AAP 2026 CONFERENCE

This paper seeks to relate the notions of a division of labour, division of knowledge (as in standpoint epistemology), and division of authority (as in a separation of powers) to the tasks of social philosophy. Anybody who works in ethical or political theory or similar will be conscious of these concepts and will have some use for them. But because their significance is often forgotten at crucial junctures, I think it will be worth our while to discuss just how central they are, and how an awareness of them must shape social philosophy from the very beginning and at almost every step of the way after that. This in particular has consequences for those who try to do social philosophy from ‘the point of view of the universe’ or who advocate for positive duties owed by every human to every other human.