Choice matters. You might have the opportunity to eat a nutritious diet, though you might choose to eat a lousy diet. What matters is the opportunity.

Today, I think, the state of philosophizing about democracy is very healthy. It bridges political science and philosophy, as it should.

The GDP approach doesn't address many aspects of human life: health, education, political liberty, religious liberty, employment opportunities. And these are not all that well correlated with gross domestic product. We also have to think about equality among groups. And freedom of speech and religion. China always ranks near the top of developing countries these days, but there are lots of things we might see as lacking in China.

A person in torment is not going to give you anything.

There's a gap in perceptions between women and men. Women feel much freer than they did, but still, when alcohol is involved, especially, there's a lot of sexual assault, and a lot of confusion about that. So, we need to focus a lot more on what consent is and on the importance of affirmative consent.

People have a deep need to be legislators, and the idea of autonomy has become very precious.

To be a good human being is to have a kind of openness to the world, an ability to trust uncertain things beyond your own control.