CFP: Villanova Philosophy Graduate Student Conference: Philosophy, Nature, and Ecology

In light of the existential threat posed by ecological breakdown, this conference seeks to provide a space for graduate students to interrogate and reimagine the relationship(s) between society and nature, between socio-political and ecological systems. In doing so, we ask: to what extent is society natural, and nature social? What conceptual, material, and/or philosophical analyses can be leveraged to recognize and confront the multiple, overlapping ecological crises? What roles and duties do we, as philosophers, have in creating a more sustainable relationship to the earth and to collective needs?

We invite papers from all traditions and global perspectives united by the theme of Philosophy, Nature, and Ecology to contribute to this explicitly pluralist conference. To this end, we welcome submissions that address:

- Eco-marxism and ecological political economy

- Eco-phenomenology

- Ecological thinking and epistemologies

- Environmental pragmatism

- Indigenous, decolonial, and post-colonial ecological philosophies

- Art, aesthetics, and nature

- Environmental injustice and intersectionality, including but not limited to

analyses of race, gender, and class

- Science, technology, and production

- Philosophy and natural history

- Anthropocene and Capitalocene

- Anthropocentrism, Biocentrism, and Ecocentrism

- Scarcity and wars over natural resources (e.g., soil, water, and food)

- The political status of or ethical duties toward climate refugees

The conference will culminate in a keynote presentation from Dr. Emily Anne Parker from Towson University.

Please submit abstracts of no more than 750 words prepared for blind review to https://forms.gle/7rtMxrPkkZgL2afY7 by February 1, 2025. Decisions will be communicated by early March.

Presentations will consist of 25-minute talks and 15 minutes of Q&A.

A limited number of online submissions will be accepted for a virtual session held on April 11. In-person presentations will take place on April 12 on Villanova University’s campus in Villanova, PA. Sessions will be held in Eastern Standard Time (GMT-5).

Questions may be directed to Shayna Federico at [email protected].