CFP: The Limits of Duty

We invite submissions of high quality abstracts for The Limits of Duty workshop to be held at the University of Cambridge.

There is much contemporary research into and public interest in the duties we have to others as moral agents and also to, for example, future generations, global poor, animals, compatriots, immigrants and to ourselves. Much of this current research, however, relies on essential but under-theorised assumptions regarding the limits of duty and those actions that go beyond these limits. Research into the structure and justification of these limits and those acts that transcend them remains relatively unexplored.  This workshop will bring this critical area of inquiry to the fore and investigate these central questions directly.

The purpose of this workshop is primarily to foster engagement with issues of supererogation, (over)demandingness, and the value and foundation of duty, and other issues surrounding the limits of duty broadly construed. The questions that this workshop hopes to address therefore include, but are not limited to, the following:

• How demanding are the requirements of morality?
• Are there supererogatory actions?
• What are the foundations of our duties?
• Do we need a pluralist theory of morality in order to account for our duty and its limits?
• What is the value of our duty?

Submissions should be suitable for blind refereeing and consist in:

• An extended abstract of 500-750 words (in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format) of a paper prepared for a 20-30 minute talk.
• A separate cover sheet including name (and title), title of paper, affiliation, email address and contact details.

Submissions should be sent to: [email protected]

Timetable:
Deadline for submission – 30th April
Notification of acceptance – 6th of May
Optional pre-circulation deadline* - 7th of June (*We encourage authors to submit full papers to be pre-circulated to workshop participants, but this is optional and there will be no obligation to do so)
Workshop – 14th of June

If you would like to join our mailing list, please go to
https://lists.cam.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/ucam-limits-of-duty

If you have any questions, please contact Claire Benn or Amanda Cawston
(workshop organisers) at: [email protected]

Workshop website: