Phenomenology and Mysticism

Call for Papers:  Panel sponsored by SOPHERE (the Society for the Phenomenology of Religious Experience) at the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association, 2025
Conference Panel Theme: Phenomenology and Mysticism

The Society for the Phenomenology of Religious Experience (SoPheRE) will be hosting a panel discussion on the topic “Phenomenology and Mysticism” at the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association in  New York City from January 8-11, 2025. We hereby invite papers related to that theme. Possible topics to be covered include (but are not limited to):

--What is mysticism?  What is a mystical experience?  

--How do we differentiate between mystical experiences of the divine and non-mystical experiences of religious life or faith or community?  

--What kinds of ethical imperatives, if any, do mystical experiences or mystical writings carry?  And how and why might they carry these imperatives? 

--How private are mystical experiences?  Can there be public ones?  If so, how are mystical experiences recognized and furthered as shared experiences? 

--What are  resources in the  Continental and phenomenological tradition that might assist us in order to articulate the possibility or impossibility of mysticism—resources such as those in the works of Hannah Arendt, Jacques Derrida, GWF Hegel, Jean-Luc Marion, Edith Stein, Meister Eckhart, Martin Heidegger, John Caputo, and others?

--How does art or literature demonstrate or call for a new kind of space or temporality that forms the structure or possibility of mysticism?

Papers should involve texts and discussions of phenomenology (and the phenomenological tradition within philosophy).  The papers should be designed for a maximum of 30 minutes reading time (approx. 3500 words) and be submitted for blind review by July 20, 2024. Accepted papers will be notified by August 5, 2024. All presenters must register for the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association and be current members of SOPHERE (www.sophere.org). All papers, and any questions, should be sent to the panel organizers at [email protected].

https://sophere.org/apa-participation/eastern/