Call for Papers

Human Rights – Critical Perspectives

Societas Ethica’s 60th Annual Conference 2024
August 22–25 2024, Uppsala/Sigtuna, Sweden

Human Rights – Critical Perspectives

Human rights are rightly regarded as a remarkable development in modern politics and law. The idea that states have legally recognized duties toward individuals indicates a break with most traditional approaches to politics that view individuals as duty-holders and states as legitimate authorities. Thus, every time human rights are taken seriously, they restrain the exercise of power by dominant groups and therefore risk provoking their resistance. Strategies for such resistance are many and they vary between contexts. One such strategy is to interpret human rights as being defined by majoritarian cultures and in so doing transform them into an ideology of domination over minorities. Another strategy is to reduce human rights to positive law, yet another is to claim that human rights is nothing but a moralistic rhetoric used to serve realpolitik.

To critically approach these strategies is a matter of both political agency and academic research. Ethicists, political theorists, and legal scholars work on human rights in order to discriminate between interpretations of human rights that contribute to liberation and democracy on the one hand and interpretations that devaluate human rights as a progressive political project on the other hand.

Societas Ethica invites ethicists to its annual conference in Uppsala 2024, devoted to human rights.

The conference Human Rights – Critical Perspectives aims to scrutinize contemporary approaches to human rights and to evaluate critical potential of theories that acknowledge the ambiguity of human rights as both an instrument of liberation and ideology of power. Traditionally, critique of human rights voiced by scholars, activists, or politicians would provoke a straightforward defense of human rights morality and law. Our aim is rather to promote theoretical developments within the field of human rights by utilizing some particular forms of critique of human rights.

Contemporary understandings of human rights in Europe continue to evolve in response to multiple unfolding events, including human migration, the rise of illiberal governments which leverage fear of racial, religious and ethnic difference, and the phenomenon of climate change and efforts to understand the requirements of living sustainably.

Papers can be submitted addressing the following thematic fields in this regard:

• Ethical dimensions of human rights. Theoretical approaches and conceptual challenges

• Human rights as ideology of power and human right as ideology of liberation

• Human rights, justice, and equality

• Human rights and democratic agencies

• Minority rights – human rights?

• Theological contributions to critical approach to human rights

• Human rights, ethics, and contemporary racism

• Human rights and sustainability

• Migration and human rights

• Open channel  

Papers could be presented in the conference languages of English or German.

Keynote-Speakers and Panelists (among others):

•  Michelle Becka, Professor of Christian Social Ethics, Würzburg University.

• Michael Goodhart, Professor of Political Science and of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, University of Pittsburgh.

• Lena Halldenius, Professor of Human Rights, Lund University.

• Elena Namli, Professor of Theological Ethics, Uppsala University.

• Andrea Sangiovanni, Professor of Philosophy, King’s College London.

How to apply:

• Paper proposals will be collected till December 20th, 2023.

• Paper proposals should include a significant title (please, indicate the thematic field) and not exceed 800 words in length (excluding bibliography).

• The proposals should clearly present a moral question or argument.

• Manuscripts should be prepared for blind review:

  • Document 1: Your name, first name, email address, institutional address, the title of your abstract, the thematic field(s) under which your paper proposal falls, and, if eligible, your application to participate in the Young Scholars’ Award competition (see information below).

  • 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 Ariel (bold) 16 pt for headline.

  • The two documents should be sent as Word attachments to Martin Langby at martin.langby@teol.uu.se, using the subject line “Societas Ethica 2024 Conference.”

• All submissions will be subjected to rigorous blind peer review.

• Further questions about thematic issues as well as any technical or financial question, can be addressed to the Quaester of Societas Ethica Dr. Johanna Ohlsson at johanna.ohlsson@teol.uu.se

While registrations to the conference will open in February 2023, important dates for proposal submissions are as follows:

Deadline for Abstract Submissions: December 20th, 2023

Notification of Accepted Papers: By February 21th, 2024

Deadline for Registration: May 17th, 2024

Deadline for payment June 3th, 2024

Conference Date: August 22-25th, 2024 

If the paper is accepted by the board members, you are kindly asked to register for the conference. Conference costs cover accommodation in a conference hotel (including breakfast), most meals and a city tour with the conference dinner. Costs will amount to 480 € (for members of Societas Ethica: 380 €); speakers are not exempted. Minor adjustments of the amount might take place.  

Societas Ethica Young Scholars’ Award is awarded to the best presentation by a young scholar. Young scholars for the purpose of this competition are doctoral students and researchers who earned their degree less than two years ago and do not have a tenure-track academic position. For more information about Societas Ethica Young Scholars’ Award, please visit the website at www.societasethica.info

Societas Ethica – the European Society for Research in Ethics – has more than 300 members from approximately 35 countries. Led by the current president Prof. Dr. Elena Namli, Societas Ethica endeavors to promote contacts between scholars in different countries, transcending political, ideological and religious boundaries. The society is open for researchers in theological ethics, philosophical ethics, and applied ethics. We welcome papers from non-members and members.

After the annual conference, De Ethica will publish a special issue on the conference theme. The editors encourage the participants to submit their articles by November 29th, 2024. As always, all submissions will be subjected to double-blind peer review. For information on submission guidelines, please see: https://de-ethica.com/about/submissions 

De Ethica seeks to publish scholarly works in philosophical, theological, and applied ethics. It is a fully peer-reviewed, open-access publication hosted by Linköping University Electronic Press. We are committed to making papers of high academic quality accessible to a broad audience. For further information, see https://de-ethica.com/