CFP: Hegel and Schelling on the Problem of Beginning

Call for Abstracts

Centre for Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy of Culture

“The Problem of Beginning in Hegel and Schelling”

November 21 – 22, 2025, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven

Confirmed participants 

· William Desmond (KU Leuven) 

· Henning Tegtmeyer (KU Leuven) 

· Manuel Tangorra (KU Leuven)

· Angelica Nuzzo (Brooklyn College, CUNY)

· Peter Dews (University of Essex)

· Robb Dunphy (University of Sussex) 

· Leonard Weiss (King’s College London)

· G. Anthony Bruno (Royal Holloway University of London)

· Rebecca Reichenberg (UC Louvain/University of Freiburg)

· Raphaël Authier (University of Strasbourg)

The Centre for Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy of Culture at KU Leuven’s Institute of Philosophy invites contributions from current and recent PhD students for the upcoming conference, “The Problem of Beginning in Hegel and Schelling.” Four slots are available for junior researchers.

Philosophical background

The puzzle of where to begin occupies a decisive place in the project of system-building in German Idealism. Hegel and Schelling understood that the decision of where to begin should be emptied of arbitrary and accidental features, since the first principle of a system confers an architectonic structure to the enterprise as a whole. In his identity-philosophy, Schelling proposes absolute reason or God as the starting point of philosophizing. Hegel takes issue with such a starting point, targeting Schelling with a form of logical mysticism where the philosopher has an allegedly immediate and exhaustive knowledge of reality. Although determining of the course of system-building, the beginning, Hegel argues provocatively, is also the emptiest category, to be dialectically overcome into ever more encompassing stages. In response, Schelling’s Weltalter project addresses that which precedes the very beginning, the abyss of reason or the irrecuperable past. In so doing, he takes a crucial step in circumscribing the scope of what a philosophical system can entail. Arguably, interpretations of the Hegel-Schelling relationship can be taken to hinge on how the problem of beginning is settled. Further, a broad range of questions issue from said problem, from the epistemological and metaphysical on the one hand, such as the question of the systematic unity of scientitific thinking, to the cultural, religious, and political on the other, as for example the idea, found in Hegel, according to which due to the abstractness and indeterminacy of their first principles, certain forms of 'Oriental thinking'—Vedanta, Arabic philosophy—are excluded from the domain of philosophy proper.  

Themes of the conference

There has been a rise of interest in metaphilosophical and methodological questions in the context of historical and comparative scholarship on German Idealism. Although the metaphilosophy of the German Idealists is currently a major research program, as of yet there have been few research outputs in the English speaking context. We believe that drawing on international expertise on the topic (two of our confirmed international speakers, Robb Dunphy and Peter Dews, have both recently published monographs that directly address the topic of the conference), we will shed light on an issue that is pivotal for interpreting the German Idealist tradition. 

In this conference, we seek to have both contributions that elucidate interpretative and methodological questions in Schelling and Hegel’s diverging conceptions of the beginning of philosophy, and presentations exploring the epistemological, anthropological, and theological ramifications that issue from one’s decision on where to start philosophizing. Moreover, our conference will explore the extent to which cultural and religious ideas and biases, especially in the European context, are in continuity with and even determined by methodological decisions. The overarching ambition of the conference is to not only clarify epsitemological and metaphysical questions in historical scholarship on German Idealism, but also to draw potential practical (ethical and political, but also cultural and religious-anthropological) consequences of the problem of the beginning in Hegel and Schelling.

Organisational preliminaries 

Abstract submission deadline: July 25, 2025

Confirmation of acceptance: July 31, 2025

Presentations will be circa 40 minutes, followed by a 20-minute discussion. Please note that we do not offer travel and accommodation. Coffee and snacks will be provided, in addition to a hearty conference dinner for all speakers.

How to apply? 

Please send the provisional title of your presentation and an abstract of 200-250 words to Vittorio Alves ([email protected]) and Waseem Usmani ([email protected]), alongside a separate document with your name, affiliation and academic interests, and the title of your paper. We strongly encourage applications from underrepresented groups. If you have any questions regarding the conference, please feel free to contact Waseem or Vittorio.