This event, inspired by an ongoing series of workshops in humanistic ethics organised by Vida Yao, is designed to bring together philosophers with scholars from other humanistic fields to think about ethics.

The room in which we are holding the conference is unfortunately rather small, and we expect it to be filled to capacity. If you wish to attend, please contact the organisers and we will let you know if space becomes available.

Saturday, 1 June 2024 (Breakfast Room, Merton College, Oxford)

11:00-13.00 James Laing (University of Oxford), ‘Naturalism and the Desire for Esteem’, with comments by Catherine Wheatley (King’s College London), chair TBA
13.00-14.00 Lunch
14.00-16.00 Rafeeq Hasan (Amherst College), ‘Frederick Douglass on Domination and Freedom’,  with comments by Livia von Samson (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), chaired by George Pavlakos (University of Glasgow)
16.00-16.15 Coffee Break
16.15-18.15 Kieran Setiya (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), ‘The Myth of Self-Interest’, with comments by Alice Harberd (University College London), chaired by Clare Carlisle (King’s College London)

18.30 Reception, Sundial Lawn, Merton College

20.30 Dinner, Pierre Victoire, 9 Little Clarendon Street, Oxford OX1 2HP

Saturday, 2 June 2024 (Breakfast Room, Merton College, Oxford)

11.00-13.00 Jordan Bridges (Rutgers University), ‘Mind-Wandering Makes Us Free: Virginia Woolf’s Norms on Exploration’ (with Zac Irving) with comments by Jacques Lezra (University of California, Riverside), chair TBA
13.00-14.00 Lunch
14.00-16.00 Matthew Congdon (Vanderbilt University), ‘The Demand for Recognition as an Aesthetic Act’, with comments by Asia Sakchatchawan (University of Oxford), chair Isabel Uriagereka Herburger (Rutgers University)
16.00-16.15 Coffee Break
16.15-18.15 Naomi Waltham-Smith (University of Oxford), ‘Hearing Out’, with comments by Adrian Liu (Rutgers University), chair TBA

18.30 Dinner, The Ivy Brasserie, 120-121 High Street, Oxford OX1 4DF

Acknowledgements

The workshop is co-organised by Daniela Dover (University of Oxford),  Jonathan Gingerich (Rutgers University), James Laing (University of Oxford), and Francey Russell (Barnard College), and it is inspired by Vida Yao’s ongoing series of humanistic ethics workshops in the US.  The workshop is made possible in part with support from an International Collaborative Research Grant from Rutgers Global at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.