CFP: Love and the Good

Love and the Good

24th –26th September 2015

Pardubice Chateau, Czech Republic

Keynote: Raimond Gaita (Melbourne Law School & Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne)

Speakers include: David Cockburn, Christopher Cordner, Troy Jollimore, Nora Kreft, Camilla Kronqvist, John Lippitt, Susanne Obdrzalek, C. D. C. Reeve 

 “Love and the Good” is the second conference to be organised as part of the “Love and Friendship in Ancient and Contemporary Philosophy” project, funded by the Czech Science Foundation. The conference will focus on Platonic conceptions of love and will aim to bring three lines of inquiry into conversation: the scholarly study of Socrates and Plato, the reception of their ideas by later Christian philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard and Simone Weil, and the contemporary inquiry into the platonic understanding of love conducted mainly in connection with the work of Iris Murdoch and Raimond Gaita.

For Plato and Socrates, love (eros) is a spiritual force that moves the lover towards the beautiful and through that towards the good and divine. As such, it is a way to a certain kind of knowledge, knowledge of the highest sort that transforms the soul of the lover. Nevertheless, such transformation and perfection is only possible if love is purified: if its focus passes from the beautiful body to the soul of the beloved and on towards the impersonal forms. Such an ascent is also not limited to the lover: By way of conversation, the lover inspires the beloved as well and opens for him the way of wisdom and virtue.

The ideal of pure love, conceived of as a constituent of virtue and the good life, on the one hand, and as a reflection of divine love, on the other, inspired the Christian conception of agapic love for one’s neighbour. In its most platonic version, this conception of love has found expression in two very different thinkers, Søren Kierkegaard and Simone Weil. Both placed love – understood as a way from one’s self towards the other – at the centre of their ethics and of their spiritual thinking.

Simone Weil’s conception of love as truthful and just attention to the reality of the other strongly influenced the writings of Iris Murdoch. Reviving Plato’s interest in erotic love and beauty, Iris Murdoch developed more fully love’s connection not only to ethics, but also to aesthetics. Love of this sort, as unselfed vision, not only orients us towards virtue (towards the Good), but also opens us to aesthetic experience and creativity (to the Beautiful). It is also in Murdoch that we see most clearly the platonic convergence of philosophy and literature.

Especially in her later writings, Weil started to emphasise that it is love that is the basic source of justice and morality. As such, it is due to all human beings, even the most unloveable ones – the vilest criminals and those who are most afflicted. That there is a common humanity to be thus recognised in every human being is the central point of Raimond Gaita’s ethical thought.

Possible topics, picking up on these themes, include but are not limited to the following:

Socrates’ love, dialogue and education

Plato’s conception of eros

Christian conceptions of love (Julian of Norwich, Theresa of Avila, John of the Cross)

Platonic aspects of Kierkegaard’s conception of love

Simone Weil: love as a ground of goodness and justice

Iris Murdoch and love as vision of reality

Platonic love

Loving the good, loving the bad

Love, virtue and goodness

Qualities and individuality

Love and one’s real self

Literature, art and the good

Love and education

Submission details:

To submit a proposal, please send an abstract of 300-500 words to [email protected] by 31st March, 2015 (along with your name, academic affiliation and contact information). Notification of acceptance will be sent out by 30th April, 2015. In addition to full papers (45 minutes including discussion), a number of slots will be reserved for shorter postgraduate papers (30 minutes including discussion).

Organisers: Tomáš Hejduk, Tony Milligan, Kamila Pacovská

Organising institution: Department of Philosophy, University of Pardubice

Web: http://conferencelove.upce.cz/

Inquiries: [email protected]

Attendance is free of charge.

Accommodation: information will be available on the conference web-site.