The Future of Relationships
Abstract
Intimate relationships of various kinds play important roles in our lives. From romantic relationships andclose friendships to relationships with colleagues and neighbors, they affect our well-being and thestructure of our lives in profound ways. There have been many attempts to reimagine societies by focusing
on changes to the public sphere: to how we work, how society is structured, and how we will be governed.
Less attention has been directed to changes in our intimate relationships. This workshop aims to explore
the future of relationships of all forms - including friendship, family life, romantic relationships, collegiality,etc. - as well as the broader ethical and political challenges they raise. For instance, what does good
intimacy look like? What social, legal, cultural, or personal changes are required to promote its
achievement? How are we currently being held-back? What are some underexplored ways in which thevalue of relationships that are important in people’s lives come into conflict with broader ethical and/or
political values? How should we and a range of institutions address these potential tensions?
We invite proposals of no more than 500 words, for a presentation of approximately 30 minutes, toengage with a host of ethical and political questions around the future of relationships. Here is a nonexclusive list of some indicative themes:
Possible topics
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Intimacy online
Intimacy and augmented reality
Chatbots and intimacy: therapy, love and Digital Duplicates
Robots: sex, love, friendship
Fertility technologies
Social norms of intimacy: e.g. amatonormativity, sex-negativity etc.
Relationship styles: relationship anarchy, polyamory, aromanticism
Relationship ideals: love, friendship, collegiality
Intimate practices: consent, communication, designing relationships
Alternatives to/abolition of the family
Intimacy and architecture: cities and buildings; schools, prisons, workplaces
Intimacy and fantasy: BDSM, imaginary friendships, porn
Paying for intimacy
The role of the state in relationships
The role of religion in relationships
Methodology: Ideal vs. non ideal approaches to intimacy
Spousal/partner hiring at the workplace
The ethics of risky relationships
Justice and limits of permissible partiality
Justice and the ethics of procreation
The ethics of rationally reinforcing unjust norms in relationships
The ethics of subversive relationships
Feminist perspectives on monogamy/non-monogamy

We actively welcome in-progress work and seek to foster a friendly and collaborative environment. PhD
students, post-docs, and ECR are especially welcome. We are also receptive to interdisciplinary
explorations of these ideas, provided they are accessible to the non-specialist.
Please email your abstract to futureofrelationships@gmail.com by June 1st.
We will notify successful applicants by June 10th. If you are a graduate student, MANCEPT has a small
number of fee-waiver bursaries for which you can apply after acceptance (the deadline is June 28th).

Wednesday 4th September

11:00-12:30

Registration

12:30-13:30

Lunch

13:30-14:00

Welcome Speech

14:00-16:00

Session 1
Vasti Calitz: What Does Friendship Become When it is At the Centre of IntimateLife?
Youngbin Yoon: Regarding Friends and Significant Others

16:00-16:30Tea and Coffee Break

16:30-17:30

Session 1 (continued)
Christopher Bousquet: The Gig Economy, De-Skilling, and Working-Class
Loneliness

17:45-19:00

Wine Reception

19:30

Conference DinnerThursday 5th September

9:30-11:30

Session 2
Kristin Kauper: Love, Actually? Rethinking Romantic Relationships from an
Asexual and Aromantic Perspective
Matthew Robson: Relationships are not Unions

11:30-12:00

Tea and Coffee Break (optional)

12:00-13:00

Session 2 (continued)
Brian Berkey and Kritika Maheshwari: The Ethics of Partner Hiring in Academia

13:00-14:00

Lunch14:00-16:00

Session 3Perri Sriwannawit: Egalitarian Non-Monogamy
Gah-Kai Leung: Reducing the Costs of Queer Flirting

16:00-16:30

Tea and Coffee Break (optional)

16:30-17:30

Session 3 (continued)
Paloma Morales: What's Wrong with Being Lenient? Leniency, Personal
Relationships, and the Value of Neededness

Friday 6th September

9:30-11:30

Session 4
Rhys Southan: A Future Without Families
Lesley Jamieson: Fantasy, Conflict, and the Value of Non-Parental Love

11:30-12:00

Tea and Coffee Break (optional)

12:00-13:00

Session 4 (continued)
Rebecca Wallbank: The Rationality of Emotions toward AI

13:00-14:00

Lunch

14:00-16:00

Session 5
Andrée-Anne Cormier: Liberalism, Intimate Justice and the Aims of Relationships
Education
Megan Huang: Protection or Denial of Love: Cognitive Disability and AffectiveInjustice

16:00-16:30

Tea and Coffee Break (optional)

16:30-17:30

Session 5 (continued)
Sumeet Patwardhan: Meddlesome Blame for Nonconsensual Sex

17:30

End of Conference