Workshop: Accountability and its Practices in Law and Philosophy

Joint MPI-LMU Law and Philosophy Workshop 'Accountability and its Practices', LMU Munich July 17th-19th 2025

Confirmed Speakers: R. Jay Wallace (UC Berkeley), Linda Radzik (Texas A&M), Benjamin Zipurksy (Fordham), Florian Roedl (FU Berlin), Dana Nelkin (UC San Diego), Chris Bennett (Sheffield), Klaus Guenther (Frankfurt), Leora Dahan Katz (Hebrew U).

Registration until July 10: lawandphiloworkshop2025@gmail.com

 

Accountability is a central concept in both law and moral philosophy. Indeed, accountability can be understood as the organizing concept around which other legal and moral concepts are organized, such as the authority of law or moral obligations. However, we believe that one aspect of accountability has received less attention than it deserves – the practices of accountability and their (dis)similarity in law and morality. To address this shortcoming, the workshop aims to bring together scholars from law and philosophy to explore and discuss the nature, function, and (meta-ethical) implications of accountability practices in both legal and moral contexts.

The workshop will focus on exploring the nature of three interrelated practices and related concepts that together constitute what is commonly referred to as accountability in law and moral philosophy:

1. practices of blame, including verdicts of guilt, sentencing, punishment for breaches of duty, condemnation, personal wrongings, and reproach
2. practices of restitution, including acknowledgment of wrongdoing, apology, compensation, and regret
3. practices of repair, including forgiveness, expressions of mercy, and correction of wrongs.

What are the standards of these practices and what function, if any, do they serve? Do they differ in the legal context compared to the moral context? What can moral philosophers learn from law about accountability and its practices, and vice versa? Second, what are the meta-ethical (normative) implications of these findings? What do these practices tell us about the nature and relationship of law and morality?

The workshop is jointly organized by Philipp-Alexander Hirsch (MPI Freiburg) and Jonas Vandieken (LMU Munich) and generously supported by the Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Crime, Security, and Law and the Center for Ethics and Philosophy in Practice at LMU Munich.

Workshop Programme

July 17

(Dis)Similarities Between Moral and Legal Accountability

9:30-9:45	Opening Remarks
9:45-10:45	Benjamin Zipursky (Fordham) “Expectations, Obligations, and Accountability: Moving Between the Legal and Moral Domains”
10:45-11:45	Gabe Mendlow (Michigan) “Accountability for Thought”
12:15-13:15	Linda Radzik (Texas A&M) “Why Should the State Protect Reputation?”
13:15-14:30	Lunch Break

Preconditions and Standards of Accountability Practices

14:30-15:30	Dana Nelkin (San Diego) “Normative Powers and Responsibility Practices”
15:30-16:30	Christian Heering (Berlin) “Accountability and the Inability to Take Responsibility”
16:30-17:00	Coffee Break
17:00-18:00	Gunnar Björnsson (Stockholm) “Accountability Proportionality”
19:30	Dinner

July 18:

Practices of Blame

9:30-10:30	R. Jay Wallace (Berkeley) “Resentment and Social Friction: Reactive Blame and its Vicissitudes”
10:30-11:30	Juan Zelaya (Buenos Aires) “Criminal law selectivity as inconsistent blame”
11:30-12:00	Coffee Break
12:00-13:00	Leora Dahan Katz (Hebrew U) “What Fairness Requires: Exploring Avoidability Constraints on Our Accountability Practices”
13:00-14:00	Lunch Break
14:00-15:00	Constantin Luft (Berlin) “Just Payin’ - Strict Liability as Moral Responsibility Beyond Control?”
15:00-15:30	Coffee Break

Practices of Apology

15:30-16:30	Lubomira Radoilska (Kent) “Owning Up”
16:30-17:30	Christopher Bennett (Sheffield) “The Role of Apology and Corrective Justice in Reparations for Historical Injustice”
19:30	Dinner

July 19:

Practices of Repair and Forgiveness

9:00-10:00	Florian Rödl (Berlin) “Rights, obligations and the idea of accountability”
10:00-10:30	Coffee Break
10:30-11:30	Tomás Fernandez Fiks (Frankfurt) “Should Retributivists Care About Forgiveness?”
11:30-12:30	Kirstine LaCour (London) “Repair as the Pursuit of Mutual Understanding”