SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY & POLICY CENTER

 Ownership and Justice

On September 18-20, 2008, a conference on Ownership and Justice was held at Bowling Green State University. Conferees discussed various principles of justice with respect to questions of the ownership of assets and income. Participants in this conference included Richard Arneson, Professor of Philosophy, University of California San Diego; Thomas Christiano, Professor of Philosophy and Law, University of Arizona; Edward Feser, Instructor of Philosophy, Pasadena City College; Gerald F. Gaus, James E. Rogers Professor of Philosophy, University of Arizona; John Kekes, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, State University of New York at Albany; Eric Mack, Professor of Philosophy, Tulane University; James R. Otteson, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Alabama; Daniel C. Russell, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Wichita State University; David Schmidtz, Kendrick Professor of Philosophy and Joint Professor of Economics, University of Arizona; and George Sher, Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Philosophy, Rice University.

The papers from this conference will be published in Social Philosophy & Policy 27:1. 

Liberty and Environmentalism

 A conference was held on June 19-22, 2008, in Orlando, Florida to discuss the topic Liberty and Environmentalism. This conference was co-sponsored by Liberty Fund, Inc., and explored the modern environmental movement and its alternatives. Participants in this conference included Jonathan H. Adler, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Business Law & Regulation, Case Western Reserve University School of Law; N. Scott Arnold, Professor of Philosophy, University of Alabama at Birmingham; H. Sterling Burnett, Senior Fellow, National Center for Policy Analysis; J. Baird Callicott, Regents Professor of Philosophy, University of North Texas; Andrew Dobson, Professor of Politics, SPIRE, Keele University, UK; John Hasnas, Associate Professor of Business, Georgetown University; Dwight R. Lee, Ramsey Professor, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia; Michael E. Mann, Associate Professor, Department of Meteorology, Department of Geosciences, and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI) and Director, Earth System Science Center (ESSC), Pennsylvania State University; Andrew P. Morriss, H. Ross & Helen Workman Professor of Law and Professor of Business, University of Illinois College of Law; Carol M. Rose, Lohse Chair in Water and Natural Resources, James E. Rogers College of Law, The University of Arizona; Charles T. Rubin, Associate Professor of Political Science, Duquesne University; and Mark Sagoff, Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment and Senior Research Scholar, Acting Director, Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, University of Maryland, College Park.

The papers from this conference will be published in Social Philosophy & Policy 26:2.
 

Aggregation in Moral and Political Philosophy

Fourteen prominent scholars gathered at Bowling Green State University on November 1-4, 2007 to discuss the topic Aggregation in Moral and Political Philosophy. The purpose of this conference was to investigate the justifications, content, and implications of various theories of the aggregate social good. Participating in this conference were Talbot Brewer, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Virginia; Bryan Caplan, Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University; Andrew I. Cohen, Associate Director of the Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics and Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Georgia State University; Russell Hardin, Professor of Politics, New York University; Brad W. Hooker, Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Reading; Frances Kamm, Littauer Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Professor of Philosophy, FAS, Harvard University; David McNaughton, Professor of Philosophy, Florida State University; Elijah Millgram, E.E. Erickson Professor of Philosophy, University of Utah; Jan Narveson, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Waterloo; Alastair Norcross, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Rice University; Jonathan M. Riley, Professor of Philosophy, The Murphy Institute, Tulane University; E. David Sosa, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin; Larry Temkin, Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey; and Peter Vallentyne, Florence G. Kline Professor of Philosophy, University of Missouri-Columbia.

The papers from this conference will be published in Social Philosophy & Policy 26:1.

Freedom of Association

The Social Philosophy and Policy Center, in conjunction with Liberty Fund, Inc., held a conference on Freedom of Association in La Jolla, CA on June 21-24, 2007. This conference examined the general question of whether freedom of association is a universal, largely unqualified right implied by a more fundamental right to liberty or whether it is mainly a liberty to be protected only when it is required for liberal democracy. The participants included Lawrence A. Alexander, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego; Richard Boyd, Associate Professor of Government, Georgetown University; Eric R. Claeys, Assistant Professor of Law, Saint Louis University; Richard A. Epstein, James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago; Ken I. Kersch, Assistant Professor of Politics, Princeton University; Andrew Koppelman, Professor of Law and Political Science, Northwestern Law School; Kevin Kordana, Professor of Law, University of Virginia; Loren E. Lomasky, Cory Professor of Political Philosophy, Policy and Law, University of Virginia; Paul Moreno, William and Bernice Grewcock Chair in the Constitution of the United States and Associate Professor of History, Hillsdale College; Stephen B. Presser, Raoul Berger Professor of Legal History, Northwestern University; and Keith E. Whittington, Professor of Politics, Princeton University.

The papers from this conference were published in Social Philosophy & Policy 25:2.

Objectivism, Subjectivism, and Relativism in Ethics

Objectivism, Subjectivism, and Relativism in Ethics was the subject of a conference held at Bowling Green State University on November 16-19, 2006. This conference addressed the question of whether it is possible to derive moral propositions that are objectively true, and if so, what the character of that derivation and the content of the propositions derived might be. Included in the discussion were Julia Driver, Professor of Philosophy, Dartmouth College; Christopher W. Gowans, Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University; Thomas E. Hill, Jr., Kenan Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Michael Huemer, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado; Mark LeBar, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Ohio University; Scott MacDonald, Norma K. Regan Professor in Christian Studies and Professor of Philosophy, Cornell University; Tibor R. Machan, R.C. Hoiles Professor of Business Ethics, Chapman University and Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Philip Pettit, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics and Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics, and the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University; Douglas B. Rasmussen, Professor of Philosophy, St. John's University; Connie S. Rosati, Professor of Philosophy, University of Arizona; Tara Smith, Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin; Mark Timmons, Professor of Philosophy, University of Arizona; David B. Wong, Professor of Philosophy, Duke University; and Darryl Wright, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Harvey Mudd College.

The papers from this conference were published in Social Philosophy and Policy 25:1.

Liberty and Ancient Greek Philosophy

A conference on Liberty and Ancient Greek Philosophy was held in La Jolla, CA on June 15-18, 2006, sponsored by Liberty Fund, Inc. and the Social Philosophy and Policy Center. This conference focused on fundamental principles in ancient Greek political thought of profound and continu