Paul Billingham
Biographic Data
| ID | 2423073 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Paul Billingham |
| GIVEN NAMES | Paul |
| FAMILY NAME | Billingham |
| SIGNATURE | BILLINGHAM P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oxford |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2262-9064 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 40 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 25 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Introduction to OJLR Special Issue
To the surprise of many, Catholic integralism has re-emerged and found increasing numbers of advocates in recent years, especially in the USA. Integralism refers to the papacy’s teaching about politics in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, specifically the teachings that regard the subordination of the state to the church as the ideal form of regime to secure earthly and heavenly common goods in society. It is thus deeply hostile to li…
What Public Reason Liberals Do and Do Not Need to Say About Epistemology
An important question regarding public reason liberalism is how much (if anything) it needs to say about epistemology. This paper presents an answer to this question, arguing that the theory does not require reasonable citizens to hold any particular epistemological commitments (contra David Enoch's important critique), but does need to offer an epistemological explanation for the fact of reasonable disagreement. However, that explanation can be …
Online Public Shaming, the Duties of Social Media Platforms, and the Case for Regulation
What should we do in response to the prevalence of wrongful public shaming that occurs online? In this paper, we offer one part of the answer to this question. We argue that there is a compelling case for social media platforms themselves to be active in tackling wrongful online public shaming, as well as for government regulation of these platforms to stimulate such activity. We recognize that we are far from the first authors to call for the re…
Democracy and Morality
Subsidiarity, sphere sovereignty, and state sovereignty
An important question for liberal political theory is whether its account of political morality is compatible with religious political thought. This paper examines one aspect of that broad question, namely the compatibility of the Christian pluralist tradition with liberalism's account of state sovereignty. According to Cécile Laborde, a central commitment of liberalism—and perhaps its most radical—is the claim that the state possesses a form of …
Introduction to the symposium on A Perfectionist Theory of Justice by Collis Tahzib
Perfecting justice and legitimacy
This paper examines two aspects of the views developed in Tahzib’s excellent book A Perfectionist Theory of Justice. First, I consider the implications of including the principle of perfection within the theory of justice, and in particular what this means for the legitimacy of non-perfectionist states. Second, I argue that spiritual excellence has a plausible claim to be included in Tahzib’s conception of flourishing, and identify some problems …
Sharing reasons and emotions in a non-ideal discursive system
This paper critically evaluates two aspects of Maxime Lepoutre's important book, Democratic Speech in Divided Times. First, I examine Lepoutre's approach to the shared reasons constraint—the requirement to offer shared reasons within public deliberation—and the place of emotions in public discourse. I argue that he, and indeed all who adopt such a highly inclusivist approach, face a dilemma that pushes him either to apply the shared reasons const…
Can Civic Friendship Ground Public Reason
Public reason views hold that the exercise of political power must be acceptable to all reasonable citizens. A growing number of philosophers argue that this reasonable acceptability principle (RAP) can be justified by appealing to the value of civic friendship. They claim that a valuable form of political community can only be achieved among the citizens of pluralistic societies if they refrain from appealing to controversial ideals and values w…
A framework for analyzing public reason theories
Proponents of public reason views hold that the exercise of political power ought to be acceptable to all reasonable citizens. This article elucidates the common structure shared by all public reason views, first by identifying a set of questions that all such views must answer and, second, by showing that the answers to these questions stand in a particular relationship to each other. In particular, we show that what we call the ‘rationale quest…
A Framework for Analyzing Public Reason Theories
Introduction to the Special Issue on Religious Diversity, Political Theory, and Theology
Can Christians Join the Overlapping Consensus
The success of political liberalism depends on there being an overlapping consensus among reasonable citizens—including religious citizens—upon principles of political morality. This paper explores the resources within one major religion—Christianity—that might lead individuals to endorse (or reject) political liberalism, and thus to join (or not join) the overlapping consensus. I show that there are several strands within Christian political eth…
Reasonable Disagreement About, and Within, Watson and Hartley’s Political Liberalism
This article considers how successfully Watson and Hartley achieve the two main aims of their excellent book, Equal Citizenship and Public Reason : first, developing and defending a distinctive version of political liberalism and, second, showing that this is a feminist political liberalism. I challenge both their general defence of their view and the arguments regarding feminism. Both discussions raise questions about the conceptualisation of re…
Diverse Religious Responses to Pluralism
Normative questions concerning the political implications of the deepening religious diversity of both western and non-western societies abound. These range from fundamental questions such as wheth
Enforcing social norms
Public shaming plays an important role in upholding valuable social norms. But, under what conditions, if any, is it morally justifiable? Our aim in this paper is systemically to investigate the morality of public shaming, so as to provide an answer to this neglected question. We develop an overarching framework for assessing the justifiability of this practice, which shows that, while shaming can sometimes be morally justifiable, it very often i…
State Sovereignty, Associational Interests, and Collective Religious Liberty
In Chapter 5 of Liberalism’s Religion , Cécile Laborde considers the freedom and autonomy of religious associations within liberal democratic societies. This paper evaluates her central arguments in that chapter. First, I argue that Laborde makes things too easy for herself in dismissing controversies over the state’s legitimate jurisdictional authority. Second, I argue that Laborde’s view of when associations’ ‘coherence interests’ justify exemp…
Liberal Perfectionism, Moral Integrity, and Self-Respect
This paper presents a dilemma for Matthew Kramer’s view, as defended in his Liberalism with Excellence. A central aim of that book is to critique existing liberal perfectionist theories, which he labels “edificatory,” and to defend a different such theory, which he calls “aspirational.” Edificatory perfectionism holds that governments ought to promote citizens’ well-being directly by inducing them to live lives that are more wholesome, cultivated…
Consensus, Convergence, Restraint, and Religion
This essay critically assesses the central claim of Kevin Vallier’s Liberal Politics and Public Faith : that public religious faith and public reason liberalism can be reconciled, because the values underlying public reason liberalism should lead us to endorse the ‘convergence view,’ rather than the mainstream consensus view. The convergence view is friendlier to religious faith, because it jettisons the consensus view’s much-criticised ‘duty of …
Convergence liberalism and the problem of disagreement concerning public justification
The ‘convergence conception’ of political liberalism has become increasingly popular in recent years. Steven Wall has shown that convergence liberals face a serious dilemma in responding to disagreement about whether laws are publicly justified. What I call the ‘conjunctive approach’ to such disagreement threatens anarchism, while the ‘non-conjunctive’ approach appears to render convergence liberalism internally inconsistent. This paper defends t…
Liberal Perfectionism and Quong’s Internal Conception of Political Liberalism
Debates between political liberals and liberal perfectionists have been reinvigorated by Jonathan Quong’s Liberalism Without Perfection. In this paper I argue that certain forms of perfectionism can rebut or evade Quong’s three central objections – that perfectionism is manipulative, paternalistic, and illegitimate. I then argue that perfectionists can defend an ‘internal conception’ of perfectionism, parallel in structure to Quong’s ’internal co…
How Should Claims for Religious Exemptions be Weighed?
Many philosophers and jurists believe that individuals should sometimes be granted religiouslygrounded exemptions from laws or rules. To determine whether an exemption is merited in a particular case, the religious claim must be weighed against the countervailing values that favour the uniform application of the law or rule. This paper develops and applies a framework for assessing the weight of religious claims to exemption, across two dimension…
Can my religion influence my conception of justice? Political liberalism and the role of comprehensive doctrines
In his last works, John Rawls explicitly argued for an overlapping consensus on a family of reasonable liberal political conceptions of justice, rather than just one. This ‘Deep Version’ of political liberalism opens up new questions about the relationship between citizens’ political conceptions, from which they must draw and offer public reasons in their political advocacy, and their comprehensive doctrines. These questions centre on whether a r…
Convergence Justifications Within Political Liberalism
Does political community require public reason? On Lister’s defence of political liberalism
Andrew Lister’s Public Reason and Political Community is an important new contribution to the debate over political liberalism. In this article, I critically evaluate some of the central arguments of the book in order to assess the current state of public reason liberalism. I pursue two main objections to Lister’s work. First, Lister’s justification for public reason, which appeals to the value of civic friendship, fails to show why public reason…
Enforcing social norms
Public shaming plays an important role in upholding valuable social norms. But, under what conditions, if any, is it morally justifiable? Our aim in this paper is systemically to investigate the morality of public shaming, so as to provide an answer to this neglected question. We develop an overarching framework for assessing the justifiability of this practice, which shows that, while shaming can sometimes be morally justifiable, it very often i…
A framework for analyzing public reason theories
Proponents of public reason views hold that the exercise of political power ought to be acceptable to all reasonable citizens. This article elucidates the common structure shared by all public reason views, first by identifying a set of questions that all such views must answer and, second, by showing that the answers to these questions stand in a particular relationship to each other. In particular, we show that what we call the ‘rationale quest…
Does political community require public reason? On Lister’s defence of political liberalism
Andrew Lister’s Public Reason and Political Community is an important new contribution to the debate over political liberalism. In this article, I critically evaluate some of the central arguments of the book in order to assess the current state of public reason liberalism. I pursue two main objections to Lister’s work. First, Lister’s justification for public reason, which appeals to the value of civic friendship, fails to show why public reason…
Convergence Justifications Within Political Liberalism
Can Civic Friendship Ground Public Reason
Public reason views hold that the exercise of political power must be acceptable to all reasonable citizens. A growing number of philosophers argue that this reasonable acceptability principle (RAP) can be justified by appealing to the value of civic friendship. They claim that a valuable form of political community can only be achieved among the citizens of pluralistic societies if they refrain from appealing to controversial ideals and values w…
Can my religion influence my conception of justice? Political liberalism and the role of comprehensive doctrines
In his last works, John Rawls explicitly argued for an overlapping consensus on a family of reasonable liberal political conceptions of justice, rather than just one. This ‘Deep Version’ of political liberalism opens up new questions about the relationship between citizens’ political conceptions, from which they must draw and offer public reasons in their political advocacy, and their comprehensive doctrines. These questions centre on whether a r…
Can my religion influence my conception of justice? Political liberalism and the role of comprehensive doctrines
In his last works, John Rawls explicitly argued for an overlapping consensus on a family of reasonable liberal political conceptions of justice, rather than just one. This ‘Deep Version’ of political liberalism opens up new questions about the relationship between citizens’ political conceptions, from which they must draw and offer public reasons in their political advocacy, and their comprehensive doctrines. These questions centre on whether a r…
Convergence Justifications Within Political Liberalism
Does political community require public reason? On Lister’s defence of political liberalism
Andrew Lister’s Public Reason and Political Community is an important new contribution to the debate over political liberalism. In this article, I critically evaluate some of the central arguments of the book in order to assess the current state of public reason liberalism. I pursue two main objections to Lister’s work. First, Lister’s justification for public reason, which appeals to the value of civic friendship, fails to show why public reason…
How Should Claims for Religious Exemptions be Weighed?
Many philosophers and jurists believe that individuals should sometimes be granted religiouslygrounded exemptions from laws or rules. To determine whether an exemption is merited in a particular case, the religious claim must be weighed against the countervailing values that favour the uniform application of the law or rule. This paper develops and applies a framework for assessing the weight of religious claims to exemption, across two dimension…
Convergence liberalism and the problem of disagreement concerning public justification
The ‘convergence conception’ of political liberalism has become increasingly popular in recent years. Steven Wall has shown that convergence liberals face a serious dilemma in responding to disagreement about whether laws are publicly justified. What I call the ‘conjunctive approach’ to such disagreement threatens anarchism, while the ‘non-conjunctive’ approach appears to render convergence liberalism internally inconsistent. This paper defends t…
Liberal Perfectionism and Quong’s Internal Conception of Political Liberalism
Debates between political liberals and liberal perfectionists have been reinvigorated by Jonathan Quong’s Liberalism Without Perfection. In this paper I argue that certain forms of perfectionism can rebut or evade Quong’s three central objections – that perfectionism is manipulative, paternalistic, and illegitimate. I then argue that perfectionists can defend an ‘internal conception’ of perfectionism, parallel in structure to Quong’s ’internal co…
Liberal Perfectionism, Moral Integrity, and Self-Respect
This paper presents a dilemma for Matthew Kramer’s view, as defended in his Liberalism with Excellence. A central aim of that book is to critique existing liberal perfectionist theories, which he labels “edificatory,” and to defend a different such theory, which he calls “aspirational.” Edificatory perfectionism holds that governments ought to promote citizens’ well-being directly by inducing them to live lives that are more wholesome, cultivated…
Consensus, Convergence, Restraint, and Religion
This essay critically assesses the central claim of Kevin Vallier’s Liberal Politics and Public Faith : that public religious faith and public reason liberalism can be reconciled, because the values underlying public reason liberalism should lead us to endorse the ‘convergence view,’ rather than the mainstream consensus view. The convergence view is friendlier to religious faith, because it jettisons the consensus view’s much-criticised ‘duty of …
State Sovereignty, Associational Interests, and Collective Religious Liberty
In Chapter 5 of Liberalism’s Religion , Cécile Laborde considers the freedom and autonomy of religious associations within liberal democratic societies. This paper evaluates her central arguments in that chapter. First, I argue that Laborde makes things too easy for herself in dismissing controversies over the state’s legitimate jurisdictional authority. Second, I argue that Laborde’s view of when associations’ ‘coherence interests’ justify exemp…
Reasonable Disagreement About, and Within, Watson and Hartley’s Political Liberalism
This article considers how successfully Watson and Hartley achieve the two main aims of their excellent book, Equal Citizenship and Public Reason : first, developing and defending a distinctive version of political liberalism and, second, showing that this is a feminist political liberalism. I challenge both their general defence of their view and the arguments regarding feminism. Both discussions raise questions about the conceptualisation of re…
Diverse Religious Responses to Pluralism
Normative questions concerning the political implications of the deepening religious diversity of both western and non-western societies abound. These range from fundamental questions such as wheth
Enforcing social norms
Public shaming plays an important role in upholding valuable social norms. But, under what conditions, if any, is it morally justifiable? Our aim in this paper is systemically to investigate the morality of public shaming, so as to provide an answer to this neglected question. We develop an overarching framework for assessing the justifiability of this practice, which shows that, while shaming can sometimes be morally justifiable, it very often i…
A Framework for Analyzing Public Reason Theories
Introduction to the Special Issue on Religious Diversity, Political Theory, and Theology
Can Christians Join the Overlapping Consensus
The success of political liberalism depends on there being an overlapping consensus among reasonable citizens—including religious citizens—upon principles of political morality. This paper explores the resources within one major religion—Christianity—that might lead individuals to endorse (or reject) political liberalism, and thus to join (or not join) the overlapping consensus. I show that there are several strands within Christian political eth…
A framework for analyzing public reason theories
Proponents of public reason views hold that the exercise of political power ought to be acceptable to all reasonable citizens. This article elucidates the common structure shared by all public reason views, first by identifying a set of questions that all such views must answer and, second, by showing that the answers to these questions stand in a particular relationship to each other. In particular, we show that what we call the ‘rationale quest…
Sharing reasons and emotions in a non-ideal discursive system
This paper critically evaluates two aspects of Maxime Lepoutre's important book, Democratic Speech in Divided Times. First, I examine Lepoutre's approach to the shared reasons constraint—the requirement to offer shared reasons within public deliberation—and the place of emotions in public discourse. I argue that he, and indeed all who adopt such a highly inclusivist approach, face a dilemma that pushes him either to apply the shared reasons const…
Can Civic Friendship Ground Public Reason
Public reason views hold that the exercise of political power must be acceptable to all reasonable citizens. A growing number of philosophers argue that this reasonable acceptability principle (RAP) can be justified by appealing to the value of civic friendship. They claim that a valuable form of political community can only be achieved among the citizens of pluralistic societies if they refrain from appealing to controversial ideals and values w…
Subsidiarity, sphere sovereignty, and state sovereignty
An important question for liberal political theory is whether its account of political morality is compatible with religious political thought. This paper examines one aspect of that broad question, namely the compatibility of the Christian pluralist tradition with liberalism's account of state sovereignty. According to Cécile Laborde, a central commitment of liberalism—and perhaps its most radical—is the claim that the state possesses a form of …
Introduction to the symposium on A Perfectionist Theory of Justice by Collis Tahzib
Perfecting justice and legitimacy
This paper examines two aspects of the views developed in Tahzib’s excellent book A Perfectionist Theory of Justice. First, I consider the implications of including the principle of perfection within the theory of justice, and in particular what this means for the legitimacy of non-perfectionist states. Second, I argue that spiritual excellence has a plausible claim to be included in Tahzib’s conception of flourishing, and identify some problems …
Democracy and Morality
Introduction to OJLR Special Issue
To the surprise of many, Catholic integralism has re-emerged and found increasing numbers of advocates in recent years, especially in the USA. Integralism refers to the papacy’s teaching about politics in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, specifically the teachings that regard the subordination of the state to the church as the ideal form of regime to secure earthly and heavenly common goods in society. It is thus deeply hostile to li…
What Public Reason Liberals Do and Do Not Need to Say About Epistemology
An important question regarding public reason liberalism is how much (if anything) it needs to say about epistemology. This paper presents an answer to this question, arguing that the theory does not require reasonable citizens to hold any particular epistemological commitments (contra David Enoch's important critique), but does need to offer an epistemological explanation for the fact of reasonable disagreement. However, that explanation can be …
Online Public Shaming, the Duties of Social Media Platforms, and the Case for Regulation
What should we do in response to the prevalence of wrongful public shaming that occurs online? In this paper, we offer one part of the answer to this question. We argue that there is a compelling case for social media platforms themselves to be active in tackling wrongful online public shaming, as well as for government regulation of these platforms to stimulate such activity. We recognize that we are far from the first authors to call for the re…
Political science (20 works) · Sociology (20 works) · Law (19 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (17 works) · Law and economics (16 works) · Politics (16 works) · Philosophy (15 works) · Epistemology (13 works) · Liberalism (13 works) · Law (10 works)