Slavery and Abolition in Eighteenth-Century Philosophy

Slavery and Abolition in Eighteenth-Century Philosophy

May 13-15, 2026

Emory University

Atlanta, Georgia

Call for Papers

Recent studies of eighteenth-century philosophy have generated incisive questions about the limitations of the moral and political insight of British and European philosophers who were invested in (or silent about) transatlantic slavery. During this period, the rapidly expanding traffic and enslavement of African people appears as a topic of common knowledge and discussion in religion, law, economics, literature, and drama. Writings by enslaved and self-emancipated women and men attested to the violence and degradation of the conditions of slavery, as well as to the hypocrisy of much of Western moral and political discourse. This symposium invites proposals (500 words) for 25-minute presentations that consider writing about slavery and abolition both as and in conversation with eighteenth-century philosophy. 

We expect to host 15-20 scholars whose presentations engage with these topics directly or indirectly: 

Marronage and Slave Rebellions

Theology and Abolition

Economic Theory and Slavery

Black Abolitionists (in context)

Gender and Enslavement

Marriage and Slavery

Natural law and Slavery

Moral Philosophy and Slavery

Women Philosophers on Slavery

Colonialism and Slavery

Reparation and Restitution

Colorism and 18th-Century Theories of Race

Political Slavery

War and Slavery

Local Histories of Slavery in the Eighteenth-Century (Georgia)

Submission Deadline: October 15th, 2025

[Submit Proposals Online]: https://forms.gle/YodCMraMr34W2pA77

Organizers:

Aminah Hasan-Birdwell (Emory University)

Carrie Shanafelt (Yeshiva University)

Keynote Speaker:

Robert Bernasconi (Pennsylvania State University)

Plenary Lecture:

Huaping Lu-Adler (Georgetown University)

Tacuma Peters (Hunter College)