Philosophical Marathon 2022: Philosophy and Method

Philosophical Marathon 2022

Philosophy and Method                 

The Student Philosophical Society of the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana is hosting its annual event, the Philosophical Marathon in an international capacity for its second year. Participants may look forward to a weeklong series of lectures focusing on a specific topic, examined from a different point of view throughout the week. This year, the event will take place between the 14th and 18th of November, accompanying UNESCO’s annual World Philosophy Day as per tradition. 

The theme for this year’s event is Philosophy and Method. The Society calls for contributions from students and researchers who are engaged in the study of Philosophy to be presented to the open public. The deadline for admissions is the 22nd of September 2022. Registrations are open at [email protected]. Please include an abstract between 150 - 200 words, including 5 keywords. Selected contributors will be contacted and your abstracts will be published in a brochure and on our Society’s webpage. Lodging fees will be reimbursed. Does not include travel fees.

Theme description:

For this year's topic we have carefully selected the problem of method. We understand the difficulty brought about by the selection of such a theme, for it seems that the question of method is tightly knit with an approach in philosophy that is highly elusive. Despite its appearance which presupposes that it is easy to approach from the viewpoint of every philosophical current, we become challenged with some kind of conundrum – after all, what philosophy can truly lay claim to pass judgment on method? At first sight we could ascribe this question-answering role to epistemology. It would seem that it is the discipline that instinctively deals with questions that may be directly applied to methodology if we were simply to regard it as the carrier of knowledge. And yet, do we really want to approach the topic with such a degree of bluntness? Were we to accept solely this standpoint we could easily become entrapped in a naive kind of belief – one that we should not allow ourselves to stand for. This approach strikes us as being too academic, holding onto its rules in an overbearingly orthodox-like manner. We crave a certain je ne sais quoi in our approach, one can only do philosophy if thought is free. At the same time, we do not wish to devalue the discourse on method. Regardless of our approach, one must admit to the importance of method in the activity of doing philosophy. We hope the discourse our event might produce might awaken you from your slumber as well.

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