What does it mean to be free? And how do modern societies constrain human freedom?
In this lecture, Lea Ypi (lse.ac.uk) reflects on the contested idea of progress and argues that both liberalism and socialism have historically failed to realize their ideological promises of freedom.
Drawing on a Kantian perspective, she suggests that progress lies not in the certainty of an inevitable historical path but in collective learning from the mistakes and contradictions of the past.
Ypi argues that imagining real political alternatives for the future requires a fundamental rethinking of how we understand freedom, democracy, and capitalism.
The lecture will be followed by a conversation between Ypi and Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, University of Bergen.
About the speaker
Lea Ypi is a professor of political philosophy at the London School of Economics and has in recent years distinguished herself as a highly influential theorist.
Her main research interests and expertise lies within the field of modern political philosophy, German idealism (esp. Immanuel Kant), critical theory and European history.
Ypi has written several books which have received wide recognition, including:
- Global Justice and Avant-Garde Political Agency (academic.oup.com)
- The Meaning of Partisanship (academic.oup.com)
- The Architectonic of Reason (academic.oup.com)
Ypi’s autobiographical “Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History” (penguin.co.uk) is a critically acclaimed bestseller. The book recounts her upbringing in dictatorial Albania and the country’s chaotic transition into liberal capitalism.
In her latest book, Indignity – A Life Reimagined (penguin.co.uk), Ypi explores the life of her grandmother while also raising questions about how we understand and evaluate earlier generations. Blending biography and history, the book offers a personal and powerful insight into Albania’s turbulent 20th century, from the occupations by Mussolini and the Nazis to Enver Hoxha’s Stalinist dictatorship.
The event is open to all.
