CFP: Through Crisis and Conflict: Thinking Differently with Paul Ricoeur

The International Conference on Ricœur Studies, Throught Crisis and Conflict: Thinking Differently with Paul Ricœur, originates from a broad international research framework that has already proved successful in the recent past, through the organization and realization of other high-profile scientific conferences. For several years, the Society for Ricœur Studies and Fonds Ricœur have been actively cooperating in organizing international meetings on most relevant cultural topics. The previous conferences, held in Canterbury (2009), Lisbon (2010) and Moscow (2011), brought together specialists of philosophy, sociology and anthropology from all over the world. This year, the Conference will be held in Lecce (Italy), where the University of Salento, in collaboration with the University of Verona (Verona, Italy), the Institute of Philosophical Studies “Enrico Castelli” (Roma, Italy), The Society for Ricœur Studies (Pittsburgh, USA), and Fonds Ricœur (Paris, France) will welcome scholars from all over the world for opening and debating new philosophical perspectives having Ricœur’s thinking as a landmark. The method of Ricœur and the fruitfulness of his reflection will serve as a guide to continue considering the issues of our time, with a special focus on the paradigms of crisis and conflict. The current global economic situation is echoed in the multiple theoretical and practical forms in which these issues appear, and makes it urgent to rethink policies and lifestyles of the Western world. However, the same concepts of crisis and conflict must also be re-thought not only within a financial and monetary context, but even, and most importantly, from an ethical, political, anthropological and epistemological perspective. Ricœur’s “philosophy of tension” will, therefore, offer an important trace for re-thinking the many inflexions of crisis and conflict, addressing issues such as: multiculturalism achieved through exclusion, interaction and integration; the economic crisis; political communication and debating; social justice and human dignity; the right to develop human capabilities; the situational moral choice; the promise and the attestation; the relationship between man and God in the age of secularization; the secularism; disorientation and the irruption of sense in religiosity; the dialectical method; the relationship between experience and theory in hermeneutics.

Abstract submissions
 
Deadline: May 4, 2012.
 
The abstracts (300-500 words) can be submitted in either Italian, French or English to [email protected]. Decisions on papers acceptance will be made until June 2012. Papers addressing all aspects of Ricœur’s work in relation to contemporary social, political, economic and anthropological crises are welcome. Areas of particular interest include, but are not limited to:

1. Epistemology, Hermeneutics, Philosophy of Language
2. Anthropology and Sociology
3. Law, Politics, Economics
4. Ethics
5. Religion

Participation in the conference is also open to interventions that are not strictly connected with the philosophy of Paul Ricœur, and to scholars from other fields, in order to promote an interdisciplinary meeting.
 
The proposed abstracts should clearly indicate the addressed questions and their background; moreover, the original contents of the paper should be highlighted. The abstract should be submitted as a Word (.doc) file, with a separate title page containing the following data: paper's title, author's name, reference field of study (including those mentioned above), institutional affiliation, mailing address and email address. 
 
Abstracts will be submitted for blind review to the Scientific Committee. Notification of acceptance will be given via email. Final papers need to be suitable for a 30 minutes presentation. At the end of the conference, there will be a second selection of papers; those considered suitable by the Scientific Committee will be published.  Whether you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact our organizing committee to the following address: [email protected]

Scientific committee

Olivier Abel, President of Fonds Ricœur, Institut protestant de théologie, Ecole des hautes études
en sciences sociales (France)
Luigi Alici, Università degli Studi di Macerata (Italy)
Angelo Bruno, Università del Salento (Italy)
Vinicio Busacchi, Università di Cagliari (Italy)
François Dosse, Université Paris XII (France)
Catherine Goldenstein, vice-president of the Paul Ricœur’s Association, member of the Scientific
Comittee of Fonds Ricœur (France)
Daniella Iannotta, Università degli Studi di Roma Tre (Italy)
Domenico Jervolino, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II” (Italy)
Mario Lombardo, Università di Verona (Italy)
Johann Michel, Université de Poitiers, Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (France)
Roger Savage, University of California, Los Angeles (USA)
Alison Scott-Baumann, Lancaster University, University of Gloucestershire (UK), Fonds Ricœur (France)
George Taylor, University of Pittsburgh  (USA)
Laura Tundo Ferente, Università del Salento (Italy)
Pierluigi Valenza, Director of Istituto “Enrico Castelli”, Università “La Sapienza” (Italy)

When you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our organizing committee to
the following address: [email protected]