Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division with Robert George and Cornel WestRobert George and Cornel West
The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss
Lawrence M. Krauss
4.4 • 592 Ratings
🗓️ 12 June 2025
⏱️ 150 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One of the great pleasures of hosting the Origins Podcast is talking with fascinating thinkers who challenge my perspectives and with whom I can have frank, if provocative, discussions. My recent conversation with Robert George and Cornel West was particularly enjoyable. These two distinguished intellectuals embody the spirit of respectful and meaningful dialogue that the Origins Project Foundation aims to foster.
Robert George is a renowned conservative legal scholar and Catholic professor at Princeton University, while Cornel West is a leading progressive philosopher and Protestant scholar at Union Theological Seminary, and an academic celebrity. Together, they've authored a timely new book, Truth Matters, exploring how fruitful dialogue can bridge ideological divides even during polarized times.
In our conversation, we tackled subjects including philosophy, theology, politics, and the crucial role respectful disagreement plays in uncovering deeper truths. Joining the discussion as a scientist, atheist, and someone raised in a Jewish tradition, I brought a viewpoint to our exchange that differed from those of both Robert and Cornell, who in spite of their political differences are both Christians, and scholars in the humanities . It was especially rewarding to find common ground with Robert and Cornel despite our differing starting points. All told, I found it one of the most fascinating discussions to date, and the first with more than one person. It worked. :)
This kind of rich and thoughtful engagement is precisely what inspired me to start the Origins Podcast. Robert George and Cornel West remind us that disagreements are valuable, as they help us move closer to understanding not only each other, but also ourselves.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi and welcome to the Origins Podcast. I'm your host Lawrence Krause. In this episode, I had a |
| 0:14.3 | roll-looking good time with two amazing intellects and two amazing intellectuals. People I've |
| 0:19.2 | been thinking about having on the program for an |
| 0:21.3 | incredible time. Two people you would think would be as disparate as you can imagine, but in fact, |
| 0:27.2 | they teach a class together at Princeton. And there's a book that's just come out called Truth Matters, |
| 0:32.8 | a dialogue on fruitful disagreement in an age of division. And the topic really captured me |
| 0:38.1 | because that's one of the points of the Origins Podcasting, |
| 0:41.5 | the Origins Foundation, |
| 0:42.6 | is to lead fruitful and respectful dialogues |
| 0:45.7 | about topics that are important and sometimes inconvenient and sensitive. |
| 0:50.2 | But that's what learning and scholarship is all about. |
| 0:54.8 | Now, Robert George and Cornell West on the surface could not be more different. |
| 0:59.6 | Robert George is a distinguished professor of jurisprudence, |
| 1:03.0 | a well-known conservative scholar, if you want, at Princeton. |
| 1:07.8 | And Cornell West is a well-known progressive. He's also a professor of philosophy |
| 1:15.6 | and Christian practice of the Union Theological Seminary. And this progressive left-wing, if you want to call it that, |
| 1:24.6 | intellectual, and this conservative intellectual come together to have fascinating discussions. |
| 1:31.0 | And I came in sort of as a third wheel. |
| 1:33.7 | Because in fact, what is kind of interesting is that both Robert George and Cornel West, |
| 1:39.8 | while they differ in many things, also have many similarities. |
| 1:43.1 | They both study social sciences |
| 1:45.0 | and humanities. They're both Christians. One's a Catholic, one's a Protestant. And it was fun to |
... |
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