SEMINAR DESCRIPTION
Anaximander&rsquo\;s fragment has been interpreted in various different ways. The young Nietzsche reads in it a &ldquo\;pessimism&rdquo\; comparable to that of Schopenhauer\, whereas Heidegger\, in his 1946 lecture series &ldquo\;The Anaximander Fragment\,&rdquo\; criticizes Nietzsche for projecting a moralistic sentiment onto the early Pre-Socratic. Anaximander&rsquo\;s fragment\, argues Heidegger\, is &ldquo\;neither pessimistic nor nihilistic\; nor is it optimistic. It is tragic.&rdquo\;
Although Heidegger&rsquo\;s critique is probably correct\, it is symptomatic of a more general critique against Nietzsche. In the chapter &ldquo\;The Concept of &lsquo\;Chaos&rsquo\;&rdquo\; in his great book on Nietzsche\, Heidegger asserts that Nietzsche&rsquo\;s conception of chaos is far off from the &ldquo\;original Greek meaning&rdquo\; of a yawning abyss as found in Hesiod. Nietzsche\, however\, seems way more interested in the pluralistic &ldquo\;Anaxagorian chaos\,&rdquo\; which he contrasts with the apeiron of Anaximander. Not to mention their shared interest in Heraclitus&mdash\;could not Heidegger&rsquo\;s defense of Anaximander in the first place be a hint at his perennial critique of Nietzsche&rsquo\;s &ldquo\;modern&rdquo\; thinking? And could not Nietzsche&rsquo\;s preference for Anaxagoras point at a wholly different picture\, where chaos can be freed of its &ldquo\;original Greek meaning&rdquo\;&mdash\;quite ironically\, already in the Pre-Socratics?
In this seminar\, we turn to the Greek origins of the term &lsquo\;chaos\,&rsquo\; contrasting an &ldquo\;abyssal&rdquo\; with a more creative reading. No prior knowledge is required. All key texts will be provided on registration.
TIME
5 SATURDAYS\, weekly\, beginning September 12\, 2026.
1-3 PM Eastern US Time.
SESSIONS
1) The Concept of Chaos: Heidegger contra Nietzsche
2) Nietzsche and the early Pre-Socratics
3) Anaximander&rsquo\;s Fragment
4) Anaxagoras&rsquo\; Fragments
5) Anaxagorian Chaos: Nietzsche contra Heidegger
FACILITATOR
Having lived and studied all around the world\, Hannes Schumacher works at the threshold between philosophy and art. He has carried out intensive research on Hegel and Deleuze\, and he has also published widely on Nishida\, Nāgārjuna\, chaos theory\, global mysticism\, and contemporary art. Hannes is the founder of the Berlin-based publisher Freigeist Verlag\, co-founder of the grassroots art space Chaosmos &infin\; in Athens\, Greece\, and he collaborates extensively with the literary translator Peter Constantine and World Poetry Books\, New York. He has facilitated the following courses and groups at Incite Seminars: &ldquo\;Nishida Kitarō: The Logic of Place and the Religious Worldview&rdquo\;\; &ldquo\;Who&rsquo\;s Afraid of Hegel: Introduction to G. W. F. Hegel&rsquo\;s Science of Logic&rdquo\;\; &ldquo\;Chaos Research Group&rdquo\;\; &ldquo\;Reading After Finitude by Quentin Meillassoux&rdquo\;\; &ldquo\;Deleuze &\; Guattari: What is Philosophy?&rdquo\;\; &ldquo\;Plato&rsquo\;s chô\;ra through the lens of Derrida&rdquo\;\; &ldquo\;Anarchia and Archai: Reimagining the Pre-Socratics&rdquo\; (with Carlos A. Segovia)\; &ldquo\;Reading Nietzsche&rsquo\;s Zarathustra&rdquo\; (current)\; &ldquo\;Liana of the Resurrected&rdquo\;\; &ldquo\;The Body without Organs&rdquo\;\; and &ldquo\;Introduction to Chaos Theory.&rdquo\;
INCITE SEMINARS
We are a mix of rogue scholars\, disgruntled academics\, disenchanted buddhists\, enchantment-hungry anarchists\, radical therapists\, and general weirdos looking to create autonomous and accessible forms of &ldquo\;higher education.&rdquo\;
We offer online seminars and reading groups to incite personal exploration and inspire community action. Incite Seminars offers an educational experience. We do so by gathering an engaged group of participants for a dynamic exchange of ideas\, led by skilled facilitators. All of our facilitators have a deep relationship to a subject or topic through intensive study or practice.
Incite Seminars is a 100% member-supported learning community. We depend on member contributions to continue holding space for radical study and practice groups\, putting on rigorous seminars and courses\, and providing our facilitators and organizers with fair compensation. If you are unable to pay the full amount for a session or membership at this time\, we invite you to join us at reduced or no cost with our Solidarity option.
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\nThe foundation of the Society of Jesus in 1540\, and its subsequent involvement in higher education\, had a profound impact on European thought. It is no coincidence that a considerable number of the greatest thinkers of the last quarter of the sixteenth century were Jesuits: Toledo\, Molina\, Bellarmine\, Mariana\, Perera\, Maldonado\, Fonseca\, Sá\;nchez\, Valencia\, Vá\;zquez and Suá\;rez\, to name but a few. These men taught at various learning centres across Europe\, from Coimbra and É\;vora to Ingolstadt and Vienne\, and from Rome and Paris to Leuven and Alcalá\;. Their ideas circulated extensively through these centres\, even in manuscript form.
\nThe Jesuits closed ranks at the end of the sixteenth century when the De auxiliis controversy emerged. Nevertheless\, they profoundly disagreed with each other in many other issues before and after the controversy. Despite this\, it is possible to find shared views among the Jesuits\, partly because they shared the same starting point for theology: Aquinas' Summa Theologiae.
\nAlthough Jesuit thought has been widely studied\, it remains to be determined whether a distinct Jesuit theological tradition can be identified from the outset\, and if so\, to what extent. This is exactly the aim of this conference: to bring together specialists in various subfields of Scholasticism to investigate the emergence of a particular Jesuit theological tradition\, and to ascertain whether it arose prior to or independently of the De auxiliis controversy.
ORGANIZER: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Prague:20261006T090000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Prague:20261007T170000 SUMMARY:The Nature of Social Identities: Metaphysics\, Epistemology\, and Politics UID:20261009T033626Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:Europe/Prague LOCATION:Arna Nováka 1\, Brno \, Czech Republic\, 60200 DESCRIPTION:The Department of Philosophy\, Faculty of Arts\, Masaryk University in Brno\, Czech Republic\, invites submissions for a conference on the metaphysical and epistemological foundations of social identities\, organised within the research project Identity Politics: Metaphysics and Epistemology.
\nConference Theme
\nIn recent decades\, political and social debates have increasingly focused on identity-based groups defined by characteristics such as race\, gender\, sexual orientation\, disability\, class\, religion\, or age. These developments have generated extensive discussion in political philosophy and social theory. However\, many of the metaphysical and epistemological assumptions underlying identity politics remain insufficiently examined.
\nThis conference aims to investigate the nature\, constitution\, and epistemic role of social identities. In particular\, we seek to explore the mechanisms through which identities emerge as robust social and political entities\, and the ways in which identity-related features&mdash\;such as lived experience\, self-identification\, social recognition\, and shared narratives&mdash\;contribute to their formation and persistence. \;
\nAnother central aim is to examine whether different identities (for example\, race\, gender\, sexual orientation\, or class) are constituted through similar or distinct metaphysical and epistemic mechanisms. Comparative approaches that analyse similarities and differences across identities are especially welcome. \;
\nThe conference will also address the epistemological aspects of social identities\, including questions concerning situated knowledge\, epistemic authority\, intersectionality\, and conflicts among different socially situated perspectives.
\nTopics
\nPossible topics include\, but are not limited to:
\nMetaphysics of Social and Political Identities
\nEpistemology of Social Identity
\nSubmissions from metaphysics\, epistemology\, social philosophy\, feminist philosophy\, philosophy of race\, and related areas are welcome.
\nKeynote speaker: Kristina Rolin (Tampere University)
\nSubmission Guidelines
\nPlease submit an anonymous abstract of 400&ndash\;500 words.
\nThe submission should be attached to the email in .pdf format and prepared for blind review. Please include the following information separately in the body of the email: your name(s)\, affiliation(s)\, contact information\, the title of your talk.
\nImportant Dates
\nConference Details
\nSubmission
\nPlease send submissions to: belohrad@phil.muni.cz
\nContact
\nFor inquiries\, please contact: Radim Bělohrad\, Ph.D. (belohrad@phil.muni.cz)
\nOrganizing committee
\nRadim Bělohrad\, Ph.D. \;
\nZdeňka Jastrzembská\;\, Ph.D. \;
\nMarek Picha\, Ph.D.
\nDagmar Pichová\;\, Ph.D.
ORGANIZER;CN=Radim Belohrad: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Rome:20261007T141500 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Rome:20261009T170000 SUMMARY:La fondazione scientifica del discorso teologico in età imperiale. Interpretazioni e testi UID:20261009T033627Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:Europe/Rome LOCATION:Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano 10\, Roma\, Italy DESCRIPTION:Speakers:
\nMiriam Cutino\; Diego De Brasi\; Marc-Antoine Gavray\; Luca Gili\; Christoph Helmig\; Adrien Lecerf\; Irmgard Mä\;nnlein\; Anna Motta\; Dimitri Nikulun\; Jan Opsomer\; Helmut Seng\; Daniela P. Taormina\; Angela Ulacco \;
\n\nOrganisation: Daniela P. Taormina
\nFor more info:
\ntaormina@lettere.uniroma2.it
ORGANIZER: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20261013T130000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20261015T170000 SUMMARY:COMET 2026 - Metaphysics in Contemporary Continental Philosophy UID:20261009T033628Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:Europe/Amsterdam LOCATION:Nijmegen\, Netherlands DESCRIPTION:COMET 2026 &ndash\; Metaphysics in Contemporary Continental Philosophy
\n13-15 October | Radboud University\, Nijmegen\, the Netherlands
\nCOMET is the annual expert meeting for metaphysics in contemporary continental philosophy\, hosted at Radboud University by its Center for Contemporary European Philosophy (CCEP).
\nIt brings together researchers across career stages who are doing metaphysical work in or in dialogue with continental philosophy\, and offers a setting to discuss research projects in depth.
\nWe are looking for contributions on what there is and how it is structured\, from any school or methodology within the field.
\nPROGRAM
\nThe meeting opens on Tuesday afternoon with a thematic session on ontologies of process and action\, featuring invited talks by Prof. Rein Raud (Tallinn University) and Dr. Mercedes Valmisa Oviedo (University of Gettysburg).
\nWednesday and Thursday are devoted to open sessions selected through this call. Each day has five speakers\, each with a sixty-minute plenary slot split roughly equally between presentation and discussion. The program also provides ample time between sessions for informal exchanges.
\nThe working language is English. Presentations in Dutch\, French\, and German are also welcome\, provided the speaker makes an English translation of their talk available for participants to follow along. The organizers can assist with translations from and into these languages during discussions
\nSUBMISSION GUIDELINES
\nPlease send an abstract of max. 250 words\, prepared for blind review\, plus a separate document with a biographical note of max. 150 words to comet@ru.nl. The deadline is July 2.
\nSelection is a two-stage process. Abstracts first undergo blind review. From the resulting shortlist\, the organizers compose the final program with an eye to a balanced representation of ideas\, career stages\, and backgrounds.
\nATTENDING WITHOUT PRESENTING
\nIn addition to ten speaker slots\, there are fifteen places for researchers who wish to attend and participate in discussions without presenting. To apply\, send an email with a short motivation and biographical note to comet@ru.nl.
\nPRACTICAL INFORMATION
\nThere is no registration fee. All sessions take place on campus. Speakers and participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation.
\nFurther details about COMET 2026 are available at https://www.ru.nl/en/about-us/events/comet-2026. Last year&rsquo\;s program and abstracts can be found there as well.
\nORGANIZERS
\nCOMET 2026 is organized by dr. Arjen Kleinherenbrink and dr. Tim Miechels at the Center for Contemporary European Philosophy (CCEP) of the Faculty of Philosophy\, Theology\, and Religious Studies at Radboud University.
\nPARTNERS
\nCOMET is closely connected to the School of Materialist Research and Malta University's Engaging the Contemporary conference. There is significant overlap in our intellectual aims\, and we invite anyone already involved in one to find their way to the others.
\n
Arkete
\nSpecial Issue 2025
\nPhilosophy of Perception: Representation\, Reality\, and Cognitive Structure
\nEditors: Mariano Bianca (University of Siena) and Paolo Piccari (University of Siena)
\nPhilosophical reflection on perception has returned to the centre of contemporary debates in philosophy of mind\, epistemology\, and metaphysics. Questions concerning perceptual content\, representational structure\, and the relation between experience and reality have gained renewed prominence in light of current discussions on cognition\, conceptual capacities\, and the epistemic role of perception.
\nAt the same time\, the field remains divided between competing models: representationalist accounts\, relational theories\, disjunctivism\, and naturalistic approaches that attempt to explain perception through cognitive or computational frameworks. These debates raise a deeper philosophical question: whether perception should be understood primarily as an internal mental state or rather as a structured form of access to an objective world.
\nThis special issue aims to gather contributions that investigate perception as a cognitive and conceptual phenomenon with epistemic and metaphysical implications. Particular attention will be devoted to approaches that combine analytic rigour with broader theoretical ambition\, exploring how perceptual experience contributes to the constitution of knowledge and to the articulation of reality.
\nWe welcome contributions addressing these questions\, preferably grounded in concrete cases and/or examples that help clarify and support philosophical analysis.
\nTopics for Submission (including\, but not limited to)
\nSubmission Guidelines
\nSubmissions must be original and unpublished\, written in English or Italian\, and formatted according to the journal&rsquo\;s editorial guidelines. All manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.
\nThe 2025 issue of Arkete will be dedicated to these questions. The volume will include articles selected through this Call for Papers as well as invited contributions by national and international scholars.
\nAll submissions must be sent no later than 30 September 2026 to the Editors at:
\nmariano.bianca@unisi.it
paolo.piccari@unisi.it
Manuscripts must conform to the editorial guidelines available at:
https://www.arkete.it
Accepted languages: English and Italian.
\nMaximum length: 40\,000 characters (including spaces\, footnotes\, references\, and abstract).
\nEach submission must include:
\nIn a separate file attached to the same email\, authors must provide:
\nThe journal \;Diakrisis: Yearbook of Theology and Philosophy \;invites submissions for its 2026 issue\, dedicated to the theme \;Love\, Conversion\, and Transformation of the Self\, approached from theological\, philosophical\, and phenomenological perspectives.
\nLove and conversion belong among the most decisive experiences shaping human existence. Whether understood as affective relation\, ethical orientation\, spiritual event\, or existential rupture\, love raises fundamental questions about alterity\, freedom\, and selfhood. Conversion\, in turn\, names a moment&mdash\;or a process&mdash\;of reorientation\, often described as \;metanoia\, decision\, or response to an event that precedes and exceeds the subject. Together\, love and conversion articulate a dynamic understanding of the self as capable of transformation\, openness\, and renewal.
\nThis thematic issue seeks to explore the complex relations between love\, conversion\, and the transformation of the self\, without presupposing a fixed hierarchy among them. Is conversion the fruit of an encounter with love\, or does love emerge from a prior act of conversion? How are affectivity\, decision\, and transformation intertwined in religious\, philosophical\, and phenomenological accounts of subjectivity? To what extent can love and conversion be understood as events that reconfigure the self beyond moralism or voluntarism?
\nWe welcome contributions engaging\, among others\, with:
\nSubmissions should offer original research and engage critically with relevant primary sources and contemporary scholarship. Interdisciplinary approaches at the intersection of theology\, philosophy\, and phenomenology are particularly encouraged.
\nSubmission Guidelines
\nImportant Dates and Publication Model
\nDiakrisis \;follows an online-first publication model. Articles are published individually online \;as soon as they are accepted \;after peer review and editorial approval. Each article receives a \;DOI upon publication\, making it immediately citable. Final pagination is assigned only when the annual issue is closed (November 30\, 2026).
\nArticles accepted and published online during the year will be collected and arranged into the \;final annual issue\, which will be released in December 2026 with complete pagination and finalized metadata.
\nDeadline: October 20. Manuscripts received by this date will be considered for inclusion in the current year&rsquo\;s volume.
\nPublication month: \;December.
\nSubmission Process
\nWe look forward to your contributions and to fostering rich discussions that bridge theology and philosophy in the exploration of love\, conversion\, and transformation of the self.
ORGANIZER: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261030T090000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261030T090000 SUMMARY:Locus UID:20261009T033631Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:Europe/London DESCRIPTION:Dossier Walking-with the Past: Embodiment\, Environment\, and Narrative
\nLocus. Journal of Culture Studies
\nCall for Papers
\nGuest editors: Marieke Borren and Susan Hogervorst
\nAs an everyday act of embodied locomotion\, walking rarely becomes an explicit object of reflection\, let alone an entry point into questions of history and memory. Yet as we move through streets\, landscapes\, ruins\, and memorial sites\, alone or collectively\, walking can reactivate personal memories\, disclose hidden histories\, and inscribe new narratives into shared spaces. Examples range from commemorative marches and heritage walking tours to psychogeographical drifts that excavate urban and peri-urban spaces as palimpsests\, and the prominent role of walking in first-person biographical accounts of displacement. In literary and cinematic representations\, moreover\, walking often mediates between personal memories and the meaningful environments in which they unfold.
\nThis dossier of Locus explores walking as an embodied mnemonic\, narrative\, and pedagogical practice. We are particularly interested in the philosophical question of how walking mediates between body\, environment\, memory\, and history. We therefore invite contributions that approach walking from one of three interconnected perspectives: (1) embodiment and bodily memory\, (2) environment and place\, or (3) narrative and representation.
\nWalking-with the past: a phenomenological perspective
\nWalking may have a particularly strong relation to memory because it is never a purely present activity. From a phenomenological perspective\, the moving body can be understood as a sedimentation of histories and habits: bodily comportment is shaped by past experience\, social norms\, technologies\, infrastructures\, and built environments. Walking is thus not simply an activity performed by a body in space\; it is an embodied way of inhabiting an already meaningful world.
\nAt the same time\, environments are not neutral backdrops or abstract spaces. They constitute structured fields of affordances that enable and constrain particular forms of movement. Streets\, paths\, ruins\, memorial sites\, and infrastructures invite certain trajectories\, rhythms\, and styles of walking while discouraging others. Historical transformations of built environments may thus become sedimented in bodily habits\, while changes in bodily practices can disclose otherwise unnoticed historical layers of place.
\nWalking consequently unfolds in a dynamic relation between historically sedimented bodily habits and environments that themselves bear traces of past events. This raises questions not only about memory and history but also about the phenomenological constitution of bodily subjectivity\, place\, temporality\, and world.
\nThese questions resonate with phenomenological approaches from Husserl and Merleau-Ponty to more recent work on embodiment\, place\, habit\, and environmental experience\, as well as with approaches in 4E cognition and ecological approaches to perception\, including work on affordances and the embodied and situated character of cognition.
\nFrom a cultural memory perspective\, walking can likewise inscribe collective and personal histories into places and reactivate past experiences in the present. Collaborative walking practices in public history\, commemoration\, heritage education\, and psychogeography can make historical layers experientially available through bodily movement. In this sense\, walking may be understood as a form of embodied historical inquiry: a way of encountering the past not merely as an object of representation\, but through situated\, sensory\, and affective engagement with places and environments.
\nThe notion of &ldquo\;walking-with the past&rdquo\; therefore points to a relational and co-constitutive understanding of historical experience. The past is not simply something walkers represent or remember\; it may be encountered\, activated\, and partially re-enacted through movement in places where histories have been sedimented.
\nPossible questions include:
\nWalking and embodied memory
\nWalking\, environment\, and place
\nWalking\, narrative time\, and representation
\nWe particularly welcome philosophical contributions\, including phenomenological and critical-phenomenological approaches to embodiment\, bodily memory\, temporality\, place\, historicity\, habit\, affordance\, and environmental experience. We also welcome contributions from 4E cognition\, ecological approaches to perception\, cultural memory studies\, history\, heritage studies\, psychogeography\, narrative studies\, and the walking arts\, including work that brings these perspectives into dialogue.
\nTypes of contributions
\nWe invite proposals for:
\nThe full call\, including further information about the dossier and submission guidelines\, is available on the Locus Open Journals website.
\nAbout Locus
Locus: Journal of Culture Studies is an interdisciplinary\, diamond Open Access journal published by the Department of Culture Studies at the Open University of the Netherlands. It provides a forum for scholarship across the humanities and culture studies\, including philosophy\, and particularly welcomes interdisciplinary dialogue between academic research and cultural practice. In addition to stand-alone articles\, the journal publishes biannual thematic &lsquo\;dossiers\,&rsquo\; special collections of articles on topical debates. These dossiers cover diverse themes such as the cultural imagination of human and non-human animals\, the coloniality of natural history collections\, performativity\, and embodiment.
We recently completed the migration of Locus to the Open Journals ecosystem. While our current platform is new\, all back issues and articles remain fully available through our former platform. \;
\nSubmission information
\nSubmissions are accepted in English and Dutch. All submissions will undergo editorial review.
\nFor inquiries about the theme\, please contact Marieke Borren: marieke.borren@ou.nl.
ORGANIZER: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Rome:20261030T153000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Rome:20261030T183000 SUMMARY:Principle of Sufficient Reason and Explicability Arguments UID:20261009T033632Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:Europe/Rome LOCATION:Strada Massimo D’Azeglio 85\, Parma\, Italy\, 43125 ORGANIZER;CN=Alessandro Torza: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261106T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261107T170000 SUMMARY:Social Categories of the Future UID:20261009T033633Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:America/Los_Angeles LOCATION:1156 High Street\, Santa Cruz\, United States DESCRIPTION:Recent years have seen an explosion of work on social categories\, including gender\, race\, disability\, and sexual orientation. But little attention has been paid to what these and other categories might look like in the future. \;
\nFor example\, trans philosophy is just beginning to broach the topic of futuristic social categories\, while social metaphysics has just begun to investigate gender abolitionism (the view that gender categories should be abolished in a more just future.) Philosophers of AI have just begun thinking about how artificially intelligent entities will fit into human-constructed social structures\, or whether they will develop their own social hierarchies.
\nWe plan to bring together researchers from different approaches and viewpoints working on these and related topics. Topics for abstracts include\, but are not limited to:
\nThe existence and nonexistence of gender categories in the future\, and their level of grain
\nGender abolitionism
\nChanging notions of ability\, disability\, and health given new technologies and scientific breakthroughs
\nChanging notions of biological sex given advances in reproductive technology
\nRacial\, ethnic\, and religious categories of the future
\nAmeliorative construction and destruction of social categories \;
\nSocial categories and hierarchies of artificial intelligent agents
\nThis workshop is generously funded by the International Social Ontology Society and the Department of Philosophy at University of California\, Santa Cruz.
\nOrganizers: Sara Bernstein and Nico Orlandi
\nPlease send extended abstracts of no more than 1500 words to socialcategoriesofthefuture@gmail.com. Deadline: August 15\, 2026 (anywhere in the world).
\nSmall travel bursaries may be available for graduate students and precariously employed attendees. Please email the organizers to find out more.
ORGANIZER;CN=Sara Bernstein;CN=Nico Orlandi: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261107T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261108T170000 SUMMARY:University of Pennsylvania Metaphysics Workshop UID:20261009T033634Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:America/New_York LOCATION:Philadelphia\, United States DESCRIPTION:The inagural meeting of the Penn Metaphysics Workshop will take place on November 7-8. \; Attendance is open\; those wishing to attend are asked to email Sam Elgin (samelgin@upenn.edu) so that we can ensure sufficient catering
\n\nThis workshop is supported in part by the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy at the University of Pennsylvania.
ORGANIZER;CN=Samuel Elgin: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261112T083000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261112T170000 SUMMARY:Beyond Function: The Self in the Modern World UID:20261009T033635Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:America/New_York LOCATION:65-30 Kissena blvd\, Flushing\, United States\, 11367 DESCRIPTION:Beyond Function: The Self in the Modern World
\nThe French existentialist Gabriel Marcel once diagnosed the defining problem of modernity as the "misplacement of the idea of function." In his famous essay\, &ldquo\;On the ontological Mystery\,&rdquo\; he describes modern society as essentially empty because it increasingly understands both the world and the person in terms of utility\, efficiency\, productivity\, quantifiable performance\, etc. In such a climate\, the human person is easily reduced to a collection of functions rather than recognized as a unique and irreducible self. Marcel&rsquo\;s critical analysis of the modern condition as well as those of many of the early existentialist&mdash\;Martin Buber\, Karl Jaspesrs\, Martin Heidegger\, and even Soren Kierkegaard&mdash\;raised serious concerns and broader philosophical questions that continue to confront us today\, nearly a century later. How does contemporary social\, technological\, political\, and economic structures shape our self-understanding? Do they promote authentic selfhood\, or do they encourage forms of alienation that obscure what it means to be human? Do they encourage objectified relationships that engender I-it relations with? Do they promote a self-objectification that leads to mental illness?
\nMarcel offered his own unique repose to the perils&mdash\;or sickness&mdash\;of the &ldquo\;functionalized&rdquo\; world as the proper recognition and response to what he called the mystery of being\, i.e. learning to access that which is beyond function. This conference invites students and scholars to provide their own analyses and explore such questions baring on the relationship between the self and the modern condition. We seek philosophical reflection upon the nature of selfhood and the ways in which contemporary realities influence our understanding of personal identity\, agency\, freedom\, community\, and what it means to live &ldquo\;the good life.&rdquo\; We are particularly interested in papers that examine how modern technological\, scientific\, philosophical\, social\, political\, or religious developments contribute to&mdash\;or challenge&mdash\;our understanding of the self and the conditions of a good\, meaningful\, and fulfilling human life. Deeper philosophical reflection on the self enables us to reconsider or re-envision not only who we are\, but also what kinds of conditions are necessary for genuine human flourishing. We welcome papers that creatively engage these questions from historical or contemporary perspectives\, or that draw upon interdisciplinary approaches illuminating the nature of the self in the modern world.
\nHere are suggested topics:
\nWe are especially interested in&mdash\;though not limited to&mdash\;papers engaging thinkers such as Sø\;ren Kierkegaard\, Gabriel Marcel\, Karl Jaspers\, Emmanuel Levinas\, Martin Buber\, Simone Weil\, Charles Taylor\, Alasdair MacIntyre\, Hannah Arendt\, Paul Ricoeur\, Edith Stein\, Maurice Merleau-Ponty\, and other philosophers whose work contributes to our understanding of the self\, personhood\, and the challenges of modern existence.
\nAbstracts should be 300&ndash\;400 words and clearly state the paper&rsquo\;s thesis and demonstrate relevance to the conference theme. Paper length should be 10 pages\, double-spaced\, or in the 3000 words range.
\nPlease send the abstract to Anthony.malagon@qc.cuny.edu by 10/14/2026.
\n\n ORGANIZER;CN=Anthony Malagon: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261112T083000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261112T170000 SUMMARY:Beyond Function: The Self in the Modern World UID:20261009T033636Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:America/New_York LOCATION:65-30 Kissena blvd\, Flushing\, United States\, 11367 DESCRIPTION:\nBeyond Function: The Self and the Modern Condition
\nThe French existentialist Gabriel Marcel once diagnosed the defining problem of modernity as the "misplacement of the idea of function." In his famous essay\, &ldquo\;On the ontological Mystery\,&rdquo\; he describes modern society as essentially empty because it increasingly understands both the world and the person in terms of utility\, efficiency\, productivity\, quantifiable performance\, etc. In such a climate\, the human person is easily reduced to a collection of functions rather than recognized as a unique and irreducible self. Marcel&rsquo\;s critical analysis of the modern condition as well as those of many of the early existentialist&mdash\;Martin Buber\, Karl Jaspesrs\, Martin Heidegger\, and even Soren Kierkegaard&mdash\;raised serious concerns and broader philosophical questions that continue to confront us today\, nearly a century later. How does contemporary social\, technological\, political\, and economic structures shape our self-understanding? Do they promote authentic selfhood\, or do they encourage forms of alienation that obscure what it means to be human? Do they encourage objectified relationships that engender I-it relations with? Do they promote a self-objectification that leads to mental illness?
\nThis conference invites students and scholars to explore these questions baring on the relationship between the self and the modern world. We seek philosophical reflection upon the nature of selfhood and the ways in which contemporary realities influence our understanding of personal identity\, agency\, freedom\, community\, and what it means to live &ldquo\;the good life.&rdquo\; We are particularly interested in papers that examine how modern technological\, scientific\, philosophical\, social\, political\, or religious developments contribute to&mdash\;or challenge&mdash\;our understanding of the self and the conditions of a good\, meaningful\, and fulfilling human life. Deeper philosophical reflection on the self enables us to reconsider or re-envision not only who we are\, but also what kinds of conditions are necessary for genuine human flourishing. We welcome papers that creatively engage these questions from historical or contemporary perspectives\, or that draw upon interdisciplinary approaches illuminating the nature of the self in the modern world.
\nHere are suggested topics:
\nWe are especially interested in&mdash\;though not limited to&mdash\;papers engaging thinkers such as Sø\;ren Kierkegaard\, Gabriel Marcel\, Karl Jaspers\, Emmanuel Levinas\, Martin Buber\, Simone Weil\, Charles Taylor\, Alasdair MacIntyre\, Hannah Arendt\, Paul Ricoeur\, Edith Stein\, Maurice Merleau-Ponty\, and other philosophers whose work contributes to our understanding of the self\, personhood\, and the challenges of modern existence.
\nAbstracts should be 300&ndash\;400 words and clearly state the paper&rsquo\;s thesis and demonstrate relevance to the conference theme. Paper length should be 10 pages\, double-spaced\, or in the 3000 words range.
\nPlease send the abstract to Anthonhy.malagon@qc.cuny.edu by 10/14/2026.
ORGANIZER;CN=Anthony Malagon: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261219T170000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261219T170000 SUMMARY:2027 University of Kentucky Graduate Philosophy Conference: Language and World UID:20261009T033637Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:America/New_York LOCATION:218 E Maxwell Street\, Lexington\, United States DESCRIPTION:We invite you to submit to this year's installment of our annual graduate conference\, held in person at the University of Kentucky in Lexington\, KY on Saturday\, February 27\, 2027. Our conference theme is Language and World.
\nConference Details:
\nOur theme is to be broadly construed\, and we welcome submissions from all philosophical traditions\, including but not limited to ancient\, medieval\, and modern philosophy\; non-Western philosophy\; and continental philosophy\, pragmatism\, and analytic philosophy. Topics of interest for the event include (but are not limited to) the nature of the gap between our concepts and the world\, whether the world fixes the meanings of our words\, how we navigate the world in light of breakdowns of meaning\, how our linguistic practices affect the world\, and how language discloses being. The event is open to a wide variety of subfields\, including feminist philosophy\, deconstruction\, history of philosophy\, metaethics\, phenomenology\, existentialism\, philosophy of religion\, and so on.
\nWe are happy to be joined by keynote speaker Dr. James Conant. Dr. Conant's many titles include Chester D. Tripp Distinguished Service Professor of Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at University of Chicago\, co-director of the Forschungskolleg Analytic German Idealism in Leipzig\, and director of the Center for German Philosophy at the University of Chicago.
\nSubmission details:
\nPapers should be no longer than 3\,500 words (excluding footnotes and references) and suitable for a 20-30 minute presentation. Presentations will be followed by 15-30 minute Q&\;A sessions.
\nPlease send anonymized submissions via email to James[dot]Chadwell[at]uky[dot] edu. Head your submission with an abstract of no more than 250 words. Please include your paper title\, abstract\, and word count in your submission email. Papers should be attachments in Word or PDF format.
\nSubmission deadline: December 19\, 2026. We will notify authors of acceptance by January 16\, 2027. \;
\nFor more information\, contact James[dot]Chadwell[at]uky[dot]edu.
ORGANIZER;CN=James Chadwell;CN=Nanda Harish: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20270101T090000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20270101T090000 SUMMARY:CFP: Fate and Narrative Identity UID:20261009T033638Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:Europe/London DESCRIPTION:CALL FOR PAPERS
\nSpecial Issue of The Journal of Ethics: Fate and narrative identity
\nDeadline for submission of full draft: 1 January 2027
\nLength of paper: 8\,000-11\,000 words\, including footnotes but not including references at the end.
\nThis special issue starts with the autobiographical question: who am I? What are the most important constituents of my identity? We might distinguish involuntary components such as my birth nationality\, my ethnicity\, by socio-economic background\, my gender\, from voluntary components such as my profession\, my marriage\, my political allegiance\, my long-term residence. But even involuntary components admit of more-or-less voluntary interpretations of the meaning of such components. An ethnic identity can yield a sense of belonging or indifference\, an unwanted constraint can be changed into a catalyst for important life choices.
\nVoluntary identity components and voluntary interpretations usually admit of a narrative description of how they came to play the important role in my identity\, and of how I see their role in the future. As part of that narrative description\, I might ask myself which components are somehow essential to who I am &ndash\; in other words\, without that component\, I cannot imagine being me. Most often these components will begin their narrative role with an event of pure luck. In such a case\, I may be tempted to speak of that event as fateful. So this special issue is about the question: what does it mean to see a narrative identity component as 'my fate'? What can the concept of fate contribute to my and others&rsquo\; understanding of my life?
\nImportantly\, we are NOT directly interested in the concept of fate as denying free will. We are not directly interested in any kind of metaphysical notion\, divine or otherwise\, that might determine my future. Instead\, our autobiographical perspective is primarily about making sense of our past and present\, in the sense described by Robert Solomon&rsquo\;s article &lsquo\;Fate and Fatalism&rsquo\; Philosophy East and West\, Vol. 53\, No. 4 (Oct.\, 2003)\, pp. 435-454.
\nSolomon offers many examples. He himself\, a professional philosopher\, started at university studying medicine\, and on an impulse took a philosophy elective that steered him into a whole new area of interest. He wants to call the impulse fateful. Now it might be said that given his (known and unknown) dispositions\, he was fated to switch to philosophy sooner or later\, and if he had missed this one elective\, other opportunities would have caught his eye. As such we might reach for Heraclitus&rsquo\;s mantra of &ldquo\;character is destiny&rdquo\;. But consider another of Solomon&rsquo\;s examples: two people have been married to one another for many years\, and as such have deeply influenced one another&rsquo\;s identity. And yet their meeting\, their subsequent romantic availability\, their mutual attraction\, their cohabitational compatibility\, their shared interests etc. &ndash\; all of that was radically contingent. Retrospectively\, however\, that meeting (and everything else) was necessary\, fated\, in order for them to become who they are now\, individually\, and jointly\, many years later.
\nWe&rsquo\;re not only interested in Solomon&rsquo\;s retrospective view of fateful events\, we&rsquo\;re also interested in the experience of practical necessity (a phrase coined by Bernard Williams in his 1981 article of that name). Here the agent\, in the present\, discovers what she &lsquo\;must&rsquo\; do\, given who she is\, what she has become\, what roles she fills\, who she is in a relationship with\, where she works etc.. Such a discovery about oneself may be more or less surprising\, and more or less acceptable and understandable among one&rsquo\;s friends (who know her more or less well). Williams&rsquo\;s concept has spawned some philosophical discussion\, but his and others&rsquo\; heroes do not usually use the word &lsquo\;fate&rsquo\; &ndash\; the question is whether they are entitled to do so\, while taking themselves and being taken seriously.
\nWe welcome submissions on the following topics: (not exhaustive)
\nSubmission instructions for Authors
\nAuthors must make use of the standard online EM system used by The Journal of Ethics. All manuscripts will go through the standard double-blind peer-review process according to The Journal of Ethics&rsquo\; guidelines. As a matter of general policy on special issues\, all submission will also be checked by the editor-in-chief. All manuscripts should be prepared according to the journal&rsquo\;s guidelines provided on The Journal of Ethics website. \;
\nCo-editors:
\n \; \; \; \; \; ·\; \; \; Katrien Schaubroeck\, University of Antwerp\, Belgium.
katrien.schaubroeck@uantwerpen.be
\; \; \; \; \; ·\; \; \; Christopher Cowley\, Charles University\, Czech Republic\, and University College Dublin\, Ireland.
Christopher.cowley@ff.cuni.cz
Call for Papers
\nSynthese \;Topical Collection: Against the Grain: Developing the Prospects of Non-Naturalistic Metaphysics of Science
\nGuest Editors:
Raoni Arroyo (Federal University of Santa Catarina / CNPq\, Brazil)
Bruno Borge (University of Buenos Aires / CONICET\, Argentina)\,
Cristiá\;n Soto (University of Chile\, Chile).
Topical Collection website: \;https://link.springer.com/collections/dgjhfehdbd
\nA key feature of recent developments in the metaphysics of science is that it has mostly\, if not exclusively\, been developed within a naturalistic framework. For our purposes\, naturalism can broadly be conceived in any of the following ways: it can be understood as continuous with\, constrained by\, derived from\, or useful to science.
\nWhat all these have in common is a deferential attitude towards science\, which may roughly be spelled out as follows: when it comes to ontology\, methodology\, or epistemology\, metaphysicians of science should best defer such issues to science (particularly physics). Most\, if not all\, more or less recent developments that &ldquo\;take science seriously&rdquo\; fall under the naturalistic umbrella. One possible consequence of this default naturalistic orientation is that it may unduly restrict the scope of legitimate metaphysical inquiry.
\nWe understand non-naturalistic metaphysics of science as a style of metaphysical practice whose problems need not exclusively arise within or emanate from the sciences. More specifically\, it is a kind of metaphysics that remains oriented toward science without treating science as the sole source of its problems\, methods\, or epistemic credentials. In this context\, by &ldquo\;non-naturalistic&rdquo\; we do not mean metaphysics that ignores\, or floats free from\, science\, but rather metaphysical inquiry that engages with science without being fully grounded in\, derived from\, or subordinated to it.
\nThe aim of the Topical Collection is not merely to criticize naturalism\, but to articulate positive alternatives: ways of doing metaphysics of science that engage with scientific practices\, examine the metaphysical assumptions and frontiers of science\, and remain epistemically relevant to our overall scientific outlook without adopting a deferential stance toward science.
\nBy contrast\, naturalistic metaphysics of science has science as the proper ontological\, epistemic\, and methodological ground of metaphysical inquiry. Non-naturalistic metaphysics of science asks and addresses metaphysical issues properly\, which can rightfully be considered as yielding genuine epistemic contributions to our knowledge or understanding of how the world is or could be.
\nAppropriate Topics for Submission include\, among others:
\n\nThis list is not meant to be exhaustive.
\nFor further information\, please contact the guest editors:
\nRaoni Arroyo: \;raoniarroyo@gmail.com
Bruno Borge: \;brunojborge@gmail.com
Cristiá\;n Soto: \;cssotto@uchile.cl
The deadline for submissions is \;January 15\, 2027.
\nSubmissions via: \;https://www.editorialmanager.com/synt/default.aspx
\nPlease select &ldquo\;Submit New Manuscript&rdquo\; and choose the Topical Collection &ldquo\;Against the Grain: Developing the Prospects of Non-Naturalistic Metaphysics of Science&rdquo\; from the drop-down menu.
\nRaoni Arroyo
Federal University of Santa Catarina / CNPq
Email: \;raoniarroyo@gmail.com
Bruno Borge
University of Buenos Aires / CONICET
Email: \;brunojborge@gmail.com
Cristiá\;n Soto
University of Chile
Email: \;cssotto@uchile.cl
We invite you to this installment of our annual graduate conference\, held in person at the University of Kentucky's Bingham Davis House in Lexington\, KY on Saturday\, February 27\, 2027. Our conference theme is Language and World.
\nOur theme is to be broadly construed\, and the event is open to all philosophical traditions\, including but not limited to ancient\, medieval\, and modern philosophy\; non-Western philosophy\; and continental philosophy\, pragmatism\, and analytic philosophy. Topics of interest for the event include the nature of the gap between our concepts and the world\, whether the world fixes the meanings of our words\, how we navigate the world in light of breakdowns of meaning\, how our linguistic practices affect the world\, and how language discloses being. The event is open to a wide variety of subfields\, including feminist philosophy\, deconstruction\, history of philosophy\, metaethics\, phenomenology\, existentialism\, philosophy of religion\, and so on.
\nWe are happy to be joined by keynote speaker Dr. James Conant. Dr. Conant's many titles include Chester D. Tripp Distinguished Service Professor of Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at University of Chicago\, co-director of the Forschungskolleg Analytic German Idealism in Leipzig\, and director of the Center for German Philosophy at the University of Chicago.
\nFor more information\, contact James[dot]Chadwell[at]uky[dot]edu.
ORGANIZER;CN=James Chadwell;CN=Nanda Harish: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20270301T000000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20270301T000000 SUMMARY:Mind without Inner Representation? Psychological Discourse\, Rationality\, and Mental Anti-Representationalism (Special Issue of JCCP) UID:20261009T033641Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:Europe/London DESCRIPTION:CFP: Mind without Inner Representation?
\nPsychological Discourse\, Rationality\, and Mental Anti-Representationalism
\nSpecial Issue of \;Journal of Contemporary Chinese Philosophy (JCCP)
\nGuest Editor: Rusong Huang
\nContact: rusongh@gmail.com
\nSubmission deadline: March 1\, 2027
\nTopic areas: Philosophy of Mind\; Philosophy of Language\; Metaphysics\; Normativity\; Philosophy of Psychology
\nDescription
\nWhen we attribute beliefs\, desires\, intentions\, fears\, memories\, imaginings\, sensations\, or experiences to someone\, what are we doing?
\nMuch of modern philosophy of mind has assumed that psychological sentences are representational: they describe mental states\, properties\, events\, or processes belonging to a subject. This assumption generates familiar metaphysical pressures. If psychological sentences represent mental facts\, then we must explain how such facts fit into the physical world. This gives rise to what has been variously called the location problem\, the placement problem\, the accommodation problem\, or the problem of how mind can be at home in nature.
\nThis special issue invites papers that examine whether the representational assumption about psychological discourse should be rejected\, revised\, or defended. It focuses on a family of views that challenge\, in different ways\, the idea that psychological sentences primarily function to represent inner mental facts. These include fictionalism\, eliminativism\, error theory\, illusionism\, and mental anti-representationalism &mdash\; what we may call\, for convenience\, the FEEL theories and MAR. The issue welcomes both sympathetic and critical treatments of these views\, as well as papers that defend more traditional representationalist approaches.
\nA central aim of the issue is to explore the relations among these positions. Are the FEEL theories and MAR competing alternatives\, or can they be combined? Does MAR collapse into one of the FEEL theories\, or does it offer a distinct way of rejecting inner-fact representationalism? Can these approaches preserve the explanatory\, rational\, and normative roles of psychological discourse while avoiding the metaphysical burdens of inner-object models of mind?
\nPossible topics
\nSubmissions may address\, but are not limited to:
\nPapers may be sympathetic\, critical\, historical\, systematic\, or comparative.
\nSubmission instructions
\nSubmissions should be original articles not currently under consideration elsewhere.
\nManuscripts should be prepared for anonymous review and should not exceed 10\,000 words\, including quotations and footnotes but excluding reference lists.
\nPlease submit manuscripts in the Editorial Manager for JCCP: \; https://www.editorialmanager.com/jccp/default.aspx \;
\nYou may see submission instructions here.
\nPlease indicate that the paper is intended for the special issue &ldquo\;Mind without Inner Representation? Psychological Discourse\, Rationality\, and Mental Anti-Representationalism.&rdquo\;
\nSubmission deadline: March 1\, 2027
\nExpected publication: Fall 2027 / early 2028
ORGANIZER: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20270325T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20270327T170000 SUMMARY:The Metaphysical Society of America UID:20261009T033642Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:America/Los_Angeles LOCATION:702 E. Desmet Ave.\, Spokane\, United States DESCRIPTION:The 2027 conference of the MSA invites submissions on the theme of the &ldquo\;metaphysics of habit\,&rdquo\; understood both as a subjective and objective genitive. Contributors may explore the metaphysical underpinnings of habit or investigate habit as a metaphysical principle in its own right. Topics of interest include\, but are not necessarily limited to\, the following questions:
\n·\; \; \; \; \; \; Is habit a pragmatic device for assuaging epistemological impasses\, as in Hume\, or can it have a genuine metaphysical function? If so\, how\, when and under what conditions?
\n·\; \; \; \; \; \; Is habit conscious or unconscious\, intelligent or blind? Is it a sign of rational consistency or the erosion of thought into blind compulsion? Is it learned or inherited\, adaptive or mechanical\, spontaneous or rote\, proactive or reactive? Is habit a result of repetition or the propensity to repeat? Or\, does habit subvert these dichotomies altogether?
\n·\; \; \; \; \; \; Are practice\, routine\, custom\, tics and neuroses distinct in kind from habit itself or only various degrees or intensities of habit? Or\, is habit a species of one of these categories?
\n·\; \; \; \; \; \; Must habit be relegated to psychology or is habit operative at other\, or even all\, domains of being? What of motricity or motor habit? Are instinct and inertia species of habit? Is habit a metaphysical principle underpinning various notions of evolution? Might it underwrite scientific theories\, e.g. quantum theory? Could habit account for the lawfulness of nature itself? What is the metaphysics of social and collective habits? Could there be a theology of habit?
\n·\; \; \; \; \; \; Is habit an attribute or might it constitute substantiality itself? Do individuals possess habits or is the self but a nexus of habits? Are some kinds of beings inherently habitual and others impervious to habit? Can a rock acquire a habit? Can artificial intelligence?
\n·\; \; \; \; \; \; Is habit an effect\, a cause or the very principle of causality itself? Is habit antecedent to its effects or simultaneous with them? Is habit a result consequent to its cause(s) or simultaneous with it? Or\, is it temporalization itself?
\n·\; \; \; \; \; \; Can habit perform the functions Kant allotted to transcendental structures &ndash\; synthesis\, identity\, regularity\, temporal contraction? If so\, are traditions that make habit into a metaphysical principle\, e.g. French Spiritualism and American Pragmatism\, post-Kantian? Or\, are they instead post-Humean or post-Leibnizian?
\n·\; \; \; \; \; \; Can habit be simultaneously empirical and contingent\, yet also universal? Is habit a priori or a posteriori\, transcendental or empirically real? Could habit ground a &ldquo\;metaphysical empiricism\,&rdquo\; &ldquo\;transcendental empiricism&rdquo\; or &ldquo\;critical realism&rdquo\;?
\n·\; \; \; \; \; \; Is habit dyadic and chiasmatic? Does habit have more to do with the Dyad or the One?
\nAbstracts that address these and related questions and issues in original ways are especially encouraged and will be prioritized. Submissions of abstracts for papers on other metaphysical topics are also welcome.
\nGuidelines for the Submission of Abstracts
\nDeadline: September 1\, 2026
\nSubmit to: Jessica Wahman\, Vice President of the MSA (msamarch2027@gmail.com)
\nFormat: Word documents of no more than 600 words. Late abstracts and those shorter than 400 words or longer than 600 words will not be considered. To facilitate double-anonymous review\, an abstract should not contain the author&rsquo\;s name or otherwise identify the author. In the email to which the abstract is attached\, authors should indicate full name\, institutional affiliation (if any)\, and abstract title. The email subject-line should read: \; 2027 MSA Submission [last name of author)] -- for example: 2027 MSA Submission Leibniz.
\nAristotle Prize
\nThe MSA&rsquo\;s annual Aristotle Prize\, which is only awarded if a submission is deemed worthy of the prize\, is open to current students without a Ph.D. The Aristotle Prize carries a cash award of $500\, inclusion in the program\, and assistance with costs for attending the annual meeting.
\nPersons who wish to be considered for this prize must a) clearly state (in an email message accompanying their submission) their eligibility for this prize and their desire to be considered for it\, and b) submit a full\, final paper in addition to the abstract by the September 1\, 2026 deadline. The body of the text (as is proposed to be read at the meeting) must be no longer than 3\,750 words.
\nPlato Prize
\nThe MSA&rsquo\;s annual Plato Prize\, which is only awarded if a submission is deemed worthy of the prize\, is open to persons who have received their first Ph.D. in the last six years&mdash\;thus (for the 2027 meeting) in 2021 or more recently. The Plato Prize carries a cash award of $500\, inclusion in the program\, and assistance with costs for attending the annual meeting.
\nPersons who wish to be considered for this prize must a) clearly state (in an email message accompanying their submission) their eligibility for this prize and their desire to be considered for it\, and b) submit a full\, final paper in addition to the abstract by the September 1\, 2026 deadline. The body of the text (as is proposed to be read at the meeting) must be no longer than 3\,750 words.
\nTravel Grants
\nThanks to the generous support of past MSA Presidents\, Society members\, and a grant from the Hocking-Cabot Fund for Systematic Philosophy\, the MSA is pleased to be able to offer reimbursements for travel expenses up to $400 to current graduate students and post-doctoral researchers within two years of their first PhD whose submissions are selected for the conference program. Persons who wish to receive such reimbursements must state their eligibility in their submission email and\, at the conference\, provide the MSA with all relevant expense receipts. (Invoices are not acceptable.)
\nAcceptance decisions will be announced by November 20\, 2026.
\nThe MSA&rsquo\;s Executive Council (https://www.metaphysicalsociety.org/about.htm) operates as the vetting committee. Those accepted for the conference must submit completed papers by February 20\, 2027 to allow review by session chairs. Papers may not exceed 3\,750 words. Eligibility to present at the conference requires payment of both membership and registration fees (https://www.metaphysicalsociety.org/membership.htm).
ORGANIZER;CN=Tyler Tritten: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20270512T133000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20270514T170000 SUMMARY:The History of the Transcendental: Hegel\, Husserl\, Foucault\, Derrida UID:20261009T033643Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:Europe/Berlin LOCATION:Freiburg\, Germany ORGANIZER;CN=Evgenia Sonnabend;CN=Victor Portugal;CN=Kristian Olesen Toft: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261002T092501Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20300531T090000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20300531T090000 SUMMARY:Phenomenologies of Religious Experience UID:20261009T033644Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:10f5:e0ff:fe86:30ee%3 TZID:Europe/London DESCRIPTION:This series invites proposals in classical phenomenology\, French phenomenology\, pre- and post-phenomenologies\, and in methodologies that bridge phenomenology and analytic philosophy. The relation between phenomenology and religious experience can be considered in a variety of modes: epistemic (phenomenology as a "rigorous science" of religious experience in Husserl's sense)\; ontic (phenomenology as a way to access the core motive\, or regulative ideal\, of religion)\; analogical (phenomenological experience as a secular version of religious experience)\; generalizing (religious experience turning into phenomenological experience when stripped from its dogmatic frame)\, etc. Proposals can take critical\, descriptive\, theoretical\, comparative\, historical\, or other approaches\, and they can focus on the interplay between religious or spiritual experience and assorted theoretical approaches\, or proceed from such experience towards building a new theory. In accord with Husserl&rsquo\;s original intent\, the series welcomes attempts to locate spiritual or religious experience within a broader theory of the sciences (Wissenschaftslehre) and to expand phenomenology towards transcendental philosophy and metaphysics.
The series covers five areas:
1) Clarifications of religious and spiritual experience\, its formal phenomenological research\, and its relationships to art\, textuality\, culture\, anthropology\, politics\, and comparative religion\;
2) Metaphysical extensions of the phenomenology of religious and spiritual experience\;
3) Existential and psychological analyses\, in different traditions\, of religious and spiritual experience\;
4) Theologies of religious experience\, with or beyond a specific focus on ritual and liturgy\, including liberation theologies\, feminist theologies\, theologies at the intersection of religious experience and race\, social status\, etc.\;
5) The phenomenology of religious and spiritual experience as applied to and/ or examined within medicine\, nursing\, and the health sciences and the natural and social sciences.
The series is published in cooperation with the Society for the Phenomenology of Religious Experience\, \;www.sophere.org.
Editors: \;Michael Barber (michael.barber@slu.edu)\, Peter Costello (PCOSTELL@providence.edu)\, Olga Louchakova-Schwartz (founding editor\, \;olouch@ucdavis.edu)\, and Martin Nitsche (nitsche@flu.cas.cz)
Advisory Board: \;Jason Alvis (University of Vienna)\, Angela Ales Bello (Pontifical Lateran University)\, Michel Bitbol (The French National Center for Scientific Research)\, Carla Canullo (University of Macerata)\, David Ciavatta (Ryerson University)\, Crina Gschwandtner (Fordham University)\, Neal DeRoo (The King&rsquo\;s University)\, Thomas Fuchs (University of Heidelberg)\, James G. Hart (University of Indiana)\, Richard Kearney (Boston College)\, Jeff McCurry (Duquesne University)\, Felix O&rsquo\;Murchadha (National University of Ireland\, Galway)\, Dermot Moran (Boston College)\, Tom Nenon (The University of Memphis)\, Ryōsuke Ōhashi (Universities of Kyoto and Osaka)\, Vincent Pastro (Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University and Aquinas Institute of Theology\, St Louis)\, Hans Rainer Sepp (Charles University)\, Michel Staudigl (University of Vienna)\, Claudia Welz (Aarhus University)
Staff editorial contact: \;Jana Hodges-Kluck (jhodges-kluck@rowman.com) \;
*Please note that this event has officially been postponed. More information will be made available asap in the near future*
\nMany human cognitive capacities and processes may be deployed creatively\, from unique choices made for oneself up through novel cultural shifts. Similarly\, large swaths of our daily lives are taken up with performing spontaneous\, on-the-fly\, and unplanned activities that are\, in a word\, improvised. \; Charting out the nature of both creativity and improvisation\, taken individually or together\, remains an open and pressing issue. In this conference\, we will delve into various philosophical\, theoretical\, empirical\, and interdisciplinary issues that are related to creativity and improvisation. A non-exhaustive list of related questions and themes for this topic include:
\n- What is the relationship between improvisation and creativity?
\n- What is the relationship between creative activity and well-being?
\n- What is the best way to model individual and collective creativity?
\n- Is creativity in the arts the same thing as in other domains\, such as in science or business?
\n- What are the pros and cons of different scientific operationalizations of creativity and improvisation?
\n- Provide a conceptual analysis of creativity and/or improvisation.
ORGANIZER: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR