Robert Putnam on Darwin, Tocqueville, and Rabbi Sacks
How two voyages of discovery in 1831 are astonishingly relevant today: An unexpected encounter with Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
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In January 2023, Bar-Ilan University held an international conference entitled Rabbi, Professor, Lord: A Conference in Honour of Jonathan Sacks. With renowned academic speakers, the conference focused on the theme of Jewish Philosophy.
The keynote speaker was Professor Robert D. Putnam from Harvard University. He addressed over 1000 people, noting something he and Rabbi Sacks independently discovered and shared in the past: the parallel voyages of Alexis de Tocqueville and Charles Darwin in 1831, and the impact of those journeys on the world, even to this day.
Professor Putnam shared that we he first began examining the link between these two voyages, he discovered that the only other person ever to explore this was Rabbi Sacks himself. Yet the impact of these two journeys, and the fascinating parallels between them, offer fascinating insights into understanding our world today.
View the full programme here:
