The relationship between migration and philosophy is one that could easily be understated in the current ‘hostile environment’ towards migrants and refugees in the UK. Skimming through our national media or tuning into pretty much any politician’s speech, most people would recognise that the debate over immigration reform is more characterised by populist scaremongering than by its rich philosophical insights. Words like ‘foreign scrounger’, ‘illegal’ and ‘benefit cheat’ are certainly normative, yet are hardly applied with critical rigor. Meanwhile, fundamental questions of human liberty and dignity are debated by a flawed democratic political system and mediated by the signatures of bureaucrats somewhere in Croydon, London.
Jennifer Allsopp writes for openDemocracy, arguing for a philosophy of what is good rather than a politics of fear in the UK immigration debate