CFP: The 4th annual conference of the The International Society for the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind

Call for Abstracts  

The International Society for the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind (ISPSM) is happy to invite all philosophers working on any science of the mind (broadly construed) to submit an abstract for a paper or a symposium. We particularly encourage submissions from underrepresented groups in the field, including members of the LGBTQIA+ community and those based in the global south, as part of our ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion practices in philosophy and beyond.  

What is the mind, and how does it work? These questions have led to centuries of philosophical and empirical investigations, and still lack definitive answers. We thus invite submissions from all disciplines that leverage insights from the use of different techniques, methodologies, and research questions to shed light on the nature and functioning of the mind.  

In this fourth web conference, we seek again to bring together many of these perspectives to build a common ground, a comprehensive and multi-scale conceptual landscape of the mind. We accept submissions from a broad range of perspectives, including - but not limited to - philosophy of psychology, philosophy of psychiatry, philosophy of neuroscience, philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of mind, philosophy of artificial intelligence & robotics, philosophy of linguistics, philosophy of ethology, philosophy of (cognitive) anthropology, philosophy of biology, philosophy of the social sciences and consciousness studies.  

We are delighted to already have a number of excellent keynote speakers confirmed for 2026, including:  

Devon Bailey University of Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa  

Louise Barrett University of Lethbridge, Canada  

Ali Boyle LSE, United Kingdom  

Melina Gastelum Vargas UNAM, Mexico  

Michael Kirchhoff University of Wollongong, Australia  

Yukie Nagai University of Tokyo, Japan  

Practical Information  

When: 4-6 November 2026

Where: Online

Fees: The conference is fully online, and no fee is required

Further Inquiries: [email protected]      

Information for submission  

Abstracts for single papers (about 30 minutes each including Q&A) should be anonymized PDFs of maximum 500 words, and should include references and 3-5 keywords (both excluded from the wordcount). To submit an abstract, please use the following link: 

  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfnep5cuix6t3NbLY6J9fE3Yul-bk5afwzDQ7y-x-EbJ0jAhw/viewform  

Proposals for symposia (2 hours including Q&A, maximum 4 papers) should be PDF files between 1500 and 2000 words, excluding references and 3-5 keywords. Unlike papers, they should not be anonymized: speakers' affiliations and contacts should be included in the main text. To submit a symposium proposal, please use the following link:

  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeC3XMR-0A9Pw0A_Xm1f3ZCoinJ0mUW3cGwvQKdKoA_I014ZQ/viewform  

Deadline for submissions: 31/07/2026  

Best meme prize  

Many scientific societies have prizes for the best paper. As an online-based society, we instead launch a contest for the best graphic meme regarding the philosophy of the sciences of the mind. We are interested in memes formed by static images + text and GIFs.   The contest is open to all those who submit a paper or a symposium at the conference: to participate, simply add up to a .GIF or .JPEG file entitled "ISPSM2026 Best Meme Contest." Memes should aim to elicit a laugh and then a thought (similarly to the Ig Nobel prize) and should abide by the ISPSM code of conduct (https://www.ispsmind.com/). The winning meme will be selected by the participants through a vote, and hosted on the society’s homepage and social media.       

Organizing committee   

Marco Facchin, Universiteit Antwerpen

Valeria Becattini, IUSS Pavia

Liberty Severs, Ruhr-Univesität Bochum, the University of Lisbon and the Konrad Lorentz Institute

Clavel Vázquez, Jimena - Tilburg University

Negro, Niccolò - School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University

Carlos Barth - Jesuit Faculty of Philosophy and Theology (FAJE)

Laura Oppi - Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen

April Owens - University of Cambridge