Devotion, Existential Commitment, and Ethics

March 26, 2026 - March 27, 2026
Philosophy, Boston University

Boston 02215
United States

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Sponsor(s):

  • John Templeton Foundation
  • BU Center for the Humanities

Speakers:

Cornell University
New York University

Organisers:

Boston University

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Conference topic: the ethical significance of devotion and robust commitment


Our lives are pervaded by commitments: you might be committed to meeting a friend for dinner, exercising four times per week, learning a language, being considerate, sustaining a friendship, promoting a political cause.  Some commitments are relatively trivial and readily set aside.  Others are deeper and more resistant to change. They persist through doubt and difficulty, giving shape to a person's life.

When people display extreme degrees of commitment, we sometimes describe them as devoted.  Devotion seems to involve a particularly robust form of commitment, which might differ from standard forms of commitment in its intensity, stability, resistance to compromise, epistemic status, or deliberative weight

This conference investigates the ethical significance of devotion and other robust forms of commitment. Topics might include:

  • the nature and structure of deep commitment

  • existential, ethical, or political forms of commitment

  • devotion as a source of meaning, purpose, or identity

  • connections between devotion and love, responsibility, or integrity

  • the impact of devotion and robust commitment on individual or collective flourishing

  • the way in which devotion might interact with epistemic virtues and vices

  • pathological or problematic forms of devotion/commitment, such as fanaticism

  • devotion, commitment, and responsibility 


We will have five invited speakers and approximately five speakers selected on the basis of abstract submissions. 

Funding: we can offer partial (approximately $500) travel funding for speakers selected on the basis of abstract submissions.

 

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS:

Please submit a brief abstract (approximately 500 words, prepared for blind review) to [email protected].  In the body of your email, include your paper title, name, institutional affiliation, and contact information.  If you are interested in being a commentator, please indicate this in your email. 

Submissions are due by October 31, 2025.  We hope to issue acceptances by the end of November. 

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