Facts and Norms in European Political Theory

The European financial crisis and the failures of climate politics call for a revisited political theory. What role do scientific facts about climate change and social facts about immigration and political identity play in the determination and justification of political and social norms?

The purpose of this conference is to discuss two sets of questions. First, what relevance do facts have in normative political theory? Second, what relevance do norms have in the empirical political and social sciences?

Jerry Cohen distinguished fact-sensitive from fact-insensitive principles. The fact-insensitive principles have attracted a lot of attention. Furthermore, scholarly attention has been given to questions of ideal and non-ideal theory. Yet, several questions remain. What is the nature of fact-sensitive principles? How are fact-sensitive principles related to fact-insensitive principles? Examining these and other questions, the conference addresses disagreements about what political theory can and should provide. Do we need a political theory for "earthlings" or "space enterprises"? These and related questions will be addressed at the conference.

The conference is kindly sponsored by Centre for European Politics and Nordic Network on Political Ethics.