Helder De Schutter

RIPPLE, Research in Political Philosophy and Ethics Leuven
Kardinaal Mercierplein 2 - box 3200
3000 Leuven
Belgium

tel: +32 16 32 32 55
contact

Helder De Schutter is Professor of Social and Political Philosophy at KU Leuven, where he serves as Dean of the Institute of Philosophy. He works on issues of linguistic justice, federalism in multinational states, nationalism and nation-building, migration and citizenship, and the case for non-territorial jurisdictional authority. He also has a strong interest in 18th century philosophy of language. He is also the editor of Karakter.

He is currently finalizing a book manuscript on linguistic pluralism as a theory of linguistic justice. Its argument is that political recognition ought to be granted to distinct language and dialect groups sharing the same political and territorial space. This theory of linguistic pluralism distances itself both from linguistic instrumentalism, which rejects language recognition, and from monolingual nationalism, which advocates recognizing just one language per territory or state. It is composed of three domains of linguistic justice: interlinguistic, intralinguistic, and global linguistic justice.

He has held visiting research positions at Princeton University (in 2006, and as a Fung Global Fellow in 2013-2014) and at the University of Oxford, Nuffield College (2008-2009), and was a part-time guest professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain from 2010 until 2016 to teach 'Political Philosophy and the European Union' (with Philippe Van Parijs). He supervises 6 PhD-students and runs a weekly justice seminar for his PhD-students and other academics interested in normative political philosophy.

His co-authored paper ‘Mandatory Citizenship for Immigrants’ (with Lea Ypi) received the British Academy’s Brian Barry Prize, and in he also received the European Philosophy from Kant to the Present Prize from the University of Kentucky. Other papers have appeared in books and journals including The Journal of Political Philosophy; Inquiry; Journal of Applied Philosophy; Metaphilosophy; Nationalities Papers; Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy; Philosophy & Social Criticism; Politics, Philosophy & Economics; and The Cambridge Handbook of Language Policy.

Here are some interviews about his work: We zijn België cultureel aan het uitkleden (Knack), Open Grenzen, Wereldwijd! (De Standaard), We omarmen het Engels als blije slaven (BRUZZ), We hebben het niet verdiend rijker te zijn dan de andere (De Morgen) and Most opportunities come wrapped in language (Comité International Permanent des Linguistes CIPL).

Some publications:

De Schutter, H. (2023). Two Grounds of Multiculturalism. Ethnicities, 23 (4), 547-561. doi: 10.1177/14687968221149590
De Schutter, H. (2023). Solidarity and autonomy in the European Union. Review of Social Economy, 81 (1), 37-60. doi: 10.1080/00346764.2022.2042369
De Schutter, H. (2022). Taming Dignity for Multiculturalism. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy. doi: 10.1080/13698230.2021.1893250
De Schutter, H. (2022). Linguistic Justice for Immigrants. Nations and Nationalism. doi: 10.1111/nana.12800
De Schutter, H. (2021). Personality and territoriality in theory and in Belgium. Language Problems and Language Planning, 45 (2), 218-238. doi: 10.1075/lplp.00078.sch Open Access
De Schutter, H. (2021). Federalism as Fairness in Ethiopia. International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 28 (5), 811-844. doi: 10.1163/15718115-bja10045 Open Access
De Schutter, H. (2021). Is vrijheid ondemocratisch? Over de liberale democratie. Karakter: Tijdschrift van Wetenschap, 19 (73), 25-27. Open Access
De Schutter, H. (2021). Egalitarian Federalism. In: F. Boucher, A. Noël (Eds.), Fiscal Federalism in Multinational States: Autonomy, Equality, and Diversity, Chapt. 8, (228-260). (Democracy, Diversity, and Citizen Engagement Series, 5). Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press. ISBN: 9780228006527. doi: 10.2307/j.ctv1vtz7j6.13
De Schutter, H. (2020). Intralinguistic Justice. In Y. Peled and D. Weinstock (eds.) Language Ethics. McGill University Press, 146-177.
De Schutter H. (2019). Was and is Zionism Just? On the morality of Jewish self-rule in the land of Israel. Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies, 20 (1), 208-225. doi: 10.1093/jrls/jly033 Open Access.
De Schutter H. (2019). Territoriality and Personality: Concepts and Normative Considerations. In: A. Lever, A. Poama (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy, Chapt. 10, (129-142). (Routledge Handbooks in Applied Ethics). Abingdon / New York: Routledge. ISBN: 9781138201279; see here.
De Schutter, H. (2019). The EU should erect a language academy for European English. In: M. Meyer (Eds.), Twelve Stars: New Thoughts for Europe, (221-230). Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung Verlag / Twelve Stars Initiative. ISBN: 978-3-86793-874-7; see here.

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