Book Launch: The Tyranny of Generosity

Theodore Lechterman (Oxford University), Chiara Cordelli (University of Chicago), John Tasioulas

Join us on 18 November for a discussion with Theodore Lechterman, author of The Tyranny of Generosity: Why Philanthropy Corrupts Our Politics and How We Can Fix It, a new book from OUP. The discussion will be moderated by John Tasioulas, director of the Institute for Ethics in AI, with comments by Chiara Cordelli (University of Chicago) and Maribel Morey (Miami Institute for Social Sciences).

The Tyranny of Generosity investigates what democracy demands from philanthropic giving and the policies that structure it. Drawing on political philosophy but addressed to a wide audience, it sheds new light on how philanthropy can both frustrate and facilitate democratic ideals. The book evaluates the respective roles of philanthropy and government, public subsidies for private giving, the use of donations for political speech, instruments of perpetual giving, the rise in giving by commercial corporations, and effective altruism as a guide for individual giving. These studies build to a surprising conclusion: realizing the democratic ideal may be impossible without philanthropy—but making philanthropy safe for democracy also requires fundamental changes to policy and practice.