2016 John Passmore Lecture – Changing visions of an egalitarian society

Experience ANU

The 2016 John Passmore Lecture for the ANU School of Philosophy By Professor Elizabeth Anderson, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, John Dewey Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan How should a society of equals be organized? Egalitarians themselves have been divided among three visions: individualism, small-scale communalist or cooperativist systems, and large-scale collectivism. In this podcast, Professor Elizabeth Anderson examines why, during the 19th century, the dominant trend among egalitarians moved from individualist toward collectivist visions. Far from settling on the communalist vision as the best compromise between the two, egalitarians today favour a mix of individualist and collectivist institutions. This talk considers why this is so, and discusses some challenges posed by this mixture.