Episode Details

Today, the political and social philosophy known as liberalism—which champions democracy, individual rights, and free enterprise—is on the defensive. 

Conservatives often charge it with eroding community, while some progressives view it as a justification for economic exploitation.

On this episode, Yale political theorist Samuel Moyn, author of the new book Liberalism against Itself, joins features editor Alex Stern to discuss the debates that surrounded liberalism during the Cold War. 

Instead of a narrow liberalism that focuses on individual liberties, Moyn argues that a broader, more expansive view of the idea is possible—one that retrieves the original Enlightenment emphasis on egalitarianism and emancipation. 

For further reading: 

• Samuel Moyn on the theology of liberalism
• Alex Stern on how not to defend liberalism
• A symposium on Patrick Deneen’s Why Liberalism Failed