Group Agency and Metaethics

Workshop Group Agency and Metaethics

Metaethics concerns the study of the metaphysical, epistemological, semantic and psychological presuppositions and commitments of moral thought, talk and practice. However, the answers to these various questions are typically developed with a focus on individuals. The possibility that groups are normative or moral agents in their own right is rarely considered within metaethics. The aim of this workshop is to explore the significance of the possibility of group agency for debates in metaethics, and vice versa. The workshop will focus on group agency in connection to topics such as naturalism/non-naturalism; realism/anti-realism; cognitivism/non-cognitivism; the nature of normativity and norms; normative reasons; rationality; and experimental metaethics. We further welcome submissions on related issues that may be significant for these topics. By exploring groundbreaking topics at the intersection of metaethics and social ontology, the workshop hopefully will set the stage for future debates.

The workshop will take place at the University of Vienna from 9 to 11 September 2026.

Schedule Group Agency and Metaethics

Location: Hörsaal 3A (3rd floor), Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG), Universitätsstrasse 7, 1010 Vienna.

Day 1: Wednesday 9 September 2026

09.00 – 09.15                Opening

09.15 - 10.45:               Keynote: Bart Streumer (University of Groningen – Flexible Objectivity

11.00 - 12.00:                James Lenman (University of Sheffield) – From I to We

Lunch at Aspic, Garnisongasse 10, 1090 Wien.

14.00 - 15.00:               Yvonne Tam (Northwestern University) – A Guise of Autonomy: Inner Freedom as the Practice of Moral Community.

15.15 - 16.15:               Jitai Zhang (FU Berlin) - Social Contradiction without Group Agency

16.30 – 17.30:               Niels de Haan (University of Vienna) – Group Agency, Discursive Dilemmas, and Process Requirements of Rationality

Conference Dinner at Zum Roten Bären, Berggasse 39, 1090 Wien.

Day 2:  Thursday 10 September 2026

09.00 - 10.30:               Keynote: Asya Passinsky (Central European University) – A Norm-First Account of Social Objects and their Functions

11.00 - 12.00:                Robin Bianchi & Simon-Pierre Chevarie-Cossette (University of Neuchatel) - Action Minimalism: A Defence From The Margins

Lunch at Der Wiener Deewan, Liechtenteinstrasse 10, 1090 Wien.

14.00 - 15.00:               Juliana Lima (Azim Premji University) – ‘We’-Beliefs and Group Action

15.15 - 16.15:               Katarzyna Zyn (University of Warsaw) – Volkswagen, the United States, a Political Party. Moral Granularity in Folk Judgments about Groups

16.30 - 18.00:               Keynote: Hans Bernhard Schmid (University of Vienna) – The Meta-Ethics of We-Intention

Informal Dinner at die Freunderlwirtschaft, Grünentorgasse 21, 1090 Wien.

Day 3: Friday 11 September 2026

09.30 - 10.30:               Olof Leffler (University of Vienna) – Realism and Anti-Realism about Group Agency: Some Lessons from Metaethics

11.00 - 12.00:                Michael Schmitz (Central European University) – Asking Ourselves How to Live

Lunch at Zur Böhmischen Kuchl, Schlösselgasse 18, 1080 Wien.

14.00 - 15.00:               Ashley Purdy (University of Arkansas) – Shared Activity in Good Friendship

15.15 - 16.45:               Keynote: Carla Bagnoli (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) – Moral Disorientation, or the Collapse of the Collective

 The workshop is sponsored by the International Social Ontology Society (https://isosonline.org/) and the University of Vienna.

If you would like to attend the workshop, please send an email to [email protected] to register.