Patrick Deneen,"Why Liberalism Failed"

About This Event

Please join us for a timely and thought-provoking lecture on our current political moment and its intellectual roots with Patrick Deneen, author of Why Liberalism Failed and Professor of Political Science at University of Notre Dame. 

In Why Liberalism Failed, Deneen argues that contemporary "conservatives" and "progressives" both share the same goal, namely liberation of the individual. Thus, what often appear as intractable political disputes between two sides are really disagreements over preferred means of achieving the same end. Placing individual liberty at the center of social, political, and economic life was the grand achievement of Enlightenment liberalism, a project that has become enormously successful. But, Deneen argues, unfettered pursuit of individual liberty is not sustainable over the long run because it engenders depersonalization, political alienation, and enormous income inequality, factors that ultimately lead to liberalism’s own destruction. Deneen’s provocative analysis implies that our current political situation might just be the beginning of the end of liberalism. 
 
Deneen holds a B.A. in English Literature and a Ph.D. in political science from Rutgers University. From 1995-97 he was speechwriter and special advisor to the Director of the United States Information Agency. From 1997-2005, he was Assistant Professor of Government at Princeton University. From 2005-2012 he was Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis Associate Professor of Government at Georgetown University, before joining the faculty of Notre Dame in Fall 2012. He is the author and editor of several books and numerous articles and reviews and has delivered invited lectures around the country and several foreign nations.