Our character is profoundly shaped by our upbringing, background, culture, and laws. In what sense are we still free to determine our character, and in what sense are we still responsible for the person we become? Rachel Alexander (Princeton) presents Aristotle as a thinker who recognizes both the possibility for individual initiative in pursuit of the human good, and limitations to such initiative. Aristotle’s nuanced notion of human freedom, she argues, engenders a nuanced understanding of the possibilities for political change available to human beings.

This event is part of our series on Living the Core.