The following event was canceled due to coronavirus concerns in accordance with UNC’s recent policy.
Arthur C. Brooks is the past president of the American Enterprise Institute and, starting in July 2019, a professor of the practice at Harvard’s Kennedy School and a senior fellow at Harvard Business School. In Harvard’s announcement of his appointment, David Gergen observed that Brooks has “developed his own, fresh voice on compassionate leadership, the importance of respectful dialogue, the role of the arts in human behavior, human flourishing, and more.” Brooks’ public lecture will pursue the theme of his most recent New York Times Best Seller: Love Your Enemies.
Brooks is the author of eleven other books including The Road to Freedom: How to Win the Fight for Free Enterprise (2012) and The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America (2015).
The problem in American public life today isn’t excessive anger; it’s a culture of contempt. Across the political spectrum, we hear that those who disagree with us are not just wrong, but our enemies—worthless and morally defective. This is warping political discourse, tearing us apart as people, and even wrecking our health. But there is a way forward. Drawing on ancient wisdom, the latest findings in behavioral science, and examples from history’s greatest leaders, Arthur Brooks reveals how we can rebuild America’s moral consensus, restore a vibrant competition of ideas, reject divisive leadership, and find love in our hearts, not just civility and tolerance, for those with whom we disagree.
This event is a public lecture organized and hosted by the UNC PPE Program and for which the North Carolina Study Center is serving as a partner.