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24 April 2025 - 25 April 2025
Blavatnik School of Government - in person only
Open to the public
This workshop is free - please register below to attend

Many political philosophers theorise not only for the sake of pure theory, but also because they want to convince citizens and policymakers to bring about changes in the real world.

Such policy-oriented research often draws on interdisciplinary methods, integrating empirical insights and normative and conceptual arguments. This, however, raises methodological challenges of its own. For example, how to deal with the fact that the social sciences are fragmented and different disciplines work with different paradigms and methodologies? How can philosophers, who bring their own normative assumptions openly to the table, deal with the - sometimes implicit - normativity that is also inherent in many other lines of research? What level of abstraction of normative arguments, eg basic normative theories or mid-level overlapping principles, should philosophers draw on when discussing with policymakers? And how to deal with the fact that in the current political climate in many countries, distrust towards "experts" also extends to philosophers?

Workshop agenda

Please note this agenda may be subject to change.

Day 1: Thursday 24 April 2025

12:30-13:00Registration and coffee
13:00-15:00

Methodological Strategies for real-life theorising 

Chair: Jonathan Wolff, Blavatinik School of Government 

  • Liron Lavi, Bar-Ilan University and Nahshon Perez, Bar-Ilan University: Conceptual Concretization in Empirically Informed Political Theory: What Makes a Concept Applicable
  • Carmen E Pavel, King’s College London: Mid-Level Theories of Justice and Public Policy
  • Kian Mintz Woo, University College, Cork: Explicit Methodologies for Normative Evaluation in Public Policy
15:00-15:30Coffee break
15:30-17:30

Theorising between values and cases

Chair: Daniel Halliday, University of Melbourne 

  • Rouven Symank, Free University, Berlin: Integrating Ethnography with Political Theory in Policy-Oriented Research: Challenges and Insights from Cultural Restitution Debates
  • Florence Adams, University of Cambridge: Discrimination as an Object of Social Science
  • Erika Brandl, University of Bergen: Measuring the justice of architectural development policies:debates on temporal scopes and indicators in the Hillevåg plan
17:45-18:45Buffet supper for all participants
19:00

Roundtable: Alison McGovern MP, Minister of State (Minister for Employment) in conversation with Jonathan Floyd, Daniel Halliday, and Lisa Herzog

Chair: Jonathan Wolff, Blavatinik School of Government 

 

Day 2: Friday 25 April 2025

08:30-09:00Welcome and coffee
09:00-11:00

The voice of philosophers and the voices of citizens

Chair: Lisa Herzog, University of Groningen 

  • Elizabeth Peacocke, Oslo Metropolitan University: The feasibility issues of including citizen voice in explicit policy decisions: the case for health
  • Ekta Shaikh, University of Delhi: Revitalizing Democracy: The Role of Institutional Design and Deliberation in Strengthening Civic Participation
  • Joel Martinsson, Linnaeus University: Political Ethics from a Political View: Spheres, Optics, & Boundaries
11:00-11:30Coffee break
11:30-13:30

Philosophers in public and political discourse

Chair: Jonathan Floyd, University of Bristol 

  • Tomas Koblizek, Czech Academy of Sciences: Philosophers’ cooperation with the state as a target of populist discourse: A case study from the Czech debate on hate speech and disinformation
  • Johan Go, University of Strathclyde: The Political Philosopher’s Role in Public Policy: Adviser, Not Proselytiser
  • Greta Favara, University San Raffaele, Milan and Dimitrios Efthymiou, University San Raffaele, Milan: The Art of Timing: Rethinking Normative Prescriptions in Political Philosophy
13:30-14:30Lunch break
14:30-16:30

Exceptions and Rights

Chair: Lisa Herzog, University of Groningen 

  • Patti Lenard, University of Ottawa: Should the exception make the rule? Policy making from the typical or the exceptional
  • Marta Wojciechowska, KCL: Political Philosophers as ‘Attendants’. Professional Ethics During Normative-empirical Work.
  • Natalia Brigagão, University of Oxford: Beyond the practical approach: Incorporating contentious politics into policy-oriented human rights theory

Organisers

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