News and Events

Memorial Addresses

The centre hosts two annual lectures in honour of distinguished colleagues.  The Henry Tudor and Alan Milne Addresses.

 

Timetable 2023-2024

This year’s addresses will be as follows:

Professor Humeira Iqtidar (Kings College London) Henry Tudor Address

November 8th 3.30-5pm ‘Justice Beyond Rights: Refugees, Migrants and The Idea of Haqq'.

 

Henry Tudor Memorial Address

Henry Tudor (1937-1997) was a lecturer at Durham University for 34 years. He died at the age of 60 before he retired. One of his obituaries calls him a ‘celebrity lecturer’. The claim is that he became a celebrity after he helped rescue from closure a workingmen’s club in one of the neighbouring villages. Henry took a legal qualification in order to fight this, eventually successful, battle, and this spread his fame beyond the university. Henry was always a celebrity in the Politics Department. Colleagues remember him for his conviviality, dedication to the department and dry sense of humour. He specialised in the history of political thought and wrote a well-received monograph Political Myth (1972). He also edited Marxism and Social Democracy; The Revisionist debate 1896-1898. He was the editor of Bernstein’s The Preconditions of Socialism for the series Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought.

 

Alan Milne Memorial Address

Alan Milne (1922 – 1998) was a Professor in political theory who worked in the Politics Department of Durham University for 11 years between 1976 and 1987. His books included The Social Philosophy of English Idealism (1962), Freedom and Rights (1968), The Right to Dissent (1983), Human Rights and Human Diversity (1986) and The Ethical Frontiers of the State (1997). Alan’s fate was rather unusual. He fought in the Second World War and lost his eyesight in a battle. Subsequently to that, he studied at Oxford and LSE and went on to have an outstanding academic career as a lecturer at the Queen’s University Belfast and a Professor at Durham.

 

Past Addresses

List of former address givers with the years of their addresses as featured on current website.

 

Alan Milne Memorial Address

2022/23 - Avner de Shalit (Hebrew University Jerusalem) “A City of Equals”.

2019/20 - Patricia Owens (University of Sussex)

2018/19 - Elizabeth Ashford (University of St. Andrews) “Hunger’s Unwitting Executioners.”

2017/18 – Gary Browning (Oxford Brookes) “Interpreting the History of Political Thought - Collingwood, Gadamer, Derrida”.

2016/17 – Matt Matraver (University of York) “Rootless Dessert and the Problem of Punishment”.

2015/16 – Clare Chambers (University of Cambridge) “The Marriage Free State”.

2014/15 – John Haldane (University of St Andrews) “Philosophy, Ethics and Society: Taking History Seriously”.

 

Henry Tudor Memorial Address

2023 – Humeira Iqtidar (Kings College London) “Justice Beyond Rights: Refugees, Migrants and The Idea of Haqq.”

2019/20 – Martin O’Neill (York) “Social Justice, Democratic Socialism and Collective Capital Institutions.”

2018/19 - Lisa Herzog (Technical University Munich) ‘‘What would it take to turn Facebook into a democracy? Between normative ideals and technical possibilities.’

2017/18 – Lea Ypi (LSE) “Dictatorship and Utopia”.

2016/17 - Nathan Widder (London, Royal Holloway) ‘What is a “War Machine”? Deleuze and Guattari’s Concept as a Critique of Hegel’s Political Philosophy’

2015/16 - David Miller (Nuffield) “2019 - Elizabeth Ashford (University of St. Andrews) “Hunger’s Unwitting Executioners.”

2014/2015 - Ian Carter, (University of Pavia), 'Liberty and equality'.

 

Seminar Series

The centre hosts a guest-speaker series Wednesday afternoons usually from 3-5pm.  Light refreshments are provided in the McEwan Lounge. This year’s schedule can be found below:

14th September - Kei Hiruta University of Tokyo ‘Hannah Arendt and the Politics of Deception’.

11th October - Mirjam Mueller Humboldt University, Berlin     

25th October - Joe Saunders Durham University (Philosophy)  

6th December - Luke O'Sullivan National University Singapore ‘The Last Maoist: An Examination of Alain Badiou's Case for Fidelity to Communism'.

31st Jan  - Kerri woods University of Leeds     ‘LGBTQ+ Human Rights.’

28th Feb - Colin Tyler University of Hull ‘When Protesting is a Duty, Not a Right.’

24th April – Katherine  Pudifoot Durham University (Philosophy).           

If you would like to give a talk in the academic year 2023-2024 please get in touch with the centre director on Elizabeth.kahn@durham.ac.uk  We particularly welcome talks that challenge and expand the discipline by questioning underlying assumptions, utilising innovative methodologies or addressing under-explored problems.

 

Work in Progress Group

The centre hosts an online pre-read work in progress session.  It is a fantastic opportunity to get feedback from colleagues on papers, chapters, funding proposals and other works in development.  It is run by centre deputy director Jan Kandiyali.  It usually runs online on a Wednesday from 3.30 - 5pm. If you wish to submit your work for discussion please get in touch with Jan.

 

This years schedule:

1st  November      Maria Dimova-Cookson    

22nd November    Available

17th January          Available               

14th Feb                Available

13th March            Available               

1st May                  Available           

           

Conferences, Workshops and Book Launches

The centre regular hosts conferences and workshops.  Past events include the Association for Social and Political Philosophy Annual Conference 2022 Political Philosophy & Political Activism and  Theories of Liberty Commemorative conference and the Graduate Political Theory Conference.  This year we plan to host a workshop in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology exploring synergies and benefits of interdisciplinary discussions between social anthropologists and political theorists. 

If you wish to hold an event, please get in touch with the centre director Elizabeth Kahn Elizabeth.kahn@durham.ac.uk.

 

This year’s conferences, workshops and book launches:

18th September 12.00-13.30 – Dr Jessica Begon - Book Launch – ‘Disability through the Lens of Justice’ Oxford University Press 2023.

March 2024 – Planned Workshop in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute fro Social Anthropology: Political Philosophy Meets Social Anthropology (organisers Elizabeth Kahn and Michael Vine)

June 20th- 21^st 2024 – Northern Bridge Institutions Political Theory Regional Meeting (with colleagues from Queens Belfast and Newcastle University.