CFP: Special Issue of Philosophical Studies on Partial Aggregation

We are welcoming submissions to a Special Issue of Philosophical Studies on Partial Aggregation.

Papers should be submitted via the journal’s online submission system before 31st July 2027 (please indicate your submission is for consideration in relation to Partial Aggregation).

We welcome submissions on any aspect of moral aggregation – that is, when and why the numbers count in ethics – with a special interest in partial aggregation.

Possible Topics include (but are not limited to)

• Is partial aggregation consistent or does it collapse into either full aggregation or scepticism about aggregation?
• Should partial aggregation be understood in terms of moral relevance, lexicality, axiological principles of priority or equality, bounded aggregation, or in some other way?
• Can partial aggregation be reconciled with individualist moral theory? What makes a moral theory “individualist” in the relevant sense? What is the best formulation of the so-called “individualist restriction”? What distinctive advantages and challenges come with a contractualist approach to partial aggregation, or with a consequentialist one?
• What are moral claims, and how do they relate to interests and reasons? What does it take for claims to be relevant to each other or to one’s decision? How should claims be balanced, added up, cancelled, or otherwise combined?
• How should partial aggregation handle cases involving heterogeneous groups, multiple options, non-fixed populations, quasi-competition, risk, and diachronic choices? How should we assess the extensional adequacy and explanatory power of a theory of partial aggregation?
• Do moral and political philosophy call for distinct theories of partial aggregation, or will a unified account suffice? How does partial aggregation bear (for example) on public policy, on the distribution of scarce medical resources, and on the constraints we impose on AI agents?

For more information, see the special issue page here: https://link.springer.com/collections/aigddfdadc

If you have any questions, contact Milan Mossé ([email protected]).

Lea Bourguignon (Cambridge), Jonas Harney (Fribourg), and Milan Mossé (Stanford), special issue editors.