Joseph Carens, “The Ethics of Immigration” (Oxford UP, 2013)
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What is the overall premise of Joseph Carens’s *The Ethics of Immigration*?
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Welcome to the New Books in Philosophy channel of the New Books Network. My name is Robert Talise. I'm professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co host the channel with Carrie Figter. Carrie is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. Today my guest is Professor Joseph Carens. We'll be talking about his new book, The Ethics of Immigration, which is newly published by Oxford University Press. Joseph Carens is Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. It is commonly assumed that states have a right to broad discretionary control over immigration. And that they may decide almost in any way they choose. Who may stay within the territory and who must leave? But even supposing that there is such a right.
We may ask the decidedly moral questions about how this right may be exercised. And this query calls us to try to bring our views about the ethics of immigration into equilibrium with our other moral convictions about citizenship, Liberty, autonomy, and equality. In the Ethics of Immigration, Joseph Carens argues that our common commitment to democratic principles is calls for revisions to much of our thinking about immigration. Beginning with the uncontroversial practice of granting citizenship immediately to those born within a country's territory, Karens argues that the claims to social membership and thus to citizenship strengthen as individuals stay within a state. Consequently, there is a point at which not extending citizenship to those living within a state's borders is grossly immoral.
Even for those who have settled without the state's permission. Now Karen's arguments about the exercise of the state's rights to exclude eventuate in an argument in favor of open borders. The ethics of immigration is a rigorous and comprehensive treatment of a full range of moral and political questions. So let's turn to the interview. Hello, Joseph Carens. Оба How are you doing today?
Great. Um I'm really looking forward to this. Thanks so much for inviting me.
Well, thank you for joining us on New Books in Philosophy. Well folks, today my uh guest on New Books in Philosophy is Joe Carens. Uh his new book, uh just published with Oxford University Press, is titled The Ethics of Immigration. Uh I recommend this book highly. Uh it provides a a comprehensive, I should say, examination of the moral and political issues that arise out of uh the phenomena, several as they are, of immigration. Um it's thorough and philosophically rigorous a book, but um I should add it's accessible and really engaging, uh, even for those of us who like me uh haven't thought a lot uh or worked a lot on uh these particular issues. Um the inquiry uh is guided by the following question.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the overall premise of Joseph Carens’s *The Ethics of Immigration*?
0:00–7:44
2
How does Carens connect democratic principles to the moral limits on state control of borders?
7:44–14:35
3
Why does Carens argue that birth‑right citizenship is a moral baseline for later claims to citizenship?
14:35–20:46
4
What is the ‘social‑membership’ theory and how does it shape the case for open borders?
20:46–26:22
5
How does Carens address the status and rights of irregular (undocumented) migrants?
26:22–32:50
6
What moral obligations does Carens attribute to states toward refugees?
32:50–39:08
7
How does Carens reconcile open‑borders arguments with practical policy concerns?
39:08–45:24
8
What are the key take‑aways and future directions suggested at the end of the interview?
45:24–57:42
Speakers
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