Political Philosophy in a Changing World of Work

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY IN A CHANGING WORLD OF WORK
University of Barcelona & Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, April 3-4, 2025

Keynote speakers:
Julie L. Rose (Dartmouth)
Jonathan Wolff (Oxford)

As work and employment relations change, so do philosophical analyses of their nature, significance, and organization, which this workshop will explore. Should activities like care, volunteer services, or data creation be categorized as work? What are the distinctive goods and bads involved in wage labor, self-employment, or gig work? Is there a right or a duty to work? How should liberties such as privacy or free speech be weighed against competing values in the workplace? Which principles should guide the allocation of occupational opportunities and pay? Should remote work be promoted, the workweek shortened, or workplaces democratized? What are the distributive and relational wrongs, if any, that automation, workforce polarization, or sluggish productivity growth entail, and which responses are suitable to address them?

We invite the submission of abstracts on these and related themes from early-career philosophers (i.e., those who have not yet obtained their Ph.D. or received it within the past ten years). Abstracts of 500 to 1,000 words should be sent to [email protected] by January 10, 2025. Decisions will be notified two weeks after the deadline. Accommodation (though, alas, not travel) for all those whose abstracts are accepted will be covered by the research project, The Political Philosophy of Work (PID2022-140131NB-I00), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, the Spanish Research Agency, and the European Regional Development Fund. Funding by ICREA is also gratefully acknowledged.

Conveners: Andrés Cano (UPF), Iñigo González-Ricoy (UB), and Jahel Queralt (UPF) within the remit of the UPF Law & Philosophy research group.