The North American Nietzsche Society will hold its sixth international conference on \;November 12-14\, 2026 at Boston University. \;
\nThe conference will feature two keynote speakers\, \;Lanier Anderson (Stanford) \;and \;Sandra Shapshay (CUNY)\, and approximately eight papers selected on the basis of abstract submissions.
\nSessions will be 90 minutes\, with approximately 40 minutes for presentation and 50 minutes for discussion. The conference program may also include invited panels.
\nIn addition the conference will include a junior scholar workshop featuring work from graduate students and commentaries on that work from senior scholars.
\nSchedule: \;
\nNovember 12: junior scholar workshop\; three papers with commentators
\nNovember 13-14: main program\; approximately four papers per day\, with commentators
\n ORGANIZER;CN=Paul Katsafanas: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261030T094728Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261220T234500 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261220T234500 SUMMARY:Boston University 2027 Graduate Conference UID:20261030T124623Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:745c:97ff:fe1a:12eb%3 TZID:America/New_York LOCATION:745 Commonwealth Avenue\, Boston\, United States\, 02135 DESCRIPTION:Fragility\, vulnerability\, fallibility &ndash\; historically\, these concepts have been understood as shortcomings or even faults\; but in recent years\, philosophers have increasingly suggested that the attempt to theorize our way out of these limits has concealed essential features of human life. The question consequently arises: should these concepts always carry a negative connotation? Can we even conceive of agency without fragility\, relationships without vulnerability\, or knowledge without fallibility? Would the absence of these so-called limitations improve upon these facets of human life\, or render them unrecognizable?
\n\; \; \;The 12th Annual Graduate Philosophy Conference at Boston University (April 2&ndash\;3\, 2027) will explore these questions and others related to fragility\, vulnerability\, and fallibility in contemporary ethics\, moral psychology\, epistemology\, and queer and feminist philosophy. We welcome submissions on any of these themes from a range of approaches\, including\, but not limited to\, papers that engage with contemporary philosophical literature\, papers that take a historical or interpretative approach\, and papers that use sociological\, anthropological\, and political frameworks to address our topic. We also welcome papers that question whether\, and under what conditions\, these limitations should be valued or overcome.
\n\; \; \;In the past\, relatively few philosophers have given these &ldquo\;limiting concepts&rdquo\; a positive treatment in their conceptions of human life. In moral philosophy\, we typically speak of fragility as a precursor to corruption and failure\; in political philosophy\, we often think of vulnerability in terms of asymmetrical power relations that stand in need of rectification\; and in epistemology\, we conceive fallibility as an epistemic fault to be avoided or even as a limitation on the possibility of knowledge itself. Despite this\, philosophers continuously acknowledge that these limitations must be addressed in any comprehensive account of human life and experience. As biological creatures\, we are vulnerable to natural and human-made calamities. As social creatures\, we depend on others in order to survive and live flourishing lives. As moral and epistemic agents\, our failures form the very background against which our progress is measured.
\n\; \; \;Today\, there is a growing effort to understand these three forms of human finitude not merely as defects\, but in a more positive light. Our conference will explore this trend by posing anew the question of fragility\, vulnerability\, and fallibility. \; \; \;
\n\; \; \;We are pleased to announce our two keynote speakers: Lisa Tessman (Binghamton University) and Jeffrey Bloechl (Boston College).
\n\; \; \;We are excited to invite graduate students affiliated with any institution to submit papers on the themes outlined above.
\nSubmission Guidelines:
\n\; \; \;We invite submissions of papers suitable for a 45-minute presentation\, including Q&\;A (approximately 3\,000-4000 words). Papers should address one or more of the conference themes. Submissions (in .doc\, .docx\, or .pdf format) should be prepared for anonymous review and include a word count. Please supply author name\, affiliation\, and contact information in a separate file.
\nSubmission Deadline: Sunday\, December 20th\, 2026 at 11:59 EST. \;
\nSubmit papers (and questions!) to: bu.phil.gradconference@gmail.com
\nWe aim to provide all speakers with local accommodation and cover their travel expenses
ORGANIZER;CN=Alec Koppers;CN=Eleanor Oser;CN=Alexander Dickison;CN=Sarah Durkee: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261030T094728Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270105T234500 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270105T234500 SUMMARY:The AI & Society Symposium: Where Technology Meets Human Values UID:20261030T124624Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:745c:97ff:fe1a:12eb%3 TZID:America/New_York LOCATION:Boston\, United States DESCRIPTION:The Boston University Humanities &\; AI Lab (HAIL) invites undergraduate and graduate students from any institution and any discipline to submit papers for its first symposium. \;
\nThis symposium inquires into the conceptions of the human built into generative AI. \;
GenAI systems sound like us: they say &ldquo\;I understand\,&rdquo\; they apologize\, they appear to care. They&rsquo\;re also made for a user\, and so they come with assumptions about who that user is: what they need and what they can already do. And they&rsquo\;re built on assumptions about what intelligence itself is. Some of these pictures of the human reflect choices made by engineers and product teams\; others were assumed without anyone ever deciding. It all demands to be examined. This symposium brings these and related questions into public discussion\, asking what it means to be human at a time when these systems are made like us and for us\, even as this &lsquo\;us&rsquo\; is still being decided. \;
We welcome work from any discipline in the humanities\, the social sciences\, and technical fields such as engineering\, computer science\, and data science. Possible topics include\, but are not limited to:
\nSubmission details:
\nLimited travel grants may be available for presenters from outside Boston\, with priority for students in New England. \;
\nYou can send questions to \;ppardi1@bu.edu.
\nOrganized by Pol Pardini Gispert\, Anika Mukherjee\, Daniel Munro\, and Seth Villegas\, with support from the Boston University Center for the Humanities and the APA Berry Fund.
ORGANIZER;CN=Pol Pardini Gispert;CN=Daniel Munro: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261030T094728Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270402T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270403T170000 SUMMARY:Boston University 2027 Graduate Conference UID:20261030T124625Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:745c:97ff:fe1a:12eb%3 TZID:America/New_York LOCATION:745 Commonwealth Avenue\, Boston\, United States\, 02135 DESCRIPTION:Fragility\, vulnerability\, fallibility &ndash\; historically\, these concepts have been understood as shortcomings or even faults\; but in recent years\, philosophers have increasingly suggested that the attempt to theorize our way out of these limits has concealed essential features of human life. The question consequently arises: should these concepts always carry a negative connotation? Can we even conceive of agency without fragility\, relationships without vulnerability\, or knowledge without fallibility? Would the absence of these so-called limitations improve upon these facets of human life\, or render them unrecognizable?
\n\; \; \;The 12th Annual Graduate Philosophy Conference at Boston University (April 2&ndash\;3\, 2027) will explore these questions and others related to fragility\, vulnerability\, and fallibility in contemporary ethics\, moral psychology\, epistemology\, and queer and feminist philosophy. We welcome submissions on any of these themes from a range of approaches\, including\, but not limited to\, papers that engage with contemporary philosophical literature\, papers that take a historical or interpretative approach\, and papers that use sociological\, anthropological\, and political frameworks to address our topic. We also welcome papers that question whether\, and under what conditions\, these limitations should be valued or overcome.
\n\; \; \;In the past\, relatively few philosophers have given these &ldquo\;limiting concepts&rdquo\; a positive treatment in their conceptions of human life. In moral philosophy\, we typically speak of fragility as a precursor to corruption and failure\; in political philosophy\, we often think of vulnerability in terms of asymmetrical power relations that stand in need of rectification\; and in epistemology\, we conceive fallibility as an epistemic fault to be avoided or even as a limitation on the possibility of knowledge itself. Despite this\, philosophers continuously acknowledge that these limitations must be addressed in any comprehensive account of human life and experience. As biological creatures\, we are vulnerable to natural and human-made calamities. As social creatures\, we depend on others in order to survive and live flourishing lives. As moral and epistemic agents\, our failures form the very background against which our progress is measured.
\n\; \; \;Today\, there is a growing effort to understand these three forms of human finitude not merely as defects\, but in a more positive light. Our conference will explore this trend by posing anew the question of fragility\, vulnerability\, and fallibility. \; \; \;
\n\; \; \;We are pleased to announce our two keynote speakers: Lisa Tessman (Binghamton University) and Jeffrey Bloechl (Boston College).
\n\; \; \;We are excited to invite graduate students affiliated with any institution to submit papers on the themes outlined above.
\nSubmission Guidelines:
\n\; \; \;We invite submissions of papers suitable for a 45-minute presentation\, including Q&\;A (approximately 3\,000-4000 words). Papers should address one or more of the conference themes. Submissions (in .doc\, .docx\, or .pdf format) should be prepared for anonymous review and include a word count. Please supply author name\, affiliation\, and contact information in a separate file.
\nSubmission Deadline: Sunday\, December 20th\, 2026 at 11:59 EST. \;
\nSubmit papers (and questions!) to: bu.phil.gradconference@gmail.com
\nWe aim to provide all speakers with local accommodation and cover their travel expenses
ORGANIZER;CN=Alec Koppers;CN=Eleanor Oser;CN=Alexander Dickison;CN=Sarah Durkee: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261030T094728Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270416T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270417T170000 SUMMARY:The AI & Society Symposium: Where Technology Meets Human Values UID:20261030T124626Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:745c:97ff:fe1a:12eb%3 TZID:America/New_York LOCATION:Boston\, United States DESCRIPTION:This symposium inquires into the conceptions of the human built into generative AI. \;
GenAI systems sound like us: they say &ldquo\;I understand\,&rdquo\; they apologize\, they appear to care. They&rsquo\;re also made for a user\, and so they come with assumptions about who that user is: what they need and what they can already do. And they&rsquo\;re built on assumptions about what intelligence itself is. Some of these pictures of the human reflect choices made by engineers and product teams\; others were assumed without anyone ever deciding. It all demands to be examined. This symposium brings these and related questions into public discussion\, asking what it means to be human at a time when these systems are made like us and for us\, even as this &lsquo\;us&rsquo\; is still being decided. \;
You can send questions to \;ppardi1@bu.edu.
\n\nOrganized by Pol Pardini Gispert\, Anika Mukherjee\, Daniel Munro\, and Seth Villegas\, with support from the Boston University Center for the Humanities and the APA Berry Fund.
ORGANIZER;CN=Pol Pardini Gispert;CN=Daniel Munro: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR