deBuren

The well-known philosopher Harvey C. Mansfield will give a talk at deBuren based on the translation of his book, Manliness, into Dutch. This will be followed by a debate and a lively riposte from Griet Vandermassen, Kristof van Rossem and Naema Tahir.

Are our sports heroes an example of manliness? Was Margaret Thatcher manly? Or Harry S. Truman, who said: 'you cannot shirk responsibility'? And what about Humphrey Bogart who, as Rick in Casablanca, was self-confident, cynical and cool even before cool had been invented? The brave policemen and firemen in New York on 11 September 2001 are definitely manly. But why do we need manliness? Is it a virtue? Has manliness fallen into disuse in our sexually neutral society?

Harvey C. Mansfield is a philosopher and professor at Harvard University. He writes for The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard and Times Literary Supplement. He made his name in the academic world with his studies of Plato, Aristotle and Machiavelli. Elsewhere, he has shown himself to be a conservative and pillar of the Republican Party.

His book Manliness, which has now been translated into Dutch, caused a furious controversy in America and it is almost impossible to ignore the debate Harvey Mansfield arouses here. For Mansfield it is all about manliness and in his book he examines all its layers ? ranging from raw courage to the refinement of the gentleman and the subversiveness of the philosopher. Manliness seeks drama, has a preference for battle and conflict, does not avoid risks and attacks accepted ideas. Mansfield goes against the flow, defending manliness with verve and erudition and asks men and women to restore manliness to its former position.

In his lecture at deBuren, Mansfield deals with the difference between the sexes. In his view this has become lost in feminist theory and policy-making and here he particularly attacks feminism in the tradition of Simone de Beauvoir. Mansfield believes that although this feminism has emancipated women, it has not made them happier. Feminists refuse to consider the question of precisely what a woman is.

The lecture will be followed by a debate. In it Harvey Mansfield will be firmly refuted by Griet Vandermassen, Kristof van Rossem and Naema Tahir. Griet Vandermassen is a philosopher and a 'Darwinian feminist'. Kristof van Rossem, a philosopher who specialises in women's studies and practical philosophy, will pose several critical and fundamental questions on the basis of Mansfield's book and the concepts it employs. Naema Tahir will be the last to speak. She is one of six women interviewed in the book De derde feministische golf by Dirk Verhofstadt and is the author of the novels Een moslima ontsluiert (2004) and Kostbaar bezit (2006). Her latest novel, Eenzaamheden (2006), deals with a Muslim girl who opts radically for her Western identity to escape the power of Muslim men. 

An initiative of the VUB, with the support of the iPAVUB and deBuren