CFP: Philosophy and Crisis: Responding to Challenges to Ways of Life in the Contemporary World

The Sector of Philosophy of the University of Ioannina with the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP)  will hold a conference in Ioannina immediately prior to the World Congress of Philosophy in Athens. This will focus specifically on “Philosophy and Crisis: Responding to Challenges to Ways of Life in the Contemporary World”. “Crisis” is a key term in the way  the modern and late modern world perceives itself in reflecting upon nihilism (Nietzsche), the “decline of the West” (Spengler), the “crisis of European humanity” (Husserl), or upon the “critical line” which is at the same time the “danger” and the “turn”  (Heidegger).

The intent of the 2013 pre-Congress conference in Ioannina will be to explore the various meanings and functions  of “crisis” for both classical and modern philosophy. Echoes of “crisis”, in the sense of a crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending, were already present in Socrate’s unceasing quest for general definitions of  the moral virtues  or even in his fundamental question “how should one live”. Still, modernity seems to have made of “crisis” the proper meaning of our times, giving birth to something utterly new and unprecedented: the historicity of “crisis”. This new understanding of “crisis”  incorporates both an annihilation and a revelation. As the momentum or movimentum between two continuous states of affairs, “crisis” is not only destructive, but also the sign of instant, often unexpected, flourishing. Therefore, in order to fully unfold the hermeneutics of “crisis”,  we have to go through a wide range of topics which manifest its importance not just for philosophy’s self-understanding, but also for the way we understand ourselves with regard to the challenges posed to our way of life in times of crisis.

The conference will enter this issue through a progressive phenomenology treating the way the economic crisis reflects  a deeper political crisis, and, in turn, a still more basic ethical crisis. This will open the way for an elaboration of the philosophical theme of “crisis” in carefully sequenced plenary sessions.

Hence, papers on “crisis” are invited especially on the following themes:

1. The hermeneutic role of crisis in philosophical change and progress
2. Ethical issues involved in economic and political crisis
3. Religious, metaphysical, and post metaphysical forms of reintegration
4. Educators in a time of crisis

Structure

Each plenary sessions will consist of several subthemes introduced in a substantive 30 minutes paper and comment  followed by another 30 minutes of open discussion. This will ensure a penetrating unfolding of the issues which reflects the global horizons of the participants and seeks new understanding and insight. In the afternoons, parallel sessions will enable the participants  to delve further into the day’s theme with 20 minutes papers organized in panels and followed by time for open and substantive reflection upon the perspectives introduced.

Logistics

There is no registration fee. Participants will cover their travel, the host University will help with accommodation during the conference or help locate less expensive accomodation in the city of Ioannina.  A one-page abstract should be submitted by March 15, 2013 to Dr. Golfo Maggini (gmaggini@uoi.gr)  or to Dr. Helen Karabatzaki (ekaraba@cc.uoi.gr) with copy to cua-rvp@cua.edu. Full papers, for which there is no upper page limit, will be due by July 1, 2013 for pre-distribution and publication.

Contact

Gibbons Hall B-12, 620 Michigan Avenue, North East, Washington DC 20064; Telephone: 202-319-6089; Email: cua-rvp@cua.edu; Website: