Workshop on Welfare (WoW)

Considerations about welfare, the value of welfare and its distribution within populations are central to moral philosophy. They are of particular concern for all philosophers who take welfare to be (at least) one source for normative reasons. And, regardless of any deontic implications, welfare axiology also provides an array of fascinating philosophical questions.

• What is personal goodness and what constitutes welfare?
• Is well-being purely subjective and should we accept a resonance constraint on welfare?
• Can we circumvent problems like ones raised by the experience machine or desires with post-mortal content?
• What accounts of pleasure, desire or objective goods are compatible with classical theories of welfare?
• How does the welfare of persons relate to value assessments of populations?
• Does the aggregation of individual welfare require a shift to an impersonal point of view?
• Can we extend value assessments to variable populations?
• How can we solve problems of variable population comparisons such as the Non-Identity Problem and the Repugnant Conclusion?

This workshop provides a forum for the discussion of those and related questions. It aims at rallying scholars of philosophy to expand our understanding in these issues, and we hope to promote the philosophical engagement with welfare axiology. May welfare fare well in Germany, Europe and beyond.