Workshop on Intimate Relationships and the State

Workshop on Intimate Relationships and the State

Hosted by the Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics and Res Publica

Date of Workshop: 24-25 April 2025

Location: Georgia State University; Atlanta, Georgia

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 15 January 2025

Email for Submissions: [email protected]

Notification of Acceptance: 1 February 2025

Friendships, romantic relationships, and relationships with colleagues, relatives and neighbors play an important role in our lives. They affect our well-being and our ability to flourish, and they shape our normative landscape, influencing the way we act and what we owe to one another.

While one could question whether the state should interfere with the way in which we form, conduct and maintain relationships, many philosophers have argued that state interference in the intimate relationships is permissible or necessary to secure equality and conditions of mutual respect for everyone, to protect persons from certain harms, and to prevent exploitation and domination in important spheres of social life.  

This workshop aims to examine the normative implications of forming and maintaining intimate relationships and the way in which state regulation of intimate relationships is morally permissible or necessary. We are particularly interested in the tension between the view that intimate relationships need protection from the state and the view that the state must regulate or support such relationships to reduce harms, ensure equality, and further secure conditions of mutual respect for everyone.

We welcome abstract submissions of no more than 500 words (including references) for a two-day workshop on the following questions, or any topic related to the questions listed below.

·       Should the state regulate intimate relationships?

·       Is there a right to an intimate relationship or sex?

·       Does the state have a duty to facilitate the formation of intimate relationships?

·       How would intimacy be regulated in a marriage-free state?

·       Should the state seek to regulate non-traditional romantic relationships?

·       Should intimacy between co-workers be regulated?

·       Does gender justice require the abolition of the family?

·       What is the normative standing of alternative forms of kinship?

·       To what extent is state support for reproductive technologies morally justified?

·       Should the state regulate parent-child relationships through parental licensing schemes?

·       Are the wrongs of neglect in intimate relationships sui generis wrongs?

·       Is parental partiality justified when it contributes to promoting inequality among citizens?

Workshop sessions will be 75 minutes, with 30 minutes for presentation and 45 minutes for discussion. Speakers will be offered two nights of accommodation and workshop meals but will be responsible for other expenses.

After the workshop, speakers will be invited to submit their manuscripts to a special issue of Res Publica, A Journal of Moral, Legal and Political Philosophy. Please reference the journal’s policy on special issues here: https://link.springer.com/journal/11158/updates/27211968 and note that all special issue submissions are subject to a full peer review.

Questions? Please, email Christie Hartley at [email protected].