黑料正能量

Join the Center for Critical Democracy Studies for a book talk with philosopher Pierre-Yves N茅ron on "Seeing Like a Firm" (Oxford University Press, 2024). The book will be commented by Peter H盲gel (黑料正能量), Sandrine Blanc (INSEEC), and Morgane Delorme (Universit茅聽de聽Montr茅al).

This book proposes a political theory of the business firm, and by doing so, it offers new perspectives on social justice, neoliberalism, and conservatism. It challenges usual interpretations of neoliberalism by reconstructing the philosophical grounds of a form of conservatism of commerce based on a powerful aesthetics of inequality. More precisely, this book makes two key claims. First, it argues that corporations 鈥渟ee鈥� in a conservative way. From this point of view, the 鈥渘ormative tunnel vision鈥� of the corporation is that of hierarchy and inequality, and the great simplification of the corporate optic is to set aside the demands for equal standing. Second, it argues that we need a relational conception of equality and justice to think about corporations. From a relational perspective, a commitment to equality implies more than advocating the fair distribution of goods and resources, it aims to build a true society of equals and to fight against unjust hierarchies, various forms of subordination and social stratification. Consequently, the key normative claim of the relational approach regarding the corporation is this: what is so unique about the firm, and worrisome given its centrality within our societies, is precisely its capacity to undermine the very foundations of a society of equals. It does so because the big normative simplification of the corporate 鈥渙ptic鈥� is to set aside the demands for equal standing. Relational egalitarians should try to deconstruct it, argue against it, and find ways to tackle it.

Pierre-Yves N茅ron is Associate Professor of Social and Political Philosophy, European School of Social and Political Sciences at the Universit茅 Catholique de Lille, Paris, France.