Illusions and Ignorance: A Critique

Do we live in a post-truth era or have we always thrived on ignorance and illusions? In this conversation, two leading critical thinkers, Renata Salecl, author of A Passion for Ignorance: What We Choose Not to Know and Why (2020), and Bernard E. Harcourt, author of Critique & Praxis: A Critical Philosophy of Illusions, Values, and Action (2020), reflect on the important role of belief and denial in contemporary Western society.

Renata Salecl is a leading scholar on the subject of psychoanalysis and law, and she has a long association with the critical legal studies movement. She is professor at the School of Law at Birkbeck College, University of London and senior researcher at the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her new book A Passion for Ignorance: What We Choose Not to Know and Why is published in September.

Bernard E. Harcourt is the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law and professor of political science at Columbia University and a chaired professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He is also a social-justice litigator and the recipient of the 2019 Norman Redlich Capital Defense Distinguished Service Award from the New York City Bar Association for his longtime representation of death row prisoners. His new book Critique and Praxis: A Critical Philosophy of Illusions, Values, and Action is published in August. @BernardHarcourt