2nd Philawson Workshop: Contemporary Views on Social Ontology and Philosophy of Law

This second edition will place particular emphasis on vulnerability and non-ideal social ontology. Addressing these themes offers an opportunity to explore how social ontology and legal philosophy can illuminate collective agency, institutional responsibility, and normative responses in contexts marked by ecological and social precarity.

The 2nd edition of the Philawson Workshop will be organised around two main thematic axes:

(1) Social Ontology and Philosophy of Law: Foundations, Concepts, and Methods.

This first axis continues the core aim of the network and the
1st Philawson Workshop (held in Milan in 2024): to explore the conceptual,
historical, and methodological connections between social ontology and legal
philosophy. Contributions may address classical and contemporary authors,
themes such as constitutive rules, legal and social facts, and the metaphysics
of normative entities.

(2) Vulnerability, Non-ideal Social Ontology, and Law.

We invite contributions that examine how social ontology and legal philosophy can
illuminate issues of structural vulnerability, environmental crises, climate
justice, and non-ideal theoretical frameworks. This includes, for example,
analyses of responsibility, collective agency, the ontological status of
environmental harms, the relationship between legal systems and social
oppression, and the connections between social change and law. We also
welcome discussion of the boundaries between the natural and the social in
addressing political and legal challenges.

The workshop will be held in Madrid (Spain) at the Universidad Autónoma
de Madrid (Campus de Cantoblanco and “La Corrala” Center) on 26 and
27 November, 2026.

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Alba Lojo (Università Roma Tre, Italy);
Andrea Loi (Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Italy);
Andrei Marmor (Cornell University, US);
Anita de Franco (Politecnico di Milano, Italy);
Åsa Burman (University of Stockholm, Sweden);
Corrado Roversi (Università di Bologna, Italy);
Giulia Lasagni (Università degli Studi di Parma, Italy);
Kenneth Ehrenberg (University of Surrey, UK);
Maribel Nárvaez Mora (Unversitat de Girona, Spain)
Matilde Rey (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain);
Miguel Garcia-Godinez (Università di Bologna, Italy);
Olimpia Loddo (Università di Cagliari, Italy);
Samuele Chilovi (CSIC, Spain);
Sebastián Figueroa Rubio (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain);
Virginia Presi (Università di Milano, Italy);
Vittorio Catalano (University of Vienna, Austria).

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
We invite contributions for the two aforementioned thematic axes:

1. Social Ontology and Philosophy of Law: Foundations, Concepts, and
   Methods.
2. Vulnerability, Non-ideal Social Ontology, and Law.

Submissions must be prepared for double-blind review. Manuscripts must be
written in English (in .doc format), should not contain any identifying information
and they cannot exceed 1.000 words (excluding bibliography). Moreover, they
must contain:

• the indication of the section to which the author(s) wants to contribute.
• keywords (5 maximum).

Selected abstracts will be invited to be discussed in person in Madrid, where
each presentation will last around 20 minutes followed by a Q&A section. There
will be no conference fee.

We have resources to contribute for travel and accommodation costs for young
scholars without institutional support. If you are in this situation, please include
“Opting for Philawson scholarship” in your submission.
Submissions should be sent via EasyChair until April 30th, 2026 (included).
A committee in charge will evaluate the submission, and decisions will be communicated around the end of May.
The organizers are considering the possibility of publishing a special issue or
edited volume based on a selection of contributions presented at the workshop.
While publication is not guaranteed, participants should be aware of this prospective outcome when submitting their abstracts. We therefore encourage
submissions of original and unpublished work.

Link for submissions: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=2ndplw

Deadline for submissions: 30th April 2026

This event is possible thanks to the financial support of International Social
Ontology Society (ISOS) and the research project “Ecogentium. Ecological
justice and new vulnerabilities: global legal challenges” (Project No. 2024/00209/001), funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI).

Organizers: Sebastián Figueroa Rubio (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid),
Matilde Rey (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid).
Scientific Committee: Alba Lojo (Università Roma Tre), Giulia Lasagni
(Università degli Studi di Parma).

For further information about the event, please contact the organizers
at philawson.network@gmail.com.