CFP: 42nd Annual KJSNA Meeting: The Cyborg and Existential Becoming: Exploring Posthumanism with Jaspers

Submission deadline: November 30, 2020

Conference date(s):
April 23, 2021 - April 24, 2021

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Conference Venue:

Karl Jaspers Society of North America
Rohnert Park, United States

Details

42nd Annual KJSNA Meetings
Topic 2: The Cyborg and Existential Becoming: Exploring Posthumanism with Jaspers

Due to the pandemic, the 42nd Annual KJSNA Meetings are scheduled to take place online. This is the second of three meetings, the other two take place on April 9-10 and on May 7-8, 2021.

Posthumanism is a multifaceted phenomenon which finds itself at the crossroads of many interests that drive contemporary philosophy. On the one hand, posthumanism is the result of the modern questioning of human nature. Marxism, psychoanalysis, and structuralism, to name but a few approaches, have all denied the human being the privileged position that it occupied in the Western tradition. On the other hand, posthumanism comprises the attempt at expanding the essence of humans, for example, through the merging of human biology with digital technologies. In the first aspect, posthumanism is linked to the idea of postmodernism, in the second aspect it involves the interest in transhumanism. From an ethical point of view, posthumanism implies a radically inclusive stance that embraces the diversity of human bodies and abilities. Jaspers’ philosophy can relate in a variety of ways to posthumanism, for example, through the ideas of existential freedom and transcendence and his attempt to overcome traditional metaphysics and the assumption of a fixed essence of human beings. At the same, Jaspers can be seen to defend a more classical conception of humanity. The colloquium invites contributions from all backgrounds that explore the possible dialogue between Jaspers’ thought and the various facets of posthumanism.

Presentations are limited to a maximum of 10 minutes followed by a 20 minutes discussion with each one of the panel members, for a total time period of 30 minutes per presenter. Emphasis is on dialogue; the event will be videotaped and an edited version of the recording will be posted online. All participants are encouraged to submit full-length versions of their final, edited papers for consideration to be published in Existenz. All contributors are welcome regardless of membership. A registration fee of $25.00 applies for all who are not an active member in the Karl Jaspers Society of North America.

Please send your working title and a brief abstract (200 words) to the program chair:

Michael Steinmann at [email protected] by November 30, 2020. Earlier submissions are appreciated and will be processed in the order as they are received.

Notification of placement will take place by January 10, 2021.

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