Embodiment and Cognition in Hegel's Philosophy of Mind

Call for Abstracts

Embodiment and Cognition in Hegel’s Philosophy of Mind
University of Luxembourg
7–8 December 2026

Submission deadline: 1 September 2026
Notification of acceptance: 15 September 2026

Confirmed speakers: Elisa Magrì, Andrea Gambarotto, Dietmar Heidemann

This workshop is organized as part of the FNR-funded project From Biological to Cognitive Autonomy: An Enactive Approach to Hegel’s Philosophy of Mind (https://www.uni.lu/fhse-en/research-projects/autonomy/)
The workshop aims to investigate the relation between embodiment and the conceptual capacities that inform rational thinking through the lens of Hegel’s philosophy of mind. Influential interpretations associated with the Pittsburgh School tend to emphasize a sharp transition between a merely biological “first nature” and a linguistic, rational “second nature.” This workshop aims to challenge and complexify this picture. 

Drawing on embodied and enactive approaches, the workshop aims to explore the possibility of a form of continuity without identity between life and mind. The working hypothesis is that the linguistic dimension of mature human mindedness should be understood as continuous with the capacity for autonomous agency already at play in biological organisms. While this continuity involves a qualitative transformation, embodiment and cognition are fundamentally entangled in such a way that this qualitative shift does not imply any firm ontological discontinuity. In this context, we invite contributions that aim to address Hegel’s relation to 4E cognition theories while integrating dialectical tools in the theory of the embodied mind.  

Topics of Interest

We welcome submissions addressing these and related questions, including but not limited to:

• What is the relation between linguistic capacities, the normativity of meaning, often associated with “second nature”, and the normativity rooted in our biological and embodied nature?

• How should we understand the relation between habit as linguistic Bildung—which introduces individuals into the space of reasons—and habit as embodied, sensorimotor dynamics shared with non-human animals?

• How can one conceptually articulate both the continuity between life and mind and the qualitative breaks that seem to characterize their transition?

• Does a transformative account of rationality imply the need to leave nature behind or can it be reconciled with a commitment to embodied cognition?

Submission Guidelines

We invite abstracts from scholars at all career stages.
Abstracts should be suitable for a 30-minute presentation (followed by discussion).

Practical Information

• Accommodation, up to 3 nights, and conference dinner will be covered.

• Travel costs will be reimbursed depending on available funding.

For further information, please [email protected]