Call for Papers

Deadline: 15 June 2021

Time of Crisis - Time of Hope

Societas Ethica’s 57th Annual Conference 2021
August 19-21, 2021 (via zoom)

Crises reveal social and structural injustices, harms, and shortcomings that otherwise go unnoticed or are pushed to the margins. They may also be – or become – times of hope. How is hope reflected in approaches to ethics? May these reflections help to respond to the current crisis, or could they also foster the illusion of simple solutions or a “return to normal” and thereby prevent more dramatic changes? We invite you to submit papers that reflect upon the transitory moment we find ourselves in, with the Pandemic still ongoing but with many signs that it will be possible to contain it.

The Annual Conference 2021 will take place via zoom and in a different format than the usual in person conferences. In addition to keynote lectures on Thursday evening, we will have two sessions on Friday, August 20, and two sessions on Saturday, August 21st. They will take place from 3pm-4.30pm and 5.15pm-6.45pm CET. Each session will last 90 minutes, with up to 4 speakers. We especially encourage panel submissions, but individual presentations are also welcome. In both formats, each single presentation should not exceed 15 minutes.

At our conference, we want to strike a balance between theoretical inquiries and historical or contemporary case studies. We welcome contributions from philosophical, theological, and applied ethics, as well as from political and social theory, history, psychology, and the sciences. The conference languages will be English, French and German. The deadline for submitting proposals is 15 June 2021.

You may submit proposals for one of the following formats:

a.  Panel proposals with 3 panelists and one facilitator. The presentations should be under a common title or theme, which the facilitator briefly introduces at the beginning. Before submitting, please make sure that you contact the panelists and get their approval to be on the panel with you. Panel Submissions must entail: Title and theme (150 words);

Abstracts of each contribution (300 words each);
Information on contributors

b.  Individual papers: these papers should take up the theme of the conference in line with the suggestions below. The conference organization will seek to assemble the papers on related topics in one session.

Abstract of 300 words

c.  Wildcard papers: We encourage junior scholars to submit proposals of their current work, and these do not need to reflect the conference theme.
Abstracts of 300 words

 Proposals should consider the virtual format:

• The sessions with individually submitted papers will be moderated by a member of the board of Societas Ethics. The moderator will respond to all technical questions, provide the link to the session, and launch the meeting.

• The same applies to panel sessions; however, the moderation during the session willbe assured by the panel’s facilitator.

• Panel facilitators and presenters of individual papers must agree to meet at least once with the moderator before the conference.

• Papers must not be longer than 15 minutes each.

• Each session must provide enough space for a discussion.

Themes for Papers:

We invite papers in the following areas:

• Philosophies and theologies of crisis and hope and their status and/or role in ethical reflection

• Signs of hope: what initiatives, social practices and/or movements, and what policies in European societies (and beyond) demonstrate that this time of crisis comes with the opportunity to radically change the current status quo with regard to poverty, discrimination, health disparities, or political disenfrenchisement?

• Is there room for new utopias or a future-oriented ethics - and how could this look like?

In addition to papers that look at the concepts of crisis and hope theoretically, we invite you to present your research on the following crisis points:

• COVID19 and the crisis of health: illness, death, mental health crisis, public health and justice, global health, etc.

• The crisis of democracy: the increasing power of authoritarianism and populism, conspiracy theories, and the undermining of democratic institutions

• The crisis of climate change: the lack of political determination to handle the crisis effectively, the failure of national self-regulation five years after Paris, the role of social movements, and global climate justice, etc..

• Migration and the Refugee Crisis: the ongoing crisis at the European Union borders, the international migration crisis, an assessment of the Global Compact as an instrument of regulating migration, etc.
  

You are welcome to add a theme that might not be expressed in this list

Paper proposals should contain no more than 300 words (excluding bibliography), and clearly present a question or argument addressing one of the aforementioned topics. The deadline is 15 June 2021.

Please send in the following two documents as Word attachments to Dr. Galia Assadi at galia.assadi@evhn.de, using the subject line “Societas Ethica 2021 Conference.”

Document 1: Your name, first name, email address, institutional address, the title of your abstract, the topic under which your paper proposal falls, and, if eligible, your application to participate in the Young Scholars’ Award competition.

Document 2: Your paper proposal including bibliography (max. 10 references), keywords and title with all identifying references removed. Please use Times New Roman 12 pt for body, references and keywords, and Arial (bold) 16 pt for headline.

The abstract of the conference papers will be published in the conference proceedings. Selected papers (voluntary) will be published in a special issue of the journal De Ethica. A Journal of Philosophical, Theological and Applied Ethics.

Societas Ethica – the European Society for Research in Ethics – has more than 270 members from approximately 35 countries. Led by the current president Prof. Dr. Arne Manzeschke (Evangelische Hochschule Nürnberg), Societas Ethica endeavors to stimulate contacts between scholars in different countries, surpassing political, ideological and religious curtains. We welcome papers from non-members and members. Members, please remember to renew your membership every year: http://www.societasethica.info/join

Prof. Dr. Arne Manzeschke, President