Media
Contributions to media and public debate
I have contributed as a commentator, panelist, and interviewee, to a variety of print media, podcast series, radio programs, and television, in the US, UK, and several European countries. My most recent commentary is an invited short essay in the American Philosophical Association’s blog series on ‘Perspectives on Democracy’ which can be read here. Other highlights include being profiled in La Stampa and published in periodicals ranging from the leading German intellectual journal Cicero, to Les Études philosophiques, to the Guardian Unlimited, New Statesman online, and New York Times. Of the ten BBC Radio 4 flagship ‘In Our Time’ program episodes on which I have featured, one was chosen for the ‘Listeners’ Top 10’ (‘Common Sense Philosophy, 2007, also featured in a twentieth anniversary volume for the programme), and a second for the ‘Philosophy – Top 10’ (‘Social Contract,’ 2008). I have also appeared on programs and podcasts such as ‘Philosophy Bites,’ ‘Philosophy Talk,’ ‘The Human Context,’ and ‘Future Hindsight.’
Op ed in ‘The Hill’ on office and the Trump immunity case on 7/17/2024, by Jane Manners and Melissa Lane
Op ed in US News & World Report on Plato & ethics of Supreme Court Justices and their families
Op ed in the LA Times online-first on 3/23/2024, by Jane Manners and Melissa Lane
- 27 July 2023: ‘Plato the Constitutionalist—and the Supreme Court.’ Ideas blog of Princeton University Press.
- 8 February 2021: ‘Why Donald Trump was the ultimate anarchist’. Agora series published in a collaboration of the New Statesman and Aaron James Wendland.
- 5 June 2020: ‘Teaching Plato in the Pandemic’. Published by Princeton University online; republished with additional images by the Centre for History and Economics, University of Cambridge.
- 12 December 2019: ‘The Classical Solution to the Problem of Public Integrity’. Aeon Essays.
- 2017: ‘Fiduciaries for collective flourishing: professional responsibilities.’ Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity, University of Surrey, commissioned essay.
- 20 June 2016: ‘Guard against Elitism’. Contribution to discussion of demagogues hosted by ZÓCALO PUBLIC SQUARE.
- 19 March 2015: An Ancient Civics Lesson. Op ed in the New York Times.
- Fall 2014: Article arguing against the negligibility of individual action on climate change,
- Melissa Lane’s contribution to the German news magazine Cicero, in Fall 2014.
- Melissa Lane’s contribution to the website Five Books, in which thinkers gather five leading books on a key topic.
- 1 February 2013:, ‘How the Greeks viewed weapons’. New Yorker Culture Desk blog.
- 2010. ‘Levellers and the good life.’ In the Convention on Modern Liberty: The British debate on fundamental rights and freedoms, ed. R. Bechler (Exeter, UK and Charlottesville, VA: Imprint Academic for Open Democracy, 2010), 233-7 (talk originally given at the Convention on Modern Liberty, Spring 2009).
- 2009: Contribution which discusses tax avoidance. Guardian.co.uk.
- 2009: ‘Corporate Ethics, Post-Crunch’, published in English and German by a German think-tank.
- 2009: Commentary on citizenship, consumption, and production, in The Guardian.
- In August 2023 Melissa Lane was the guest discussant on The Political Theory Review podcast, interviewed by Jeffrey Church about her new book
- In June 2020 Melissa Lane was the guest discussant of ‘Solitude and Social Distancing,’ for the podcast ‘The Human Context’ produced by the Denver Project for Humanistic Inquiry.
- Access Professor Lane’s podcast interviews on the ‘Philosophy Bites’ site: on Plato and sustainability; on Rousseau and modern society; and on Plato and totalitarianism
- Access webcast/audiocast/transcript of Public Lecture at Gresham College Utopia Symposium, 8 May 2007.
- October 2024: Guest on BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time,’ discussing ‘Hayek’s ‘Road to Serfdom” with Melvyn Bragg (host), Ben Jackson, and
- 23 March 2023: Guest on BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time,’ discussing ‘Solon the Lawgiver’ with Melvyn Bragg (host), William Allan, and Hans van Wees.
- 25 January 2018: Guest on BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time,’ discussing ‘Cicero’ with Melvyn Bragg (host), Valentina Arena, and Catherine Steele.
- 30 June 2016: Guest on BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time,’ discussing ‘Sovereignty’ with Melvyn Bragg (host), Richard Bourke, and Tim Stanton.
- 11 June 2015: Guest on BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time,’ discussing ‘Utilitarianism’ together with Melvyn Bragg (host), Brad Hooker, and Janet Radcliffe-Richards.
- 19 June 2014: Guest on BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time,’ discussing ‘The Philosophy of Solitude’ together with Melvyn Bragg (host), Simon Blackburn, and John Haldane.
- 17 June 2014: Guest on BBC 1 ‘Newsnight’ on BBC 1 hosted by Jeremy Paxman, discussing Francis Fukuyama’s ‘The End of History?’ thesis together with Francis Fukuyama and Simon Schama. YouTube video of the segment.
- July 2013: Guest on the episode ‘Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times’ on the public radio program ‘Philosophy Talk’ based at Stanford University.
Access podcasts of past appearances on ‘In Our Time’ with Melvyn Bragg [look for ‘Social Contract’, ‘Common Sense Philosophy’, and ‘Democracy’
- 2011: Guest on panel,‘What is the future of civilisation as the oil runs out?’, BBC Radio 3 ‘Night Waves’ panel.
- 1 January 2009: Guest on BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time,’ discussing ‘The Consolation of Philosophy’ with Melvyn Bragg and other guests.
- 22 April 2004: Transcript of BBC Radio 4, ‘Analysis’ on ‘Fear and Voting’, 22 April 2004.
- Melissa Lane has also appeared on a number of television and radio broadcasts in the UK in the past, including BBC Radio 4: Analysis, In Our Time, and Today; Channel 4: Millennium Minds; BBC Radio 3 and Radio 5, as well as a seminar on ‘Making Sense of an Interconnected World’ co-hosted by BBC Vision and BBC News (June, 2009).