When\, in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads \;(1802)\, William Wordsworth insisted that an &ldquo\;overbalance of pleasure&rdquo\; entails the &ldquo\;circumstance of meter\,&rdquo\; he confirmed a philosophical assumption far older than Kant&rsquo\;s theory of the sublime. The pervasive assumption&mdash\;which\, today\, can be tracked in an on-going &ldquo\;affective turn&rdquo\; (necessarily entangled in matters of form and style)&mdash\;is that the artificial makes possible an understanding of the natural. \;
\nBut Wordsworth was writing in the twilight of the Industrial Revolution&mdash\;or what is arguably the dawn of the Anthropocene. For this reason alone\, we might be justified in dismissing his romantic conception of poetry as mere &ldquo\;correlationism&rdquo\;&mdash\;what Ian Bogost caustically defines as the &ldquo\;the tradition of human access that seeps from the rot of Kant.&rdquo\; Faced with the impending consequences of climate change\, withering biodiversity\, proliferating microplastics\, etc.&mdash\;is it not finally time (as various &ldquo\;new materialists&rdquo\; have asserted) to undo Kant&rsquo\;s &ldquo\;Copernican revolution&rdquo\; and\, thus\, the primacy of human perception within \;the nature of things? But what are the alternatives? To approach Quentin Meillassoux&rsquo\;s &ldquo\;great outdoors&rdquo\; we must employ very human tools\, such as carbon dating and mathematics. To know and describe Bogost&rsquo\;s various non-human &ldquo\;things&rdquo\; we must resort&mdash\;à\; la romanticism&mdash\;to &ldquo\;metaphorism.&rdquo\; As in Aristotle\, phú\;sis remains inextricable from té\;khnÄ“: from art\, from technology. Or\, to follow Derrida\, the latter persists as an inescapable supplement. \; \; \;
\nIn our efforts to surmount the problem of &ldquo\;human access\,&rdquo\; do we therefore risk repeating (even more blindly) the violence and immorality of anthropocentrism? If so\, is our only option to re-approach nature paradoxically via its antithesis: solar panels and wind turbines that can save us from green-house gases\; virtual simulations that can measure distance better than any animal eye\; digital photography and narrative structures that might preserve the nature of indigenous life\; genetic engineering that can dissolve the distinction between nature and its others? Should we then re-consider the moral roadblocks embodied in our narrative and philosophical efforts to imagine the posthuman&mdash\;from Mary Shelley&rsquo\;s monster and Philip K. Dick&rsquo\;s androids to Donna Haraway&rsquo\;s cyborgs and Octavia Butler&rsquo\;s aliens?
\nSurrounded by the sublime weight and majesty of the Rocky Mountains in Banff\, Canada\, these are the questions we hope to address&mdash\;as we attempt to &ldquo\;think&rdquo\; (yet again) Nature: Animal\, Moral\, Technological.
\nPotential topics might include\, but are not limited to&hellip\;
\nThe Meaning of nature and the natural
\nConceptions of the beautiful and the sublime
\nHumanity&rsquo\;s domination and subordination of nature
\nThe role of philosophy and/or literature in an ongoing environmental crisis \;
\nLiterature and/or philosophy as forms of environmental activism \;
\nThe possibility of defining the very &ldquo\;nature&rdquo\; we seek to protect \;
\nBiodiversity and/as the polyphonic or heteroglot text \;
\nThe rise and efficacy of so-called new materialisms (including thing theory\, object-oriented ontology/philosophy\, speculative realism/materialism\, actor-network theory\, etc.) \;
\nThe rise and efficacy of eco-criticism in literary and cultural criticism\, including ecofeminism \;
\nThe link between new materialism and postcritique\, or &ldquo\;surface reading&rdquo\; \;
\nLiterary depictions and/or philosophical considerations of cybernetics\, genetics\, and/or conceptions of post- and/or transhumanism \;
\nAffect and its relation to narrative/mimetic form \;
\nAnimal-human-machine relations\; speciesism \;
\nThe nature of race and racism \;
\nSex and gender\, biology and interpellation
\nPsychoanalytic conceptions of the unconscious\, drives (vs. instincts)\, polymorphous perversity\, etc. \;
\nBiopsychology and essentialism
\nIndigenous cultures and approaches to nature \;
\nThe role of technology in studies of the natural (from the natural sciences to anthropology and ethnography)
\nWriting or filming &ldquo\;nature&rdquo\; \;
\nThe post-postmodern nostalgia for authenticity\; efforts to surmount &ldquo\;the precession of simulacra&rdquo\; \;
\nThe nature of morality\; the moral obligation to nature \;
\nOntology today \;
\nPhú\;sis and/as té\;khnÄ“ \;
\nImplications\, dating\, and meaning of the Anthropocene \;
\nProposals for individual papers\, panels (of 3-4 participants)\, or roundtables of (5-6 participants) can be submitted at https://www.philosophyliterature.com/paper-submission. \;
\nProposals (for individual papers\, panels\, or roundtables) should be no more than 300 words\; they should be sent via email as a WORD attachment. Proposals should also include a title and a short biographical description of each participant. Bios should be no more than 75 words. \;
\nThe deadline for submissions is January 3rd\, 2022. \;
ORGANIZER;CN=Alain Beauclair;CN=Josh Toth: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR