Social Ontology Faces the Future II: Artificial and Collective Agency

June 19, 2025 - June 20, 2025
Department of Philosophy, Koç University - Istanbul

İstanbul
Turkey

This will be an accessible event, including organized related activities

Sponsor(s):

  • The Society for Applied Philosophy

Organisers:

Bilkent University
Koc University

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CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Building on the success of last year’s Social Ontology Faces the Future workshop, we return this summer with the theme of artificial & collective agents. The deep analogy between collective and artificial agents has often been noted. Both are non-human agents (construed broadly) that may not possess all the features normally associated with human mental states and decision-making processes. Both have faced questions concerning their fundamental nature and their moral and legal status. The questions are often almost identical, such as whether they are conscious, moral agents, or capable of emotion.

We hope that this workshop can help to develop and reinforce theories about artificial and collective agents through exploration of this analogy. Work on the parallels between collective and artificial agents is thus warmly welcomed. We are also happy to accept suitable abstracts concerning either collective or artificial agents that contribute towards the event’s themes. 

We welcome any abstract submissions (500 words) that address future/ongoing issues relevant to collectives (and social ontology more broadly) and artificial agents.

The following list is indicative but not exhaustive of topic questions that we hope to discuss: 

  • How should we define/what are the features of collective and/or artificial agents?

  • What kinds of features or abilities distinguish collective and artificial agents from humans and each other? (E.g., consciousness, intentionality, responsibility, reasons-responsiveness, aesthetic/moral/empathetic judgement, decision-making processes, etc.)

  • Are collective agents a type of artificial agent (or vice versa!)?

  • How should collective agents integrate artificial agents into their decision-making processes? What are the normative and/or practical considerations for this?

  • What are the arguments for giving collective agents moral or legal status? How do they compare with the arguments concerning artificial agents’ status?

  • What are the possible developments of artificial & collective agents in the future? And what would the ramifications of those developments be for philosophical and ethical theory? 

  • How might artificial agents and other emerging technologies shape our understanding of aesthetics and authorship?

  • What are the interactions between theories of artificial and collective agents and theories of gender and sexuality?

  • What ought the central considerations for legal and policy decisions on contemporary collectives shaped by contemporary issues (migration, climate change, political discourse, online collectives)? Do the legal & policy decisions for artificial agents share any/many of these?


Abstract Submission: April 1st, 2025 (500 words)

Abstract Decisions: April 15th, 2025

*Abstracts will undergo blinded peer review.

Any questions or comments can be sent to [email protected] 

You can register to attend the conference as a participant (not necessary for speakers) and submit your abstract on our website https://sites.google.com/view/socialontologyfacesthefuture2/home?authuser=0

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June 15, 2025, 11:00pm EET

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