Inaugural Dudley Knowles Memorial Lecture: 'Religious Freedom and Identity in the Liberal State'

Published: 14 January 2016

Event 21 Jan 2016, with lecturer Professor Lord Raymond Plant.

Date: Thursday 21 January 2016
Time: 6pm
Venue: Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre (Corner of Gibson Street and University Avenue)

Raymond Plant is currently Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Philosophy at King’s College London and has represented Labour in the House of Lords as Baron Plant of Highfields since 1992.  He was also Professor of Divinity at Gresham College and is a Lay Canon at Winchester Cathedral.  He is well known at Glasgow University as one of our most formidable Stevenson Lecturers.   

Professor Plant has written extensively in political, social and legal philosophy.  His range of published work on the NeoLiberalState reflects and informs his public and political service.  He has been a member of the Nuffield Council on Medical Ethics and served on the Joint Committee on Human Rights for the House of Lords.  He also has contributed to party policy making, for instance,  by chairing reports for the Labour Party on Electoral Reform, and (for the Fabian Society) on Taxation and Citizenship. The subject of Professor Plant’s lecture arises from reflections on the subject which began during his period of tenure as Professor at Sciences Po (the Paris Institute of Political Studies). 

Professor Dudley Ross Knowles (1947 – 2014) was a renowned political philosopher who taught at Glasgow University from 1973 to 2011 and was a staunch supporter of the Stevenson Trust.  Dudley insisted that the Trust’s commitment to public education must include the contribution of political philosophy to examining issues of contemporary relevance in a manner accessible to all citizens.  In 2015 the Stevenson committee endorsed Professor Knowles’s view by instigating an annual public lecture on political philosophy in his memory.  

Raymond Plant and Dudley Knowles share many concerns and interests in applying political philosophy to issues such rights, welfare, political obligation and citizenship.  They are also both leading authorities on Hegel’s political philosophy from whom each draws inspiration.

The lecture will be followed by discussion and a drinks reception at 7.30pm. All staff, students, and members of the public are welcome. No advance booking is necessary.   


First published: 14 January 2016