Robert Ginsberg wrote an extensive history of the International Social Philosophy Conference and the North American Society for Social Philosophy in the late 1980s. Read Bob Ginsberg’s History here.
The Society was founded in the early 1980s by Creigton Peden, who served as the first president. Peden also founded the Journal of Social Philosophy in 1970 and was a champion of social philosophy throughout the profession. The Journal, now published by Wiley, continues a close relationship with the Society and includes the Society’s page and call for papers in each issue. The North American Society for Social Philosophy, like the Journal of Social Philosophy, strives to highlight the value of social philosophy within the profession while also demonstrating the value of philosophy to understanding contemporary social issues. This historical connection is also detailed in the 50th Anniversary of the Journal.
Past Presidents
Creighton Peden, 198? -1990
James Sterba, 1990-1995
Iris Young, 1995-1997 (co-president)
Alison Jaggar, 1995-1997 (co-president)
Joseph Betz, 1997-2000
William L. McBride, 2000-2005
Alistair McLeod, 2005-2010
Margaret Crouch, 2010-2015
Sally J. Scholz, 2015-2019
Beth Sperry, 2019-2023
Barrett Emerick, 2023-Present
International Social Philosophy Conferences
*For a list of the book award winners, please visit the Book Award Page
Some programs linked on this page include note markings from the donor. Please disregard those markings.
1st International Social Philosophy Conference (August 19-23, 1983)
Montreal (In conjunction with the World Congress of Philosophy)
Keynote speakers:
[WORK IN PROGRESS – Please send old programs to President]
2nd International Social Philosophy Conference (August 7-10, 1985)
Colorado Spring, Colorado
Conference Co-Chairs: Creighton Peden (Augusta College) and James Sterba (University of Notre Dame)
Keynote Address:
- James Sterba, University of Notre Dame, “How to Make People Just”
Guest Speaker:
- Elizabeth Wright Ingraham, Architect “Frontiers”
Also in 1985, NASSP met in conjunction with the Inter-American Congress of Philosophy in Guadalajara, Mexico (November 1985) [27 papers presented]
3rd International Social Philosophy Conference (June 4-6, 1987)
“Social Philosophy and the United States Constitution”
The University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Keynote Address:
- Creighton Peden, Founding President of NASSP, “A Nineteenth Century Constitutional Social Philosopher: F.E. Abbot”
4th International Social Philosophy Conference (August 16-19, 1988)
Sommerville College, Oxford, England
Conference Co-Chairs: Creighton Peden and John K. Roth
Keynote Addresses:
- Robert Solomon, University of Texas at Austin, “The Feelings of Justice”
- Gordon Graham, University of St Andrews, “Autonomy and the Illegality of Drugs”
5th International Social Philosophy Conference
Program information needed. Please check your NASSP files to see if you have a copy!
6th International Social Philosophy (August 9-12, 1990)
University of Vermont
7th Annual ISP Conference (August 8-11, 1991)
“Celebration of the Bi-Centennial of the Bill of Rights”
Colorado College, Colorado Springs
Conference Organizer: Iris Young
Keynote Addresses:
- David Lyons, Cornell University, “Rights Revisited”
- Anita Allen, Georgetown Law Center, “Philosophy in the Novel: The Jurisprudence of Jane Eyre”
- James Nickel, University of Colorado, “The Rights of Indigenous Peoples”
- Alison Jaggar, University of Colorado, “Telling Right from Wrong: Feminist Practical Dialogue and Moral Epistemology”
8th International Social Philosophy Conference (December 28-31, 1991)
“Freedom, Obligations (Dharma), and Rights”
Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India
If you have the program or any information about it, please send it to the president!
9th International Social Philosophy Conference (July 30-August 2, 1992)
Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina
Conference Organizers: James Sterba (University of Notre Dame), Rosemarie Tong (Davidson College), Joseph Betz (Villanova University)
10th International Social Philosophy Conference (August 17-20, 1993)
University of Helsinki
Keynote Addresses:
- Frederick Ferre, The University of Georgia, “Making Waves: On the Social Power of Ideas”
- Richard de George, University of Kansas, “International Justice”
- Stephen Toulmin, Northwestern University, “Country/People/Nation/State”
- Mary Mahowald, University of Chicago, “Gender Justice and Genetics”
- James Sterba, University of Notre Dame, “Environmental Justice”
11th Annual ISP Conference (August 4-7, 1994)
University of Nevada – Las Vegas
Conference Organizers: James Sterba (University of Notre Dame), Peter Wenz (Sangamon State University), Craig Walton (University of Nevada – Las Vegas)
Keynote Addresses (sponsored by Matchette Foundation):
- Eugene Hargrove, University of North Texas, “Environmental Ethics and the Problem of Environmental Newspeak”
- Peter Wenz, Sangamon State University, “Nuclear Power and Human Oppression”
- Karen Warren, Macalester College, “Environmental Stewardship: An Ecofeminist Philosophical Perspective”
- Leslie Francis, University of Utah, “When are Expectations Legitimate?” (sponsored by UNLV)
12th Annual ISP Conference (1995)
Colby College, Waterville, Maine
13th Annual ISP Conference (August 15-18, 1996)
St. Norbert’s College, DePere, Wisconsin
Conference organizers: David Duquette (St. Norbert’s College), Cheryl Hughes (Wabash College), and Tom Digby (Springfield College)
Keynote Speakers:
- Val Plumwood, University of Sydney, Australia, “Globalization, Ecojustice, and Citizenship”
- Sandra Harding, University of Delaware and UCLA, “Does the Idea of Universally Valid Sciences Decrease Global Democracy? Feminist and Postcolonial Issues”
- Dale Jamieson, University of Colorado-Boulder, “Sustainability and Beyond”
Book Award: Joseph M. Schwartz, The Permanence of the Political: A Democratic Critique of the Radical Implulse to Transcend Politics. Princeton University Press, 1995.
14th Annual ISP Conference (July 18-21, 1997)
Conference Organizers: Alistair Macleod (Queen’s University), William Aiken (Chatham University), and Larry May (Washington University)
Topic: World Community and Democracy: Is the State Obsolete?
Keynote Speakers:
- Iris Young, University of Pittsburgh, “Hybrid Democracy: Iroquois Federalism and the Postcolonial Project”
- David Crocker, University of Maryland, “Transitional Justice and International Civil Society”
Book Award: Amy Gutmann and Kwame Anthony Appiah, Color Conscious. Princeton University Press, 1996.
15th Annual ISP Conference (1998)
16th Annual ISP Conference (July 15-17, 1999)
Villanova University in Pennsylvania
Conference Organizers: Joseph Betz (Villanova University), Sally Scholz (Villanova University), George Carew (Spelman), and Kevin Graham (Creighton University)
Topic:
Keynote speaker:
- Lucius Outlaw, Haverford College, “Race, Social Identity, and Human Dignity”
Book Award: James Sterba, Justice for Here and Now. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
17th Annual ISP Conference (July 20-23, 2000)
Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Conference Organizers:
Topic: Communication, Conflict, and Reconciliation
Keynote speakers:
- David Dyzehaus, University of Toronto, “Amnesty, justice, and Reconciliation: Justifying the Truth and Reconciliation Commission”
- David Gauthier, University of Pittsburgh, “A Society of Individuals”
- Presidential Address: Joseph Betz, Villanova University, “The Study of Massacres”
Book Award: Martha Nussbaum, Sex and Social Justice. Oxford University Press, 2000.
18th Annual ISP Conference (2001)
19th Annual ISP Conference (July 18-20, 2002)
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon.
Conference Organizers:Barbara Andrew and John Lysaker (University of Oregon), Joseph Betz (Villanova University), Sally Scholz (Villanova University)
Topic: Society, Embodiment, and the Environment
Keynote speakers:
- Catriona Sandilands, York University, “Abject Natures: Queering the Ecological Body Politic”
- Andrew Light, New York University, “Urban Ecological Citizenship: A New Problem of Dirty Hands”
Book Award: Lawrence Blum, I’m Not a Racist But…The Moral Quandary of Race. Cornell University Press, 2001
20th Annual ISP Conference (2003)
21st Annual ISP Conference (July 29-31, 2004)
Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska
Conference Organizers: Kevin Graham (Creighton University), Margaret Crouch (Eastern Michigan), Lisa Schwartzman (Michigan State University)
Topic: Human Rights, Democracy, and Religion
Keynote Speakers:
- Frank Cunningham, University of Toronto, “The Conflicting Truths of Religion and Democracy”
- Iris Young, University of Chicago, “Responsibility and Structural Injustice”
Book Award: Susan Campbell, Relational Remembering: Rethinking the Memory Wars. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.
22nd Annual ISP Conference (July 28-30, 2005)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
Conference Organizers: Sharon Anderson-Gold
Topic: Technology
Keynote Speakers:
- Carol Gould, Stevens Institute of Technology, “Global Democratic Transformations and the Internet”
- Sandra Harding, University of California-Los Angeles, “Women, Science, Modernity”
- Presidential Address: William McBride, Purdue University, “The End of Liberal Democracy as We have Known It?”
Book Award: Seyla Benhabib, The Rights of Others: Aliens, Residents, and Citizens. Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Program (Copy of program needed)
23rd Annual ISP Conference (August 3-5, 2006)
University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia
Conference Organizers: Cindy Holder (University of Victoria),
Topic: International Law and Justice
Keynote Speakers:
- Will Kymlicka, Queen’s University, “Can International Law Promote Justice for Minorities?”
- Allen Buchanan, “Human Nature, Human Enhancement, and Human Rights”
Book Award: Larry May, Crimes Against Humanity: A Normative Account. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
24th Annual ISP Conference (July 12-14, 2007)
Millersville University, Millersville, PA
Conference Organizers: Colleen Stameshkin (Millersville University), Jordy Rocheleau (Austin Peay State University), Sally Scholz (Villanova University)
Topic: Race and Diversity in the Global Context
Keynote Speakers:
- Anthony Appiah, Princeton University, “The Diversity of Identity”
- Tommie Shelby, Harvard University, “Racism, Morality, and Social Criticism”
Book Award: Lucas Swaine, The Liberal Conscience: Politics and Principle in a World of Religious Pluralism. Columbia University Press, 2006.
25th Annual ISP Conference (July 17-19, 2008)
University of Portland, Portland, Oregon
Conference Organizers: Jeff Gauthier (University of Portland), Jordy Rocheleau (Austin Peay State University), and Richard Buck (Mount St. Mary’s University)
Topic: Gender, Equality, and Social Justice
Keynote Speakers:
- Margaret Urban Walker, Arizona State University, “Gender Justice in Repair: Finding Women’s Places in Post-Conflict Reparations”
- Claudia Card, University of Wisconsin, “Evils and Inexcusable Wrongs”
Book Award: Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity. Oxford University Press, 2007.
26th Annual ISP Conference (July 30-August 1, 2009)
Saint Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania.
Conference Organizers: Jim Boettcher (St. Joseph’s University), Nancy Snow (Marquette University), and Margaret Crouch (Eastern Michigan University)
Topic: The Public and the Private in the 21st Century
Keynote Speakers:
- Anita Allen, University of Pennsylvania, Law School, “Unpopular Privacy”
- David Schweikart, Loyola University of Chicago, “Reading ‘Legitimation Crisis’ during the Meltdown”
Book Award: G.A. Cohen, Rescuing Justice and Equality, Harvard University Press, 2008.
27st Annual ISP Conference (July 15-17, 2010)
Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario
Conference Organizers: Robert Murray (Ryerson University), Alex Wellington (Ryerson University), Lisa Schwartzman (Michigan State University), and Margaret Crouch (Eastern Michigan University)
Topic: Poverty, Markets, and Justice
Keynote speakers:
- Thomas Pogge, Yale University, “The Health Impact Fund: How to Structure a Just Market that Protects the Poor”
- Debra Satz, Stanford University, “International Noxious Markets: The Global Trade in Toxic Waste, Body Parts, Life Saving Drugs, and Human Beings”
- Presidential Address: Alistair Macleod, Queen’s University, “The Voluntary Transactions Principle and the Free Market Ideal”
Book Award: Amartya Sen, The Idea of Justice. Harvard, 2009.
28th Annual ISP Conference (July 21-23, 2011)
Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Conference Organizers: Nancy Snow (Marquette University), Jean Harvey (Guelph University), Gaile Pohlhaus (Miami University), and Lisa Schwartzman (Michigan State University)
Topic: Freedom, Religion, and Gender
Keynote speakers:
- Harry Brighouse, University of Wisconsin, Madison, “Religious Schools, Sexism, and the State”
- Jodi O’Brien, Seattle University, “Stained Glass Ceilings: The Politics and Power Abuses of Belonging”
Book Award: Stephen Nathanson, Terrorism and the Ethics of War. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
29th Annual ISP Conference (July 26-28, 2012)
Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Conference Organizers: Stephen Nathanson (Northeastern University), Gaile Pohlhaus (Miami University), John Koolage (Eastern Michigan University), Theresa Tobin (Marquette University)
Topic: Civic Virtues, Divided Societies and Democratic Dilemmas
Keynote Speakers:
- James Bohman, St Louis University, “Democratic Experimentalism: The New Circumstances of Politics”
- Azizah al-Hibri,
Book Award: Ben Berger, Attention Deficit Democracy: The Paradox of Civic Engagement. Princeton University Press, 2011.
30th Annual ISP Conference (July 11-13, 2013)
Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut.
Conference Organizers: Anat Biletzki (Quinnipiac University), Theresa Tobin (Marquette University), Mark Navin (Oakland University), Devora Shapiro (Southern Oregon University)
Topic: Food
Keynote speaker:
- Paul Thomson,Michigan State University, “The GMO Quandary and Why it Matters for Social Philosophy”
- Lisa Heldke, Gustavus Adolphus University, “Two Authenticities”
Book Award: Jose Medina, The Epistemology of Resistance: Gender and Racial Oppression, Epistemic Injusticee, and Resistant Imaginations. Oxford University Press, 2012
31st Annual ISP Conference (July 17-19, 2014)
Southern Oregon University, Ashland, Oregon
Conference Organizers: Devora Shapiro (Southern Oregon University), Mark Navin (Oakland University), Peter Higgins (Eastern Michigan University), Elizabeth Sperry (William Jewell College)
Topic: Power, Protest, and the Future of Democracy
Keynote speaker:
- Thomas Christiano, University of Arizona, “Democracy, Migration, and International Institutions”
- Akeel Bilgrami. Columbia University, “The Mentality of Democracy: Some Philosophical Reflections”
Book Award: Meira Levinson, No Citizen Left Behind. Harvard University Press, 2012.
32nd Annual ISP Conference (July 16-18, 2015)
William Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri.
Conference Organizers: Matt Silliman (Massachusetts College of the Liberal Arts), Joan Woolfrey (West Chester University), and Mark Navin (Oakland University
Topic: Education & Social Justice
Keynote speakers:
- Lorraine B. Code, York University, “Who Do We Think We Are?”
- Nel Noddings, Stanford University, “Care Ethics and Social Policy”
- Presidential Address: Margaret Crouch, Eastern Michigan University, “Why Can’t We Behave? with Apologies to Cole Porter”
Book Award: Joseph Fishkin, Bottlenecks: A New Theory of Equal Opportunity. Oxford University Press, 2014.
33rd Annual ISP Conference (July 21-23, 2016)
Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario
Conference Organizers: Jay Drydyk (Carleton University), Christine Koggel (Carleton University), Joan Woolfrey (West Chester University), Devora Shapiro (Southern Oregon University), Kyle Thomsen (St. Francis University)
Topic: Power and Public Reason
Keynote Speakers:
- Gerald Gaus, University of Arizona, “Is Public Reason a Normalization Project?”
- Noelle McAfee, Emory University, “Humanity and the Refugee: Another stab at Universal Human Rights”
Book Award: Paul B. Thomson, From Field to Fork: Food Ethics for Everyone. Oxford University Press, 2015.
34th Annual ISP Conference (July 13-15, 2017)
Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois
Conference Organizers: Heidi Malm (Loyola University), Joan Woolfrey (West Chester University), Kathryn Norlock (Trent University), Ann Levey (University of Calgary)
Topic: Justice: Social, Criminal, Juvenile
Keynote Speakers:
- Panel: Criminal Justice in Cook County: Superintendent Leonard B. Dixon, Cook County Juvenile Detention Center; Karen Daniel, Esq., Clinical Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law; Director, Center on Wrongful Convictions; Laura Caldwell, J.D., Professor of Law, Loyola University Chicago School of Law; Founder and Director, Loyola’s Life after Innocence Project
- Tommie Shelby, Harvard University, “Prison Abolition? The Uses and Abuses of Incarceration”
- Lisa Guenther, Vanderbilt University, “Unmaking and Remaking the World in Long-Term Solitary Confinement”
Book Award: Tommie Shelby, Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform. Harvard University Press, 2016
35th Annual ISP Conference (July 19-21, 2018)
Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan
Conference Organizers: Mark Navin (Oakland University), Kate Norlock (Trent University), Geoff Karabin (Neumann University), Jennifer Szende (University of Guelph)
Topic: Health, Well-Being, and Society
Keynote Speakers:
- Lecture sponsored by Oakland University: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Pediatrician and Public Health Advocate in Flint, Michigan. “What the Eyes Don’t See”
- S. Matthew Liao, New York University, “Human Rights and Public Health Ethics”
- Serene Khader, Brooklyn College, “Toward a Prescriptive Transnational Feminism”
Book Award: Colleen Murphy, The Conceptual Foundations of Transitional Justice. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
36th Annual ISP Conference (July 11-13, 2019)
University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Conference Organizers: Jeff Paris (University of San Francisco), [also Lori Kerfus, Program Assistant, Dept. of Philosophy, Ronald Sundstrom, David Stump, Connor Chen (University of San Francisco)], Geoff Karabin (Neumann University) chair, Laura Kane (University of Tampa), Roksana Alavi (Oklahoma University)
Topic: HOME: Sanctuary, Shelter, & Justice
Keynote Speakers:
- Lecture sponsored by Oakland University: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Pediatrician and Public Health Advocate in Flint, Michigan. “What the Eyes Don’t See”
- Gillian Brock, University of Aukland, “Helping the Homeless of our State System: The Case of Refugees”
- José Jorge Mendoza, University of Massachusetts, Lowell “Crimmigration: Why We Need a Minimal Set of Immigrant Rights”
- Presidential Address: Sally Scholz, Villanova University, “Solidarity as Sanctuary”
Book Award: Rahel Jaeggi, Critique of Forms of Life, Harvard University Press, 2018.
37th Annual ISP Conference (July 16-18, 2020)
Moved online because of COVID-19 (originally scheduled for Neumann University).
Conference Organizers: Lisa Schwartzman, chair (Michigan State University), Maurice Hamington (Portland State University), Janice Moskalik (Seattle University), and Geoff Karabin (Neumann University).
Topic: Respect, Social Action, #MeToo
- Susan Brison, Dartmouth College, “What’s Consent Got to Do with It?”
- Linda Alcoff, The Graduate Center CUNY, “Standing in the Intersections with the #metoo movement”
Book Award: Yvonne Chiu, Conspiring with the Enemy: The Ethic of Cooperation in Warfare (Columbia University Press, 2019)
38th Annual ISP Conference (July 15-17 2021)
Online synchronous and asynchronous components due to COVID-19
Conference Organizers: Matt Silliman (chair), Janice Moskalik, Maurice Hamington, Beth Sperry
Topic: Revolutions and Reparations
Plenary Speakers:
- Meena Krishnamurthy (Queens University), “Is Political Distrust ’the Problem’?: Reflections on the Flint Water Crisis and the Movement for Black Lives.”
- Susan Brison (Dartmouth) and Linda Martin Alcoff (Hunter College CUNY), “Has #MeToo Gone Too Far?”
Book Award: Serena Parekh (Northeastern University), No Refuge: Ethics and the Global Refugee Crisis, (Oxford University Press, 2020)
39th Annual ISP Conference (July 14-16 in person and July 29 virtually, 2022)
Topic: Polarization, Reconciliation, and Community
Plenary speakers:
- C. Thi Nguyen (University of Utah), “Hostile Epistemology”
- Colleen Murphy (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), “Contempt, Political Divisions, and Transitional Justice”
Book Award: Anne Schwenkenbecher (Murdoch University), Getting Our Act Together: A Theory of Collective Moral Obligations, (Routledge, 2021)
2022 in-person and virtual programs
Additional history of the organization is being collected by the society’s Sally Scholz. Please send any documents, recollections, or other useful information.
40th Annual ISP Conference (July 13-15 2023)
Topic: Conflict, Crisis, and Catastrophe
Plenary speakers:
- Stephen Gardiner (University of Washington), “Climate Ethics and Institutional Denial”
- Amy Reed-Sandoval (University of Nevada at Las Vegas), “Feminism and the Open Border Debate”
Book Award: Elsa Dorlin (University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès), Self Defense: A Philosophy of Violence, (Verso, 2022)
Additional history of the organization is being collected by the society’s Sally Scholz. Please send any documents, recollections, or other useful information.