What Freedom Asks of You
Philosophy for Serious Times
Our thoughts on right and wrong are changing rapidly. When philosopher Jurriën Hamer was growing up in the 1990s, long-haul holiday flights were a status symbol, office workers cracked non-PC jokes without a second thought, and the meat on his plate was a matter of course. Today, we’ve started paying the price for our carelessness. But just when we are realising how much a free society demands of us, demagogues are trying to undermine it.
Non-FictionPrint
Original title
Wat vrijheid van je vraagt. Filosofie voor een bloedserieuze tijd.
Author
Jurriën Hamer
Year of publication
2025
Publisher
De Bezige Bij
Page count
208
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This book is a provocation, a challenge, a commission for us all. Jurriën Hamer shows that serious philosophy doesn’t make life easier, but harder. Read his book at your own risk, because once you have read it you can’t un-read it.
Rutger Bregman
In Why Villains Are Unlucky and Heroes Lucky, philosopher Jurriën Hamer arrives at the same conclusion as brain scientists via a philosophical route, while reasoning that free will doesn’t exist. But where disillusionment with such a conclusion would seem obvious, Hamer sees it as the beginning of something beautiful, the basis for a better society.
Financieele Dagblad
Jurriën Hamer
Jurriën Hamer (b. 1988) is a philosopher and jurist. He obtained his doctorate from Utrecht University and has done research at the London School of Economics. 'Why Bad Guys Have Bad Luck' (2022) is his debut.