Queer AΦ Europe: Social Concepts and Categories

Analytic philosophy in the English-speaking world has been notoriously reluctant to engage in issues that affect public discourse, and has generally avoided political activism. This is despite the fact that this particular brand of philosophy, with its stress on clarity and on rigour, is able, at its best, to untangle large and seemingly ineffable questions, making them appear comprehensible and analysable through careful rational analysis.

This isolationist and a-political trend in analytic philosophy has now changed. Following the lead of feminist philosophers, analytic philosophy has seen the emergence of politically active work that directly engages the public. One branch of this work is in social ontology and conceptual engineering. This work aims to analyse ordinary concepts and categories, such as gender, race, sexual orientation, identity, as well as social emotions. This conference presents work in analytic philosophy that focuses on the nature and properties of the social world. It is concerned with analysing things in the world that arise from social interaction, and with explaining what makes them the things they are. The aim of this conference is also to foreground philosophical work in the analytic tradition that is informed by queer experience, community, and theorising, as well as to build community among queer scholars in philosophy.