Call for Papers: ALSP 2006 Annual Conference

ASSOCIATION FOR LEGAL AND SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY (ALSP)

2006 Annual Conference, "Social Justice in Practice"

Thu 29 June - Sat 1 July 2006

University College Dublin, Ireland

URL: www.ucd.ie/alsp2006

E-mail: alsp2006@ucd.ie

Outline:

"The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it." - Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach

Policy-makers today often echo Marx's scepticism about the practicality of philosophical analysis. The abstract values, principles and normative ideals that characterize contemporary philosophical debates about social justice often appear of little immediate, practical relevance to real world policy dilemmas. Social, political and legal philosophers who are driven by a concern with social justice face considerable challenges to fully engage with, or participate in, the social and political processes that make up our social reality. At the same time, policy-makers and public policy scholars concerned with advancing social justice struggle to appreciate the lessons that social, political and legal scholars have to offer. Reflecting these concerns, the 2006 conference of the Association for Social and Legal Philosophy (ALSP) will be organised around the theme of "Social Justice in Practice".

ALSP 2006 invites panels and papers across the disciplines of philosophy, politics, law and social policy that explicitly discuss the complex relation between philosophical and practical analysis in relation to concerns of domestic and international social justice. We also welcome papers that discuss practical solutions to questions of social justice in contemporary society. The conference is open to many different theoretical approaches and we invite contributions to all aspects of the social justice debate, but preference will be given to contributions that explicitly address the connections between philosophy and practice.

Confirmed Plenary Speakers:

• John Baker, University College Dublin
• Paula Casal, University of Reading
• Avner de-Shalit, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Russell Hardin, New York University
• Richard Hull, National University of Ireland, Galway
• Ingrid Robeyns, University of Amsterdam
• Doris Schroeder, University of Central Lancashire
• Philippe Van Parijs, Catholic University of Louvain & Harvard University
• Jonathan Wolff, University College London

Submission of Paper/Panel Proposals:

We would like to take this opportunity to invite papers and panel proposals for parallel workshops on the theme of social justice in practice. Paper-givers should aim to speak for 20-25 minutes, and send a title & abstract of about 300 words to alsp2006@ucd.ie by 1 February 2006.

We also encourage submission of panels with up to three papers discussing a related topic: panel conveners should send a short outline of the panel theme, a list of participants and titles & short abstracts of the papers to alsp2006@ucd.ie by 1 February 2006.

Papers submitted by 1 June 2006 will be included in a CD-Rom with the conference material. Selective contributions will be considered for subsequent publication in the conference proceedings.

Important Dates:

• Deadline for proposal submission: 1 February 2006
• Notification of paper/panel acceptance: 1 March 2006
• Registration deadline: 1 May 2006
• Deadline for final paper submission: 1 June 2006

A number of subsidized places will be available for postgraduate students and those without institutional affiliation.

Conference Organisation:

ALSP 2006 is organized by Jurgen De Wispelaere (UCD Equality Studies Centre) and Graham Finlay (UCD School of Politics and International Relations) and hosted by University College Dublin.

For more information consult the conference website at www.ucd.ie/alsp2006 or contact the conference organisers at alsp2006@ucd.ie.

ALSP 2006 is supported by:

• UCD Equality Studies Centre (www.ucd.ie/esc)
• UCD School of Politics and International Relations (www.ucd.ie/politics)