The Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen has posed the question, ‘equality of what?’ The value of equality depends on what standard is chosen. As ancient Greek thinkers recognized, equality can be deployed to exclude as well as to liberate, and its relationship to law and freedom needs to be interrogated.

If equal social freedom is a product of isonomia—the equal application of laws to all—those laws need to be free of systematic bias and command public respect.

This lecture was recorded by Melissa Lane on 7th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/greek-equality

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Ancient Greek Ideas of Equality under the Law - Melissa Lane