Workshop on Rationality and Social Media / Part of the 8th UNILOG

Someone posts something on social media with the aim of showing discontent with something or someone else; the post goes viral. Lately, that has often happened but not much has been published on how this issue may affect academic practices like that of publishing a paper in a scientific journal that may lead to negative viral reactions. This workshop’s aim is to tackle the rationality (if any) behind this phenomenon.

Topics may include, but are not restricted to, the following questions:

Do those involved in what has been called “cancel culture” act like logical animals, that is, bearers of what the Greeks called logos?

How should scientific journals’ editors react to this culture, say, when a paper published by them gives rise to what has been named “cancellation”?

Can the latter be fair, just, rationally justified, morally good, etc.?

Is contemporary cancelation similar to past actions like the one portrayed in John 8:1-11 of stoning an adulterous woman, those that Nietzsche associates with herd behavior, etc.?

What is or how should one use terms like “rationality”, “logos” or other ones hardly distinguishable from them like “language”, “reason”, “science”, etc., especially in light of the fact that countless logics have been proposed?

Is the dispute about the number of correct logics a motivated dispute?

What is (if any) the relation of irrationality or shortness of logos with homophobia, sexism, racism, xenophobia, Nazism, communism, etc.?

Who or what has the power to define these terms?

Can a use of a derogatory predicate (say, “to be sexist”) be a violent one?

What is (if any) the relation between logic and non-violence or what Gandhi calls “Ahimsa”?

Submit a one page  abstract by October 15, 2025, to [email protected] 

Notifications of acceptance and rejection within days of submission.

Duration of contributing talks is 30mn including discussion. There will be a round table at the end of the workshop with the participation of all the speakers.

Accepted contributors will be invited to submit a full paper for inclusion in a volume on Rationality and Social Media edited by the organizer following the workshop.