Open Call: Philosophy and Mysticism

Philosophical mysticism is about to live a renaissance in the 21st century. Not only is it able to provide a promising alternative to the dichotomy of orthodox theism and atheism; it also is compatible with a wide range of contemporary trends in global thought such as Speculative Realism, Non-Philosophy, Kyoto School, etc.

Thanks to COVID 19, for the first time we are able to conduct a truly global conference on contemporary mysticism via Zoom. Please send your abstract (up to 300 words) or your video/trailer (up to 20 minutes) to [email protected] until 31 May 2021.

The conference will be conducted in July 2021.

Note that this is not a purely academic conference. This includes that speakers/artists will be given up to one hour to discuss their views. We especially appreciate submissions from outside the Western world.

The following subtopics merely serve as an initial orientation. Submissions are not limited to them.

Subtopics:

Contemporary philosophy and mysticism

         - Speculative realism/materialism (Meillassoux, Thacker etc.)

         - Non-philosophy (Laruelle)

         - Kyoto School (Nishida, Nishitani etc.)

         - Feminism (Kristeva, Clémont, von Franz etc.)

         - Contemporary hermeneutics (Pareyson, Shabestari etc.)

         - Deconstruction (Derrida, Caputo etc.)

         - Anatheism (Kearney)

         - Atheology (Bataille)

         - Existentialism (Sartre, Cioran etc.)

.

Mystical traditions

         - Daoism

         - Sufism

         - Kabbalah

         - Mahayana and Zen Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism

         - Tantra, Bhakti, Vedanta etc.

         - Christian mysticism

         - Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, Rusicrusianism

         - Alchemy and magic

         - Shamanism, indigenous thought

.

Counterculture

         - Indian mystics of the 20th century (Krishnamurti, Sri Aurobindo, Osho)

         - mystical experience and the psychedelic renaissance (Huxley, McKenna, Watts)

         - mythology and mysticism (Campbell, Jung)

         - theatre of cruelty (Artaud)

         - literature and mysticism (Joyce, Kafka, Blake, Crowley etc.)

         - cinema and mysticism (Jodorowsky, Tarkovsky etc.)

         - queer mysticism

         - contemporary counterculture

.

Deadline: 31 May 2021 for abstracts (up to 300 words) or video/trailer (up to 20 minutes) to [email protected]

Date of conference: July 2021 (exact date to be confirmed)

No commission, no fee.