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Lillian Cicerchia (Freie Universität Berlin): ‘Value Pluralism Against Liberalism’
Abstract: This paper challenges the common-sense idea in political philosophy that liberalism is the only normative framework that can make room for value pluralism. It diagnoses this common-sense idea as a product of the Cold War, rather than of liberalism’s inherent virtues. The central claim is that value pluralism is desirable, but that liberalism does not deserve its status as its…
Find out more »Samuel Fletcher (University of Minnesota): Science in Crisis? Reproducibility and the Philosophy of Science
Abstract: For several years now, psychology and other sciences have been facing a crisis of confidence: many results and support for theories cannot be reproduced in new experiments. But why is reproducibility important in science, when it is? I will reveal how key ideas from the philosophy of science can help us answer this question, so that we can recognize,…
Find out more »José Luis Bermúdez (Texas A&M University): Frames, senses, and thought-equivalence
Abstract: When are we rationally required to treat distinct thoughts equivalently? If I know, for example, that Hesperus = Phosphorus, then I seem to be rationally required to believe F (Hesperus) if and only if I also believe F(Phosphorus). This paper explores whether a comparable requirement holds for preference and value. Can it be rational to prefer A to B and…
Find out more »Daisy Dixon (Cardiff University): ‘On immoral artists’
An artist’s immorality often affects how we appreciate and interpret their art. My talk will do two things. First, I’ll show that ‘virtue-based’ approaches (Nannicelli 2020) and ‘empiricist’ approaches (Gaut 2007) to the relevance of the artist’s immorality cannot accommodate less easy cases like Hitler’s landscapes – and that they should. Second, after amending the virtue-based account to accommodate these…
Find out more »Graham Priest (City University of New York): ‘The Looming Environmental Crisis: a Perspective from Buddhist Philosophy’
Abstract: It is no secret that the world is facing an environmental crisis. Why should one care? And what should we do? These are questions that concern any thoughtful person. The answer to them depends, of course, on one’s philosophical views—most crucially, ethical and political. In this talk I will provide an answer to the questions from the perspective of Buddhist…
Find out more »Felipe Romero (University of Groningen): ‘The conceptual origins of metascience: fashion or revolution?’
Abstract. Ten years into the replication crisis, many scientists are experiencing a deep sense of worry and skepticism. In reaction to this problem, an optimistic wave of researchers has taken the lead, turning their scientific eyes onto science itself to make science better. These metascientists have made progress in studying the causes of the crisis and proposing solutions. They have…
Find out more »Alan Hájek (Australian National University): ‘Consequentialism, Cluelessness, Clumsiness, and Counterfactuals’
Abstract: According to objective consequentialism, a morally right action is one that has the best consequences. More generally, given a choice between two actions, one is morally better than the other just in case the consequences of the former action are better than those of the latter. (These are not just the immediate consequences of the actions, but the long-term consequences,…
Find out more »James Muldoon (University of Essex): Artificial Intelligence in the Colonial Matrix of Power
Abstract: This paper theorises how a system of coloniality underpins the structuring logic of artificial intelligence systems. Drawing on the analytic of the 'colonial matrix of power' developed by Aníbal Quijano and the Latin American modernity/coloniality research program, the paper develops a framework for critiquing the regimes of global labour exploitation and knowledge extraction that are rendered invisible through discourses…
Find out more »Katharine Jenkins (University of Glasgow): ‘Ontology and Oppression: Race, Gender, and Social Reality’
Abstract: This talk draws on the rich history of accounts of race and gender kinds that position these kinds as the products of histories of oppression. I will consider how we should understand the precise ontological and normative status of race and gender kinds in the spirit of these accounts whilst also taking into consideration the fact that many people value…
Find out more »Adam Lovett (LSE): ‘Democratic Failures and the Ethics of Democracy’
Abstract: This talk will be an overview of my forthcoming book. The book is about the ways in which real-world democracies fall short of democratic ideals and why those shortfalls matter. The project is rooted in a vast body of empirical findings that political scientists have accumulated over the last seven decades. These are findings about political ignorance, voter behaviour, the policymaking process,…
Find out more »Jessica Isserow (University of Leeds): ‘The Possibility of Moral Redemption’
Abstract: Many moral wrongs fade into the past, leaving their agents free to move on from them. But others have a curious sort of staying power; they seem to stubbornly stick with their agents, despite the reparative steps that they’ve taken and the personal progress that they’ve made, affecting how others appraise and treat them in turn. In this paper,…
Find out more »Katherine Puddifoot (Durham University): “Memory” for Justice
Abstract: Philosophers of memory have recent begun exploring the prospect that it may be legitimate to adopt different stances, to achieve different goals, when developing conceptions of memory (Craver 2020; McCarroll et al 2022). In this paper I argue for the importance of a stance that has yet to be considered: the social justice stance. I argue that theorists ought to…
Find out more »Elise Woodard (King’s College): ‘Mistreating Consent’
Abstract: Consent plays an important role in our lives. Clearly, using someone’s body or property without their consent is typically wrong. However, there are various ways in which consent can be defective or non-ideal. In this paper, I focus on an under-explored way in which consent can be defective, namely in virtue of being moot. In cases of moot consent,…
Find out more »CANCELLED – Kate Greasley (University of Oxford): ‘Using Law to Improve Morality’
This event has been cancelled. Abstract: Leslie Green argues that law can be an efficacious and warranted means of improving social morality and bringing it better into line with critical (i.e. ideal or correct) morality. Social sexual morality is a key site, he says, where the law can work to effect positive change. This paper, a contribution to a festschrift…
Find out more »Catherine Robb (Tilburg University): ‘The Metaphysics of Collective Talent’
Abstract: Talents often a play an important role in our lives, demarcating what we are good at, the subjects we choose to study at school, our future careers, and the activities that we enjoy. The nature and value of talents has been a topic of study in many fields, most notably, psychology, education, organisation management, and more recently, philosophy. However,…
Find out more »Juliette Ferry-Danini (Université de Namur): ‘A pink lie in French medicine’
Abstract: I will describe in this presentation my research on the history of phloroglucinol, a popular pharmaceutical in France and a few other countries. In France, phloroglucinol and its brand name Spasfon are one of the most sold and prescribed medications in the country. These incidentally pink pills are also disproportionally prescribed to women for all sorts of pains, notably…
Find out more »Lucy McDonald (King’s College London): ‘Power and Romantic Relationships’
Abstract: Romantic relationships with significant power imbalances are often considered defective. Charlotte Brontë seems to share such intuitions; in Jane Eyre, the romantic relationship between the novel’s eponymous heroine and Edward Rochester is initially hampered by its power asymmetries. Jane, a poor orphan with no social standing, falls in love with her employer, Edward, a rich, well-connected, significantly older man…
Find out more »Max Khan Hayward (University of Sheffield): ‘Jam Tomorrow and the New Repugnant Conclusion: Puzzles for Longtermism’
Abstract: Longtermists think we should be impartial between the interests of those who live today and those who will live in the future. They also tend to endorse an act-utilitarian account of moral reasons (at least within the domain of long-term strategic planning). Such impartiality seems to require agents to accept deferring trade-offs, sacrificing the option to acquire smaller benefits…
Find out more »Xinhe Wu (LSE): ‘Multidimensional Concepts’
Abstract: Many concepts are multidimensional: a cluster of different factors or properties play a role in deciding category membership. Examples include ontological concepts like identity, social categories like genders or sexual orientations, and many more. In this talk I develop a formal account that models multidimensional concepts. I also discuss, within my framework, what category membership amounts to and what the…
Find out more »Marion Boulicault (University of Edinburgh): ‘Sex in the medical machine: How algorithms can entrench bioessentialism in precision medicine’
Abstract: Precision medicine advocates claim that machine learning will free us from a crude “one size fits all” approach: instead of basing decisions on comparisons to the “average patient,” precision medicine tools will offer customized predictions, diagnoses, and treatments based on an individual’s lifestyle, environment, and genetic make-up. Those developing such tools are, with increasing frequency, stratifying their models by sex…
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