Truth Matters: Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division with Cornel West and Robert George

On May 23, 2025, Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program, and Cornel West, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Philosophy & Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary, discussed their new book, Truth Matters: A Dialogue on Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division, for the Madison Program's annual Princeton University Reunions event.

In Truth Matters, Cornel West and Robert P. George address a range of social issues on which Americans today are bitterly divided. Their book models robust intellectual engagement and civil discourse as they explore vital questions surrounding the idea of truth and its foundational role in our lives. Along the way, they reflect on social conditions—such as respect for freedom of speech—that must be established and maintained if truth is to be seriously pursued. They also explore the virtues—such as intellectual humility and courage—that must be acquired and practiced if we frail, fallible, fallen human beings are to be determined truth seekers and bold truth speakers.

Dr. Cornel West, affectionately known as “Brother West” by many, holds the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair/Professor position at Union Theological Seminary. Dr. West teaches courses on the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as well as on the Philosophy of Religion, African American Critical Thought, and various other subjects, including but not limited to classics, philosophy, politics, cultural theory, literature, and music. He is passionate about communicating with a diverse range of audiences to keep alive the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. – a legacy centered on truth-telling and bearing witness to love and justice.

Dr. West is the former Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy at Princeton.

He has written 20 books and edited 13. He is best known for his classics, Race Matters and Democracy Matters, as well as his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. His book Black Prophetic Fire offers an unflinching look at nineteenth and twentieth-century African American leaders and their visionary legacies. His most recent book, co-authored with Dr. Robert P. George, Truth Matters, addresses a range of social issues within today’s divided American society through civil discourse.

Dr. West has partnered with MasterClass.com to provide teachings on several influential courses, including a class on Empathy, MasterClass’s first-ever multi-instructor class on Black History, Black Freedom & Black Love, as well as Dr. West’s standalone class on Philosophy. Visit www.cornelwest.com and click the MasterClass banner to learn more.

Dr. West ran as an Independent Presidential Candidate in 2024 and, in the same year, delivered the Gifford Lecture 2023/2024, titled "A Jazz-soaked Philosophy for Our Catastrophic Times: From Socrates to Coltrane," at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.