2026 D.C. Lecture: Our Crisis is Metaphysical

First Things, in partnership with Hillsdale College, is pleased to announce Mary Harrington's presentation of this year’s D.C. Lecture “Our Crisis is Metaphysical” on Thursday, March 5th at 6 p.m. at the Hillsdale College Washington D.C. Campus. What difference is there really, between the atoms that make up a pig, and the same atoms arranged as a slab of deli meat? Why do we feel uneasy about splicing human and animal DNA? What is a woman? In today’s public square, the framework best able to address these questions is, for mysterious reasons, treated as obviously off-limits and perhaps even morally suspect. Writer Mary Harrington has spent several years trying to work out why, and has concluded that this omertà is at the heart of our contemporary crisis.