Koen Raes (1954-2011) was a philosopher of the law, ethicist and professor in Gent. Besides being an academic, he was also very active as a public intellectual. On the occasion of two books being published on Raes, we are organising a talk on public debate today and the role of committed intellectuals in it. Harry Kunneman (UvH) and Ludo Abicht (UA) discuss this together with the lawyer Liliane Versluys (Tegenspraak) in the chair.