Who gets to call another society barbarous, and what does that judgement reveal about ourselves? In the final episode of our Montaigne series, Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson discuss custom, European self-criticism, cruelty, compassion and the tension between honour and political expedience.
Through Of Cannibals, Of Cruelty and related essays, we ask how scepticism about custom can coexist with moral judgement, and how disagreement becomes a licence to dehumanise others.
Join the conversation: can a society hold strong convictions without turning custom into nature and opponents into barbarians?
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Montaigne, Episode 3 of 3. Hosted by Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson.
