In this paper, we establish gastrospaces as a subject of philosophical inquiry and an item for policy agendas. We first explain their political value, as key sites where members of liberal democratic societies can develop the capacity for a sense of justice and the capacity to form, revise, and pursue a conception of the good. Integrating political philosophy with analytic ontology, we then unfold a theoretical framework for gastrospaces: first, we show the limits of the concept of “third place;” second, (...) we lay out the foundations for an ontological model of gastrospaces; third, we introduce five features of gastrospaces that connect their ontology with their political value and with the realization of justice goals. We conclude by briefly illustrating three potential levels of intervention concerning the design, use, and modification of gastrospaces: institutions, keepers, and users. (shrink)

John Rawls's A Theory of Justice has reshaped liberal political theory, but what fruitful arguments does it generate today, fifty years after its publication? To show Theory's productive contempora...

The ‘ontological turn’ in the social sciences over the last two decades has necessitated a reconsideration of the onto-epistemological nexus in political science. While political theory has traditionally been more focused on epistemological questions, the work of White (2000) and Connolly (2017) amongst others has suggested that ontological perspectives need to be taken more seriously. In particular, such arguments invite greater openness to a broader range of theories of ontology than have traditionally been considered in mainstream political theory. In this (...) article the contribution of Indigenous philosophy is discussed to demonstrate the ways in which it might encourage new methodologies for ontological political thought. In particular, the article points to the importance of understanding ontology and epistemology in relational terms and the political possibilities that emerge when we consider ontologies as simultaneously weak and strong or, in a different idiom, deep and relational. (shrink)