CFP: Philosophy & Legal Theory stream at the Law & Society Association

The Philosophy & Legal Theory CRN 17, a division of the Law and Society Association, invites participants to present their work at the Law and Society Association annual meeting in taking place in Chicago, May 22-25, 2025.

The Philosophy & Legal Theory CRN aims to create a forum to share and collaborate on research in philosophy of law, laws, or legal institutions, and legal scholarship engaged with philosophy, broadly construed. This includes scholarship on philosophy of law and individual legal questions from all philosophical traditions (e.g. analytic, continental, non-western, critical theory) as well as political philosophy, political theory, moral philosophy, social epistemology, social ontology, moral psychology, philosophy of action and decision theory on topics relevant to law or socio-legal topics. It also includes socio-legal scholarship that draws from work in philosophy or that employs philosophical methods. We hope to spark philosophically informed conversations on both the foundational and the highly specific questions in law and society. Topics appropriate for this CRN range from work on classic debates in analytic jurisprudence, such as the relationship between legality and morality, to scholarship applying contemporary social ontology literature to doctrinal questions in equal protection law, and everything in between – as well as research on normative philosophical topics commonly regarded as within “philosophy of law” or “legal theory” as a field, such as the nature or justification of coercion, self-defense, paternalism, consent or restitution. This CRN welcomes a multidisciplinary set of participants to foster interdisciplinary discussions, drawing perspectives not only from philosophy and legal academia, but also political science and political theory, sociology, psychology, history, economics, literature, anthropology, social policy, and other social science and humanities disciplines.

To participate in the main program of the Law and Society Association meeting through the Philosophy & Legal Theory CRN 17, please submit a proposal to present in one of three formats: 

1. An "individual paper submission" proposal. Submissions require a paper title and an abstract no more than 2000 characters long. Accepted individual paper submissions will receive feedback from an assigned discussant.

2. A "roundtable discussion session" proposal, for groups of 4-8 participants engaged in conversation with each other on shared topic or set of questions. Submissions consist of a session title and a description no more than to 850 characters long.

3. An “author meets reader session,” for focused discussion on a book published in 2024. Submissions require a description of the book up to 850 characters long, and listing three “readers” to discuss the book with the author.

Please submit all proposals to through the Law & Society Association's submission portal found here: https://ww3.aievolution.com/lsa2501/ by October 22, 5pm Eastern, 2024 (deadline extended from October 15).

When submitting a proposal for the Philosophy & Legal Theory stream within the Law and Society Association meeting, make sure to check “17 – Philosophy and Legal Theory”, and no other CRNs, when you’ve reached the “CRNs” page in the submission portal.

The Philosophy & Legal Theory Collaborative website, listing past event programs, can be found here:

- https://www.philosophyandlegaltheory.org/

The Law and Society Association general webpage can be found here:

- https://www.lawandsociety.org/

Information about the Chicago 2025 LSA annual meeting is available here:

- https://www.lawandsociety.org/chicago-2025-homepage/

Since we plan to make sure that every paper has a discussant to provide meaning feedback, please  also email your submission to us directly at:

- [email protected]

And indicate whether you can volunteer to be a discussant or session chair.

If you have ideas for roundtable discussion sessions but need to be connected with other co-panelists, please also reach out to us at [email protected]
and we will try to put you in touch.

The Philosophy & Legal Theory Collaborative plans to also host a 1-day workshop, taking place on the day before or the day after the Law & Society Association meeting, to enable deeper engagement with participants work.

A subsequent call for papers for this workshop will be circulated later this term. Participants at the Philosophy & Legal Theory Collaborative Workshop can present the same project that they plan to present at the LSA meeting, a different project, or can participate in the workshop without participating in the conference and vice-versa.

We will also host informal receptions at the workshop and during the LSA meeting to enable extending conversations at the Philosophy & Legal Theory Collaborative workshop and LSA meeting.

If you are interested in this event, or in future events by the Philosophy & Legal Theory Collaborative, please consider joining our mailing list here:

https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/philosophyandlegaltheory