POSTPONDED: ILPP: Fair Play, Exploitation and Parental Justice

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO THE CURRENT CORONAVIRUS SITUATION

This event is organised by the Institute of Laws, Politics and Philosophy (ILPP)

Speaker: Serena Olsaretti (ICREA-Universitat Pompeu Fabra)

About the paper:

Suppose it is true that, under some conditions, parents create benefits for society at large by having and raising children. How, if at all, can this fact help ground a case for a pro-sharing view of parental justice? On one view, the so-called principle of fair play grounds non-parents´ obligations to share the costs of children with parents: a society in which non-parents enjoy the public goods which parents produce, but only parents bear the costs of children, is one in which non-parents unfairly free-ride on parents´ production of a public good. On another view, a principle of non-exploitation requires that those who perform socially necessary roles not be penalised as a result of having other-regarding ambitions: a society in which the benefits of children are socialised, but in which parents are required to bear all the costs of children, is one whose terms of cooperation are unfair to parents, because they are unjustifiably biased in favour of those with narrowly self-interested ambitions. This paper formulates and defends the latter view after critically examining the former. In so doing, it aims to shed light both on the question of parental justice and its centrality to theories of justice, and on our understanding of considerations of fairness and their place in a broadly responsibility-sensitive liberal egalitarian theory of justice.

Please note that the time allocated for this seminar will be devoted to discussion of the paper (which will be disseminated in due course).

About the Institute:

The Institute brings together political and legal theorists from Law, Political Science and Philosophy and organises regular colloquia in terms 2 and 3.

If you would like to be added to the ILPP mailing list please contact us at laws-events@ucl.ac.uk