Progress under Pressure

The 1st Swiss PPE Conference will take place at the University of Lucerne on 3 July 2026. This student-led event brings together PPE students as well as students specializing in one of the three disciplines.

'Progress under Pressure' addresses what we perceive as one of the most significant and urgent challenges of our time. Progress is commonly understood as a movement towards an improved state. While there is an ongoing debate about whether humanity is continually striving towards such a state, we nonetheless continue to use the idea of progress as a normative guideline for designing many assumptions, models and systems. However, the many intersecting and growing crises of our time are putting this normative principle of progress under increasing pressure. Ideas, paradigms and methods from all three PPE fields can help us rethink the meaning of human progress and recalibrate our assumptions, models and systems accordingly.

The conference will discuss questions such as:

• Can we still believe in progress-based models while destroying nature, the foundation of human reproduction? 
• Can we speak of systems that lead to progress when global conflicts increase, inequalities rise, and democracies collapse? 
• Are we entering an era of regress – and can we claim that certain forms of progress itself are responsible for today's crises? 
• What are the dominant narratives about progress and whom do they benefit or marginalize?
• What is the vision of the improved state toward which we should progress?
• How can philosophical perspectives clarify the meaning(s) of progress and evaluate whether assumptions, models, and systems align with it?
• How can political science reexamine whether existing institutions are still capable of managing contemporary crises – and what reforms are necessary?
• How has economics tied progress to GDP growth – and how can progress be redefined beyond it, such as through capabilities or human flourishing?

We believe that PPE is not only a programme of study, but also a way of relating to the world. It is a crossroads where multiple perspectives on various issues are given the opportunity to develop and come together, enabling us to see the bigger picture. We hope that, with the help of your work and ideas, this PPE conference may contribute to this crossroads.

For questions and clarifications, feel free to contact us via email ([email protected]). 

Schedule

Details will follow. 

Workshops

1. Rethinking progress: What is progress and development and where should it lead? Is humanity continually striving towards progress or not? How should we rethink progress particularly in relation to poverty, developing countries and non-Western perspectives? 

2. Systems: The intersecting and growing crises of our time increasingly expose the limits of political, economic, and ecological systems. In what ways are our institutions and structures (not) able to withstand this systemic stress? And what is needed to reinforce resilient systems? 

3. Work and Meaning: Today’s labour market increasingly causes competition, burnout and alienation, while also excluding integral parts of the sphere of work such as care work. Yet, work can also satisfy essential needs such as recognition, meaning and self-realization. How, then, should progress in the sphere of work be measured?

Keynotes

Lisa Herzog (online)

Jo Wolff (in person)