What is the relation between rights and egalitarian justice? There is a perception that the two pull in different directions, perhaps because rights are often conceptualised as individual entitlements and/or as deontological constraints while egalitarian theories of justice are taken to propose teleological principles whose satisfaction might infringe individual rights. Is this perception warranted? Are rights and egalitarianism in tension with each other or might they be compatible? Can principles of egalitarian justice be translated into (individual) rights and if so, should they?

One area where rights and egalitarianism appear to converge is equality of opportunity. Formal equality of opportunity, at least, can easily be translated into individual rights against discrimination. But equality of opportunity might require more than the rights against discrimination currently recognised in many jurisdictions; it might also require rights against socio-economic or class-based discrimination, which might be difficult to conceptualise and/or implement.

The 2nd REAL workshop seeks to address these and any other questions about the relation between rights and egalitarianism. The confirmed invited speakers are: Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen (University of Aarhus), Emily McTernan (UCL) and David O’Brien (Tulane). We invite papers of any length up to 10,000 words, which are to be submitted to realerc2020@gmail.com. The papers should be prepared for blind review and submitted by April 15th, 2023. Authors of selected papers will be notified by the end of April at the latest and will have their travel and accommodation costs covered by the REAL project. Enquires can be sent to Adina Preda, Predaa@tcd.ie.