CFP: A Conference on The Philosophy of Love

A Conference on The Philosophy of Love

CALL FOR PAPERS:

Keynote: Boyd Taylor Coolman (Boston College)

Hosted by the Philosophy Graduate Student Union at Villanova University

April 5-6, 2024

Love, the perennial interest of philosophers, has been variously expounded in terms of ethics, emotion, aesthetics, phenomenology, politics, theology, and metaphysics. Some questions that might be asked: Is love merely a moral imperative? Is love the triumph of the will or the weakness of religion? Is love natural or exceptional and revolutionary? Does love constitute and pervade the very fabric of our reality? What does it mean for philosophy to be the “love of wisdom,” or is this nomenclature a vestige of an era happily bygone? Do philosophers love differently?

In this conference we invite papers from all traditions and global perspectives that reflect on the history of philosophy by explicating the nature of love, its import, and its impact on us. We hope to approach a more comprehensive (though comprehension might evade us) understanding of what love is, does, draws, feels, and gives.

In keeping with this theme, we welcome submissions that address:

• Metaphysics & love

• Phenomenology & love

• Politics & love

• Ethics & love

• Aesthetics & love

• Theology & love

• Depictions and analyses of love in the history of philosophy

• Love between or among philosophers

• Love contra philosophy, or philosophy contra love

Please submit abstracts of no more than 800 words to [email protected] by March 2 nd , 2024. Papers should be prepared for 30-minute talks. Online participation is welcome. Sessions will be held in Eastern Standard Time (GMT-5).

Questions may be directed to Katherine Apostolacus ([email protected]).