CFP: Interpersonal Relations: Ethics, Aesthetics, and Phenomenology

We would like to solicit abstracts of papers to be included in the programme of a workshop to be held on 8th-10th June 2022 in Birmingham, UK. The goal of the workshop is to stage a conversation between philosophers thinking about, on the one hand, the phenomenology of interpersonal interaction, including its aesthetic dimension, and on the other hand, those thinking about the normative relations between people. 


Here are some key questions that give a further sense of our theme.


- Do the phenomenologies of shame, embarrassment, love, trust, resentment and other reactive attitudes cast light on the grounds of interpersonal normativity?
- What is the connection between deontic interpersonal normativity (i.e. relations of right and duty) and evaluative interpersonal normativity (i.e. relations of liking and disliking, and judgment of people as good or bad)?
- What is the nature of evaluative interpersonal normativity?
- How do judgments of beauty bear on the above topics?
- Should we, as far as possible, refrain from judging whether people are beautiful?
- Or, alternatively, is aesthetic sensitivity between people somehow important to valuable interpersonal relations? If so, how?


Anonymised abstracts of up to 800 words should be submitted to [email protected] by 6th January 2022.


We are open to speakers participating online, but we will give preference, other things equal, to those who can join us in person. We will also give preference, other things equal, to those whose attendance will have a lower carbon footprint. To enable us to consider these factors, please include a separate document in your submission containing the following information: 
i) your name and contact details 
ii) the title of your paper 
iii) whether you would attend the workshop in person 
iv) a rough estimate (in tonnes) of the carbon footprint of your return journey to the event, using the world land trust calculator: https://www.worldlandtrust.org/carbon-calculator/individual/ 


If your abstract is accepted and you would like to come to Birmingham, we hope to be able to provide some support towards the cost of your travel, accommodation, and childcare. We especially welcome contributions from members of underrepresented groups in philosophy.