BSET 09

Registration for this year's British Society for Ethical Theory conference is now open.

BSET 2009 -- a three-day residential conference
University of Reading: 13 - 15 July 2009.

Keynote Addresses

"Pleasure, Desire, and Practical Reason"- James Lenman (Sheffield)
"Intention, Permissibility, Terrorism, and War"- Jeff McMahan (Rutgers)

Submitted Papers

"Objective versus Subjective Moral Oughts"- Krister Bykvist (Oxford)
"Practical Bracketing"- Garrett Cullity (Adelaide)
"Truth and Error in Morality"- Dale Dorsey (Kansas)
"Moral Blameworthiness and the Reactive Attitudes"- Leonard Kahn (Calgary)
"Owning Up and Lowering Down: The Power of Apology"- Adrienne Martin (Pennsylvania)
"Shapelessness and the Thick"- Deborah Roberts (Reading)
"Second-Order Equality and Levelling Down"- Re'em Segev (Hebrew, Jerusalem)
"Non-monotonicity and Moral Particularism"- Alan Thomas (Kent)
"Cynicism and Morality"- Samantha Vice (Rhodes)

CFP: Manchester Green Political Theory Workshop

Workshops in Political Theory Sixth Annual Conference
Manchester Metropolitan University
2-4 September 2009

Workshop on GREEN POLITICAL THEORY
Conveners: Stijn Neuteleers (K.U.Leuven, Belgium), Corey MacIver
(University of Oxford, UK)

The management of environmental problems and the rise of the environmental movement pose significant challenges for contemporary political philosophy. These challenges can be found both on a global level and on a local level. At the global level, for instance, climate change is one of the major issues in real-life international politics and has induced a growing debate on the ethics of climate change (global distributive justice, intergenerational justice, etc.). At the local policy level, we are confronted, on the one hand, with the conflict of environmental values with other values such as economic growth and justice. On the other hand, we have to deal with conflicts among environmental values themselves (biodiversity, restoration, wilderness, etc.). Our political and economic instruments and theories have difficulties to cope with these challenges e.g. cost-benefit analysis, value of privacy, discount rates, aggregative models of democracy, etc. The broad field of political philosophy and the environment tries to provide answers to these challenges.
The workshop aims to cover a broad range of green political theory topics such as:
- Ethics and politics of climate change
- Democracy and the environment
- Public policy and the environment
- Environmental citizenship
- Environmental justice
- Green economics
- Environmental decision-making

If you would like to present a paper at this workshop, please submit an abstract of 300-500 words (or a full paper) to stijn.neuteleers@econ.kuleuven.be and corey.maciver@nuffield.ox.ac.uk by April 30, 2008.

Practical information (registration, fees, etc.) can be found on the conference website.

CFP: Climate Change

Call for Papers

What: Climate Change: A Conference on Politics, Policy, and Justice
Where: Bern University, Bern, Switzerland
When: August 19-21, 2009

Please send abstracts (500-800 words) for paper proposals to climateandjustice@gmail.com no later than May 1st. Applicants will know of their acceptance by May 15th. Quality papers will be invited to contribute to an edited collection of the conference proceedings. Graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals, as travel funding has been set aside to aid exemplary graduate student presenters. For more information, please see the conference website: www.climateandjustice.org. The site will be continually updated with travel and lodging information, the conference schedule, and other useful information as it becomes available. If you have further questions, please contact Sarah at sbkenehan@gmail.com.

Keynote speakers:
Simon Caney, Oxford
Lukas Meyer, Graz University
Stephen Gardiner, University of Washington

Conference Abstract: Since the late 1980s climate change has been centre-stage in the international policy arena. However, as of yet, little has been done to incorporate all global players while at the same time catalysing the type of action that must be taken in order to combat this problem. There are likely many reasons for this current inaction, including but surely not limited to: questions surrounding climate science and predictions; questions concerning the most effective way to cope with the problem; and questions relating to the fair distribution of the burden of dealing with climate change. The focus of this conference will be to discuss the latter issue, i.e. the role of justice as it arises in the context of climate change. Justice related issues emerge in the debate over climate change policy on many levels. First, and probably most obviously, it must be determined what role each global actor will play in any coordinated effort to mitigate climate change. The answer to this question is not straightforward, as there are numerous factors that must be considered, including whether rights to emit greenhouse gases (GHG) should be divided equally among all nations, or whether rights to emit should be a function of the geographical placement of a nation, the population of a nation, the level of development of a nation, or even perhaps some combination of these elements. Second, and intimately related to the first issue, it has to be decided to what degree (if any) a nation’s historical emissions ought to be considered. As with the first issue, there is no clear-cut way to work through this problem, since there are seemingly justifiable reasons for engaging in all of the following: severely limiting the largest historical emitters’ claims to present and future emissions, considering only the historical record from the point in time in which a nation could reasonably have known of the harm it was contributing to, or, alternatively, agreeing that historical emissions should have no weight in the discussion, but rather all nations should agree on a fair emissions target from the present forward. Third, it must be determined to what degree (if any) future people ought to be taken into consideration when establishing climate change policy, since it has been predicted that the effects of climate change will stretch far into the future. Addressing this question requires having discussions on how future people can have justice claims on current people, what those justice claims might be, and how far into the future these claims reach. Fourth, it must be determined what types of entities have viable justice claims. Is it only individual persons that can make coherent justice claims? Or can nations, industries, businesses, non-human animals, species, ecosystems, and the like have and make meaningful justice claims? Finally, we must determine the level of responsibility individual actors have in mitigating and adapting to climate change, since it is not evident whether this responsibility falls only on nations, or whether it also rests with individuals, businesses, and industries, as well. Clearly then, the issue of justice and climate change is both complex and requires immediate attention.

CFP: Valencia -Ethics and International Development

Call for Papers:
Ethics of Human Development and Global Justice: Responsibilities of
Institutions and Citizens for Action on Poverty
Valencia, Spain,
30 November to 2 December, 2009

Contributions are invited for the *Eighth International Conference on Ethics and International Development*
The conference will focus on how various social actors can and ought to take responsibility for acting on poverty and expanding human development. Thus contributions are especially welcome on:
A. Responsibilities of business, political, and civic organizations
B. Responsibilities of active citizenship
C. Grounds of such responsibilities in the ethics of human development
D. Grounds of such responsibilities in theories of global justice
For elaboration of conference themes, see www.development-ethics.org
Proposals (including an abstract of 500 words, author's name, affiliation, contact information, and a biography of under 100 words) should be sent by June 1 to eticadesarrollo@uv.es.

Emotion, Value and Desire Workshop

Two Day Workshop: Emotion, Value and Desire
*07-08 May 2009*
*Thursday 07 May: Room G.019, Arthur Lewis Building*

10.00 - 11.15: Joel Smith (Manchester),"The Unity of Emotion"
11.15 - 11.30: Break
11.30 - 12.30: Gayle Impey (Manchester), "Motivating Imaginative Engagement"
12.30 - 13.30: Lunch (own arrangements)
13.30 - 14.30: Eva Düringer (York), "Care as the Link Between Emotions and Values"
14.30 - 15.30: Rebecca Reilly Cooper (Manchester), "The Role of Emotions in Democratic Deliberation"
15.30 - 15.45: Break
15.45 - 17.00: Michael Brady (Glasgow), "Attention and Emotional Motivation"

*Friday 08 May: 2nd Floor Boardroom, Arthur Lewis Building*
10.00 - 11.15: Sabine Döring (Tübingen), "Emotional Motivation: Beyond the Humean Theory"
11.15 - 11.30: Break
11.30 - 12.30: Chloë Fitzgerald (Manchester), "Emotion and Intuition"
12.30 - 13.30: Lunch (own arrangements)
13.30 - 14.30: Mar Cabezas (Salamanca), "Emotions Through Another Lens: A Critique of 'The Logic of Domination'"
14.30 - 15.30: Rory Donaldson (Manchester), *tba*
15.30 - 15.45: Break
15.45 - 17.00: Peter Goldie (Manchester), "What is the Source of Emotional Motivation?"

The workshop is free but space is limited, so please register your intention to attend by emailing Joel Smith
Location: *Arthur Lewis Building, University of Manchester* (Getting here)
Manchester Centre for Emotion and Value

Conference: Critique and Crisis

CRITIQUE AND CRISIS
Call for registration: Social and Political Thought Graduate Forum
28 March 2009, Institute of Advanced Study, University College London
-N336, Senate House North, Malet St, WC1

One-day Philosophy and Social Sciences Conference addressing the role of critique with respect to current economic and environmental crises.

Keynote: Raymond Geuss - 'On Bourgeois Philosophy and the Concept of Criticism'.

Interested graduate students are invited to register at:http://cli.gs/NNsqNe
-registration is free of charge

Programme:
Rodrigo Cordero Vega - Warwick - 'Crisis and Critique in Social Theory'
Matthew Bennett - Warwick - 'On the Validity of a Theory of Crisis'
Lorna Finlayson - Cambridge - 'Constructiveness in Political Criticism'
Nicholas Gray - Sussex - 'Two Aspects of Marx’s Critique of Political Economy'
Sara Wolcott - Sussex - 'Koselleck’s Critique-Politique and Global Governance'
Allen Radtke - Essex - 'Assigning Moral Responsibilities to Collective Entities'
Tom Stern - Cambridge - 'Nietzsche, Adorno, Substitution, Criticism'
Matthew Astill - Essex - 'Seeking the Right to Name'
Christian Hermansen - Warwick/Copenhagen - 'Winch, Wittgenstein, and Critical Social Science'

CFP: Pavia Graduate Political Philosophy Conference

CALLFOR PAPERS
7th Pavia Graduate Conference in Political Philosophy
24TH and 25TH September 2009

On the24th and 25th of September 2009, the Human Development, Capability and Poverty International Research Centre at the Institute for Advanced Study of Pavia (Italy), under the joint patronage of the Italian Society for Political Philosophy and the Italian Society for Analytic Philosophy, will host the seventh edition of the Pavia Graduate Conference in Political Philosophy. This two-day conference is meant to offer graduate students an opportunity to present papers, get helpful feedback in a friendly atmosphere, and exchange ideas both with peers and with leading academics in the field of political philosophy. In addition to parallel sessions devoted to students' presentations, there will also be two plenary sessions. Plenary speakers in past editions have been: Hillel Steiner, Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, Peter Jones, Gianfrancesco Zanetti, Jonathan Wolff, Michele Nicoletti, Philippe Van Parijs, Sebastiano Maffettone, Giovanni Giorgini, Andrew Williams, David Miller and Alessandro Ferrara.

This year's keynote speakers will be:
Nadia Urbinati (Columbia University), speaking on 'Unpolitical Democracy'
Michael Otsuka ( niversity College of London), speaking on 'Risking Life and Limb'

Graduate students interested in giving papers should send their contributions (max 2500/3000 words in English) accompaniedby a short abstract (max 300 words in English), by Sunday 24th May 2009. Papers may focus on any area within political philosophy, and presentations should take no longer than twenty minutes to allow at least another twenty minutes of discussion. Please note that the 24th of May is also the deadline for registration for anyone who wishes to attend the conference without presenting a paper. Conference registration is free of charge. Paper givers will be offered accommodation in local university colleges. Accommodation fees and details will be arranged individually. Anyone who wishes to attend the conference without presenting a paper can write to check availability. Details about meal arrangements and conference programme to follow. Please address all correspondence (including paper submissions and additional inquiries) to the conference email address: graduate.conference@iuss.unipv.it
Updated information will shortly be available on the conference website: www.iusspavia.it/hdcp

CFP: York Postgrad Political Philosophy Conference

University of York Political Philosophy
Postgraduate Conference
29-30
May 2009
Legal, Political and Moral Rights: What are the Limits?

Plenary Speakers:
Professor Attracta Ingram (UCD)
Professor Simon Caney (Oxford)

In legal, political and moral spheres rights serve as a justification for actions and institutions. In each of these spheres, to claim the existence of a right is to claim the existence of something that we should value and respect. Rights, consequently, shape theway we conceive our relationships with others, the way we build our institutions and also the manner we direct our own lives. However, what are the limits, if any, of what we call rights? This question becomes especially relevant when we notice the emergence of an extraordinary number of right-claims in increasingly diverse forms: rights to silence, rights to disobey, rights not to be punished, rights to be punished, rights to life, rights to die, rights to be left alone, and so on.
The York Political Philosophy Conference 2009 invites research students in Politics, Law and Philosophy to present papers on rights and their limits.
Each paper will have a discussant and will be followed by an open floor discussion.
The deadline for abstract submission (400 words) is the 1st of March (please refer to the guidelines in the website).
The Conference Fee (including lunches and conference dinner is £30)
For further details please visit:
http://yorkpoliticalphilosophy2009.googlepages.com/home
Or e-mail: ad546@york.ac.uk

CFP: War and Self-Defence (Sheffield)

Details of a future conference at Sheffield, part of Helen Frowe's Levehulme Project on War and Self-Defence...

Conference: War and Self-Defence – First Call for Papers
August 25th – 27th, 2010
University of Sheffield, UK

Keynote Speakers:
Frances Kamm (Harvard)
Jeff McMahan (Rutgers)
David Rodin (Oxford)

Recent years have seen a rapid growth of interest in just war theory. The current political climate has confronted us with important and difficult questions about, amongst other things, the moral status of combatants, the moral status of non-combatants, the possibility of wars waged by non-state actors, and the conditions under which one can be said to have a just cause for war. Many writers take the answers to these questions to be based, at least in part, on considerations about what individuals may do in self-defence, or other-defence. Others have denied the existence of any substantive relationship between the ethics of self-defence and the ethics of national-defence. This conference, hosted by the Sheffield Philosophy department, will bring together leading researchers in the field, and offer an opportunity for scholars to present recent research in this area. Submissions from those working in related fields, such as Law, Politics and International Relations, are also welcome. There will be a number of parallel sessions held during the conference. Those wishing to present should submit a paper of no more than 3000 words, suitable for a 30 minute presentation, along with an abstract of 150 words, to H.Frowe@sheffield.ac.uk by the 1st of December 2009. Please note that papers should be prepared for blind review and that only electronic submissions will be accepted. Suggested paper topics include:- The relationship between war and self-defence- The ethics of self-defence- Wars of humanitarian intervention- The moral status of combatants- Killing non-combatants- Just causes for war- The idea of legitimate authority- The moral status of terrorists- The moral wrongness of terrorism.
There are plans to put together an edited volume of a selection of the conference papers. Those authors who would like to have their paper considered for inclusion in this collection should mention this in their submission email. Authors of the selected papers will be notified shortly after the conference. This conference is generously sponsored by The Leverhulme Trust and the Mind Association.

Hillel Steiner Conference

THE ANATOMY OF JUSTICE
A Conference in Honour of Hillel Steiner
20-21 November, 2009
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 (Keele University & 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 (Université catholique de Louvain)

Further details regarding registration and accommodation will be forthcoming later this spring. For more details regarding MANCEPT please visit us here.

The Politics of Space and Place Conference

CAPPE Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics
University of Brighton, UK
4th International Interdisciplinary Conference
The Politics of Space and Place
Wednesday 16th - Friday 18th September 2009
Keynote speaker: Ilan Pappe, University of Exeter, UK

Having now accepted about 60 proposals in response to our first call for papers we would particularly welcome contributions in the following areas, while nevertheless not excluding others:
* political and philosophical aspects of space and place
* sexual space and place
* space, place and globalisation
* current affairs

Final Call for Papers

In a world where inequality and poverty are growing remorselessly, where you are, and where you happen to have been born, continue to determine, how, and in indeed whether, you live. From the urbanization of the human species and the burgeoning of slums to the rise of the modern gated community; from 'Fortress Europe' and the Israeli 'security wall' to land reform in South Africa; questions of space and place are central to some of today's most bitterly contested political issues. What might an analysis of politics which focuses on the operation of power through space and place, and on the spatial structuring of inequality, tell us about the world we make for ourselves and others? How is power structured and brought to bear on people through space and place? How does power operate locally, nationally and globally and in both its soft and hard forms? How does it operate through urban planning, architecture, housing policy, immigration policy and national borders? How does it work to discipline and exclude some, while insulating others from the excesses of inequality and degradation? How and in whose interests do these divisions function as they pit against each other not only people who live in different parts of the world but also those who live just a few metres apart? What might an analysis of politics through questions of space and place indicate about how power, injustice and inequality could be better understood and more effectively contested?

Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be emailed to Nicola Clewer AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AS NUMBERS ARE LIMITED - and by 30 April 2009 at the very latest: nicolaclewer.hughes@ukonline.co.uk Decisions will be communicated by 8 May. The conference fee is £210. This includes refreshments, lunch on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and a buffet dinner on Thursday in a local pub. There remain a few places for graduate students and for people who have no institutional affiliation at the reduced price of £105. Please indicate if you wish to be considered for one of these when sending your abstract; or contact Nicola Clewer: nicolaclewer.hughes@ukonline.co.uk as soon as possible. Please note: the conference fee does not include accommodation. Reasonably priced en-suite accommodation in student halls of residence will be available on a first come, first served basis for a minimum of three nights. (Further information regarding university accommodation will be provided at the registration stage.) Otherwise delegates are welcome to make their own arrangements. Please note: unfortunately we are unable to offer travel grants. For updates and further information about the centre please visit the CAPPE website: www.brighton.ac.uk/CAPPE

Liberalism and Realism Conference

Forthcoming Conference: May 7th 2009, University of Birmingham, UK
Should Political Theory Get Real? Liberalism and the Challenge of Political Realism

Keynote Speakers:
Professor William Galston (The Brookings Institution),
Professor John Horton (Keele University),
Professor Richard Bellamy (University College, London),
Dr. Adam Swift (Oxford University),
Dr. Mark Philp (Oxford University),
Professor Glen Newey (Keele University)

For full conference details go here.
Registration/attendance is free.
Please register at: www.bhamonlineshop.co.uk/events/

Conference Theme
Drawing on Machiavelli, Hobbes, Nietzsche and Arendt, a number of otherwise disparate thinkers advocate a view of politics that is broadly ‘realist’. This view argues that contemporary liberal political philosophy misrepresents ‘the political’ because it fails to appreciate the depth of conflict and disagreement in modern societies. Political realists call for a re-engagement with the political as a distinct sphere of human activity in which vice, conflict, and competition for power are ineradicable. The purpose of this one-day conference is to bring together leading political theorists who share an interest in the nature of the political. It will provide a platform for discussing the merits of the realist critique of liberalism across a diversity of perspectives.

Schedule
10.15-10.45am Coffee/Welcome

Panel 1:
11.00 – 11.30 Prof. John Horton (Keele University) - 'Modus Vivendi and the Question of Political Legitimacy'
11.30 – 12.00 Prof. Richard Bellamy (University College London) - 'Private Virtue, Public Vice: On the Nature of Political Morality'
12.00 – 12.30 Q & A

Panel 2:
1.30 – 2.15 Prof. William Galston (Brookings Institution, USA) - 'Realism in Political Theory'
2.15 – 2.30 Dr. Adam Swift (Oxford University) Discussant
2.30 – 3.15 Q & A

Panel 3:
3.45 – 4.15 Prof. Glen Newey (Keele University) - 'Two Dogmas of Liberalism'
4.15 – 4.45 Dr. Mark Philp (Oxford University) - 'What is to be Done?
Political Theory and the Place of Realism'
4.45 – 5.30 Q & A

For further information please contact:
Dr. Steve Buckler and Dr. Richard North at: ejpt@contacts.bham.ac.uk.
Department of Political Science and International Studies,
University of Birmingham,
Edgbaston,
Birmingham,
B15 2TT

Conference: Global Justice in the 21st Century

Conference Announcement
"Global Justice in the 21st Century"
Interdisciplinary Conference
Program on Values in Society and the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (USA)
17-18 April 2009

The Program on Values in Society and the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities invite you to a conference on "Global Justice in the 21st Century". In the twenty-first century, the world will continue to become more inter-connected. Health care, environmental degradation, political violence, human rights, and world poverty are global issues requiring global solutions. These issues will be addressed at a conference on "Global Justice in the 21st Century" to be held at the University of Washington on April 17-18, 2009.T he conference will bring together scholars at the forefront of research on these issues to consider such questions as: What kind of international legal order should we work for inthe 21st century? How should human rights be understood in the 21st century? How should intellectual property rights be balanced against the need for life-saving drugs? What rights should poorer countries have against wealthier ones? How should the international community address global warming? What rights should the world's poor have to be protected from the effects of global warming? How should medical research be done to protect the world's poor from exploitation? The conference is free and open to the public.

Conference Schedule

Keynote Address: 7 pm, Friday, April 17, 2009, Kane Hall, Room 210 (Reception to follow in Kane 245) - Thomas Pogge, Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs, with a joint appointment as Professor in the Department of Philosophy and in the Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University - "The Health Impact Fund: Boosting Innovation Without Obstructing Free Access"

Daily Schedule (all in Kane Hall, Room 245)

Friday, April 17, 2009:
8:45 am: Nicole Hassoun, Assistant Professor in Philosophy and International Relations at Carnegie Mellon University - "Libertarian Welfare Rights?"
10:30 am: Dan Wikler, Mary B. Saltonstall Professor of Population Ethics and Professor of Ethics and Population Health at Harvard University - "Single vs. Multiple Standards in Health Care and Research: An Issue of Global Justice"
1:30 pm: Allen Buchanan, James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy and James B. Duke Professor of Public Policy Studies at Duke University - "Innovation and Inequality"
3:15 pm: Angelina Godoy, Helen H. Jackson Chair in Human Rights and Associate Professor in the Law, Societies & Justice Program and in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington - "Intellectual Property, Medicines, and the Right to Health: A View from Central America"

Saturday, April 18, 2009:
8:45 am: Brad R. Roth, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Law School at Wayne State University - "Sovereign Equality and Moral Disagreement: Premises of a Pluralist International Legal Order"
10:30 am: Joel Ngugi, Associate Professor of Law and Chair of the African Studies Program at the University of Washington - "The Corrosive Effects of Neoliberal Legal Thought on Global Human Rights Discourse"
1:30 pm: Mathias Risse, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Philosophy at the John F. Kennedy School of Justice, Harvard University - "Who Should Shoulder the Burden? Global Climate Change and Common Ownership of the Earth"
3:15 pm: Stephen Gardiner, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Associate Professor in the Program on Values in Society at the University of Washington - "Geoengineering the Climate in a Perfect Moral Storm"

The University of Washington is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities, education and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation contact the Disability Services Office at least ten days in advance at: 206.543.6450/V,206.543.6452/TTY, 206.685.7264 (FAX), or e-mail at:dso@u.washington.edu

The conference is co-sponsored by the Graduate School and College of Arts & Sciences; the Law, Societies, and Justice Program; the Law School; the Treuman Katz Center forPediatric Bioethics; the Center for Global Studies; the Department of Bioethics & Humanities; the Department of Philosophy; the Department of Political Science; and the Program on the Environment.

More information is available on the conference website

Contact: Prof. Bill Talbott, Department of Philosophy, University of Washington, 511 Condon Hall 1100 NE Campus Parkway, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Phone: +1 206 543-5095. Fax: +1 206 685-8740. Email: wtalbott@u.washington.edu

Institutional Cosmopolitanism Workshop

Cosmopolitanism in a world of interconnected threats and challenges: From a world of states to a world state?

A one-day workshop on moral and institutional cosmopolitanism.
Friday March 6, 2009
Centre for Philosophy of Law, Radboud University Nijmegen

Programme:
9.45-10.15 Coffee

10.15-11.45 First session: Global democracy without exclusion?
10.15 Lecture: Hans Lindahl (University of Tilburg)
10.45 Reply: Wouter Veraart (VU University Amsterdam)
11.00 Discussion

11.45-13.15 Second session: Democratic representation within a globalizing world
11.45 Lecture: Stefan Rummens (Radboud University Nijmegen)
12.15 Reply: Roland Pierik (Radboud University Nijmegen)
12.30 Discussion

13.15-14.30 Lunch

14.30-16.00 Third session: World peace through world law
14.30 Lecture: Stanley L. Paulson (Washington University/University of Kiel)
15.00 Reply: Thomas Mertens (Radboud University Nijmegen)
15.15 Discussion

16.00-17.30 Fourth session: The state of nature and the world of states
16.00 Lecture: Hauke Brunkhorst (University of Flensburg)
16.30 Reply: Sylvie Loriaux (Radboud University Nijmegen)
16.45 Discussion

17.30-17.45 Closing remarks

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. If you are interested in attending, please contact: r.tinnevelt@jur.ru.nl

CFP: Brave New World 2009

I've been asked to post this CFP for the upcoming Brave New World conference hosted by MANCEPT. BNW is a well-established annual postgraduate conference in political theory which always manages to attract high-profile keynote speakers (this year being no exception):

CALL FOR PAPERS - Deadline for submission of abstract: March 31st 2009

Brave New World 2009, the Fourteenth Annual Postgraduate Conference organised under the auspices of the Manchester Centre for Political Theory(MANCEPT), will take place on Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th June 2009 at the University of Manchester.

We are pleased to announce that our guest speakers this year are:
Professor Chandran Kukathas (London School of Economics)
Dr Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen (University of Copenhagen)

The Brave New World conference series is now established as a leading international forum exclusively dedicated 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 as well as our guest speakers, who will deliver keynote addresses at the event.
Guest speakers in previous years have included Brian Barry, Simon Caney, G.A. Cohen, Cecile Fabre, Jerry Gaus, Peter Jones, Susan Mendus, David Miller, Onora O'Neill, Michael Otsuka, Bhikhu Parekh, Carole Pateman, Anne Philips, Thomas Pogge, Henry Shue, Quentin Skinner, Adam Swift, Philippe Van Parijs, 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, please send a 300-word, anonymised abstract, including the title of the paper, to Brave.New.World@manchester.ac.uk, no later than 31st March 2009. 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 David Birks at Brave.New.World@manchester.ac.uk. Further details to follow here.

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.

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).

CFP: International Law and Global Justice, Oxford

On the 20th and 21st of May 2009, The Global Justice Network, with the support of the Centre for the Study of Social Justice and the Centre for International Studies at the University of Oxford, will host a two-day interdisciplinary workshop on 'International Law and Global Justice'.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Debates on international law and on global justice have for the most part proceeded separately. Only very few theorists have suggested that the project of designing principles of international/global justice is closely related to that of designing principles of international law. Taking the lead from this often underappreciated suggestion, in this workshop we aim to explore the connections between international law and global justice. In particular, we welcome papers - both legal and philosophical - discussing the following topics:
*The relation between coercion, law and (global) justice - An increasing number of political theorists have argued that obligations of justice only apply within political communities by virtue of the existence of a coercive legal system. What are the implications of this view for the question of global justice? Can we plausibly claim that international law is coercive in the same way in which domestic law is? If not, does this mean that principles of justice should not apply to it?
*The effectiveness of international law as a means to realising global justice - If international law is one of the most powerful instruments at our disposal to bring about a morally better world, what sort of reforms of the current international legal system would be necessary to move closer to the goal of global justice? Given the sui generis nature of the international legal system, how can such reforms be most fruitfully brought about?
*Global justice, international law and state sovereignty - Is the principle of the sovereign equality of states itself a principle of international/global justice or a hindrance to the quest for global justice? Would a world inhabited by states which are genuinely - as opposed to merely formally - equally sovereign be a just world? Or does the realisation of a just world require us to transcend the very idea of state sovereignty, moving from a system of international law to a global legal system?

Confirmed keynote speakers
Prof. Allen Buchanan (Duke University)
Prof. Terry Nardin (University of Singapore)

Submission instructions
If you wish to present a paper, please email a 600 word proposal and a short biographical note to the workshop convenors at globaljustice@politics.ox.ac.uk by February 29th 2009.Updated information will shortly be available on the Conference Website.

CFP: Rocky Mountain Ethics Congress

The second annual Rocky Mountain Ethics Congress:

An international conference geared to offer the highest quality, highest altitude discussion of ethics, broadly conceived.

August 6-9, 2009. Boulder, Colorado

The Center for Values and Social Policy in the Philosophy Department at the University of Colorado, Boulder is pleased to present the second annual RoME congress. 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).

Keynote speakers:
Speaker 1: Judith JarvisThomson (MIT)
Speaker 2: Thomas Pogge (YaleUniversity)
Speaker 3: TBD

Deadlines
Submission of abstracts: Feb 15, 2009.
Notification of acceptance: April 25, 2009.
Full paper submission for Young Ethicist Prize Consideration: June 1, 2009.

Format
Abstracts (750-1000 words). Shorter or longer abstracts will not be accepted. Double spaced, prepared for blind-review. (Anticipate full papers at half-hour reading time or 4500 words, whichever is shorter.) In order to be considered for the Young Ethicist Prize, complete papers must be submitted by June 1, 2009 and must have already been accepted for participation. Announcement of a winner will be made at the event. Indicate in your submission whether you would consider being a commentator on another paper, should your paper not be accepted to the conference for presentation. Please submit abstracts electronically (in Word format) to Benjamin Hale (bhale@colorado.edu) and Alastair Norcross (Alastair.Norcross@colorado.edu).

Click here for a pdf of the Call for Papers.
Click here for information about last year's RoME Congress.