Abstract:
Social hierarchies are ubiquitous in the modern world. We reject unjust hierarchies such as racism and sexism. But fighting against all forms of social hierarchy is neither feasible nor desirable. So we need to distinguish between unjust hierarchies and forms of hierarchies that may be morally justified so that we can promote the latter and stamp out the former in pursuit of a more just world. But which social hierarchies are morally justified? Drawing on their book Just Hierarchy: Why Social Hierarchies Matter in China and the Rest of the World (Princeton University Press, 2022, paperback ed.), Wang Pei and Daniel A. Bell will try to answer this question.
Bios:
WANG Pei is Assistant professor at The School of Chinese at the University of Hong Kong. She completed her PhD thesis on phenomenology at the department of philosophy of Tsinghua University. She was a post-doc fellow at the Tsinghua Institute of Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences. She has authored academic articles in English, Chinese, and French, mainly on phenomenology, ethics, and comparative philosophy. Her book (co-authored with Daniel A. Bell) Just Hierarchy: Why Social Hierarchies Matter in China and the Rest of the World was published by Princeton University Press in 2020.
Daniel A. Bell (貝淡寧) is Professor, Chair of Political Theory with the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong. He served as Dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University (Qingdao) from 2017 to 2022. His books include The Dean of Shandong (2023), Just Hierarchy (co-authored with Wang Pei, 2020), The China Model (2015), The Spirit of Cities (co-authored with Avner de-Shalit, 2012), China’s New Confucianism (2008), Beyond Liberal Democracy (2007), and East Meets West (2000), all published by Princeton University Press. He is also the author of Communitarianism and Its Critics (Oxford University Press, 1993). He is founding editor of the Princeton-China series (Princeton University Press) which translates and publishes original and influential academic works from China. His works have been translated in 23 languages. He has been interviewed in English, Chinese, and French. In 2018, he was awarded the Huilin Prize and was honored as a “Cultural Leader” by the World Economic Forum.