Digest Week 5 Trinity Term 2025

St Cross Uehiro Lecture: Michael Sandel 

Join us for the third lecture of this year’s St Cross lecture series celebrating our specialism in Practical Ethics and our enduring connection with The Uehiro Foundation. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception and all are welcome!

Title: 'The Tyranny of Merit: Why are we so polarized, and what can be done about it?'

Time: 17.30- 19.00

Location: St Cross College – Dining Hall

Professor Michael Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard University. His books--on justice, democracy, ethics, and markets--have been translated into more than 30 languages. He has been described as “a rock star moralist” (Newsweek) and “the world’s most influential living philosopher.” (New Statesman)

For more information and to register, go to: https://www.stx.ox.ac.uk/event/st-cross-college-lecture 

Justice and Community: Reflections on G.A. Cohen’s Socialism

Time: 18:30 – 19:30

Location: Radcliffe Humanities Seminar Room

G.A. (Jerry) Cohen was appointed Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory in Oxford in 1985, a position he held until a few months before his death in 2009.  He was a remarkable political philosopher who produced writings of rigour and insight on matters – liberty, justice, and equality – of fundamental importance.  Moreover, owing to his engagement with both Marxist and liberal debates, and even a foray into conservatism, his intellectual career was unusually wide-ranging.  In this talk I will seek to bring to life the richness of Cohen’s philosophy by focussing on some fascinating paradoxes that illustrate both surprising features of his thought and unresolved tensions.

Philosophy society members are free to attend and non-members are charged £2 per event. More information, including how to purchase membership, can be found here: https://www.oxford-philsoc.org/membership. 

Time: 17:15 - 18:15, followed by drinks reception 

Location: Balliol College, Old Common Room

Essential to the character of Oxford its cultural heritage – from dreaming spires to its beautiful quadrangles and magnificent halls.  Yet that heritage is implicated in a history of colonialism and inequality.  I propose to consider cultural heritage through the lens of social justice.  This involves a candid reckoning with the historic injustice instantiated in dominant heritage narratives, but also how heritage might be understood in a way that contributes to social justice, understood in an expansive sense of furthering human flourishing. 

For more information please visit: – Oliver Smithies Lecture | Balliol College