Call for Papers

 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Ethics in Diversity – Intercultural and Interreligious Ethics

Societas Ethica’s 61th Annual Conference 2025
August 21–24 2025, Hofgeismar, Germany

Over the last decades, the awareness of the plurality of human understandings of the world and of the self as well as of cultural and religious diversity has increased significantly. In the current era of global divergences and transformations, the encounters with a multiplicity of convictions, beliefs, and ways of life present both profound opportunities and significant ethical challenges.
Societas Ethica’s 61st conference seeks to explore the multifaceted dimensions of intercultural and interreligious ethics.

In pluralistic societies, diverse cultural perspectives and lifestyles are a reality which can lead to tensions especially in the political realm, as they raise questions about how to live well together and can challenge traditional power structures and concepts of sovereignty and identity. Intercultural ethical analysis and ethical theories need to consider cultural differences theoretically while also providing a framework for relating to different cultural perspectives.

Simultaneously, critical theory and post-colonial studies challenge hegemonic power structures globally, both in thought and in practice. They point to the richness of non-Western intellectual traditions and (self-)critically reflect on the European-Western tradition and Eurocentric forms of ethics – raising the question of whether entirely new versions of ethics are necessary.

Which methodologies are suitable and what role does ethics play concerning the influence of past experiences and their narratives in diverse contexts? What are the differences and communalities between interreligious and intercultural ethics considering that interreligious ethics do not only pertain to an ethics for interreligious dialogue? For interreligious ethics, hermeneutical questions alongside comparative perspectives on applied ethical questions are also of relevance.

The conference on “Ethics in Diversity: Intercultural and interreligious ethics” aims to expand the views and perspectives of participants’ cultural and (non-)religious standpoints in collaboratively reflecting on the ways in which ethics is developed in a world where intercultural and interreligious encounters have become commonplace and where migration and digital interconnectedness form an integral part of daily life. It discusses conceptual and methodological challenges to ethics in diverse societies and in a diverse world. How can we address ‘glocal’ problems in a dialogical, non-essentialising, and fair manner? What can interreligious and intercultural ethics offer for the diverse political contexts in Europe?

Thematic fields

We encourage contributions from the fields of philosophy, theology and applied ethics, as well as political and social sciences, religious studies, literary and cultural studies, psychology, history and law.

We welcome submissions that address a wide range of topics related to the conference theme, including but not limited to:

• Theoretical frameworks for intercultural ethics

• Hermeneutics and normative ethics as approaches to interculturalism

• Concepts of interreligious ethics

• Interfaith dialogue and ethical frameworks for religious diversity

• “Buen vivir”, “hospitality” or “conviviality” as response to nationalism, racism, ethnicity, white supremacy, islamophobia, antisemitism and discrimination of religious minorities

• Inclusion and Exclusion and the role of ethics

• Diverse notions of self, other, and community

• The role of ethics in policymaking for multicultural societies and international relations

• Technology, media and ethics in intercultural communication

• Political and economic power and agency through the lens of intercultural/ interreligious ethics

• Diverse relations to nature and to science

• The role of law, human rights, and the protection of minorities in relation to ethics

• Comparative studies of ethical traditions across cultures and religions and applied ethical issues

The conference languages will be English, German, and French.

Submission Guidelines and Process:

• Paper proposals will be collected till December 8th, 2024.

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

• Paper proposals should be focusing on an ethical argument or problem in relation to the conference topic.

  Please ensure that your abstract clearly outlines the research question, methodology, and potential contribution to the fields of intercultural and interreligious ethics.

• Manuscripts should be prepared for blind review, meaning that two Word documents should be prepared as following:

  • 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 Sebastian Mense at scriba@societasethica.info, using the subject line “Societas Ethica 2025 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 Quaestora of Societas Ethica Lea Schlenker at quaestor@societasethica.info.

Important Dates:

While registrations to the conference will open in spring 2025, important dates for proposal submissions are as follows:

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 8th of December 2024.
Notification of Accepted Papers: the latest 28th of February 2025.
Conference Date: 21st–24th of August 2025.

If the paper is accepted by the board members, you are kindly asked to register for the conference.

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 270 members from approximately 35 countries. Led by the current president Prof. Dr. Gotlind Ulshöfer, 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 abstract of the conference papers will be published in the conference proceedings. Selected papers will be (voluntary) published. 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/.

Funding

In order to get information about funding possibilities, please visit the website: www.societasethica.info.

The conference is a cooperation between Societas Ethica, the Evangelische Akademie Hofgeismar, Germany, the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt and the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen.