On Monday, May 13 at 6 P.M., the University of Chicago Philosophy Review will host a debate between representatives from the Thinker and the Platypus Affiliated Society’s Chicago chapter. The title of the upcoming debate is “The End of American Democracy?”
The Thinker and Platypus will debate democracy, civil liberties, and neoliberalism in light of the upcoming 2024 presidential election. Representing the Thinker will be Declan Hurley, Ben Ogilvie, and Perry Zhao.
A contrast between the Thinker and Platypus positions is all but certain. “Our task is critique and education towards the reconstitution of a Marxian Left,” reports Platypus’s statement of purpose. Conversely, the Thinker’s agenda is “to defend conservative and libertarian perspectives in a community that is increasingly intolerant of such voices.”
Last year, the Philosophy Review sponsored a Thinker–Platypus debate on the American Revolution, which attracted a standing-room-only crowd at Reynolds Club.
The public is invited to sit in for Monday’s debate, which will occur in room 133 of UChicago’s Eckhart Hall.