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

The Greek tragedies and comedies are like a roadmap to all the ways in which trying to live this rich, full life can go wrong. You could get into a war. You could find that you have members of your family on the wrong side of a political crisis. You could be raped. You could find that your child has gone crazy because of some horrible experience she's had.

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

I think that's what we really need in America, for people to hear each other. And I think philosophy could do a little bit better on that.

Business leaders love the humanities because they know that to innovate you need more than rote knowledge. You need a trained imagination.

The great tragedy in the new feminist theory in America is the loss of a sense of public commitment.... Hungry women are not fed by this, battered women are not sheltered by it, raped women do not find justice in it, gays and lesbians do not achieve legal protections through it.

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.