CFP: Machine Logos: Persons, Language, and AI

Conference Theme

Humans possess a capacity for what the ancient Greeks called logos — speech, language, rationality. In the words of the philosopher Charles Taylor, we are “the language animal.” Recent advances in AI invite us to consider anew the nature and significance of our human form of logos, and to ask whether and how such a capacity might be instantiated in a machine. Contemporary large language models (LLMs) are amazingly adept with language. How should we think about what these systems are doing with words? Do they possess genuine understanding of themselves or the world? What do they reveal to us about our own abilities for speech and thought? What do they suggest about the connections between life, agency, embodiment, and language? Can we envision machines with their own form of logos? What would those machines be like in their constitution and mode of functioning?

We invite proposals for papers that speak to these and related questions. This includes – but is not limited to – contributions that engage theological perspectives. In the Christian tradition, logos has a special meaning: Christ, believed to be fully divine and fully human, is understood as logos incarnate. Participants may wish to explore how Christian theology, or other religious and philosophical traditions, can inform our understanding of persons, language, and the idea of machines logos.

Confirmed Speakers (partial list)

·      Bishop Paul Tighe (Dicastery for Culture and Education)

·      Alva Noë (Berkeley)

·      Talbot Brewer (Virginia)

·      Ellie Pavlick (Brown)

·      Stephen Grimm (Fordham)

·      Matthew Dunch (Loyola)

·      William Hasselberger (UCP, Lisbon)

Submission Details

Please submit a paper abstract of up to 500 words by December 20, 2025. Partial travel support will be available for accepted proposals. Decisions will be made by January 15, 2026. Abstracts should be sent to Micah Lott: [email protected].

Sponsored by: BC Institute for Liberal Arts, Morrisey College of Arts and Sciences, BC Philosophy Department, and the UCP Digital Ethics Lab.