The Centre for Privacy Studies (PRIVACY) is inviting paper proposals for a panel at the second edition of the Venice World Multidisciplinary Conference on Republics and Republicanism 11-13 June 2021.
The title for the panel is "Privacy and Republicanism".
In the very name of republicanism is the idea of "public," a "public thing" that people have in common. By definition, then, there also is a "private thing." Early modern discussions of "scientia politica" or "scientia civilis" derived from Aristotelianism and his distinction between oikos and polis. Was the distinction so sharp and where did thinkers make them? Private virtues can only be of value if displayed in public. How did the theoretical works on the private/public divide compare with practice in republics? Did republican city-states have particular architectures allowing for or negating privacy? How did republican art represent privacy?
This panel seeks to gather multidisciplinary contributions on privacy and republicanism. The focus is particularly on Early Modern Europe, but contributions on contemporary issues, earlier period, and other regions are welcome.
Proposals and contributions may include following topics:
- an analysis of priv-words in texts pertaining to the republican language (privatus, privé, privy, privauté, Privatrat, etc.);
- distinctions between private and public in these texts and where we can find thresholds;
- other semantic oppositions between private and common, professional, evident, together with others, etc.;
- connecting conceptual history to social practice (Were there special places where these linguistic developments took place? Was political language shaping behaviors in private and public spaces?)
- rethinking the opposition oikos/polis and gender (public man/private woman, private sphere and political theory, particularly "republican motherhood");
- methodological considerations on how to study "privacy" in the history of political thought (e.g. how we understand privacy and how we apply it to different linguistic areas);
- difference between republican privacy and liberal privacy or monoarchical privacy;
- the role of theology and law in shaping privacy in republican thought (private prayers and virtues, legal duties and obligations);
- moral philosophy and questions regarding the display of private wealth in the public arena (luxury and commerce in republicanism or the private sphere and the common good).
To apply:
Please send your paper title and an abstract (300 words) as well as a CV (2-3 pages) to frank.ejby.poulsen(at)jur.ku.dk by 15 August 2020.
The speakers whose proposal are accepted will be expected to engage in a dialogue to enhance the cohesion of the panel. In case of successful application, it is possible to apply for a bursary to attend the conference.