The Gadfly’s Sting and the Hemlock Crucible

To what extent can a «democratic» society survive «authoritarian» opposition without becoming an «authoritarian» society itself? A question like this is not new, but perhaps more pressing today than it ever was – one may be reminded of Socrates of Athens. Socrates’ ideas were explicitly called to the fore by the winner of the 2022 Balzan Prize for Moral Philosophy, Martha Nussbaum, in her acceptance speech delivered on the occasion of the awards ceremony at the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome. In acknowledging «the rich faculty culture» of the Law School at the University of Chicago where she teaches, she recalled that her colleagues were willing to dedicate their time to others, revealing that «so many of my manuscripts have been poked and prodded by critical questions asked in the best Socratic spirit, always civil and respectful but often skeptical and deeply challenging».