The International Society for the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind announces a double book symposium on Kathryn Nave's A Drive to Survive: \;The Free Energy Principle and the Meaning of Life and Jakob Hohwy's The Self-Evidencing Agent: \;Mind\, Existence and Predictive Processing.
\nCan the Free Energy Principle/Predictive Processing illuminate the sort of being we are? This symposium explores two important - and importantly different - ways to answer the question. Kate Nave&rsquo\;s book offers a negative answer\, grounded in the enactivist tradition. Hohwy&rsquo\;s book offers a positive\, internalist and representationalist answer.
\nBy placing Nave&rsquo\;s and Hohwy&rsquo\;s opposite accounts in critical conversation\, this double-book symposium explores the Free Energy Principle and the various\, opposite ways in which it can be interpreted. It also sheds light on a number of foundational topics in cognitive science\, including the nature of representation\, the relevance of embodiment\, the complex\, tangly relation between our pragmatic and epistemic grip on the world\, and the normativity - biological or epistemic - governing that grip.
On May 12\, 2026. At 10:00 CEST
Online. For the link\, please register here: \;https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdVOrKG1YyHByLLk-DlfU2ABBKRjIYBBCibYJm2pGEhWyc-xQ/viewform
ORGANIZER;CN=International Society for the Philosophy and the Sciences of the Mind (ispsm): METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260503T041724Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260731T234500 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260731T234500 SUMMARY:The 4th annual conference of the The International Society for the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind UID:20260504T000654Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-6b96c54f56-bljdq TZID:Europe/London DESCRIPTION:Call for Abstracts \;
The International Society for the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind (ISPSM) is happy to invite all philosophers working on any science of the mind (broadly construed) to submit an abstract for a paper or a symposium. We particularly encourage submissions from underrepresented groups in the field\, including members of the LGBTQIA+ community and those based in the global south\, as part of our ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion practices in philosophy and beyond. \;
What is the mind\, and how does it work? These questions have led to centuries of philosophical and empirical investigations\, and still lack definitive answers. We thus invite submissions from all disciplines that leverage insights from the use of different techniques\, methodologies\, and research questions to shed light on the nature and functioning of the mind. \;
In this fourth web conference\, we seek again to bring together many of these perspectives to build a common ground\, a comprehensive and multi-scale conceptual landscape of the mind. We accept submissions from a broad range of perspectives\, including - but not limited to - philosophy of psychology\, philosophy of psychiatry\, philosophy of neuroscience\, philosophy of cognitive science\, philosophy of mind\, philosophy of artificial intelligence &\; robotics\, philosophy of linguistics\, philosophy of ethology\, philosophy of (cognitive) anthropology\, philosophy of biology\, philosophy of the social sciences and consciousness studies. \;
We are delighted to already have a number of excellent keynote speakers confirmed for 2026\, including: \;
Devon Bailey University of Johannesburg\, Republic of South Africa \;
Louise Barrett University of Lethbridge\, Canada \;
Ali Boyle LSE\, United Kingdom \;
Melina Gastelum Vargas UNAM\, Mexico \;
Michael Kirchhoff University of Wollongong\, Australia \;
\nYukie Nagai University of Tokyo\, Japan \;
\nPractical Information \;
\nWhen: 4-6 November 2026
\nWhere: Online
\nFees: The conference is fully online\, and no fee is required
\nFurther Inquiries: ispsmofficial@gmail.com \; \; \;
\nInformation for submission \;
\nAbstracts for single papers (about 30 minutes each including Q&\;A) should be anonymized PDFs of maximum 500 words\, and should include references and 3-5 keywords (both excluded from the wordcount). To submit an abstract\, please use the following link: \;
\n\; https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfnep5cuix6t3NbLY6J9fE3Yul-bk5afwzDQ7y-x-EbJ0jAhw/viewform \;
\nProposals for symposia (2 hours including Q&\;A\, maximum 4 papers) should be PDF files between 1500 and 2000 words\, excluding references and 3-5 keywords. Unlike papers\, they should not be anonymized: speakers' affiliations and contacts should be included in the main text. To submit a symposium proposal\, please use the following link:
\n\; https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeC3XMR-0A9Pw0A_Xm1f3ZCoinJ0mUW3cGwvQKdKoA_I014ZQ/viewform \;
\nDeadline for submissions: 31/07/2026 \;
\nBest meme prize \;
\nMany scientific societies have prizes for the best paper. As an online-based society\, we instead launch a contest for the best graphic meme regarding the philosophy of the sciences of the mind. We are interested in memes formed by static images + text and GIFs. \; The contest is open to all those who submit a paper or a symposium at the conference: to participate\, simply add up to a .GIF or .JPEG file entitled "ISPSM2026 Best Meme Contest." Memes should aim to elicit a laugh and then a thought (similarly to the Ig Nobel prize) and should abide by the ISPSM code of conduct (https://www.ispsmind.com/). The winning meme will be selected by the participants through a vote\, and hosted on the society&rsquo\;s homepage and social media. \; \; \; \;
\n\nOrganizing committee \; \;
\nMarco Facchin\, Universiteit Antwerpen
\nValeria Becattini\, IUSS Pavia
\nLiberty Severs\, Ruhr-Univesitä\;t Bochum\, the University of Lisbon and the Konrad Lorentz Institute
\nClavel Vá\;zquez\, Jimena - Tilburg University
\nNegro\, Niccolò\; - School of Psychological Sciences\, Tel Aviv University
\nCarlos Barth - Jesuit Faculty of Philosophy and Theology (FAJE)
\nLaura Oppi - Center for Subjectivity Research\, University of Copenhagen
\nApril Owens - University of Cambridge
ORGANIZER;CN=Marco Facchin;CN=Valeria Becattini;CN=Liberty Severs;CN=Niccolo Negro;CN="María Jimena Clavel Vázquez";CN=Carlos Barth;CN=Laura Oppi;CN=April Owens: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260503T041724Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261104T090000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261106T170000 SUMMARY:The 4th annual conference of the The International Society for the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind UID:20260504T000655Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-6b96c54f56-bljdq TZID:Europe/London DESCRIPTION:What is the mind\, and how does it work? These questions have led to centuries of philosophical and empirical investigations\, and still lack definitive answers. We thus invite submissions from all disciplines that leverage insights from the use of different techniques\, methodologies\, and research questions to shed light on the nature and functioning of the mind.
\nIn this fourth web conference\, we seek again to bring together many of these perspectives to build a common ground\, a comprehensive and multi-scale conceptual landscape of the mind. We accept submissions from a broad range of perspectives\, including - but not limited to - philosophy of psychology\, philosophy of psychiatry\, philosophy of neuroscience\, philosophy of cognitive science\, philosophy of mind\, philosophy of artificial intelligence &\; robotics\, philosophy of linguistics\, philosophy of ethology\, philosophy of (cognitive) anthropology\, philosophy of biology\, philosophy of the social sciences and consciousness studies.
\nWe are delighted to already have a number of excellent keynote speakers confirmed for 2026\, including:
\nDevon Bailey
University of Johannesburg\, \;Republic of South Africa
Louise Barrett
University of Lethbridge\, \;Canada
Ali Boyle
LSE\, \;United Kingdom
Melina Gastelum Vargas
UNAM\, Mexico
Michael Kirchhoff
University of Wollongong\, \;Australia
Yukie Nagai
University of Tokyo\, Japan
Practical Information
\nWhen: 4-6 November 2026
Where: Online
Fees: The conference is fully online\, and no fee is required
Further Inquiries: \;ispsmofficial@gmail.com