Uploaded June 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Dr. Jacob T. Levy argues that much of classical liberal theory, especially in the United States, has been built on the idea of a social contract, and that this creates real problems for the liberal values of individuality and pluralism.
This lecture was part of the online IHS summer seminar, “The Classical Liberal Tradition,” which took place June 16-21, 2020.
Jacob T. Levy is Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory, Professor of Political Science, and associated faculty in the Department of Philosophy at McGill University. He is the coordinator of McGill’s Research Group on Constitutional Studies, the founding director of McGill’s Yan P. Lin Centre for the Study of Freedom and Global Orders in the Ancient and Modern Worlds, and the political theory field editor for The Journal of Politics. His books include The Multiculturalism of Fear (OUP 2000) and Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom (OUP 2014. He is a Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Brown University, an M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University, and an LL.M. from the University of Chicago Law School.
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Dr. Jacob T. Levy argues that much of classical liberal theory, especially in the United States, has been built on the idea of a social contract, and that this creates real problems for the liberal values of individuality and pluralism.
This lecture was part of the online IHS summer seminar, “The Classical Liberal Tradition,” which took place June 16-21, 2020.
Jacob T. Levy is Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory, Professor of Political Science, and associated faculty in the Department of Philosophy at McGill University. He is the coordinator of McGill’s Research Group on Constitutional Studies, the founding director of McGill’s Yan P. Lin Centre for the Study of Freedom and Global Orders in the Ancient and Modern Worlds, and the political theory field editor for The Journal of Politics. His books include The Multiculturalism of Fear (OUP 2000) and Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom (OUP 2014. He is a Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Brown University, an M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University, and an LL.M. from the University of Chicago Law School.
Subscribe to our channel to see upcoming videos: youtube.com/c/TheIHSorg?sub_confirmation=1
The Institute for Humane Studies supports and partners with professors to promote the teaching and research of classical liberal ideas and to advance higher education’s core purpose of intellectual discovery and human progress. About Us: theihs.org/who-we-are
Twitter: twitter.com/theihs?lang=en
Facebook: facebook.com/InstituteforHumaneStudies
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/instituteforhumanestudies
Instagram: instagram.com/theihs
