Duties of Civility
We are pleased to announce the international conference “Duties of Civility? Rawls’s Theory of Deliberative Democracy and its Relevance in the Digital Age”, which will be held in Regensburg, Germany, in March 2024.
Liberal democracies today appear polarised, radicalised and, at the same time, paralysed. The decline in civility and the rise in hate speech, astroturfing, silencing tactics and Twitter wars in the digital age provide us with compelling reasons to rethink the foundations and presuppositions of liberal, deliberative democracies in order to better understand and address contemporary challenges. The conference focuses on the political philosophy and democratic theory of John Rawls, who argues that citizens of liberal democracies have a so-called ‘duty of civility’ and should strive to enable and foster civic friendship.
The conference’s primary aims are to reconstruct the core elements of Rawls’s theory of deliberative democracy and to assess the contemporary relevance of these concepts in the digital age. To achieve these aims, established and emerging Rawls scholars from the US and Europe working on deliberative theories of democracy and digitalisation will meet in Regensburg. The conference will take the form of a workshop: speakers will submit written papers which will be circulated to all participants in advance. At the conference, these papers will be commented on by pre-assigned commentators and discussed in the plenary session.
If you would like to attend the conference, please register by sending an email to sarah.stroemel(at)ur.de (opens your email program). Registration is open until 1 March.
Organisers: Chair of Political Philosophy, Theory and History of Ideas (Prof. Dr. Eva Helene Odzuck, Dr Sarah Rebecca Strömel); Chair of History of Philosophy (Prof. Dr. Daniel Eggers)
Venue: Haus der Begegnung, Hinter der Grieb 8, 93047 Regensburg
Please find further information about the upcoming conference in the programme.
Information
Programme
Keynote speakers, speakers and commentators
Overview of keynote speakers, speakers and commentators for the international Rawls Conference
Keynote speakers:
Prof. Dr. Paul Weithman
Professor of Philosophy (Glynn Family Honors Professor) – Department of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, Indiana)
Prof. Dr. S.A. Lloyd
Professor of Philosophy, Law and Political Science – School of Philosophy (USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences) / USC Gould School of Law, University of Southern California (Los Angeles, California)
Speakers:
Prof. Dr. Karoline Reinhardt
Professor of Applied Ethics – Faculty of Humanities and Cultural Studies, University of Passau (Passau, Germany)
Prof. Dr. James W. Boettcher
Professor of Philosophy (Chair of the General Education Programme Oversight Committee) – Department of Philosophy, Saint Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Dr. Gabriele Badano
Lecturer in Politics – Department of Politics and International Relations, University of York (York, United Kingdom)
Dr. Valentina Gentile
Assistant Professor of Political Philosophy – Department of Political Science, Luiss “Guido Carli” University (Rome, Italy)
Prof. Dr. Julian Culp
Professor of Philosophy – Department of History and Politics, The American University of Paris (Paris, France)
Dr. Roberto Luppi
Lecturer – Department of Law, University of Palermo (UNIPA) (Palermo, Italy)
Commentators:
Prof. Dr. Stefan Gosepath
Professor of Practical Philosophy – Department of Philosophy, Free University of Berlin (Berlin, Germany)
Daniel Beck M.A.
Research Fellow – Institute for Philosophy and Political Science, TU Dortmund University (Dortmund, Germany)
Prof. Dr. Aurélia Bardon
Professor of Political Theory – Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz (Konstanz, Germany)
Dr. Sarah Rebecca Strömel
Assistant Professor of Political Theory – Institute for Political Science, University of Regensburg (Regensburg, Germany)
Dr. Lea Watzinger
Assistant Professor of Political Theory – Institute for Political Science, University of Passau (Passau, Germany)
Ricarda Wünsch M.A.
Research Fellow – Institute for Political Science, University of Regensburg (Regensburg, Germany)
Travel information
Regensburg is situated in the south-east of Germany and is easily accessible by train and plane. With Albrecht Dürer Airport in Nuremberg and Franz Josef Strauß Airport in Munich, two of Germany’s largest airports are only about an hour’s train journey away (the train journey from Frankfurt Airport is a little longer, taking approximately 3.5 hours in total). Regensburg railway station is served by both ICE and local trains and is located 1 km from the conference venue.
Conference venue
The conference will not take place on the university campus but in a beautiful old 14th-century building called “Haus der Begegnung”, which is closer to the hotels and restaurants we plan to visit. The address of the conference venue is: Hinter der Grieb 8, 93047 Regensburg. The conference room is on the first floor.
Accommodation
There are several reasonably priced hotels in Regensburg. The following are all within walking distance of the railway station and the conference venue:
Hotel am Peterstor, Fröhliche-Türken-Str. 12
Hotel-Restaurant Wiendl, Universitätsstr. 9
Hotel Kaiserhof, Kramgasse 10–12
Some of these hotels also offer family rooms. Furthermore, there are two hostels in Regensburg which offer both dormitory beds and family rooms/flats, as well as a private guesthouse offering flats.
Hostel am Ostentor, Ostengasse 12 (https://www.hostel-am-ostentor.de (external link, opens in a new window))
Youth Hostel Regensburg, Wöhrdstr. 60 (membership of the International Youth Association required) (https://www.jugendherberge.de/jugendherbergen/regensburg-262/portraet/ (external link, opens in a new window)
Ferienwohnung Schmid, Silberne Fischgasse 6 (https://www.schmid-regensburg.de (external link, opens in a new window))