Arthur Ripstein: The Public Use of Reason

By Arthur Ripstein (Professor of Law and Philosophy and University Professor at the University of Toronto)

I will articulate an account of the public use of reason, and so of freedom of expression, that identifies its role in each of three different infrastructures: the infrastructure of legality, as represented by public courts of justice; the infrastructure of civil society, as represented both markets and private associations; and the infrastructure of democracy. By focusing on the infrastructural role of freedom of expression, I will characterize the specific public purposes that it instantiates in each of the three infrastructures. The public use of reason gets its significance from public interactions, and in each case, its specific public significance depends on the type of interactions.

Lecture as part of the 2026 Annual Conference of the Research Program „Zeitenwenden. Normative Ordnungen im Umbruch?“ (Turning Points. Normative Orders in Transition?) at the Research Centre Normative Orders at Goethe University Frankfurt, funded by Stiftungsfonds Commerzbank im Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e. V.

00:00 Welcome to the Conference
10:30 Introduction of the speaker
13:06 Lecture by Arthur Ripstein

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