Judith Shklar with Bernard Yack

In this episode, Juliette Marchant is joined by Bernard Yack, Lerman-Neubauer Professor of Democracy and Political Science at Brandeis University, to discuss the work of Judith Shklar: political theorist, historian of ideas, and one of the most incisive liberal thinkers of the twentieth century.Together, Yack and Marchant explore what makes Shklar’s work so bracing and enduring: “the liberalism of fear,” her insistence that cruelty is the worst political evil, and her distinctive approach to injustice, hypocrisy, and exile. From Ordinary Vices to The Faces of Injustice, the conversation highlights Shklar as a thinker who challenged both complacent liberal optimism and abstract moralism, urging instead a vigilant, historically grounded defense of freedom against the ever-present dangers of cruelty and abuse of power.Texts Referenced in the Episode:Nationalism and the Moral Psychology of Community - Bernard YackThe Problems of a Political Animal - Bernard YackLiberalism without Illusions - Edited by Bernard YackLegalism - Judith ShklarThe Liberalism of Fear - Judith ShklarThe Faces of Injustice - Judith ShklarOrdinary Vices - Judith ShklarAfter Utopia: The Decline of Political Faith - Judith ShklarWho Needs a Theory of Justice? Judith Shklar and the Politics of Injustice - Robin Douglass