Philosophers' Café Series

Fall 2011 Theme: What Makes a Healthy Society?
The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the health of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.
—Daniel Patrick Moynihan, US Senator

Many philosophers since the Enlightenment have thought that society could function very well without community and a common culture. This position was largely forged in reaction to the wars of religion that ravaged Europe in the 16th and 17th century and arguably has con-tributed since to a disintegration of community and the watering-down of common culture within liberal democratic societies. Having experienced the application of that thesis over the last hundred years, in this series we revisit its salient ideas and seek to think again about the importance of culture and community for a healthy society and the challenges associated with them. In the end the question is whether the notion of "we" has any real substance, or whether we are just a bunch of "I's" and we're better off that way.

Is a diversity of religious communities a help or a hindrance to a healthy society?
Animateur: David Goa (Director, Ronning Centre)
December 10, 2011 1:00-3:30 p.m.