Jul 31 2025 to Jul 31 2025 6:30 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

There are many different views on what it means to be free. One popular perspective sees freedom as a form of independence: being free means not being held back or restricted by the expectations, obligations, or interference from others. After explaining the basic idea in more detail, the talk discusses Bob Dylan’s work to illustrate the value of this kind of freedom while noting that some other parts of Dylan’s work seem to question this very idea of freedom. To explore the critique of freedom, the talk turns to Robert Musil’s (1880-1942) unfinished novel The Man Without Qualities. One way to understand this celebrated novel is to see it as a partly hilarious, partly deeply tragic and moving description of putting too much emphasis on an ideal of freedom as independence. Drawing on insights from moral philosophy, the talk suggests that a proper understanding of the relation between independence and personal integrity can lead to a better appreciation of freedom as independence.

A Q&A with the audience will follow the lecture.

This lecture is a part of Vidyashilp University’s Public Lecture Series.

In collaboration with:

Speaker

Martin van Hees
Professor, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam & Distinguished Visiting Professor, Vidyashilp University
Martin van Hees is professor of Moral and Political Philosophy of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and currently Distinguished Visiting Professor on sabbatical at Vidyashilp University. A central part of his research concerns the analysis of freedom and responsibility, with particular attention to the influence and importance of the institutional contexts in which agents operate. He was the founding Dean of the John Stuart Mill College of the Vrije Universiteit, which offered the first PPE-program in the Netherlands. From 2021 until 2025 he served as Dean of Amsterdem University College, the liberal arts college organised jointly by the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Univertsiteit Amsterdam. He is member of the board of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW) and chairs the Academy’s Humanities Division.