CFP: What Makes Sense?

CFP – The Sixth International Conference for Doctoral Students in Philosophy

What Makes Sense?

The Sixth International Conference for Doctoral Students in Philosophy examines the multiple meanings of sense and other related concepts across the history of philosophy. From Antiquity to contemporary thought, the conference seeks to explore how these notions have been used to clarify and interpret philosophical discourse, to reshape and critically assess traditional philosophical narratives, to displace old beliefs and truths and even to beget new ones in the wake of the so-called ‘crisis of meaning’. Whether understood as an experience lived on an individual level, as a feature of human language, or as the action or result of the perceiving and knowing faculties, sense remains a central notion in philosophical thinking. Conceived as the outcome of a hermeneutical interpretation, as an end towards which actions should be oriented, or as an axiological value attributed to different events, the notions of purpose and meaning can be sought. Doctoral students are invited to engage with the various interpretations and uses of the notion of sense and related concepts by addressing questions such as: What can philosophical traditions teach us about the analysis of sense and meaning in relation to human discourse? How does the notion of sense relate to the individual, to human values, actions, and social realities? In what way do philosophical theories confer sense upon historical events, and what ethical and political implications arise from such undertakings? How does the notion of sense relate to our aesthetic experiences, attitudes, and sensibilities? In what manner is the act of investing or finding sense relevant for the knowing subject within a phenomenological or epistemological framework? Finally, can philosophy still be a source of meaning for individuals in a world frequently depicted as being in crisis?

Details

The Doctoral School of Philosophy, Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, invites submissions for the sixth instalment of the International Conference for Doctoral Students in Philosophy that is going to take place on May 22-23, 2026. The event will be organized in a hybrid format. The conference is supported by three research centres of the Faculty of History and Philosophy: Centre for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, Centre for Applied Philosophy, and Department of History in Hungarian Language.

Official languages of the conference are: English, Romanian, and Hungarian.

Besides the main topic of the event, we invite submissions of papers from all areas and subdomains of philosophy: phenomenology, semiology, hermeneutics, ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, philosophy of culture and communication, philosophy of science, logic, theories of language, history of philosophy, studies of ancient and medieval philosophy, Romanian philosophy, Hungarian philosophy, and P4C (philosophy for children).

The conference will have thematic parallel panels organized according to the topics of the papers, in all the official languages of the conference. The presentations will be made either online or on site, at the Babeș-Bolyai University, depending on the availability of the participants. All the students affiliated to The Doctoral School of Philosophy are kindly asked to participate in situ. Participants should specify upon the submission of their abstract whether they wish to participate in presence or online. Participants are requested to submit a draft version of their paper by the due date.

Abstract and paper submission

Abstracts should be up to 350 words, written in English and must contain: the title of the contribution, a short description of the main topic, thesis, purpose, argumentative unfolding of the paper, and five keywords. The draft papers should be sent in an editable format, ready for blind review, no longer than 10 pages (text body: Times New Roman, at 12 points, justified, line spacing at 1,5) and suitable for a 15-20 minutes talk followed by 10 minutes Q&A.

Deadline for abstract submissions: 15h of March 2026

Communication of acceptance: 1st of April 2026

Deadline for paper submission (only for accepted proposals): 1st of May 2026

For submission, please send your work at [email protected], with the subject of the message PHILOSOPHY_2026. The author’s personal information (full name, affiliation, contact details, language of the presentation and attending method: online or on site) should be specified in the message and omitted from the attachment containing the abstract or draft paper.

Please feel free to get in touch with Ile Vlad, the secretary of the Doctoral School of Philosophy ([email protected]), for any further questions you may have.

Opportunities for publication

The scientific committee of the conference will select a number of papers to be published in a collective volume hosted by Studia UBB Philosophia