Philosophy and Political Engagement: Reflection in the Public Sphere

Do philosophers have a responsibility to their society that is distinct from their responsibility to it as citizens? This edited volume explores both what type of contribution philosophy can make and what type of reasoning is appropriate when addressing public matters now. These questions are posed by leading international scholars working in the fields of moral and political philosophy. Each contribution also investigates the central issue of how to combine critical, rational analysis with a commitment to politically relevant public engagement. The contributions to this volume analyse issues raised in practical ethics, including abortion, embryology, and assisted suicide. They consider the role of ethical commitment in the philosophical analysis of contemporary political issues, and engage with matters of public policy such as poverty, the arts, meaningful work, as well as the evidence base for policy. They also examine the normative legitimacy of power, including the use of violence.

Allyn Fives is Lecturer in the School of Political Science and Sociology, and the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, National University of Ireland, Galway, Republic of Ireland. He is the author of Political Reason: Morality and the Public Sphere (2013) and Political and Philosophical Debates in Welfare (2008), and is currently working on a book about power and childhood.

Keith Breen is Senior Lecturer in Political and Social Theory at Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. He is the author of Under Weber’s Shadow: Modernity, Subjectivity and Politics in Habermas, Arendt and MacIntyre (2012) and co-editor of After the Nation? Critical Reflections on Nationalism and Postnationalism (with S. O’Neill, 2010) and of Freedom and Domination: Exploring Republican Freedom (2016).