327 | Cass Sunstein on Liberalism

"Liberalism," divorced from its particular connotations in this or that modern political context, refers broadly to a philosophy of individual rights, liberties, and responsibilities, coupled with respect for institutions and rule of law over personalized power. As Cass Sunstein construes the term, liberalism encompasses a broad tent, from Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher to Martin Luther King and Franklin Roosevelt. But liberalism is being challenged both from the right and from the left, by those who think that individual liberties can go too far. We talk about the philosophical case for liberalism as well as the challenges to it in modern politics, as discussed in his new book On Liberalism: In Defense of Freedom.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/01/327-cass-sunstein-on-liberalism/

Support Mindscape on Patreon.

Cass Sunstein received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and worked as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He is currently Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He served in several government roles during the Obama administration. He is recognized as "by far the most cited legal scholar in the United States and probably the world."


Jaksot(417)

181 | Peter Dodds on Quantifying the Shape of Stories

181 | Peter Dodds on Quantifying the Shape of Stories

A good story takes you on an emotional journey, with ups and downs along the way. Thanks to science, we can quantify that. Peter Dodds works on understanding the structure of stories and other strings...

24 Tammi 20221h 16min

180 | Camilla Pang on Instructions for Being Human

180 | Camilla Pang on Instructions for Being Human

Being a human is tricky. There are any number of unwritten rules and social cues that we have to learn as we go, but that we ultimately learn to take for granted. Camilla Pang, who was diagnosed with ...

17 Tammi 20221h 3min

179 | David Reich on Genetics and Ancient Humanity

179 | David Reich on Genetics and Ancient Humanity

Human beings like to divide themselves into groups, and then cooperate, socialize, and reproduce with members of their own group. But they're not very absolutist about it; groups tend to gradually (or...

10 Tammi 20221h 13min

178 | Jody Azzouni on What Is and Isn't Real

178 | Jody Azzouni on What Is and Isn't Real

Are numbers real? What does that even mean? You can't kick a number. But you can talk about numbers in useful ways, and we use numbers to talk about the real world. There's surely a kind of reality th...

3 Tammi 20221h 14min

Holiday Message 2021 | On Disciplines & Cocktails

Holiday Message 2021 | On Disciplines & Cocktails

As each December comes to a close, we wrap up another year of podcasts with the Mindscape Holiday Message. Nothing too profound, just some thoughts that wouldn't fit easily into a regular podcast. Thi...

20 Joulu 202159min

AMA | December 2021

AMA | December 2021

Welcome to the December 2021 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). I take the large number of qu...

15 Joulu 20213h 37min

177 | Monika Schleier-Smith on Cold Atoms and Emergent Spacetime

177 | Monika Schleier-Smith on Cold Atoms and Emergent Spacetime

When it comes to thinking about quantum mechanics, there are levels. One level is shut-up-and-calculate: find a wave function, square it to get a probability. One level is foundational: dig deeply int...

13 Joulu 20211h 10min

176 | Joshua Greene on Morality, Psychology, and Trolley Problems

176 | Joshua Greene on Morality, Psychology, and Trolley Problems

We all know you can't derive "ought" from "is." But it's equally clear that "is" — how the world actual works — is going to matter for "ought" — our moral choices in the world. And an important part o...

6 Joulu 20211h 26min

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