Arendt and Tocqueville: Public Freedom, Plurality, and the Preconditions of Liberty

EDST is co-sponsoring this presentation by Dana Villa:

In nineteenth century political theory, Alexis de Tocqueville was known for his focus on civil society and his emphasis on a robust associational pluralism in the public sphere. In the twentieth century, Hannah Arendt was equally well-known for her critique of the over-valuation of unity in western political thought, and her emphasis on the phenomenon of human plurality as constitutive of the public realm. Professor Villa’s talk gives both thinkers credit where credit is due, but questions aspects of their thought that undercut their respective commitments to pluralism and plurality in politics.

DANA VILLA is Packey Dee Professor of Political Theory at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of Arendt and Heidegger: the Fate of the Political (Princeton, 1995), Politics, Philosophy, Terror (Princeton, 1999), Socratic Citizenship (Princeton, 2001), and Public Freedom (Princeton, 2008). Before taking up his position at the University of Notre Dame, he held senior positions at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has also been a Visiting Professor of Government at Harvard, and has held fellowships at the American Academy in Berlin, the Institute for Advanced Study, and Princeton’s University Center for Human Values.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012
SFU Vancouver Campus, Harbour Centre
515 West Hastings
Reception 6–7:30 p.m. Teck Gallery
Presentation 7:30 p.m. room 2270
Further Information: Autumn Knowlton