The Ninth Annual Adams Symposium for the Public Humanities

First Among Equals: Redeeming Equality as a Political Ideal

Featuring Dr. Teresa Bejan

Dr. Teresa Bejan will discuss themes from her forthcoming book, First Among Equals, which explores equality as a guiding principle of politics by recovering its forgotten history—from ancient Greece and Rome to early modern England. Her talk will examine how a 17th-century social movement radically transformed the meaning of equality long before the Declaration of Independence, and how those ideas continue to shape debates about equality today in Europe, America, and beyond.

Teresa M. Bejan is Professor of Political Theory and Fellow of Oriel College at the University of Oxford. Her research explores questions of free speech, civility, tolerance, and equality through historical and contemporary lenses, with work spanning from ancient Athens to modern political thought.

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