Alexandre Lefebvre — Questions et méthode · Pourquijevote
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Période observée
17 oct. 2024 au 28 juil. 2026
Questions
67
Entretiens
Non renseigné
Sources
Non renseigné
Heures analysées
Non renseigné
Répartition sur 67 questions évaluables
Réponse directe
40
Réponse partielle
5
Réponse à côté
22
Questions et passages vérifiables
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Questions 26 à 50 sur 67
Question 26What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre Lefebvre
human rights?
Réponse directe
here I'm becoming, as I grow older, I'm becoming more and more of a, I guess, in this respect, a classical liberal where there's no highest good, but there are kind of base minimum treatments for how human beings ought to be treated that are compatible with a whole bunch of ways of life. And insofar as states are kind of clearing those minimal thresholds, then I think that not just wrong for liberals to intervene, but then it's deeply unstrategic. It looks condescending, it looks paternalistic, and effective reform won't come from scolding and tutting. More and more, think that the only way to win this culture war, only way through is for worldviews, liberalism first and foremost, is simply…
« here I'm becoming, as I grow older, I'm becoming more and more of a, I guess, in this respect, a classical liberal where there's no highest good, but there are kind of base minimum treatments for how human beings ought to be treated that are compatible with a whole bunch of ways of life. And insofar as states are kind of clearing those minimal thresholds, then I think that »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre Lefebvre
Dossier de profondeur politique
Mécanismes, contraintes, arbitrages, objections et références explicitement présents dans les réponses, classés par domaine et reliés aux passages d’origine.
Passages où cet élément est explicitement observable.
« have one wish is that people would become more charitable with their attention and their, um, interpretation. So, I mean, I'm a, I spend half of my life reading and writing and then the other half, um, teaching. And for me, the greatest joy in teaching philosophy and political philosophy too, is that you get to set yourself aside. Like you become a knowledge, you don't matter and you try to inhabit someone else's really deep mind in as thorough a way as you can explore it. Um, and don't, we always teach critical thinking to students. I think we need to teach charitable thinking about how to, um, try to sit in someone's shoes and try to understand that as much as they can. »
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New Right
Méthode, périmètre et limitesVersion small-8b7aadfb4e0b
Méthodologie :
question_coverage
Publiée :
4 sept. 2026
Données arrêtées au :
10 oct. 2026
Les catégories décrivent uniquement la séquence observée.
Question 27What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre Lefebvre
don't all the people want to buy it?
Réponse partielle
are so many. Okay. There's two reasons why people aren't buying liberalism. This is a good question. first reason is is that I think liberals so often suck at liberalism. We are terrible representatives of liberalism and it depends if you're on the left or right side but both are at fault here. So for I'm kind of a center lefty kind of guy and I think that liberals have been ungenerous with their resources with their welfare policies with their taxation and have basically dream hoarded and pulled up the drawbridge about 15 20 years ago. So if for a society that prides itself on fairness to do that is not on. Ditto if you're a society also that prides itself on the freewheeling exchange of i…
« are so many. Okay. There's two reasons why people aren't buying liberalism. This is a good question. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 23:28Voir 2 autres passages
« first reason is is that I think liberals so often suck at liberalism. We are terrible representatives of liberalism and it depends if you're on the left or right side but both are at fault here. So for I'm kind of a center lefty kind of guy and I think that liberals have been ungenerous with their resources with their welfare policies with their taxation and have basically dream hoarded and pulled up the drawbridge about 15 20 years ago. So if for a society that prides itself on fairness to do that is not on. Ditto if you're a society also that prides itself on the freewheeling exchange of ideas and that you come into to persecute cancel culture universities where conservative positions can't speak freely for fear of of sanction then you are not liberal. So the point is is on the one hand I think that liberals have so often been let down their ideals and become illiberal. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 23:35
Question 28What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre Lefebvre
should, should liberals seek to persuade others in non-liberal societies to adopt liberalism?
Réponse directe
No, okay. No, I don't think, liberals are, are not and definitely shouldn't be limitlessly tolerant. That's kind of harmful idiocy right there. But I think that, sure, we can try to change people's minds. But I have to, I think you have to realize, the liberals have to realize what we're up against when we're doing that. Because it's like, it's like the Bush fallacy that like you clear away a superstructure and you just have people clamoring for freedom waiting for you. But what these other regimes are showing is that they have a robust, serious and teleologically oriented moral education project that starts right from birth and last into adulthood. And so when people are socialized in thos…
« But I think that, sure, we can try to change people's minds. But I have to, I think you have to realize, the liberals have to realize what we're up against when we're doing that. Because it's like, it's like the Bush fallacy that like you clear away a superstructure and you just have people clamoring for freedom waiting for you. But what these other regimes are showing is that they have a robust, serious and teleologically oriented moral education project that starts right from birth and last into adulthood. And so when people are socialized in those particular ways and take on those human excellences, spreading the good word of liberalism is not, the problem of illiberal societies is not that they lack information about liberalism and not that they're like, oh shit, women could have rights or whatever that thing might be. They know all that stuff. And I think liberals should take it as an axiomatic starting point that the non-liberal world knows way, way more about us than we know about them. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 29:45
Question 29What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre Lefebvre
Russia, for example. Is there a telos in the Russian Federation?
Réponse directe
certain. So, I speak here, look, there's a telos in every single form of political association. I think that, like, I'm going to go to the example that always turns the temperature up to 11 needlessly, but National Socialists and the Nazis. I mean, every robust understanding of the Nazis that I've read, and I've read a lot, always try to identify what the ethical telos of that regime is. Hannah Arendt did that. Primo Levi did that. I forgot the name of the author, but it's called The Law of Blood, Nicholas something. All identifying the normative of that regime that allows them to unleash state power in all kinds of destructive ways. And just to be super clear, for a liberal like me, it's m…
« just that it's fresh in my mind, and also it's a case I know about. There I found the discrimination, as it were, was gentle and humane. It was positive discrimination, but you don't have violent repression. You don't have denial of rights. If people want to be gay, they can be gay privately, and the state's not going to interfere with that. But there will definitely be a de-platforming and a censorship of homosexuality in media and stuff like that. So there is a discrimination for sure. But when you transfer to another regime like a Russia where you have state violence used against certain ways of life, against political, against free speech, there is also a teleological normative core. But there, it's much more nakedly and repressively enforced. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 16:03
Question 30What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre Lefebvre
illiberal societies are what you call teleological societies, they're aiming at a goal for people. Can you unpack that a little further?
Réponse directe
what I want to say is that we're living in a time of the return of teleology, when political power and states are understood in terms of a higher purpose. So, I don't want to say that liberals and liberal states don't have a telos or a purpose. They do, of course. For example, to maintain society as a free and fair system of cooperation. That's a goal, and that's a telos, but these other societies are putting a certain specific vision of human flourishing at their core and saying that we should use state resources to promote that. So, I can give you an example. So, I just spent two months in Hungary. This was before the election, but I was hanging out with the Orban crowd at a think tank fu…
« what I want to say is that we're living in a time of the return of teleology, when political power and states are understood in terms of a higher purpose. So, I don't want to say that liberals and liberal states don't have a telos or a purpose. They do, of course. For example, to maintain society as a free and fair system of cooperation. That's a goal, and that's a telos, but these other societies are putting a certain specific vision of human flourishing at their core and saying that we should use state resources to promote that. So, I can give you an example. So, I just spent two months in Hungary. This was before the election, but I was hanging out with the Orban crowd at a think tank funded by Fidesz. They were very open-minded to invite a liberal like me, and they treated me very generously, and I got to talk to basically all of the regime elites except for Orban himself, because it was an election season, and they were super clear. They just wore this on their sleeve. They said, this state is, the Orban government believes in quote-unquote, this was their term, positive discrimination. Namely, that we believe that there are certain better ways of life for Hungarians to live, and we are going to channel resources to help make that reality. And so, they had that around certain visions of the family, certain visions of nationalism, and certain visions of faith, and they are just all in. They're moving their chips into there, and I would just add right now that, look, Orban lost, and he lost by a lot. So, let's not kid ourselves. But I don't think he lost because of that stuff. He lost because the economy downturned, and there was pretty systemic corruption in his government. But it wasn't a repudiation of the Hungarian telos that cost him the election, and the new government, of course, is going to preserve all the family policies, and they've doubled down on the anti-immigration stuff. So, in that sense, the telos of the Hungarian state, it doesn't matter if it's a liberal or if it's a post-liberal country. It seems to be the same. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 12:01
Question 31What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre Lefebvre
No one way of life, no one way of organized society can give you all the goods, so you've got to choose which goods you want?
Réponse directe
is a deep truth, I believe, and one that a classical liberal that I know we're both fond of, Isaiah Berlin, would have agreed with. He has this wonderful line in his book, The Crooked Timber, where he says, quote, not all of the great goods can coexist, and meaning that there is no one way of life that can recover all human excellences in their full-throated sense. You can't just combine liberalism plus Christianity plus Buddhism plus Taoism plus whatever and assume that you can just have one dish that does it all. Emphatically pursued, these ideals of different ways of life can be not only intention, but positively antagonistic, and so I don't want to say that there is a liberal mind, as i…
« is a deep truth, I believe, and one that a classical liberal that I know we're both fond of, Isaiah Berlin, would have agreed with. He has this wonderful line in his book, The Crooked Timber, where he says, quote, not all of the great goods can coexist, and meaning that there is no one way of life that can recover all human excellences in their full-throated sense. You can't just combine liberalism plus Christianity plus Buddhism plus Taoism plus whatever and assume that you can just have one dish that does it all. Emphatically pursued, these ideals of different ways of life can be not only intention, but positively antagonistic, and so I don't want to say that there is a liberal mind, as it were, or a Chinese mind, but I do think that different cultures put different values at their heart and pursue them robustly, and that will lead to different conceptions of political power. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 10:46
Question 32What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre Lefebvre
key part of your society. You're going to miss something. What do you miss, Alex?
Réponse à côté
that's the question at the heart of this project, namely that I and you and I bet 90% of the listeners to this podcast think that liberalism champions really important human goods, things like freedom, fairness, tolerance, reciprocity. All that stuff is great. But I think we would be kidding ourselves to suggest that that encapsulates all possible human excellences and that people with a different way of life wouldn't look at the liberal package and essentially say, no, not for me. We want to privilege whatever it is that is at the core of that way of life. It could be things like the Chinese, for example, put harmony way up top of their value package. When I went to Hungary, I'd be happy t…
« that's the question at the heart of this project, namely that I and you and I bet 90% of the listeners to this podcast think that liberalism champions really important human goods, things like freedom, fairness, tolerance, reciprocity. All that stuff is great. But I think we would be kidding ourselves to suggest that that encapsulates all possible human excellences and that people with a different way of life wouldn't look at the liberal package and essentially say, no, not for me. We want to privilege whatever it is that is at the core of that way of life. It could be things like the Chinese, for example, put harmony way up top of their value package. When I went to Hungary, »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 7:41Voir 2 autres passages
« I'd be happy to talk more about this, in the Orban constitution, they built in three values that they said the country is for. Those are love, loyalty, and faith, all admirable values, but they're very thick, and they don't necessarily play nicely with the freedom and fairness of a liberal society. And so you would look at different regimes and different conceptions of the good life and just see that they park a different human excellence at their heart. And if you start to look at it that way, then the world that we live in is multipolar, not just in terms of kind of military might or economic clout, but in terms of civilizational values and orientation towards the highest good. And that's what I think we're seeing roaring back into existence, is repudiation of the idea that liberal universalism, or that liberalism is universal, that it's for everyone, and these other traditions and civilizations reclaiming some of their traditional, but some of their core ethical values and using state power to promote it. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 8:24
Question 33What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre Lefebvre
a very liberal way to approach it, isn't it?
Réponse directe
liberal to do that.
« liberal to do that. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 3:27
Question 34What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre Lefebvre
explain what's going on?
Réponse directe
Okay, so let me put it this way. Let me try to describe a gigantic transformation that I think is happening worldwide. So today, liberals like to think that the way that we've organized states and societies is basically like the human default. It's just like that's what just naturally happens. And the basic liberal idea that people, I think, of the left and the right can basically agree on is that the point of liberalism is to provide as much freedom for individuals to live out their life as they choose within reasonable limits. So it's not for the state to tell us what the good life is, nor for the state to promote a certain model of what it means to flourish as a person. Liberalism says,…
« Okay, so let me put it this way. Let me try to describe a gigantic transformation that I think is happening worldwide. So today, liberals like to think that the way that we've organized states and societies is basically like the human default. It's just like that's what just naturally happens. And the basic liberal idea that people, I think, of the left and the right can basically agree on is that the point of liberalism is to provide as much freedom for individuals to live out their life as they choose within reasonable limits. So it's not for the state to tell us what the good life is, nor for the state to promote a certain model of what it means to flourish as a person. Liberalism says, no, that's too controversial. We're going to let our citizens make that up for themselves. And that's the sort of liberal arrangement that we've been living under for a few hundred years. And that is hegemonic in the Western world. Now, that's fine and well. But that liberal perspective where you get to pick and choose your conception of the good life, that is a historical anomaly. And when we look back in time, both within the Western tradition, but also in the non-Western tradition, the idea that the state and government and public power would take a leadership role in trying to establish what it means to be a good person, to flourish as an individual, that was like the primary tasks of government. And you look back to like this week, I'm teaching Aristotle here at the University of Sydney. And the politics first line is like basically, what is the state for, says Aristotle? And he answers, it's for the good life. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 4:00Voir 1 autre passage
« so this idea that states should promote particular visions of how to live is absolutely, it reigns throughout the history of Western thought. And what I see right now is perhaps a return to it. And these countries, when I say they overflow with values, I think they have very robust conceptions as to what it means to live, for example, as a good Hungarian, what it means to live as a good Chinese. And their value packages for those different countries are going to be totally different. I don't want to say they add up into one thing, but they're all willing to allow the state to take a more of a leadership role of trying to promote a certain way of life. And in this way, they are illiberal. That's not a critical term at this point. That's a descriptive one. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 5:29
Question 35What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre Lefebvre
who do you have in mind?
Réponse à côté
as you said, I'm a convinced liberal and I realized, though, that our stock might be falling these days and that there's all kinds of rivals and competitors that are gaining a lot of ground on us. frankly, I wanted to see what the attraction was of these other regimes and these other alternatives on the table. And when I look at the standard account that my own team, as it were, gives of these non-liberal regimes, some of which are never been liberal. So, for example, China or some have been liberal and are perhaps moving in a non-liberal direction, such as the United States, India, Hungary up until a couple of months ago. But we'll see where that goes and Israel and I wanted to ask, well,…
« as you said, I'm a convinced liberal and I realized, though, that our stock might be falling these days and that there's all kinds of rivals and competitors that are gaining a lot of ground on us. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 0:59Voir 2 autres passages
« frankly, I wanted to see what the attraction was of these other regimes and these other alternatives on the table. And when I look at the standard account that my own team, as it were, gives of these non-liberal regimes, some of which are never been liberal. So, for example, China or some have been liberal and are perhaps moving in a non-liberal direction, such as the United States, India, Hungary up until a couple of months ago. But we'll see where that goes and Israel and I wanted to ask, well, I would I would say Israel is OK, I could take that again. We can come back to that question. That's not a that's not a pejorative necessarily. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 1:12
« But we can come back to the to »
Question 36586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
like Thomas Keneally, right?
Réponse à côté
yeah, right. And it's just such a weird resolution to the culture wars. It's like one for them, one for me. And I think if liberals don't loosen up and allow kind of like a broadening of the canon and stuff like that, I think that it's just going to be looked at education is going to be looked at as indoctrination rather than or socialization in the right way. And so that's what I think liberalism just needs. Liberals need to frickin' take it down a notch. And I know their opponents are not taking it down a notch, and I know that. But I just don't think that without the impulse towards generosity, both in terms of social provision, taxes and stuff, but also hermeneutic generosity, I think l…
« yeah, right. And it's just such a weird resolution to the culture wars. It's like one for them, one for me. And I think if liberals don't loosen up and allow kind of like a broadening of the canon and stuff like that, I think that it's just going to be looked at »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 59:26Voir 2 autres passages
« education is going to be looked at as indoctrination rather than »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 59:42
« or socialization in the right way. And so that's what I think liberalism just needs. Liberals need to frickin' take it down a notch. And I know their opponents are not taking it down a notch, and I know that. But I just don't think that without the impulse towards generosity, both in terms of social provision, taxes and stuff, but also hermeneutic generosity, I think liberals are just going to look like little scolds that are deeply unattractive. So I think that that kind of ethos needs to work its way into public institutions. »
Question 37586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
know, keep those virtues in front of you and to keep those, those visions of the good life in front of you?
Réponse à côté
think, great question. I think that what you're saying, so that you mentioned Pascal, who's a much more reputable source, but the, the guy making headlines in the last five years is Patrick Deneen with his book, Liberalism Failed, and version, for him, liberalism fails because liberalism has been so successful. And in particular, what liberalism does is it's basically like a mosquito or like a blood sucker. And it goes from different values sphere to different values sphere and attaches itself there, but then systematically strips out of its meanings and its conditions by valuing the autonomous free agent above all else. So you're going to get no fault divorce. You're going to get, you're g…
« great question. I think that what you're saying, so that you mentioned Pascal, who's a much more reputable source, but the, the guy making headlines in the last five years is Patrick Deneen with his book, »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 52:46Voir 2 autres passages
« Liberalism Failed, and »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 52:57
« version, for him, liberalism fails because liberalism has been so successful. And in particular, what liberalism does is it's basically like a mosquito or like a blood sucker. And it goes from different values sphere to different values sphere and attaches itself there, but then systematically strips out of its meanings and its conditions by valuing the autonomous free agent above all else. So you're going to get no fault divorce. You're going to get, you're going to get people who can opt out of religion. You're going to get at the, at the end of the line for him, trans stuff where people choose their sexuality and their gender. And for him, one by one, this kind of idea of the free self is just sucking all the meaning dry of the different domains of human life, such that what's left then is just really nasty, hollow individuals who can basically be moved only by two sorts of motivations, either self-interest or violence. And that's the end of the line for him. »
Question 38586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
these institutions to reinforce these values?
Réponse à côté
I mean, disagree with the premise. I think Dave Chappelle is like our last, our first and best line, not the guy itself, but that, that, that is what, that is how liberalism is shown to be secure. I think that, I mean, look, to go back to Tocqueville, Tocqueville is always very keen on looking at not ideologies, but at morays, at manners, at habits. And that's where he thought that kind of ideology really worked its magic. And if liberalism has conquered civil society, but like here, not just civil society, like that is a huge win. And so if it can continue to reproduce itself along those lines, then I think that is a rock solid foundation. So I think that liberalism is much less frail if i…
« disagree with the premise. I think Dave Chappelle is like our last, our first and best line, not the guy itself, but that, that, that is what, that is how liberalism is shown to be secure. I think that, I mean, look, to go back to Tocqueville, Tocqueville is always very keen on looking at not ideologies, but at morays, at manners, at habits. And that's where he thought that kind of ideology really worked its magic. And if liberalism has conquered civil society, but like here, not just civil society, like »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 57:08Voir 2 autres passages
« that is a huge win. And so if it can continue to reproduce itself along those lines, then I think that is a rock solid foundation. So I think that liberalism is much less frail if it's education takes place in this kind of osmotic ways through all of these day-to-day things that we don't need to, that are just sort of, that are totally sub-rational rather than through dedicated training. But yeah, of course, I think that, and I think this, I mean, I don't know, but I think public schools do this pretty well already, »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 57:40
« think that what liberals need to do to reinvent moral education is to be, to really play up to their ideal of tolerance and to allow more different viewpoints and to be articulated without fear of sanctions. So for example, like in Australia, there's been this longstanding culture war in the public school system between the kinds of texts, like everywhere, the curriculum wars have happened. And my kid is now 17, and she's been doing English since she's a little girl. And in English, they assign them two books. There's only two kinds of books you get year in, year out in English in Australia. You either get William Shakespeare plays, okay, »
Question 39586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
have some religious tendencies. Okay. Do you go to church?
Réponse à côté
not, not Yeah. So people, I mean, so yeah, I mean, I think we all have spiritual longings. But the idea is that for some people who are kind of thoroughly socialized in these liberal values, that, line dividing the public and the private just feels, it's, it's, artificial. It's just not descriptively accurate because I don't conceive of myself very differently as a citizen than I do as a person. The same kind of value menu is orienting me in both cases. And that's the thing conservatives are saying. They're just saying that liberals are through and through. So I want to affirm that. And I think it's right. I just don't want the, so to use the nomenclature of political philosophy, which is r…
« not, not »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 50:50Voir 2 autres passages
« Yeah. So people, I mean, so yeah, I mean, I think we all have spiritual longings. But the idea is that for some people who are kind of thoroughly socialized in these liberal values, that, »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 50:52
« line dividing the public and the private just feels, it's, it's, »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 51:03
Question 40586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
how can you expect, you know, the government to exercise self-control?
Réponse à côté
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. I agree with that. I agree with that completely. I mean, I don't think you can have a liberal democratic country without people who at some level aren't liberal. I mean, this is not going to work. I think it's very important. so you brought up this very important issue of the public and the private. And I think that any good liberal, even if they're like me and see liberalism in way of life, need to maintain that because any country today is going to be plural. And I definitely do not want the liberal state to force or foist or even favor a comprehensive liberal way of life on its population. I think Christians and Muslims and whatever, Nietzscheans within li…
« Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. I agree with that. I agree with that completely. I mean, I don't think you can have a liberal democratic country without people who at some level aren't liberal. I mean, this is not going to work. I think it's very important. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 49:45Voir 2 autres passages
« so you brought up this very important issue of the public and the private. And I think that any good liberal, even if they're like me and see liberalism in »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 49:56
« way of life, need to maintain that because any country today is going to be plural. And I definitely do not want the liberal state to force or foist or even favor a comprehensive liberal way of life on its population. I think Christians and Muslims and whatever, Nietzscheans within limits, should be allowed to live by their own light. So I very much want a public and private divide that liberalism affirms. What I'm saying is, is that public-private divide today in the year 2025 is descriptively inaccurate for a whole lot of people like me. And I think like you, you're not, are you, are you religious, Greg? »
Question 41586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
so to speak, by trying to be sort of a liberal person, or is that ultimately going to be frustrating, depending on the environment in which you live?
Réponse directe
I think it's, I think we need to, okay, this is a great question, it's difficult. I think we need to immediately split out the liberal and non-liberal societies. My book is really about, the whole aim of my book is to try to convince liberals to be liberal. I'm not trying to convince conservatives to be liberal. I'm trying to convince people who are basically on the same wavelength and to actually commit to their principles. So I'm not trying to convince a Christian or conservative or Muslim or whatever. And within a Western liberal democratic country, I think that can be done, and to live liberally can be done, and I think it can be a flourishing way of life. I think it's an uphill struggl…
« I think it's, I think we need to, okay, this is a great question, it's difficult. I think we need to immediately split out the liberal and non-liberal societies. My book is really about, the whole aim of my book is to try to convince liberals to be liberal. I'm not trying to convince conservatives to be liberal. I'm trying to convince people who are basically on the same wavelength and to actually commit to their principles. So I'm not trying to convince a Christian or conservative or Muslim or whatever. And within a Western liberal democratic country, I think that can be done, and to live liberally can be done, and I think it can be a flourishing way of life. I think it's an uphill struggle in non-liberal countries. I think to live as an out-and-out liberal in China or in Russia, for example, they're going to be serious. It's not just rubs against the grain of your culture. There's going to, if you push it seriously enough, there's going to be costs and consequences to you that might not make it an attractive or fully viable way of life. So I don't want to pretend that this kind of thing can be done just anywhere. I don't think it can. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 46:34Voir 1 autre passage
« Now, with respect to doing it in the Western world, we have to kind of re-evaluate what the costs and benefits are of living a liberal way of life. So, for example, like, let's just take the most obvious one about what it means to be generous, which is, let's say, signing up to pay higher taxes. I mean, there's all different ways we can be generous, but that's just paradigmatic, and that's what people are going to think, and it's fine. Now, I don't want to pretend that having less money is like a good thing. Like, obviously, paying less taxes is good for the person less. I mean, money is nice. It allows you to realize I don't want to—there's no bullshit there. I mean, of course it's nice to pay lower taxes. So what I have to try to do in the book is try to suggest that the goods of being generous and of committing, for example, to a marginal tax rate of 60%, 70%, if you're a very high income earner, that those are intrinsically valuable, and they lead you to certain kinds of, like, joys in your existence. And that's what I tried to do, that you lose the world, but you gain your soul in some way. So I don't think it's prohibitive to be a liberal in a liberal society. It just means that you reevaluate what the costs and benefits are of the kind of life you want to live. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 47:36
Question 42586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
know, if you want to have a certain type of society, then you need certain types of people, right?
Réponse directe
I mean, that's—what was it? That's the Adams quote, that this land of ours needs the good Christians, essentially. A constitution that
« I mean, that's—what was it? That's the Adams quote, that this land of ours needs the good Christians, essentially. A constitution that »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 49:26
Question 43586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
So what does it mean to live or inhabit reflective equilibrium?
Réponse directe
So in the book, okay, so the broader picture is that I have this idea from a duo of spiritual exercises, practices that people can take on to become a certain of person. Religion, of course, is full of these. So if you're a Christian, you're into things like prayer, or if you're a Catholic, you're into confession, repentance, all that stuff. All of those are spiritual exercises. And I want to say, look, if liberalism is going to be a legit way of life, then it needs its own corresponding kind of stuff. And I do this move that I think is interpretively smart, but I wonder if it limited the appeal of my book, which is I turn to Rawls and try to read some of his big headline banner concepts in…
« welcome about that. I mean, I think it leaves different thinkers feeling differently. Because if you're someone who either goes into Nozick or into Hayek and you're a liberal, they read that and like, Rawls isn't the only game in town. Why are you doing this? So the book starts, I'm confessing the weakness of the book, but the book starts with a very big tent picture of liberalism. And then as I go further, it becomes more and more some version of Rawlsianism, in part because I think he's a very coherent thinker that got central aspects of it right. But in part, it's just to give it ballast. But anyways, that was the authorly strategy for better, for worse. So I take three of his big, big, very famous concepts, which are the original position, which we talked about. The goal there is to become impartial. Then I take another one, which has this very wordy title, reflective equilibrium, which is about becoming more self-coherent. And then last, I take on a concept from his later work called public reason, which is speaking to one another in terms that we can reciprocally accept, so that if I were a Christian, I don't give you reasons for political life and political, for policies. For example, based on my Christianity, I try to appeal to virtues that you and I would share, say, as Americans or as fellow citizens of the country. So the bit on reflective equilibrium is really about trying to find an alignment between the different values, between the liberal values that you profess, to try to get your principles, your habits into some sort of harmony. So basically, you're not a basket case professing ideals on the one hand and then living an altogether different kind of life on the other hand. So these practices of self-coherence are nothing new. Stoicism, for example, is called them. Ditto Christianity. I'm just trying to come up with the liberal versions of them. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 44:17
Question 44586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
Now, in addition to sort of reflecting on the original position and what that means, and it means a lot, it is a very rich content there, you talk about reflective equilibrium. And I was wondering if you could dig into that, because, again, this is one of those things that you refer to kind of as a spiritual exercise, right?
Réponse directe
So in the book, okay, so the broader picture is that I have this idea from a duo of spiritual exercises, practices that people can take on to become a certain of person. Religion, of course, is full of these. So if you're a Christian, you're into things like prayer, or if you're a Catholic, you're into confession, repentance, all that stuff. All of those are spiritual exercises. And I want to say, look, if liberalism is going to be a legit way of life, then it needs its own corresponding kind of stuff. And I do this move that I think is interpretively smart, but I wonder if it limited the appeal of my book, which is I turn to Rawls and try to read some of his big headline banner concepts in…
« welcome about that. I mean, I think it leaves different thinkers feeling differently. Because if you're someone who either goes into Nozick or into Hayek and you're a liberal, they read that and like, Rawls isn't the only game in town. Why are you doing this? So the book starts, I'm confessing the weakness of the book, but the book starts with a very big tent picture of liberalism. And then as I go further, it becomes more and more some version of Rawlsianism, in part because I think he's a very coherent thinker that got central aspects of it right. But in part, it's just to give it ballast. But anyways, that was the authorly strategy for better, for worse. So I take three of his big, big, very famous concepts, which are the original position, which we talked about. The goal there is to become impartial. Then I take another one, which has this very wordy title, reflective equilibrium, which is about becoming more self-coherent. And then last, I take on a concept from his later work called public reason, which is speaking to one another in terms that we can reciprocally accept, so that if I were a Christian, I don't give you reasons for political life and political, for policies. For example, based on my Christianity, I try to appeal to virtues that you and I would share, say, as Americans or as fellow citizens of the country. So the bit on reflective equilibrium is really about trying to find an alignment between the different values, between the liberal values that you profess, to try to get your principles, your habits into some sort of harmony. So basically, you're not a basket case professing ideals on the one hand and then living an altogether different kind of life on the other hand. So these practices of self-coherence are nothing new. Stoicism, for example, is called them. Ditto Christianity. I'm just trying to come up with the liberal versions of them. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 44:17
Question 45586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
And, you know, why might we want to be that person and maybe even hang out with that person?
Réponse à côté
great. Let me just take the first part of that question and I'll come to the stuff that you're really asking of me. I think a liberal way of life is awesome. I'm a full-throated defender of it. I think the virtues are joyful and worthy of joy. But I think it's very important to recognize that liberalism or any other kind of value system doesn't capture all human excellences, which is just what you said, that certain genuine human goods are going to be starved out in a liberal culture. You mentioned bravery, for example. I would say self-sacrifice. I would say piety, solidarity. There's a whole bunch of stuff like that. Harmony, etc. And the list goes on. And so when people reject liberalism…
« Let me just take the first part of that question and I'll come to the stuff that you're really asking of me. I think a liberal way of life is awesome. I'm a full-throated defender of it. I think the virtues are joyful and worthy of joy. But I think it's very important to recognize that liberalism or any other kind of value system doesn't capture all human excellences, which is just what you said, that certain genuine human goods are going to be starved out in a liberal culture. You mentioned bravery, for example. I would say self-sacrifice. I would say piety, solidarity. There's a whole bunch of stuff like that. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 36:07Voir 2 autres passages
« Harmony, etc. And the list goes on. And so when people reject liberalism today, liberals like to comfort themselves by saying, well, those people just don't have the strength of spirit to live up to liberalism. They're afraid. They're backlashy. They're homophobes. They're xenophobes. They're racist. Blah, blah, blah. And they just can't live a life based on tolerance. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 36:49
« that may be partially true. Maybe. Sure. I don't want to deny that. But on the other hand, I think that a lot of people saying no to liberalism is not because they can't live up to its demands, but because they look at the ideals and say, no, not for me, »
Question 46586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
And what is their life like?
Réponse à côté
great. Let me just take the first part of that question and I'll come to the stuff that you're really asking of me. I think a liberal way of life is awesome. I'm a full-throated defender of it. I think the virtues are joyful and worthy of joy. But I think it's very important to recognize that liberalism or any other kind of value system doesn't capture all human excellences, which is just what you said, that certain genuine human goods are going to be starved out in a liberal culture. You mentioned bravery, for example. I would say self-sacrifice. I would say piety, solidarity. There's a whole bunch of stuff like that. Harmony, etc. And the list goes on. And so when people reject liberalism…
« great. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 36:06Voir 2 autres passages
« Let me just take the first part of that question and I'll come to the stuff that you're really asking of me. I think a liberal way of life is awesome. I'm a full-throated defender of it. I think the virtues are joyful and worthy of joy. But I think it's very important to recognize that liberalism or any other kind of value system doesn't capture all human excellences, which is just what you said, that certain genuine human goods are going to be starved out in a liberal culture. You mentioned bravery, for example. I would say self-sacrifice. I would say piety, solidarity. There's a whole bunch of stuff like that. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 36:07
« Harmony, etc. And the list goes on. And so when people reject liberalism today, liberals like to comfort themselves by saying, well, those people just don't have the strength of spirit to live up to liberalism. They're afraid. They're backlashy. They're homophobes. They're xenophobes. They're racist. Blah, blah, blah. And they just can't live a life based on tolerance. »
Question 47586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
Of course, a lot of people would critique that and say, well, you know, they don't take anything seriously, right?
Réponse à côté
Yes, I don't think, I think irony poorly understood leads that way, and it leads to kind of a relativism. But I think that what I'm trying to suggest is it leads to an awareness of contingency. And that might actually commit us more to fairness, because had I not been born like this, I would have had certain disadvantages, et cetera, et cetera. And so I don't think that that, I don't think that invades our moral, I don't think, I just, I, whenever, conservatives describe liberals as someone who wears their morality totally provisionally, and anything goes, and basically it's just all about social respectability, but like Gyges and Plato, if they can put on the ring of invisibility, they'll…
« Yes, I don't think, I think irony poorly understood leads that way, and it leads to kind of a relativism. But I think that what I'm trying to suggest is it leads to an awareness of contingency. And that might actually commit us more to fairness, because had I not been born like this, I would have had certain disadvantages, et cetera, et cetera. And so I don't think that that, I don't think that invades our moral, I don't think, I just, I, whenever, »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 42:19Voir 1 autre passage
« conservatives describe liberals as someone who wears their morality totally provisionally, and anything goes, and basically it's just all about social respectability, but like Gyges and Plato, if they can put on the ring of invisibility, they'll just do that whenever. I just don't think that's right. I think that a secular, eminent morality can be fully binding, and I think liberals give daily example of that to genuinely good people. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 42:42
Question 48586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
looks like, right?
Réponse à côté
great. Let me just take the first part of that question and I'll come to the stuff that you're really asking of me. I think a liberal way of life is awesome. I'm a full-throated defender of it. I think the virtues are joyful and worthy of joy. But I think it's very important to recognize that liberalism or any other kind of value system doesn't capture all human excellences, which is just what you said, that certain genuine human goods are going to be starved out in a liberal culture. You mentioned bravery, for example. I would say self-sacrifice. I would say piety, solidarity. There's a whole bunch of stuff like that. Harmony, etc. And the list goes on. And so when people reject liberalism…
« Yeah, right. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 38:42
Question 49586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
You talk about Emile. And I think that's probably, I agree with you, that's like one of the most undeservedly neglected, you know, books out there. But, I mean, part of the point is that we're going to be formed and shaped regardless of what happens, right, whether it's intentional or not. And so, I mean, our society is shaping us all to be liberals to some degree. But I guess the question is, to what extent do we need to actually strive to become more liberal over and above the way in which we are shaped by Netflix and by TV and all the rest that we're exposed to?
Réponse directe
Yeah. mean, listen, it would be nice to think that we can live honest, liberal lives by tuning into Netflix, but that's not going to happen. And I think that this is just a general truth about human beings, but all human beings everywhere live in a moral system, but most of their lives are spent trying to avoid the main claim made by that moral system. Our whole life is a process of avoidance, of trying to dodge the bullet that we shot at ourselves. We're claiming this for ourselves. So, like, I don't know. If I think of what it means to be, like, a crappy Christian, I think of someone who is very judgy, someone who just wants to kind of, like, the sheeps and the goats or whatever. And that…
« mean, listen, it would be nice to think that we can live honest, liberal lives by tuning into Netflix, but that's not going to happen. And I think that this is just a general truth about human beings, but all human beings everywhere live in a moral system, but most of their lives are spent trying to avoid the main claim made by that moral system. Our whole life is a process of avoidance, of trying to dodge the bullet that we shot at ourselves. We're claiming this for ourselves. So, like, I don't know. If I think of what it means to be, like, a crappy Christian, I think of someone who is very judgy, someone who just wants to kind of, like, »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 32:22Voir 2 autres passages
« the sheeps and the goats or whatever. And that, for me, is an avoidance of the demand of love. I think that's what that is. If I think, for example, of what it means to be a bad Confucian or a bad, like, Chinese philosophy, I think someone who's very authoritarian, patriarchy, that kind of stuff, because I think the main demand of Confucianism is, like, harmony and trying to get the different parts in the right balance. And you want to avoid that because it's hard and it's demanding on you. And likewise, I think for liberalism, the main thing that liberals do most of their life is try to avoid the demand of generosity. The freedom stuff is not very difficult. That's easy. Using the right pronouns, that stuff, it's low cost. And I think we can do that, no problem. But when I'm asked, for example, to give more in taxes or to be very generous to someone else's perspective, that makes real claims on us. Which is, you know, let people move into your neighborhood. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 32:56
Question 50586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
Now, you also talk about kind of formation and education, right?
Réponse à côté
Yeah. mean, listen, it would be nice to think that we can live honest, liberal lives by tuning into Netflix, but that's not going to happen. And I think that this is just a general truth about human beings, but all human beings everywhere live in a moral system, but most of their lives are spent trying to avoid the main claim made by that moral system. Our whole life is a process of avoidance, of trying to dodge the bullet that we shot at ourselves. We're claiming this for ourselves. So, like, I don't know. If I think of what it means to be, like, a crappy Christian, I think of someone who is very judgy, someone who just wants to kind of, like, the sheeps and the goats or whatever. And that…
« Yeah. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 32:22Voir 2 autres passages
« mean, listen, it would be nice to think that we can live honest, liberal lives by tuning into Netflix, but that's not going to happen. And I think that this is just a general truth about human beings, but all human beings everywhere live in a moral system, but most of their lives are spent trying to avoid the main claim made by that moral system. Our whole life is a process of avoidance, of trying to dodge the bullet that we shot at ourselves. We're claiming this for ourselves. So, like, I don't know. If I think of what it means to be, like, a crappy Christian, I think of someone who is very judgy, someone who just wants to kind of, like, »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 32:22
« the sheeps and the goats or whatever. And that, for me, is an avoidance of the demand of love. I think that's what that is. If I think, for example, of what it means to be a bad Confucian or a bad, like, Chinese philosophy, I think someone who's very authoritarian, patriarchy, that kind of stuff, because I think the main demand of Confucianism is, like, harmony and trying to get the different parts in the right balance. And you want to avoid that because it's hard and it's demanding on you. And likewise, I think for liberalism, the main thing that liberals do most of their life is try to avoid the demand of generosity. The freedom stuff is not very difficult. That's easy. Using the right pronouns, that stuff, it's low cost. And I think we can do that, no problem. But when I'm asked, for example, to give more in taxes or to be very generous to someone else's perspective, that makes real claims on us. Which is, you know, let people move into your neighborhood. »
« and so that's what I love. If so, I find my, I mean, I'm a pretty successful academic, but I find that my teaching is going to be way more impactful than my research will ever be because I get to kind of like, hopefully initiate students generation. I'm going to be, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a lifer. I'm a long time. So I get to do this kind of generational teaching and try to overcome the, the, the TikTok world for a moment and try not, not that it's an evil, but that to get people to like dwell. So that's what I want to do. And this is my, my ambition. You say, you say, once I've done the book, I'm just starting the book. So this is going »
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New RightVérifier à 51:22
« to see other moral worlds, not to affirm them. Cause obviously many of those other moral worlds are repugnant for liberals. Um, but to see them as human creations with human attractions, and then try to engage our, um, opponents, quote unquote, in a more responsible way. »
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New RightVérifier à 51:56
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Passages où cet élément est explicitement observable.
« and so, listen, obviously I don't think either of us are going to go for kind of like a blood and soil kind of thing, that's not on the map, certainly in any kind of respectful conversation. But the idea that communities have to be bound by traditions and inheritances, I think is deeply true, and I think liberalism is a tradition and an inheritance. So I think, kind of Burke's style, that we need to protect those traditions and inheritance, and unrestrained immigration would be a danger to them. »
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New RightVérifier à 20:27Voir 1 autre passage
« I think it's, I think we need to, okay, this is a great question, it's difficult. I think we need to immediately split out the liberal and non-liberal societies. My book is really about, the whole aim of my book is to try to convince liberals to be liberal. I'm not trying to convince conservatives to be liberal. I'm trying to convince people who are basically on the same wavelength and to actually commit to their principles. So I'm not trying to convince a Christian or conservative or Muslim or whatever. And within a Western liberal democratic country, I think that can be done, and to live liberally can be done, and I think it can be a flourishing way of life. I think it's an uphill struggle in non-liberal countries. I think to live as an out-and-out liberal in China or in Russia, for example, they're going to be serious. It's not just rubs against the grain of your culture. There's going to, if you push it seriously enough, there's going to be costs and consequences to you that might not make it an attractive or fully viable way of life. So I don't want to pretend that this kind of thing can be done just anywhere. I don't think it can. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 46:34
Présence observée dans ces passages, sans conclusion sur la véracité ni la personne.
Contre-arguments traités19 mai 2026 au 28 juil. 2026 · 8 observations17 passages
Passages où cet élément est explicitement observable.
« and attacking the customs, someone like a Deneen or Vermeule or the contemporary new right would say that »
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New RightVérifier à 11:31Voir 2 autres passages
« a hegemony. I mean, it's already come, it's devoured the inside of our culture and replaced it with its own moraise. So that's why, like, that's why I think, I, Deneen's, the title of Deneen's book, I think, is very provocative. And I think from a certain perspective, it's correct, Regime Change. »
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New RightVérifier à 11:40
« see. It's like sometimes you get like, I won't go to that. So what I think is interesting, very interesting and powerful about the new right is that it's no longer an intra-liberal debate. So look, when you, for example, attack Abbott, not attack, but you know, the way you framed Abbott and Taylor, what you're saying is that basically these guys are running a liberal argument against left liberals. And they might actually probably be left liberals themselves, they just don't fully own it. And so what I think is very difficult in our current cultural moment is to tell when we're having an argument within liberalism and then when we're having an argument from liberalism towards something else. And the new right, I think, is doing that. And what I think their most powerful claim is, is that, and this is what I'm working on right now, is that I think liberalism has a lot of great worthy human excellences and it can enable a certain kind of human flourishing. But I think it can't, it does certainly crowd out fundamental virtues and values that other traditions put at the core of their tradition. So, like the idea of Christianity and selfless love, agathic love, unworldliness, all that stuff, like we can say that Christians don't live up to that, that's fine, but that's not what I want to say. Those values »
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Arbitrages mentionnés19 mai 2026 au 28 juil. 2026 · 6 observations7 passages
Passages où cet élément est explicitement observable.
« look, so it's difficult for me to answer that, because I think that there's different liberal traditions and different liberal emphases. So some liberalisms are more kind of, let's say, I'm just caricaturing here, but let's say American style, libertarian, more freedom-centric. »
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New RightVérifier à 21:33Voir 2 autres passages
« Australia, you want to answer 2000s Australia, any tradition that try, any political system that tries to synthesize fairness on the one hand and freedom on the other hand, acknowledging that there's going to be trade-offs, deficiencies, da, da, da. If they're trying to do that earnestly, then I think in a full-throated sense, we could say that's a liberal country. »
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New RightVérifier à 23:30
« think you're right. This is a great point. But isn't that true of everything? Like, doesn't everything become fat and sclerotic if it just has 20 years of kind of like unopposed? It just, it's just barnacles grows on stuff. So, but I definitely think that we see that so vividly because liberalism has been dominant for so long that we see the periodic crises and then liberalism reinvent itself and find another 10, 15 years of good time. »
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New RightVérifier à 44:25
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« it's this shared movement. So it's going to be Hungary, China, India, Israel, and the United States. And I want, and I could do others. I just, it's a, it's a book. I could, I wanted to do Singapore as, I was thinking about doing Spain. There's other options. But those are, that's, that's my pitch. And so when I went to, I can talk more about Hungary. We can bounce back and forth. What I felt I saw in Hungary was a state trying to do that as non-repressively as it could. It had a sense as to, like, I, I think Orban lost because the regime got fat, got corrupt. And 16 years is a really good run for any government, much less to hold supermajorities that whole time, even if they game it. And I acknowledge all that. But what they tried to do in their way was to incentivize and honor and fund certain ways of life that they thought more worthy for Hungarians. So they had that, they had that family policy that, from the outside, just looks insane, right? So they don't, they don't want many immigrants. So then, like all other Western countries, they have a birth crisis. So they need Hungarians to have more kids. So they put as much money as, more money than their defense budget into trying to incentivize Hungarians to have kids. And it kind of worked, kind of didn't, but it was really a model for a certain vision of the family, young, many children, heterosexual, preferably pious. »
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New RightVérifier à 34:32Voir 2 autres passages
« I mean, you know, all the stats as well as I do. Well, then we're not, we're not even, it's just risible. We're not pretending that this is a fair go. So for me, I'm a, that's why I'm a liberal socialist. I'm like, so the, the recent reforms that the Albanese government announced for me, those are a good thing. And that's trying to do something »
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New RightVérifier à 42:15
« Okay, so let me put it this way. Let me try to describe a gigantic transformation that I think is happening worldwide. So today, liberals like to think that the way that we've organized states and societies is basically like the human default. It's just like that's what just naturally happens. And the basic liberal idea that people, I think, of the left and the right can basically agree on is that the point of liberalism is to provide as much freedom for individuals to live out their life as they choose within reasonable limits. So it's not for the state to tell us what the good life is, nor for the state to promote a certain model of what it means to flourish as a person. Liberalism says, no, that's too controversial. We're going to let our citizens make that up for themselves. And that's the sort of liberal arrangement that we've been living under for a few hundred years. And that is hegemonic in the Western world. Now, that's fine and well. But that liberal perspective where you get to pick and choose your conception of the good life, that is a historical anomaly. And when we look back in time, both within the Western tradition, but also in the non-Western tradition, the idea that the state and government and public power would take a leadership role in trying to establish what it means to be a good person, to flourish as an individual, that was like the primary tasks of government. And you look back to like this week, I'm teaching Aristotle here at the University of Sydney. And the politics first line is like basically, what is the state for, says Aristotle? And he answers, it's for the good life. »
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Chiffres cités19 mai 2026 au 28 juil. 2026 · 2 observations2 passages
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« On the other hand, liberals like me are like, liberalism, let's do it. Let's try it. Let's, let's do this thing. So that would be the other option to give people a reason. So if you think that the dissatisfactions that spring up because of liberalism are just intrinsic, like no matter how well this thing ran, there would be. It would just eventually lose favor. I don't think that. I just think, yeah, that's, that's what I would say. So I think that if, if Australia is a country of, of a fair go, and yet right now in my part of Sydney, 50% of parents send their kids to private schools that cost 30, 40 grand a year. »
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New RightVérifier à 41:31Voir 1 autre passage
« liberal to do that. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 3:27
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Rapports cités17 oct. 2024 au 19 mai 2026 · 2 observations2 passages
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« say, no, we have our own Confucian thing on. Then the Chinese jumped on that as well. So what we have now is a more aggressive, more concerted way of looking at this. And you really have these different non-liberal regimes starting to organize, share intellectual resources. There's a whole think tank economy right now going on where kind of like you have like, I don't know, Claremont or »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 31:14Voir 1 autre passage
« is a launch symposium. I don't know what kind of mashup it is, but it's a happy event to announce my book in Hong Kong, Liberalism as a Way of Life, which was published a few months ago by Princeton University Press. Now, it has some origins in my own research, of course, but I want to start out with a more specific event that got my thinking going about this particular topic. Just to confirm, can you hear me okay in the back? »
AI& Humanity - Lab, HK Ethics Lab, HKU · Liberalism as a Way of Life, Keynote Address from Alexandre Lefebvre (October 4, 2024)Vérifier à 7:31
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Chaînes causales explicitées23 sept. 2025 au 19 mai 2026 · 4 observations6 passages
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« say, no, we have our own Confucian thing on. Then the Chinese jumped on that as well. So what we have now is a more aggressive, more concerted way of looking at this. And you really have these different non-liberal regimes starting to organize, share intellectual resources. There's a whole think tank economy right now going on where kind of like you have like, I don't know, Claremont or »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 31:14Voir 2 autres passages
« the idea of an international community for nationalism. And yeah, if you think like that, then it's not that you immediately ditch the UN or ditch international commitments, but they have to be negotiated much more gently with the prerogatives of sovereignty. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 31:51
« Okay, so let me put it this way. Let me try to describe a gigantic transformation that I think is happening worldwide. So today, liberals like to think that the way that we've organized states and societies is basically like the human default. It's just like that's what just naturally happens. And the basic liberal idea that people, I think, of the left and the right can basically agree on is that the point of liberalism is to provide as much freedom for individuals to live out their life as they choose within reasonable limits. So it's not for the state to tell us what the good life is, nor for the state to promote a certain model of what it means to flourish as a person. Liberalism says, no, that's too controversial. We're going to let our citizens make that up for themselves. And that's the sort of liberal arrangement that we've been living under for a few hundred years. And that is hegemonic in the Western world. Now, that's fine and well. But that liberal perspective where you get to pick and choose your conception of the good life, that is a historical anomaly. And when we look back in time, both within the Western tradition, but also in the non-Western tradition, the idea that the state and government and public power would take a leadership role in trying to establish what it means to be a good person, to flourish as an individual, that was like the primary tasks of government. And you look back to like this week, I'm teaching Aristotle here at the University of Sydney. And the politics first line is like basically, what is the state for, says Aristotle? And he answers, it's for the good life. »
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Limites et incertitudes23 sept. 2025 au 19 mai 2026 · 3 observations8 passages
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« But I think that, sure, we can try to change people's minds. But I have to, I think you have to realize, the liberals have to realize what we're up against when we're doing that. Because it's like, it's like the Bush fallacy that like you clear away a superstructure and you just have people clamoring for freedom waiting for you. But what these other regimes are showing is that they have a robust, serious and teleologically oriented moral education project that starts right from birth and last into adulthood. And so when people are socialized in those particular ways and take on those human excellences, spreading the good word of liberalism is not, the problem of illiberal societies is not that they lack information about liberalism and not that they're like, oh shit, women could have rights or whatever that thing might be. They know all that stuff. And I think liberals should take it as an axiomatic starting point that the non-liberal world knows way, way more about us than we know about them. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 29:45Voir 2 autres passages
« are so many. Okay. There's two reasons why people aren't buying liberalism. This is a good question. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 23:28
« first reason is is that I think liberals so often suck at liberalism. We are terrible representatives of liberalism and it depends if you're on the left or right side but both are at fault here. So for I'm kind of a center lefty kind of guy and I think that liberals have been ungenerous with their resources with their welfare policies with their taxation and have basically dream hoarded and pulled up the drawbridge about 15 20 years ago. So if for a society that prides itself on fairness to do that is not on. Ditto if you're a society also that prides itself on the freewheeling exchange of ideas and that you come into to persecute cancel culture universities where conservative positions can't speak freely for fear of of sanction then you are not liberal. So the point is is on the one hand I think that liberals have so often been let down their ideals and become illiberal. »
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Dates citées17 oct. 2024 au 19 mai 2026 · 3 observations3 passages
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« if you remember, remember the Asian values conversation that happened in, I don't know, early 90s »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 31:04Voir 2 autres passages
« Okay, so let me put it this way. Let me try to describe a gigantic transformation that I think is happening worldwide. So today, liberals like to think that the way that we've organized states and societies is basically like the human default. It's just like that's what just naturally happens. And the basic liberal idea that people, I think, of the left and the right can basically agree on is that the point of liberalism is to provide as much freedom for individuals to live out their life as they choose within reasonable limits. So it's not for the state to tell us what the good life is, nor for the state to promote a certain model of what it means to flourish as a person. Liberalism says, no, that's too controversial. We're going to let our citizens make that up for themselves. And that's the sort of liberal arrangement that we've been living under for a few hundred years. And that is hegemonic in the Western world. Now, that's fine and well. But that liberal perspective where you get to pick and choose your conception of the good life, that is a historical anomaly. And when we look back in time, both within the Western tradition, but also in the non-Western tradition, the idea that the state and government and public power would take a leadership role in trying to establish what it means to be a good person, to flourish as an individual, that was like the primary tasks of government. And you look back to like this week, I'm teaching Aristotle here at the University of Sydney. And the politics first line is like basically, what is the state for, says Aristotle? And he answers, it's for the good life. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 4:00
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« that's on the one hand liberals suck. On the other hand liberalism may be an unattractive value package for people with a different set of core commitments. So even if liberalism was at its best firing on all cylinders freedom and fairness killing it then as we said earlier some people is just not going to be attractive for them. And in that sense there's going to be a reassertion of different human excellences that is not going to be claiming liberal goods. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 24:38
« It is. Look, liberals can turn righteous, though, in the bad way that John Haidt is talking about. »
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 9:44
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 1:56
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre Lefebvre
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 53:00
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 58:23
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 50:03
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 37:10
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 36:49
« hard. That's hard. Right. I mean, I think that's why, in a sense, that, I mean, for many reasons, but the Ezra Klein Abundance book makes a big splash. This is because it's voicing the values that liberals claim for but don't live up to. And it's just putting those in our face, particularly the yimbyism as the flip. So, I mean, you're a Californian guy. I'm sure you're neck deep in that culture. »
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 33:53
unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc · 586. Living Liberalism: Ethics, Society, and Personal Virtue feat. Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 32:56
Nat Con Australia · Prof Alexandre Lefebvre - Defending Liberalism from the New RightVérifier à 14:08
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 4:00
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 4:00
Centre for Independent Studies · What classical liberals get wrong about the rest of the World | Alexandre LefebvreVérifier à 23:35
« I moved to Sydney in 2010 with my wife and then very, very small child »
AI& Humanity - Lab, HK Ethics Lab, HKU · Liberalism as a Way of Life, Keynote Address from Alexandre Lefebvre (October 4, 2024)Vérifier à 8:11