"The accident of where one is born is just that, an accident; any human being might have been born in any nation"
Martha Nussbaum, 'Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism' in For Love of Country (Beacon Press, 2002)

Friday 23 January 2009

Greenpeace Airplot

Greenpeace activists have purchased a plot of land within the area proposed for the third runway at Heathrow - they are planning to resist the expansion as much as possible, and are going to use their ownership of the land as an obstacle to the development.

Further details can be found here.

Join the plot and help stop airport expansion.

Airplot - join the plot

Thursday 22 January 2009

Scanlon Conference - Manchester

Justice, Rights and Institutions: Themes from the Political Philosophy of T. M. Scanlon
Friday 22 - Saturday 23 May 2009
Time: 9am - 6pm each day
Venue: The Boardroom, Arthur Lewis Building, University of Manchester

Speakers:
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 (Kings College, London)
Andrew Williams (University of Warwick)
Jonathan Wolff (University College London)

The event is co-sponsored by MANCEPT (the Manchester Centre for Political Theory) and by the Philosophy Discipline Area of the School of Social Sciences at Manchester, and is financially supported by the Royal Institute of Philosophy. The conference website (with links to the registration and accommodation form) is available here. The conference fee for participants is £60 per person (this price includes tea/coffee, refreshments and lunch on both days).

Further details: This conference will take advantage of Tim Scanlon's presence in the UK to give the 2009 Locke Lectures at the University of Oxford, in order to bring him to Manchester for an intensive two-day exploration of themes from his political philosophy. Although Scanlon's contractualist moral philosophy has received a significant degree of critical attention, there has perhaps not been the same degree of attention given to the distinctively political aspects or implications of Scanlon's project. The conference will aim to remedy this gap through a detailed exploration both of Scanlon's work in political philosophy, and of the implications for political philosophy of other aspects of Scanlon's work on topics in moral philosophy. Papers at the conference will thus be of two broad types:
(a) papers relating to Scanlon's treatment of issues such as freedom of expression, human rights, equality, punishment, contract, and the idea of tolerance, as collected in his book The Difficulty of Tolerance (Cambridge: CUP, 2003); and
(b) papers that address the connections between issues in political philosophy and Scanlon's treatment of topics such as choice, responsibility, blame, intention, value, promising, and well-being in his books What We Oweto Each Other (Cambridge, Mass.: HUP, 1998) and Moral Dimensions (Cambridge,Mass.: HUP, 2008).

Full details

Constructivism in Political Philosophy

Details of the upcoming constructivism workshop at Sheffield:

Workshop: Constructivism in Political Philosophy
University of Sheffield,
7th February, 2009

10.00 - registration and coffee
10.30 - Kerstin Budde (University of Sheffield): "What do we need Political Constructivism for?"
11.45 - coffee
12.15 - Aaron James (University of California at Irvine): "Political Constructivism: Foundations and Novel Applications"
1.30 - lunch
2.30 - Andrew Williams (Universty of Warwick): "Constructivism and Publicity"
3.45 - coffee
4.15 - Miriam Ronzoni (European University Institute): “Constructivist Justice as a Problem-solving Concept"
5.30 - end of workshop

Each session will consist of a 45 minute talk and a 30 minute discussion

Information about registration and prices is here. The workshop will take place in the Humanities Research Institute of the University of Sheffield. Directions are here. Any inquiries please direct to Heather Arnold: H.E.Arnold@sheffield.ac.uk

This is the first of four events at Sheffield that will comprise the AHRC-funded project on Constructivism in Practical Philosophy. For details of the rest of the project see our main website.

Tuesday 20 January 2009

85th Philosophers' Carnival

The 85th Philosophers' Carnival is here.

Wednesday 14 January 2009

Just Prices and Fair Trade Workshop

"Just Prices and Fair Trade"
A Day-Workshop
Saturday 14 March 2009, from 1000 - 1730 hrs.
Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied CETL, University of Leeds.

WORKSHOP DETAILS
The idea that the price at which goods are sold might be "unjust" or "unfair" to one of the parties in the exchange seems very natural. Indeed, some such notion seems required to underpin contemporary demands for fair trade, and the criticism of some trade for being exploitative. Nevertheless, the theories of the "Just Price" that might give substance to such demands and criticisms are generally considered a discredited relic of Medieval philosophy. The workshop is intended as a contribution to building an understanding of the proper grounds on which prices can be assessed as just or unjust.

The Just Prices Workshop, 14th March 2009, at the IDEA CETL, Leeds is a research workshop brings together 3 prominent scholars engaged separately in research on justice issues as they relate to pricing. Prof. Hillel Steiner (Manchester) has a Leverhulme Trust major research fellowship on 'The Just Price'. Prof. John O'Neill (Manchester) is currently engaged in research on political economy and the moral limits of markets. Dr Arne Moritz (Halle-Wittenberg) is involved in research directly on theories of the just price.

The workshop is likely to be of particular interest to Moral / Political Philosophers and Ethicists, and those with interests in Business Ethics and the ethics of Sales and Marketing or Fair Trade. We thank the Society for Applied Philosophy and the IDEA CETL (University of Leeds) for their financial support for this event.

BOOKING
There is no charge, but numbers will be restricted. Those interested in attending are invited to book a place by sending an email to Liz Pollard (e.v.pollard@leeds.ac.uk) enclosing the following information: name, job title, department/institution, email address and contact telephone number.

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
1030 hrs Coffee
1100 hrs Prof. Hillel Steiner (University of Manchester) 'The Just Price and the Moral Limits of the Market'
1230 hrs Lunch (own arrangements)
1400 hrs Arne Moritz (Martin Luther Universität, Halle-Wittenberg) 'Just Prices - Still a good buy?'
1530 hrs Tea / Coffee
1600 hrs Prof. John O'Neill (University of Manchester) 'Price and the Claims of Need'
1730 hrs Close

LOCATION
The IDEA CETL is located within the main campus area of the University of Leeds, about 15 minutes' walk from Leeds railway station. Directions are available on request from Liz Pollard (email above). 8-12 Fenton Street, University of Leeds, Leeds. LS2 9JT

ENQUIRIES
For booking, see above. For other inquiries, contact Jamie Dow(j.dow@leeds.ac.uk).

Friday 2 January 2009

84th Philosophers' Carnival

The 84th Philosophers' Carnival is here.