Philosophy Conferences and Calls for Papers

Proposals are invited for papers to be included in a projected book: The Costs of Autonomy: Personal Essays on the Morality of Religious Indoctrination, to be edited by Peter Caws (Ph.D., Yale) and Stefani Jones (Ph.D., George Washington). We are looking for contributors who were brought up under more or less strict regimes of religious belief from which their academic work has helped to free them, and who have personal stories as to how this freedom was achieved and at what cost. Papers should assess those regimes as charitably as possible from an insider’s perspective but should also show what it was about them, and what it was about philosophy (or related influences - political, feminist etc.), that made it impossible to remain within the fold. They should reflect on the practice of religious indoctrination and on the moral issues it poses for the development of autonomy, personally and conceptually. (Our title is not meant to prejudge the question as to whether such indoctrination could ever be morally justified in any circumstances - that too might be a topic for reflection). In each case we are looking for a combination of conceptual analysis on the one hand, and an account of individual and professional development on the other - philosophical interest, and human interest.The editors will provide an introductory essay but they will also be contributors, having grown up under such regimes (one of us [PC] among the Exclusive Brethren in England, the other [SJ] among the Mormons in Utah). Considerations of length suggest that we should aim in the first instance for one essay covering each of a number of religions or sects, so we invite proposals for contributions dealing with backgrounds in Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc., or among the Amish, the Baha’i, the Baptists, the Christian Scientists, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mennonites, the Methodists, the Seventh Day Adventists, etc. Those who were raised strictly but in less tightly doctrinal beliefs (among Quakers, Unitarians etc.) may also be interested in contributing.

Proposals, showing how a particular contribution would fit into this scheme, should be sent to (pcaws@gwu.edu) not later than February 28, 2006. Notification of acceptances will be sent as soon as possible after that, along with the date for final ms. copy.