Theories of Public Reason
Room – HBS G35
Gabriele Badano (University of York); Blain Neufeld (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
This panel seeks to bring together those working on issues related to public reason, broadly conceived. Public reason is an influential framework for understanding how liberal democracies can make fair decisions for diverse citizenries. There is now an extensive literature around public reason: Alongside John Rawls’s well-known account, variants of the idea have been developed in the work of Gerald Gaus, Jonathan Quong, Andrew Lister, Kevin Vallier, Christie Hartley, Lori Watson, and others.
This panel will have a broad remit within this topic. So, we will explore competing justifications of public reason and other classic debates internal to public reason liberalism. However, we will also explore newer topics like the role of political parties, the media, and political activists within public reasoning. We will also discuss key issues related to political liberalism that go beyond the role of public reason within it. Examples include the question of whether the liberal state should concern itself with problematic informal norms, for instance governing intimate relationships.
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Wednesday 3rd September
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11:00-12:30
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Registration
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12:30-13:30
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Lunch
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13:30-14:00
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Welcome Speech
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14:00-16:00
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Session 1
Collis Tahzib (University of Southern California): Can Political Liberalism Adequately Critique Culture?
Shiying Li (University of Wisconsin-Madison): How Political is the Personal: Political liberalism, State Intervention, and Intimate Relationships
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16:00-16:30
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Tea and Coffee Break (optional)
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16:30-17:30
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Session 1 (continued)
Blain Neufeld (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee): Public Reason, Abortion, and Citizens of Faith
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17:45-19:00
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Wine Reception
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19:30
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Conference Dinner
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Thursday 4th September
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9:30-11:30
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Session 2
Joana Pinto (Minho University): What Public Reason Demands of Political Parties? A Brief Comparative Theoretical Analysis
Gabriele Badano (University of York): Militant Political Liberalism, the Media, and Democratic Erosion
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11:30-12:00
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Tea and Coffee Break (optional)
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12:00-13:00
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Session 2 (continued)
Andrei Bespalov (Pompeu Fabra University): Fake News, Conspiracy Theories, and Epistemic Disobedience: A Public Reason Perspective
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13:00-14:00
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Lunch
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14:00-16:00
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Session 3
Anthony Reeves (Binghamton University): Original Authority and the Claim to Public Justification
Kyle van Oosterum (University of Oxford and UCL): Civic Solidarity and Public Reason
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16:00-16:30
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Tea and Coffee Break (optional)
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16:30-17:30
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Session 3 (continued)
Xintong Wei (University College Dublin): Beyond Reasonable Disagreement: Rethinking the Epistemic Basis of Public Reason
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Friday 5th September
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9:30-11:30
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Session 4
Jacopo Morelli (University of Modena-Reggio Emilia): Agreement and Action: Rethinking Public Reason for Real Democracy
Vikas Beniwal (University of Mississippi): Rethinking Rawls’s Public Reason as a Solution to the Assurance Problem
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11:30-12:00
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Tea and Coffee Break (optional)
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12:00-13:00
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Session 4 (continued)
Zsolt Kapelner (University of Oslo): Agenda Setting and Public Reason
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13:00-14:00
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Lunch
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