The Return of the Moral State: Philosophy and the Good Life

Across the world, politics is returning to one of its oldest questions: should the state promote particular, substantive conceptions of the good life? Modern liberalism has approached this ambition with suspicion, seeking instead to leave individuals and communities free to pursue different visions of human flourishing. Yet from Hungary and the United States to China, India, and Israel, influential movements and governments increasingly reject this restraint, using law, education, welfare, media, and public culture to promote specific ideals of family, order, harmony, pride, sacrifice, and belonging.

This talk examines the return of what I call the “good life state.” I argue that these projects cannot be understood only through the languages of authoritarianism, populism, or democratic backsliding. They also offer substantive moral visions — sometimes attractive, sometimes dangerous — of how people ought to live. Their rise poses a difficult question for liberalism: how can it respond to rival visions of the good life without becoming a good life state itself?

Alexandre Lefebvre
https://profiles.sydney.edu.au/alex.lefebvre
Professor of Politics and Philosophy
University of Sydney

About the Speaker:

I’m Professor of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Sydney, where I explore how political ideas shape our lives. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, I earned my PhD at Johns Hopkins University in 2007 and now call Sydney home. For more than a decade, my work has explored one central idea: politics does not just govern us. Political ideas and institutions reach deep into our lives, forming who we are, what we value, and how we understand what makes a life worth living.

My latest book, Liberalism as a Way of Life, argues that liberalism deeply informs not just our politics, but also our values, humor, morality, and so much more. It was named a Best Book of 2024 by The New Yorker, Australian Book Review, Persuasion, and The Ministry of Pop Culture, and was praised as “stirring and clarifying” by David Brooks in The New York Times and “daring and engrossing” by Becca Rothfeld in The Washington Post.

My current project, The Good Life State, examines a global return to one of politics’ oldest ambitions: using state power to shape citizens’ conceptions of the good life.

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This is a talk with audience Q&A presented by the University of Toronto's Centre for Ethics that is free to attend and open to the public. Free refreshments will be provided at the event. The talk will also be streamed online with live chat here [to be posted].

About the Centre for Ethics (http://ethics.utoronto.ca):

The Centre for Ethics is an interdisciplinary centre aimed at advancing research and teaching in the field of ethics, broadly defined. The Centre seeks to bring together the theoretical and practical knowledge of diverse scholars, students, public servants and social leaders in order to increase understanding of the ethical dimensions of individual, social, and political life.

In pursuit of its interdisciplinary mission, the Centre fosters lines of inquiry such as (1) foundations of ethics, which encompasses the history of ethics and core concepts in the philosophical study of ethics; (2) ethics in action, which relates theory to practice in key domains of social life, including bioethics, business ethics, and ethics in the public sphere; and (3) ethics in translation, which draws upon the rich multiculturalism of the City of Toronto and addresses the ethics of multicultural societies, ethical discourse across religious and cultural boundaries, and the ethics of international society.

The Ethics of A.I. Lab at the Centre For Ethics recently appeared on a list of 10 organizations leading the way in ethical A.I.: https://ocean.sagepub.com/blog/10-organizations-leading-the-way-in-ethical-ai