Conference: Personal Relationships and the Normative Landscape

The School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science (PRHS) are running a conference for emerging research into personal relationships.

Personal relationships have long been a topic of interest within traditional moral theorising. However, philosophers have expanded their focus in more recent years, investigating how personal relationships might bear upon other normative phenomena.

There is, for instance, a burgeoning literature that investigates our epistemic duties to our loved ones. Another recent development examines how personal relationships fit into theories of well-being. There has also been a revival of interest in the question of how personal relationships contribute to the development of agency and the construction of personal identity.

The primary aim of this conference is to capitalise on the momentum of this emerging research programme. The papers presented will establish illuminating connections between personal relationships and our understanding of the wider normative landscape.

Conference schedule

  • 10am to 10:20am: Welcome
  • 10:20am to 11:40am: Cathy Mason, Friendship and Moving on from Wrongdoing, commentary by Luke Brunning
  • 11:40am to 12pm: Break
  • 12pm to 1:20pm: Paloma Morales, What Do Bedtime Stories Have to Do With It? Social Norms and Family Relationships, commentary by Natasha McKeever
  • 1:20pm to 2:50pm: Lunch Break
  • 2:50pm to 4:10pm: Mark Schroeder, Tipping Points: Abuse and Transformative Discovery, commentary by Gerald Lang
  • 4:10pm to 4:30pm: Break
  • 4:30pm to 5:50pm: Justin Snedegar, Critical Partiality, commentary by Joseph Bowen
  • 6:10pm-7:20m: Drinks
  • 7:30pm: Dinner.

This event is generously sponsored by The Mind Association.