UNE Tangier Global Forum presents “The Radicalism of Moderation”
In a world that seems increasingly polarized, moderation is often perceived as the absence, and not the presence, of strongly held positions. But, as the writings of French moralists from Michel de Montaigne to Albert Camus make clear, true moderation is very different and infinitely more demanding. There is no better time than now, when the extremes are so full of passionate intensity, to consider how these writers and their ideal of moderation might salve our troubled world.
A lecture at the University of New England Tangier Global Forum explored this topic, as scholar Robert Zaretsky presented “The Radicalism of Moderation” on Thursday, November 17 at 7 p.m. local time (2 p.m. EST) in the auditorium at UNE’s Tangier Campus. The lecture was live-streamed to students and faculty on UNE’s two Maine campuses and to viewers around the globe.
A professor of French history at the University of Houston, Zaretsky has penned several books, most recently A Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning and Boswell’s Enlightenment. He is currently writing a book about the friendship between Catherine the Great and the French philosopher Denis Diderot. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chronicle of Higher Education, Times Literary Supplement, Foreign Policy, Times Higher Education and Le Monde Diplomatique. He is a contributing editor for the Los Angeles Review of Books and the Jewish Daily Forward.
This third lecture in the Tangier Global Forum’s annual series follows lectures on “The American Revolution and the New World Order” and “The Enlightenment for Our Troubled World.” The series will offer five more events this academic year.
Watch and read more in the Bangor Daily News.
Learn more about the Tangier Global Forum
To apply, visit www.une.edu/admissions