Philosopher of The Week

 Elizabeth S. Anderson

When we hear, " a philosopher once said...", most times, we tend to picture an old man who lived centuries before us and who is long dead and gone. But today's philosopher is a woman who is not too old and who is very much alive.

Elizabeth Sencor Anderson is an American Philosopher, raised in Manchester, a town in the state of Connecticut, America, who was born on December 5, 1959. She had the privilege to study at Swarthmore College, where she bagged her B. A in Philosophy with a minor in Economics. She also studied at Harvard University where she got her Ph.D in Philosophy.

Anderson's research covers topics in social philosophy, political philosophy and ethics, including: democratic theory, equality in political philosophy and American law, racial integration, the ethical limits of markets, theories of value and rational choice (alternatives to consequentialism and economic theories of rational choice), the philosophies of John Stuart Mill and John Dewey, feminist epistemology and philosophy of science.

Her most cited work is her article in Ethics journal, titled "What is the Point of Equality?" Within the article, she harshly criticises luck egalitarianism: a contemporaneously popular view espoused by writers such as Ronald Dworkin. She advocates for a more relational understanding of equality founded upon democratic principles. 

Anderson's book, 'The Imperative of Integration' was winner of the American Philosophical Association's 2011 Joseph B. Gittler Award, for an outstanding scholarly contribution in the field of the philosophy. She is also the author of 'Value in Ethics and Economics' and dozens of articles.

              -Okocha Josephine