Equality is an idea that has broad appeal – most people endorse the principle that we should be equal before the law, and even defenders of the market put their case in terms of equal property rights. But the socialist idea that people should be equal in their material circumstances is more controversial, and recent trends in egalitarian political philosophy, rather than stepping up to defend it, have tended to back away. Christine Sypnowich argues we should eschew the reticence of much left-liberal theories and embrace a radical political philosophy which focuses on what’s really at stake: equal human flourishing.

Meet our speaker and chair

Christine Sypnowich is Professor, Queen’s National Scholar and Head of the Department of Philosophy, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada, and Visiting Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford (Spring 2022).

Robin Archer is Director of the Postgraduate Programme in Political Sociology and Convenor of the Ralph Miliband Programme.

More about this event

The Ralph Miliband Programme (@rmilibandlse) is one of LSE's most prestigious lecture series and seeks to advance Ralph Miliband's spirit of free social inquiry.

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Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from The Egalitarian Ideal.

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