Moderation often seems less a political position than a personal disposition — the absence, not the presence, of strongly held positions. It is the equivalent of a plaid sweater, accepted by all but admired by few. But true moderation is very different and much more demanding.
“Moderation is not antithetical to passion and to engagement. To the contrary, true moderation requires courage and it requires clarity,” Robert Zaretsky, a historian at University of Houston in Texas, said.
In a lecture delivered at the University of New England campus in Tangier, Morocco, Zaretsky delves into the writings of French philosophers from Michel de Montaigne to Albert Camus to find where moderation lies.
There is no better time than now after a contentious presidential election, when voices of moderation have lost their conviction while the extremes are full of passionate intensity, to look to the work of writers who sacrificed so much on behalf of their ideals of moderation.
Zaretsky has written several books, including “A Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning.” He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chronicle of Higher Education and Foreign Policy magazine. He also is a contributing editor to the Los Angeles Review of Books and the Jewish Daily Forward.
This lecture is part of the University of New England’s Tangier Global Forum, which brings together leading thinkers to encourage discussion and critical examination of the burning issues facing the global community.