Dortmund Philosophical Disputes on Economic Justice

Dortmund Disputes on Economic Justice

Date: June 12 and 13, 2025.

Place: TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany

Keynotes: Miranda Fleischer (San Diego), Nicholas Vrousalis (Rotterdam)

Organizers: Peter Königs, Christian Neuhäuser, Lea Prix, Dick Timmer (TU Dortmund University)

Most fundamental questions of economic justice remain unresolved. There is little agreement on the place of markets, the nature of property, the justifiability of taxes, the importance of workplace democracy, the injustice of economic inequality, and, generally, the merits of capitalism and socialism.

While debates on economic justice often take place within specific political camps, where many assumptions are shared, the Dortmund Disputes take a different approach. The idea of the Dortmund Disputes is to foster debate across political boundaries. It seeks to bring together open-minded scholars with diverse political outlooks—whether liberal egalitarian, libertarian, socialist, conservative, or otherwise—who are committed to our shared goal of advancing our understanding of economic justice.

The keynote speakers for the first installment of the Dortmund Disputes are Miranda Fleischer and Nicholas Vrousalis. Miranda Fleischer is Richard and Kaye Woltman Professor in Finance at University of San Diego’s School of Law. Her work focuses on ethical and legal issues surrounding taxation, wealth and wealth transfer, and charitable giving. She’s the co-author of a recent book on Universal Basic Income. Nicholas Vrousalis is Associate Professor in Practical Philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam. His work revolves around distributive ethics, democratic theory, and the history of political philosophy, with emphasis on Kant, Hegel, and Marx. He is the author of a recent book on capitalism and exploitation.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

June 11, 2025 (Wednesday)

19.00:                    Welcome Dinner

June 12, 2025 (Thursday)

09.30 – 10.00:      Welcome/Registration

10.00 – 11.15:      Daniel Halliday (Melbourne):
Does contemporary political philosophy have a concept of capitalism?

11.15 – 11.30:      Coffee break

11.30 – 12.45:      Kate Petroff (Chicago):
Was Marx a Republican?: Marx, Republicanism, and the “Rule” of Nature

12.45 – 13:45:      Lunch

13.45 – 15.00:      Etye Steinberg (Jerusalem):
The Point of Competitive Markets

15.00 – 15.15:      Coffee break

15:15 – 16.30:      Colin von Negenborn (Hamburg):
An (in)decent proposal? Price justice in digital markets

16.30 – 16.45:      Coffee break

16.45 – 18.15:      Keynote 1: Miranda Fleischer (San Diego): tba

19.00:                  Conference Dinner

June 13, 2025 (Friday)

09.00 – 10.15:      Nicole Hassoun (Binghamton):
Doing Our Part in this Non-Ideal World: A Duty to Pick Up the Slack

10.15 – 10.30:      Coffee break

10.30 – 11.45:      Andreas Cassée (Mannheim):
Dead Hand Control as Normative Pollution The Case Against Perpetual Trusts

11.45 – 12.45:      Lunch

12.45 – 14:00:      Philipp Stehr (Utrecht), Daniel Sharp (Munich):
A Life Plan View of Employment and the Ethics of Dismissal

14.00 – 14.15:      Coffee break

14.15 – 15.30:      András Szigeti (Linköping), Erik Malmqvist (Gothenburg):
Social Injustice and the Harm of Exploitation

15:30 – 15.45:      Coffee break

15.45 – 17.15:      Keynote 2: Nicholas Vrousalis (Rotterdam):
Walrasian Domination: Proletarian Unfreedom under Exit Options, Competitive Markets, and Equal Political Influence

                               End of Conference

Registration

To register for the event, please send an email to [email protected]. Participation is free of charge, but places are limited. The registration deadline is May 31, 2025.