New Discourses convened in October of 2019 in the National Liberal Club of London for a day-long conference titled Speaking Truth to Social Justice. There, Portland State University philosophy professor Peter Boghossian gave a rousing talk about the need to “speak truth in the face of danger,” parrhesia, as the Ancient Greeks called it, as this applies to Critical Social Justice. Alongside Socrates, Dr. Boghossian draws on contemporary examples including Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the face by Islamist extremists for seeking an education while being a girl, and who survived this attack and bravely went on to become a global advocate for women and girls in education. He then explains the ways in which standing up to Critical Social Justice also requires speaking truth in the face of danger, though fortunately in a far less extreme and terrifying context.

Never content merely to talk about Theory in the abstract, Dr. Boghossian focuses his talk on providing a wide variety of useful and immediately practicable tools to engage in productive dialogue about any controversial or divisive topic, including Critical Social Justice. These, he draws from his book, co-authored with New Discourses founder and fellow conference speaker, Dr. James Lindsay, How to Have Impossible Conversations, which had just been released only weeks before.

Join Dr. Boghossian for this stirring talk and take his closing words to heart: join us in speaking up and resisting Critical Social Justice.

The audio version of this presentation is available on Soundcloud. Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and Stitcher.