In this seminar Prof. Sophia Rosenfeld shows how the question of coice is central to concerns of the common good and the social contract, drawing particular attention to a significant and underappreciated shift in how the common good is framed in modern democracies. The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd15MIGFpCA
The seminar took place over Zoom on 30 September 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network.
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In this seminar Dr. Timothy Jackson explores key questions about the social contract and the common good: who or what pre-exists “a social contract” and is capable of entering into it? To what extent is a stable notion of the “common good” achievable amongst subjects who are always at odds with themselves? The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0D2vcUhjmo
The seminar took place over Zoom on 16 September 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network.
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In this seminar Dr. Kristine Moruzi explores the world of eighteenth-century magazines soliciting charitable donations from children. She explores the methods and social importance of these magazines, reflecting on how they informed and reflected the common good.
The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYembnNclR4
The seminar took place over Zoom on 8 September 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network.
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In this seminar Prof. Douglas Guilfoyle analyzes the oceans as a global commons, detailing the legal frameworks like the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that define maritime zones such as the high seas and exclusive economic zones. He explores the historical development of these laws, the inherent conflicts between national interests, resource exploitation, environmental protection, and the "common heritage of mankind," alongside emerging critical perspectives challenging traditional ocean governance.
The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlFRj3piiR0
The seminar took place over Zoom on 29 April 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Prof. David McCourt analyzes the recent shift towards tougher China policies in the US, Australia, and the UK, arguing it results from an alignment between interconnected "fields" of knowledge production and specific groups of influential "China Watchers" in Washington, Canberra, and London. He traces how these experts promoting strategic competition or security concerns gained prominence over proponents of engagement, raising questions about the trade-offs between this geopolitical stance, the common good, and domestic societal impacts.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMiMDbm_vQ0
The seminar took place over Zoom on 8 April 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Prof. Thomas SImpson addresses questions of trust in contemporary society, including questions such as: under what circumstances is trust warranted within a community? What is the relationship between compliance with the law and a culture of trust?
The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion, including reflections on whether or not trust is a virtue, and whether trust is in fact necessary for something like the social contract to emerge.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlyh7sATY1s
The seminar took place over Zoom on 8 April 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Dr Amy Chandran addresses questions of power and religion on Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan. The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/ONemBZ7mmWY
The seminar took place over Zoom on 25 March 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Dr Bolek Kabala addresses the relationship between notions of contract and covenant in the work of Thomas Hobbes and Baruch Spinoza, with reflections on Augustine's two cities. The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/0anw_nIfsXY
The seminar took place over Zoom on 6 August 2024, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this roundtable, Daniel M Knight, Andreas Bandak and Chris Watkin discuss Michel Serres in the light of Bandak and Knight's recent co-edited book "Porous Becomings: Anthropological Engagements with Michel Serres" (https://www.dukeupress.edu/porous-becomings). The conversation ranges over the metaphor of porosity, the idea of a natural contract, and curiosity in the contemporary humanities.
A video version of the seminar is roundtable at https://youtu.be/WiGE9rUfKp4
The roundtable took place over Zoom on 19 September 2024, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Dr Simon Kennedy addresses the prehistory of ideas of the social contract. After sketching a genealogy running through Plato, Aritsotle, Cicero and the Hebrew Bible, he reflects on the extent to which Hobbes's and Locke's social contract accounts are continuing, or breaking with, the natural law tradition. The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/evM_m4ZNFgQ
The seminar took place over Zoom on 6 August 2024, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Dr Macarena Marey addresses Kant's understanding of normativity in relation to the ideas of the state of nature and the social contract. The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/F5XMts5m3R8
The seminar took place over Zoom on 4 June 2024, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
Civilization and its Others: American Imaginaries, State of Nature, and Civility in Hobbes, with Stéphanie Martens
In this seminar Dr Stéphanie Martens addresses how early modern imaginaries of the Americas, and in particular imaginaries of aboriginality, shaped early modern political thought, with a focus on Thomas Hobbes. The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/yKquDGXUPws
The seminar took place over Zoom on 7 May 2024, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Rev'd Dr Timothy Howles addresses the question of Carl Schmitt's social thought, with a particular focus on Schmitt's early essay "The Significance of the Individual". The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/YaEqGKosW9A
The seminar took place over Zoom on 31 October 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Emeritus Professor John Holmwood addresses the question of CB Macpherson's account of possessive individualism, as it relates to neoliberalism and colonialism. The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/qKLzA_GttYc
The seminar took place over Zoom on 16 October 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Sandra Leonie Field (Lecturer in Philosophy, Monash University) addresses the question of Spinoza's relationship to the social contract, arguing that a case can be made for Spinoza both as a radical social contract thinker, adn as an anti-social contract thinker. The seminar is followed by a time of question and answer.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/Qwqe62bQzCo
The seminar took place over Zoom on 11 September 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar John Protevi (Phyllis M. Taylor Professor of French Studies, Louisiana State University) addresses the question of the relationship between the social contract idea, slavery, and manumission. The seminar is followed by a time of question and answer.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/ALJ8TvpwaHs
The seminar took place over Zoom on 16 May 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Ioannis Evrigenis (Professor of Political Science and Professor of Classical Studies, Tufts University) addresses the question of the status of Hobbes's state of nature. Hobbes claims his account of the state of nature and the social contract are scientific insofar as they are geometrical; Professor Evrigenis argues that they are indeed scientific, but for quite another reason. Ioannis Evrigenis is author of "Images of Anarchy: The Rhetoric and Science in Hobbes's State of Nature" (Cambridge University Press, 2014). The seminar is followed by a time of question and answer.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/NBtO0e9cKp8
The seminar took place over Zoom on 9 May 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Barbara Arneil (Professor of Political Science, The University of British Columbia) addresses the fascinating question of how the notions of "waste", "empty" and "uncultivated" land were used by John Locke and Jeremy Bentham in relation to British colonialism. The seminar is followed by a time of question and answer.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N22qfbKxrRA&ab_channel=SocialContractResearchNetwork
The seminar took place over Zoom on 21 March 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Philip Pettit (Laurence S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values, Princeton University; Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, Australian National University) addresses some of the details and complexities of Thomas Hobbes's distinctive account of the social contract. The seminar is followed by a time of question and answer.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE9PFqtissA&ab_channel=SocialContractResearchNetwork
The seminar took place over Zoom on 20 March 2023, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
In this seminar Christopher Kelly (Professor in the Political Science Faculty at Boston College) addresses Rousseau's complex account of the state of nature in his Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1755). He discusses the relationship between the different states of nature in Rousseau's Second Discourse and his notions of perfectibility and natural goodness, arguing that the notions are very closely related. The talk is followed by Q&A which touches on questions of the coherence of Rousseau's state of nature idea in the Second Discourse, the importance of much state of nature material being located in the Discourse's paratextual material, Rousseau's Aristotelianism and the extent to which Rousseau had read the writers to whom he alludes in his discussion of the state of nature, including Buffon.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnbGiWXCT0k&ab_channel=SocialContractResearchNetwork
The seminar took place over Zoom on 26 October 2022, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network. To find out more about the SCRN, and to subscribe to email updates, please visit https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
