Episode 22: Elizabeth Anderson - A new equality and the philosopher for this moment in American life

Elizabeth Anderson is perhaps the philosopher best suited to this moment in American life, someone who has redefined equality. She is brilliant and her brilliance beams through every word of this conversation, charting a complex and compelling narrative across her life and offering a glimpse into a great contemporary mind.

Elizabeth Anderson not only works at the intersection of moral and political philosophy, social science, and economics, but has indeed been defining that space for the past several decades of brilliant novel thought. She has become a leading theorist of democracy and social justice. Her work has redefined the practice of contemporary philosophy to draw on real-world problems and information. 

Anderson is prolific. She has written an overwhelming number of papers and four books each of which should be compulsory reading, including her ground-breaking treatise on equality “What is the point of equality?” and the books The Imperative of Integration and Private Government: How Employers Rule our Lives (And Why We Don’t Talk About It)...just to name a few. 

Her work rightfully earns her wide recognition as a thought-leader and indeed ‘genius.’ Anderson is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and John Dewey Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan and a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation’s revered ‘Genius Grant.’ Elizabeth is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

She has a BA with high honors in Philosophy from Swarthmore College and a PhD from Harvard. 

Elizabeth is an inspiration - perhaps the philosopher best suited to this moment in American life and it is a profound pleasure to have her join us on Origins.