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/

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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."


Episoder(416)

100 | Solo | Life and Its Meaning

100 | Solo | Life and Its Meaning

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99 | Scott Aaronson on Complexity, Computation, and Quantum Gravity

99 | Scott Aaronson on Complexity, Computation, and Quantum Gravity

There are some problems for which it's very hard to find the answer, but very easy to check the answer if someone gives it to you. At least, we think there are such problems; whether or not they reall...

1 Jun 20201h 52min

98 | Olga Khazan on Living and Flourishing While Being Weird

98 | Olga Khazan on Living and Flourishing While Being Weird

Each of us is different, in some way or another, from every other person. But some are more different than others — and the rest of the world never stops letting them know. Societies set up "norms" th...

25 Mai 20201h 1min

97 | John Danaher on Our Coming Automated Utopia

97 | John Danaher on Our Coming Automated Utopia

Humans build machines, in part, to relieve themselves from the burden of work on difficult, repetitive tasks. And yet, despite the fact that machines are everywhere, most of us are still working prett...

18 Mai 20201h 22min

96 | Lina Necib on What and Where the Dark Matter Is

96 | Lina Necib on What and Where the Dark Matter Is

The past few centuries of scientific progress have displaced humanity from the center of it all: the Earth is not at the middle of the Solar System, the Sun is but one star in a large galaxy, there ar...

11 Mai 20201h 21min

95 | Liam Kofi Bright on Knowledge, Truth, and Science

95 | Liam Kofi Bright on Knowledge, Truth, and Science

Everybody talks about the truth, but nobody does anything about it. And to be honest, how we talk about truth — what it is, and how to get there — can be a little sloppy at times. Philosophy to the re...

4 Mai 20201h 35min

94 | Stuart Russell on Making Artificial Intelligence Compatible with Humans

94 | Stuart Russell on Making Artificial Intelligence Compatible with Humans

Artificial intelligence has made great strides of late, in areas as diverse as playing Go and recognizing pictures of dogs. We still seem to be a ways away from AI that is "intelligent" in the human s...

27 Apr 20201h 27min

93 | Rae Wynn-Grant on Bears, Humans, and Other Predators

93 | Rae Wynn-Grant on Bears, Humans, and Other Predators

Human beings have a strange fascination with dangerous, predatory animals — bears, lions, wolves, sharks, and more. The top of the food chain is an interesting and precarious place to live; while you ...

20 Apr 20201h 2min

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