Ethics and Political Philosophy Group Talk (Olufemi Taiwo, Georgetown)

The Ethics and Political Philosophy Research Group is pleased to welcome as guest speaker Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, an associate professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. His theoretical work draws liberally from the Black radical tradition, contemporary philosophy of language, contemporary social science, German transcendental philosophy, materialist thought, histories of activism and activist thinkers. His first book, titled Reconsidering Reparations: Worldmaking in the Case of Climate Crisis (Oxford University Press, 2022), considers a “constructive” philosophical argument for reparations and explores links with environmental justice. He also writes public philosophy, including articles exploring intersections of climate justice and colonialism.

Talk Title

Subjective Security

Talk Abstract

The distinction between “negative” and “positive” freedom focuses on the political and ethical subject’s relationships with herself and with other people. Materialists have tended to focus more on the direct contribution of the social circumstances in which the subject finds herself (e.g. her relationship to the means of production and the means of subsistence). In this talk I try out one strategy for reconciling the former focus with the latter, one rooted in the political ideal of self-determination, which I associate with the latter group of thought. I’ll attempt to describe subjective security as a resource that allows a person to extend herself across time, institutions, and persons in ways that are vital for securing her freedom, and sketch some political implications of this view.

About the Ethics and Political Philosophy Group

The Ethics and Political Philosophy Group meets periodically throughout the year to discuss topics in value theory and related fields, including meta-ethics, normative ethics, applied ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy of law, moral psychology, practical reason, agency, and identity.