Sam Harris speaks with John Gray about the possibility of moral and political progress. They discuss historical and current threats to freedom of thought, the limits of law, the spread of dangerous technology, failures of convergence on norms and values, Arthur Koestler, de-industrialization in Europe, fellow travelers and the progressive embrace of barbarism, Bertrand Russell, the absurdity of pacifism, utilitarianism, the moral landscape, George Santayana, moral and scientific realism, pragmatism, atheism, Schopenhauer, liberalism as an historical accident, and other topics.

John Gray is the author of many critically acclaimed books, including "The Silence of Animals," "The Immortalization Commission," "Black Mass," and "Straw Dogs." His latest book is "The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism." He is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books, and he has been a professor of politics at Oxford, a visiting professor at Harvard and Yale, and a professor of European thought at the London School of Economics. He now writes full-time.

Website: https://www.newstatesman.com/author/j...

February 16, 2024

SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes of the podcast at https://samharris.org/subscribe/ OR become a channel member to access episodes on YouTube. For those who can't afford the full subscription price, we offer full and partial scholarships https://www.samharris.org/subscribe/s...

Subscribe to the YT channel: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c...

Follow Making Sense on Twitter:   / makingsensehq  

Follow Sam on Facebook:   / samharrisorg  

Follow Sam on Instagram:   / samharrisorg  

For more information about Sam Harris: https://www.samharris.org