Judith Butler, "Democracy and the Future of the Humanities," 04/12/2024

This video is an edited version of Judith Butler's talk, “Democracy and the Future of the Humanities,” given on December 4, 2024, during their visit to South Korea. This lecture explores the connection between democracy, imagination, and the humanities. Butler examines how young people's fears about the future - from climate change to economic precarity - reflect a crisis in our collective ability to imagine better possibilities.
The talk argues that democracy requires the ability to imagine alternative futures and the critical thinking skills fostered by the humanities. Butler analyzes how anti-democratic movements often construct phantasms that scapegoat vulnerable groups while simultaneously attacking higher education and intellectual inquiry.
Butler connects these themes to questions of whose lives are considered grievable in our society, arguing that grief and recognizing interdependency are essential for true democracy. The lecture concludes by defending the humanities as crucial for developing the "collaborative imagining" needed to address current crises and envision more equitable futures.
This timely discussion brings together political theory, cultural criticism, and defense of humanistic education to address urgent questions about democracy's future in an age of rising authoritarianism and environmental crisis.