Conversation #2: A History of the Self

Understanding the crisis today based on Enlightenment thinkers: that is how you might describe most of historian Philipp Blom’s books. The liberal dream of the 17th century – in which personal rights and freedoms eclipsed religious dogmatism, aristocratic rule, and superstition – has started to undermine itself in the course of history. In Wat er op het Spel Staat (What is at Stake)(2017), Blom sketches how, on the one hand, the dream was shattered in the market, which is governed by the law of the jungle, and on the other, how it collided with the stronghold, a safe fortress in which people hide themselves away to try and return to a past that never really existed. Journalist and philosopher Anna Luyten will join Blom for a discussion about the journey of the Enlightenment’s rational, emancipated and authentic self. How far has it come?

• Philipp Blom (Hamburg, 1970) is a German historian, philosopher and author. He is best-known for his historical non-fiction. He has been a guest of the Kaaitheater twice before, including during Ecopolis 2015.