Justice from an interdisciplinary perspective

What is justice? According to which criteria do we judge whether something is just or unjust? What different concepts of justice are there? Which insights can the humanities, behavioral and social sciences contribute to this debate?

This year, PRIF’s annual conference discusses the different notions and theories of justice. Internationally renowned natural and social scientists will present their perspectives on justice during two panels.

Primatologist and behavioral scientist Professor Frans de Waal (Emory University, Atlanta) and neurobiologist Professor Joachim Bauer (University of Freiburg) will offer insights on the role of justice from a natural scientific perspective. Professor Klaus Günther (Cluster of Excellence “The Formation of Normative Orders” at Frankfurt University) will comment on their presentations.

Panel II will focus on the social sciences: Sociologist Professor Stefan Liebig (University of Bielefeld) and political scientist Professor Cecilia Albin (Uppsala University, Department of Peace and Conflict Research) will introduce results of empirical work on justice on social and political behavior, which will be commented on by Professor Nicole Deitelhoff (PRIF Research Group “Contested Normativity: Norm Conflicts in Global Governance”).

In their summary, Professor Richard Ned Lebow (King's College London) and PRIF’s executive director Professor Harald Müller will reflect on the ideas presented. What conclusions can be drawn for peace research and PRIF’s research program “Just Peace Governance”?

The conference will be held in English.