Basic Income & Linguistic Justice with Philippe van Parijs

In this - double-themed and thus somewhat longer - episode, we speak with Philippe van Parijs, Belgian political philosopher and political economist. We discuss both basic income and linguistic justice, neither of which might immediately seem logical themes for this podcast, especially compared to the themes discussed so far. However, we want to challenge our listeners to see the connections, because seeking ways of binding together exciting ideas for the future and relating them to how this would impact a “planetary” approach, is precisely what drives this podcast. This conversation really highlights how radical a change in all aspects of life - for humans and more-than-humans would likely emerge, from the apparently “simple” implementation of a basic income. For instance, although individual basic income might seem to further highlight individualism and individual, human-centered living, thinking about it in very practical terms makes one realize that it would actually more likely incentivise more community-oriented living. At the same time, Philippe also highlights that some changes might be less radical than we might hope or expect - for example, he suggests that people would still probably specialize in a specific field of work or discipline of thought. We also speak of how basic income leaves more space and incentive for life-long learning, for instance.

As we move to the theme of linguistic justice, we discuss the impact this could have on people’s choice to stay in given locations, as their realities would be much more contected to a locality, bound together with a language, and moving to another locality would (more than now) mean that one would need to learn a potentially very different language. Might this also be another incentive for humans to reconnect with localities? Even when they do choose to move, perhaps this movement would be less removed from the realities of the locality - after all, culture, nature, and language are arguably deeply intertwined…

Take-aways for planners, by Philippe van Parijs:

* Planning is most crucial in its function as a form of intelligent interdisciplinary foresight.

* As such, planning will unavoidably lead to coercive measures, but these are necessary in a context where human action so often results in highly negative consequences for non-humans.

* Despite its coercive side, planning should always maintain the promise of a utopia of maximum freedom for people, and this will most likely require some form of Universal Basic Income.

References from the episode:

Philippe van Parijs’ Université Catholique de Louvin page

Philippe van Parijs’ Wikipedia page

Parijs, P. van, & Vanderborght, Y. (2019). Basic income: A radical proposal for a free society and a sane economy (First Harvard University Press paperback edition). Harvard University Press.

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