What Does it Mean to Relate as Equals? An International Workshop on Justice and Egalitarian Relations

The Center for Ethics of the University of Zurich is happy to announce a workshop on Christian Schemmel’s book “Justice and Egalitarian Relations” (OUP, 2021), as well as on broader themes emerging from or connected to it.  

Our list of speakers include:

Christian Schemmel (University of Manchester)

Costanza Porro (University of Hamburg)

Daniel Sharp (LMU Munich)

Devon Cass (Nova University Lisbon)

Elisabetta Gobbo (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Jahel Queralt (Pompeu Fabra)

Jessica Evelyne Schläpfer (University of Zurich)

Kasper Lippert Rasmussen (Aarhus University)

Sara Amighetti (University of Zurich)

Attendance to the workshop is free of charge, but available places are limited. If you are interested in attending, please register by sending an email to [email protected] by Monday 5th September. The event will take place in person only.

Theme:

Social or relational equality has attracted increasing attention in political philosophy in recent years. While much work on social equality was initially inspired by the pioneering critiques of distributive egalitarianism, and luck egalitarianism in particular, it is now increasingly moving beyond disagreements with distributive egalitarians, to working out more precisely what the relational egalitarian view entails: what relating as equals means.

Christian Schemmel’s recently published book Justice and Egalitarian Relations (OUP, 2021) constitutes the first comprehensive development of a liberal conception of relational equality, one which understands relations of non-domination and egalitarian norms of social status as stringent demands of social justice. In articulating his view and defense of relational egalitarianism, Schemmel elegantly engages with different traditions of political thought (e.g., liberalism and neo-republicanism), while also aiming to provide some more concrete policy guidance for the three domains of political institutions, the distribution of economic resources and opportunities, and public health. This book provides a much-needed point of reference for all those interested in understanding relational equality as an emergent approach in contemporary thinking about equality and justice.