Agnes Callard

🫶🏽 Thank you for joining us last Monday at Debatpodium Arminius for our talk with philosopher and public intellectual Agnes Callard on The Case for a Philosophical Life.

Falling in Love on the Back of a Motorcycle My whole life, I’ve wanted to feel what it’s like to fly. Riding a motorcycle is the closest I’ve come, writes Agnes Callard.

My whole life, I’ve wanted to feel what it’s like to fly. Riding a motorcycle is the closest I’ve come, writes Agnes Callard.

Agnes Callard: Open Socrates An acclaimed philosopher argues that Socrates still holds the key to the Good Life.

Coming to Toronto! University of Chicago associate professor @agcallard.bsky.social
to explore Socrates’ #philosophy, and why it is still the way to a good life. In conversation with host @ellastreet.bsky.social
Question and answer session and book signing to follow. #Socrates @wwnorton.com

PHILOSOPHY IN THE BOOKSHOP with Agnes Callard and Nigel Warburton A new and vibrant understanding of Socrates and his unique approach to learning. This is part of our Philosophy in the Bookshop series.

Looking forward to having a philosophical conversation with Agnes Callard at 5.30pm on Thursday 29th May upstairs at Blackwell’s in Oxford - free event in the Philosophy in the Bookshop series www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/philosophy...

Delighted to share a conversation I had with the brilliant philosopher Agnes Callard [ agcallard.bsky.social ] on #Socrates. We discuss philosophy as a public, outward-looking practice, free speech, justice, loneliness and lots more!

Thales' Well is available on Spotify and usual podcast places.

Gorgeous venue for Socratic inquiry. Looking forward to this conversation about “Questions to Live By” between two brilliant interlocutors: @agcallard.bsky.social and Alexander Nehamas.

📍 Princeton University

cc @princetonarts.bsky.social @princetonartandarx.bsky.social @wwnorton.bsky.social

yup!

New book tour poster, updated with events in UK with @nigelwarburton.bsky.social and Jessie Munton, and in Spain with @jordigraupera.bsky.social !

indeed

The paradox of Millennial perfection

I wrote about (a novel about) millenials
unherd.com/2025/02/the-...

my backpack was too subtle so I fixed it

Your outie takes both boxes

from Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies

The best account I've read of the real difference between "no, but..." and "yes, and..."
x.com/AgnesCallard...

Upcoming talk, open to the public, at Syracuse University

Philosophy in the Bookshop with Agnes Callard and Nigel Warburton A new and vibrant understanding of Socrates and his unique approach to learning. This is part of our Philosophy in the Bookshop series.

Really looking forward to interviewing @agcallard.bsky.social about Socrates at Blackwell’s Oxford 29th May. Free event. Book your place #philosophyinthebookshop
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/philosophy... www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/philosophy...

I only made this one but I will consider making it available more generally!

this is wonderful to hear! I DO need encouragement!

YouTube video by Townsend Center for the Humanities Agnes Callard in Coversation with Judith Butler: The Case for a Philosophical Life

Video of my event with Judith Butler!
youtu.be/cVO0b6stlf0?...

I've just finished the 2nd chapter of @agcallard.bsky.social 's new book Open Socrates. What a punch to the guts it has been so far. I'll have to finish it now. I'm not sure I'll enjoy the process. Truth is hard to swallow.

The case for the examined life My daughter’s first doll wasn’t a princess, but a bearded man in a toga – a Socrates doll, gifted by my students when she was born. I couldn’t wait for

"One could hardly make Socratic intellectualism more seductive than Agnes Callard does. Her vision of the philosophical life isn’t just a powerful antidote to confusion and thoughtless existential drift–it also forcefully defies nihilism"

My book reviewed in TLS:
www.the-tls.co.uk/philosophy/h...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Socrates w/Agnes Callard Past Present Future · Episode

The new series @ppfideas.bsky.social on Revolutionary Ideas.

A delight listening to @agnescallard.bsky.social explaining how Socrates was revolutionary.

"Many knows more", we say in my party @alternativet.dk and we should imply the Socratic way.

1/6

open.spotify.com/episode/7Lnl...

If you want to know what *I* am interested in, just look at what I write about. Here's a recent list of topics:

Robert Musil
Taylor Swift
Paradoxes about Color (coming soon)
Foucault & human heterogeneity
Is Acting Ok?
The Purpose of Universities
Socrates, Socrates, Socrates

Sometimes people wonder why I talk so much about my divorce in interviews. The answer is: I'm asked about it. A LOT. Interviewers predict that you want to read about it. Prob. correctly, since they're professionals.

Don't confuse your voyeurism for my exhibitionism!

An Ethics of Inquiry The philosopher Agnes Callard wants you to ask questions.

"While I was reading [Open Socrates], I often felt like Callard had abducted me & brought me into a dark room, strapped me down into a chair, pinned my eyelids open à la A Clockwork Orange, & forced me to confront the things I was secretly trying to avoid"
thedispatch.com/article/socr...

12ft.io

PS the story behind the lovely smile I have in this photo is my husband, literally: I had him stand behind the photographer

Philosophy professor Agnes Callard believes in the power of a full-blown argument Her superpowers as a philosopher sprung out of the frustration at getting her thoughts and herself across to people who couldn’t care less about philosophy.

"I attended one of her classes, she was teaching Descartes. It was the second class of the semester and she wrote in a corner of the blackboard: “Nothing is certain.”

A moment later, she scribbled: “Except this claim.” "

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/06/p...

“I've probably thought about Socrates nearly every day for the last 30 years” —same!!!

Agnes Callard | Substack Philosopher, UChicago

I have a substack now, where I will post event info and updates on new writing, subscribe here:

substack.com/@agnescallard