The Non-Conference

The Non-Conference

18 May 2026

Queen’s University Belfast

13 University Square 0G/010, Belfast, BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland

We are pleased to share the programme for the upcoming Non-Conference at Queen’s University Belfast.

Recent years have seen heated discussions about the ways in which academic philosophy is presented. Scholars have investigated questions about its style, the functioning of academic journals, the formal requirements of analytic philosophy, or the relationship between philosophy, science, and art. However, most of these discussions have focused on written philosophy only. The way philosophy is presented at conferences, workshops, or symposiums tends to follow the same format: a talk (usually with a powerpoint presentation) followed by Q&A, followed by lunch or conference dinner. As a social activity, it now forms part of the “unwritten curriculum” with its set of expected behaviours, participates in various different forms of philosophical gatekeeping and might also have unwelcome exclusionary effects (e.g., on philosophers suffering from social anxiety, loss of speech or hearing, or graduate students who can’t afford lavish dinners (see https://philarchive.org/rec/KIDKWT)). We believe this is a contingent feature of the current philosophical landscape and differs from many ways that philosophy has been verbally presented in the past (and indeed could be presented in the present and future).

The Non-Conference aims to scrutinise the rigid talk + Q&A format that has become customary and investigate new ways of presenting philosophy in person.

Attendance is free, but please register your interest in attending by e-mailing: [email protected]

Programme

8.45-9.00

Matyáš Moravec (QUB) and Peter West (Northeastern University London)

Introduction

9.00-10.30

Georgie Newson (University of Edinburgh) & Luke Dunne (Independent Researcher)

Towards Pleiohumanism: Philosophy for the Age of Generative Intelligence

In this session, we will introduce ‘Pleiohumanism’: An interdisciplinary project aimed at reimagining the humanities for the era of generative intelligence. After explaining the project, we will invite the audience to rethink humanism’s legacy through a series of creative collaborations with Pico della Mirandola’s 1496 humanist manifesto, Oration on the Dignity of Man. By performing, reworking and deconstructing this text in dialogue with both AI systems and one another, we will encourage participants to engage actively with our proposal for the revival of an expanded humanism.

10.45-12.00

Aljoša Kravanja (University of Ljubljana) 

Randomly Emerging Human Thinking

Two weeks before the conference, I sent the organizers a list of 30 concepts in practical philosophy. The organizers sent me a sequence of eight numbers from 1 to 30. I constructed a short paper containing concepts corresponding to these numbers. In my presentation, I deliver the paper. In Q and A, audience members do not pose conventional questions. Rather, they only pick one or two numbers corresponding to one or two concepts from the list. I will then interpret these numbers as genuine questions. The point of the presentation is to show that randomness generates thought in a human thinker.

12.15-13.00

Ioannis Spiliopoulos (University of Athens)

Wittgenstein: The Motion Picture

This presentation consists of the screening of a short film (approx. 30 min long) presented as a PowerPoint sequence. The work is composed of approximately 300 slides. The first slide is a well-known photograph of Ludwig Wittgenstein; each subsequent slide is a scanned photocopy of the preceding one. The film depicts the gradual transformation of the sense of “picture of Wittgenstein” from something ordinary to something, as it were, sublimated and purified.

14.00-16.00

Velia Fischer (Universität Heidelberg, Université de Fribourg) and Caroline Hoskins (Rutgers University)

The Interconnectedness of Courage and Sophrosyne

Courage and sophrosyne (temperance, moderation) are both deeply connected within Plato’s dialogues. Both within the Republic as well as within the Statesman, the two virtues are treated as reciprocally dependent. Nevertheless, it is by no means clear how exactly the two virtues are defined within these contexts. For this reason, our presentation begins by jointly identifying suitable definitions for both virtues. In a second step, we would then like to explore the exact relationship between these two. This will happen based on key passages taken from Plato’s dialogues as well as on the shared ideas and thoughts of the group.

16.15-16.45

Fraser Logan (Independent Scholar)

Typing for Strangers: Towards a Practice of Honesty

I will sit with a typewriter throughout The Non-Conference, ask participants for prompts, and write a stream of consciousness for two minutes. My performance experiments with self-disclosure and attempts to reimagine philosophy by privileging impulse over polish. Inspired by Nietzsche’s ideal of Ehrlichkeit—honesty as nakedness and simplicity—it revives philosophy’s tradition of frank speech while testing the therapeutic potential of free writing. Contradiction, humour, and spontaneity are favoured over reflection and refinement. During my subsequent ‘presentation', participants and I will interrogate my writings.

17.30 [audio walk begins]

Šárka Zahálková (Brno University of Technology)

Through Schizophonia to Reciprocity

A site-specific participatory walk designed as an audio walk, incorporating embodied exploration, listening, and movement as philosophical practice in itself. Participants are asked to bring mobile phones with data access and headphones compatible with their devices. Taking place in a nearby outdoor area, the walk explores the principle of schizophonia – the separation of sound from its original source, as articulated by acoustic ecologist R. Murray Schafer – and considers how creative engagement with sound can foster reciprocity, amplify experience, and heighten situational awareness. This approach offers a way to rethink one’s relationship to self and environment in a symbiotic, participatory manner.