Mathias Risse: Framing Justice in the Age of Globalization and Artificial Intelligence

Mathias Risse is the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Philosophy and Public Administration at the Kennedy School at Harvard University. He also serves as the Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights, Global Affairs and Philosophy and Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. His research questions the role of global justice in a wide range of topics like human rights, inequality, taxation, trade, immigration, climate change, and technology. He focuses on the “big questions” of political and moral philosophy in the United States and in a global context.

In this interview, Tiger and Marko discuss with Professor Mathias Risse his theory of “grounds of justice” and how technology changes the way we look at global justice. We go over the just nature of technology and how should individuals look at technology as being inherently fair. Risse sheds light on the rising movement across philosophy departments to critique and reform the widely used theory of John Rawls to include minorities and marginalized groups and how that has impacted philosophy scholarship. Lastly, we wrap up looking at politics in the United States and how the electoral college impedes the process of having fair and just elections, and why removing it could solve the problem.

Professor Mathias Risse has written three books with both “justice” and “on” in the title, yet all of these works appear to tackle a similar question: how should philosophers handle questions of justice in a global context? It all started with his book On Global Justice where he established his famous “grounds of justice” that global justice can be analyzed on.

However, how do these grounds change when we factor in the rise of technology? Can technology stand alone as its own ground of justice, or will it fit into the other pre-defined grounds of justice? Mathias Risse explains the future of technology in global justice and how technology can fit into his original theory from On Global Justice.

Additionally, we ask Prof. Risse his thoughts on the inherent nature of justice of technology: is technology inherently just? Is technology capable of being just as unjust as human actions and trade? He brings in other notable professors who have researched the topic including Princeton Professor Ruha Benjamin to answer this question on the just nature of technology in society.

John Rawls has provided a foundational understanding of political philosophy, but his work has recently been under fire. Rawls may have been able to provide a great framework for political philosophers but it overlooked the experiences of minorities and marginalized individuals in the United States.

Mathias Risse shares how philosophy departments have been attempting to critique and expand Rawls’ theory to include the viewpoint of marginalized groups in the United States. He shares how this changes our understanding of Rawlsian theory and what work is left to be done in Philosophy departments across the nation to make political philosophy more inclusive.

In the fall of 2020, Mathias Risse along with John Shattuck wrote a series of papers called the “Reimagining Rights and Responsibilities in the U.S.,” where Risse and Shattuck worked to explore areas of domestic politics and public policy that lead to injustice. These reports ranged from LGBTQ+ rights to voting rights and they all ended with a series of policy actions that could be taken to improve American society.

One policy action that is supported is the abolishment of the electoral college, but why would its removal lead to a more just society? How did the electoral college disenfranchise individuals and how does it continue to build a barrier to fair elections? Mathias Risse also takes on this question and shares with us his findings on how the electoral college impacts justice and how removing it can help increase the fairness of U.S. elections.

Mathias Risse