A collage of images, featuring most prominently a person holding a sign reading "no justice no peace"

Justice Everywhere a blog about philosophy in public affairs

Democracy / Governance / International

 by 

People versus Parliament: an interpretation

Motto: Would it not be easier

In that case for the government

To dissolve the people

 And elect another? 

(from ‘The Solution’ by Bertolt Brecht)

The UK Parliament has been prorogued from the 9th of September to the 14th of October 2019 – days before the UK’s scheduled exit from the European Union. On its final day before suspension, the Parliament acknowledged Royal Assent on the Benn Bill (which effectively turned an act blocking No Deal into law), made a formal request to the Government to acknowledge obeying the rule of law regarding Brexit, and passed a binding motion for the Government to disclose private communications concerning its decision to prorogue Parliament and its No Deal plans. (more…)

General

 by 

Justice Everywhere is back!

After a brief Summer break, Justice Everywhere is back for the 2019-20 session! We are really excited to be back, especially with so many justice and ethical issues to discuss at the moment, and we look forward to debating them with you.

We are welcoming back several authors who have been writing for Justice Everywhere for some time now, and we also have the pleasure of welcoming some new writers to the team. Together, we’re a diverse bunch working on a huge range of issues in moral and political philosophy, as well as some whose focus is in social policy and political economy. For more details, please see our List of Authors page.

We are also pleased to announce that Justice Everywhere will collaborate with the Journal of Applied Philosophy, one of the top journals in the field, covering a broad spectrum of issues in applied philosophy. Authors of articles on issues of justice and public affairs will give us an insight in their research published in the journal. In addition, we will host a number of guest posts written by experts to broaden our scope even further

We take inspiration from an idea voiced by Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1963, he was incarcerated for participating in protests against the treatment of black people in Birmingham, Alabama. During his time in jail, he wrote the famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, in which he notes that:

 

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

 

With this, King acknowledges that communities and people are all interrelated; if one person suffers from an injustice, we are all affected.

Inspired by this thought, Justice Everywhere explores philosophy in public affairs, and in particular issues of justice and injustice, the ethical and the unethical, and the moral and the immoral in all areas of public, political, social, economic, and personal life. Constructive debate of these issues can help clarify their nature, and how to address them.

Accordingly, our aim is to provide a public forum for the exchange of ideas regarding what justice and morality ask of us. We highly value active engagement with a wide audience on the ethical dimensions of contemporary issues.

So please follow us, read and share the posts on social media, and feel free to comment on posts (using the comment box at the bottom of each post). If you have a suggestion for a topic or would like to contribute a guest post on a topical subject in political philosophy (broadly construed), please feel free to get in touch with us at justice.everywhere.blog@gmail.com.

We very much look forward to this new season, and we hope you do too!

Children / Democracy

 by 

From the Vault: Good Reads on Children and Politics

While Justice Everywhere takes a break over the summer, we recall from our archives some memorable posts from our 2018-2019 season.

Here are three good reads on issues relating to children and democracy that you may have missed or be interested to re-read:

Justice Everywhere will return in full swing on 2nd September with fresh weekly posts by our regular authors. If you have a suggestion for a topic or would like to contribute a guest post on a topical subject in political philosophy (broadly construed), please feel free to get in touch with us at justice.everywhere.blog@gmail.com.

Academia / Public Philosophy

 by 

From the Vault: Good Reads on Public Philosophy

While Justice Everywhere takes a break over the summer, we recall from our archives some memorable posts from our 2018-2019 season.

Here are three good reads on issues relating to Public Philosophy that you may have missed or be interested to re-read:

Justice Everywhere will return in full swing on 2nd September with fresh weekly posts by our regular authors. If you have a suggestion for a topic or would like to contribute a guest post on a topical subject in political philosophy (broadly construed), please feel free to get in touch with us at justice.everywhere.blog@gmail.com.

Animals / Climate

 by 

From the Vault: Good Reads on Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss

While Justice Everywhere takes a break over the summer, we recall from our archives some memorable posts from our 2018-2019 season.

Here are three good reads on justice and the environment that you may have missed or be interested to re-read:

Justice Everywhere will return in full swing on 2nd September with fresh weekly posts by our regular authors. If you have a suggestion for a topic or would like to contribute a guest post on a topical subject in political philosophy (broadly construed), please feel free to get in touch with us at justice.everywhere.blog@gmail.com.

Democracy / Gender / Governance

 by 

From the Vault: Good Reads on the Ethics and Politics of Technology

While Justice Everywhere takes a break over the summer, we recall from our archives some memorable posts from our 2018-2019 season.

Here are some good reads on issues relating to the ethics and politics of technology that you may have missed or be interested to re-read:

Justice Everywhere will return in full swing on 2nd September with fresh weekly posts by our regular authors. If you have a suggestion for a topic or would like to contribute a guest post on a topical subject in political philosophy (broadly construed), please feel free to get in touch with us at justice.everywhere.blog@gmail.com.

Economics

 by 

From the Vault: The “Just Wages” Series

While Justice Everywhere takes a break over the summer, we recall from our archives some memorable posts from our 2018-2019 season.

In a first for Justice Everywhere, we hosted a colloquium on the topic of “just wages”. This discussion was sparked by a paper by Joseph Heath in the Erasmus Journal for Economics and Philosophy. Our colloquium – a précis to a full special issue on the topic – included three critical engagements with Heath’s argument, as well as a response from Heath:

Justice Everywhere will return in full swing on 2nd September with fresh weekly posts by our regular authors. If you have a suggestion for a topic or would like to contribute a guest post on a topical subject in political philosophy (broadly construed), please feel free to get in touch with us at justice.everywhere.blog@gmail.com.

Academia / Education

 by 

From the Vault: Good Reads on Justice and the Academy

While Justice Everywhere takes a break over the summer, we recall from our archives some memorable posts from our 2018-2019 season.

Here are five good reads on issues relating to justice and/in the academy that you may have missed or be interested to re-read:

Justice Everywhere will return in full swing on 2nd September with fresh weekly posts by our regular authors. If you have a suggestion for a topic or would like to contribute a guest post on a topical subject in political philosophy (broadly construed), please feel free to get in touch with us at justice.everywhere.blog@gmail.com.

Academia / Education

 by 

Grade Inflation, Market Ideology and the Contradictions of UK Higher Education Policy

Politicians blame academics for lowering standards, but it is caused by their own ideologically driven market reforms. A version of this post was published in the Guardian on Friday 12th July. 

The Education Secretary Damian Hinds has followed in an illustrious tradition of governments’ blaming Universities for the phenomena of grade inflation. Responding to findings by the Office for Students of an 80% rise in first class degrees (that the body claimed was ‘unexplained’), Mr Hinds attributed this problem to ‘unfair practices’ by universities. It follows his comments last year that ‘institutions should be accountable for maintaining the value of the degrees they award’, with the threat of fines for institutions who fail to comply. (more…)

Democracy / Punishment / Rights

 by 

In Defence of Children’s Civil Disobedience

In this post, Nikolas Mattheis (University of Bayreuth) defends school strikes for climate against the objection that school attendance is mandatory. Children’s strikes should be viewed as civil disobedience (rather than truancy) and as a legitimate form of democratic participation. (more…)