Call for Abstracts
\nCategories of Descent-Based Difference: Race\, Ethnicity\, Religion\, and Ethnoreligion
\nTwo-day workshop\, University of Bern
\nOctober 27 &\; 28 2026
\nAcross Europe &ndash\; and elsewhere &ndash\; politically significant boundaries often turn on forms of belonging treated as inherited: ethnic\, religious\, ethnoreligious\, or mixed. The oppression organised through such boundaries is sometimes described as racism\, even when it does not map neatly onto the colour line. This raises a general question about how race\, ethnicity\, religion\, and ethnoreligion relate to one another. Do they name distinct kinds of group\, overlapping forms of classification\, or different configurations of descent-based difference? Under what conditions do ethnic or religious groups become racialised?
\nThis workshop invites papers addressing these questions. Bosnia and Herzegovina offers one revealing example. The categories Bosniak\, Croat\, and Serb draw together national belonging\, religious affiliation\, family history\, and attributed descent. They shape political membership\, yet are neither simply religious nor straightforwardly racial categories. Belief\, practice\, self-identification\, and classification by others need not coincide\, while institutions and social practices may nevertheless treat membership as inherited and enduring. The same problem arises\, in different forms\, well beyond Southeast Europe.
\nOver recent decades\, philosophers have developed sophisticated accounts of race and racialisation. Ethnicity\, religious belonging\, and ethnoreligion have been studied extensively in history\, sociology\, anthropology\, and religious studies. Although philosophers have compared race and ethnicity\, religion and ethnoreligion have seldom been included in the same social-ontological analysis. \; Building on Maneri and Morning&rsquo\;s (2022\, 2024) proposal to compare concepts of descent-based difference\, the workshop asks whether these categories can be analysed within a common frame.
\nOne possible point of comparison is descent-based ascription: the construction of group membership as genealogically inherited and transmitted across generations. This need not involve belief in biological descent. Names\, religious practices\, language\, culture\, place of origin\, and family history may instead become signs of inherited membership. We take this proposal as a starting point for exploring the relations among race\, ethnicity\, and religion\, rather than as a framework to be assumed. What can descent-based ascription explain about these groups\, and which differences does it obscure? How does racialisation interact with ethnic\, religious\, or ethnoreligious classification\, and what follows for debates about racism?
\nSoutheast Europe\, especially former Yugoslavia\, will provide one comparative point of reference. We welcome work on European and extra-European contexts more broadly\, including papers that develop\, challenge\, or mark the limits of the proposed framework.
\nTopics
\nPossible topics include:
\nWe particularly welcome papers that expose the limits of the proposed framework or offer a different account. We also welcome historically and empirically grounded papers that use their cases to develop\, test\, or challenge an explicit conceptual or ontological claim.
\nFormat
\nPapers will be allocated 30 minutes for presentation\, followed by 30 minutes for discussion.
\nConfirmed speakers:
\nAnn Morning (New York University)
\nAdam Hochman (Macquarie University)
\nSandra King-Savić (University of Zurich)
\nVita Zalar (European University Institute)
\nSubmissions
\nPlease submit:
\nSend submissions to descent-bern@protonmail.com by September 6 2026. Decisions will be communicated by September 16.
\nWe especially encourage submissions from early-career researchers\, precariously employed or independent scholars\, and researchers working on regions and traditions underrepresented in contemporary social ontology.
\nFunding
\nFunding covering travel and accommodation costs is available for a limited number of early-career and underfunded researchers. Please indicate in the separate document if your participation depends being partly or fully funded.
\nOrganisation
\nArmin Ma&scaron\;ala\, University of Bern
\nDaniel James\, Freie Universitä\;t Berlin
ORGANIZER;CN=Daniel James;CN="Armin Mašala": METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260816T174344Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260910T100000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260911T170000 SUMMARY:Workshop “What is Good Reasoning?” UID:20260816T174416Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:9c6d:bdff:fec2:4d5c%3 TZID:Europe/Zurich LOCATION:Bern\, Switzerland DESCRIPTION:The aim of the workshop is to investigate the nature of good reasoning and its place within the normative domain. We will explore how good reasoning should be understood and how it relates to other central normative notions\, such as reasons\, ought\, value\, and fittingness. The workshop seeks to foster discussion of questions including: What are the norms and aims of reasoning? Can we explain what it means to reason well in terms of other normative or non-normative notions? And what roles do normative reasons play in good reasoning?
ORGANIZER;CN=David Lussi;CN="Andreas Müller": METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260816T174344Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260917T090000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260918T170000 SUMMARY:Indeterminacy in Physics and Beyond UID:20260816T174417Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:9c6d:bdff:fec2:4d5c%3 TZID:Europe/Zurich LOCATION:Bern\, Switzerland DESCRIPTION:This workshop explores new directions in the recent debate on ontological indeterminacy. There has been a long-standing debate about whether fundamental physics leads to indeterminacy. Recently\, however\, the idea that there may be other types of worldly indeterminacy as well is receiving growing attention. Eddy Keming Chen argues that there may be nomic indeterminacy. Other arguments suggest that there may be causal indeterminacy and that future indeterminacy is not just due to epistemic limitations\, but a real feature of the world.
The goal of this workshop is to determine where indeterminacy exists in the world and what this implies for our interpretation of fundamental physics and broader topics in metaphysics and the philosophy of science\, such as theories of the laws of nature\, theories of causation\, and time and the future.
Call for Abstracts
\nCategories of Descent-Based Difference: Race\, Ethnicity\, Religion\, and Ethnoreligion
\nTwo-day workshop\, University of Bern
\nOctober 27 &\; 28 2026
\nAcross Europe &ndash\; and elsewhere &ndash\; politically significant boundaries often turn on forms of belonging treated as inherited: ethnic\, religious\, ethnoreligious\, or mixed. The oppression organised through such boundaries is sometimes described as racism\, even when it does not map neatly onto the colour line. This raises a general question about how race\, ethnicity\, religion\, and ethnoreligion relate to one another. Do they name distinct kinds of group\, overlapping forms of classification\, or different configurations of descent-based difference? Under what conditions do ethnic or religious groups become racialised?
\nThis workshop invites papers addressing these questions. Bosnia and Herzegovina offers one revealing example. The categories Bosniak\, Croat\, and Serb draw together national belonging\, religious affiliation\, family history\, and attributed descent. They shape political membership\, yet are neither simply religious nor straightforwardly racial categories. Belief\, practice\, self-identification\, and classification by others need not coincide\, while institutions and social practices may nevertheless treat membership as inherited and enduring. The same problem arises\, in different forms\, well beyond Southeast Europe.
\nOver recent decades\, philosophers have developed sophisticated accounts of race and racialisation. Ethnicity\, religious belonging\, and ethnoreligion have been studied extensively in history\, sociology\, anthropology\, and religious studies. Although philosophers have compared race and ethnicity\, religion and ethnoreligion have seldom been included in the same social-ontological analysis. \; Building on Maneri and Morning&rsquo\;s (2022\, 2024) proposal to compare concepts of descent-based difference\, the workshop asks whether these categories can be analysed within a common frame.
\nOne possible point of comparison is descent-based ascription: the construction of group membership as genealogically inherited and transmitted across generations. This need not involve belief in biological descent. Names\, religious practices\, language\, culture\, place of origin\, and family history may instead become signs of inherited membership. We take this proposal as a starting point for exploring the relations among race\, ethnicity\, and religion\, rather than as a framework to be assumed. What can descent-based ascription explain about these groups\, and which differences does it obscure? How does racialisation interact with ethnic\, religious\, or ethnoreligious classification\, and what follows for debates about racism?
\nSoutheast Europe\, especially former Yugoslavia\, will provide one comparative point of reference. We welcome work on European and extra-European contexts more broadly\, including papers that develop\, challenge\, or mark the limits of the proposed framework.
\nTopics
\nPossible topics include:
\nWe particularly welcome papers that expose the limits of the proposed framework or offer a different account. We also welcome historically and empirically grounded papers that use their cases to develop\, test\, or challenge an explicit conceptual or ontological claim.
\nFormat
\nPapers will be allocated 30 minutes for presentation\, followed by 30 minutes for discussion.
\nConfirmed speakers:
\nAnn Morning (New York University)
\nAdam Hochman (Macquarie University)
\nSandra King-Savić (University of Zurich)
\nVita Zalar (European University Institute)
\nSubmissions
\nPlease submit:
\nSend submissions to descent-bern@protonmail.com by September 6 2026. Decisions will be communicated by September 16.
\nWe especially encourage submissions from early-career researchers\, precariously employed or independent scholars\, and researchers working on regions and traditions underrepresented in contemporary social ontology.
\nFunding
\nFunding covering travel and accommodation costs is available for a limited number of early-career and underfunded researchers. Please indicate in the separate document if your participation depends being partly or fully funded.
\nOrganisation
\nArmin Ma&scaron\;ala\, University of Bern
\nDaniel James\, Freie Universitä\;t Berlin
ORGANIZER;CN=Daniel James;CN="Armin Mašala": METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260816T174344Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261119T130000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261121T170000 SUMMARY:Multilateralism\, International Institutions and the Ethics of War UID:20260816T174419Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:9c6d:bdff:fec2:4d5c%3 TZID:Europe/Zurich LOCATION:Bern\, Switzerland DESCRIPTION:International institutions and multilateralism no longer occupy the central place in the ethics of war that they once did in classic writings on war and peace. Whereas Immanuel Kant placed a strong federation of states at the core of his vision for perpetual peace\, much of contemporary just war theory focuses primarily on the rights and responsibilities of individuals\, with states and multilateral institutions as a derivative object of interest.
\nHowever\, recent events such as the US attack on Iran without UN authorization\, Ukraine&rsquo\;s potential NATO membership as a key issue in prospective peace talks with Russia and US cuts to peace-keeping UN institutions bring questions of multilateralism back into sharp relief. \;
\nThis workshop offers an opportunity to discuss new work on multilateralism\, international institutions and the ethics of war. We welcome submissions on questions including but not limited to:
\nWorkshop details
\nThe workshop will be held on 19-21 November at the University of Bern (Switzerland). The workshop will be pre-read and we expect a full draft of the paper by mid-October. Selected speakers will be invited to act as commentators on one of the other papers. We will be able to cover accommodation and part of the travel expenses. \;
\nSubmission
\nIf you are interested\, please send a pdf or word document with your abstract of 750 - 1000 words to Ms Njango Njung&rsquo\;e (mary.njunge[at]students.unibe.ch). \;The document itself should not contain any identifying information\; please include your name\, email and institutional affiliation in the body of your email. Submission deadline is 15 May 2026.
\nWorkshop organizers: Lisa Hecht (Bern)\, Adis Selimi (Saarland)\, Njango Njung&rsquo\;e (Bern)
ORGANIZER: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR