CFP: Societal Implications: Applying Academic Philosophy Outside of the Academy

Workshop Information, Aims, and Purposes: CFP

The Society for Applied Philosophy and Boston University present BU’s Third Annual Graduate Conference in Philosophy,

"Societal Implications: Applying Academic Philosophy Outside of the Academy."

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Submission Deadline: January 11th, 2018

Decision Letters: February 1st, 2018

Location: Boston University Charles River Campus, Boston MA

Conference Dates: March 16th-18th, 2018

Send Papers:  [email protected]

Do modern day academic philosophers have an active role to play in non-academic society?  Do academic philosophers have a duty to engage in activism? How can an academic philosopher effectively cultivate a socially conscious public media presence? These quandaries, and others like them, have occasioned The Society for Applied Philosophy and Boston University to present BU’s Third Annual Graduate Conference in Philosophy, "Societal Implications: Applying Academic Philosophy Outside of the Academy." We are calling for papers and abstracts that broadly fall into the category of social and political philosophy, and we are specifically interested in those that emphasize the role that rigorous critical and philosophical thought can play outside of a strictly academic context. Our hope is to highlight underrepresented and international voices on the topic of applied social philosophy, and to present a conference that enhances our collective understanding of both the social-political landscape and the role that the discipline of academic philosophy can play within it.

This conference will feature two keynotes addresses: one by Professor Lynne Tirrell of the University of Connecticut (until recently at UMass Boston), and one by Professor Kieran Setiya of MIT.  Prof. Tirrell is most well known for her work at the intersection between the philosophy of language and political discourse particularly concerning hate speech and the practical social effects of linguistic practices.  She is currently working on projects involving language and genocide, the nature of apologies, and “emergent forgiveness.”  Her most recent publications include “Perpetrators and Social Death:  A Cautionary Tale” (Metaphilosophy 47.4-5), and “Transitional Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda:  An Integrative Approach” (in Corradetti, Eisikovits, & Rotondi, eds., Theorizing Transitional Justice, Ashgate, 2015).  Professor Setiya is author, among other things, of Reasons without Rationalism (Princeton 2010) and Knowing Right from Wrong (Oxford 2015). He is currently researching a number of topics in ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of action.  More information about Professors Tirrell and Setiya can be found on their respective websites:

Prof. Tirrell: http://faculty.www.umb.edu/lynne.tirrell/Welcome.html

Prof. Setiya: http://www.ksetiya.net/

Abstracts of up to 700 words and papers of up to 3,500 words will be considered for acceptance to the conference.  Those whose abstracts are accepted will be expected to submit full papers of up to 3,500 words by no less than three weeks prior to the conference so that BU graduate students may effectively provide comments.  Submissions should be prepared for blind review and should be in either PDF, DOCX or DOC format.  Please include your name, affiliation, and paper tittle in your email.  Submissions will be accepted up to and no later than 11 January 2018.

Limited housing accommodations and local transportation will be made available to presenters upon request on a first come first serve basis. 

Presenters are strongly encouraged to submit their final drafts to the Journal of Applied Philosophy after the conference.  They are also encouraged to look into the Society for Applied Philosophy’s travel funding for postgraduate students (graduate students in American parlance) here: 

www.appliedphil.org/view/funding.html#pgtravel

If you have further need of support to attend the conference, please contact its organizers and we may be able to provide additional limited travel funding. 

Papers and abstracts should be sent to: [email protected]

This conference has been generously funded by The Society for Applied Philosophy (http://www.appliedphil.org/view/0/index.html) and The Department of Philosophy at Boston University (https://www.bu.edu/philo/).

This event will be free and open to the public.