Who Is Pierre Manent?

Recently, Mosaic’s editor Jonathan Silver sat down for a conversation with the distinguished political philosopher Pierre Manent. The two discussed Manent’s intellectual and moral influences, Manent’s assessment of Europe’s prospects, Israel and Judaism, and what surprises him about American culture now. A new volume his essays and excerpts, The Religion of Humanity: The Illusion of Our Times, will be published later this month.

This conversation has been lightly edited.

Formation