CPT Contemporary Political Theory Group

What is CPT?

The group of Contemporary Political Theory is founded by graduates of the University of Warwick in March, 2021. It is a weekly, on-line, pre-read reading group which tackles central philosophical texts.

The group's format is pre-read. Those attending are expected to have read the text in advance.

CPT是一个以当代政治理论研究为兴趣而聚集起来的读书小组,以阅读英文文献为主,参与者是相关领域的高校老师和学生。

Core Members:

Zhenya Fan (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

Xu Feng (East China Normal University)

Xinting Liu (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Zhijian Wang (Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences)

Fengxin Wu (Renmin University of China)

Sisheng Chris Zhang (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)

Items we have concluded

Arneson, Richard J. 2022. Prioritarianism. New edition. S.l.: Cambridge University Press.

Brouwer, Huub, and Thomas Mulligan. 2019. ‘Why Not Be a Desertist?: Three Arguments for Desert and against Luck Egalitarianism’. Philosophical Studies 176(9): 2271–88.

Crisp, Roger. 2011. ‘In Defence of the Priority View: A Response to Otsuka and Voorhoeve’. Utilitas 23(1): 105–8.

Dworkin, Ronald, and Justine Burley, eds. 2004. Dworkin and His Critics: With Replies by Dworkin. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.

Fleurbaey, Marc. 2005. ‘Freedom with Forgiveness’. Politics, Philosophy & Economics 4(1): 29–67.

Frye, Harrison. 2023. ‘Rescuing the Market from Communal Criticism’. Philosophy & Public Affairs 51(3): 234–64.

Gilabert, Pablo. 2023. Human Dignity and Social Justice. OUP Oxford.

Holtug, Nils, and Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, eds. 2007. Egalitarianism: New Essays on the Nature and Value of Equality. Oxford ; New York: Clarendon Press.

Kandiyali, Jan. 2020. ‘The Importance of Others: Marx on Unalienated Production’. Ethics 130(4): 555–87.

Knight, Carl. 2021. ‘An Argument for All-Luck Egalitarianism’. Philosophy & Public Affairs 49(4): 350–78.

Knight, Carl, and Zofia Stemplowska. 2011. Responsibility and Distributive Justice. Oxford University Press.

Mancilla, Alejandra. 2017. Theories of Justice. London: Routledge.

Mills, Eugene. 2004. ‘Scheffler on Rawls, Justice, and Desert’. Law and Philosophy 23(3): 261–72.

Moriarty, Jeffrey. 2003. ‘Against the Asymmetry of Desert’. Noûs 37(3): 518–36.

Mulkeen, Nicola. 2020. ‘Exploitation: Bridging Social and Distributive Egalitarianism’. Political Studies 68(4): 954–72.

Olsaretti, Serena, ed. 2003. Desert and Justice. Oxford : New York: Clarendon Press.

———, ed. 2018. The Oxford Handbook of Distributive Justice. First edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Otsuka, Michael, and Alex Voorhoeve. 2009. ‘Why It Matters That Some Are Worse Off Than Others: An Argument against the Priority View’. Philosophy & Public Affairs 37(2): 171–99.

———. 2011. ‘Reply to Crisp’. Utilitas 23(1): 109–14.

Porter, Thomas. 2012. ‘In Defence of the Priority View’. Utilitas 24(3): 349–64.

Scanlon, Thomas. 1998. What We Owe to Each Other. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Scanlon, Thomas M. 2013. ‘Giving Desert Its Due’. Philosophical Explorations 16(2): 101–16.

Scheffler, Samuel. 2018. ‘Membership and Political Obligation: Membership & Political Obligation’. Journal of Political Philosophy 26(1): 3–23.

Tan, Kok-Chor. 2008. ‘A Defense of Luck Egalitarianism’. The Journal of Philosophy 105(11): 665–90.

Temkin, Larry. 2017. ‘Equality as Comparative Fairness’. Journal of Applied Philosophy 34(1): 43–60.

Call for Interests and How CPT Works

We encourage like-minded scholars to join us in this hopefully fruitful and enriching experience in understanding, debating and dissecting contemporary issues in political theory.

  1. We foresee equal chances for participants to discuss during CPT as we expect all participants to pre-read and come to CPT sessions prepared for a rigorous discussion.

  2. We follow a voluntary sign-up of presenters, This entails giving a max. 30 min presentation at the beginning of CPT meetings on the main argument of the reading, as well as posing leading questions for discussions.

  3. CPT’s working languages are Mandarin Chinese and English.

  4. CPT meets at least once weekly, which is on every Saturday 8-10pm (GMT+8).

  5. All queries go to chris.zhang(at)upf.edu.

To join: