•  89
    Autonomy, free speech and automatic behaviour
    Res Publica 13 (1): 53-75. 2006.
    One of the strongest defences of free speech holds that autonomy requires the protection of speech. In this paper I examine five conditions that autonomy must satisfy. I survey recent research in social psychology regarding automatic behaviour, and a challenge to autonomy is articulated. I argue that a plausible strategy for neutralising some of the autonomy-threatening automatic responses consists in avoiding the exposure to the environmental features that trigger them. If this is so, we can go…Read more
  •  52
    Nudging for Liberals
    Social Theory and Practice 41 (4): 644-667. 2015.
    In this article I argue that anti-perfectionist liberals can accept nudging in certain areas: in particular, they can accept nudges aimed at helping people to discharge their nonenforceable duties, and to secure personal autonomy. I claim that nudging is not disrespectful since it does not involve a comparative negative judgment on people’s ability to pursue their plans, and that the judgments that motivate nudging are compatible with treating citizens as free and equal. I also claim that despit…Read more
  •  51
    The Public Ecology of Freedom of Association
    Res Publica 20 (1): 85-103. 2014.
    This paper defends the claim that private associations might be legitimately constrained by a requirement of reasonableness. I present a list of goods that freedom of association protect, and argue that the limits to associational freedom have to be sensitive to the nature of these goods. In defending this claim, I cast doubt on two popular liberal arguments: One is that attitudes cultivated in the private sphere are not likely to spill over into the public arena. The other is that governmental …Read more
  •  51
    Disagreement and Legitimacy
    Res Publica 20 (1): 1-8. 2014.
    Disagreement in politics is ubiquitous. People disagree about what makes a life worthy or well-lived. They disagree about what they owe to each other in terms of justice. They also disagree about the proper manner of dealing with the consequences of disagreement. What is more, they disagree about the normative significance of moral and political disagreement. Disagreement has been, for at least three decades now, the focus of a series of major works in political philosophy. It has been called on…Read more
  •  23
    Distributions and Relations: A Hybrid Account
    with T. A. Parr
    Political Studies. forthcoming.
    There is a deep divide amongst political philosophers of an egalitarian stripe. On the one hand, there are so-called distributive egalitarians, who hold that equality obtains within a political community when each of its members enjoys an equal share of the community’s resources. On the other hand, there are so-called social egalitarians, who instead hold that equality obtains within a political community when each of its members stands in certain relations to other members of the community, suc…Read more
  •  8
    Expressive Interest and the Integrity of Hate Speakers
    Politics in Central Europe 6 (3): 18-38. 2010.
    The paper focuses on the claim that citizens’ expressive interests in speech warrant protection to hate speech. I analyse this view by exploring three different arguments that Ronald Dworkin has produced in recent years. The arguments I advance holds that Dworkin’s fails to show that such interests are sufficient for protection. Drawing from some research on social psychology I claim that hate speech is harmful in a justice-relevant manner. If I am correct, then, given Dworkin’s ideas about inte…Read more