“Liberty, Equality, and Justice in National and International Contexts” is a four-week college and university faculty seminar for sixteen participants examining the meanings of liberty, equality, and justice, and the ways in which these concepts should be applied within and between nations. The seminar seeks to explore liberal democratic conceptions of justice, in terms of how states should treat their own citizens, but also in terms of how they should interact with other states and the citizens of other states. The seminar discusses the following questions in its four week period: Does justice demand liberal democracy? What are the arguments against liberal conceptions of liberty, equality, and justice? What role should the values of liberty, equality, and justice play in shaping the world order of the twenty-first century? What responsibilities do citizens of wealthy countries have to assist the world’s poor? Seminar readings are drawn from the work of prominent philosophers, political scientists, legal theorists, and economists such as Charles Beitz, Jürgen Habermas, Thomas Nagel, and Michael Walzer. In addition to taking on the common readings, seminar participants pursue individual research projects or teaching plans. Seminar director Christopher Wellman is a professor of philosophy at Washington University whose books include A Theory of Secession: The Case for Political Self-Determination. Co-director Andrew Altman is a professor of philosophy at Georgia State University, whose books include Critical Legal Studies: A Liberal Critique as well as A Liberal Theory of International Justice, co-written with Wellman, and included among the assigned readings. Each week includes a guest speaker, philosophers who teach at the University of Michigan (Elisabeth Anderson), the University of Washington (Michael Blake), Duke University (Allen Buchanan), and the University of Pennsylvania (Samuel Freeman).
