Rodrigo Merayo Fernández // Poverty and Political Philosophy: Special Attention to Theories of Justice

Abstract: Poverty continues to be an urgent issue and a bleeding reality in our world. Political philosophy, especially since the middle of the last century, has promoted a programme of thought about social justice in which poverty represents the worst of all injustices. For this reason, this work is interested in examining how the issue of poverty has been dealt with from the theoretical postulates of the main Theories of Justice, that is, from the perspectives of John Rawls, Ronald Dworkin, the capability thinkers’Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum and, finally, Thomas Pogge. Alongside these, the critical contributions of Iris Marion Young and Nancy Fraser will be briefly considered, through which the debate is enriched. Finally, some conclusions drawn from this theoretical journey will be analyzed.

Bio: Rodrigo Merayo Fernández is PhD in Legal Philosophy at the University Carlos III of Madrid. He has studied law at the University of León (Spain) and subsequently completed a Master in Political Theory and Democratic Culture at the University Complutense of Madrid and another in Access to the Legal Profession at the UNED (Spain). Since his inception at the University, his academic concerns have been closely related to human rights theory and legal and political philosophy. Specifically, his field of study is focused on reflection on human rights and social justice in general. His thesis is on poverty, Theories of Justice and human rights approach, with a special interest in showing the connections between international law of human rights and political philosophy in social justice issues. He has completed several doctoral stays during his PhD at the Max-Planck Institute in Heidelberg (Germany) and recently in the CEPS (Portugal).