CFP: Extending New Narratives in the History of Philosophy: Philosophy's Future, Past and Present

Extending New Narratives in the History of Philosophy (ENN) has been working to reconceive the history of philosophy with the idea that doing so can help to change the standards of practice in philosophy, making the discipline more inclusive and diverse. We have not been alone in this work.

Our concluding conference, taking place 7–9 October 2027 in Montréal, Québec, Canada, aims to bring together scholars working across traditions, periods, and areas of philosophy to share the fruits of various efforts to transform the history of philosophy and to imagine together philosophy’s future. We invite participants to consider questions such as: How might we tell the stories of philosophy’s past in the future? How can these stories affect how we do philosophy now and in the future? Amid ongoing shifts in the discipline, the academic environment, and our broader cultural and political landscapes, are these still the right questions to be asking? Efforts to retrieve the work of neglected and marginalized philosophers and philosophical traditions of the past, and to sustain their presence in the discipline, have intensified in recent years. This conference seeks to bring into conversation scholars working on Africana and Black philosophy, women philosophers in European traditions, Indigenous philosophy, Latin American philosophy, and non-canonical figures and traditions more broadly, as well as scholars examining the historiographical and methodological assumptions that have shaped the philosophical canon.

The conference will feature a number of panels that have already been accepted, including:
● Afrocentricité et traduction interculturelle en philosophie
● Approaching women philosophers in antiquity: methodological contributions
● Method and narrative in Africana philosophy
● Reflections on the history of the history of women’s moral and political thought
● Unveiling women philosophers in Indian philosophy: methodological exploration and the
question of philosophical boundaries
● Writing philosophy beyond the canon: 19th-century Latin American women in the press

We now invite faculty members and early-career researchers, including post-docs and graduate students, working on these and related issues to submit abstracts for individual papers. We particularly welcome contributions that recover neglected figures, texts, traditions, or philosophical practices; reconsider established narratives in the history of philosophy; or address the methodological questions raised by efforts to expand and transform the philosophical canon. Submissions may engage with any area of philosophy and are encouraged to connect with one or more of the four broad themes of the ENN project:

● Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy
● Metaphysics and Epistemology
● Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Education
● Methodology

Submission Guidelines
Please submit an abstract of 500–750 words, prepared for anonymous review, together with a separate document containing your name, institutional affiliation, career stage, paper title, and contact information. Papers should be suitable for a presentation of approximately 20–25 minutes, followed by discussion.

The conference will be bilingual (English and French), and submissions and presentations are welcome in either language.
Please send submissions to [email protected] by November 30, 2026.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent by February 28, 2027.

The conference will combine plenary sessions, including the panels listed above, and parallel sessions featuring papers selected through this call. We are also planning an exhibit of rare books from McGill’s collection. Time will also be set aside for informal conversations and mentoring opportunities for graduate students and early-career researchers.

We expect to accept up to 16 papers. Speakers will not receive honoraria; some funding might be available to help defray some travel expenses. We especially encourage submissions from early-career researchers, members of historically underrepresented groups in philosophy, and scholars whose work crosses established geographical, chronological, or disciplinary boundaries.