Livestream Recording of the 2024 Rand Debate now available
The 2024 Rand Debate, co-hosted by Augustine College and First Freedoms Foundation, saw Queen’s Law Professor Bruce Pardy debate Wilfred Laurier’s Professor David Haskell on the topic of virtue vs. freedom, inspired by an article Bruce wrote published by the Brownstone Institute: Freedom and Virtue: Friends or Enemies?
According to Bruce (a freedom person), “virtue people” believe societal flourishing necessitates governments whose first responsibility is the promotion of virtue. David argues the evidence supports the prosperity created by virtue that reflects Judeo-Christian values and tradition. Bruce, however, points to individual autonomy as the primary accomplishment of the West, an accomplishment unique to western civilization. Freedom, he says, is the absence of coercion and individuals must determine the meaning of virtue for themselves. David argues that if the public sphere is an ideological vacuum, an ideology of some sort will move in to fill it. Governments, to that end, serve as virtue signallers.
No winner that night was declared. There was no vote to decide.
The greater takeaway is: which type of person are you? What sets the stage for a life of meaning and discovery? What do we need to evolve as individuals and as a community? Is there an objective good? If there was, would choice matter more? Discover for yourselves, what matters to you. Our society depends on it.