2026 Program
Program
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Crisis & Recovery – Ethics in Interdisciplinary Dialogue
Societas Ethica’s 62nd Annual Conference 2026
August 20–23 2026, University of Tartu, Estonia
(preliminary) Conference Program
Thursday, Aug 20, 2026
14:45–17:00
Registration
16:00
Room 230
Pre-Conference Workshop – Young Societas
For PhD students and Postdocs who have registered for this event
15:00–17:00
Coffee & Snacks
18:00
Dinner
19:00
Assembly Hall
Opening of the Conference – Welcome by the President and Hosts
Prof. Dr. Gotlind Ulshöfer and Prof. Dr. Thomas-Andreas Põder
19:30
Assembly Hall
Keynote Lecture: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life? Optimism, Pessimism, and Radical Hope
Prof. Dr. Ingolf U. Dalferth, Claremont Graduate University / University of Zurich
Friday, August 21, 2026
09:00
Assembly Hall
Keynote Lecture: Masters of the Sign and Peacemakers – Semioethics and New Humanism
Prof. Dr. Susan Petrilli, University of Bari Aldo Moro
10:30
Coffee Break
11:00–12:30
Paper Sessions (1)
Session A
Room 230
Tomasz-Łukasz Stanowski:
Repairing the Semiosphere of Legality: Constitutional Memory and Semiotic Ethics of Recovery in a Stateless Public Sphere (1830–1880)
Yousef Khasho:
Ethical Implications of the Sign ‘God’ in Dominion Theology for Indigenous Suffering and Recovery in Guatemala
Session B
Room 228
Marta Kucza:
Epistemic Injustice and Climate Crisis: On the Ethics of Participatory Research in Ecosemiotics
Antonina Wozna:
Ethics of Ambiguity as A Starting Point of The Sustainability Principles
Session C
Room 307
Sitian Liu:
Caring in Motion: Pragmatic Ethics of Care and Moral Agency under Pressure
Lea Chilian:
From Care to Empowerment: Entrustment as an Ethical Resource for Institutional Recovery
Session D
Room 140
Andrey Makarychev:
The New Russian Ethical Debate: A Biopolitical Interpretation
Anna Seidl:
Ethics of Possibility: Imagines Futures in War and Refugee Narratives
12:30
Lunch
14:00
Assembly Hall
Keynote Lecture: Between Self-Victimization and Safety Culture – Ethical Remarks on Encountering and Coping with Crises
Prof. Dr. Jaana Hallamaa, University of Helsinki
15:30
Coffee Break
15:45–17:15
Paper Sessions (2)
Session E
Room 230
Petra Partanen:
The Narrative Ethics of Mothers’ Life Writing as a Passage from Crisis to Recovery
Susanne Wigorts Yngvesson:
Crisis and Renewal: Women’s Vocation and Moral Agency in Early Twentieth-Century Sweden
Session F
Room 228
Thomas-Andreas Põder:
The Sign “God” between Crisis and Recovery: A Theosemiotic Perspective from Post-Secular Estonia
Erik Georg William Kõvamees:
Crises in the Semiosphere: Cultural Semiotics and Prison Ethics in Dialogue
Session G
Room 307
Simona Mitroiu:
(Re)Discussing the Ethics of Recognition from the Margins: Roma’s Structural Discrimination in Romania
Marleen Rensen:
Analyzing an Intimate Testimony of the Humanitarian Crisis in Wartime Ukraine: Narrative Activism and the Ethics of Recognition
Session H
Room 140
Eric Martinez Tomasini:
Forgiving Ourselves and Those Who Have Hurt Us: Queer Christian Narratives of Recovery, Ethical Agency, and Reconciliation
Sónia da Silva Monteiro:
The Rhetoric of Forgiveness and the Crisis of Clerical Sexual Abuse
17:15
Break
17:30–19:00
Paper Sessions (3)
Session I
Room 230
Laura Maria Vilbiks:
Nature in Crisis: Ethical and Ontological (Re)orientation in a Deeply Entangled World
Harshita Tripathi:
Responsibility without Authorship: Systemic Climate Crisis and the Sāṃkhya Reconfiguration of Moral Agency
Session J
Room 228
Fatima Festić:
Postdiasporic Dispersion, Nomadic Ethics, and Semioethics
Leena Käosaar:
War, Displacement, and the Ethics of the Ordinary: Life Narratives of Ukrainians Seeking Shelter in Estonia
Session K
Room 307
Hanna Klimpe:
Your Slavic Bestie: Female Self-Help and the Exploitation of Cultural Heritage on Instagram
Mark Lack:
“Become What You Are”: Helmut Thielicke’s Theological Anthropology Founded on a Relational Imago Dei as a Response to West Germany’s Postwar Wirtschaftswunder
Session L
Room 140
Alexandra Lebedeva:
What is Political about Political Reconciliation: A Critical Analysis of Theories of Political Reconciliation
Kam Fung Johnny Lai:
The Failure of Hong Kong Political Theology? An Evaluation and a Proposal
19:00
Dinner
20:30
Assembly Hall
General Assembly
General Assembly for all members of Societas Ethica.
Those who are not yet members are very welcome to attend.
Later
Social Evening
Saturday, August 22, 2026
09:00
Assembly Hall
Keynote Lecture:
Prof. Dr. Margit Sutrop, University of Tartu
10:30
Coffee Break
10:45–12:15
Paper Sessions (4)
Session M
Room 230
Leo Mendoza:
Democracy and the Theological Challenge of Christian Nationalism: Reclaiming John Courtney Murray’s Vision for a Pluralist Public Ethic
Liv Steinebach:
As Christians, You Shall not Tolerate – A Theological-Ethical Perspective on Objections against Tolerance and the Question of Whether Tolerance Should be Abandoned
Session N
Room 228
Andrews Chhakchhuak:
Trauma, Moral Perception, and the Limits of Just War: Toward a Trauma Responsive Christian Just Peace Ethic in the Manipur Crisis
Lukas Johrendt:
Artificial Intelligence as Crisis and Salvation Dark Enlightenment, Political Theology, and the Ethical Challenge to Democracy in the AI Summer
Session O
Room 307
Amanda Lindestreng:
Democracy, Disagreement, and Human Rights: A Critical Reading of Dworkin
Xin Mao:
Democratic Rights against Democracy: In the Time of Crisis
Session P
Room 140
Andrew Packman:
Conscience in the Wake of Irreparable Evil: Atmospheric Adhesion, Infinite Moral Demands, and the Theological Pathos of Responsive Ethics
Thomas Wabel:
Addressing a Denied Trauma in Commemoration? The Difficult Road Towards Coming to Terms with Germany’s Colonial Past
12:15
Lunch
13:30
Excursion to Emajõgi River
Guided Boat Tour discovering the history of Estonia
18:00
Conference Dinner
Including the presentation of the Young Scholar’s Award winner
Sunday, August 23, 2026
09:00–10:30
Paper Sessions (5)
Session Q
Room 230
Judith Bollongino:
„Schwerter zu Pflugscharen“ – Ist es Zeit für eine Friedensethik der Erinnerung?
Isa Roese:
„Sterben helfen, Abschied gestalten“ – Ethische und praktisch-theologische Reflexionen zu Euthanasie, Trauer und ritueller Praxis beim Tod von Haustieren
Session R
Room 228
Johann-Christian Põder:
Knud E. Løgstrup’s “Forgetfulness of Creation” as Environmental Amnesia: Ethics, Memory, and Practices of Re-Membering
Randika Perera:
Remembering Otherwise: Buddhist Reflection on Suffering, Forgiveness, and Ethical Life in Sri Lanka
Session S
Room 307
Tabea Ott:
Human Dignity: Analytic and Narrative-Anamnetic Approaches in Ethical Reasoning
Meego Remmel:
Sense of Virtue in Singing Through Crisis: A MacIntyrean Virtue-Ethical Analysis of 16th-Century Anabaptist and 21st-Century Ukrainian Baptistic Hymnody
Session T
Room 140
David Wellman:
The Power of Interconvictional Diplomacy in a Fractured World: Deepening Transnational Collaboration and Community Among Populations of EU Member States
Ruben Scheunders:
The Ethical Implications of Symbolic Boundaries for Liberal Democracy
10:30
Coffee Break
11:00
Assembly Hall
Keynote Lecture:
Prof. Dr. Hans Ruin, Södertörn University
12:30
Assembly Hall
Farewell Note
Prof. Dr. Gotlind Ulshöfer and Prof. Dr. Thomas-Andreas Põder
12:45
Brown Bag Lunch
Travel bus to Tallinn Airport