Vassar Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Michael McCarthy will discuss: What does it mean to be an American citizen today? And why have so many Americans become distrustful of government, suspicious of politics, and uncertain of their civic obligations?

If a healthy democracy requires creating an imperfect balance between political and economic concerns, between the democratic struggle for equal liberty and justice and the capitalist struggle for profit and financial security, then how did the acquisitive spirit of capitalism become so deeply entrenched in the American public’s life that the traditional authority of politics over economics has been almost completely reversed?

The lecture will seek to answer these interrelated questions.

This is an endowed lecture under the Philosopher’s Holiday Lecture Series and is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the Vassar Dean of the Faculty.