The &ldquo\;One Health&rdquo\; approach\, promoted since 2000 by international institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO)\, emphasizes the interdependence between human health\, animal health and the global ecological state of the planet. Despite the increasing endorsement of &ldquo\;One Health&rdquo\; in health and environmental policies\, some unsolved conceptual confusions and practical difficulties are at present embedded in the approach. This one-day workshop aims at examining those confusions and difficulties in a philosophical perspective\, in order to assess whether &ldquo\;One Health&rdquo\; can be more than a slogan.
ORGANIZER;CN=Silvia De Cesare;CN=Federica Russo: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260909T172225Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20261029T090000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20261030T170000 SUMMARY:Melancholic historicity: lost pasts and past losses UID:20260909T172227Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-6cf9979bf7-2k8pg TZID:Europe/Brussels LOCATION:Utrecht\, Netherlands DESCRIPTION:Melancholic historicity: lost pasts and past losses
\nOrganizers: Katherina Kinzel and Robert Vinkesteijn
\nUtrecht University\, 29+30 October 2026
\nRecent reconceptualizations of historicity&mdash\;most notably in the work of Walter Benjamin and related thinkers&mdash\;have challenged the modern ideal of progress by foregrounding historical experiences of loss and destruction. These approaches question the assumption that history unfolds as a continuous movement in which past suffering is redeemed by future advancement. Instead of viewing the past as dead or completed\, they envision the past as a site of continuous unease and questioning within the present. Forgotten\, suppressed\, or destroyed pasts unsettle present self-understandings and expose their complicity in the ongoing reproduction of loss. \;
\nThis conference explores the question what a &ldquo\;melancholic&rdquo\; conception of historicity that is oriented around experiences of loss\, destruction and defeat looks like. What does it mean to think historically from a standpoint that refuses to forget or &ldquo\;accept&rdquo\; historical losses\, that interrupts linear temporality and breaks with the perpetuation of historical violence in the present. What is the political valence of different attempts at confronting historical loss? What constitutes a philosophically fruitful attitude to lost pasts (the pasts that have been forgotten or suppressed) and past losses (past experiences of loss\, injustice and defeat) that are haunting the present?
\nThis conference brings together \;critical approaches to the philosophy of history\, postcolonial perspectives on loss\, \;theoretical reflections on displacement and genocide\, accounts of ecological loss and destruction and psychoanalytic discussions of (historical) mourning and melancholia.
\nIf you would like to contribute as a speaker\, please send an abstract of maximum 500 words to r.w.vinkesteijn@uu.nl\, the deadline for abstracts is Saturday 28 February 2026. If you have further questions about the scope and topic of this conference\, do not hesitate to get in touch.
ORGANIZER;CN=Katherina Kinzel: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR