• 24.08.2022 - 27.08.2022
  • 🇩🇰 Dänemark / Kopenhagen
  • Danish Society for 18th Century Studies and supported by The University of Copenhagen
  • zur Website

Rights and Wrongs in the 18th Century

What is considered right or wrong, just or unjust, true or false, reasonable or silly, normal or deviant? What rights should be either defended or defied? These questions are universal and central concerns, which can be regarded from both legal and moral perspectives, and which are constantly debated within almost every discipline – within politics, art and religion, just to name a few. In the 18th century, distinctions between right and wrong were negotiated in a myriad of ways and with constant consequences for the perception of what was contemporary and non-contemporary.

Major theories within ethics and moral philosophy were formulated in the 18th century and still shape our discussions and perceptions to this day. New radical ideas concerning the interplay between imagination and judgment arose in the century, as well as thoughts upon the possibility of reforming both people and societies. In numerous situations and social practices of everyday life, 18th century people acted and reflected upon notions of right and wrong.

Attention will be devoted to all these fields at the The Third Nordic 18th Century Conference: Rights and Wrongs in the 18th Century.

The main purpose of the Nordic 18th Century Conference is to assemble researchers and scholars from different fields of studies. With the encompassing theme, we aim to open up the floor to as many subject areas as possible. We hope to see a great deal of variety in the proposals for panels and presentations. Although the focus of the conference is on the Nordic area, we would like to encourage participants to present their contributions in broader (European or global) perspectives. Presentations may be given in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and English.

We plan to have a special presentation panel for PhD students on Thursday morning. Each participant must give a short (10-minute) presentation of his or her project. The presentation will be followed by feedback from senior scholars. When signing up for this session, please write: “Short Presentation, Young Scholars”.