Care and Relational Autonomy at the Intersection of Vulnerability and Law

SW 29– Care and Relational Autonomy at the Intersection of Vulnerability and Law

Convenors: Hirono Ikeda (h-ikeda@human.kj.yamagata-u.ac.jp)

Rika Sasaki (rika0817@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp)

Contact: Please send e-mail to both addresses.

 

Contemporary legal theory has long relied on the concept of the autonomous legal subject: rational, independent, and capable of forming and pursuing one’s own way of life. While this ideal has played a central role in liberal legal thought, it has also been widely criticized—particularly within feminist philosophy, care ethics, and relational accounts of autonomy—for marginalizing experiences of care, dependency, vulnerability, and structural oppression.

 

This workshop critically reflects on the assumptions underlying the independent legal subject from the view of care ethics and relational autonomy. It also seeks to re-articulate the connection among autonomy, vulnerability, and law; how respect for autonomy in law can be reconceptualized, and how care, dependency, and relationality can be integrated into legal concepts and institutions in meaningful and productive ways.

 

As convenors, we will also be presenting our work. Hirono Ikeda specializes in care ethics and law and gender in law also interested in law and emotion. Rika Sasaki recently published a master’s thesis on adaptive preference formation and now focuses on relational autonomy from an intersectional feminist perspective. We share a commitment to exploring care and respect for both the inherently and pathogenically vulnerable. However, we also have different emphases. Relational autonomy seeks to improve autonomy by acknowledging human dependency as a given; therefore, it is articulated not to contradict care ethics or feminist thought. From the perspective of care ethics, supporting ways of living one’s life within relationships—that is, relational autonomy—is also considered crucial as care for those who are pathogenically vulnerable. Due to the fundamental nature of dependency, however, it maintains caution toward promoting autonomy and directs attention toward other, more universal values such as dignity. We warmly invite more scholars to join our discussions in this special workshop.

 

We welcome theoretical, critical, and interdisciplinary contributions from legal philosophy, political philosophy, feminist theory, and related fields. Either the purely philosophical presentations or those grounded in legal practice is fine.

 

The following are the example questions that the workshop welcomes contributions though not limited to these.

• How should autonomy be understood in contexts of care, dependency, or vulnerability?
• How some related concepts, such as consent, responsibility, and capacity, (moral/legal) right, dignity, could be refined from the view of care and relational autonomy,
• In what ways do legal institutions presuppose an independence ideal, and whom does this ideal exclude or disadvantage? Could you share any case studies?
• How can feminist theories of care and relational autonomy inform legal philosophy?
• What are the implications of care-based or relational accounts of autonomy for law and public policy?
• How should law respond to adaptive preferences, structural constraints, or socially conditioned choices?
• How could the concept of relational autonomy transform the field of family law?
• In what ways does the study of relational autonomy connect to the dignity of the vulnerable?

 

We invite scholars from the fields of legal theory, legal philosophy, feminist philosophy, care philosophy, and related disciplines to submit abstracts of their paper proposals that address these or similar topics.

The deadline for the abstracts of paper proposals is 15 March 2026. Please send the abstract of approximately 300-500 words in PDF format via e-mail to both of the organizers of the special workshop (h-ikeda@human.kj.yamagata-u.ac.jp & rika0817@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp). Participants will be notified by 31 March 2026 and selected participants will be requested to send their presentation materials by 20 June 2026.

 

The e-mail accompanying your abstract should also contain the following information

• Name;
• Institutional affiliation (if any);
• Subject line: Please indicate “SW Care and Relational Autonomy.”

 

Safer space:  We want to ensure that this special workshop is a safer space for everyone. We ask participants to agree to uphold safety considerations and oppose any discriminations. We also welcome participants to bring children, partners, or others with them.