What (if Anything) Is Wrong With Economic Inequality?

About the Speaker

Glynn Family Honors Collegiate Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Paul Weithman received his doctorate in Philosophy from Harvard University, where he wrote his dissertation under the direction of John Rawls and Judith Shklar. He is now Glynn Family Honors Collegiate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, where he directs the Honors Program and the Program in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. His most recent book is Why Political Liberalism? On John Rawls's Political Turn, which won the David and Elaine Spitz Prize given to the best book on liberal democratic theory published in 2010.

Streaming Media

Location

Fort Howard Theater, Bemis International Center, St. Norbert College

Start Date

3-30-2017 7:00 PM

Description

Economic inequality in America has grown significantly in recent decades, pausing briefly during the Great Recession and resuming its upward trend during the recovery. Some, such as Pope Francis, see growing inequality as a great evil. Others see it as the natural result of a growing and innovative economy, and dismiss concern with it as the product of envy. In his Killeen Chair Lecture, Professor Paul Weithman will look at the metrics and the data of economists who study economic inequality. He will also look at the reasons that philosophy and theology provide for worrying about the economic inequality that characterizes the present-day United States.

Share

COinS
 
Mar 30th, 7:00 PM

What (if Anything) Is Wrong With Economic Inequality?

Fort Howard Theater, Bemis International Center, St. Norbert College

Economic inequality in America has grown significantly in recent decades, pausing briefly during the Great Recession and resuming its upward trend during the recovery. Some, such as Pope Francis, see growing inequality as a great evil. Others see it as the natural result of a growing and innovative economy, and dismiss concern with it as the product of envy. In his Killeen Chair Lecture, Professor Paul Weithman will look at the metrics and the data of economists who study economic inequality. He will also look at the reasons that philosophy and theology provide for worrying about the economic inequality that characterizes the present-day United States.