The ANU Law and Philosophy Forum is delighted to announce its second meeting in 2023: Rei Takahashi (University of Tokyo) will present his paper on “Group Well-Being and Political Theory”.

All are welcome to attend.

Do groups have well-being? Despite its importance to political and moral philosophy, this question has received surprisingly little attention in philosophy. In this paper, Takahashi will defend group well-being. After setting out the idea of group well-being, he will raise three possible objections to this view and address them: (1) an objection from metaphysical parsimony, (2) an objection from the experience requirement, and (3) an objection from normative double counting. Finally, he will conclude that many groups do have well-being that cannot be reduced to the individual-level well-being of the members.

The idea of group well-being has an important implication for political theory. When combined with the view that states are group agents, it naturally follows that states have prudential reasons to promote their own group well-being, which would partly be constituted by their citizens’ well-being. Thus, this theory would account for the state-relative character of political decision-making.

Date and time: Wednesday 22 March, 1-2pm AEDT

This session will be held in person at the ANU College of Law, in the Philippa Weeks Library, room 7.4.1.

For those who are unable to attend in person, there is a Zoom option, and the Zoom details accessible upon registration.

About the speaker

Rei Takahashi is a graduate student in Law at the University of Tokyo, Japan, where he researches in political, legal, and moral philosophy. His research interests include consequentialism, prudential normatively, group agency, and well-being. His paper ‘Actions and Nonactions in Consequentialism: Focal Point, Reference Point, and Level’ will be published in Komaba Studies in Society in March 2023.

We look forward to hosting Rei Takahashi at the Forum, and hope you will be able to attend.

About the ANU Law and Philosophy Forum

The ANU Law and Philosophy Forum is an interdisciplinary group focused on issues spanning law and philosophy.

Its core purpose is to promote research, discussion, and exchanges on various topics in law and philosophy, covering aspects of both private law and public law, and issues within both legal and political philosophy.

The Forum hosts guest speakers, holds workshops, and discusses recent scholarship of note in the field. Meetings are open to faculty members and research students from the College of Law and the School of Philosophy, and friends and colleagues of both.