This conference focuses on the practical implications of leading theories of egalitarian justice on issues such as income inequality, entitlement programs, religious freedom, gender equality, discrimination, education, healthcare, and animal rights.  Leading contributors to the theoretical debates about egalitarian justice from around the world will present papers focusing on such policy themes.  These issues are of particular current relevance because of the recent focus—in the work of Thomas Piketty and other leading scholars—on increasing income inequality in the United States and western Europe.

The subject of egalitarian justice has inspired an extensive literature—including major contributions by John Rawls, Richard Arneson, G. A. Cohen, Ronald Dworkin, Samuel Freeman, Martha Nussbaum, and Amartya Sen—and continues to inspire important work by a large number of theorists and philosophers.  While early contributions to this literature focused on controversies regarding the question of what egalitarians should aim to equalize (e.g. welfare, resources, capabilities, access to advantage, opportunity for welfare), more recent work in this area has focused on questions regarding responsibility for disadvantage, the status of freedom as an egalitarian concern, and whether the investigation of moral questions regarding equality must be located within and oriented by a broader ideal of distributive justice.

The aim of the conference is to clarify the practical value of these theories and to develop analyses that may be useful to policy-makers.

Keynote Speakers

Richard Arneson
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
University of California, San Diego

Samuel Freeman
Avalon Professor of the Humanities
Professor of Philosophy and Law
Department of Philosophy
University of Pennsylvania

Presenters

Adam Cureton
Associate Professor of Philosophy
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Harrison Frye
Assistant Professor of Political Theory
University of Georgia

Jon Garthoff
Associate Professor of Philosophy
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Mollie Gerver
Assistant Professor of Political Theory
University of Essex

Anca Gheaus
Ramon y Cajal Researcher in the Department of Law
Pompeu Fabre University

Alexander Kaufman
Professor of Political Theory
University of Georgia

David Reidy
Professor of Philosophy
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Shlomi Segall
Associate Professor of Political Theory
Hebrew Univerisity

Nicholas Vrousalis
Assistant Professor of Political Philosophy
Leiden University

Steven Wall
Professor of Philosophy
University of Arizona

Lori Watson
Professor of Philosophy and Department Chair
San Diego State University

Clark Wolf
Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Iowa State University

For information about directions and parking, click here.

For information about the hotel, click here.

A shuttle runs directly from The Georgia Center to Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport. For more information about the shuttle schedule and to book your shuttle, click here.