Political Concepts: A Critical Lexicon began as a multidisciplinary, web-based journal in which an assemblage of contributions focused on a single concept with the express intention of re-situating its meaning in the field of political discourse. By reflecting on what has remained unquestioned or unthought in that concept, this all-around collection of essays seeks to open pathways for another future—one that is not already determined and ill-fated.
From this forum for engaged scholarship, a succession of academic conferences have sprung as a space for conversation and constructive debate, including its Graduate Conference at the New School for Social Research organized by students of the Departments of Anthropology, Economics, Philosophy, Politics, and Sociology. Political Concepts invites graduate students from all fields of study to participate in our upcoming conference in Spring 2024. Held at NSSR over March 29-30, the conference will serve as a workshop of ideas on the multiplicity of powers, structures, problems, and orientations that shape our collective life.
Because Political Concepts does not predetermine what does or does not count as political, the conference welcomes essays that fashion new political concepts or demonstrate how concepts deserve to be taken as politically significant. Papers should be dedicated to a single political concept, like an encyclopedia entry, but the analysis of the concept does not have to abide to traditional approaches. Some of the concepts contended with in previous years’ vibrant conferences included abolition, survival, catastrophe, resentment, money, dependence, trans, imaginary, and solidarity. Other examples can be found in the published papers on the Political Concepts website.
Abstracts should be no longer than 750 words in a pdf format, and prepared for blind review, so please ensure that your abstract is free from any identifying personal details. Please title your abstract with your concept. Abstracts must be submitted through this google form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfyVC0H0LSpcyJ3QpcbAvZjEkcUYoS-TCp0kPc6ObTg4YFSiQ/viewform) by December 7, 2023 EST. Any inquiries can be sent to politicalconceptsNSSR@gmail.com.
Applicants must be advanced graduate students and their concept must be a central part of a longer term project in order to be accepted. Results will be informed in January.
Presented by the NYC Wittgenstein Workshop
If you will be visiting from outside the New School, email the workshop to inform the security desk.
Room 1101, 6 E 16th St, New York, NY 10003
Fordham Workshop in Social and Political Philosophy
- February 6 – Christopher Myers (Fordham) – “Nietzsche and the Politics of the Historical Dead”
- March 12 – Tracy Llanera (UConn)
- April 16 – Ashley Bohrer (Notre Dame)
The Rutgers Epistemology Conference is a pre-read conference. The papers, the finalized schedule, and further information about the conference will be posted soon.
Registration
There is no registration fee for the conference, but please notify Caroline von Klemperer, the conference manager, if you plan to attend by sending an email to rutgersepistemologyconference@gmail.com. If you wish to participate in the meals, please send a check made out to “Rutgers University” to Caroline von Klemperer by April 15 ($80 if you are a faculty member or a postdoc; $60 if you are a graduate student or an undergraduate). Checks should be sent to Caroline von Klemperer; Rutgers Epistemology Conference; 106 Somerset St, 5th Floor; New Brunswick, NJ 08901. Everyone signed up for conference meals by April 15 will be listed as a participant on the conference website.
https://philevents.org/event/show/112086
Where to stay
All sessions will be held at the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick, NJ. A limited number of reduced-priced rooms are available to those attending the conference. The reduced rate is $170 per night for a single or double room. You can reserve a room here: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/group-booking/EWRRN/G-RE01.
If you are a graduate student or a postdoc and would like to attend the conference and stay with a Rutgers graduate student, please contact the conference manager at rutgersepistemologyconference@gmail.com. We will try to provide all graduate students and postdocs a place to stay, but we cannot make any promises.
Accessibility
Information about accessibility of the conference venue can be found here.
How to get there
Plane & Train: If you are flying, it is best to fly into Newark Airport. It is about 25 miles from the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick. The best way to get from the airport to New Brunswick is via NJ Transit. The train stops at the airport and it is a 25 min train ride from the airport to New Brunswick. When you arrive at Newark Airport, follow the signs to the monorail “airtrain”. The airtrain will take you to the NJ transit train stop. Trains run from Newark Airport to New Brunswick about every half hour. A oneway ticket Newark Airport – New Brunswick is about $14. You can buy tickets at the vending machines at the Newark Airport train station or on the mobile app MyTix. The Hyatt is a 5 min walk from the New Brunswick train station.
Train: The best way to get to New Brunswick from New York or Philadelphia is via NJ Transit. The Hyatt is a 5 min walk from the New Brunswick train station.
Speakers
Commentators
Each week, a legal theorist or moral or political philosopher presents a paper to the group, which consists of students, faculty from the Law School and other departments of NYU, and faculty from other universities. Each week’s paper is posted at least a week in advance on this page; participants are expected to have read the paper in advance.
The public sessions of the colloquium take place on Thursdays, in Lester Pollock Colloquium Room, Furman Hall, 9th floor, from 4:00 to 7:00 pm.
Students taking the course for credit:
Students enrolled in the Colloquium meet separately with the conveners for an additional two-hour seminar on Wednesdays. One hour is devoted to a review of the preceding Thursday’s colloquium discussion, and one hour to preparation for the colloquium the following day.
Students are asked to write short reaction papers weekly, and each student is asked to make two or more oral presentations to the seminar during the term. Assessment is based on participation, reaction papers and presentations, and a final term paper.
Admission to the seminar is only by permission of the conveners. Students wishing to take the colloquium for credit should send their applications via e-mail to Omar Andron <owa207@nyu.edu> between July 1 and July 31, stating their background in law and philosophy and their interest in the colloquium. The application should use the subject line: Colloquium in Legal, Political, and Social Philosophy Application for Fall 2024. Please indicate which program you are enrolled in. Students not in the School of Law or Department of Philosophy at NYU should check with Academic Services about eligibility to register.
Colloquium 2024
Professors Liam Murphy and Samuel Scheffler
August 29th
Cécile Fabre, University of Oxford
The Expressive Duty to Vote
September 5th
David Owens, Kings College London
Rules And Rulers
September 12th
Elizabeth Anderson, University of Michigan
September 19th
Seana Shiffrin, UCLA
September 26th
Sanford Diehl, NYU Philosophy
October 10th
Matthew Liao, NYU Bioethics
October 17th
Sophia Moreau, NYU Law
October 24th
Jed Lewinsohn, University of Pittsburgh
October 31st
R. Jay Wallace, UC Berkeley
November 7th
Anna Stilz, Princeton University
* Note that the colloquium will be held in the Greenberg Lounge (1st floor, Vanderbilt Hall, 40 Washington Square South) for this session.
November 14th
Benjamin Eidelson, Harvard Law School
November 21st
Derrick Darby, Rutgers University
Each week, a legal theorist or moral or political philosopher presents a paper to the group, which consists of students, faculty from the Law School and other departments of NYU, and faculty from other universities. Each week’s paper is posted at least a week in advance on this page; participants are expected to have read the paper in advance.
The public sessions of the colloquium take place on Thursdays, in Lester Pollock Colloquium Room, Furman Hall, 9th floor, from 4:00 to 7:00 pm.
Students taking the course for credit:
Students enrolled in the Colloquium meet separately with the conveners for an additional two-hour seminar on Wednesdays. One hour is devoted to a review of the preceding Thursday’s colloquium discussion, and one hour to preparation for the colloquium the following day.
Students are asked to write short reaction papers weekly, and each student is asked to make two or more oral presentations to the seminar during the term. Assessment is based on participation, reaction papers and presentations, and a final term paper.
Admission to the seminar is only by permission of the conveners. Students wishing to take the colloquium for credit should send their applications via e-mail to Omar Andron <owa207@nyu.edu> between July 1 and July 31, stating their background in law and philosophy and their interest in the colloquium. The application should use the subject line: Colloquium in Legal, Political, and Social Philosophy Application for Fall 2024. Please indicate which program you are enrolled in. Students not in the School of Law or Department of Philosophy at NYU should check with Academic Services about eligibility to register.
Colloquium 2024
Professors Liam Murphy and Samuel Scheffler
August 29th
Cécile Fabre, University of Oxford
The Expressive Duty to Vote
September 5th
David Owens, Kings College London
Rules And Rulers
September 12th
Elizabeth Anderson, University of Michigan
September 19th
Seana Shiffrin, UCLA
September 26th
Sanford Diehl, NYU Philosophy
October 10th
Matthew Liao, NYU Bioethics
October 17th
Sophia Moreau, NYU Law
October 24th
Jed Lewinsohn, University of Pittsburgh
October 31st
R. Jay Wallace, UC Berkeley
November 7th
Anna Stilz, Princeton University
* Note that the colloquium will be held in the Greenberg Lounge (1st floor, Vanderbilt Hall, 40 Washington Square South) for this session.
November 14th
Benjamin Eidelson, Harvard Law School
November 21st
Derrick Darby, Rutgers University
Each week, a legal theorist or moral or political philosopher presents a paper to the group, which consists of students, faculty from the Law School and other departments of NYU, and faculty from other universities. Each week’s paper is posted at least a week in advance on this page; participants are expected to have read the paper in advance.
The public sessions of the colloquium take place on Thursdays, in Lester Pollock Colloquium Room, Furman Hall, 9th floor, from 4:00 to 7:00 pm.
Students taking the course for credit:
Students enrolled in the Colloquium meet separately with the conveners for an additional two-hour seminar on Wednesdays. One hour is devoted to a review of the preceding Thursday’s colloquium discussion, and one hour to preparation for the colloquium the following day.
Students are asked to write short reaction papers weekly, and each student is asked to make two or more oral presentations to the seminar during the term. Assessment is based on participation, reaction papers and presentations, and a final term paper.
Admission to the seminar is only by permission of the conveners. Students wishing to take the colloquium for credit should send their applications via e-mail to Omar Andron <owa207@nyu.edu> between July 1 and July 31, stating their background in law and philosophy and their interest in the colloquium. The application should use the subject line: Colloquium in Legal, Political, and Social Philosophy Application for Fall 2024. Please indicate which program you are enrolled in. Students not in the School of Law or Department of Philosophy at NYU should check with Academic Services about eligibility to register.
Colloquium 2024
Professors Liam Murphy and Samuel Scheffler
August 29th
Cécile Fabre, University of Oxford
The Expressive Duty to Vote
September 5th
David Owens, Kings College London
Rules And Rulers
September 12th
Elizabeth Anderson, University of Michigan
September 19th
Seana Shiffrin, UCLA
September 26th
Sanford Diehl, NYU Philosophy
October 10th
Matthew Liao, NYU Bioethics
October 17th
Sophia Moreau, NYU Law
October 24th
Jed Lewinsohn, University of Pittsburgh
October 31st
R. Jay Wallace, UC Berkeley
November 7th
Anna Stilz, Princeton University
* Note that the colloquium will be held in the Greenberg Lounge (1st floor, Vanderbilt Hall, 40 Washington Square South) for this session.
November 14th
Benjamin Eidelson, Harvard Law School
November 21st
Derrick Darby, Rutgers University
Over the last thirty years, the term “cisgender” (or “cis” for short) has come to refer, most commonly, to the category of all non-trans people and all non-trans gender experiences. Trans people are taken to have genders that in some way transition—thereby resisting existing gender norms. Cis people are taken to have genders that do not in any way transition—thereby acquiescing to existing gender norms. In this talk, I draw on resources in philosophy, gender theory, and history of science to identify multiple reasons that this dominant understanding of the cis/trans binary is ultimately an untenable one.
Bio: Perry Zurn is Visiting Associate Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University and Provost Associate Professor of Philosophy at American University. He works primarily in political philosophy, critical theory, and trans studies and collaborates in psychology and network neuroscience. He is the author of Curiosity and Power: The Politics of Inquiry (2021) and How We Make Each Other: Trans Life at the Edge of the University (2025), as well as the co-author of Curious Minds: The Power of Connection (2022). He is also the co-editor of Trans Philosophy (2024), Intolerable: Writings from Michel Foucault and the Prisons Information Group, 1970-1980 (2021), Curiosity Studies: A New Ecology of Knowledge (2020), and Active Intolerance: Michel Foucault, the Prisons Information Group, and the Future of Abolition (2016).
- September 17 – Willy Moka (Université Loyola Du Congo; Visiting Loyola Chair, Fordham)
- October 22 – Annette Martín (UIC/Princeton UCHV 2024-25)
- November 19 – Nancy Fraser (New School)
- Spring: David Owen (Southampton/IAS Visiting Professor 2024-25)
Each week, a legal theorist or moral or political philosopher presents a paper to the group, which consists of students, faculty from the Law School and other departments of NYU, and faculty from other universities. Each week’s paper is posted at least a week in advance on this page; participants are expected to have read the paper in advance.
The public sessions of the colloquium take place on Thursdays, in Lester Pollock Colloquium Room, Furman Hall, 9th floor, from 4:00 to 7:00 pm.
Students taking the course for credit:
Students enrolled in the Colloquium meet separately with the conveners for an additional two-hour seminar on Wednesdays. One hour is devoted to a review of the preceding Thursday’s colloquium discussion, and one hour to preparation for the colloquium the following day.
Students are asked to write short reaction papers weekly, and each student is asked to make two or more oral presentations to the seminar during the term. Assessment is based on participation, reaction papers and presentations, and a final term paper.
Admission to the seminar is only by permission of the conveners. Students wishing to take the colloquium for credit should send their applications via e-mail to Omar Andron <owa207@nyu.edu> between July 1 and July 31, stating their background in law and philosophy and their interest in the colloquium. The application should use the subject line: Colloquium in Legal, Political, and Social Philosophy Application for Fall 2024. Please indicate which program you are enrolled in. Students not in the School of Law or Department of Philosophy at NYU should check with Academic Services about eligibility to register.
Colloquium 2024
Professors Liam Murphy and Samuel Scheffler
August 29th
Cécile Fabre, University of Oxford
The Expressive Duty to Vote
September 5th
David Owens, Kings College London
Rules And Rulers
September 12th
Elizabeth Anderson, University of Michigan
September 19th
Seana Shiffrin, UCLA
September 26th
Sanford Diehl, NYU Philosophy
October 10th
Matthew Liao, NYU Bioethics
October 17th
Sophia Moreau, NYU Law
October 24th
Jed Lewinsohn, University of Pittsburgh
October 31st
R. Jay Wallace, UC Berkeley
November 7th
Anna Stilz, Princeton University
* Note that the colloquium will be held in the Greenberg Lounge (1st floor, Vanderbilt Hall, 40 Washington Square South) for this session.
November 14th
Benjamin Eidelson, Harvard Law School
November 21st
Derrick Darby, Rutgers University