GWP Visiting Professor Karl Widerquist has invited some exciting guests to speak as part of his “Ethics of UBI” seminar on 2 and 9 February, 2022. The events are open to the public and will be streamed live on YouTube.

2 February 2022, 4pm-6pm:
4:00pm-5:00pm – Guy Standing: A Commons-Based Argument for Basic Income
5:00pm-6:00pm – Alexander Gourevitch: The basic income illusion
Livestream link: https://youtu.be/2Lk9lMQwTCc 

Guy Standing is an economist and professorial research associate at the SOAS University in London. He I also one of the most influential leaders in the worldwide Basic Income movement. Guy Standing will be discussing the ethical significance of the privatization of common resources and the need for Universal Basic Income.

Alex Gourevitch is an associate professor of political science at Brown University. He will discuss whether it is correct to talk about a Universal Basic Income as a way of emancipating people from being forced to work.

9 February, 2022, 4pm-6pm:
4:00pm-5:00pm – Louise Haagh: Developmental Freedom and Social Order
5:00pm-6:00pm – Otto Lehto: Libertarian perspectives on Basic Income
Livestream link: https://youtu.be/2SphVrI3QDQ

Louise Haagh is professor of politics at the University of York (UK) and a former chair of the Basic Income Earth Network. She will argue that the influence of the atomistic account of human nature on liberal egalitarian thought has produced an unambitious, imprecise, and sometimes coercive account of individual freedom and social community.

Otto Lehto is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at New York University’s School of Law (2022-2023) and a former guest scholar at the Götz Werner Chair, Freiburg University. He will be discussing the wide range of “libertarian” arguments for (and against) Universal Basic Income.