Dear colleagues, we would like to invite you to the third seminar of the *European Network of Workplace Democracy*. The seminar session will be held virtually via Zoom. To register to the event, please send an email to i...@workplace-democracy.eu
*15. April 2021* *5-7 p.m. CEST* Abraham Singer (Loyola University Chicago) *“The idea of Nonpublic Reason, Revisited”* *Abstract:* One of the more influential ideas in political philosophy over the past 30 years has been the Rawlsian idea of public reason. The idea of public reason was originally developed to address the problem of value pluralism in a liberal society, by distinguishing the reasons of political life (public reason) from those pertaining to our more personal religious and moral commitments (nonpublic reason). While “public reason” has become a dominant research program in political theory and political philosophy, as the tool used to discuss the major questions of a pluralistic polity, the idea of “nonpublic reason” remains under-theorized, defined largely in terms of the diverse private commitments and comprehensive doctrines of society’s “background culture.” Against this, I argue that "nonpublic reason" is far more important for political theory and political economy than normally thought. Nonpublic reason does not pertain only (or even mainly) to exogenous comprehensive doctrines. Nonpublic reasons also come about because of systems that establish and encourage the formation of inward-facing and parochially-oriented associations and institutions, which are governed and coordinated by socially-constructed roles and offices. The reasons of individual corporations --which are both parochially orientated, yet structured and established by public institutions like markets, corporate law, and securities regulations -- are examples of such nonpublic reason. This presentation will explore this conception of nonpublic reason and the questions it raises for business ethics and workplace democracy. Understanding businesses as subject to this sort of nonpublic reason helps address an objection to workplace democracy that emphasizes freedom of association. However, it also raises interesting questions and complications for workplace democracy by highlighting the variety and variegation of workplaces, and their relationship to different types of social systems and institutions. Kind regards Alexander Krüger / Roberto Frega -- https://www.vidal-rosset.net/mailing_list_educasupphilo.html
