Philosophy Seminar Series: The "Well-ordered Society" and Its Paradigms, by Sergio Dellavalle (University of Turin)

Tuesday, October 18th, 2022 at 4:30pm at the Humanities Center

Abstract: No social life is possible without order. Order being the most constituent element of society, it is not surprising that so many theories have been developed to explain what social order is and how it is possible, as well as to explore the features that social order acquires in its different dimensions. Relying on his recently published book on the Paradigms of Social Order (Palgrave Macmillan 2021), Dellavalle shows how these many theories of social order can be led back to a few main matrices for the use of theoretical and practical reason. The plurality of conceptual constructs regarding social order is therefore reduced to a manageable number of “paradigms of order” and an intellectual map is produced, in which the most significant differences between paradigms are clearly outlined. Dellavalle addresses then the “paradigmatic revolutions” as the turning points in the way in which the “well-ordered society” has been understood. Finally, the question is discussed about the theoretical and practical perspectives for a cosmopolitan society as the only suitable possibility to meet the global challenges with which we are all presently confronted. Against this background, Dellavalle discusses the “communicative paradigm” as the most convincing answer to the aforementioned and as a complex and multilayered vision, in which the preference for democratic legitimacy at any level of governance is reconciled with the necessity of global inclusion.

About:Sergio Dellavalle is Professor of Public Law and State Theory at the University of Turin (Italy), Department of Law, and Senior Research Affiliate at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg (Germany). His field of interests comprise political and legal philosophy as well as legal theory, with particular reference to constitutional and international law. Among his most recent publications are: Paradigms of Social Order. From Holism to Pluralism and Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan 2021); ‘Squaring the Circle: How the Right to Refuge Can Be Reconciled with the Right to Political Identity’ (16 International Journal of Constitutional Law 776–805, 2018) ‘Responsibility and Rights’ (20 German Law Journal 449–467, 2019); ‘Addressing Diversity in Post-unitary Theories of Order’ (40 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies” 347–376, 2020).