Learning to Be Fair: Equity from Classical Philosophy to Contemporary Politics

Charles McNamara

ISBN 10: 1506495095 / ISBN 13: 9781506495095

Published by Fortress Press, 2024

About this Item

205 pages. 8.75x5.75x0.50 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # __1506495095

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Learning to Be Fair: Equity from Classical Philosophy to Contemporary Politics
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1506495095
• ISBN 13: 9781506495095
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 1.25 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

The language of "equity" saturates our contemporary culture. Human-resources departments lead workshops on "diversity, equity, and inclusion." Progressive politicians advocate for "equity" in novel programs for housing and healthcare while their conservative counterparts decry "equity" as a revolutionary rejection of traditional notions of equality and freedom. By excavating texts from antiquity to the modern age, Learning to Be Fair undercuts the supposed novelty of "equity" and anchors it in the foundations of Western philosophy. Despite its newfound popularity (or infamy), in fact, the concept of equity stands as one of the oldest, most durable, and often most paradoxical principles of ethical and political thought.
In Learning to Be Fair, Charles McNamara draws out the ancient origins of equity in classical Greek and Roman authors and traces their influence on lawyers, philosophers, America's Founding Fathers, and even our contemporary life. He shows how this history connects current debates about the role of equity to long-standing, unsettled questions about equality before the law and the possibility of teaching people to be good.

About the Author

Charles McNamara is a classicist at the University of Minnesota. A specialist in the intellectual culture of ancient Greece and Rome, he was previously a lexicographer at the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, the world's most authoritative Latin dictionary, during a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Munich. Before coming to the University of Minnesota, he was an award-winning teacher in Columbia University's Core Curriculum. In addition to several academic articles, his essays and criticism have appeared in Commonweal, the Washington Post, and other publications. He originally comes from Grayling, Michigan, and he lives in downtown Minneapolis.