Reminders of Inferiority: How Individual Actions Can Wrong Every Member of a Group

Felix Lambrecht (LMU Munich)

The Collective Ethics Seminar: Online Presentation – 22 June 2026 – 15.15 – 16.45 CEST / 09.15 – 10.45 EST

Felix Lambrecht - Reminders of Inferiority: How Individual Actions Can Wrong Every Member of a Group

On Monday 22 June 2026, Felix Lambrecht (LMU Munich) will give a presentation in the Collective Ethics Seminar entitled ‘Reminders of Inferiority: How Individuals Actions Wrong Every Member of a Group’.

Abstract: Actions sometimes wrong individuals qua members of a social group. Consider sexual harassment, violent hate crimes against members of the queer community, or racial slurs. Call these group wrongs. In this paper I argue for the perhaps radical position that group wrongs necessarily wrong not only the individual person they are committed against but also every member of the social group to which this person belongs. In slogan form the account I develop says this: Group wrongs necessarily wrong every group member by forcing them to navigate the world reminded about their social inferiority. More precisely, group wrongs necessarily impose a risk of interference onto every group member, where this imposition consists in a risk of being reminded about, and therefore forced to deliberate about, their own social inferiority. I defend this account and demonstrate how it is superior to possible alternatives based on contributions to unjust structures, attitudes, illocutionary force, and expression.

The online seminar is open for all to attend. The session starts at 15.15 CEST / 09.15 EST. You can join the session via the following link: https://univienna.zoom.us/j/62736288881?pwd=SndEdTNoNlZtSzJqcmpabm5NaWIyUT09

For more information about the seminar, please see https://social.univie.ac.at/events/collective-ethics-seminar/. We hope to see you at the seminar!

Kind regards,

Gunnar Björnsson (Stockholm University), Kenneth Silver (Trinity College Dublin), and Niels de Haan (University of Vienna)