Peter B. Kaufman - The Fifth Estate: A Fresh Look at the Sociology of Knowledge @weareceu

Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

On November 12, CEU’s Vienna campus hosted a lecture and book launch by Peter B. Kaufman (MIT Open Learning), organized by the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Historical Studies. Kaufman presented his new book, The Fifth Estate: A Fresh Look at the Sociology of Knowledge, offering a compelling analysis of how societies form beliefs, how misinformation spreads, and what knowledge institutions can do to counter it.

Drawing on insights from science, social science, history, law, and literature, Kaufman explores the broken systems through which information circulates and argues for a new approach: treating facts and truths not as intellectual property, but as shared public goods. He calls on universities, libraries, museums, and archives—the “fifth estate”—to “flood the zone” with truth and lead the fight against toxic misinformation.

Watch the full lecture to learn more about this urgent call for strengthening the role of knowledge institutions in shaping informed, democratic societies.

Central European University is an institution of advanced research and teaching, dedicated to socially and morally responsible intellectual inquiry.

More from CEU:
Home https://www.ceu.edu/
Facebook facebook.com/WeAreCEU
Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/weareceu.bsky.social
Instagram instagram.com/weareceu
LinkedIn linkedin.com/school/central-european-university
Threads threads.net/@weareceu

Subscribe for more videos:
youtube.com/CentralEuropeanUniversityChannel

Peter B. Kaufman - The Fifth Estate: A Fresh Look at the Sociology of Knowledge

$The Future of Human Rights | Binaifer Nowrojee at CEU What will it take to defend and rethink human rights in a fractured world? In this Presidential Lecture at Central European University (CEU), Binaifer Nowrojee, President of the Open Society Foundations, explores the future of human rights in an era marked by war, authoritarianism, inequality, climate crisis, and rapid technological change. Drawing on more than three decades of experience as a human rights lawyer, advocate, and philanthropic leader, Nowrojee argues that the future of human rights is not simply a legal or institutional question—it is fundamentally a political one. From Rwanda and Bosnia to Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and beyond, she reflects on the successes, failures, and unfinished work of the global human rights movement. The lecture examines: • Why the post-Cold War vision of inevitable progress has broken down • The limits of international law and institutions • The relationship between democracy, human rights, and political power • How AI and emerging technologies are reshaping human dignity and warfare • The importance of grassroots movements and new political coalitions • Why defending human rights requires a new moral and political imagination This event is part of CEUs 35th Anniversary Presidential Lecture Series. About the Speaker Binaifer Nowrojee is President of the Open Society Foundations, the worlds largest private funder dedicated to advancing human rights, equity, and justice. An international human rights lawyer, she has spent more than three decades working across Africa, Asia, and the United States through advocacy, research, strategic litigation, and philanthropy. Previously, she served as an investigator at Human Rights Watch, documenting sexual violence during the Rwandan genocide and contributing to landmark international convictions for genocide and rape as a weapon of war. 📍 Recorded at Central European University, Vienna 🎓 CEU Presidential Lecture Series – 35th Anniversary Chapters / Timestamps 00:00 Introduction and welcome 01:00 CEUs mission, democracy, and academic freedom 04:43 CEUs move from Budapest to Vienna 06:34 Open Society Foundations and CEUs partnership 07:42 Introducing Binaifer Nowrojee 12:34 Opening remarks: Why rethink human rights? 14:20 CEU, authoritarianism, and the resilience of ideas 16:11 The optimism of the post-Cold War era 17:29 Rwanda, Bosnia, and the limits of progress 19:20 Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and todays human rights crisis 20:16 We have to bend the arc toward justice 21:27 The failure of universality in human rights 22:33 Why universality is not uniformity 24:18 Human rights and Western credibility 25:34 Building new global coalitions for justice 27:24 Why law alone cannot protect human rights 28:35 Lessons from Rwanda and international justice 29:42 Human rights are fundamentally political 31:27 Has civil society lost touch with people? 32:48 Human rights need a positive vision 33:35 AI, war, and the future of human dignity 35:08 The tragedy of autonomous warfare 36:24 AIs promise and dangers 38:26 Why human rights remain alive around the world 39:35 Reimagining human rights for todays reality 40:29 Returning human rights to politics 42:13 Working with states, not only against them 43:47 Expanding the circle of human rights allies 45:11 Why the Vatican can be an ally 46:05 Ideas, dignity, and the future of democracy 47:43 End of lecture and applause 48:06 Conversation and audience Q&A 50:00 Unlikely alliances and political strategy 56:33 The role of universities and academic freedom 01:01:35 Human rights, pluralism, and China 01:02:53 Protecting environmental and womens rights defenders 01:04:44 Human rights and economic inequality Central European University is an institution of advanced research and teaching, dedicated to socially and morally responsible intellectual inquiry. More from CEU: Home https://www.ceu.edu/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WeAreCEU Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/weareceu.bsky.social Instagram https://www.instagram.com/weareceu/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/school/central-european-university Threads https://www.threads.net/@weareceu #HumanRights #BinaiferNowrojee #opensociety Subscribe for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/CentralEuropeanUniversityChannel$

Defending Democratic Societies Against Rising Oppressive Powers | Bernadett Szel

Confronting Goliath - Economic prospects: How to Dismantle an Oligarchic System?

Professor Federico Battiston Receives the 2025 Young Scientist Award in Socio- and Econophysics

How Urban Structure Shapes Human Dynamics | Piero Birello | CEU 3MT 2026

Andreas Fogarasi – Winner of the CEU 35th Anniversary Public Art Commission

Andrea Krizsan – Gendered Paths to De-democratization: The Illiberal Playbook

Scaling AI: The Missing Link to Real Business Value | GenAI Strategy Explained

What the CEU Student Records Office (SRO) Can Do for You