Nowadays becoming an adult seems to require you to renounce the dreams of your youth and accept just a pale dilution of the adventurous and significant life you once expected. But who wants that? No wonder we live in a culture that idealises immaturity, argues philosopher Susan Neiman.

How can we make maturity a desirable prospect again, as a phase in life in which taking responsibility and wisdom of life make life interesting? Neiman discusses youth, education and work and the importance of travel as a crucial part in the development of major thinkers like Kant and Rousseau. She examines the way in which societies and governments undermine our attempts at maturity, which she argues is a subversive ideal worth striving for.

This lecture is organised in collaboration with the Ethics Intsitute.

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