Machiavelli advised princes to be both lion and fox and we are all too aware that to judge a book by its cover is naive at best if not dangerous. But is it fair to demand that we wear our hearts on our moral sleeves? If a man be brave on the day who cares if he’s a knave by night? Do we really have to say only what we mean and mean what we say? Can’t we lead private lives very different from how we appear in public? And shouldn’t that privacy be respected? If so, what place for public condemnation of immoral individuals? Is what you think right or should you think what is right?
Introduced by Dolan Cummings, associate fellow, Academy of Ideas; editor, Culture Wars; editor, Debating Humanism; co-founder, Manifesto Club
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"To contribute to Battle of Ideas is to add a few words to a giant, communal speech-bubble out of the gap-toothed mouth of British opinion. It is a strong reminder that the joys of free, uncalculated speech and the right to attack orthodoxies can in no way be assumed in 2012 – that we use them or lose them."
Piers Hellawell, composer; professor of composition, Queen’s University Belfast
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