UC Berkeley Graduate Council Lectures (Audio)

This program explores the decolonizing potential of Indian aesthetic-social philosophy by challenging two entrenched colonial prejudices: the supposed radical dissimilarity and inferiority of pre-modern Indian traditions compared to modern social theory. Through an analysis of the Upanishads and Vaisnava theology and poetry, Sudipta Kaviraj, professor of Indian Politics and Intelle

What defines a person’s character, and how does it shape who they are? In this lecture, Susan Wolf, emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina, challenges traditional ideas about character. She argues that character is more than just a set of traits or values an individual endorses—it can include aspects of ourselves we may not even recognize or approv

Oil and gas are the most traded commodities on the planet; they are also the chief causes of the most grievous harm our species has yet faced, the burgeoning climate crisis. Bill McKibben is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College and a founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 to work on climate and racial justice. He examines how the export

In this program, Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA, examines how police in the neoliberal era–in tandem with other state and corporate entities—have become engines of capital accumulation, government revenue, gentrification, the municipal bond market, the tech and private security industry—in a phrase, the profi

Placing the U.S. in comparative perspective, Daniel Ziblatt, professor of government at Harvard University, discusses uniquely American counter-majoritarian institutions. Ziblatt is also director of the Transformations of Democracy group at Berlin’s WZB Social Science Center. He is the author of four books, including "How Democracies Die," co-authored with Steve Levitsky, a New

America’s contemporary democratic predicament is rooted in its historically incomplete democratization. Born in a pre-democratic era, the constitution’s balancing of majority rule and minority rights created still-unresolved dilemmas. Placing the U.S. in comparative perspective, Daniel Ziblatt, professor of government at Harvard University, discusses the relationship between U.

America’s contemporary democratic predicament is rooted in its historically incomplete democratization. Born in a pre-democratic era, the constitution’s balancing of majority rule and minority rights created still-unresolved dilemmas. Placing the U.S. in comparative perspective, Daniel Ziblatt, professor of government at Harvard University, offers new perspectives on what shoul

What does it mean when we use the first-person pronoun ‘I’? And how does it relate to self-consciousness? In this program, Béatrice Longuenesse, professor of philosophy emerita at New York University, compares the analysis of philosophers Elizabeth Anscombe and Jean-Paul Sartre on consciousness, self-consciousness and the use of 'I'. Languenesse's current work spans the histo

Where did the American Dream of hard work equals upward mobility go? And what will it take to bring it back? In this talk, Raj Chetty, director of Opportunity Insights and professor of public economics at Harvard University, focuses on three policy levers to increase upward mobility: reducing racial and economic segregation through more effective affordable housing programs, invest

Children’s chances of earning more than their parents have fallen from 90% to 50% over the past half century in America. How can we restore the American Dream of upward mobility for all children? In this talk, Raj Chetty, director of Opportunity Insights and professor of public economics at Harvard University, shows how big data from varied sources ranging from anonymized tax rec