CFP: BISA Global Ethics Working Group

Details below...

Call for Papers: BISA Global Ethics Working Group
Exeter University, Dec 15th-17th 2008
The Global Ethics Working Group would like to put on panels at the British International Studies Association (BISA) conference on topics such as
* Humanitarian intervention
* Trafficking
* Global justice
* Environmental justice
* The ethics of war (including PMCs) and terrorism
* Human rights
* Cosmopolitanism and nationalism
* And many others...

Please email your proposed paper by Monday 28th April (sorry for the short notice) to globalethicsbisa@yahoo.co.uk Please include:
Abstract (maximum 200 words)
Name:
Position:
Institution:
Paper title:
E-mail:
Postal address:
Phone:

For information about the BISA conference, please see http://www.bisa.ac.uk/2008/call.htm

Finding your ideas in the work of others

Andrea Sangiovanni's latest article 'Justice and the Priority of Politics to Morality', is highly recommended - it provides a very helpful summary of recent developments in global justice (and justice more generally) research, and brings together some very important issues. But what struck me most while reading it was the uneasy feeling of seeing my own ideas and thoughts written out much more clearly and succintly that I have so far managed to do. I also had this feeling at the ALSP conference listening to Kok Chor Tan's excellent plenary lecture. On both occasions, I had a sense of satisfaction, in that I was pleased that people higher in the profession than I am share my understanding of the issues. It's always reassuring to know that you are on the right track and working in areas that other people agree are important. But I also had a feeling of frustration that maybe because someone else has managed to get these ideas down first my contribution is therefore less valuable. Of course, I'm not claiming that I think my ideas are particularly insightful, innovative or important, and it's natural that some of the other people working in the same area will come to the same conclusions as you (or understand the debate in the same particular way). Indeed, about 85% of me feels pleased and reassured by the presence of similar ideas to mine in work by such accomplished academics. Should this be 100% though - should one be completely pleased to see that other people share your views and understanding of an issue?

CFP: BSET 2009

The CFP is out for BSET 2009...

CALL FOR PAPERS
THE BRITISH SOCIETY FOR ETHICAL THEORY
2009 CONFERENCE
University of Reading, UK
13th -15th July 2009

Invited Speakers: James Lenman (Sheffield), Jeff McMahan (Rutgers)

Papers are invited for the annual conference of the British Society for EthicalTheory, to be held at the University of Reading. The subject area is open within metaethics and normative ethics. Papers on topics in applied ethics or the history of ethics may also be considered provided they are also of wider theoretical interest. Papers, which should be unpublished at the time of submission, should be in English, no longer than 6500 words, readable in at most 45 minutes and in aform suitable for blind review. Please send your submission electronically, and include an abstract, as well as your full name, address and academic affiliation. Those who submitted papers for our previous conferences - successfully or otherwise - are welcome to submit again (though not of course the same papers!). Please tell us if you are a postgraduate student: submissions from postgraduates are encouraged as our aim is that some such should be represented at the conference.
Selected conference papers will be published in the journal “Ethical Theory and Moral Practice”. Please make clear in any covering letter whether you wish your paper to be considered for publication here as well as for the conference programme. The deadline for submissions is 12th December, 2008.
Papers and accompanying particulars should be emailed to Dr. Bart Streumer: b.streumer@reading.ac.uk Note that ONLY electronic submissions will be accepted.

NOTE: The BSET webpages are currently down due to technical problems. Information about the 2009 conference will be posted at the Reading Philosophy Department webpages in due course. There is information about our 2008 conference here: http://www.philosophy.ed.ac.uk/ethicaltheory/index.html

Roundtable on Global Justice and Territory: Cork

If anyone just happens to be in Ireland next week...

The 6th Annual Cork Roundtable in Philosophy

April 25 & 26, 2008

University College Cork

This year's topic: Global Justice and Territory

Speakers:
Prof. Chris Bertram, Bristol
Dr. Helder De Schutter, Leuven
Dr. Cara Nine, UCC
Dr. Adina Preda, UCD
Prof. Hillel Steiner, Manchester
Prof. Leif Wenar, Sheffield

For more information, please visit: http://www.ucc.ie/en/philosophy/

Not so good news

So it turns out that due to some mix-up in the finance department that is too long a story to go into here I won't be teaching next semester after all. It's disappointing given how much I was looking forward to it, but as several people have pointed out to me, at least now I'll be able to concentrate on my thesis! I'm keen to re-apply to teach in the following year (Autumn 2009). and hopefully I'll have better luck next time around. I'm now aiming to have a fairly complete draft (i.e. everything done but a final check of references and typos) done by the end of the next academic year, which will be three years exactly since I started the PhD. If I can manage that then the teaching would come at a pretty good time - I could submit and job-hunt whilst still having a reasonable income.

Updated CV

An updated version of my CV can now be downloaded from here

Another New Journal - Ethics and Global Politics

Details below...

Ethics & Global Politics is an Open Access, peer reviewed scholarly journal published by Co-Action Publishing with support from The Swedish Research Council and the Department of Political Science at Stockholm University, Sweden. Ethics and Global Politics looks to foster theoretical contributions to the study of global politics by providing a forum for presenting novel ways of understanding and conceptualizing the global political challenges the world faces today. Read press release here.
The editors welcome articles from a broad range of disciplines, among them political science, philosophy, sociology, history, and legal and gender studies. This range makes Ethics & Global Politics essential reading for graduate students, researchers, professionals, and policy-makers who are interested in contemporary political problems and how they transgress regional and national borders.

Here's Hoping...

I've just submitted my paper on David Miller's theory of rights to The Philosophical Quarterly. I choose Phil Quarterly on the advice of my supervisors who both agreed that it would be a good place to send it to, given the stature of the journal and their average response times. Given that this is the first time I've submitted a paper I'm finding the whole process rather intimidating. Still, I think it's the strongest paper I've ever written, and given that it is on a timely topic and is tightly focused so I'm tentatively hopeful. This hope is kept firmly in check however with the knowledge that Phil Quarterly is a very good journal and that I would be extremely lucky to be successful. I'm hoping for a fairly quick response and for some helpful reviewer comments even if (when?) it does get rejected. That way I can modify the paper and try again elsewhere.