Summer Workshop in Continental Ethics, Existentialism

Call for Abstracts

Summer Workshop in Continental Ethics: Existentialism

West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA

June 19-22, 2019

Submission deadline: March 25, 2019

This is a call for applications for a summer workshop in the ethics of existentialism to be held at West Virginia University, June 19-22, 2019. Those interested should submit paper abstracts by March 25. Accepted papers will be allocated thirty minutes for presentation and an additional thirty minutes for discussion.

This workshop is the first in a ten-part series dedicated to the topic of Continental ethics. Although some efforts have been made in this direction, there is a need for substantial additional research into the character and role of ethics in contemporary Continental philosophy. One reason such research is desirable stems from the complexity of twentieth- and twenty-first-century continental ethics, which tends to obscure the common themes of contemporary Continental ethics, and to militate against making the ethical discoveries and teachings of Continental ethics accessible to the public. The overall goal of this workshop is to gain greater clarity about contemporary Continental philosophical ethics.

The workshop will meet every summer for the next ten years and will bring together scholars from around the globe to confer about outstanding themes and thinkers within continental ethics. The seminar is being organized under the auspices of a partnership between the LSMU Emmanuel Levinas Center in Kaunas, Lithuania and the West Virginia University Department of Philosophy in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.

This year's workshop is dedicated to 20th-century existentialist ethics, with special emphasis on the works of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, and including the ethical thought of Albert Camus. Although there is a raft of research on existentialism as an attempt to describe the human condition, the topic of existential ethics has been somewhat neglected. This neglect has been exasperated by the lack of unity among the existential thinkers themselves. The goal of the workshop is to look at existentialist ethics as a whole and try to distill its unique features. In addition to papers on de Beauvoir, Sartre, and Camus, the workshop welcomes paper proposals that address other figures within the ambit of existentialism, as well as papers that address philosophers and/or philosophical schools that had an important historical influence on existentialism, e.g., Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. In general, paper proposals on any aspect of existentialist ethics are welcome.

To be considered for the workshop, please submit a paper abstract of no more than 500 words, as well as a copy of your CV. Please submit this application to [email protected] no later than March 25, 2019. The workshop organizers will notify applicants of their proposal’s status by mid-April.

Any questions about the workshop may be addressed to David F. Hoinski at:

[email protected]