Collective Action, Public Choice, and the Pandemic

null, Stephanie Collins (Australian Catholic University), Stephanie Collins

The COVID-19 pandemic raises many pressing issues about both individual and collective action. As individuals, we ought to wash our hands, practice social distancing, and wear masks. But, when facing a calamity of such magnitude, individual action might not seem like enough. Do we also then have duties to think and act collectively? What does it mean to think and act as part of a collective? Are groups something over and above their members? And, if so, then when the group fails, who is to blame?

We invite you to join us for a live panel discussion with Professor Stephanie Collins (Australian Catholic University). Stephanie Collins is an associate professor at the Dianoia Institute of Philosophy at the Australian Catholic University. She has published extensively on the topics of collective action problems, group agency, collective responsibility, and the nature of individuals’ obligations in the face of global catastrophes. Her most recent book, Group Duties: Their Existence and Their Implications for Individuals (Oxford University Press 2019), develops an account of what a group must be like in order to have duties and then explores what this implies for the group’s individual members.

In a conversation moderated by Ryan Doody (University of San Diego), Professor Collins will discuss her research on collective action as it bears on the present moment.