Centre for Research in Philosophy, Literature and The Arts Events, 2019/2020
Unless otherwise stated, CRPLA seminars take place on Tuesdays, 5:30-7:00pm in Room S0.11 (ground floor of Social Studies). All welcome. For further information, please contact Diarmiud Costello: Diarmuid.Costello@warwick.ac.uk
WPS Academic Talk – Online, Garrath Williams (Lancaster University)
Title: WPS Talk: Garrath Williams (Lancaster), '"Free Markets": A Kantian Perspective'
When: 16:00 –17:30, Thursday February 22nd 2024
Where: Online
Notes: "Free Markets": A Kantian Perspective
Garrath Williams (Lancaster University)
'We hear a lot about the virtues of “free markets.” We also hear a lot about their problems and, by implication, the need to constrain markets. In this talk, I sketch an alternative, Kantian way of framing markets – as public goods. First, I explain the central ideas of Kant’s political theory – how states must uphold freedom and rights through coercive laws. I suggest that, for Kant, markets rest on a public framework, not just on individual rights. I also point out how individual rights to property and contract can, in situations of inequality, undermine their Kantian justification. Overall, I claim that markets are free where they enable people to act as not-mere-means for one another. These Kantian markets have little to do with familiar economic or neoliberal notions of market freedom.'
The talk will be held on Microsoft Teams, at the following link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3aUtZSj9OS4MEk1NpjGh4vVXTze_u8LPnOA5bAsLYZflo1%40thread.tacv2/1705674297265?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2209bacfbd-47ef-4465-9265-3546f2eaf6bc%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22f3669835-5e79-46c5-a603-ed6fbf2d14d2%22%7dLink opens in a new window
Contact: Noah.Buckle@warwick.ac.uk