Exploitation, Exclusion and Discrimination

Lovanium Seminar in Ethics and Public Policy 2011-12

Toon Vandevelde (KULeuven), Philippe Van Parijs (UCL), Nicholas Vrousalis (KULeuven)

Thursday October 13, 2011 (10.30 – 17.00, Dupriez 144, 3 Place Montesquieu, LLN)

10.30 – 11.00: Toon Vandevelde, Philippe Van Parijs, Nicholas Vrousalis: practical organization
11.00 – 13.00: Philippe Van Parijs: An Overview of Contemporary Political Philosophy
13.00 – 14.00: lunch
14.00 – 15.30: Nicholas Vrousalis: Exploitation: Concepts and Theories, Part I
15.30 – 17.00: General discussion introduced by Toon Vandevelde and Philippe Van Parijs

Thursday November 10, 2011 (10.30 – 17.00, Room S, Institute of Philosophy, Kard. Mercierplein, 2, Leuven)

10.30 – 12.30: Nicholas Vrousalis (KULeuven): Exploitation: Concepts and Theories, Part II
12.30 – 13.30: lunch
13.30 – 15.00: Gijs van Donselaar (Universiteit van Amsterdam): Social policy and the right to exploit
15.30 – 17.00: General discussion introduced by Philippe Van Parijs and Nicholas Vrousalis

Thursday November 24, 2011 (10.30 – 17.00, Room S, Institute of Philosophy, Kard. Mercierplein, 2, Leuven)

10.30 – 12.30: Axel Gosseries (UCL): An egalitarian assessment of anti-discrimination law
12.30 – 13.30: lunch
13.30 – 15.00: Bea Cantillon (Universiteit Antwerpen): Social policy and the duty of insertion
15.30 – 17.00: General discussion introduced by Yannick Vanderborght (tbc) and Nicholas Vrousalis

Thursday December 8, 2011 (10.30 – 17.00, Dupriez 144, 3 Place Montesquieu, LLN)

10.30 – 12.30: Filip Dorssemont (UCL): Non-discrimination versus worker protection
12.30 – 13.30: lunch
13.30 – 15.00: Isabelle Ferreras (UCL): Exploitation and alienation at work in post-industrial capitalism – and what to do about it
15.30 – 17.00: General discussion introduced by Toon Vandevelde and Nicholas Vrousalis

Manchester workshops in Political Theory
August 31 – September 2, 2011

Convened by Adina Preda and Nicholas Vrousalis

Session 1, 31/08: What is exploitation?

Chair: Nicholas Vrousalis

14.00 – 15.10
Exploitation in the Liberal Capitalist State (abstract)
Mark Reiff (Manchester)

15.10 – 16.20
What is Exploitation? (abstract)
Roberto Veneziani (Queen Mary, London)

16.20 – 17.30
Liberal vs. Marxian Perspectives on Exploitation (abstract)
Paul Warren (Florida)

Session 2, 01/09: Exploitation and Fairness

Chair: Adina Preda

9.00 – 10.10
Exploitation and Unfairness (abstract)
Wendy van der Neyt (Edinburgh)

10.10 – 11.20
Marxism, Equality and Exploitation (abstract)
John Filling (St John’s, Oxford)

11.20 – 12.30
Exploitation, Equality and the Structure of Proletarian Unfreedom (abstract)
Nicholas Vrousalis (Louvain)

Session 3, 01/09: Who Exploits?

Chair: John Filling

14.00 – 15.10
Who is responsible for exploitation? (abstract)
Benjamin Ferguson (LSE)

15.10 – 16.20
Is exploitation voluntary? (abstract)
Adina Preda (Montreal)

16.20 – 17.30
On Duty (abstract)
Karl Widerquist (Georgetown-Qatar)

Session 4, 02/09: Exploitation and the Virtues

Chair: Karl Widerquist

9.00 – 10.10
Exploiting an Individual’s Virtue (abstract)
Rob Lawlor (Leeds)

11.20 – 12.30
Exploiting Gift Givers (abstract)
Sara Belfrage (Stockholm)

Roundtable discussion

Exploitation: conceptual, normative and political perspectives

Manchester workshops in Political Theory, August 31 – September 2, 2011

Charges of exploitation are levelled on a daily basis at different agents in different contexts: trade and market exchanges, work relationship as well as personal relationships. Although the concept of exploitation has been central to the Marxist critique of capitalism, the pervasiveness of exploitative relationships has recently received attention in a number of important studies in political philosophy.

This workshop will attack three main questions: first, what exactly constitutes exploitation, second, whether exploitation is best conceived as a phenomenon necessarily involving a transgression of justice or fairness –and, if so, how- and, third, whether the best conception of exploitation –whatever that is- can still function as a critical tool for effective social critique of social structures, from small-scale institutions (such as the family) to large-scale economic phenomena (such as the mode of production).

Our aim is to provoke a rigorous discussion of the conceptual, normative and political intricacies of exploitation. We welcome papers that contribute to this aim, including work in analytic philosophy, analytic sociology and normative political science.

Please send an abstract by May 31st to the workshop convenors, Adina Preda and Nicholas Vrousalis, to exploitationworkshop2011@gmail.com

The Centre for Advanced Studies ‘Justitia Amplificata’ at the Goethe University of Frankfurt organised a wonderful workshop on Jerry’s thought between the 8th and 9th of April 2011.

The full programme can be found here. My own contribution, on Jerry’s account of exploitation, will be posted on this site shortly.

On the 24th and 25th of March 2011 I organised a small workshop at the Chaire Hoover, with the support of the funding council of the French-speaking community of Belgium (FNRS).

The workshop’s website is here. The papers presented were:

Metrics and Intergenerational Justice
Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen (Aarhus)

Moral Value with Infinitely Many Locations of Value
Peter Vallentyne (Missouri)

Space vs. Time in Moral Philosophy
Daniel Attas (Jerusalem)

Poverty and Variable Populations
Nicole Hassoun (Carnegie Mellon)

Lockeans and Luck Egalitarians on Procreative Rights and Duties
Richard Arneson (San Diego)

Discounting while treating generations equally
Geir Asheim (Oslo)

Happiness and Future Generations
Bruno Frey (Zurich)