notice
Graduate Philosophy Students' Association Conference Call for Papers on Social Justice
Putting the “Social” in Social Justice: Equality, Equity and Feasibility
The Graduate Philosophy Students' Association (GPSA) invites submissions for its 2020 graduate student conference. The conference will be held on March 13-15 at Concordia University (Montreal, QC). The topic of the conference is social justice. We are seeking papers that address topics such as equality, equity, and feasibility. In particular, priority will be given to papers that address feasibility in some way. Philosophy papers are welcome, but we are open to considering papers from other disciplines (esp. those that take a more quantitative perspective on these problems).
Potential Questions:
o What is the relationship between social justice and just inequalities?
o What is social justice?
o What is the relationship between equity and equality?
o What is the point of equality?
o What kind of equality—if any—is desirable?
o Is equality feasible, and if so, should we want it?
o How does justice fit into a property-owning democracy?
o What justifies ownership of private property?
o What is property and is it just to own nonhuman animals?
o What is the relationship between feasibility and social justice?
o How do different concepts of human nature constrain what we take to be feasible?
o How should wealth be distributed in a just society?
o How should considerations of discrimination (racial, gender, ethnic, religious, age, sexual orientation, etc...) be taken into account for a theory of justice?
Papers should be 3000-4000 words in length. Presenters will have 20-30 minutes to present, with 10 minutes allotted for the Q&A period. Papers should explicitly address how the essay will fit within the theme of the conference. Interested authors should send their abstract (500-750 words) or full paper (.doc or .pdf) to the Easy Chair link below no later than February 15th, 2020. In the interest of anonymous review, please remove any identifying information.
It is in the interest of the GPSA to make this conference as accessible as possible. Therefore, we will potentially have funds to cover the cost of travel for some participants. (We are waiting to hear back on grant applications). In addition, some graduate students have offered up couches to sleep on. If accepted, you will be contacted about the details regarding travel and accommodation.