Aristotelian Cosmopolitanism and the Moral Desert for External Goods

By Guy Schuh (Tübingen, Philosophy)

Date: Thursday, November 26, 2026

Time: 1530-1700

Room: Humanities Seminar Room (H-232)

Abstract: What do good people deserve? One answer that we find in Aristotle’s works is “external goods.” This talk raises the further question of why they do so. In contrast to answers that base the moral desert for external goods on virtuous character or action, it argues that Aristotle thinks good people deserve external goods because people have a “natural” or non-institutional “distributive” desert for things that benefit oneself because they benefit oneself. Such an account has important implications for Aristotelian cosmopolitanism. Specifically, it provides a route to cosmopolitan ethical concern that circumvents the limited scope of Aristotelian right and wrong.

About the speaker: Guy Schuh is an Intercultural Studies Research Fellow at the University of Tübingen. Before that, he held positions at Suffolk University and the University of Alabama. He is currently working on a project on moral desert in Aristotle and a comparative project on friendship and moral development in Aristotle and Confucius. He has broad research interests in Ancient Greek and Classical Chinese ethics as well as Husserlian Phenomenology. 

Organized by the Department of Philosophy