Conferences

Eastern APA: 28 Dec 2010

For everyone intending to go to the Eastern APA in Boston this year, the Society for Philosophy and Public Affairs will be holding a session on the Ethics of Compromise in Democracy on Tuesday 28 December, 2010, from 2pm-5pm. We’ll be looking at the topic of political compromise from a number of angles: compromise in international politics, the epistemology of disagreement, and the role of partisanship in politics. There’s been comparatively little systematic work on this ubiquitous political phenomenon, despite its moral and philosophical complexity, so we’ll be hoping to have a discussion that adds impetus to its study.

Chair: Randall Harp (Vermont)
Speakers:
Eric Beerbohm (Harvard): Compromise among Epistemic Peers
Simon Cabulea May (Virginia Tech): Deep Compromise in Partisan Politics
Dan Weinstock (Montreal): Compromises beyond Peace

Problems with Priority?
A one-day conference hosted by the Manchester Centre for Political Theory (MANCEPT)

19th November 2010
10.30am – 5.30pm
University of Manchester, UK

Speakers
Martin O’Neill (York)
Michael Otsuka (University College London)
Thomas Porter (Manchester)
Alex Voorhoeve (LSE)
Andrew Williams (I.C.R.E.A. and Pompeu Fabra University)

Details
The Priority View is widely seen as a leading alternative to egalitarianism that avoids some of the difficulties associated with the latter.  However, in their 2009 Philosophy & Public Affairs article “Why It Matters That Some Are Worse Off Than Others: An Argument against the Priority View” (P&PA vol. 37, no. 2), Michael Otsuka and Alex Voorhoeve have offered a new argument to show that the Priority View is vulnerable to fatal objection.  This conference is devoted to exploration and criticism of that new argument and will include a ‘response to critics’ session with Otsuka and Voorhoeve.

Registration and further details
http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/disciplines/politics/events/priority/

Please note: thanks to the Analysis Trust, there are a limited number of subsidised places for graduate students.  These places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Contact
Please contact Noémie Rouault (noemie.rouault@manchester.ac.uk) if you have any queries.

22nd-23rd July, Budapest

Registration Open, send an email to Molesa@ceu.hu or MiklosiZ@ceu.hu

http://www.ceu.hu/events/2010-07-22/democracy-and-legitimacy-dealing-with-extremism

Twenty years after the fall of Communism we witness an important rise in support for right wing political parties across Europe. In the last European elections the vote shifted to the right dramatically. Worryingly, far right political parties have fared well recently in the UK, Bulgaria, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Hungary. All of these countries have representatives from far right wing parties in the European Parliament. Many analysts suggest that people are turning to the far right groups as a reaction to (what they perceive as) shortcomings in democratic regimes.

In the face of these developments several questions arise: what resources does democracy have to resist far right parties? And more generally how should liberal democracy respond to illiberal groups? In many cases, these groups challenge the limits of free speech, making necessary to reflect once again on to what extent and why even “hate speech” ought to be protected against legal restrictions. On a related note, some governments have reacted against some groups by restricting the scope of free association or by interfering with the entry policies of some groups. Are there any limits to private association?

Meanwhile, the rise of the extreme right, together with heightened discrimination and segregation of disadvantaged minority groups give rise to another set of related questions about what governments may do to protect and assist these groups which might not be able to protect themselves, which might not be able to respond to prejudice against them. Is it permissible to restrict privacy rights by registering ethnic data in order to help fight against discrimination? Is it permissible to use such data for the purpose of reverse discrimination?

The conference is motivated by two sets of reasons: on the one hand we aim to discuss how the recent ‘turn to the right’ might affect liberal democracy and what can be done about it. On the other hand, we plan to do this by bringing together experts in both political theory, legal studies, public and social policy. We believe that cross-fertilisation is beneficial for all camps of enquiry.

Timetable:

THURSDAY, 22 JULY

Registration 9:30

Welcome 9:45

Keynote speech 10:00-11:15

T. Christiano, Democratic Authority and International Institutions

            Commented by Andrew Williams

Coffee 11:15-11:30

Panel 1 11:30-13:00

Enzo Rossi, Justice, Legitimacy and (Normative) Authority for Political Realists

Emanuela Ceva, Resolving, Containing, Managing: What Response to Value Conflicts in Politics?

Eszter Kollar, Ethical Insignificance and Political Significance of the Nation

Lunch 13:00-14:00

Panel 2 14:00-15:30

Richard Winfield The Vocabulary of Extremism: State-Sponsored Hate Speech Inciting Violence

Lucia Scaffardi, Freedom of Expression and Its Limits: Racial Hate Speech in Italy

Todd Grabarsky, The Rule of Law and Anti-Hate Speech Legislation in Democratic Germany

Coffee 15:30-15:45

Panel 3 15:45-17:15

Alexa Zellentin, Liberal Neutrality, Equal Citizenship and Cultural Differences

Nils Holtug, Secularism and Liberal Neutrality: The Case of Judges and Religious Symbols

Matthew Clayton, Rebutting Arguments for Religiously-Motivated Disobedience: Rawlsian Considerations

Coffee 17:15-17:30

Panel 4 17:30-19:00

Bernard Rorke, Anti-Roma Speech, Segregation and Discrimination

Stanislav (Stanko) Daniel, Mainstreaming Racism in Politics

Laura Ranca, Media(ted) extremism? Addressing Roma minority representation in Romania’s mainstream media

Wine reception at CEU Japanese Garden 19:00

FRIDAY, 23 JULY

Keynote Speech 10:00-11:15

Anthony Appiah, The theory and practice of cosmopolitanism           

Comments, TBD

Coffee 11:15-11:30

Panel 5 11:30- 13:00

Espen Gamlund, The Requirements of Toleration

Kristian Ekeli, The Political Rights of Anti-liberal Democratic Groups

Ekow Yankah, Rawls, Secular Communication and Exclusion

Lunch 13:00-14:00

Panel 6 14:00-15:30

Willem Korthals Altes, Hate speech, Religion, Discrimination

Janne Teller, May Allah Have Mercy on My Country

Naser Khader (Pending)

Coffee 15:30-15:45

Panel 7 15:45-17:15

David Heller, Regulating Hate Speech in Cyberspace: Local Norms, Global Inforcement?

Suzette Bronkhorst, The Internet and How Extremists Use Its Full Potential

Ronald Eissens, Liberty, Progress and Extremism: Lessons not Learned

Coffee 17:15-17:30

Panel 8 17:30-18:30

Rastislav Dinic, Tradition, Prejudice and Folk Epistemology

John Harris, Doubts about Democracy

Closing dinner at a restaurant in historic downtown Budapest 19:30

0915-1800 June 15th 2010, James Martin 21st Century School, Oxford

Speakers:
DR. HELEN FROWE (SHEFFIELD), `Threats and Bystanders’
DR. GERALD LANG (LEEDS), `Self-Defence and Agency’
DR. SETH LAZAR (OXFORD), `Scepticism about the Eliminative/Manipulative Agency Distinction’
PROFESSOR VICTOR TADROS (WARWICK), `Duty and Liability’

Respondents:
JO FIRTH (OXFORD)
DR. JON QUONG (MANCHESTER)
DR. DAVID RODIN (OXFORD)
GUY SELA (OXFORD)

Kima has been drugged and abandoned at the bottom of a well. She wakes up to see Niko hurtling to-wards her. He was walking alongside the (concealed) well when a powerful gust of wind blew him down it. If Kima does nothing Niko’s body will crush her, but he will survive. Or, she can save herself, using her trusty ray gun to disintegrate his body. Most people think Kima is justified in killing Niko to save herself, even though Niko is quite innocent of the threat he poses. But why? One answer is that killing Niko is an example of eliminative agency-Kima is not benefiting from Niko’s presence, but merely eliminating the threat that he poses. This is easier to justify than manipulative agency, which would involve using Niko’s body to secure a benefit she could not enjoy in his absence.This workshop brings together some of the UK’s leading philosophers of self-defence to discuss the eliminative/manipulative agency distinction, and ssess its contribution to the ethics of self-defence.

Lunch served. Papers will be pre-circulated a week in advance. Everyone is welcome, but registration is required. Numbers will be limited so register early to avoid disappointment. Please contact lucy.crittenden (at) politics.ox.ac.uk to register

Thanks!

Central European University, Budapest, 22-23 July 2010 | CFP: 31 May 2010

Please submit a 400 words abstract, suitable for blind review to molesA [at] ceu.hu or to MiklosiZ [at] ceu.hu by 31 May 2010. The conference is free of charge, but participants will need to provide for their own travel costs.

Twenty years after the fall of Communism we witness an important rise in support for right wing political parties across Europe. In the last European elections the vote shifted to the right dramatically. Worryingly, far right political parties have fared well recently in the UK, Bulgaria, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Hungary. All of these countries have representatives from far right wing parties in the European Parliament. Many analysts suggest that people are turning to the far right groups as a reaction to (what they perceive as) shortcomings in democratic regimes.

In the face of these developments several questions arise: what resources does democracy have to resist far right parties? And more generally how should liberal democracy respond to illiberal groups? In many cases, these groups challenge the limits of free speech, making necessary to reflect once again on to what extent and why even “hate speech” ought to be protected against legal restrictions. On a related note, some governments have reacted against some groups by restricting the scope of free association or by interfering with the entry policies of some groups. Are there any limits to private association?

Read the rest of this entry »

German political theorists and IR-specialists are hosting a three-day-conference on International Political Theory in Frankfurt/Main from June 10-12, 2010. While most papers and the bulk of the discussion will be in German, there will be one English language panel on June 11, 4.30 - 8 p.m.:

4:30 - 5:30 Chris Brown, London School of Economics and Political Science: The Normative Foundations of a Post-Western World

5:30 - 6:30 Leif Wenar, King’s College, London: Clean Trade in Natural Resources

6:45 - 7:45 Terry Nardin, National University of Singapore: What is the ‘Political’ in International Political Theory?

For more details and the rest of the program, please see

http://www.politikwissenschaft.tu-darmstadt.de/index.php?id=theoriesektion

Everyone welcome, please register with katharina.grabietz at gmx.de

CEU Budapest: 22-23 July 2010 | CFP: 30 April 2010

Please submit a 400 words abstract, suitable for blind review to molesA [at] ceu.hu or to MiklosiZ [at] ceu.hu before the 30 April 2010. The conference is fee of charge, but participants will need to provide for their own travel costs.

Twenty years after the fall of Communism we witness an important rise in support for right wing political parties across Europe. In the last European elections the vote shifted to the right dramatically. Worryingly, far right political parties have fared well recently in the UK, Bulgaria, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Hungary. All of these countries have representatives from far right wing parties in the European Parliament. Many analysts suggest that people are turning to the far right groups as a reaction to (what they perceive as) shortcomings in democratic regimes.

In the face of these developments several questions arise: what resources does democracy have to resist far right parties? And more generally how should liberal democracy respond to illiberal groups? In many cases, these groups challenge the limits of free speech, making necessary to reflect once again on to what extent and why even “hate speech” ought to be protected against legal restrictions. On a related note, some governments have reacted against some groups by restricting the scope of free association or by interfering with the entry policies of some groups. Are there any limits to private association?

Read the rest of this entry »

Workshops in Political Theory, Seventh Annual Conference
Manchester Metropolitan University, 1-3 September 2010

TOLERATION AND RESPECT: CONCEPTS, JUSTIFICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS

Conveners:
Emanuela Ceva (Institute for Advanced Study, University of Pavia)
Sune Laegaard (Roskilde University)
Federico Zuolo (Institute for Advanced Study, University of Pavia)

Discussions of the ideas of toleration and respect have animated vivid and ongoing debates in political and moral philosophy during the last decades. The formulations given to the idea of toleration have come to range from the negative appeal to non-interference to the positive recognition of difference. In a similar vein, the idea of respect has been object of some serious reformulation building on the works of neo-Kantians up to the most recent applications to issues of cultural diversity and religious liberty. However, the sophistication of the dicussions revolving around each of the two ideas has not been accompanied by a clarification of their reciprocal conceptual and normative relations, thus leading, in fact, to a blurring of the lines between them.

On this backdrop, the workshop will offer an occasion to engage in debates leading to a more systematic exploration of the intricate relations, conceptual and practical, between the two ideas. In particular, papers could address one (or more) of the following issues: Read the rest of this entry »

Two theory-heavy political science conferences released their schedules today: the Canadian Political Science Association , June 1-3, Montreal (with the theory section organized by Jennifer Rubenstein and myself, and including a dedicated workhop on “Non-ideal and institutional theory”) and the New England Political Science Association (theory panels organized by Sharon Krause).For those who just want to see the theory listings for CPSA instead of browsing through the unwieldy 86-page pdf, I’ve separated them out here.

Copenhagen: 19-20 August 2010 | CFP: 1 April 2010

The second University of Copenhagen conference in epistemology will be held from 19-20 August 2010. The following is the description:

We tend to think of liberal democracy as providing the most ethically defensible way to set up a modern society. A separate yet highly relevant issue is whether liberal democracies also are preferable from an epistemological perspective, i.e., from the point of view of promoting true over false belief, knowledge over ignorance, and so on. The purpose of this conference — and of the research project that it is part of — is to investigate the norms, practices, and institutions that  determine how belief and knowledge is acquired and transmitted in liberal democracies. Questions to be addressed include but are not limited to the following: Read the rest of this entry »

[Moving to the top since the deadline is tomorrow. SCM]

THE APT CONFERENCE 2010 – PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

Reed College, Portland, Oregon, October 21-23, 2010; Proposals Due February 20, 2010

The Association for Political Theory welcomes paper proposals, panel proposals, and proposals for roundtable discussions from all approaches and on all topics in political theory, political philosophy, and the history of political thought. Faculty, advanced PhD candidates, and independent scholars are eligible to apply. We also encourage faculty to volunteer to serve as chairs and/or discussants.

Read the rest of this entry »

Global Justice. Concepts, Theories and Constraints: May 18-19, 2010 | CFP: 20 April 2010

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.

Professor Thomas Pogge (Yale University) will deliver the conference keynote address.

The conference will be held at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest. The conference is organized by the The Center for the Study of Rationality and Beliefs as part of the research project Reason and Beliefs. Rationality, Public Reason and Education within a Multicultural Society financed by CNCSIS/UEFISCSU.

Submission of papers
We welcome papers concerning any topic related to global justice. Contributions are expected from researchers from different academic fields who are interested in the outlined topic or in closely related ones. Students are also invited to submit papers for the conference, as we intend to organize a student panel. Abstracts should be sent by e-mail as attachment at globaljustice@ub-filosofie.ro until the 20 April 2010. The deadline for submitting the full version of your paper is 10 May 2010. 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.

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Rights, Equality, and Justice:A Conference Inspired by the Moral and Legal Theory of David Lyons

Boston University is proud to honor Professor David Lyons with a conference featuring many outstanding scholars in law and philosophy giving papers and commentaries on important topics about which he has written. Professor Lyons will give a response. Boston University Law Review will publish the papers and proceedings. Information about the conference, along with papers (as we receive them), will be posted on the BU School of Law Web site: http://www.bu.edu/law/events/upcoming/. The conference, which is co-sponsored by the BU School of Law and Department of Philosophy, will be held at BU School of Law, 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA.

All are welcome to attend. There is no registration fee, but if you plan to attend, please RSVP to Andrea Larsen, alarsen@bu.edu. If you have academic questions about the program, please contact Professor James E. Fleming, jfleming [at] bu.edu.

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Congress: Democracy Today - In Political Philosophy and Theory, 3 - 6 November 2010 - Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

Today western democracies confront social, cultural and political challenges, which call for a reevaluation of our state affairs, our system of practices and our system of discourses. In contemporary pluralist and multicultural societies, there is an increased gap between citizens and political establishments. Traditional approaches of politics of recognition or redistribution, used to translate claims into the public sphere, seem no longer sufficient in this new paradigm of an increased globalized world and trans-national politics. Under this light, the meaning(s) we generally tend to attribute to the concept of democracy need to be re-evaluated and ultimately redefined.

This will be the First International Congress on ‘Democracy Today’ which will take place at Universidade do Minho, Braga. Having as starting point the assumption that the concept of democracy needs to be revised, we intent, during this congress, to accomplish two main tasks: on the one hand, to provide an account of the multiplicity of meanings of ‘democracy’ and its conceptual nuances. On the other hand, to account for the different instantiations of democracy and its intrinsic practices. Under this light we propose four days of reflection, discussion and dialogue, specially under the scope of political philosophy and political theory.

These are some of the questions we expect to explore:

Read the rest of this entry »

Newcastle University: 25-26 February 2010

The Newcastle Ethics, Legal and Political Philosophy Research Group are holding a conference in honour of Professor Peter Jones. The topic of the conference is “The Value and Limits of Rights.” The conference will be held at the Devonshire Building (G21 & G22) at Newcastle from 25-26 February. The programme is as follows:

Thursday, 25 February
1:30-2:00pm: Registration and Welcome Address
2:00-3:15pm: Albert Weale (UCL)
3:30-4:45pm: Simon Caney (Oxford)

Friday, 26 February
9:30-10:45am: Richard Bellamy (UCL)
10:45-11:00am: Tea/coffee
11:00am-12:15pm: John Horton (Keele)
12:15-1:00pm: Buffet lunch
1:00-2:15pm: Susan Mendus (York)
2:15-3:30pm: David Miller (Oxford)
3:30-3:45pm: Tea/coffee
3:45-5:00pm: Hillel Steiner (Manchester)

All are welcome to attend although there is a registration fee of £10 to cover the cost of the refreshments and buffet lunch. Payments can be made online here. Please address any questions to Dr Ian O’Flynn.

Call for Papers from Faculty and Graduate Students

Northwestern University Society for Ethical Theory and Political Philosophy

Fourth Annual Conference: May 20-22, 2010

Keynote Addresses: Elizabeth Anderson and Christine Korsgaard

Submission Guidelines: The deadline is February 15, 2010.  We welcome submissions from faculty and graduate students, as some sessions will be reserved for student presentations.  Please submit an essay of approximately 4000 words and an abstract of at most 150 words.  Essay topics in all areas of ethical theory and political philosophy will be considered, although some priority will be given to essays that take up themes from the works of Anderson and Korsgaard, such as value theory, philosophy and economics, democratic theory, constructivism, practical reason, personal identity, and the moral status of animals.  Essays and abstracts should be prepared for blind review in .doc, .rtf, or .pdf format.  Graduate submissions should be sent by e-mail to leegoldsmith2012@u.northwestern.edu and faculty submissions should be sent by e-mail to garthoff@northwestern.edu.  Notices of acceptance will be sent by March 31, 2010.  For more information, please contact Jon Garthoff at the e-mail address above or visit our website:

http://www.philosophy.northwestern.edu/conferences/moralpolitical/

St. Anne’s College, Oxford: 2-4 July 2010 | CFP: 9 January 2010

Moving up to the top because the deadline is soon — SCM.

The 2010 Society for Applied Philosophy annual conference will be held at St. Anne’s College from 2-4 July 2010. It will be an open themed applied philosophy conference (papers will be considered from the full range of topics in applied philosophy). Plenary speakers include Professor Thomas Pogge (Yale), Professor Judith Lichtenberg (Georgetown), Professor Catherine Lu (McGill), and Professor Ingmar Persson (Gothenburg).

Read the rest of this entry »

Linköping, Sweden: 8-12 June 2010 | CFP: 8 March 2010

The European Science Foundation (ESF), in partnership with LFiU is organising a conference on the “Responsibility to Protect: From Principle to Practice” to be held at the Scandic Hotel Linköping Väst, Linköping, Sweden, from 8-12 June 2010. The conference chair is Prof. Andre Nollkaemper, of the Amsterdam Center for International Law, University of Amsterdam.

The closing date for application is the 8 March, 2010. This conference is part of the 2010 ESF Research Conferences Programme and is accessible at its website.

Jacob Levy has put up a link to the podcasts from the recent memorial colloquium on Jerry Cohen’s life and work organised by the Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire en philosophie politique at Montreal. The presentations are from Daniel Weinstock, William Clare Roberts, Joseph Carens, Jurgen De Wispelaere, and Jacob Levy.

Bristol: 30 June - 2 July 2010 | CFP: 1 March 2010

The third International Global Ethics Association conference will be held at the University of the West of England in Bristol from 30 June to 2 July 2010. Confirmed speakers include Simon Caney (University of Oxford) and Darrel Moellendorf (Director, Institute for Ethics and Public Affairs, San Diego State University).

Papers and panels on all aspects of global ethics are invited. The organisers encourage multidisciplinary papers which address the theory and practice of Global Ethics and global justice from academic, policy and practice perspectives. Issues include:

• Development issues like progress towards achieving the MDGs and impact of post-colonial and post-development critiques on development ethics
• Ecological crises such as global warming and the distribution of increasingly scarce natural resources
• War and peace concerns such as the ethical issues arising from the War on Terror, humanitarian intervention, privatization of the military and the ethics of peace-keeping
• Gender issues 20 years since CEDAW, for example, transnational feminism and reproductive rights
• Human rights issues 60 years after the UDHR
• Economic injustices and the global market
• Global networks and civil society
• Identity politics, multiple identities and transnationalism

Please e-mail panel proposals and abstracts (no more than 500 words) to global-ethics [at] uwe.ac.uk by 1 March 2010. For further information please contact Dr Christien van den Anker and Professor Heather Widdows at the same email address.

Prato, Italy: 25-29 August 2010| CFP: 8 March 2010

Karen Green, Lisa Curtis-Wendlandt and Paul Gibbard are organising a conference on on the contribution of women to the history of political thought in Europe during the Enlightenment period. Papers may discuss the political ideas of individual women such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Catherine Macaulay, Mary Hays, Sarah Churchill, Mary Delariviere Manley, Marie Jodin, Emilie du Châtelet, Madame Dupin, Olympe de Gouges, Felicité Keralio-Robert, Madame Roland, Germaine de Staël, Dorothea Erxleben Leporin, Amalie Holst, Johanna Charlotte Unzer, Luise Gottsched, Mariana von Ziegler, Elise Reimarus, Elisabetta Caminer Turra, and others. Papers placing the work of such women in the broader context of political writing by men are encouraged. ‘Political thought’ is broadly interpreted to include sexual politics as well as political theory, and discussions of the political ideas of women as expressed in genres other than the political treatise are welcome.

Submissions of title and one page abstract should be sent by 8th March 2010 to Karen Green by email or in hard copy to her at the School of Philosophy and Bioethics, Monash University, Melbourne 3800, Australia. Up to five bursaries of up to $500 will be available to help post-graduates and early career researchers to attend the conference. Applicants who wish to be considered for one of these should indicate this with their submission.

An edited volume on women’s political thought in Europe during the eighteenth century is proposed, and contributions to the conference may be submitted for publication in this volume. Contributors who are unable to attend the Prato Conference, but would like to contribute a paper to the volume are invited to submit papers for consideration by September 30th 2010.

Boulder: 5-8 August 2010 | CFP: 1 February 2010

The third annual Rockey Mountain Ethics Congress will be held from 5-8 August 2010 at the University of Colorado, Boulder. ?The conference is hosted by the Center for Values and Social Policy. Papers from all areas of ethics and political theory are invited. To encourage the participation of junior scholars, the University of Colorado will be awarding a Young Ethicist Prize of $500 for most meritorious submission. The prize competition is open to any participating untenured philosopher (including, but not limited to, tenure-track faculty, instructors, and graduate students).

Abstract (750-1000 words) should be submitted electronically (in Word format) to Benjamin Hale and Alastair Norcross. Here is a pdf of the CFP.

Southampton: 8-10 April 2010 | CFP: 31 January 2010

The 2010 Association for Legal and Social Philosophy conference will be held at the University of Southampton from 8-10 April 2010. The theme of the conference is the future(s) of democratic citizenship. From the ALSP website:

In the contemporary world the ideal of democratic citizenship appears to be confronted with many challenges and opportunities, and there is substantial disagreement about how it should respond to them. In the light of changing forms of democratic engagement, the globalisation of political power, the continuing challenge of maintaining a common citizenship in the face of cultural diversity and mass migration, the form democratic citizenship will take in the future is open to question. Contributions to this conference will seek to think through the forms that democratic citizenship might, and should, take in the future. We focus on four sets of themes:

* democratic innovations,
* democratic citizenship: from local to global?
* democratic citizenship: threats and insecurities
* competing visions of democratic citizenship.

Keynotes confirmed thus far include Rainer Baubock (European University Institute) and Stuart White (University of Oxford). Selected papers from the conference will be published in a special issue of the Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.

CFP: 4th Annual Northwestern Ethics Conference

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
SOCIETY FOR ETHICAL THEORY AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
FOURTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
MAY 20-22, 2010

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Elizabeth Anderson, University of Michigan
Christine Korsgaard, Harvard University

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: The deadline is February 15, 2010. We welcome submissions from faculty and graduate students, as sessions will be reserved for student presentations. Essays should be roughly 4000 words, with an abstract of at most 150 words. Essays in all areas of ethical theory and political philosophy will be considered, though some priority will be given to those that take up themes from the works of Elizabeth Anderson and Christine Korsgaard, such as value theory, philosophy and economics, democratic theory, practical reason, constructivism, personal identity, and the moral status of animals. Essays and abstracts should be prepared for blind review in word, rtf, or pdf format. Students should submit by e-mail to leegoldsmith2012 [at] u.northwestern.edu; faculty should submit by e-mail to garthoff [at] northwestern.edu. Notices of acceptance will be sent by March 31, 2010. For more information, please contact Jon Garthoff at the e-mail address above or visit the conference webpage.

The Society for Social and Political Philosophy is pleased to issue a

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS
for a Roundtable on Marx’s Capital

Texas A&M University,
College Station, Texas
February 24-27, 2011

SSPP’s second Roundtable will explore Volume One of Marx’s Capital (1867).  We chose this text because the resurgence in references to and mentions of Marx – provoked especially by the financial crisis, but presaged by the best-seller status of Hardt and Negri’s Empire and Marx’s surprising victory in the BBC’s “greatest philosopher” poll – has only served to highlight the fact that there have not been any new interpretive or theoretical approaches to this book since Althusser’s in the 1960s.

The question that faces us is this: Does the return of Marx mean that we have been thrust into the past, such that long “obsolete” approaches have a newfound currency, or does in mean, on the contrary, that Marx has something new to say to us, and that new approaches to his text are called for?

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The American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy (ASPLP) is pleased to announce that it will hold its annual meeting in conjunction with that of the Association of American Law Schools in New Orleans on January 6, 2010. The topic is “Getting to the Rule of Law.” All three sessions of the program will be held in Hilton New Orleans Riverside, 2 Poydras Street, Belle Chasse Room, Third Floor. Below is the program:

I. Getting to the Concept of the Rule of Law: 10:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Principal paper (philosophy): Jeremy Waldron, New York University

Commentator (law): Robin West, Georgetown University

Commentator (political science): Corey Brettschneider, Brown University

Chair: James E. Fleming, Boston University

II. Maintaining or Restoring the Rule of Law After September 11, 2001: 1:30p.m.-3:15 p.m.

Principal paper (political science): Benjamin Kleinerman, Michigan State University

Commentator (law): Curtis Bradley, Duke University

Commentator (philosophy): Lionel McPherson, Tufts University

Chair: Nancy Rosenblum, Harvard University

III. Building the Rule of Law After Military Interventions: 3:30 p.m.-5:15 p.m.

Principal paper (law): Jane Stromseth, Georgetown University

Commentator (political science): Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago

Commentator (philosophy): Larry May, Vanderbilt University

Chair: Allen Buchanan, Duke University

Reception: 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Elmwood, Third Floor, Hilton New Orleans Riverside

The principal papers and commentaries - together with additional papers on the topic - will be published in Nomos, the annual yearbook of the ASPLP. If you have questions about the program, please contact Professor James E. Fleming, who is Editor of Nomos: jfleming@bu.edu. If you are interested in political and legal philosophy, and would like to join the ASPLP and subscribe to NOMOS, please go to http://www.political-theory.org/asplp/ or email theasplp@gmail.com.

Manchester Metropolitan University, 1-3 September 2010 

A call for workshop convenors for the 2010 Workshops in Political Theory conference in Manchester:

Following the successful sixth annual series of Workshops held in Manchester, September 2009, at which over a hundred and fifty papers were given by participants from over twenty countries, another conference is being held next year. These workshops reflected the wide diversity of interests and idioms within the discipline and gave delegates plenty of time to discuss their papers in a relaxed setting as well as to attend other panels.  Panels can vary from three to twelve paper givers. The 2009 conference page is here. If interested in organising a panel contact either Professor Joe Femia or Professor Jules Townshend. 

Conference on Respect, Global Justice and Human Rights

Organized by HDCP/IRC- Human Development, Capability and Poverty International Research Centre at IUSS-Institute for Advanced Study (Pavia) and Faculty of Political Science, University of Pavia. Kindly supported by: FIRB Research Project: RBIN06ZFSE and Fondazione Cariplo

5 Nov 2009 - Aula Grande Facoltà di Scienze Politiche

12:30 Welcome buffet lunch (Aula Leoni)

14:30 - 15 Welcome address:
Prof. Fabio Rugge, Dean of the Faculty of Political Science, University of Pavia
Prof. Roberto Schmid, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study (IUSS) Pavia

Introduction: Dr Emanuela Ceva (IUSS, University of Pavia)

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Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, June 1-3 2010

Call for papers: open call in political theory as well as call for papers on “non-ideal and institutional theory.”

The CFP for the 2010 CPSA in Montreal is now open: Call for papers, Instructions for submitting, Proposal submission form.

Proposals are due by November 3, 2009.

For political theorists:

We welcome paper, panel, and roundtable proposals in all areas of political theory. In addition, we will be holding a conference within the conference on “Non-ideal and institutional theory.” That CFP is below.

Workshop 8 – Political Theory: Non-ideal and Institutional Theory
Organizers: Jacob T. Levy (McGill) and Jennifer Rubenstein (Viriginia)

From the ethics of conduct during wartime to justice in transitional societies to restitution for collective harms, political theorists have long been concerned with understanding political morality in morally compromised or materially constrained settings—in what Arendt termed “dark times.” Since Rawls, we have come to call this “non-ideal” theory: theory about moral choices and political circumstances that wouldn’t arise at all under ideal conditions. In recent years, political philosophers have done a great deal of methodological and metatheoretical work on the ideal/non-ideal distinction, while political theorists have undertaken non-ideal normative analysis of a wide range of problems. We seek both papers that are explicitly about non-ideal political theory and papers that do non-ideal theory, in order to encourage engagement between methodological reflections and normative arguments.

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“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” Archilochus

Boston University School of Law will hold a conference on Ronald Dworkin’s forthcoming book, Justice for Hedgehogs, on September 25-26, 2009. Dworkin himself will give the keynote address on September 25 and a response on September 26. The Boston University Law Review will publish the papers and proceedings.

OVERVIEW:

In Justice for Hedgehogs, Dworkin defends the unity of value - the one big thing he knows - and argues against “several foxy causes”: value skepticism, value pluralism, value conflict, and, in particular, the supposed opposition between the values of self-interest and those of personal and political morality. He argues for the integration of ethics (the principles that tell human beings how to live well) and morality (the principles that tell them how they must treat other people), and for a morality of self-affirmation as against a morality of self-abnegation. In doing so, he develops accounts of the indispensable conditions of living well - dignity, self-respect, and authenticity - and of our moral duties to others regarding aid and harm. He also argues that law is a branch of political morality that is in turn a department of morality more broadly understood. The conference will include the following panels, taking up issues of the sort sketched below.

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Via David Shoemaker at PEA Soup:

The Philosophy of Religion Group is issuing a call for papers for its session at the 2010 American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Meeting on the topic of Religious Toleration. 

In the seventeenth century many European philosophers were deeply concerned with religious intolerance that spawned intra- and inter-national violence on a massive scale. Locke, Spinoza, Bayle and others famously drafted arguments aimed at providing religious partisans with reasons for tolerating more religious diversity in their midst than they might otherwise have been inclined to allow. While the arguments these philosophers made may have been influential in the development of religious toleration in Europe and North America in the 18th Century, it is not clear that they have as much appeal in the contemporary West or elsewhere in the world. This session will be devoted to revisiting the topic of religious toleration both to examine its philosophical roots and its contemporary cogency.

The session will consist of three papers, two presented by Edwin Curley (Michigan) and Robert Audi (Notre Dame) as well as a third paper drawn from submitted abstracts.

Those wishing to submit papers for consideration should send a 350 word (or less) abstract to the Program Chair, Michael Murray, at Michael.murray [at] fandm.edu no later than OCTOBER 1, 2009.

Manchester: Workshops in Political Theory Sixth Annual Conference: 2-4 September 2009The sixth annual conference of the Workshops in Political Theory will be held at Manchester Metropolitan University from 2-4 September 2009. Those wishing to participate should contact the relevant workshop convenor and register before 30 July (or pay a £10 late fee). The workshops are:

1. Politics, Morals and Economics in Adam Smith. Fotini Vaki (Ionian University, Corfu) and Raquel Lázaro (University of Navarre, Spain)
2. Ethics in Environmental Health Research and Public Health Applications. Birgit Dumez (Center for Human Genetics, Leuven, Belgium) and Casteleyn Ludwine (Center for Human Genetics, Leuven, Belgium)
3. Conflict and Compromise. Peter Jones (Newcastle University) and Ian O’Flynn (Newcastle University)
4. Political Theory and the Darwinian Revolution. Graeme Garrard (Cardiff University)
5. ‘Age Discrimination’? Geoffrey Cupit (University of Waikato, New Zealand)
6. International Political Theory. Peter Such (Cardiff University)
7. Liberal Realism: Political Theory in an Age of Insecurity. Derek Edyvane (Leeds University) and Matt Sleat (Sheffield University)
8. Beyond Borders: Drawing New Lines around Political Order. Noel Parker (University of Copenhagen) and Nick Vaughen-Williams (Exeter University)
9. Roundtable on Julia Kristeva and Political Thought. Birgit Schippers (St. Mary’s University College, Belfast)
10. Children, Families, and Justice. Philip Cook (LSE)
11. Hobbes. Michael P. Krom (St. Vincent College, Pennsylvania)
12. Feminist Theory. Janice Richardson (Exeter University) and Annelies Decatm (University of Leuven)
13. Eurocentrism in Political Theory. Efe Can Gurgan (Koç University)
14. When Should Philosophy be Practical: On Ideal and Non-Ideal Theory. Robert Jubb (University of Oxford) and James Gledhill (LSE)
15. Marxism. Mark Cowling (University of Teesside)
16. Anarchism. Ruth Kinna (Loughborough University)
17. Green Political Theory. Stijn Neuteleers  (Leuven University) and  Corey Maciver (Oxford University)
18. Human Enhancement and Justice. David Hunter (University of Keele), Michael Selgelid (Australian National University) and Anthony Mark Cutter (Central Lancashire)
19. Democracy: Theory and Practice. Stephen Elstub (University of the West of Scotland)
20. Contesting Recognition. Atnre Alleyne (University of Delaware)
21. Vilfredo Pareto. Joe Femia (University of Liverpool) and Alasdair Marshall, (University of Southampton)
22. Justice in Work and Production. Keith Breen (Queen’s University Belfast) and Russell Keat (University of Edinburgh)
23. The Problem of Dirty hands. Stephen de Wijze (University of Manchester)
24. British idealism. David Boucher (Cardiff University)
25. Art and Politics: Towards a Culture of Solidarity? Larry Wilde (Nottingham Trent University) and Ian Fraser (Nottingham Trent University)

Further details from the website: Read the rest of this entry »

This is just a quick reminder to say that tomorrow (Wednesday 22 April 2009) is the final day for registration for those wishing to attend the conference on “Justice, Rights and Institutions: Themes from the Political Philosophy
of T. M. Scanlon”, taking place at the University of Manchester on 22-23 May 2009.The full line-up of speakers is:

* T. M. Scanlon (Harvard University)
* Waheed Hussain (University of Pennsylvania)
* Rahul Kumar (Queen’s University, Canada)
* A. J. Julius (University of California at Los Angeles)
* Véronique Munoz-Dardé (University College London)
* Serena Olsaretti (University of Cambridge)
* Martin O’Neill (University of Manchester)
* Michael Otsuka (University College London)
* Mathias Risse (Harvard University)
* Zofia Stemplowska (University of Manchester)
* Leif Wenar (King’s College, London)
* Andrew Williams (University of Warwick)
* Jonathan Wolff (University College London)

Full conference details (together with a link to a registration/booking form), can be found online at:

http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/martin.oneill/scanlon/

Places at the conference are £60 (£30 for students).

This conference is presented by the Manchester Centre for Political Theory (MANCEPT) and the Philosophy and Politics Discipline Areas at the University of Manchester, with the generous financial support of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, the Society for Applied Philosophy, and the Analysis Trust.

Any queries regarding the conference should be addressed to Martin O’Neill at martin.oneill -AT- manchester.ac.uk

Tucson: 7-9 January 2010 | CFP: 1 June 2009

Mark Timmons (Arizona) is organising a workshop on normative ethics to be held in Tucson on 7-9 January 2010. Keynote speakers are Thomas Hill (UNC), Peter Railton (Michigan), and Holly Smith (Rutgers). From the website:

The First Annual Arizona Workshop in Normative Ethics takes place at the Westward Look Resort in Tucson, Arizona, from January 7 to January 9, 2010. Normative ethical theory addresses general questions about the right and the good and attempts to answer such questions as: What sorts of actions are right or wrong and why? What sort of person ought one to become and why? Normative ethical theories, including, for instance, versions of consequentialism, deontology, contractualism, natural law theory, and virtue ethics address such questions. The annual Arizona Workshop will feature new work in normative ethical theory broadly construed, to include not only issues about the right and the good, but meta-theoretical questions about the project of developing and defending normative ethical theories.

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Victoria University of Wellington: 10-11 December 2009 | CFP: 12 June 2009

From their CFP:

A major conference on the Ethical Foundations of Public Policy will be held in Wellington (New Zealand) on the 10th and 11th of December. It is being hosted by the Institute of Policy Studies (School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington), in association with the Philosophy Programme (Victoria University of Wellington) and the Centre for Theology and Public Issues (University of Otago), and sponsored by the ANZSOG Trust. The conference will be opened by Rt Hon Bill English (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance), with closing remarks by Iain Rennie (the State Services Commissioner).

The purpose of the event is to encourage and facilitate debate about the ethical basis for policy making, both in terms of the principles that should inform the behaviour of individual policy analysts and decision makers and the normative considerations that should guide choices over the substantive content of particular policies. To help achieve this objective, the conference will bring together policy makers (i.e. politicians, government officials, political advisers, etc.) and academics/researchers working in a range of disciplines, including economics, law, philosophy, politics, religious studies and theology. Five specific sub-themes have been identified for particular attention: the ethics of advice giving; the ethics of decision making; the nature of justice; protecting the global commons; and measuring progress.

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13th “PRIORITY IN PRACTICE” CONFERENCE

Friday 19 & Saturday 20 June 2009
Trinity College Dublin, IIIS seminar room (Arts Building)

Further information: http://pip2009.wordpress.com/

Registration is now open for the 2009 Priority in Practice conference, held at Trinity College Dublin. The conference is free and everyone is welcome to attend, but you have to register as numbers are limited. To register simply send an email with your name and affiliation to jurgen.dewispelaere@tcd.ie.

Featured speakers include: John Baker (Dublin), Maren Behrensen (Boston), Kimberley Brownlee (Manchester), David Estlund (Brown), Eli Feiring (Oslo), Axel Gosseries (Louvain-la-Neuve), Anca Gheaus (Rotterdam), David Hunter (Keele), Bruce Landesman (Utah), Adina Preda (Dublin), Kristin Voight (Harvard), and Daniel Weinstock (Montreal). The full program is up at http://pip2009.wordpress.com/program/.

The conference is jointly hosted by the Department of Philosophy (Trinity College Dublin), the School of Politics and International Relations (University College Dublin) and the Department of Philosophy, (University College London), and kindly supported by the Association for Legal and Social Philosophy.

We look forward to meeting you all in June

Jurgen De Wispelaere, Iseult Honohan and Jo Wolff

Minho University, Braga: 19 June 2009 | CFP: 30 April 2009

Participating Institutions:
CEHUM-University of Minho
IEP- Catholic University of Lisbon
IFL-New University of Lisbon
LIF-University of Coimbra
University of Lisbon
University of Porto

Scholars of all disciplines usually need opportunities to share their thoughts and to collect feed-back on their work. We hereby invite scholars of moral philosophy as well as of normative political theory who are keen to engage in a discussion with their peers to join in regular meetings at which they can present papers or chapters they are writing, or topics they are working on. The invitation is open both to graduate and PhD students and to senior scholars. The initiative aims to increase the reciprocal knowledge of our fellow researchers within the Portuguese scientific community. However, meetings and participation are open to all interested scholars, both from Portugal and from abroad. In order to accommodate a broad range of research interests and to encourage the dissemination of different ideas, the first meeting will be non-thematic. Papers can be given either in Portuguese, in English, or in French.

The first meeting will take place at the University of Minho, Braga, on Friday, 19 June. If you are interested in presenting a paper on a topic of your choice, please send an abstract (300 to 500 words) by 30 April to the following address: eefp [at] googlegroups.com

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Appel à participations : Évaluations morales des technologies controversées dans les conférences citoyennes

Le CEHUM (Université du Minho) organise un colloque de deux jours ayant pour thème les « évaluations morales des technologies controversées dans les conférences citoyennes» qui aura lieu les 14 et 15 mai 2009, à Lisbonne (Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa). Les chercheurs participant à ce colloque incluent :

Joana Baguenier (CEHUM, Université du Minho - Université Paris IV, Sorbonne)
João Cardoso Rosas (CEHUM, Université du Minho)
Anca Gheaus (Equality Studies Centre, University College Dublin)
Simon Joss (SSHL, University of Westminster)
Roberto Merrill (CEHUM, Université du Minho)
Florence Quinche (Université de Nancy)
Bernard Reber (CERSES, CNRS-Université Paris Descartes)
Sabine Roeser (Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology)
Daniel Weinstock (CRÉUM, Université de Montréal)

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Appel à contributions : Le multiculturalisme a-t-il un avenir ?

Le centre Nosophi (Sorbonne-Paris 1), LNS-IUF (Michel de Montaigne-Bordeaux 3) et le CEHUM (Université du Minho) organisent un colloque de deux jours sur le multiculturalisme qui aura lieu à l’Université de Paris 1-Panthéon Sorbonne, les 26 et 27 février 2010. Les chercheurs invités participant à ce colloque incluent :

Catherine Audard (London School of Economics)

João Cardoso Rosas (Université du Minho)

Will Kymlicka (Université de Queen’s)

Cécile Laborde (University College London)

Justine Lacroix (Université libre de Bruxelles)

Catherine Larrère (Sorbonne-Paris I)

Alain Renaut (Sorbonne-Paris IV)

Daniel Weinstock (Université de Montréal)

Michel Wieviorka (EHESS)

Si le multiculturalisme a toujours été un projet politique controversé, il a aussi su rallier ces dernières années différents types de partisans, des défenseurs radicaux d’une politique de la différence, aux avocats de la lutte pour la reconnaissance, en passant par la défense d’un libéralisme de gauche, ou encore par celle d’un républicanisme critique.

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• Date: 20-21 November, 2009
• Location: University of Manchester

The Manchester Centre for Political Theory (MANCEPT) is delighted to announce a conference celebrating the career of our distinguished colleague, Professor Hillel Steiner.  Professor Steiner’s pioneering work on freedom, rights, exploitation, and justice has profoundly influenced moral, political, and legal philosophy over the last forty years. This conference will bring together scholars from around the world to discuss some of the central themes from Professor Steiner’s work. Participants will include:

• Ian Carter (University of Pavia)
• G.A. Cohen (University of Oxford & University College London) (provisional)
• Eve Garrard (University of Keele & University of Manchester)
• Alan Hamlin (University of Manchester)
• Matthew Kramer (University of Cambridge)
• William Lucy (University of Manchester)
• Eric Mack (Tulane University)
• David Miller (University of Oxford)
• Serena Olsaretti (University of Cambridge)
• Michael Otsuka (University College London)
• Jonathan Quong (University of Manchester)
• Zofia Stemplowska (University of Manchester)
• Peter Vallentyne (University of Missouri)
• Philippe Van Parijs (Universite catholique de Louvain)

Further details regarding registration and accomodation will be forthcoming later this spring. For more details regarding MANCEPT please visit us at:www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/disciplines/politics/researchgroups/mancept/