2025 Agency and Disadvantage Workshop

Perspectives on Agency and Disadvantage

University of Turku, Finland, July 2–3 2025

This two-day interdisciplinary workshop explores human agency in the context of social interaction and social structure. We invite academics across philosophy, psychology, and related disciplines to present new work on any aspect of the interaction of agency and disadvantage to share theoretical insights, empirical research, and practical social and political applications. The workshop is hosted by the Agency as Experience and Capacity: Social Mechanisms, Political Implications project at the University of Turku. Generous support by the Kone foundation enables us to make this event free for all. The event is organized by Polaris Koi, Anssi Bwalya and Joonas Martikainen.

The keynote speakers are:

Jeanette Kennett (Philosophy, Macquarie University)
Nelli Hankonen (Social Psychology, Tampere University)
Lilian O’Brien (Philosophy, Tampere University & University of Helsinki)

Registration

Registration is now closed.

Programme

Wednesday, July 2

8:30-9:15 registration & coffee
9:15 opening words

9:30-10:45 Keynote: Lilian O’Brien (Tampere, Helsinki) Chair: Joonas Martikainen

10:45-11:00 break

11:00-12:45 session 1 – Agency, inequality, and dependence Chair: Polaris Koi
Ari Ofengenden (Tulane): Agency under conditions of structural inequality
Charlie Kurth (Clemson): I’m losing it! What the feeling of lost control tells us about being an agent
Catherine Dale (Leipzig): Dependent intentional action as enhancing agency

12:45-14 lunch

14-15:10 session 2 – Agency and psychiatry Chair: Anssi Bwalya
Cristiano Bacchi (HU Berlin): “Where does my psychiatric condition stop and the rest of me begin?” On the interplay between authenticity and the sense of agency in psychiatry
Aku Visala (Helsinki): Autonomy and moral responsibility in MDD

15:10-16:00 coffee break

16-17:15 Keynote: Nelli Hankonen (Tampere) Chair: Anssi Bwalya

18:30 Speakers’ dinner

Thursday, July 3

9-10:45 session 3 – Sexual agency and law Chair: Visa Kurki
Esko Yli-Hemminki (Helsinki): A normative theory of criminal law’s person
Maria Teresa Cotrufo (KCL): Redefining sexual agency: A critical analysis of the sexual offenses act 2003
Arlene Lo (LSE): Defiance amid despair: Reporting sexual assault despite its futility

10:45-11:30 coffee break

11:30-12:45 session 4 – Agency and political theory Chair: Joonas Martikainen
Ben Colburn & Jennifer Corns (Glasgow): An agent-centred approach to disadvantage
Russ McIntosh (Berkeley): Agent-relative prerogatives and deference to power

12:45-14 lunch

14-15:10 session 5 – Agency and epistemic (in)justice Chair: Anssi Bwalya
Daniel Vespermann (Heidelberg) & Sanna Tirkkonen (Helsinki): Existential injustice and psychosis risk: the role of harmful salience in social defeat
Amandine Catala (UQAM Montréal): From a pluralist account of epistemic agency to a pluralist account of epistemic repair

15:10-16:00 coffee break

16:00-17:15 Keynote: Jeanette Kennett (Macquarie) Chair: Polaris Koi

17:15-17:30 Closing words

Friday, July 4

Recreational day: tour of Turku castle and archipelago

Questions?

If you have any questions about the event, please contact Polaris Koi at polaris.koi@utu.fi
If you are participating as audience on-site and need to be included in the programme, we may be able to include you as chair of one of the sessions. Please contact Polaris Koi.