"For the Love of Wissenschaft?". Political Theory: Activism or Social Science?

This workshop titled “For the Love of Wissenschaft?” seeks to bring together scholars from political theory, social epistemology, and social philosophy at large to explore what we think might be a deeply rooted disciplinary divide within political philosophy: a divide between theory practiced as a form of political activism and theory committed to the project of social science. 

Some of the questions we wish to explore include, but are not limited to:

• Should there be a disciplinary divide in political philosophy between theory as activism and theory as Wissenschaft? Why or why not?
• What does a metatheory that recognises this distinction look like? 
• Is it true that any social theory not aligned with the project of Wissenschaft is always “incongruous on its face,” as Susan Haack suggests?
• What is the proper role of “lived experience” in political inquiry?
• What are the epistemic or social-scientific standards in political theory, if there are any, and what should they be?
• If political philosophy is a value-laden project, what values are we pursuing, and why?

Invitations have been selectively sent to contributors whose work we believe would greatly benefit from mutual engagement and are limited to max.10 participants. Full list of speakers to be confirmed asap. That said, should there be slots avilable we encourage those wishing to present papers to send a 500 word abstract to

Email: [email protected]

Deadline: 24. September 2024