Ezra Klein, Self-Harm, and Liberal Perfectionism

From the beginning, liberals have felt the need to promote the development and flourishing of human nature in light of the good even if they disagreed about what it might be.

In a recent New York Times op-ed, “Pay Attention to How You Pay Attention,” while drawing on distinctions he derives from the Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel, Ezra Klein made a plea for a “human flourishing” approach to the regulation of social media and AI companies more generally. Klein treats such attention to “human flourishing” as a rejection of liberalism, which Klein associates with state neutrality, and as an endorsement of republicanism (the public philosophy, not the political party)…

Continue reading this article by Eric Schliesser, “Ezra Klein, Self-Harm, and Liberal Perfectionism,” here: https://www.liberalcurrents.com/ezra-klein-self-harm-and-liberal-perfectionism/