This year’s Climate Dialogues brought together Wendy Brown (political theorist, IAS Princeton) and Eva von Redecker (feminist philosopher and critical theorist) to discuss the concept of freedom in a time of ecological crisis and probe the possibilities of theorizing freedom anew, and in terms that would respond more aptly to our current ecological realities.  

Wendy Brown and Eva von Redecker analysed together problems with our received concepts of freedom and examined why traditional frameworks do not work anymore for thinking about the world of climate change. They each proposed their own concepts of freedom: Eva von Redecker introduced a ‘temporal turn’ into freedom in order to advance ‘freedom to stay’, while Wendy Brown proposed ‘reparative democracy’ and suggested that listening rather than speech should be a key element of reparative political freedom. Furthermore, the two thinkers discussed the relation of freedom to nonhumans and what place nonhumans hold in their concepts. They considered why it is important to reclaim the sullied term of freedom in the context of politics. Finally, they delved into what would a new understanding of freedom mean for politics, our political practices and democracy.

The event took place on 22 May 2025 at the cinema Edison Filmhub in Prague. The format of the event included brief lectures by Wendy Brown and Eva von Redecker, followed by a conversation between the two thinkers facilitated by Iwona Janicka (CETE-P Research Team Leader), and finally opening the floor to questions from the audience. A video recording of this year’s Climate Dialogues can be watched here.

Climate Dialogues is an annual honorary lecture series – a signature event for CETE-P – that brings two internationally distinguished scholars to Prague to discuss philosophy, politics and ethics in light of climate crisis and propose new ways of thinking about our world today.

Photos: Romana Kovacs
The event was supported by Česko-německý fond budoucnosti.