Keen On

There are those who believe that fighting for democracy is more important than defending the rather nebulous concept of “liberalism”. And then there are those, like the political philosopher Alexandre Lefebvre, who, in their eponymous new book, see liberalism as a way of life which makes us both better and happier people. For Lefebvre, liberalism is the ideology of our times, as ubiquitous as religion once was. Rather than apologizing for the L word, Lefebvre argues, we should celebrate the way in which it saturates every area of public and private life, shapes our psychological and spiritual outlooks, and underpins our moral and aesthetic values.Alexandre Lefebvre is Professor of Politics and Philosophy at The University of Sydney. He teaches and researchs in political theory, the history of political thought, modern and contemporary French philosophy, and human rights. He grew up in Vancouver, Canada, studied in the United States (PhD, The Johns Hopkins University, Humanities Center 2007), and now calls Syd