Who is Afraid of Moderation?

Moderation is a contested concept that, with surprisingly few exceptions, has been absent from our public debates. Today the single famous line that people sometimes remember belongs to a politician from Arizona, Barry Goldwater: “Extremism in the pursuit of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Although Goldwater’s skepticism toward moderation did not fare well in the 1964 presidential election, his witty words continue to provoke and invite us to rethink the nature of moderation. Who is afraid of this often misunderstood virtue and why? In my lecture, I argue that moderation is a complex virtue with many ethical and institutional facets and a distinguished genealogy which is often neglected. My lecturer will also address the following questions: What kind of virtue is political moderation and how can we study it? What does it mean to be a moderate voice in politics? What are the limits and benefits of moderation? And, finally, we will examine whether moderation might be a winning card in our hyper-polarized political world.