The Culture Wars: Why ‘Liberals’ Must Win Them.

Wed May 06 2026 at 06:00 pm to 07:30 pm UTC+01:00

University College Dublin | Dublin

Professor Dennis Hayes
Publisher/HostProfessor Dennis Hayes
The Culture Wars: Why \u2018Liberals\u2019 Must Win Them.
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A talk by Professor Nigel Biggar.
About this Event

The ‘Culture Wars’ are often dismissed as superficial or confected disagreements. Nigel Biggar argues that they are practical and moral debates, addressing some of the most substantial questions of our time. But, by putting at stake our freedom of speech, they place barriers to any intellectual progress the foundational freedom.

What is to be done? Most commentators on the culture wars simply provide descriptions of the problem. In this talk, Professor Biggar will present a solution—the revival of the classic liberal thought of John Stuart Mill. This will allow the free market of ideas to find the way out of the culture wars.

About Nigel

Nigel Biggar is Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford. A regular speaker and columnist throughout the English-speaking world, he is the author of the bestselling Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning (2023), Reparations: Slavery and the Tyranny of Imaginary Guilt (2025) and, most recently, The New Dark Age: Why Liberals must Win the Culture Wars (2026). In 2025 he entered the UK House of Lords as a Conservative peer. He is also the Chair of the Free Speech Union (FSU).


Professor Biggar’s talk is the latest in the series, ‘The Dublin Lectures on Free Speech & Academic Freedom,’ launched in April 2023 by UCD President Orla Feely. It is sponsored by (AFAF) with support from

Venue: Newman Theatre 1. Please bring your ticket.


Agenda

Welcome and Introduction - Dr Tim Crowley (UCD), Convenor, 18.00-1805

A word from our sponsor - About AFAF – Professor Dennis Hayes 18.05 18.10

Lord Biggar’s talk 18.10-18.50

Questions and Comments 18.50-19.25

Final Remarks 19.25-19.30



Image Credit. Donnacha0.ol (2023) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

University College Dublin, University College, Dublin, Ireland

Tickets

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