Introduction: Advancing Philosophical Pluralism in the Analysis of Inequalities

Abstract

This introductory chapter describes the increasing call to pluralize political philosophy. This call is especially clear with respect to taking more seriously Global South philosophies and other non-Western philosophies. Yet the chapter makes the case for simultaneously examining the marginalization of some traditions within Western liberal political philosophy (such as care ethics, feminist political philosophy, and disability ethics), together with non-Western political philosophies. Since the volume focusses in particular on economic and ecological inequalities, the chapter also includes some empirical background on inequalities and discusses how the dominant analysis of these inequalities in liberal egalitarianism can fruitfully be complemented by many other approaches. The chapter concludes by listing the different type of assumptions that a political philosophy can entail.