PHYSIS at the Intersections of Philosophy, Physics, Biology and Classics

There is a call for applications with a deadline February 7th, 2025. At this link you will find both the call containing all program related and practical information as well as the application form https://schoolofmaterialistresearch.org/Call-for-Applications-for-the-Summer-School-PHYSIS-2025

Scope of the program:  The study of physis (nature) in Greek antiquity marks the birth of philosophy and sciences simultaneously. Rational considerations of (what one would now call) material processes as the explanation of what the Universe is or of what it is made of, and how it works, and to what purpose laid the foundation for Philosophy in Greek antiquity, to which both logic and mathematics were inherent, and the rest of the disciplines were simply its extensions. It all begins with the old “physicists” (physikoi or physiologoi). The term (“physikoi”) serving to distinguish the pre-Socratic philosophers from those who spoke of the gods or myths is Aristotle's choice. Its function is to oppose the study of physis to the study of gods as that which grounds what would become philosophy and dialectical (logical) thinking, according to Aristotle's terminology. This choice of term or the definition behind it implies that the study of "Physis" vouches for a non-superstitious and rational or philosophical thought even of matters belonging to the realm of "ta meta ta physika."

Physis today is to be studied in post-anthropocentric context, in terms of posthumanism, in terms of its tension with technology. On the other hand, if we are to join contemporary theoretical contemplations, it is to be transformed into “environment,” which would be an anthropocentric definition, and into resource which would be a pro-capitalist definition. Is it possible to “deconstruct” (we are using the term in the sense of structuralist philosophy understood in its broadest sense) the notion of Nature while still addressing the relevance of “physis” without falling into the trap of the naïve, romantic vitalism? Can we speak of the relevance of its preservation without being anthropocentric about it? Can we speak of “physis” today without granting relevance to the materialist episteme even if we do not identify as materialists? We have assembled philosophers, theoreticians of sciences and physics, and classicists to address this topic.