Three-hundred years after the birth of Alexander Baumgarten\, La Salle \;University is hosting a conference devoted to his influential Metaphysica. \;In addition to being the scientific foundation for all of Baumgarten&rsquo\;s other \;writings\, the Metaphysica is arguably the single most important textbook on \;the topic published in the German tradition prior to Immanuel Kant. It \;provides by far the richest\, clearest\, most concise and most systematic \;presentation of a complete metaphysical system of the kind envisioned by \;Leibniz and Wolff. It went through seven Latin and two German editions over \;a span of twenty-seven years during which it provided the model of \;philosophical instruction for thinkers such as Mendelssohn\, Abbt\, Kant\, \;Herder\, Eberhard and Maimon. In particular\, it formed the basis of Kant&rsquo\;s \;lectures on metaphysics\, anthropology and religion over four decades. Now\, \;for the first time\, it is available to scholars in both German (holzboog-frommann\, 2011) and English (Bloomsbury\, 2013). \;
\nWe invite abstracts of 500-600 words for papers focusing on the Metaphysica. \;Possible topics include: its sources in such philosophers as Leibniz and \;Wolff\; comparisons with other early modern philosophers such as Descartes or \;Spinoza\; interpretations of the work&rsquo\;s central ideas\; its relation to \;Baumgarten's aesthetics or moral philosophy\; its relation to later thinkers \;such as Mendelssohn\, Kant\, Herder\, or Maimon.
The best graduate student submission will receive a $200 travel stipend\, \;courtesy of the North American Kant Society. Please send abstracts prepared \;for blind review to \;baumgartenatlasalle@gmail.com \;by \;1 August\, 2013 \;for full \;consideration. All papers will be considered for inclusion in an edited \;volume now in preparation.
Organization and selection committee: Courtney D. Fugate (AUB)\, John Hymers \;(La Salle University) and Chris Johns (AUB).