Call for Papers for Early-Career Research Workshop „History of Political Thought, Cambridge Contextualism and Political Theory: Judgment, Normativity, and Crisis“ with Prof. John Dunn (Cambridge) and PD Dr. Martin Baesler (Freiburg) on Saturday, January 24, 2026, 2 – 5 pm, University of Freiburg (Germany):
The Cambridge School advances a hermeneutic, contextualist approach to the history of political thought: it resists anachronism, treats language as action, employs the “logic of question and answer,” and foregrounds the agonistic force of rhetoric. Crucially, it affirms the real agency of ideas while insisting that their meaning and effects are inseparable from discursive and historical contexts. At a time when political certainties are eroding, populist movements are gaining ground, and diagnoses of a wider “crisis of democracy” proliferate, insights from the Cambridge School offer guidance for cultivating sound political judgment. Rooted in the Enlightenment tradition, such judgment demands rational, self-reflective deliberation that resists affective pull and accepts responsibility. Informed by Cambridge contextualism, it gains a critical dimension: attuned to historical and discursive contexts, judgment can scrutinise persuasive strategies, rhetorical devices, and underlying intentions, distinguishing transient populist appeals from enduring democratic principles. This workshop asks: how can a contextual approach not only interpret these crises but also help to critique them and orient normative responses today?
Questions may include (but are not limited to):
- Can Cambridge contextualism provide a normative basis for defending democratic principles, beyond diagnosis and description?
- How broad must “context” be to remain explanatorily useful without collapsing into indeterminacy?
- How do performative speech acts interact with power and conflict, and what follows for democratic judgment?
- Which methodological checks (question-answer logic, intention, audience) best guard against retrojection and anachronism?
- Under what conditions can contextualism be developed into a critical theory of the present (disinformation, populism, crisis of democracy)?
Submissions
- Abstract: 300–500 words + 3–5 keywords
- Status: Work-in-progress or full paper (Presentations are 20 minutes)
- Bio: 100 words (institution, career stage)
- Format: PDF; anonymised for review + separate title page
- Language: English
The workshop will take place at the University of Freiburg (Germany) on Saturday, 24 January 2026, and will be followed by a conference on Monday–Tuesday, 26–27 January 2026. Please submit a 300–500-word abstract (with 3–5 keywords) and a short 100-word bio (institution, stage) for the workshop, as a single PDF (anonymised for review with a separate title page) to martin.baesler@politik.uni-freiburg.de by 10 December 2025. Notifications will be sent by around 20 December 2025. Unfortunately, funding is very limited, so travel and accommodation cannot be covered. We look forward to your submission. Further information will be available on the Political Theory website of the University of Freiburg. Please visit our website for more details: https://uni-freiburg.de/politik/early-career-research-workshop-history-of-political-thought-cambridge-contextualism-and-political-theory-judgment-normativity-and-crisis/