Notices

Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP) Anniversary Workshop
Where: New Haven, Yale University
When: April 13, 2012

Deadline for submission: March 2, 2012

Sponsored by the Global Justice Program of the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Centre for International and Area Studies, Yale University and the Program in Cognitive Science, Yale University

Keynote Speakers: Paul Slovic, University of Oregon and Nicole Hassoun, Carnegie Mellon University

The call
Many individuals in affluent nations are aware that a vast number of people live in conditions of severe poverty. Yet they are more likely to go to the movies or to buy an expensive sweater than they are to give their money to humanitarian aid. The question arises, how can individuals be motivated to act on their duties to aid the global poor?

The Global Justice Program and the Department of Cognitive Science invite the submission of 350-500 word abstracts for 25-minute presentations on the subject of “Moral Psychology and Poverty Alleviation” for their upcoming workshop. The conference aims to stimulate research that can be used to develop more effective means of motivating individuals to act on their moral obligations to alleviate global poverty. For more information about topics relevant to the conference click here.

Abstracts are invited from those working in cognitive science, moral philosophy, and political science and submissions are encouraged from all levels of academia. Submissions from those taking an experimental approach to the topic are especially encouraged. Abstracts should be sent as a PDF or Word document to asapmppa (at) gmail.com by 2 March 2012. The subject line of email should read “SUBMISSION [YOUR NAME]”. In the body of the email, please state your name, affiliation, and contact information.

The conference
The Moral Psychology and Poverty Alleviation workshop is part of a two-day conference marking the one year anniversary of Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP). ASAP is an international network helping scholars, teachers, and students enhance their impact on global poverty. It does so by promoting collaboration amongst poverty-focused academics, helping academics reach out to broader audiences on issues of poverty, and helping them turn their expertise into impact through specific intervention projects (www.academicsstand.org).

The first day of the conference, April 12th, will be a symposium on the future of global poverty alleviation after the expiration of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015. This symposium will bring together experts in development, aid, and global justice in a dialogue about next steps on global poverty alleviation. Speakers will examine the record on increasing global inequality, developments such as large-scale microfinance, and poverty measurement and trends. Each will offer crucial insights about what has been learned about reducing severe poverty, and which lessons must be highlighted in any MDG-replacement efforts.

I’m looking for one or two graduate students to take over the technical nuts and bolts administration of the website, i.e., sign up new members, keep the site WordPress and theme up-to-date, fix broken links, keep a lookout for new plugins and capabilities that we could incorporate into the website, and the like. Such a person or persons should have the following qualities:

• Relatively advanced technical competence regarding WordPress, blogging, the ability to write/fix code, etc.
• Commitment to academic political philosophy/theory.
• General togetherness, punctuality, reliability, etc.

There is little prospect of any meaningful remuneration, but it should provide the opportunity to become more involved in the political philosophy community and play an important role in interesting new initiatives. Since the website is international, you needn’t be located in the US. I’d be especially interested if some graduate students located at a single institution were to work together to keep things ticking along smoothly, although it shouldn’t be an onerous responsibility for a single person.

If you’re interested, please send me a CV, some evidence regarding your technical expertise, and any feasible ideas/thoughts you may have about how the website could be improved. Ideally, I’d like to sort this out by the end of the month.

Registration is required and free of charge. To register, please send name, affiliation and contact information to: taylor.conference.2012 [at] gmail.com

Charles Taylor at 80: An International Conference

March 29-31 2012, Musée des beaux-arts, Montréal

Charles Taylor à 80 ans: un colloque international

29 au 31 mars 2012, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal

PROGRAM

March 29
9 h Introduction : Daniel Weinstock, CRÉUM, Canada Research Chair in Ethics and Political Philosophy

• 9 h 30 Epistemology, philosophy of mind and philosophy of language I

To follow a rule : Lessons from baby logic
Shaun Gallagher (University of Memphis)

Self-Interpreting Animals
Evan Thompson (University of Toronto)

Taylor’s Situated Epistemology
Ian Gold (McGill University)

• 13h30-16h00 Epistemology, philosophy of mind and philosophy of language II

Embodiment and Self-interpretation
Hubert Dreyfus (University of California at Berkeley)

Charles Taylor’s conception of language and the current debate about a theory of meaning
Hans Julius Schneider (University of Potsdam)

Taylor’s Engaged Pluralism
Richard Bernstein (New School for Social Research)

March 30

• 9h30-12h00 Religion and modernity

Varieties of Religious and Secular Phenomenological Experiences
José Casanova (Georgetown University)

A Crisis of Secularism ?
Tariq Modood (University of Bristol)

Some (Banal and Boringly Familiar) Thoughts about Secularism
Ronald Beiner (University of Toronto)

TBA, Jeanne Bethke Elshtain (University of Chicago)

• 13h30-15h00 Moral agency and the Self I

What is Wrong with Positive Liberty : The Struggles of Agency in a Non-Ideal World
John Christman (Penn State University)

What’s Right With Positive Liberty : Agency, Autonomy, and the Other
Nancy Hirschmann (University of Pennsylvania)

• 13h15-16h30 The interpretation of modernity I

Social Imaginaries, Human Action, and History
Craig Calhoun (New York University/London School of Economics)

The Telos of Modernity
Jacob Levy (McGill University)

• 16h30-18h00 The interpretation of modernity II

Whatever Happened to the Ontic Logos ?
Michael Rosen (Harvard University)

The Fragility of Things : Fullness, Vitality and the Contemporary Condition
William Connolly (Johns Hopkins University)

March 31

• 9h30-12h00 Moral agency and the Self II

Self-creation or self-discovery ?
K. Anthony Appiah (Princeton University)

Reflective Equilibrium and Degrees of Abstraction in Moral Theory
Joseph Heath (University of Toronto)

Charles Taylor and ethical naturalism
Nigel DeSouza (University of Ottawa)

• 13h30- 16h00 Political philosophy, recognition and multiculturalism

Protecting Freedom of Conscience in the Secular Age
Cécile Laborde (University College, London)

The Multiple Social Imaginaries of Modern Indian secularism
Rajeev Bhargava (Delhi/Center for the Study of Developing Societies)

“Exercises in Retrieval” : Taylor as a Thinker of Historical Transitions
Paolo Costa, (Fondazione Bruno Kessler)

TBA Michele Moody-Adams (Columbia University)

• 16h15 -18h30 Canadian politics

Charles Taylor on Deep Diversity
James Tully (University of Victoria)

Cultural Differences, Languages, Perspicuous Contrasts, and Recognition
Jeremy Webber (University of Victoria)

Démocratie, diversité et inclusion
Dominique Leydet (Université du Québec à Montréal)

Charles Taylor: Closing remarks

March 30th (evening)Public event in honor of Charles Taylor as a public intellectual

Partenaires / Partners (provisional list):

• Centre de recherche en éthique de l’Université de Montréal (CRÉUM)
• Centre for Global Challenges / Centre sur les défis mondiaux, York University
• Chaire de recherche du Canada en éthique et philosophie politique
• Association des études canadiennes
• Department of Political Science, McGill University
• Dean of Arts Development Fund, McGill University
• Fédération canadienne des sciences humaines/Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
• Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire en philosophie politique (GRIPP)
• Groupe de recherche sur les sociétés plurinationales (GRSP), UQÀM
• Research Group on Constitutional Studies, McGill University
• Secrétariat aux affaires intergouvernementales canadiennes (SAIC) du Québec
• Vice-rectorat à la recherche, à la création et à l’innovation, Université de Montréal

Conference co-organizers: Daniel Weinstock (Montreal), Jocelyn Maclure (Laval), Jacob T. Levy (McGill), Pierre-Yves Néron (CRÉUM)

For more information:

• http://www.creum.umontreal.ca/spip.php?article1280
• http://www.mcgill.ca/rgcs/gripp/events/taylor

 MAs in Political Philosophy at the University of York

Reminder - apologies for cross-posting

The Department of Politics at the University of York is now accepting applications to its long-established MA programmes in Political Philosophy and Political Philosophy (The Idea of Toleration). We typically welcome 20+ postgraduate students each year to read for these two interlinked programmes.

Our postgraduate students come from all over the world, as well as from a variety of institutions in the U.K. The size of our MA programme means that we always have a lively community of graduate students in political philosophy, with events such as the biweekly Morrell Political Theory Workshop providing a focus for staff and students working in the area.

We are a distinctively pluralistic department, which means that students on our MA degrees in Political Philosophy and Political Philosophy (The Idea of Toleration) have the opportunity to pursue a broad range of interests, from the history of early modern political thought, to contemporary liberal egalitarianism and philosophy of law, international political theory, recent European political thought, and democratic theory.

Students accepted to study for the MA in Political Philosophy (The Idea of Toleration) are eligible to apply for one of up to eight studentships generously funded by the C and JB Morrell Trust, which cover fees at the Home/EU rate, plus a £2000 contribution to living expenses.

Each year the Geoffrey Heselton Prize (worth £500) is awarded to the best dissertation written by a student on either of the programmes. There is a further prize for the student who produces the best work over the whole degree.

Previous graduates include many who have gone on to successful careers in academia, as well as high flyers in the world of business, the civil service, the media, NGOs, and a range of other careers.

Further details about these programmes, including profiles of previous students and information on the research interests of staff, is available here:

http://www.york.ac.uk/politics/prospective/postgraduates/pg-courses/ma-in-political-philosophy/

Podcasts from the interdisciplinary conference ‘The Politics of Interpretation and the Interpretation of Politics’, which was organized by Jens Olesen (Oxford) and held at the Department of Politics and International Relations, have now been released on itunes. The conference provided a setting in which distinguished proponents and critics of some of the prevalent interpretive approaches currently used in humanities and social sciences research engaged in a rigorous debate about the advantages and costs of Hermeneutics, Contextualist and Straussian Approaches, Feminist Interpretations and Deconstruction, and to discuss the political assumptions that inform them, as well as aims that drive them.

Speakers: Jean Grondin, Paul H. Fry, Carsten Dutt, Dieter Teichert, Mark Bevir, John G. Gunnell, Michael Freeden, Michael L. Frazer, Pamela Anderson, Terrell Carver, Elizabeth Frazer, James Martel, Lasse Thomassen, Joshua Foa Dienstag, Al P. Martinich, Terence Ball, David Boucher, Stanley Rosen, David Weinstein, and James Connelly. A short report on the conference can be found here. For the podcasts, please check itunes here.

The Groupe de recherche en philosophie politique de Montréal (GRIPP) is pleased to announce the 2012 winner of the Annual Montreal Political Theory Manuscript Workshop Award: “The Authority of Democracy,” by Daniel Viehoff, Department of Philosophy, University of Sheffield. A workshop on the manuscript will be held at McGill University on May 29, 2012.

CALL FOR PAPERS - Deadline for submission of abstract: 9th April 2012

Brave New World 2012, the Sixteenth Annual Postgraduate Conference organised under the auspices of the Manchester Centre for Political Theory (MANCEPT), will take place on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th June 2012 at the University of Manchester.

We are pleased to announce that our guest speakers this year are:

Richard Arneson (University of California, San Diego)

Charles Larmore (Brown University)

The Brave New World conference series is now established as a leading international forum dedicated exclusively to the discussion of postgraduate research in political theory. The conference offers a great opportunity for postgraduates from many different countries and universities to share experiences, concerns and research interests, to exchange stimulating ideas and to make new friends - all in a financially accessible and highly informal setting. Participants will also have the chance to meet and talk about their work with eminent academics, including members of faculty from the University of Manchester and guest speakers, who will deliver keynote addresses at the event.

Guest speakers in previous years have included Brian Barry, Simon Caney, G.A. Cohen, Roger Crisp, Cecile Fabre, Jerry Gaus, Peter Jones, Chandran Kukathas, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Susan Mendus, David Miller, Onora O’Neill, Michael Otsuka, Bhikhu Parekh, Carole Pateman, Anne Phillips, Thomas Pogge, Joseph Raz, Andrea Sangiovanni, Quentin Skinner, Adam Swift, Philippe Van Parijs, Leif Wenar, Andrew Williams, and Jonathan Wolff.

Papers focusing on any area of political theory or political philosophy are welcome. If you would like to present a paper then please send a 300-word, anonymised abstract (including the title of the paper) to Brave.New.World@manchester.ac.uk no later than 9th April 2012. Please also include in your email your name and institutional affiliation. Please note that the conference is self-financed and participants are responsible for seeking their own funding. For further details please contact us at Brave.New.World@manchester.ac.uk

A two day symposium that may be of interest to some:  http://philosophy.utk.edu/ael/main.html

March 2-3, 2012
Howard Baker Center for Public Policy
Animals, Ethics and Law Symposium
Speakers and Titles:

• Colin Allen
  Indiana Philosophy, Cognitive Science
  Ethics, Law and the Science of Fish Welfare
• Taimie Bryant
  UCLA Law
  Animal Law and Virtue Ethics
• David DeGrazia
  George Washington University Philosophy
  The Question of Animal Suffering
• David Favre
  Michigan State Law
  Respectful Use: An ethical construct for lawful interactions with animals
• Rebecca Huss
  Valparaiso Law
  The Intersection of Legal Issues Involving Animals and Gerontology
• Clare Palmer
  Texas A&M Philosophy
  What (if anything) Do We Owe Wild Animals?
• Nick Robinson (keynote)
  Pace, Law, and Yale, Forestry and Environmental Studies
  The Legal Principle of Resilience: A guiding norm for life in our anthropocene epoch

ON THE SCOPE OF DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE:

Relational and Non-relational Views

July 5-7, 2012, Central European University, Budapest

Organized by the Departments of Political Science and Philosophy, CEU and the Global Justice Network

Keynote speakers:

Simon Caney (Oxford University)
Samuel Scheffler (New York University)

Should duties of distributive justice extend to humanity at large or be limited to compatriots? The debate about the proper scope of distributive duties explores whether the concern with individual distributive shares is grounded in our shared humanity, as cosmopolitans claim, or rather duties of justice arise only among those who are subject to the same coercive political institutions, participate in a shared social practice, or share in the same culture, as proponents of the so-called practice-dependent view hold. Parallel to this debate, discussions in the theory of justice have focused increasingly on the problem whether an egalitarian distribution of social resources has independent moral significance, as distributive conceptions propose, or instead any profile of distribution is morally desirable only insofar that it advances egalitarian social and political relations, as social-relational conceptions of justice claim. The workshop aims to bring together these two debates in contemporary political theory, with the expectation that insights from one may shed new light on problems discussed in the other. We especially welcome papers that aim to bridge the two problems, but also interested in papers with new insights in either of the two fields. We welcome papers that discuss general theoretical problems as well as those with a practical political focus.

To apply, please send us an abstract of max. 500 words by January 30^th 2012 to the email address ceuglobaljustice@gmail.com

Accepted participants will be notified by March 1^st, 2012.

For inquiries please write to Eszter Kollar: ekollar@johncabot.edu or Zoltan Miklosi: MiklosiZ@ceu.hu

Kind regards,

Eszter Kollar (JCU, Global Justice Network)
Zoltan Miklosi (CEU)
Andres Moles (CEU)
Orsi Reich (CEU, Harvard)

A reminder:

Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Political Theory

Closing date: 16/01/2012
Faculty / Organisational unit: Humanities
School / Directorate: School of Social Sciences
Salary: £32,751 to £55,758
Reference: HUM-00419

Applications are invited for a full-time, continuing, Lectureship or Senior Lectureship in Political Theory, tenable from 1 September 2012. The successful candidate will join the Politics discipline area and be attached to the Manchester Centre for Political Theory (MANCEPT). Lectureship applicants must have, or be about to complete, a relevant PhD and demonstrate the potential to produce high quality publications and provide excellent teaching. Senior Lectureship applicants must have established a strong record of publication and be experienced teachers at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Research and teaching interests may be in any core areas of contemporary analytic political theory including theories of justice, democracy, equality, rights and responsibility. Applicants must be prepared to teach across undergraduate and postgraduate courses, supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations and make appropriate teaching and administrative contributions across Politics.

Further details about Politics at Manchester can be obtained from its Web pages at: http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/disciplines/politics/index.html

Informal enquiries
Informal enquiries can be made to Professor Alan Hamlin
Email: alan.hamlin@manchester.ac.uk
The University of Manchester values a diverse workforce and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

Application Instructions
In considering your application we will need to know of your future research plans and your teaching and learning philosophy so please include a statement on these two points in the “Additional Information” section of the application form.

Further particulars
HUM-00419 Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Political Theory (PDF, 16.7 Kb)

Closing Date: 7th February 2012

Job Title: Lecturer in Philosophy

Salary: £36,868 to £44,016 per annum (pro-rata), with potential to progress to £49,539

Department: Department of Philosophy

Location: 45 Victoria Street, Sheffield

Job Reference Number: UOS003839

Summary:

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a research active Lecturer to join the Department of Philosophy from September 2012. The Sheffield Philosophy Department is one of the strongest in the UK, ranked very highly indeed both for its teaching and research. (See www.shef.ac.uk/philosophy/home )

The area of specialisation for the post is open, although we have a defeasible preference for Philosophy of Mind/Cognitive Science, Political Philosophy or Continental Philosophy.

You will be expected to conduct excellent research and deliver high quality and innovative teaching to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. You will also be expected to contribute to the operation of the Department through appropriate administrative responsibilities and committee memberships, and where appropriate represent the Department and discipline within the University. You will have (or be very near to completion of) a PhD in a relevant subject area (or have equivalent experience) and be able to evidence research and teaching excellence.

It is anticipated that interviews and presentations will be held in March 2012.   Full details will be provided to invited candidates.

To view current vacancies and apply online please go to: www.sheffield.ac.uk/jobs. For more information, please go here: http://tinyurl.com/7ewlj3o.

For those with undergrad students looking for a a great M.A. program in social and political philosophy and philosophy of law, be sure to let them know about this.  We’ve had many students go on to excellent PhD programs.

The Master’s program of the Philosophy Department at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia is accepting applications from qualified students for its three Neurophilosophy Fellowships, its Legal/Political Philosophy Scholarship, its German Philosophy Scholarship, and its Assistantships. All funding packages cover two years of full tuition.  Fellowships and scholarships provide $15,000/year, and Assistantships provide $5,000-$10,000/year.

Initial application deadline: February 1, 2012.

The M.A. program at GSU is highly ranked by the Philosophical Gourmet Report, and it has had great success in placing its students in well-regarded Ph.D. programs. More information about the department and on application procedures can be found at http://www.gsu.edu/philosophy.

Flyer attached below.

Thank you for your help in distributing this information.

ma-flier-2012.pdf

We are pleased to announce that Public Reason 3 (1) is now available online at http://www.publicreason.ro/cuprins/6

ARTICLES

- The Mutual Dependence of Institutions and Citizens’ Dispositions in Liberal Democracies

Jeremy Neil (Houston Baptist University)

- Legalizing Selective Conscientious Objection

George Clifford

- The Extension and Limits of the Duty to Rescue

Per Bauhn (Linnaeus University)

- Moral Judgments, Emotions, and some Expectations from Moral Motivation

Mar Cabezas (University of Salamanca)

- Ontology and the Paradox of Future Generations

Dennis Earl (Coastal Carolina University)

- Darwall Versus Raz on Practical Authority

Mark McBride (National University of Singapore)

- David Friedman’s Model of Privatized Justice

Ionu? Sterpan (University of Bucharest)

- Rawlsian Compromises in Peacebuilding: A Rejoinder to Begby

Alejandro Agafonow (ESSCA School of Management, LUNAM Université)

- MacIntyre on Personal Identity

Lia Mela (University of Patras)

BOOK REVIEWS

- Gillian Brock, Global Justice: A Cosmopolitan Account

Reviewed by Dara Salam

Public Reason is an open access peer-reviewed journal of political and moral philosophy. Public Reason publishes articles, book reviews, as well as discussion notes from all the fields of political philosophy and ethics, including political theory, applied ethics, and legal philosophy. The Journal encourages the debate around rationality in politics and ethics in the larger context of the discussion concerning rationality as a philosophical problem.

Public Reason is committed to a pluralistic approach, promoting interdisciplinary and original perspectives as long as the ideal of critical arguing and clarity is respected. The journal is intended for the international philosophical community, as well as for a broader public interested in political and moral philosophy. It aims to promote philosophical exchanges with a special emphasis on issues in, and discussions on the Eastern European space. Public Reason publishes two issues per year, in June and December.

Happy New Year!

Mircea Tobosaru

Assistant Editor (Public Reason)

Middlebury College Dissertation Fellowship

Middlebury College invites applications for a dissertation fellowship for the academic year 2012-13. We are seeking graduate students with a clear commitment and ability to advance educational diversity, either through the nature of their scholarly work, or through their ability to model success in fields where their own backgrounds and experiences may be underrepresented. Fellows will receive mentorship from faculty committed to excellence in scholarship and in undergraduate education. Fellows will be hosted by an appropriate department or program, and will be expected to teach one one-semester course. Fellows may apply to extend their affiliation with Middlebury to a second year. The annual stipend for the position is $30,000. Ph.D. candidates must have completed all doctoral work except the dissertation by the end of the current academic year. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, U.S. Legal Permanent Residents or otherwise authorized to work in the U.S. (e.g., non-U.S. citizen Ph.D. students would need to have employment authorization from their home institution that will allow them to receive a stipend from Middlebury College).

Middlebury College is using Interfolio to collect all application materials. Email and paper applications will not be accepted.  The application deadline is January 18, 2012.  Through Interfolio, please submit the following: C.V., three confidential letters of recommendation, one of which must be from your dissertation advisor, dissertation abstract, one-page [approximately 250 words] work plan for completion of dissertation, personal statement, and official graduate transcripts. More information can be found at interfolio.

Middlebury College is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to recruiting a diverse faculty to complement its increasingly diverse student body.

For more information, please go here.

MANCEPT Workshops in Political Theory 2012
Call for Convenors

The MANCEPT Workshops in Political Theory 2012 is an annual conference in political theory, organised under the auspices of the Manchester Centre for Political Theory, University of Manchester. The conference in 2012 will be the ninth event in the series and will take place on Wednesday September 5th until Friday September 7th 2012 at the Arthur Lewis Building, University of Manchester.Over the last eight years, participants from over twenty countries have come together in a series of workshops concerned with issues in political theory/philosophy widely construed. Last year the workshops had more than 200 delegates attending, and the conference is now established as a leading international forum dedicated to the discussion of research in political theory.

Applications for convening a workshop are now being accepted and more information about the event can be found here:
http://manceptworkshops2012.wordpress.com/

If you are interested in convening a workshop or require any further information please e-mail the Workshop convenor Chris Mills at:
manceptworkshops2012@gmail.com

Wednesday February 8th 2012, University of Southampton

10:30 - 4:00.

The department of Politics and International Relations is delighted to host a one-day workshop on Lea Ypi’s new book Global Justice and Avant-Garde Political Agency (Oxford University Press, 2012). In the book, Ypi argues for an engaged, ‘activist’ brand of political theory, uniting the concerns of ideal and non-ideal theory, and applies the method of activist political theory to the global justice debate.

The workshop comprises critical responses to the book by Stuart White (University of Oxford), David Owen (University of Southampton) and David Miller (University of Oxford), with a reply by Lea Ypi (London School of Economics).

The event organiser is Chris Armstrong (Southampton). There is no charge for attendance, but if you would like to attend please let Chris know in advance (email ca’at’soton.ac.uk).

Please see the Felician Ethics Institute website for full details of the CFP: http://felicianethics.wordpress.com/

CALL FOR PAPERS

The sixth annual meeting of the Felician Ethics Conference will be held at the Rutherford Campus of Felician College on Saturday, April 21, 2012, 9 am - 6 pm

223 Montross Ave
Rutherford, NJ 07070

Plenary:

“Abortion and Resurrection”

Dr. Douglas Lackey
Baruch College and Graduate Center, City University of New York

Submissions on any topic in moral philosophy (broadly construed) are welcome, not exceeding 25 minutes’ presentation time (approximately 3,000 words). Please send submissions via email in format suitable for blind review by Feb. 15, 2012 to: felicianethicsconference [@] gmail.com. Please submit fully completed papers, not abstracts or proposals. And please do not double-submit to other conferences on the same or otherwise conflicting dates.

Registration fee is $20 for faculty, and $10 for adjuncts and graduate students. Free to all members of the Felician College community (current students, faculty, staff, sisters).

If necessary, surface mail can be sent to:

Irfan Khawaja, Conference Coordinator
Dept. of Philosophy
Felician College
262 S. Main St.
Lodi, NJ 07644

If you have any questions, please contact Irfan Khawaja, (201) 559-6000 (x6288), or felicianethicsconference [@] gmail.com.

For its third international Authority Beyond States workshop, the AUSTAT network invites submissions from political philosophy, international and comparative constitutional law, and political science to address the exercise of authority by international institutions. Read the rest of this entry »

 Loyola University (Chicago) is sponsoring a conference on “Poverty, Coercion, and Human Rights,” to be held April 13-15, 2012.  Confirmed speakers include Amy Allen, Claudia Card, John Christman, Ann Cudd, Leslie P. Francis, Hille Haker, David Ingram, Alison Jaggar, Christine Koggel, Diana Tietjens Meyers, James Nickel, Thomas Pogge, Tisha Rajendra, and Alan Wertheimer.  For further information, or to register, please contact Randall Newman, rnewman2@luc.edu or 773-503-2373.

The European Society for the History of Political Thought (ESHPT) will hold its 2nd conference at the University of Athens, Greece between 19-21 January 2012. The conference theme shall be “Athenian Legacies: European Debates on Citizenship”.

Contact: Professor Paschalis Kitromilides (e-mail: pkitrom@eie.gr).

For more information go to http://europoliticalthought.wordpress.com.

–
Dr. Evangelia Sembou
Convenor, Political Thought Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom
http://www.psa.ac.uk/spgrp/39/polthought.aspx

On Fabre’s Cosmopolitan War

17 May, 2012
Arthur Lewis Building
University of Manchester

The Manchester Centre for Political Theory (MANCEPT) is delighted to host a conference on Professor Cécile Fabre’s forthcoming book, Cosmopolitan War (Oxford University Press). The book provides a series of incisive and challenging arguments regarding cosmopolitan principles for just war. Fabre argues for unconventional views regarding wars of national self-defence, humanitarian interventions, subsistence wars, civil wars, mercenaries, the use of human shields in wartime, and other important issues in the ethics of war and warfare.

The participants are:

Cécile Fabre (University of Oxford)
David Rodin (University of Oxford)
Daniel Statman (University of Haifa)
Anna Stilz (Princeton University)
Victor Tadros (University of Warwick)

Registration for the conference is now open and places are limited so please book early. For details regarding registration please visit us at:

http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/disciplines/politics/events/cosmopolitanwar/

Organized by the Department of Political Science, CEU and the Global Justice Network

  July 5-7, 2012, Central European University, Budapest

Keynote speakers:

Simon Caney (Oxford University)

Samuel Scheffler (New York University)

Should duties of distributive justice extend to humanity at large or be limited to compatriots? The debate about the proper scope of distributive duties explores whether the concern with individual distributive shares is grounded in our shared humanity, as cosmopolitans claim, or rather duties of justice arise only among those who are subject to the same coercive political institutions, participate in a shared social practice, or share in the same culture, as proponents of the so-called practice-dependent view hold. Parallel to this debate, discussions in the theory of justice have focused increasingly on the problem whether an egalitarian distribution of social resources has independent moral significance, as distributive conceptions propose, or instead any profile of distribution is morally desirable only insofar that it advances egalitarian social and political relations, as social-relational conceptions of justice claim. The workshop aims to bring together these two debates in contemporary political theory, with the expectation that insights from one may shed new light on problems discussed in the other. We especially welcome papers that aim to bridge the two problems, but also interested in papers with new insights in either of the two fields. We welcome papers that discuss general theoretical problems as well as those with a practical political focus.

To apply, please send us an abstract of max. 500 words by January 30^th 2012 to the email address ceuglobaljustice@gmail.com

Accepted participants will be notified by March 1^st, 2012.

For inquiries please write to Eszter Kollar ekollar@johncabot.edu or Zoltan Miklosi  MiklosiZ@ceu.hu

Kind regards,

Eszter Kollar (JCU, Global Justice Network)

Zoltan Miklosi (CEU)

Andres Moles (CEU)

Orsi Reich (CEU, Harvard)

Oakland University, Rochester, MI. Assistant professor (tenure track).

Oakland University seeks to make a joint appointment in Philosophy and Women & Gender Studies, beginning Fall 2012. 3/2 teaching load (5 semester courses/year). Two courses/year in the Women & Gender Studies Program. Three courses/year in the Philosophy Department. AOS: Feminist Bioethics, broadly conceived. AOC: Feminist Theory and/or Methods, Ethical Theory, and Applied Ethics. A successful candidate for this position would be appointed to a tenure track position in Philosophy and have a research specialty in bioethics broadly conceived (which may cover environmental as well as clinical issues), with a focus on feminist bioethics. Ph.D. or equivalent required by the time of appointment (8/15/12). A Ph.D. in Philosophy is strongly preferred but other similar credentials will be considered. Competitive salary and benefits. Submit cover letter, CV, writing sample, and evidence of excellence in teaching at https://academicjobs.oakland.edu/. Online submission of transcripts, sample syllabi, teaching statement, and research plan are optional. Three confidential letters of recommendation should be submitted by designated referees to Mark Rigstad, Chair of Philosophy, via email to rigstad@oakland.edu (preferred submission method) or by mail to the following address: Oakland University, ?Department of Philosophy, ?Attn: Mark Rigstad, 346 O’Dowd Hall,? Rochester, MI 48309. Deadline: December 5. Initial interviews via Skype. Oakland University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from women and minorities.

Global Justice: Norms and Limits
Bucharest, 10 - 12 May, 2012
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest 

Keynote and guest speakers include: Thomas Pogge (Yale), David Miller
(Oxford), Hillel Steiner (Manchester), Véronique Zanetti (Bilefield),
Sebastiano Maffettone (Roma), Paula Casal (Barcelona), Andreas Føllesdal
(Oslo), and Lea Ypi (Oxford).

Worldwide suffering caused by large-scale famine as well as poverty, human
rights violations, military interventions or environmental degradation have
a global dimension, because those responsible are not only individuals, but
also states and international institutions. Recently, what some have
perceived as global injustices related to military interventions and
economic exploitation seem to motivate terrorist and piracy attacks that
cause indiscriminate suffering. Having gained an unprecedented urgency, the
topic of global justice has received increasingly public and academic
attention, and has lately become a central issue in moral and political
philosophy. Our conference seeks to be a forum for discussing the most
important theories of global justice, their central concepts and
constraints.

The conference will be held at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of
Bucharest and is organized by The Center for the Study of
Rationality and Beliefs.

Submission of papers
Contributions are expected from researchers from different academic fields
who are interested in the outlined topic or in closely related ones.
Abstracts should be sent by e-mail as attachment at globaljustice@ub-
filosofie.ro until the 30th of January 2012. The deadline for submitting
the full version of your paper is the 1st of March 2012. Along with the
abstract, please send us your contact details: current affiliation, address
and telephone number.

The organizers cannot support any travel or accommodation costs.

Follow-up:
The organizers intend to publish a volume including papers from the
conference. Acceptance of the paper for the conference does not guarantee
the inclusion in the proceedings. We kindly remind you that by submitting
the paper you implicitly agree to allow its publication in the conference
proceedings. For easier post-conference editorial work, it would be best if
you would format your paper using Chicago style of reference, but this is
not a formal condition for the publication.

Location
The Conference will be held at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of
Bucharest. Address: Splaiul Independentei 204, Sector 6, postcode
060024, Bucharest, Romania. Google Maps: http://goo.gl/DI3K3.

Contact
globaljustice@ub-filosofie.ro

Programme
The conference programme will be available soon at the following address:

http://www.csrc.ro/EN/global-justice

Oxford: 19-20 April 2012 | CFP: 15 January 2012

Via Marius Ostrowski:

Political Theory and the ‘Liberal’ Tradition

Graduate students are invited to submit paper proposals for the inaugural Oxford Graduate Conference in Political Theory, to be held at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, on 19-20 April 2012. The theme for this conference is “Political Theory and the ‘Liberal’ Tradition”, and there will be two keynote addresses, given by Professor Jeremy Waldron (University of Oxford) and Professor Charles Mills (Northwestern University). The theme may be broadly construed, and we welcome papers addressing any of the following themes:

The ‘liberal’ tradition and history of political thought: The canon of great political works is still believed to offer crucial insights for current theorising, thanks to their perception as continuous sources of wisdom about the salient principles of good government. But why are certain thinkers traditionally included, whilst others are not? Why are most ‘great’ thinkers dead, white, and male? Has liberalism been insensitive to the grievances of minorities, and to certain forms of oppression and exclusion? Finally, is the ‘liberal’ tradition a retrospective construct, which paradoxically includes thinkers who never considered themselves ‘liberals’?

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Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Political Theory

Closing date: 16/01/2012
Faculty / Organisational unit: Humanities
School / Directorate: School of Social Sciences
Salary: £32,751 to £55,758
Reference: HUM-00419

Applications are invited for a full-time, continuing, Lectureship or Senior Lectureship in Political Theory, tenable from 1 September 2012. The successful candidate will join the Politics discipline area and be attached to the Manchester Centre for Political Theory (MANCEPT). Lectureship applicants must have, or be about to complete, a relevant PhD and demonstrate the potential to produce high quality publications and provide excellent teaching. Senior Lectureship applicants must have established a strong record of publication and be experienced teachers at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Research and teaching interests may be in any core areas of contemporary analytic political theory including theories of justice, democracy, equality, rights and responsibility. Applicants must be prepared to teach across undergraduate and postgraduate courses, supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations and make appropriate teaching and administrative contributions across Politics.

Further details about Politics at Manchester can be obtained from its Web pages at: http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/disciplines/politics/index.html

Informal enquiries
Informal enquiries can be made to Professor Alan Hamlin
Email: alan.hamlin@manchester.ac.uk
The University of Manchester values a diverse workforce and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

Application Instructions
In considering your application we will need to know of your future research plans and your teaching and learning philosophy so please include a statement on these two points in the “Additional Information” section of the application form.

Further particulars
HUM-00419 Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Political Theory (PDF, 16.7 Kb)

Princeton: 6-7 April 2012 | CFP: 16 January 2012

Via Ted Lechterman, this year’s CFP for a great graduate conference in political theory:

The Committee for the Graduate Conference in Political Theory at Princeton University welcomes papers concerning any topic in political theory, political philosophy, or the history of political thought. Papers should be submitted via the conference website by January 16, 2012. Approximately eight papers will be accepted.

The Graduate Conference in Political Theory at Princeton University will be held from April 6-7, 2012. This year, we are excited to include Professor Elisabeth Ellis, Texas A&M University, as keynote speaker and conference participant.

The conference offers graduate students from across institutions a unique opportunity to present and critique new work. Each session, led by a discussant from Princeton, will focus exclusively on one paper and will feature an extensive question and answer period with Princeton faculty and graduate students. Papers will be pre-circulated among conference participants.

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Oxford Studies in Experimental Philosophy has a new Call for Abstracts, and the deadline is in less than a month, on Dec. 15.

To submit, all you need to do is prepare a brief (1,000 word) abstract. The editors then invite full papers based on these abstracts, and those who receive an invitation will be asked to write a full paper by August 15th.

Just in the past year or so, a number of political philosophers have begun conducting experimental studies (e.g., Freiman & Nichols 2011; Hassoun forthcoming), and it will be exciting to see how research in this area continues to develop!

 The Department of Politics at the University of York is now accepting applications to its long-established MA programmes in Political Philosophy and Political Philosophy (The Idea of Toleration). We typically welcome 20+ postgraduate students each year to read for these two interlinked programmes.

Our postgraduate students come from all over the world, as well as from a variety of institutions in the U.K. The size of our MA programme means that we always have a lively community of graduate students in political philosophy, with events such as the biweekly Morrell Political Theory Workshop providing a focus for staff and students working in the area.

We are a distinctively pluralistic department, which means that students on our MA degrees in Political Philosophy and Political Philosophy (The Idea of Toleration) have the opportunity to pursue a broad range of interests, from the history of early modern political thought, to contemporary liberal egalitarianism and philosophy of law, international political theory, recent European political thought, and democratic theory.

Students accepted to study for the MA in Political Philosophy (The Idea of Toleration) are eligible to apply for one of up to eight studentships generously funded by the C and JB Morrell Trust, which cover fees at the Home/EU rate, plus a £2000 contribution to living expenses.

Each year the Geoffrey Heselton Prize (worth £500) is awarded to the best dissertation written by a student on either of the programmes. There is a further prize for the student who produces the best work over the whole degree.

Previous graduates include many who have gone on to successful careers in academia, as well as high flyers in the world of business, the civil service, the media, NGOs, and a range of other careers.

Further details about these programmes, including profiles of previous students and information on the research interests of staff, is available here:

http://www.york.ac.uk/politics/prospective/postgraduates/pg-courses/ma-in-political-philosophy/

The Twin Cities Review of Political Philosophy is seeking quality undergraduate papers in political philosophy for publication in its Summer 2012 issue. The journal is published as a freely available electronic interactive magazine. Undergraduates, with or without faculty support, are encouraged to submit research work.

The Twin Cities Review of Political Philosophy is interested in diverse subject matter.  As a policy, we prefer scholarly work that: (1) clarifies an unclear or challenging concept, passage, or author in political thought; (2) publicizes a lesser-known argument that merits greater attention; or (3) offers new insight into existing works’ arguments or methods.

Submission deadline: January 30, 2012

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Matthew Noah Smith has written the following open letter from the faculty of US universities and colleges to to their chancellors and presidents regarding the use of violence against student protesters. If you would like to add your name to the letter, please email Matthew at matthew.noah.smith [at] yale.edu

Open Letter to Chancellors and Presidents of American Universities and Colleges From Your Faculty

We have witnessed, over the past two months, police departments using significant amounts of force against individuals peacefully participating in the Occupy movement. But during the week of November 13 – November 19, there was an astonishing escalation of the violence used by municipal police departments against non-violent protesters.

We hoped that even as politicians and municipal police violently responded to the Occupy movement, college and university campuses would remain safe locations for non-violent political dissent. But that has not been the case. In fact, universities and colleges appear to be using the same tactics in their interactions with unarmed, non-violent members of the university community as we have seen municipal police use against the broader Occupy movement.

In particular, we are concerned with the actions by police associated with two University of California campuses. At UC Berkeley, police beat faculty and students who were peacefully attempting to establish an Occupy camp on Sproul Plaza. At UC Davis, police casually pepper sprayed protesting students who were peacefully sitting with their arms linked. The message sent by university officials is clear: if you engage in non-violent political protest on the university campus, you run the risk of being assaulted by university police.

We condemn this and any deployment of violence by university officials against members of the university community who are non-violently expressing their political views.

We condemn university officials using violence or the threat of violence in order to limit political dissent to the narrow confines of print and university-sanctioned events.

We condemn university officials using violence and the threat of violence to prevent members of the university community from peacefully assembling.

For more than three generations, American university and college campuses have been crucial locations in which inspiring and important political activity has occurred. From the founding of SNCC at Shaw University and the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley in the 1960’s, to the divestment movements across American college campuses in the 1980s, to the establishment of student labor alliances in the 1990’s, American college campuses have pulsed with hopeful and positive forms of dissent and visions of alternatives. This admirable tradition is being threatened by the use of violence by university officials against their own students and faculty who are acting within this tradition.

We therefore call on chancellors and presidents of universities and colleges throughout the United States to declare publicly that their campuses are Safe Protest Zones, where nonviolent, public political dissent and protest will be protected by university police and will never be attacked by the university police.

We call on these chancellors and presidents to commit publicly to making their campuses safe locations for peaceful public assembly.

We call on these chancellors and presidents to institute immediately policies that reflect these commitments, and to instruct their police and security forces that they must abide by these policies.

We believe that this action is necessary for the protection of one of the principal virtues of our higher education system, namely that it is an environment that cultivates an active and engaged political imagination.

We call on the leaders of America’s universities and colleges to stand with us.

IDEALS AND REALITY IN SOCIAL ETHICS
University of Wales, Newport (Caerleon Campus), 11-13 April 2012

Keynote speakers:
Prof Marc Stears (University of Oxford)
Prof Daniel Weinstock (Université de Montréal)
Prof Jonathan Wolff (University College London)

Those who theorise about social values (freedom, equality, justice) like to think their insights have public application and resonance.  Meanwhile policymakers and practitioners spend little time reading ethical theory.  Are these bad habits?  Is either side at fault?  Should we prioritise ideal values, or theoretical models, over the messy, impure reality of the social, political, economic and professional contexts in which decisions are put into practice?  Is it possible to combine due attention to both?  If so, how should this be done?  Is it possible, or desirable, to combine the nuanced language of theory with the differently complex imperatives of practice?

This conference aims to attract academics, activists, practitioners and others with an interest in the relationship between ethical ideals and the concrete demands and possibilities of social life.  Key themes and questions will include:

- (how) do theoretical insights actually enhance practice?
- ideal vs. non-ideal modes of theory
- the relationship between political ideas and the reality of political practice
- the relationship between ethical codes and actual practice, e.g. in professional contexts
- are notions of ‘reality’ and ‘practice’ always inherently contested?
- the relationship between descriptive and normative approaches to the study of politics and society
- the relationship between theory and activism

The research interests of the Newport Social Ethics Research Group include equality, citizenship, disability, migration, well-being, professional ethics, democracy, multiculturalism, environmental and animal ethics, social inclusion and exclusion, the ethics of dialogue and communication, and theories of social justice.  We would especially welcome submissions addressing any of these areas, from those working across relevant areas both within and outside universities.

We particularly welcome proposals of themed panels of 3 papers, and will be happy to consult on the development of ideas in this regard.

Deadline for proposals of papers (300 words) and panels (including a brief description and any paper proposals already solicited): 30 November 2011.

Registration will open in December 2011, with a non-residential fee expected to be £100, plus optional conference dinner.

A number of subsidised places will be available for postgraduate students and those without institutional financial support.

Enquiries: Dr Gideon Calder - gideon.calder@newport.ac.uk 

This is shaping up very nicely, with proposals for panels and individual papers across a wide range of areas of theory and practice — from whether there’s any such thing as a ‘public sector ethos’ to theethics of sustainability, from parenting to the usefulness (or otherwise) of institutional codes of ethics, from universal basic income to the relationship between access to transport and social justice, and from contrasting forms of realism in political theory to the very possibility of linking theoretical critique with social activism.

Further proposals are very welcome, by 30 November.

Deadline for submissions: April 1^st, 2012

Tentative publication date: Winter 2012

About the Journal

Raisons Politiques is a well-established journal of political thought currently building an international reputation with the support of Sciences Po, the French renowned research institute for social sciences. The journal endeavors to provide a forum where scholars from various backgrounds and traditions can fruitfully engage with contemporary social and political issues. By contrast with publications intended to a particular discipline, Raisons Politiques adopts a thematic approach and welcome contributions from all branches of social sciences. It encourages submissions in English or French, from both established academics and aspiring members of the scientific community.

Among notable contributors are Pierre Bourdieu, Judith Butler, Gerald Allan Cohen, Mitchell Cohen, Ronald Dworkin, Norman Daniels, Clifford Geertz, Robert E. Goodin, Jürgen Habermas, Martha Nussbaum, Thomas Nagel, Philip Pettit, Ian Shapiro, Quentin Skinner, Judith Jarvis Thomson, Michael Walzer and Iris Marion Young.

Raisons Politiques is available online through CAIRN, the French portal for social sciences. For more information about the journal, please visit the editor’s website.

Special Issue in English on “Global Justice & Practice-Dependence”

Over the last few years, a new generation of political theorists working in the field of global justice has come to endorse a practice-dependent view about justice. In this view, the content of a given conception of justice depends on the nature of the practices it is intended to regulate, where “practices” refer to existing institutions and every system of formal or informal rules defining the rights and duties of agents involved. Global social and political practices would thus not be governed by the same conception of justice that applies to domestic practices, dramatically different in nature, and that would help to account for the normative discontinuity between the domain of nation-states, where strong egalitarian standards of justice prevail, and the world beyond national borders, where requirements of justice seem closer to a humanitarian moral minimum.

This special issue of Raison Politiques aims to assess the legitimacy of the practice-dependent approach as well as to explore the conclusions that might be drawn from it in the debate on global justice. Authors are thus invited to submit:

-       Articles arguing in favor of the practice-dependent approach from a Rawlsian perspective or within a wider constructivist framework;

-       Articles offering a non-constructivist foundation for the practice-dependent approach;

-       Articles discussing different types of practice-dependence, such as conventionalism, institutionalism and functionalism;

-       Articles exploring whether the practice-dependent approach is supported by a particular view about the nature of justice;

-       Articles rejecting the methodological commitment to practice-dependence and offering reasons to favor an alternative approach to global justice;

-       Articles endorsing the practice-dependent view to develop a substantial account of global justice.

Submission Process

Manuscripts must be 1.5-spaced and no longer than 7,000 words, including footnotes and a 150-word summary. All bibliographical references must come in footnotes, formatted as follow:

-       David Miller, National Responsibility and Global Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).

-       Thomas Hylland Eriksen, “Formal and Informal Nationalism”, Ethnic and Racial Studies (16/1), 1993, 1-25.

-       Kok-Chor Tan, “The Problem of Decent Peoples”, in David Reidy and Martin Rex (eds.), Rawls’s Law of People. A Realistic Utopia (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), 76-94.

To facilitate blind review, please remove author-identifying information from the text and provide in a separate file a short biographical note (up to 80 words) specifying your title, current affiliation, research interests and relevant publications within the last three years. Send your manuscript and the file containing your personal information in Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format to hugo.elkholi@sciences-po.org.

All manuscripts are anonymously peer-reviewed by two referees within a two months delay – typically, one member of the editorial board and one external expert. Note that works under simultaneous consideration for publication elsewhere and works that have already been published in any form will not be considered.

Debating Toleration: Attitudes, Practices and Institutions

3 - 5 November, 2011 - University of Pavia (Italy)

3 November

13:30 Registration

14 -15 Presentation of current European Research Projects on toleration
Emanuela Ceva (University of Pavia), Coordinator RESPECT Project
Zacharoula Kouki (European University Institute), ACCEPT PLURALISM Project
Silvia Rodriguez (Centro de Estudos Sociais), TOLERACE Project

15 -16:30 Keynote speaker: Anna Elisabetta Galeotti (Piemonte Orientale University, Vercelli), A Case ofz
Disrespect: the Contested Mosque in Vercelli
Chair: Federico Zuolo (Institute for Advanced Study of Pavia)

16:30 - 17 Coffee break

17-18:30 Session 1
Panel a - Toleration and education
Tore Vincents Olsen (Aarhus University), Tolerance and Intolerance in European Education
Michele Bocchiola (University of the Witswatersrand), Illiberal Views and Liberal Education
Chair: Roberta Sala (San Raffaele University, Milano)
Panel b - Toleration and groups
Sune Lægaard (Roskilde University), Toleration, Groups and Multiculturalism
Bart van Leeuwen (Radboud University Nijmegen), Urban Civility or Urban Community? A False Opposition
in Richard Sennett’s Conception of Public Ethos
Chair: Enzo Rossi (University of Wales, Newport)

4 November

9:30-11:00 Keynote speaker: Colin Bird (University of Virginia), Does Religion Deserve our Respect?
Chair: Ian Carter (University of Pavia)

11-11:30 Coffee brea

11:30 -13 Session 2
Panel a - Respect, toleration and the treatment of minorities
Sune Lægaard (Roskilde University) & Maria Paola Ferretti (University of Darmstadt), A Multirelational
Account of Tolerance and Respect
Emanuela Ceva (University of Pavia) & Federico Zuolo (IUSS, Pavia), A Matter of Respect. On the Relations
between the Majority and Minorities in a Democracy
Chair: Enrico Biale (Piemonte Orientale University, Vercelli)
Panel b - Toleration and the Roma population
Ladislav Toušek (University of West Bohemia, Pilsen), What’s ‘Out of Place’? Tolerance and Intolerance As
Functions of the Construction of the Public Space
Alexei Pikulik (European Humanities University, Vilnius), Sedentary Roma and the Regimes of Bounding
Space in Lithuania
Chair: Claire Moulin-Doos (University of Darmstadt)

13-14:30 Lunch

14:30 - 16 Session 3
Panel a - Toleration and respect
Ian Carter (University of Pavia), Are Toleration and Respect Compatible?
Peter Balint (University of New South Wales), Respect, Toleration and the Citizen
Chair: Sophie Guérard de Latour (University of Paris 1, Sorbonne)
Panel b - Toleration and the social imaginary
Ayelet Banai (Goethe University, Frankfurt), Can Crucifixes be Secular? Towards a ‘Social Contract’
Approach to Diversity and Toleration
Daniel Augenstein (Tilburg University), The Principle of Tolerance in the Liberal Social Imaginary
Chair: Charles Girard (University of Paris 4, Sorbonne)

16-16:30 Coffee brea

16:30-18 Session 4
Panel a - Toleration and racism
Katy Sian (University of Leeds), (In)Tolerance and (Anti)Racism in Employment: Muslims in the UK
Magali Bessone (Université de Rennes I), Will the Real Tolerant Racist Please Stand Up?
Chair: David Weberman (Central European University)
Panel b - Respect, discrimination and difference
Frej Klem Thomsen (Roskilde University), Discrimination, Disrespect and the Bigoted Billionaire
Irina Mirea (European Humanities University, Vilnius), A taxonomy of difference - from tolerance to respect
Chair: Gideon Calder (University of Wales, Newport)

5 November

9:00-10:30 Session 5
Panel a - Toleration, respect and differential treatment
Filippo Santoni De Sio (Delft University of Technology), Blaming as a Form of Respect: The Cultural Defence
and its Limits
Yossi Nehushtan (Haim Striks Law School), What is Tolerance Really About?
Chair: Chiara Testino (Piemonte Orientale University, Vercelli)
Panel b - Tolerating the intolerable
Robert Brecher (University of Brighton), On not Tolerating the Intolerable
Makoto Usami (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Tolerating the Hardly Tolerable: The Offence Principle
Reconsidered
Chair: Constantinos Adamides (University of Nicosia)

10:30-11 Coffee brea

11-12:30 Keynote speaker: Peter Jones (University of Newcastle), Should we tolerate identities?
Chair: Emanuela Ceva (University of Pavia)

For further information, please contact: respect[at]iusspavia.it

The conference is kindly supported by the Society for Applied Philosophy (UK) and is a part of the activities carried out within the framework of the RESPECT research project (GA no: 244549), funded under the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme.

The views expressed during the execution of the RESPECT project in whatever form and or by whatever medium are the
sole responsibility of the authors. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information
contained therein.

Tim Scanlon has an essay up at Boston Review on libertarianism and liberty:

“Libertarianism presents itself as a simple, clear, and principled view. It appears to provide a moral basis, in the value of individual liberty, for a specific political program of limited government and low taxes. The moral significance of liberty seems obvious even to those who believe it is not the only thing that matters. But the claim of the libertarian political program to be founded on this value is illusory. Three lines of thought lead to conclusions that might be seen as libertarian. But none of these shows that respect for the value of individual liberty should lead one to support the political program of low taxes and limited government that libertarians are supposed to favor.”

Replies by Will Wilkinson and Brad DeLong are forthcoming tomorrow, with a response from Scanlon.

The editors over at the Cato Unbound blog are hosting a symposium on Jerry Gaus’s version of public reason liberalism. Jerry provides a lead essay. Three commenters have response essays. Readers of the blog will know the first two commenters, philosophers Richard Arneson and Eric Mack. The third is Peter Boettke, an economist at George Mason University who blogs at Coordination Problem. All four pieces are thought-provoking and will be of great interest to Public Reason Blog readers. Jerry will add a concluding response essay in a few days. Cato Unbound welcomes discussions at other blogs, so if anyone wants to discuss some of the issued raised in the symposium on this blog, Cato Unbound will link to it.

Here are links to the main essays, with summaries included:

Jerry’s Essay: The Range of Justice (or, How to Retrieve Liberal Sectual Tolerance)

Summary: In his lead essay, Gerald Gaus argues that today’s political philosophy is a confused jumble of opposing factions with little prospect of consensus. He then proposes a way out of this “crisis of credibility”: We should recognize that there may be a range of institutions, each of which suffices to win our assent given the benefits that accrue from agreeing to any of them. Just as liberalism is a response to religious sectarianism, it can also be a response to philosophical sectarianism.

Dick Arneson’s Essay:  Toleration and Fundamentalism: Comments on Gaus

Summary: Richard Arneson rejects the analogy between religious and political toleration. In the latter, we are called to exercise reason, and we may well be justified in excluding from consideration those who hold unreasonable views. Indeed, given fully rational and fully informed interlocutors, agreement is inevitable, and there is no need for toleration at all. Gaus’s argument, while clever, is flawed. Arneson founds toleration on consequentialism: We tolerate even unreasonable beliefs because persecuting them has obviously bad results.

Eric Mack’s Essay: Peter Pan Strikes Back

Summary: Eric Mack argues that while classical liberalism seems to be a part of Gaus’s “range of justice,” its focus on prohibiting certain methods of attaining one’s goals will always render it unacceptable to some members of society. For all that, the prohibition of certain means, with very few restrictions on individuals’ chosen ends, makes the classical liberal position distinct from many other mere political sects. As a further problem, focusing on a range of justice whose member theories can potentially be found agreeable by free and equal moral persons may simply push the whole question back to a deeper level: Who then gets a place at the public reason table with the grownups? Are those agents who don’t come to the public reason table subject to any of the principles of justice?

Pete Boettke’s Essay: Living Better Together

Summary: Peter J. Boettke likens Gaus’s argument to the work of Friedrich Hayek and James Buchanan in political economy and public choice. He argues that property rights are integral to any generalized liberal system; without them, and without the means of increasing economic wealth through the market process, society will devolve into a fight over resources. Private property is thus a part of the basic framework of any liberal society.

(le français suit)

THE ANNUAL MONTREAL POLITICAL THEORY MANUSCRIPT WORKSHOP AWARD

Call for applications: The Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire en philosophie politique de Montréal (GRIPP), spanning the departments of political science and philosophy at McGill University, l’Université de Montréal, Concordia University, and l’Université du Québec à Montréal, invites applications for its 2012 manuscript workshop award. The recipient of the award will be invited to Montreal  for a day-long workshop in April/May 2012 dedicated to his or her book manuscript. This “author meets critics” workshop will comprise four to five sessions dedicated to critical discussion of the manuscript; each session will begin with a critical commentary on a section of the manuscript by a  political theorist or philosopher who is part of Montreal’s GRIPP community. The format is designed to maximize feedback for a book-in-progress. The award covers the costs of travel, accommodation, and meals.

Eligibility:

A. Topic: The manuscript topic is open within political theory and political philosophy, but we are especially interested in manuscripts related to at least one of these GRIPP research themes: 1) the history of liberal and democratic thought, especially early modern thought; 2) moral psychology and political agency, or politics and affect or emotions or rhetoric; 3) democracy, diversity, and pluralism. 4) democracy, justice, and transnational institutions.

B. Manuscript: Book manuscripts in English or French, not yet in a version accepted for publication, by applicants with PhD in hand by 1 August 2011, are eligible. Applicants must have a complete or nearly complete draft (at least 4/5 of final draft) ready to present at the workshop. In the case of co-authored manuscripts, only one of the co-authors is eligible to apply. (Only works in progress by the workshop date are eligible; authors with a preliminary book contract are eligible only if no version has been already accepted for publication).

C. Application: Please submit the following materials electronically, compiled as a single PDF file: 1) a curriculum vitae; 2) a table of contents; 3) a short abstract of the book project, up to 200 words; 4) a longer book abstract up to 2500 words; and, in the case of applicants with previous book publication(s), (5) three reviews, from established journals in the field, of the applicant’s most recently published monograph. Candidates are not required to, but may if they wish, submit two letters of recommendation speaking to the merits of the book project. Please do not send writing samples. Send materials by email, with the subject heading “2012 GRIPP Manuscript Workshop Award” to Arash Abizadeh <arash.abizadeh at mcgill.ca>. Review of applications begins 10 January 2012. Contact Arash Abizadeh <arash.abizadeh at mcgill.ca> with questions.

Previous GRIPP Manuscript Workshops:
May 2011: James Ingram (McMaster), Radical Cosmopolitics: The Ethics and Politics of Democratic Universalism
April 2010: Hélène Landemore (Yale), Democratic Reason: Politics, Collective Intelligence, and the Rule of the Many
April 2009: Alan Patten (Princeton), Equal Recognition: The Moral Foundations of Minority Cultural Rights
March 2009: Kinch Hoekstra (UC Berkeley), Thomas Hobbes and the Creation of Order

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LE PRIX ANNUEL DE L’ATELIER DE MANUSCRIT DE PHILOSOPHIE POLITIQUE DE MONTRÉAL

Appel à candidature: Le groupe de recherche interuniversitaire en philosophie politique de Montréal (GRIPP), qui réunit des chercheurs des départements de science politique et de philosophie de l’Université McGill, de l’Université de Montréal, de l’Université Concordia et de l’Université du Québec à Montréal, fait un appel à candidature pour son prix 2012 de l’atelier de manuscrit. Le lauréat sera invité à Montréal en avril ou mai 2012 pour un atelier d’une journée complète consacré au manuscrit de son livre. Cet atelier du type « l’auteur rencontre ses critiques » comprendra quatre ou cinq séances de discussions critiques sur le manuscrit ; pour chacune d’entre elles, un spécialiste de théorie politique ou un philosophe membre de la communauté montréalaise du GRIPP lancera la discussion par un commentaire critique d’une des sections du manuscrit.  Ceci a pour but de faciliter les échanges sur un livre en chantier. Le prix couvre les dépenses de voyage, d’hébergement et de repas.

Éligibilité :

A- Sujet : De façon générale, le manuscrit doit traiter de théorie politique ou de philosophie politique, mais nous sommes tout particulièrement intéressés aux manuscrits qui correspondent à l’une des thématiques de recherche du GRIPP : 1) l’histoire de la pensée libérale et démocratique, et notamment du début de la pensée moderne; 2) la psychologie morale du sujet (ou encore de l’agent) politique, ainsi que la politique et les affects, les émotions ou la rhétorique; 3) la démocratie, la diversité et le pluralisme; 4) la démocratie, la justice et les institutions transnationales.

B- Manuscrit : Sont éligibles tous les manuscrits de livres en français ou en anglais, non encore publiés et non en version acceptée par une maison de presses, et dont l’auteur a reçu un doctorat avant le 1er août 2011. Les candidats devront avoir une version complète, ou presque (au moins 4/5e de la version finale), à présenter à l’atelier. Pour ce qui concerne les manuscrits coécrits, seul l’un des coauteurs est éligible.

C- Soumission : Vous voudrez bien fournir les documents suivants, en format électronique, dans un seul fichier PDF : 1) un curriculum vitae; 2) une table des matières; 3) un court résumé du projet du livre de moins de 200 mots; 4) un résumé plus long, de moins de 2 500 mots; et, dans le cas de candidats ayant déjà publié, 5) trois recensions parues dans des revues spécialisées et reconnues dans le domaine de la plus récente monographie publiée. Les candidats peuvent, s’ils le souhaitent, joindre deux lettres de recommandation présentant l’intérêt de leur projet de livre. Nous vous prions de ne pas envoyer d’extraits de manuscrit. Envoyez ces documents par courriel, avec le sujet « 2012 GRIPP Manuscript Workshop Award » à Arash Abizadeh <arash.abizadeh at mcgill.ca>. L’examen des candidatures commencera le 10 janvier 2012. Pour toute information supplémentaire, veuillez contacter Dominique Leydet <leydet.dominique à uqam.ca>

Ateliers de manuscrit précédents:
Mai 2011: James Ingram (McMaster), Radical Cosmopolitics: The Ethics and Politics of Democratic Universalism
Avril 2010: Hélène Landemore (Yale), Democratic Reason: Politics, Collective Intelligence, and the Rule of the Many
Avril 2009: Alan Patten (Princeton), Equal Recognition: The Moral Foundations of Minority Cultural Rights
Mars 2009: Kinch Hoekstra (UC Berkeley), Thomas Hobbes and the Creation of Order

Call for Applications:
Political Theory Track of CEU Doctoral Program in Political Science,
CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY

DOCTORAL SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, PUBLIC POLICY, AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

We invite applications for the Political Theory Track of the CEU Doctoral Program in Political Science for the Academic Year 2012-2013. The Political Theory track is designed to prepare students for a career in academia and institutions of applied research. It is highly competitive and welcomes applications from graduates of Political Science, Philosophy, Law, Sociology, Economics, and related disciplines.

About the Program

The Political Theory track of the CEU Doctoral Program is one of five specialized tracks in CEU’s political science PhD program. It focuses on theoretical and applied perspectives in normative political theory. Major topics include justice, political obligation, democratic theory, applied political theory, philosophy of the social sciences and its application to normative problems, transitional justice among others.

While being operated by the Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations, the Political Theory track is at the same time jointly announced by the Departments of Political Science and Philosophy. This provides students engaged in this track with relatively easy access to courses offered by Philosophy and an opportunity to share seminars with philosophy students.

PhD studies comprise coursework and a research phase. Probationary Doctoral Candidates earn 24 credits over the course of their first two academic years. Course work focuses on the development of professional level research and analytical skills in the fields of normative political theory, distributive and transitional justice, democracy, ethics, and applied political theory. After passing the comprehensive examination and successfully defending the Prospectus, PhD Candidates conduct research on their doctoral project. During the research period for their dissertation, students have the opportunity to spend time at another university.

Much of the student work in the doctoral program is centered on doctoral student workshops and departmental seminars, where PhD candidates also have the opportunity to get in touch with visiting scholars from the most outstanding European and US universities. As the department’s faculty is actively involved in European Union-funded research projects, doctoral candidates gain direct access to academic networks, workshops, conferences in their field, both at CEU and beyond.

Funding

Students admitted into CEU doctoral programs are eligible to receive the CEU Doctoral Fellowship for up to three years. Doctoral enrollment may continue up to a maximum of six years. Numerous additional funding opportunities exist, such as the Doctoral Research Support Grant Program, the Erasmus Mobility Scheme, and various research and travel funds. Travel support from CEU for participation in major academic conferences and summer schools is also available. Further information on financial aid is available at: www.ceu.hu/admissions/financialaid/doctoral.

Admissions

All applicants must meet the General CEU Admissions Requirements (see: www.ceu.hu/admissions/apply), and submit:

• a curriculum vitae
• proof of relevant English language competency
• a 1,500-word research proposal
• a 500-word statement of purpose
• two confidential letters of recommendation;
• relevant undergraduate and graduate transcripts and diplomas;
• a summary of the MA thesis.

The deadline for applications is January 25, 2012.

More information and inquiries

For further information on the Political Theory Track please visit http://pds.ceu.hu or contact Andres Moles at the Department of Political Science, Central European University.

Email: molesa@ceu.hu.

For further information on the Doctoral School’s academic programs and courses, specific entry requirements, and a list of faculty, visit the Doctoral School’s website and contact the Doctoral School at http://pds.ceu.hu. Email: ds@ceu.hu

CEU Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy, and International Relations: Nador u. 9, 1051 Budapest, Hungary

21 October 2011, University of Milan, Faculty of Political Science, via Conservatorio 7

PROGRAM

10:00 - MORNING SESSION

Chair: Antonella Besussi (University of Milan)

John Horton (Keele University)
Toleration and reasonable disagreement

Discussant: Roberta Sala (University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan)

Anna Elisabetta Galeotti (University of Piemonte Orientale, Vercelli)
Toleration revisited

Discussant: Federico Zuolo (IUSS - Pavia)

15:00 - AFTERNOON SESSION

Chair: Roberta Sala (University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan)

Enzo Rossi (University of Wales, Newport)
Can tolerance be grounded in equal respect?

Maria Paola Ferretti (University of Darmstadt and Cluster of Excellence “Die Herausbildung normativer Ordnungen”, Frankfurt University)
Toleration and the limits of human reason

Emanuela Ceva (University of Pavia):
Why toleration is not the appropriate response to dissenting minorities’ claims

Opens the discussion: Nicola Riva (University of Milan)

Organizing committee:
Roberta Sala (University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan)
National Research Program “Truth, Politics, Justice: Theories and Practices” - PRIN 2008

Click here to download the program

Stanford 2012-13 | Application deadline 11 January 2012

A message from the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society at Stanford regarding their postdoctoral fellowship opportunities for 2012-2013:

For 2012-2013, we  seek up to four new postdoctoral fellows. We welcome candidates with substantial normative research interests from diverse backgrounds including philosophy, the social sciences, and professional schools. We are especially interested in candidates with research interests in inequality,  human rights, immigration, and environmental justice, but we welcome all applicants with strong normative interests that have some practical implications. Fellows will teach one class, participate in a Political Theory Workshop, interact with undergraduates in the Ethics in Society Honors Program and help in developing an inter-disciplinary ethics community across the campus.

The appointment term is September 1, 2012 - August 31, 2013; however, the initial term may be renewed for an additional year. Applicants must have completed all requirements for their PhD by June 30, 2012. Candidates must also be no more than 3 years from the awarding of their degree (i.e., September 2009).

Stanford University is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty.  It welcomes  applications from women and members of minority groups, as well as others who would bring additional dimensions to the university’s research and teaching missions. Salary is competitive.

The application deadline is January 11, 2012 (5:00pm Pacific Standard Time).

To access the online application system, click here

For more information on the Center and our fellowship program, click here.

For inquiries, please contact Joan Berry.