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Fung Program & UCHV Book Talk | Thana de Campos-Rudinsky: "The Rule of Love"
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Wed, Nov 11, 2026
12 PM – 1:20 PM EST (GMT-5)
Julis Romo Rabinowitz Building/JRR, room A17
Princeton, NJ 08544, United States
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The Rule of Love | The Power of Presence for Reforming Health Institutions and Global Health Leadership:
Where justice, with its emphasis on individual claim-rights, falls short of justifying our ethical responsibility to care for those suffering from illnesses that do not neatly qualify as unjust, love (agape) provides the missing moral foundation. This book contributes to the literature of ethics and global affairs, drawing on a dialogue among diverse intellectual traditions--from Thomas Aquinas and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Emmanuel Lévinas, Iris Murdoch, and bell hooks. The result is a rich conceptual account of love, presented in Part I, which establishes agape not merely as an emotion, but as a virtue and process of practical reasoning. Building on this foundation, Part II offers a normative examination of how agapic love--working in tandem with, rather than in opposition to, justice--can reform global health governance.
The Rule of Love discusses reallocating the shared responsibilities of care for those suffering from illnesses that cross political borders. Although love and global affairs have traditionally been viewed as separate domains, this work argues that integrating agape into personal relationships and institutional policies can reshape the dynamics of global affairs and redefine the design of global health institutions.
Ultimately, The Rule of Love seeks to reclaim the moral force of love by demonstrating that agape provides a stronger moral justification for care than justice alone. It challenges readers to expand their understanding of love beyond mere sentiment, revealing it as a deeply reasoned commitment that grounds our collective duty to care for those suffering. In doing so, it leaves the reader empowered with a fresh perspective on both the moral and practical dimensions of love--a perspective with the potential to redefine leadership and reform global health governance for a more humane future.
Food Provided
Where
Julis Romo Rabinowitz Building/JRR, room A17
Princeton, NJ 08544, United States
Speakers
Thana de Campos-Rudinsky
Associate Professor of Ethics, Law, and Public Policy, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
2026-27 Visiting Research Scholar, UCHV; 2020-21 Fung Global Fellow
Thana de Campos-Rudinsky is Associate Professor of Ethics, Law, and Public Policy at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Her work develops a normative theory of institutional responsibility grounded in love and justice, examining how organizations should respond to human vulnerability—including illness, grief, poverty, and loneliness. She is the author of "The Rule of Love: The Power of Presence for Reforming Health Institutions and Global Health Leadership" (Oxford University Press, 2026) and "The Global Health Crisis: Ethical Responsibilities" (Cambridge University Press, 2017), and co-editor of "The Philosophical Foundations of Medical Law" (Oxford University Press, 2019). Her articles have appeared in journals spanning law, medicine, international affairs, and bioethics, including: The Lancet, the American Journal of International Law, International Affairs, American Journal of Bioethics, Health and Human Rights, and Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. She has presented her Mutual Care Scorecard to Chile's Ministry of Health for its potential incorporation into national health policy, and served as expert consultant to the UN Special Rapporteur's report Violence against Mothers (2026). She is currently completing a set of philosophy papers on the normativity of love.
Hosted By
Co-hosted with: Princeton Institute for International & Regional Studies