Equality is generally understood as an essentially contested concept. Its precise meaning allegedly varies depending on the underlying philosophical assumptions, historical traditions, or legal context. The aim of the workshop is to tackle philosophical meanings of equality, its psychological perception, as well as its practical interpretations and applications. Due to the multifaceted character of equality, the workshop will approach it from an interdisciplinary perspective, including, among others, social and political philosophy, legal theory, moral psychology, and history.
The workshop will address the following questions:
(a) Philosophical foundations of equality and their impact on legal practice and judicial decision-making;
(b) Relationship between equality and other political-legal values;
(c) Equality and conceptual engineering; how does equality fit within a proper theory of categorization?
(d) Constitutional foundations of equality across legal orders;
(e) The evolution of the concept of equality from historical and philosophical perspectives;
(f) Interplay between similarity, equality, analogical and a contrario reasoning;
(g) Advancing equality through democratic governance;
(h) Varieties of equality, e.g., political, social, gender equality, etc.;
(i) The concept of equality, acceptability of affirmative action and advancing well-being of vulnerable social groups;
(j) Varieties of equality and their psychological limitations and implications.
We ask those who want to present a paper in the special workshop to send an abstract (maximum 250 words) until April 30, 2024 to one of the following e-mails:
plopes@ulisboa.pt | katarzyna.eliasz@uj.edu.pl