Partial Aggregation: Foundations, Concepts, and Mechanisms

The proliferation of recent work on partial aggregation suggests a number of open questions, including the following:

• What justifies partial aggregation? Is partial aggregation consistent or does it collapse into either full aggregation or skepticism about aggregation? 

• How might moral aggregation be reconciled with individualist moral theory? What makes a moral theory “individualist” in the relevant sense? What is the best formulation of the so-called “individualist restriction”?

• What are moral claims, and how do they relate to reasons? What does it take for claims to be relevant to each other or to one’s decision? How should claims be balanced, added up, cancelled, or otherwise combined?

• What do we expect from a theory of partial aggregation? How should we assess a theory’s extensional adequacy and its explanatory power?

• Do moral and political philosophy call for distinct theories of moral aggregation, or will a unified account suffice? How does moral aggregation bear on public policy?

• How does interpersonal moral aggregation intersect with issues relating to risk, or to intrapersonal prudential aggregation?

We invite contributions on all of the above, and on partial aggregation more generally, for a panel on Partial Aggregation at MANCEPT Workshops. Confirmed participants include:

• Campbell Brown

• Tomi Francis

•  Alex Voorhoeve

•  Erik Zhang

Submissions should be suitable for 30 minutes of presentation + 30 minutes of Q&A. Please send your abstract (500-800 words)  to [email protected] by 22 April 2025. We will get back to you with a decision by early May.

The Workshops will take place at the University of Manchester, from 3rd to 5th September 2025. Participants must pay fees for registration and dinner (£295 + £40 for academics and £165 + £25 for graduate students), but PhD student participants can apply for a bursary. For further information, see https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/mancept/mancept-workshops/.

Lea Bourguignon, Jonas Harney, and Milan Mossé

Organizers, MANCEPT Workshop on Partial Aggregation