Mala Kamm Memorial Lecture: David Enoch (Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem)

"Politics and Suffering"

Abstract:

Political philosophy should focus not on uplifting ideals, but rather, so I argue, on minimizing of serious suffering. This is so not because other things do not ultimately matter (they do), but rather because in the political context the stakes in terms of suffering are usually extremely high, so that any other considerations are almost always outweighed. Put in moderately deontological terms: the high stakes carry most political decisions across the thresholds of the relevant deontological constraints.
While the argument is substantive rather than exegetical, I engage in detail Judith Shklar’s Liberalism of Fear. I share with Shklar her pessimistic starting point, but I also show how a focus on suffering (rather than cruelty and fear) is what plausibly follows from such a starting point. I then pursue the implications of this difference – they are theoretically profound, but perhaps less significant practically.

Registration is free but required. Please register on our Zoom registration page by April 23rd at 9:00am.

The Philosophy Department provides reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. Requests for accommodations should be submitted to philosophy@nyu.edu at least three weeks before the event.