In this live Socratic dialogue, philosophers Agnes Callard and Berislav Marušić invite us to linger with one of the most enduring and unsettling questions of human life. Rather than offering ready-made answers, they open up a space of inquiry, where different visions of what it means to flourish come into tension, and where our everyday assumptions about value, purpose and choice are gently but persistently questioned.
Moving between ancient philosophical insights and contemporary concerns, the conversation will explore how our desires are shaped, whether we can transform what we truly care about, and what it might mean to orient our lives toward something genuinely good. Is a good life something we discover, construct or aspire toward? And can we recognise it when we see it? Through a rigorous yet accessible exchange, the dialogue invites the audience not just to listen, but to think along, to test their own intuitions, confront their uncertainties and perhaps leave with a slightly altered sense of what it means to live well.
This event is offered in partnership with Atlas Publishing Lab to celebrate the German translation of Agnes Callard’s much-discussed book Open Socrates, out now with C. H. Beck. The audience will also be invited to take part in two dedicated moments, stepping into the conversation themselves.