Exploring the Dynamics of Equality: Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Narratives

What can the seventeenth century teach us about equality? Why do philosophers construct intellectual traditions and how do we use them? In what ways is political theory an educative endeavour? These are some of the questions we asked Teresa Bejan, Professor of Political Theory at the University of Oxford.

Publications mentioned in this episode include:

First Among Equals: The Practice and Theory of Early Modern Equality. Under contract with Harvard University Press.

Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Harvard University Press, 2017)

“The Historical Rawls,” Special Forum for Modern Intellectual History, co-edited with Sophie Smith and Annette Zimmermann (2021).

“Rawls’s Teaching and the ‘Tradition’ of Political Philosophy,” Modern Intellectual History (2021). 

“‘Since all the World is Mad, Why should not I be so?’ Equality, Hierarchy, and Ambition in the Thought of Mary Astell.” Political Theory (online first May 2019).

“The Two Clashing Meanings of Free Speech,” The Atlantic (2 Dec. 2017). 

“Teaching the Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes on Education,” Oxford Review of Education 36:5 (2010).