Public Ethics for Real People

This book develops an innovative paradigm of public ethics that provides a unique insight into three central themes – recognition, social conflicts and democratic distortions – while critically celebrating the work of Anna Elisabetta Galeotti. In honor of her seventieth birthday, this edited collection brings together leading scholars in the field of normative political philosophy to reason upon the main strands of her research. The volume envisages a general paradigm of public ethics to deal with social conflicts that involve structural dynamics and deliberative deficits. While addressing diverse yet interrelated topics, all the contributors demonstrate a commitment to the ideal that, in the construction and reform of social and political institutions, respect for individuals as the makers of their own lives should act as the guiding principle. Against this backdrop, this volume strikes a difficult-to-reach balance between refined theorizing over classical themes of the liberal tradition and the ability to open these classic themes to new strands of research. The collection deals with crucial contemporary challenges to the democratic order, such as democratic backsliding and the breach of social trust, legal and democratic fights over free speech, multicultural clashes in highly diverse societies, and reparation for historical wrongs.