Thread · 6 tweets · 28 Jan 2018

"Power to the Imagination: Tackling Democratic Entropy", by @CynthiaFleury. Huge crowd! Democracy is grounded in inventing new rights, to stop that imagining is to enter voluntary serfdom. #NightofPhilosophy

She brings up Tocqueville's democratic passions, how the passion of liberty is omnipotence. Quite the timely reminder. #NightofPhilosophy

I love seeing so many French intellectuals lecturing, debating in English. Twenty years ago this would have been unthinkable. #NightofPhilosophy

Courage is less a feature of leadership than it is a protection against democratic despair and entropy. People starting to believe that they can be the clandestine passengers of the erosion of morality. This cowardice costs democracy dearly. #NightofPhilosophy

Vladimir Jankélévitch invented "just do it" before Nike. Courage, the time of morality, is serious because the act has to be now. #NightofPhilosophy

Ecosystems of courage lead to inventive protections for democracy. #NightofPhilosophy