The Ethics Department of the Faculty of Philosophy in Groningen is pleased to announce that John Tomasi will give a lecture on his new book Free Market Fairness Where: RUG - Faculty of Philosophy (Oude Boteringestraat 52, Groningen), Room: Omega When: Wednesday, 10th of April, 15.15-17.00 About Free Market Fairness: Can libertarians care about social justice? In Free Market Fairness (Princeton University Press, 2012), John Tomasi argues that they can and should. Drawing simultaneously on moral insights from defenders of economic liberty such as F.A. Hayek and advocates of social justice such as John Rawls, Tomasi presents a new theory of liberal justice. This theory, free market fairness, is committed to both limited government and the material betterment of the poor. Unlike traditional libertarians, Tomasi argues that property rights are best defended not in terms of self-ownership or economic efficiency but as requirements of democratic legitimacy. At the same time, he encourages egalitarians concerned about social justice to listen more sympathetically to the claims ordinary citizens make about the importance of private economic liberty in their daily lives. In place of the familiar social democratic interpretations of social justice, Tomasi offers a “market democratic” conception of social justice: free market fairness. Tomasi argues that free market fairness, with its twin commitment to economic liberty and a fair distribution of goods and opportunities, is a morally superior account of liberal justice. Free market fairness is also a distinctively American ideal. It extends the notion, prominent in America’s founding period, that protection of property and promotion of real opportunity are indivisible goals. Indeed, according to Tomasi, free market fairness is social justice, American style. About John Tomasi: John Tomasi did his graduate work in political philosophy at the University of Arizona (M.A.) and Oxford University (B.Phil., D.Phil.). He has held positions at Princeton, Stanford, and Harvard. Tomasi is currently Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Brown University where he is the founding director of The Political Theory Project. He also holds an appointment at the University of Arizona's Freedom Center. In addition to numerous scholarly articles, Tomasi is the author of Liberalism Beyond Justice (Princeton) and Free Market Fairness (Princeton).