early modern period, with a particular interest in politics and moral philosophy. She is currently writing a book on sixteenth-century uses of the word politique and attendant conceptions of politics, political behaviour, and correct political action. Her next project will explore the intersection between moral and biological conceptions of life c. 1550-1650.

Professors and politicians warn that we face a crisis of civility today. But is civility really a virtue, and how much civility do we really need? Those questions are addressed by my guest today is Teresa Bejan, in her book Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration, published in 2017. Teresa is an associate professor of political theory at the University of Oxford. Mere Civility critiques early modern debates about civility and how much disagreement we should tolerate, analyzing the views of two well-known thinkers, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, as well as Roger Williams, the founder of the colony of Rhode Island. She encourages us to follow Roger Williams in allowing all kinds of disagreement, including expressions of contempt, but to avoid physical violence. Transcript Here is a transcript of this episode. Rating the Show If you enjoyed this show, please rate it on iTunes: * Go to the show’s iTunes page and click “View in iTunes”* Click “Ratings and Reviews” which is to the right of “Details”* Next to “Click to Rate” select the stars. See the full list of episodes of Half Hour of Heterodoxy >>

When they go low, we go...where? "We need more civility" in our political discourse is a frequent complaint lodged by politicians on all sides. Teresa Bejan, who teaches political theory at Oxford University, traces the history of civility from early modern English and American thought, especially in John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Roger Williams, the founder of the American colony that would become today's Rhode Island who is remembered mostly for advocating for the separation of church and state, and religious toleration. She explains what "mere civility" means, and how it can be the common ground for arguments over things that usually divide people, including free speech. 

What exactly is civility, and what does it require? In a talk packed with historical insights, political theorist Teresa Bejan explains how civility has been used as both the foundation of tolerant societies and as a way for political partisans to silence and dismiss opposing views. Bejan suggests that we should instead try for "mere civility": the virtue of being able to disagree fundamentally with others without destroying the possibility of a common life tomorrow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

O que é exatamente civilidade, e o que ela exige? Em uma palestra repleta de insights históricos, a teórica política Teresa Bejan explica como a civilidade tem sido usada tanto como base de sociedades tolerantes quanto como uma maneira de os partidários políticos silenciarem e rejeitarem opiniões opostas. Bejan sugere que, em vez disso, devemos experimentar a "mera civilidade", virtude de ser capaz de discordar em sua essência com os outros sem destruir a possibilidade de uma vida comum amanhã.

Qu'est-ce que la civilité et que nécessite-t-elle ? Dans une intervention pratique appuyée sur des connaissances historiques, la théoricienne politique Teresa Bejan explique comment la civilité a été utilisée à la fois comme la fondation des sociétés tolérantes et une façon pour les partisans politiques de faire taire et d'écarter des opinions contraires. Bejan suggère que nous devrions plutôt nous essayer à la « simple civilité » : la vertu permettant d'être capable d'être en désaccord fondamental avec les autres sans anéantir la possibilité d'une vie commune à l'avenir.

¿Qué es exactamente la civilidad y qué requiere? En una charla repleta de ideas históricas, la teórica política Teresa Bejan explica cómo la civilidad se ha utilizado como la base de las sociedades tolerantes y como una forma en que los partidarios políticos silencian y rechazan los puntos de vista opuestos. Bejan sugiere que deberíamos intentar la "mera civilidad": la virtud de poder estar en desacuerdo fundamentalmente con los demás sin destruir la posibilidad de una vida en común mañana.

What exactly is civility, and what does it require? In a talk packed with historical insights, political theorist Teresa Bejan explains how civility has been used as both the foundation of tolerant societies and as a way for political partisans to silence and dismiss opposing views. Bejan suggests that we should instead try for "mere civility": the virtue of being able to disagree fundamentally with others without destroying the possibility of a common life tomorrow. (This talk contains mature language.)

예의 바름이란 정확히 무엇이고, 예의 바르기 위해 무엇이 필요할까요? 역사적 통찰력으로 가득 찬 강연에서 정치 이론가인 테레사 베잔은, 예의 바름이 관용적 사회의 토대로서뿐만 아니라 정치적 열성파가 반대 견해를 침묵시키고 일축하는 방법으로 어떻게 사용되어 왔는지 설명합니다. 베잔은 대신 '최소한의 예의 바름', 즉 내일 삶을 함께할 가능성을 없애지 않으면서 다른 사람과 근본적으로 의견을 달리할 수 있음의 덕목을 위해 노력해야 한다고 제안합니다.

Teresa Bejan is Associate Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Oriel College. Her book, Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Harvard University Press) examines contemporary calls for civility in light of seventeenth-century debates about religious toleration in England and America. Many of the pressing questions facing liberal democracies today—such as what the proper scope of religious liberty should be, or how to handle partisanship and hate speech—closely recall early modern concerns about the limits of toleration and so-called “persecution of the tongue.” In this episode, Teresa talks to Elizabeth about her book, the importance of building resilience when being confronted with ideas different from our own, and why not having a thick skin when it comes to critique, might be a good thing.

We enter the early modern age with an expert opinion featuring Teresa Bejan, associate professor at Oriel College, Oxford University and author of “Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration.” In this episode, Jacob and Teresa will discuss political thought on tolerance and the limits of religious speech in early modern England and colonial America. The episode investigates the writings of intellectual rock stars John Milton, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke and the less famous but hugely relevant Roger Williams.   Among the topics discussed are: Milton’s “Areopagitica” Early colonial religious “hate speech” laws Why Hobbes found “the mere fact of disagreement offensive”   The origin, development, and limits of Lockean tolerance Williams’s combination of fundamentalist evangelical intolerance and free speech fundamentalism Why political theory and practice of the 17th century is relevant to modern day controversies on free speech Bejan is Associate Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Oriel College. She is the author of Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration. You can subscribe and listen to Clear and Present Danger on iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, TuneIn and Stitcher, or download episodes directly from SoundCloud. Stay up to date with Clear and Present Danger on the show’s Facebook and Twitter pages, or visit the podcast’s website at freespeechhistory.com. Email us feedback at freespeechhistory@gmail.com.

Civility is a conversational virtue that governs how people talk to each other. How important is it in political life? In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Teresa Bejan discusses this manner of speaking and writing and its history.  We are grateful for sponsorship for this episode from the Marc Sanders Foundation and from our Patreon patrons. 

CIVILITY AND TONE POLICING A Conversation With Teresa Bejan by Toby Buckle

EARLY AMERICAN RELIGION A conversation with Teresa Bejan by Toby Buckle

A lecture by Dr Teresa Bejan, associate professor of political theory at the University of Oxford, recorded at The Academy 2017. Today, many take for granted that the familiar slate of individual rights and liberties—of religion, speech, and association—belonging to citizens of modern liberal democracies go hand-in-hand.  And indeed, since John Stuart Mill, many liberals have assumed that the freedom of speech, in particular, is logically and historically inseparable from the liberty of conscience, the so-called ‘first freedom’ of early modernity from which all other modern liberties developed.  In this lecture, Teresa Bejan challenges this assumption and shows that the connection between the liberty of conscience and freedom of speech is more tenuous, both historically and philosophically, then we might assume—or hope.

Discussion with Teresa Bejan of Oriel College, Oxford about her 2017 book Mere Civility, which contrasts the views on the limits of toleration in a liberal society of John Rawls, Thomas Hobbes, and Roger Williams, and defends Williams' 'mere civility' which was based on "mutual contempt" rather than mutual respect. We also discuss recent events at Middlebury and Wellesley College, identity politics' want for epistemic humility, and 'free speech fundamentalism'. For more on Mere Civility, see this recent New York Times feature.

Teresa Bejan, an associate professor of political theory at the University of Oxford, joins Rick and Michael from across the pond to explain her theory of "Mere Civility" and why continuing dialogue despite our disagreements is the only way for American democracy to survive. President Trump's proposed budget would cut funding for Meals on Wheels. Their President and CEO, Ellie Hollander, came on to defend the program and argued why it should be saved.

Next time on Interchange: “Do you bite your thumb at us, Sir?” What is Civil Discourse and why do politicians and pundits seem to resort to admonishment when discourse gets messy and less than civil. Also, what is civility in the first place and who gets to define it? I’ll talk with author Teresa Bejan …