Ivory Towers and Concrete Flowers: On the Relationship between Political Philosophy and Activism

• Published in: Philosophy (London) Vol. 100; no. 1; pp. 50 - 75
• Main Author: Engelstad, Ane
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.01.2025
• ISSN: 0031-8191; 1469-817X
• DOI: 10.1017/S0031819124000275

The relationship between political philosophy and real-life politics is one that is heavily contested. On the one hand, it has been argued that political affiliation is a biasing force that stands in the way of our ability as political philosophers to maintain an objective perspective (Van der Vossen, 2015; 2020). On the other hand, it has been argued that political philosophers run the risk of bias whether they are politically active or not (Jones, 2020). In this paper, I nuance the debate at hand: I specify what kind of activism we should be concerned with as a biasing force, elaborate on what biases we should aim to mitigate as political philosophers, as well as what tools we have at our disposal in combatting biases within the discipline. This allows me to argue that participation in certain forms of political activism can be a powerful method for avoiding the most pernicious and pervasive biases we are prone to, namely biases against marginalised groups, and in favour of the political status quo. This has the implication that we must avoid a blanket ban on political activism within political philosophy, and instead recognise the epistemic merits of political activism where it is due.