Rémi Brague (Sorbonne, University of Munich)
Cosponsored by the France Chicago Center
If the contrary of civilization is barbarism, we have to take seriously the etymology of the latter word, i.e. the inability to engage in a conversation. Conversation presupposes some continuity. First, with the past that may have something to teach us (which is the meaning of “conservatism”), then with nature that is not a mere quarry or pantry, but has something to tell us as well, and finally with God as creator in the Logos.