Perspectives on Complicity and Liberation Workshop

Complicity is used in various ways, as a legal notion, a moral notion, and also within feminist philosophy and philosophy of race as a way of capturing how and why agents may uphold or reinforce, rather than resist subordination, including their own. Complicity is an urgent societal issue that marks a threat to sustainable cooperation because it is a primary mechanism through which oppression and injustices are (re-)produced. It is also an urgent moral and philosophical issue because of the way it complicates notions of agency, freedom, and responsibility. The aim of this workshop is to bring together different perspectives on what complicity is, how it functions, and how it can be addressed, by exploring complicity in relation to relevant topics such as gender norms, social scripts and affective injustice. In addition to asking what complicity is and how it functions, we are also interested in examining how it can be resisted, both individually and collectively, and what 'liberation' or 'freedom' might look like in this context. In order to examine these questions, the workshop brings together philosophers with perspectives from social psychology to begin to think through some of these issues around complicity and liberation.

Speakers and Talks:

Hannah Lee (Groningen)

Making Sense of the Social World: Affective Practices of Motivated Systematic Ignorance

Ernestine Gordijn and Hannah Lee (Groningen)

The Social Costs of Expressing Moral Outrage: Emotion Suppression and Protest Intentions

Jenna Donohue (Arkansas)

Complicity, Respect for Agents, and Intentionalism

Charlotte Knowles (Groningen)

Becoming Oneself: Authenticity, Gender, and Liberation

The workshop is funded by SCOOP

Registration is free, but essential as space is limited.

If you would like to attend the event, please register here

For questions about the event, please contact the organiser, Charlotte Knowles (c.e.knowles@rug.nl)