Conference in honor of Professor Larry Temkin
Professor Larry Temkin, a prominent figure within moral philosophy, is retiring. His career was celebrated at a conference at Rutgers University by a number of notable speakers and participants. Our director, Gustaf Arrhenius, was one of them.
He held the talk “Inequality and Population Change”, highlighting analysis about subjects similar to Temkins influential work about inequality, that discusses the many factors to the complexity of inequality. Most importantly, it asks the question: When is one inequality worse than another?
Professors Peter Singer and Angus Deaton participated in the celebration. Singer is a philosopher and professor in bioethics, most known for his work on global poverty and the book Animal Liberation. Deaton is a professor of economics, mainly studying poverty, inequality, health, wellbeing and ecnomic development. He won the Nobel Prize of economics in 2015.
The speakers also included:
- Jeff McMahan, “Two-Tier Views: Why Temkin is Right and Parfit Wrong”
- Jacob Ross, “Getting Personal with Temkin”
- Frances Kamm, “Aiding, Supererogating, and Duty”
- Shelly Kagan, “Don’t Dabble with Temkin’s Distributive Principle”.
During his academic career, Larry Temkin has made substantial contributions to philosophical research, challenging deeply rooted intuitions about morals. He's also brought up questions about the limits of our moral duties. To what degree are we responsible for preventing suffering and improving equality?
Larry Temkins ideas remain relevant for ethical debates and discussions. His research on equality, common sense and the nature of good has made strong impressions on topics like reproduction, environmental ethics and future generations. His books, articles and lectures have motivated countless researches and his thought-provoking frågeställningar has challenged the state of ethics research. His work will without a doubt continue to be a longstanding source for contemplation and inspiration.
We had the privilege of hosting talks by Larry Temkin. One of these can be viewed on IFFS Youtube:
Equality as Comparative Fairness
In 2015, Larry Temkin was interviewed for IFFS Podcast: Om jämlikhet och vad vi faktiskt vill uppnå med den
