The 12th Conference of the International Society for Utilitarian Studies (ISUS) will be held from 8 to 11 August at the Stern School of Business, New York University, 40-44 West 4th Street, New York.

ISUS XII welcomes proposals for papers and sessions on all subjects related to utilitarianism, including moral philosophy, economics, psychology, political theory, intellectual history, environment, law and jurisprudence.

Proposals should be submitted as abstracts of about 400 words for a 15-20 minute paper, or of 600 words for a session of three to four papers (together with abstracts of the session papers) by no later than 15 March 2012 to isus2012@gmail.com. All proposals should include the title and subject of each paper, the presenter’s name, institutional affiliation, and any technology requests (e.g. Powerpoint, video etc).

The ISUS Committee will award a prize of £250 for the best paper presented at the conference by a graduate student.

Important dates:

• Deadline for proposal submissions: 15 March 2012
• Notification of accepted/rejected proposals: 1 May 2012
• Deadline for submission of full papers: 15 July 2012

Confirmed Panels and Plenary Speakers
Opening Keynote Address

• Roger Crisp (Oxford, Philosophy): ‘What is Utilitarianism?’
  

Neuroscience and Ethics Panel

• Joshua Greene (Harvard, Psychology): Principal speaker
• Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (Duke, Philosophy): Chair

Jeremy Bentham in the History of Political Thought

• David Armitage (Harvard, History): Principal speaker
• Philip Schofield (UCL, Laws)

 History of Utilitarian Thought

• James Moore (Concordia University, Political Science): Principal speaker, ‘Hume’s Influence on the Development of Utilitarianism’

Environment and Utilitarianism

• Tim Mulgan (St Andrews, Philosophy): Principal speaker, ‘Ethics for a Broken World’

The International Society for Utilitarian Studies – ISUS – provides a forum for scholarly debate and research on utilitarianism and its historical development, and on its present-day relevance in such fields as ethics, law, economics, political theory, and public policy.   http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/isus

ISUS also publishes the journal Utilitas, a leading international review presenting original research in all aspects of utilitarian theory and encompassing the disciplines of moral philosophy, economics, psychology, political theory, intellectual history, law and jurisprudence.

Hot on the heels of Writings on the Poor Laws (vol II) and Of the Limits of the Penal Branch of Jursprudence,  we are delighted to announce that the latest volume of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham has been published by Oxford University Press.

Church-of-Englandism and its Catechism Examined – edited by James Crimmins (University of Western Ontario), and Catherine Fuller (Bentham Project, UCL) – was first published in 1818. It constitutes part of Bentham’s rigorous critique of the political, legal, and ecclesiastical establishment. Bentham argued that the Church’s educational system instilled habits of insincerity into the population, and protected a system of abuses which were profitable to clergymen and the ruling classes. Bentham called for the ‘euthanasia’ of the Church, since government-sponsored proposals to ‘reform’ the system of abuse would in fact propagate it.

This authoritative edition of the text includes and editorial introduction, and an appendix – published for the first time – examining the relationship between church and state.  The volume also features comprehensive annotation, collations of extracts published during Bentham’s lifetime, and subject and name indexes.

For more information on the volume, and on ordering it, please see the OUP website

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Here we will provide news about our activities, events, and other matters of interest to those interested in Jeremy Bentham, his works, and his thought.