Justice, Democracy and Nondomination

Much contemporary political philosophy, especially within liberal egalitarian quarters, is preoccupied with defending the idea of distributive justice. From this broadly Rawls-inspired perspective, distributive justice - especially of an egalitarian kind - is the most important virtue of social institutions. A separate, but related tradition in political philosophy, republicanism, holds that the primary virtue of social institution is a different one: freedom understood as non-domination. From a republican perspective, morally justified social arrangements are not those that implement distributive equality, but those that honour the freedom of their members and secure them against arbitrary power, typically via democratic decision-making procedures.

The aim of this workshop is to bring these two traditions of thought closer to one another, by examining the inter-connections between the notions of justice, democracy and (non)-domination. The workshop will address questions such as 'Is some form of distributive - egalitarian - justice necessary for non-domination?'; 'What is the place of democracy in an overall egalitarian theory of justice?'; 'Can there be a place for the idea of justice within a broadly republican, freedom-based, approach to political morality?'. 

Speakers: Albert Weale, Ian Shapiro, Jeremy Waldron, Cecile Laborde, Richard Bellamy.

For a detailed description of the event, programme, and registration form, please follow this link (please note, places are limited):