CFP: Workshop on “Moral Relations, Obligations, and Responsibility”

Venue:

School of Philosophy, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

April 17-18, 2027

The School of Philosophy at Zhejiang University is happy to invite submissions for the Workshop on “Moral Relations, Obligations, and Responsibility”, to be held on April 17-18, 2027.

Contemporary moral philosophy has increasingly emphasized the relational dimension of moral life. Many of the moral obligations we have require not only that we do the right thing, but that we do right toward particular people. Correspondingly, a person’s violation of an obligation often means not only that they have done something wrong, but that they have wronged someone. This relational structure has important implications for our understanding of moral obligations, rights, claims, responsibility, blame, forgiveness, and moral repair.

This in-person workshop aims to explore further the relational nature of morality. We invite submissions from scholars in China and abroad on topics including, but are not limited to:

·      Moral obligations, claims, and wrongdoing

·      Moral responsibility and blame

·      Moral relations and second-personal perspective

·      Apology, forgiveness, and moral repair

·      The scope and limits of moral relations

The workshop will also feature a book symposium on R. Jay Wallace’s The Moral Nexus (2019). Participation in the book symposium will be primarily by invitation. Submissions that are particularly well suited to the symposium format may also be invited for inclusion in this session.

Confirmed key-note speaker:

R. Jay Wallace, Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley

Submissions should be an anonymous abstract of 750-1,000 words in English. Authors whose submissions are accepted will have 30 minutes for presentation and 20 minutes for discussion. Please submit the abstract together with a separate document containing the author’s name, institutional affiliation, academic position, and contact information to [email protected] by January 31, 2027. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by February 21, 2027. The working language of the workshop will be English.

If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact AN Dong at [email protected]. 

Important dates: 

Submission deadline: January 31, 2027 

Decision of acceptance: February 21, 2027 

Workshop: April 17-18, 2027