Keynotes: Chiara Cordelli (University of Chicago), Bas van der Vossen (Chapman University)
The annual ‘Dortmund Disputes on Economic Justice’ serve as a forum for discussing questions of economic justice, including the role of markets, the nature of property, the justifiability of taxes, the importance of workplace democracy, the problem of economic inequality, and, more generally, the merits of capitalism and socialism. While debates on economic justice often occur within specific political camps, the Dortmund Disputes aim to foster discussion across political boundaries by bringing together scholars with diverse outlooks—liberal egalitarian, libertarian, socialist, conservative, or otherwise—who share the goal of advancing our understanding of economic justice.
Following the successful first installment in 2025, the second installment will take place on June 25–26, 2026. The keynote speakers are Chiara Cordelli and Bas van der Vossen. Chiara Cordelli, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, works on social and political philosophy, especially political economy and democratic theory. She is the author of The Privatized State (2020), a Kantian critique of privatization that develops a democratic theory of public administration. Bas van der Vossen, Professor in the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy and the Philosophy Department at Chapman University, works on political philosophy, with a focus on political economy, global justice, and property rights. His books include In Defense of Openness (2018) and Debating Humanitarian Intervention (2017).
PROGRAM
June 25, 2025 (Thursday)
Pascal Brixel (Northwestern University): Freedom, Power, and Private Property in the Means of Production
Garance Coggins (University of Southern Denmark): Do cosmopolitans have reason to embrace limitarianism as a partial principle of distributive justice?
Thomas R. Wells (Leiden), Felix Hohlfeld (Graz): Justice for the Global Poor Requires Pro-Growth Policies by Rich Countries
Philipp Stehr (Munich): Strikes as a contestatory means: Between self-defence and expression
Chiara Cordelli (Chicago): Capitalism, Alienation, and the Rule of None
June 26, 2025 (Friday)
Franz Dietrich (PSE), Kai Spiekermann (LSE): The institutional Dilemma of Markets: Between Fit and Generation
Amy Thompson (Oxford): What do we object to when we object to markets?
Denise Celentano (Montréal): Ghost Work: Conceptual and Normative Concerns
Caleb Althorpe (Utrecht): Economic Democracy and Growth in Times of Ecological Crisis
Bas van der Vossen (Chapman University): Labor, Value, and Lockean Appropriation.
For the detailed schedule, see https://philevents.org/event/show/139890
REGISTRATION
If you are interested in attending the conference, please send an email to jonas.harney@tu-dortmund.de. Participation is free of charge but registration is required. The registration deadline is June 14, 2026, but since the place is limited, we recommend early registration. Please also indicate in the email whether you want to attend one or both of the dinners that accompany the conference: the Welcome Dinner on the evening before the first day (June, 24) and the Conference Dinner on the evening of the first day (June, 25).
Organizers of the Conference: Jonas Harney, Peter Königs
Organizers of the Conference Series: Jonas Harney, Peter Königs, Christian Neuhäuser, Lea Prix, Dick Timmer (TU Dortmund University)
