Mind, Language, World: From Dilthey to Wittgenstein

The first Later German Philosophy conference, entitled After Kant: Beyond Transcendental Idealism (http://www.kent.ac.uk/secl/philosophy/conferences/after-kant.html) and held in September 2012, discussed reactions to Kant’s transcendental idealism, as they emerged in the period 1860-1951. The second Later German Philosophy conference will look at the fascinating variety of conceptions of language and related issues in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind, as discussed by figures such as Wilhelm Dilthey, Gottlob Frege, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Theodor W. Adorno, Ernst Cassirer, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Karl Jaspers and Walter Benjamin.

This conference series aims to revive the dialogue between analytic and continental philosophy. To overcome this divide it is necessary to go back to the time when this divide took emerged, namely the period 1860-1951. This remains a widely neglected, but extremely fruitful period, especially with respect to German philosophy, marked by the deaths of two philosophers whose very different methods of inquiry and argumentation represent the end and the beginning of significant philosophical traditions: Schopenhauer (1860) and Wittgenstein (1951). The philosophers whose ideas and arguments the conference speakers will consider are all later German philosophers in this sense. The conference series aims to revisit German philosophers from this period, recover the wealth of original and challenging ideas and arguments they contributed to mind and language studies, and discuss their relevance to burning issues in contemporary philosophy.

Speakers:
Prof. Andrew Bowie (UK)
Prof. Sebastian Gardner (UK)
Prof. Hans-Johann Glock (Swizerland)
Dr. Edward Kanterian (UK)
Dr. Joel Katzav (Netherlands)
Dr. Christine Lopes (UK)
Prof. Rudolf A. Makkreel (USA)
Prof. Dermot Moran (Ireland)

Research questions:

• What conceptions of mind, language, and world emerged in the period 1860-1951?
• What influence, if any, did they have on the corresponding conception of philosophy?
• How did the new philosophical systems impact on Anglo-American philosophy?
• How did the rise of the natural and historical sciences affect philosophy?
• How did the analytic-continental divide emerge? Can it be overcome?
• Does the period 1860-1951 offer us new approaches to this questions?
• How can contemporary philosophy benefit from the ideas of this period?

Fees & registration:

Non-student fee inclusive of buffet lunch, coffee, and cookies: £ 13

Philosophy graduate fee inclusive of buffet lunch, coffee, and cookies: £ 5

The conference is a non-profit event. To register, please email us first to ensure that spaces are still available.  If so, please send a cheque for £13 (non-students) or £5 (students) payable to ‘University of Kent’ or ‘UNIKENT’, to the following address:

Clare Valentine
SECL Finance and HR Coordinator
Cornwallis NW
University of Kent
Canterbury, Kent
CT2 7NF

For information on accommodation at Kent and general enquiries about the conference, please email [email protected] or [email protected].