Program and book of abstracts

Overview

The concept of neutrality permeates philosophy, science, and everyday life. From state neutrality in international relations to value neutrality in social sciences, from emotional neutrality to neutral monism in metaphysics, this fundamental concept raises crucial questions across disciplines. 

• Political Philosophy: State neutrality in international relations and domestic policy
• Philosophy of Science: Value neutrality, scientific objectivity
• Ethics: Neutrality of meta-ethics, agent-neutral reasons, population ethics
• Epistemology: Suspension of judgment between belief and disbelief
• (Meta)metaphysics: Neutrality of metaphysical frameworks, descriptive vs critical metaphysics
• Philosophy of Mind: Neutral monism, psychological descriptions
• Logic and Mathematics: Ontological neutrality, zero values
• Social Philosophy: Institutional neutrality in universities, media, and public spaces
• ...

Key Questions

Papers may explore any aspect of neutrality across philosophical domains. Potential questions include, but are not limited to:

• Is there a common core concept of neutrality that cuts across ethics, logic, philosophy of mind, politics, economics, science, etc., or are there only fragmented, loosely related uses of a single term?
• Should neutrality be understood as an absence or rather as a balance between opposing forces, ideas, or actions?
• If neutrality is an absence, what is it an absence of?
• If neutrality is a balance, what is it a balance between, and how is the opposition to be understood?
• What kinds of entities can be said to be neutral?
• Is neutrality a good thing (perhaps on a par with impartiality) or a bad thing (perhaps on a par with compromise, in the negative sense)?
• Is neutrality achievable?
• Is a form of neutrality (e.g., political neutrality) desirable in some contexts (e.g., schools) and not in others (e.g., the political arena)?
• What is the opposite of neutral: biased, subjective, unbalanced, one-sided, opinionated, prejudiced, committed, engaged, value-laden, passionate?
• What is the relationship between neutrality and cognate ideas such as impartiality, compromise, pluralism, agnosticism, balance or moderation?
• ...