The Social Contract Research Podcast

In this seminar Prof. Sophia Rosenfeld shows how the question of coice is central to concerns of the common good and the social contract, drawing particular attention to a significant and underappreciated shift in how the common good is framed in modern democracies. The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd15MIGFpCAThe seminar took place over Zoom on 30 September 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to the SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Dr. Timothy Jackson explores key questions about the social contract and the common good: who or what pre-exists “a social contract” and is capable of entering into it? To what extent is a stable notion of the “common good” achievable amongst subjects who are always at odds with themselves? The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0D2vcUhjmoThe seminar took place over Zoom on 16 September 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to the SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Dr. Kristine Moruzi explores the world of eighteenth-century magazines soliciting charitable donations from children. She explores the methods and social importance of these magazines, reflecting on how they informed and reflected the common good.The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYembnNclR4The seminar took place over Zoom on 8 September 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Prof. Douglas Guilfoyle analyzes the oceans as a global commons, detailing the legal frameworks like the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that define maritime zones such as the high seas and exclusive economic zones. He explores the historical development of these laws, the inherent conflicts between national interests, resource exploitation, environmental protection, and the "common heritage of mankind," alongside emerging critical perspectives challenging traditional ocean governance.The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlFRj3piiR0The seminar took place over Zoom on 29 April 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Prof. David McCourt analyzes the recent shift towards tougher China policies in the US, Australia, and the UK, arguing it results from an alignment between interconnected "fields" of knowledge production and specific groups of influential "China Watchers" in Washington, Canberra, and London. He traces how these experts promoting strategic competition or security concerns gained prominence over proponents of engagement, raising questions about the trade-offs between this geopolitical stance, the common good, and domestic societal impacts.A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMiMDbm_vQ0The seminar took place over Zoom on 8 April 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Prof. Thomas SImpson addresses questions of trust in contemporary society, including questions such as: under what circumstances is trust warranted within a community? What is the relationship between compliance with the law and a culture of trust? The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion, including reflections on whether or not trust is a virtue, and whether trust is in fact necessary for something like the social contract to emerge.A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlyh7sATY1sThe seminar took place over Zoom on 8 April 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Dr Amy Chandran addresses questions of power and religion on Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan. The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/ONemBZ7mmWYThe seminar took place over Zoom on 25 March 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar John Protevi (Phyllis M. Taylor Professor of French Studies, Louisiana State University) addresses the question of the relationship between the social contract idea, slavery, and manumission. The seminar is followed by a time of question and answer. A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/ALJ8TvpwaHs The seminar took place over Zoom on 16 May 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Ioannis Evrigenis (Professor of Political Science and Professor of Classical Studies, Tufts University) addresses the question of the status of Hobbes's state of nature. Hobbes claims his account of the state of nature and the social contract are scientific insofar as they are geometrical; Professor Evrigenis argues that they are indeed scientific, but for quite another reason. Ioannis Evrigenis is author of "Images of Anarchy: The Rhetoric and Science in Hobbes's State of Nature" (Cambridge University Press, 2014). The seminar is followed by a time of question and answer. A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/NBtO0e9cKp8 The seminar took place over Zoom on 9 May 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Dr Bolek Kabala addresses the relationship between notions of contract and covenant in the work of Thomas Hobbes and Baruch Spinoza, with reflections on Augustine's two cities. The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion. A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/0anw_nIfsXY The seminar took place over Zoom on 6 August 2024, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Rev'd Dr Timothy Howles addresses the question of Carl Schmitt's social thought, with a particular focus on Schmitt's early essay "The Significance of the Individual". The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion. A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/YaEqGKosW9A The seminar took place over Zoom on 31 October 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Sandra Leonie Field (Lecturer in Philosophy, Monash University) addresses the question of Spinoza's relationship to the social contract, arguing that a case can be made for Spinoza both as a radical social contract thinker, adn as an anti-social contract thinker. The seminar is followed by a time of question and answer. A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/Qwqe62bQzCo The seminar took place over Zoom on 11 September 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Barbara Arneil (Professor of Political Science, The University of British Columbia) addresses the fascinating question of how the notions of "waste", "empty" and "uncultivated" land were used by John Locke and Jeremy Bentham in relation to British colonialism. The seminar is followed by a time of question and answer. A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N22qfbKxrRA&ab_channel=SocialContractResearchNetwork The seminar took place over Zoom on 21 March 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Philip Pettit (Laurence S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values, Princeton University; Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, Australian National University) addresses some of the details and complexities of Thomas Hobbes's distinctive account of the social contract. The seminar is followed by a time of question and answer. A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE9PFqtissA&ab_channel=SocialContractResearchNetwork The seminar took place over Zoom on 20 March 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Christopher Kelly (Professor in the Political Science Faculty at Boston College) addresses Rousseau's complex account of the state of nature in his Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1755). He discusses the relationship between the different states of nature in Rousseau's Second Discourse and his notions of perfectibility and natural goodness, arguing that the notions are very closely related. The talk is followed by Q&A which touches on questions of the coherence of Rousseau's state of nature idea in the Second Discourse, the importance of much state of nature material being located in the Discourse's paratextual material, Rousseau's Aristotelianism and the extent to which Rousseau had read the writers to whom he alludes in his discussion of the state of nature, including Buffon. A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnbGiWXCT0k&ab_channel=SocialContractResearchNetwork The seminar took place over Zoom on 26 October 2022, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Sarah Winter (Professor of English and Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Connecticut, and Co-Director of the Research Program on Humanitarianism at the UConn Human Rights Institute) addresses the use of the state of nature motif by opponents of slavery and the slave trade including Ottobah Cugoano, Olaudah Equiano and Thomas Clarkson. The talk provides a crucial corrective to the common assumption that the state of nature motif is an overwhelmingly conservative and imperial tool, serving only to justify colonisation and slavery. The talk is followed by Q&A which touches on questions of the emancipatory potential of the state of nature motif, the contribution of female authors to the state of nature literature, animality as a locus of freedom and equality, and Professor Winter's current and future work in the area of state of nature theories. A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jdM3i3kHCs&ab_channel=SocialContractResearchNetwork The seminar took place over Zoom on 13 September 2022, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Mark Somos (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellow and Senior Research Affiliate at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, @msomos) assesses the status of the state of nature idea, arguing that it is neither straightforwardly historical nor merely hypothetical, but a legal fiction. The talk engages both his monograph American States of Nature: The Origins of Independence, 1761–1775 (Oxford, 2019) and the volume, co-edited with Anne Peters, The State of Nature: Histories of an Idea (Brill, 2021). The talk is followed by Q&A which ranges over issues including the ideological uses of the state of nature and its rhetorical power. A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJJkakNU4JQ&ab_channel=SocialContractResearchNetwork The seminar took place over Zoom on 26 July 2022, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Doctor Alan Levinovitz (Associate Professor of Religion at James Madison University, @AlanLevinovitz) explores how nature has taken over from God as the foundation and justification of ethical commitments in our thinking, and how an unthinking commitment to the goodness of the "natural" can lead to very problematic conclusions. The talk is followed by Q&A which ranges over the place of theology in early modern thought, the "naturalness" of the COVID-19 pandemic, absolutism as a natural phenomenon and the platforms of both the Republican and Democrat parties in the 2016 U.S. election. A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAK-o7Htvkc&ab_channel=SocialContractResearchNetwork The seminar took place over Zoom on 13 July 2022, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to this YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Professor Peter Gratton (History and Political Science, Southeastern Louisiana University) explores the uses and abuses of the social contract idea, reflecting in particular on the ways in which the social contract can be considered a con. The talk is followed by Q&A. A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qilCZ99h0z0&ab_channel=SocialContractResearchNetwork The seminar took place over Zoom on 22 March 2022, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to this YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1

In this seminar Associate Professor Jessica Whyte (Scientia Fellow in the School of Humanities and Languages (Philosophy) and the School of Law, University of New South Wales) explores neoliberal ideas of freedom in relation to the notion of sovereignty: the sovereignty of consumers and the sovereignty of the market. The talk is followed by Q&A. A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxg0IRj3qIc&ab_channel=SocialContractResearchNetwork The seminar took place over Zoom on 17 March 2022, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to this YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1