In 2022, I was invited by a group of scholars at Trinity College, Dublin to deliver a series of lectures on the concept of vulnerability as the basis for an enhanced vision of state or collective responsibility. I organized the lectures around several principles that highlighted how the insights of what is called ‘Vulnerability Theory’ reveal and challenge the foundational assumptions underlying mainstream legal and political approaches to justice. My fundamental belief, and the underlying premise of Vulnerability Theory, is that to be appropriately labelled just, a theory must be attentive to the material circumstances of the human condition, emphasizing the interconnectedness and dependence of individuals within society, as well as the complexities of contemporary life.

In viewing such circumstances and complexities as primary considerations, Vulnerability Theory could be deemed an application of Robert Merton's ‘theory of the middle range’, which posits that the most significant (and confounding) questions often arise in the tension generated in the spaces between the empirical realities of life and the grand theories or metanarratives of political and public aspirations. These tensions present a challenging and compelling occasion for theoretical, as well as practical, adjustments and revisions.

Vulnerability Theory begins by considering the corporeal body as its foundational empirical concept, focusing on the implications of the fragility and dependency of the body while critically assessing the abstract constructs that dominate our political world, such as equality and liberty, which constrain and limit our vision for change and transformation. By emphasizing the corporeal body, Vulnerability Theory foregrounds the physical and social realities of human existence, advocating for a shift in critical attention (at least initially) from abstract ideals to concrete human experiences.