The Public Role of Storytelling

Abstract

How can we judge world events responsibly? Escalating violence, gross inequalities of wealth, and millions of homeless refugees make the need for responsible political judgment increasingly urgent. Moreover, as critics since the Enlightenment have affirmed, responsible moral and political deliberation on the part of each one of us is crucial to a free society, for a free society requires not only appropriately structured institutions but also individuals who question received doctrine and participate thoughtfully and responsibly in public life.

A revolution may well put an end to autocratic despotism … but it will never produce a true reform in ways of thinking.

—Immanuel Kant¹