MANCEPT Symposium on Christopher Finlay’s “The Subject of Legitimate Violen

Manuscript abstract: “The Subject of Legitimate Violence offers a critical account of the idea that violence can be used ethically in various kinds of war. By identifying and reconstructing a set of assumptions tacitly underlying contemporary philosophical analyses, it seeks to reconnect ethics with political theory in a unifying neo-republican account. Central to this account is a conception of violence understood as the creation or harnessing of a particular kind of power and the exploitation of that power to execute harms. The neo-republican theory presented in the book rebuilds the analysis of ethics on the experience of turning this power back against domination during armed struggle against enslavement and recentres it as the paradigmatic form of legitimate political violence. Rather than focusing on self-defence against killing, the use of force against enslaving power, it argues, offers most insight in grounding normative analysis of other practices such as defensive war, revolutionary violence, and foreign intervention. It also redraws a broken connection between the morality of defensive force and the political pursuit and protection of liberty as a central value. Rethinking the ethics of violence around resistance to enslavement rather than more narrowly conceived cases of defence against killing suggests the need to reorientate contemporary just war theory around paradigm historical cases like the revolt against slavery in Saint-Domingue rather than around cases like international war in the mid-twentieth century.”

Speakers:

• Christopher Finlay, University of Durham

• Kim Hutchings, Queen Mary

• Elke Schwarz, Queen Mary

• Jonathan Leader Maynard, KCL

• Mathias Thaler, University of Edinburgh

• Jonathan Parry, LSE

Session timings:

• 10.30-11.00 Welcome Tea and Coffee

• 11.00-12.00 Session 1

• 12.00-13.00 Session 2

• 13.00-13.45 Lunch

• 13.45-14.45 Session 3

• 14.45-15.45 Session 4

• 15.45-16.00 Tea and Coffee Break

• 16.00-17.00 Session 5

• 17.00 Drinks and dinner for speakers

Places are limited so please only register if you definitely plan to attend.

Speakers will speaker for about 15-20 mins, then a 5-10 mins response by Christopher Finlay, then Q&A.

The draft manuscript will be sent to participants about 3-4 weeks ahead of the event.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Arthur Lewis Building, Oxford Road, University of Manchester, Arthur Lewis Building, Manchester, United Kingdom