CFP: Social and Political Philosophy Conference

Submission deadline: February 1, 2017

Conference date(s):
April 7, 2017 - April 8, 2017

Go to the conference's page

Conference Venue:

Philosophy Department, San Diego State University
San Diego, United States

Topic areas

Details

SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY 

Social and Political Philosophy Conference

The conference details in the coming sections, along with submission requirements and other information can be found on the conference website provided at the bottom of the page.

This conference aims to bring several dynamic learning communities together for an enriching meeting of the minds, stimulating research, and an opportunity to participate in a connection along philosophical lines in our interdisciplinary inquiries. This theme is meant to be inclusive, inviting those within and outside of any one discipline to engage in a variety of conversations that move across disciplinary lines – be it philosophy, sociology, psychology, political science, or others.

We certainly wish to take care as we approach the furtherance of these social and political efforts and discussions on local and international scales alike. Keeping in this spirit, we ask those who wish to participate in this conference held at SDSU to send in their papers and abstracts so we may continue this philosophical engagement for a weekend of shared ideas.

Call for Papers

As the title of the conference indicates, we are looking for those who have previously, or are currently, focused on research surrounding social and political philosophies within their respective disciplines. There are a vast number of topics and theories that are included in such inquiries. Additionally, there are a great deal of implications and concerns that surface upon diving into the social and political spheres. These theories and implications have caused turbulence as well as influence across centuries and geographies, and so too in our contemporary social problems and social movements. Some of the fundamental questions we seek to address include, but are not limited to:

  • What should the social world be like? How could the social world be constructed?
  • What does it mean to have power? Who should hold power? If power can be codified, [how] should it be? How are the codifications to be understood and interpreted?
  • Should there be a government? If so, who should have the authority? If not, can anyone have a right to rule? Do we have duties or obligations? What sort of government should we have?
  • What does it mean to be ethical? How should we understand morality? What should our moral systems be concerned with? Does the moral community include the environment? 

We are looking for contributions that explore these avenues as they relate to the philosophies of today. Some of the fundamental concepts (and examples of relevant thinkers) we seek to address include, but are not limited to:

  • Authority (Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan)
  • Rights (John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government)
  • Equality (Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics)
  • Justice (Plato’s Republic, John Rawls Justice as Fairness)
  • Liberty (John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty)
  • Government (Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ Hours of Labor)
  • Ecology (Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac)
  • Race (WEB Dubois The Souls of Black Folk, Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks)
  • Gender (Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble)
  • Power (Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish

The conference is split into two days. Friday April 7th will be for undergraduate student panels and Saturday April 8th will be for graduate student panels. While there are two days to the event, we encourage attendees to be present for the conference in full. Not only does this show support for fellow presenters, but it reflects one of the ideals we wish to promote for this event: bridging our academic communities with our communities at large through thoughtful participation and meaningful dialogue. Each panelist will have approximately 20 minutes to present his or her paper and 10 minutes for discussion (Q&A).

If you are interested in presenting, we require that you submit a 300-400 word abstract containing the name, topic, and overview of the content for your presentation. It is also recommended that you submit a paper - for example, an essay or research paper that you have written for one of your previous academic courses that addresses one (or more) of the topics of the conference theme - but this is not a requirement. Please submit the form, your required abstract, and optional paper by February 1, 2017. 

Decisions regarding the program will be made by February 2017. For more information, please contact the participating students of Phi Sigma Tau and the Philosophy Club at SDSU at their joint email: [email protected]

Again, all of the information contained in the sections above can be found on the conference website:

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