In this episode, intellectual biographers Arie Dubnov (George Washington University) and Andrius Gališanka (Wake Forest University) discuss the distinctive contributions of Isaiah Berlin and John Rawls to post-war liberal thought. They consider the strengths and limits of these thinkers' ideas in light of contemporary social and political issues, and discuss the future of liberalism. 

In this conversation, Bentley Allan (Johns Hopkins) and Prasenjit Duara (Duke) discuss the role that worldviews play in shaping world politics, focusing particularly on how the background assumptions of liberalism contribute to the current climate crisis.

Lawrence Blum and Derik Smith think together about the relationship between "oneness" and "difference" in the discourse on race, drawing upon both their academic research and their experiences as activists. 

Seyla Benhabib and Kwame Anthony Appiah think together about the role that cosmopolitanism can play in shaping ethical and political thought in an age of increasing global integration. They consider the relationship of liberalism to different forms of cosmopolitanism, the possibility of a universal identity, and how cosmopolitanism might find expression within the borders of local and national communities.

In this episode, Akeel Bilgrami and Charles Taylor discuss secularism and the culture of modern societies, the future of democracy and capitalism, and our prospects for meaningful social change. 

Malachi Hacohen and Samuel Moyn discuss the relative influence of Judaism and Christianity upon liberalism’s evolution after the Second World War, as well as the possible role that religious ideas might again play in shaping future developments of political thought. They also explore the limits of the current liberal order and how we might overcome them.