On Saturday 9 May the forum chair Peter Baldwin gave a talk in which he defended the overall theme for the 2020 season of Blackheath Philosophy Forum talks. That theme is:

A new Dark Age? Emerging threats to free speech and the liberal order

This talk, streamed live on YouTube, prompted an animated debate in the chat stream as the talk progressed. Unfortunately there was limited scope to explore the complex issues raised due to limitations of time and the 200 character maximum for chat entries.

This page has been set up to allow our subscribers to follow up these issues in detail. You can view a transcript of the talk here, and the original chat entries (and one extended YouTube comment) here.

This is the chairman's summation of the five main lines of objection to his presentation on the day and his response to each.

1. That I have systematically exaggerated the significance of identity politics and political correctness and the threat they pose to our civilization. One contributor thinks it is dangerous to talk of these as constituting a civilizational ‘immune disorder’ response»
2. That I have overlooked the importance of inequality, specifically inequality of power, as a far more important factor undermining and destabilizing society and rendering it inherently unjust response»
3. That my references to worrying aspects of the Islamic creed, and their incompatibility with liberal societies, are exaggerated, and that fundamentalist Christianity is a far more significant problem, especially in the United States response»
4. That with the rise of Donald Trump, and similar populist politicians in other countries, the distinction between Chinese autocracy and what one contributor calls ‘autocratic capitalism’ has become blurred, if not moot response»
5. That I overstate the virtues of post-Enlightenment Western civilization, ignoring its oppressive aspects, and that in any case no-one of significance denigrates everything about it response»

Everything is up for debate. Click anywhere on the article, or select some text, to simply add a comment, or use the menu at the top right if you want to go to town with a full article, or to cite a relevant resource (article, website, whatever). As the discussion unfolds, use the View sub-menu to view it in various graphical formats, or the Updates sub-menu to be notified of new items or changes.