The Philosophy of Right and wrong: Hegel on crime, transgression, and injustice
Conference • September 11–13, 2025 • Freiburg/Germany
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law
Judgments of wrong are ubiquitous in moral, political, and legal discourse. Yet, we rarely talk about what is wrong, its place in the world, and its relationship to what is right. This conference brings together scholars to explore the notion of wrong (Unrecht) in and through GWF Hegel’s mature philosophy.
Since his early writings, Hegel was occupied with the question how to reconcile the normative order with deviations from that order. It is a question that pervades the Philosophy of Right, where his political theory finds its final formulation. When it first appears, the notion of wrong reveals the deficiency of a system based on abstract rights; after that, it remains an undercurrent of the argument. Arguably, the problem of righting wrongs does not just inform, famously, Hegel’s theory of punishment but also his examinations of morality, the capitalist market, courts, poverty, citizenship, and international politics, among other things.
From 11 to 13 September 2025, the Independent Research Group “Criminal Law Theory” welcomes scholars from jurisprudence, philosophy, political theory, and adjacent fields to a collaborative and interdisciplinary conference on “The Philosophy of Right and wrong”.
Call for Abstracts
The overarching ambition of the conference is to put exegetical research into touch with current debates in legal theory, especially criminal law scholarship, and adjacent fields, such as moral philosophy, meta-ethics, and political theory. For a list of themes to be explored, and further background on the conference, please refer to the detailed Call for Abstracts (pdf file).
Speakers are welcome to tackle other questions than the ones listed in the detailed CfA, as long as they connect to the overarching theme. While the focus of the conference is on Hegel’s mature political philosophy, scholars are encouraged to draw on earlier writings if doing so is conducive to accentuating, contrasting, or criticising the argument of the Philosophy of Right.
Presentations will be held in English and should be no longer than 30 minutes. Travel and accommodation costs for speakers will be covered. We plan to publish the conference proceedings after the event, with further details to be announced in due course.
Please send the provisional title of your presentation and an abstract of no more than 300 words to strafrechtstheorie@csl.mpg.de by 28 February 2025.
If you have any questions regarding the conference, please contact Simon Gansinger, again at strafrechtstheorie@csl.mpg.de.
Confirmed Speakers
- Giulia Battistoni (Università di Verona)
- Thom Brooks (Durham University)
- Alan Brudner (University of Toronto)
- Jochen Bung (Universität Hamburg)
- Alan Norrie (University of Warwick)
- Angelica Nuzzo (Brooklyn College, CUNY)
- Klaus Vieweg (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena)
- Claudia Wirsing (TU Braunschweig)
Venue
The Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law (MPI-CSL) is located in Freiburg in the suburb of “Wiehre” and can be reached from the main train station/city center by tram line 2 (stop “Holbeinstraße”), by taxi as well as on foot (around 20 minutes). The workshop will take place in an annex building of the MPI at Fürstenbergstraße 19. It is a new building with barrier-free access.
Address
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law
Günterstalstraße 73
79100 Freiburg
Germany
Directions can be found on Google Maps.
About us
The workshop is organized by Dr. Simon Gansinger and Dr. Dr. Philipp-Alexander Hirsch.
- Simon Gansinger is a postdoctoral member of the Independent Research Group “Criminal Law Theory”. His work focuses on Hegel’s political philosophy and on critical theory in the tradition of the Frankfurt School.
- Philipp-Alexander Hirsch is Leader of the Independent Research Group “Criminal Law Theory” at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law in Freiburg. His research focuses on criminal law and criminal procedure, legal philosophy and legal theory, and the history and philosophy of criminal law in the Age of Enlightenment.
The Max Planck Research Group “Criminal Law Theory” focuses on the analysis of substantive criminal law and criminal procedure and the doctrine in these areas; the analysis centers on the underlying normative structures and principles in order to assess their coherence, justifiability, and persuasiveness. The aim is to draw on the fruits of this analysis to engage in normative theory-building that proposes solutions to problems in criminal law that go beyond interpreting the positive law.