Conference: Cultural Heritage and Ethics of War

The AHRC-funded Heritage in War Project, led by Helen Frowe and Derek Matravers, explores the moral value of cultural heritage and how we ought to incorporate this value into our accounts of the ethics of war, and deal with damage to heritage in the aftermath of conflict. Whilst some work has been done on these topics by people working in cognate areas, few philosophers have directly engaged with these sorts of questions. The aim of this conference is to begin to develop a robust account of the status of heritage in war by exploring philosophical work on such matters as incommensurability and incomparability, the nature and status of cultural heritage, risk imposition, and the reconstruction and replacement of damaged or destroyed heritage.

Keynote Speakers:

Simon Blackburn (Cambridge)

Ruth Chang (Oxford)

Victor Tadros (Warwick)

Provisional Agenda:

Wednesday 18th September

09.30 – 10.45: Ruth Chang (Oxford)

- Keynote: How Does Cultural Heritage Matter?

10.45 – 11.05: Coffee

11.05 – 12.05: Lisa Giombini (Roma Tre University)

- Objects and Symbols. How Should We Respect Architectural Property?

12.15 – 13.15: Erin L. Thompson and Jeff Sebo (CUNY & NYU)

- Return to the Scene of the Crime: Legal, Political, and Ethical Analysis of Determinations of Safe Return

13.15 – 14.15: Lunch

14.15 – 15.15: David Garrard (Oxford Brookes)

- How to Feel About the Fall of Carthage: Cultural Devastation in Retrospect

15.15 – 15.45: Coffee

15.45 – 17.00: Victor Tadros (Warwick)

- Keynote - Cultural Destruction and Reconstruction

17.00 – 18.00: Drinks reception

Thursday 19th September

09.30 – 10.30: Rasa Davidaviciute (St. Andrews)

- Cultural Heritage, Genocide and Agency

10.30 – 10.50: Coffee

10.50 – 11.50: Samuel Bruce and Lucie Fusade (Oxford)

- When Should Post-Conflict Damage to Historic Buildings be Preserved?

12.00 – 13.15: Simon Blackburn (Cambridge)

- Keynote

13.15 – 14.00: Lunch

CONFERENCE END

Registration:

Please follow this link to sign up for the conference, book accommodation, and reserve a place at the conference dinne.