Age shapes social institutions, roles, and relationships, as well as how we assign obligations and entitlements within them. Each life-stage also brings its characteristic opportunities and vulnerabilities, which spawn inequalities between young and old. How should we respond to these age-related inequalities? Are they objectionable in the same way gender or racial inequalities are? Or is there something distinctive about age that should mitigate our concern for inequalities between young and old?

In her talk, Juliana Bidadanure will address these and related questions, presenting the theory of justice between age groups that she develops in her book Justice Across Ages: Treating Young and old as Equals. The book advances ethical principles to guide a fair distribution of goods like jobs, healthcare, income, and political power among persons at different stages of their life. If we are ever to live in a society where people are treated as equals, she argues, we must pay attention to how age membership can alter our social standing, and we must regard with suspicion commonplace forms of age-based social hierarchy.

Meet our speaker and chair

Juliana Bidadanure is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and, by courtesy, of Political Science, at Stanford University and Ludwig Lachmann Research Associate Professor in Philosophy at LSE. She is also the Faculty Director of the Stanford Basic Income Lab. Professor Bidadanure's work is in Political Philosophy. She has published extensively on the topic egalitarian justice, including a recent book scrutinizing inequalities between age groups and generations (Justice Across Ages).

Alex Voorhoeve is Professor and Head of Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

More about this event

This event is the 2022 Auguste Comte Memorial Lecture.

The Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method (@LSEPhilosophy) at LSE was founded by Professor Sir Karl Popper in 1946, and remains internationally renowned for a type of philosophy that is both continuous with the sciences and socially relevant.

The LSE School of Public Policy (@LSEPublicPolicy) is an international community where ideas and practice meet. Our approach creates professionals with the ability to analyse, understand and resolve the challenges of contemporary governance. 

You can order the book, Justice Across Ages: Treating Young and old as Equals, (UK delivery only) from our official LSE Events independent book shop, Pages of Hackney.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEComte

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from Justice Across Ages.

A video of this event is available to watch at Justice Across Ages.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.