Details

Philosophical Perspectives on Social Comparison: Workshop
3-4 April 2025
Interdisciplinary Center for Ethics and Copernicus Fundation
Jagiellonian University in Cracow/Kraków, Poland

About

This workshop has four goals. First, we want to further explore and nuance insights from the history of philosophy on social comparison. Second, our ambition is to provide synthetic philosophical accounts of social comparison that draw on and dialogue with non-philosophical disciplines. Three, we aim to explore ways in which philosophical insights on social comparison are useful to other disciplines concerned with investigating this phenomenon. Four, we want to theorize the normative implications of social comparison.

Schedule

Thursday: 3 April

09:30-10:00 – Coffee/Tea/Biscuits/Canapés  

10:00-11:00 – TALK 1: Wojciech Kaftanski (Jagiellonian/Harvard): “Social Comparison as a Philosophical Problem”

11:00-11:30 – Coffee/Tea/Biscuits/Canapés

11:30-12:30 – TALK 2: Ole Höffken (Heidelberg): “Combining Evolutionary and Philosophical Perspectives on Social Comparison”

12:30-14:00 – Lunch (out) “Chimera”

14:00 -15:00 – TALK 3: Frances Maughan-Brown (College of the Holy Cross): “Angels, Liars, and the Yellow of Margarine: Feminist Philosophical Perspectives on Social Comparison”

15:00-15:30 – Coffee/Tea/Biscuits/Canapés

15:30-17:00 – TALK 4: KEYNOTE: John Lippitt (Pardubice/Notre Dame Australia): “Social Comparison and the Vices of Pride”

18:00-21:00 – Dinner (TBA)

 

Friday: 4 April

09:30-10:00 – Coffee/Tea/Biscuits/Canapés

10:00-11:00 – TALK 5: Kamila Pacovská (Pardubice) “Humility, Ambition and the Status Games”

11:00-11:30 – Coffee/Tea/Biscuits/Canapés

11:30-12:30 – TALK 6: Rob Compaijen (Protestant Theological University): “Self-Worth and Social Comparison”

12:30-14:00 – Lunch (out) “Chimera”

14:00 -15:00 – TALK 7: Jeffrey Hanson (New College of Florida/Harvard): “Virtue Cannot Be Signaled: Toward a Phenomenology of Comparative Emotions and Assessments”

15:00-15:30 – Coffee/Tea/Biscuits/Canapés

15:30-16:30 – TALK 8: Sanat Sogani (Central European University): “Can Appropriate Esteem Be Given Without Relying on Social Comparison?”

17:00-21:00 – Drinks

Organizers and Venue

The conference is organized by the Interdycyplinary Centre for Ethics.

Local organizers: Wojciech Kaftański, Natalia Filar

Venue: Copernicus Center Foundation, ul. Szczepańska 1 Kraków 31-011

The conference has been supported by a grant from the Faculty of Philosophy under the Strategic Programme Excellence Initiative at Jagiellonian University.