CFP: Warwick Continental Philosophy Conference 2024: 'Approaching Value'

The sixth meeting of the Warwick Continental Philosophy Conference (WCPC) seeks to delve into the different ways in which we come to understand and engage with value and the valuable, broadly conceived. We aspire to promote discussions exploring the relationships and intersections between the various dimensions, sites, perspectives, and practices of value from within or beyond social, aesthetic, epistemological, and moral approaches.

There have been continuities and ruptures in how sites of value (e.g., metaphysical values, aesthetic values, social values, methodological values etc.) have been understood and defined throughout the history of (Western and non-Western) philosophy. The concept of “play”, for example, has, in some sense, been linked to aesthetic value from the philosophy of 18th-century thinkers such as Kant and Schiller, through to the work of Gadamer in the 20th century. On the other hand, conceptions of moral and political value have seen profound discontinuity. The idealism of 17th and 18th-century German philosophy faced sustained critique from Marx and those inspired by his materialism, who, in turn, were criticised by thinkers such as Foucault and Lyotard for their espousal of a historical “metanarrative”. The value of philosophy itself has too been a subject of contention, as we have seen with debates on the value of differing methodological approaches in philosophy. Hegel, for example, was insistent that the value of philosophy is to be found in an immanent critical beginning. Adorno, in his Minima Moralia, lambasts philosophy which seeks to render explicit all of its steps, from argument to conclusion, as “painfully lucid”.

As well as these historical debates, we have also seen contention among differing geographical and cultural approaches to value. Within the Western cultural imaginary, the virtues of individualism and the liberal “good life” are a frequent refrain. Yet, beyond its borders, we find emphasis on the value of collectivism and community and, in Eastern thought in particular, a prioritisation of the harmony between nature and human beings. Related to this, contemporary challenges to the colonial legacy of Western theory and praxis seek to disrupt sedimented and uncritical attitudes to and conceptualisations of valuable bodies, voices, and practices. The rise and popularity of critical phenomenology amongst material feminist scholars, disability theorists and queer theorists – such as Lisa Guenther, Linda Martina Alcoff, or Sara Ahmed – so too seem to demonstrate the desire to depart from traditional hegemonic value-systems and practices.

This conference is, therefore, an opportunity to come together and seek to answer whether it is possible to find common ground in such disjunctions and whether tensions can be found in the continuities. With this in mind, some questions that may be explored include, but are not limited to:

• Are all sites of value (e.g., bodies, norms, aesthetic etc.) equally valuable?
• Are the value of nature/ecology and the value of human freedom contradictory or mutually reciprocal?
• How has the history and development of differing approaches to art reframed the concept of aesthetic value?
• Do appeals to lived experience undermine the notion that all voices contribute epistemic value?
• How have attitudes toward what we deem valuable influenced the production of art and culture?
• What is the value of valuing differently?
• Is the status of liberation problematised within a normative system?
• Do we have an axiological duty toward future peoples?
• How do we navigate epistemic value in the current (purported) “post-truth” era?

We warmly invite philosophical and interdisciplinary contributions to the conference and especially welcome submissions from scholars who are junior, early career and/or from non-traditional backgrounds. To ensure that people from the widest range of backgrounds can fully participate in the submission process and conference proceedings, we are happy to provide any adjustments. Should this be necessary, please contact us at [email protected].

Please send anonymised abstracts of no longer than 500 words (written in English) to the WCPC committee at [email protected] by 18:00 GMT on 31st March 2024. Please use “Abstract: Approaching Value” as the subject of your email.

In the event that they become available, should you like to be considered for the award of a partial travel bursary (covering 50% of accommodation costs), please indicate so in your abstract. Those from junior, non-traditional or underrepresented backgrounds are also invited to note this in their submission.

31st of March 2024 - deadline for abstract submission

14th-15th of June 2024 - conference dates

The WCPC is an annual event within The Centre for Research in Post-Kantian European Philosophy (University of Warwick). The conference complies with the BPA/SWIP guidelines for accessible conferences, the BPA/SWIP good practice scheme for gender equality, and the BPA environmental travel scheme (ETS).

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