We cordially invite proposals for papers to be presented at an international conference on the theme “Collective Agency in Classical and Continental Philosophy” to be held at Vilnius University, Lithuania, on 28-30 January 2027. 

It is commonly assumed that individuals, rather than collectives, are the primary agents of action. According to ontological individualism, social phenomena and collective actions are ultimately reducible to the actions and mental states of individuals. In recent decades, however, philosophers have developed a vibrant debate around collective agency, noting for instance that certain mutual obligations cannot be reduced to individual duties and that groups can exhibit a unity of intention and action beyond the sum of their members. 

Much of this discussion has taken place within the analytic tradition. This conference asks what new insights can be gained by turning to classical and continental philosophy to enrich our understanding of collective agency. We believe that these traditions offer rich, as yet underexplored, conceptual resources that can open up fruitful new perspectives on questions of collective intentionality, action, and identity. In doing so, the conference seeks to bridge philosophical traditions that often work in isolation, bringing continental, classical, and analytic thinkers into dialogue around a shared theme. This will be one of the first forums to put figures from phenomenology, hermeneutics, personalism, ancient and classical philosophy, and political theory in direct conversation with analytic approaches to collective agency – a creative synthesis we hope will break new theoretical ground. 

We invite contributions from scholars in continental philosophy (especially phenomenology, hermeneutics, existentialism, personalism, critical theory etc.), classical philosophy (e.g. ancient Greek and Roman thought, medieval philosophy, Neo-Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic traditions), political and social theory, and related areas. Submissions from analytic philosophers that engage with the aforementioned traditions are also welcome. Possible questions and topics that conference papers might address include, but are not limited to, the following themes: 

• “We” in the individual identity
• Relational nature of personhood
• Collectives and ontological unity
• Group intentions, beliefs, minds
• Relational, collective, shared, group agency
• Individual duties in relation to groups
• Collective justice
• Groups and moral responsibility
• Acting together in politics (solidarity, civil disobedience, collective movements)
• Institutions, corporations, states as unitary agents and minds
• Collective identity and play, art, culture
• “We” in the aesthetic experience 

Submission deadline: The abstracts must be submitted by Monday 1st June 2026.