Over the last few decades, there has been a notable rediscovery of human capacities in various branches of philosophy. The graduate workshop aims to explore some of these developments, addressing the metaphysics of capacities and the diverse uses the concept has recently been put to in epistemology, metaphysics and ethics. A particular emphasis will be put on the question of how capacities can be used to answer questions of normativity and value.

Our aim is to bring together different perspectives on capacities in order to understand better what they are, as well as how such an understanding can help us to gain a fresh perspective on old debates in other fields. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• the nature and value of human capacities;
• virtue epistemology;
• virtue ethics;
• constitutivist theories in ethics;
• freedom of will and action;
• historical perspectives on normative aspects of human capacities.

Keynote speakers:

Carla Bagnoli (Modena)

Helen Steward (Leeds)

We invite work in progress by current graduate students and early-career postdocs (up to 3 years after completion of the PhD). The pandemic allowing, the workshop will be held in Berlin (Germany) on 9-10 September 2022. (Participants might be interested to stay on for GAP.11 on 12-15 September 2022.)

To contribute, please submit an anonymized abstract (1000 words, including references) to patrick[dot]faralisz[at]fau[dot]de, providing full contact and affiliation details in the body of the e-mail, and 'submission for capacities workshop' in the subject line.

Abstract submission deadline: 30.4.2022

Notification of acceptance: 10.5.2022

Further questions and inquiries can be directed to christian[dot]kietzmann[at]fau[dot]de.