The project brings together scholars interested in reconsidering both the Enlightenment debates, and the contemporary debates over freedom, markets, virtue, and human flourishing. Two symposia will be organized; the first at Arizona State University, and the second at the University of Arizona. The foundation for these symposia are two debates (one historical, one current) that intersect in several ways. By bringing together key figures in the current debate with historians versed in the classical economists' debate, as well as philosophers and theologians interested in current discussion of markets, community and strategic interventions, we hope to move toward a clearer understanding of individual liberty, virtue, and human flourishing are effectuated by participation in markets and community interaction today.
Deliverables: 24 essays that become chapters of two symposia in the journal Social Philosophy & Policy.
The goal is to deepen our inquiry into how markets and communities inform individual liberty and promote virtue and human flourishing, with a specific focus on the contemporary concern to use behavioral "nudges" to incentivize certain pro-social behaviors. Are nudges substitutes for actions that could or already do occur in communities and market? We will bring together leading figures from many sides for conversation aimed to produce academic work of high quality.
