Normative Reasons and Morality

While the concept of a normative reason is often taken to provide a common currency across different domains of normativity, its role and nature within the moral domain continue to raise a number of difficult and intriguing questions. Some philosophers have argued that moral reasons are distinctive in virtue of their stringency or overridingness; others question whether the notion of a normative reason provides the most illuminating framework for understanding moral demands at all. More generally, the relationship between morality and normative reasons remains contested, both with respect to the nature of moral reasons and their place within moral thought and practice. This workshop aims to examine these issues from a variety of perspectives and to explore the significance of reasons-based approaches for contemporary moral philosophy.

We welcome contributions addressing questions including (but not limited to):

• What is the relationship between moral reasons and moral obligations?
• What distinguishes moral reasons from other kinds of reasons, such as prudential or epistemic reasons?
• How should conflicts between moral reasons and other normative reasons be understood?
• How should cases of supererogation be understood within a reasons-based account of morality?
• Are moral reasons agent-relative or agent-neutral?
• What role do moral advice and moral testimony play in moral thought and practice?
• How should moral uncertainty affect the reasons we have for action?
• How should we understand the relationship between moral reasons and moral reasoning?

A limited number of slots are available through an open call for abstracts. Please send your abstract, prepared for anonymous review, as a PDF file to si [dot] behrens [at] em [dot] uni [hyphen] frankfurt [dot] de (subject line: “Morality and Reasons”). Abstracts should be between 500 and 1,000 words (including notes but excluding bibliography). Papers should be suitable for a 40-minute presentation. The deadline for submissions is July 15, 2026. Applicants will be notified of the outcome by July 31, 2026.

We particularly encourage Ph.D. students and individuals from underrepresented groups to submit.