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Freedom Center Workshops

Exploring freedom, responsibility, and justice

These Freedom Center workshops were designed to bring together scholars to discuss topics like freedom, moral agency, and justice. These workshops give scholars opportunities to engage with leading researchers and attend talks on a variety of subjects, contributing to a deeper understanding of the principles that shape freedom.

Upcoming Workshops

Arizona Workshop in Normative Ethics
January 15 - 17, 2026

This annual Arizona Workshop features new work in normative ethical theory broadly construed, to include not only issues about the right and the good, but meta-theoretical questions about the project of developing and defending normative ethical theories. The Workshop will be held in Tucson at the Westward Look Wyndham Grand Resort and Spa located in the scenic foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. All sessions will take place in the Canyon Room.

2026 Keynote Speakers Include

  • Julia Markovits, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Cornell
  • Mark Schroeder, Professor of Philosophy, USC
REGISTRATION OPENS NOV. 1, LEARN MORE

Social Philosophy & Policy Conference
March 5 - 7, 2026

The workshop will take place at the Buckingham in Chicago, Illinios from March 5-7, 2026 focusing on the theme of Purpose.

The program will open with a welcome dinner on Thursday evening, followed by six one-hour seminar sessions on both Friday and Saturday, and will conclude with a closing dinner on Saturday night.

In keeping with the workshop’s collaborative spirit, the sessions will take the form of roundtable discussions of pre-circulated papers.

MORE ON THE SPP CONFERENCE

Previous Workshops

Arizona Workshop on Freedom & Responsibility
November 7-8, 2025

Lady Justice statue

Featured Speakers & Talks

  • Keynote Speaker: Dana Nelkin (University of California, San Diego)
    “Normative Powers and Responsibility Practices”
  • Derk Pereboom (Cornell University)
    “The Ability to Do Otherwise and the Accessibility of Alternatives”
  • Jason Turner (University of Arizona)
    “Contextualism about Abilities”
  • Mark Balaguer (California State University, Los Angeles)
    “A New Response to the Luck Objection”
  • Carolina Sartorio (Rutgers University)
    “Basic and non-basic responsibility: Against unification”
MORE ON THE ARIZONA WORKSHOP ON FREEDOM & RESPONSIBILITY

13th Annual Oxford Studies Workshop
October 23 - 25, 2025

Oxford_Studies_in_Political_Philosophy_vol_4

The workshop took place at Westward Look in Tucson, Arizona from October 23-25, 2025. Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy aims to publish some of the best contemporary work in political philosophy and these closely related subfields.

Each year there is a workshop associated with a corresponding volume in Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy.

MORE ON THE OXFORD STUDIES IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Inaugural Freedom Center Conference on Academic Freedom
September 19 - 20, 2024

Featured Speakers & Talks

  • Opening Remarks | Jane Bambauer, Professor of Law at the University of Florida
  • Speakers Included | Sam Berstler, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Jason Brennan, Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Professor, Georgetown University; Daniel Jacobson, Bruce D. Benson Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado Boulder; JP Messina, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Purdue University; Delaney Verjinski, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of South Alabama; Steve Wall Professor of Philosophy, University of Arizona
MORE ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
READ THE EVENT RECAP

2025 Law, Markets, and Public Policy Workshop
June 19–21, 2025

Hotel Resort La Pineta – Acciaroli, Italy

The 2025 “Law, Markets, and Public Policy Workshop” brought together scholars working at the intersection of law, economics, and policy to explore a range of timely issues.

READ THE LAW, MARKETS & PUBLIC POLICY WORKSHOP RECAP
MORE INFO

Arizona Workshop on Freedom & Responsibility
November 1-2, 2024

Featured Speakers & Talks

  • Keynote Speaker: Monique Wonderly(Johns Hopkins University)

    “Forgiveness, Trust, and Betrayal”

  • Jacob Blitz (University of Arizona)

    “Non-Moral Contempt”

  • August Gorman (Oakland University)

    “ADHD and Blameworthiness for Omissions”

  • Tim Kearl (Wayne State University)

    “Flagler College”

  • Coleen Mcnamara (University of California, Riverside)

    “Praiseworthiness and Required”

Arizona Workshop on Freedom & Responsibility
February 9-10, 2024

Featured Speakers & Talks

  • Keynote Speaker: Santiago Amaya (Universidad de los Andes)

    “Forgiveness as Politics”

  • David Clark (Center for the Philosophy of Freedom, University of Arizona)

    “What’s for Desert?”

  • Jada Strabbing (Wayne State University)

    “Blame and Forgiveness: Two Functional Accounts”

  • Anna Nyman (Uppsala University)

    “What’s Unfair about Moral Luck?”

  • Dana Nelkin (University of California, San Diego)

    “Desert and Degrees of Liability”

Workshop on the Moral Emotions
November 4-5, 2022

Featured Speakers & Talks

  • Keynote Speaker: Macalester Bell (Bryn Mawr College)

    “A Moderate Defense of Derisive Dissent”

  • Anna-Bella Sicilia (University of Arizona)

    “In Defense of Genuine Un-Forgiving”

  • Robert Wallace (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo)

    “Politics, Agency, and Hope”

  • Hannah Tierney (University of California, Davis)

    “The Risky Business of Forgiveness”