FELLOWSHIPS: Stone Summer Theory Institute, School of the Art Institute, Chicago, July 2008.

The Stone Summer Theory Institute is week-long school in contemporary art theory. It is held in Chicago, in July, at the School of the Art Institute. It will result in a series of books involving over 300 scholars. Public events include evening lectures and roundtable discussions. Materials are also available for teachers, and school groups are welcome. During the week, the faculty lead 27 hours of seminars. The seminars are closed to the public but open to 15 Fellows; the deadline for applications is May 5. Further information is here: http://www.stonesummertheoryinstitute.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=27.

PUB: Diamantides, Marinos, ed. LEVINAS, LAW, POLITICS. London: Routledge, 2007.

Emmanuel Levinas' re-formulation of subjectivity, responsibility and the good has radically influenced post-structuralist thought. Political and legal theory, however, have only marginally profited from his moral philosophy. Levinas' theme of one's infinite responsibility for the other has often been romanticized by some advocates of multiculturalism and natural justice. In this volume, political theorists, philosophers and legal scholars critically engage with this idealization of Levinas’ ethics. The authors show that his crucial formulation of the idea of 'the other in me' does not offer a quick cure for today's nationalist, racist and religious divides. Nor does his notion of anarchic responsibility provide immediate relief for the agony of dealing with matters of life and death. The rebelliousness of Levinas' thought is rediscovered here and used to challenge preconceptions of social, legal and individual responsibility. Purchasing information is here: http://www.routledge.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?sku=&isbn=9781904385615.

PUB: Cerbone, David R. UNDERSTANDING PHENOMENOLOGY. Chesham: Acumen, 2006.

Understanding Phenomenology provides a concise and accessible guide to one of the most important schools of thought in modern philosophy. The book traces phenomenology's historical development, beginning with its founder, Edmund Husserl and his "pure" or "transcendental" phenomenology, and continuing with the later, "existential" phenomenology of Heidegger, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. Each chapter provides an expert distillation of each philosopher's refinements to the movement's core ideas and provides readers with a clear picture of how phenomenology moved from primarily a theory of knowledge to a new philosophical method. The final chapter assesses later, critical responses to phenomemology – ranging from Derrida to Dennett – and reflects on the continued significance of phenomenology for philosophy today. Written for those coming to phenomenology for the first time, Understanding Phenomenology guides the reader through the often bewildering array of technical concepts and jargon, and provides clear explanations and helpful examples to encourage and enhance engagement with the primary texts. It is ideally suited for courses in twentieth-century continental philosophy and for the non-specialist looking for an authoritative overview. Purchasing information here: http://www.acumenpublishing.co.uk/display.asp?K=A20060912153254129&sf1=author&st1=David%20R%20Cerbone&sort=sort_title&m=1&dc=1.

Holl, Steven, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Alberto Perez-Gomez. QUESTIONS OF PERCEPTION: PHENOMENOLOGY OF ARCHITECTURE. San Francisco: William Stout, 1996.

3rd Ed. 2006. Further information is available here: http://www.stoutbooks.com/cgi-bin/stoutbooks.cgi/71167.

CFP: "Age / Aging: On De Beauvoir's THE COMING OF AGE," Institut für Philosophie, Universität Wien, February 22-23, 2008.

An international conference on the occasion of Simone de Beauvoir’s 100th Birthday (1908–1986). Further details here: http://beauvoir2008.univie.ac.at/.

Juan, Stephen. "Review of PHILOSOPHERS BEHAVING BADLY by Nigel Rodger and Mel Thompson." PHILOSOPHY NOW 65 (2008).

Philosophers may lead us in terms of profound ideas, but their personal lives can be quite another matter entirely. As historian Nigel Rodgers and philosopher Mel Thompson write in their marvelous little book, Philosophers Behaving Badly, “a life of reason does not necessarily lead to a reasonable life.” Their portraits of eight philosophers bring home this point again and again. Although monumental in their insights, these philosophers were screwed up! . . . Here are eight giants as philosophers, but dwarfs as human beings. Rodgers and Thompson aptly conclude that the “appreciation of their fallibility may encourage us – however aware we may be of our own follies and limitations – to dare think beyond ourselves.” Read the rest here: http://www.philosophynow.org/issue65/65juan.htm.

CFP: "THINGS FALL APART at 50," Institute of English Studies, University of London, October 10-11, 2008.

The publication of Chinua Achebe's first novel, Things Fall Apart, in 1958 marked the beginning of a new era in African writing in English. It was an inspiration for writers and readers not only on the African continent but throughout the world. Fifty years later, and as part of a series of worldwide events instigated by the Achebe Foundation in New York, this conference seeks to revisit that novel and assess its significance then and now. Speakers will include those involved in publishing and republishing the novel, writers, readers, artists, and critics from Africa, Europe, the UK, and the United States. Among the writers who have agreed to take part are Doris Lessing, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Elleke Boehmer, and Abdulrazak Gurnah. The conference will culminate with a dialogue between Chinua Achebe and the eminent Princeton scholar Simon Gikandi. Proposals for papers or panels are invited on topics such as 'Reading Things Fall Apart'; 'Teaching Things Fall Apart'; ' African literature after Things Fall Apart'; ' Reconsidering Things Fall Apart'; 'Publishing and Marketing Things Fall Apart'; ' Things Fall Apart outside Africa'. Proposals for 20 minute papers or for panels should be sent to Professor Lyn Innes by email (c.l.innes@kent.ac.uk) or post (School of English, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NX, UK), no later than March 1st, 2008. Visit the conference website here: http://ies.sas.ac.uk/events/conferences/2008/Achebe/index.htm.

CFP: "Building Designing Thinking," University of Jyväskylä, Finland, August 30-31, 2008.

In the introduction to his essay on architecture, Abbé Laugier claims that ”in those arts which are not purely mechanical it is not sufficient to know how to work; it is above all important to learn to think.” But how should one then think about architecture, or rather, think in architecture? Is there a specific architectural way of thinking, as opposed to, say, an art historical way of looking at a building? Can design be a form of thinking? Or does it all boil down to subjective taste? The 3rd International Meeting on the Research of Modern Architecture, organised by the Alvar Aalto Academy, examines the points of contact, the influences and effects, the interactions and affiliations, the correlations and cross-fertilisations, the bonds and links between thinking, designing, and building. Chaired by Kari Jormakka, the meeting takes place in August, 2008, in Helsinki and Jyväskylä, Finland, bringing together practicing architects and architectural pedagogues, philosophers and art historians, sociologists and cultural theorists. Further information is here: http://www.alvaraalto.fi/conferences/2008/.

NEH Seminar: "Narrative Theory: Rhetoric and Ethics in Fiction and Nonfiction (Dir. James Phelan)," Ohio State University, June 16-July 25, 2008.

'Narrative understanding'; 'narrative explanation'; 'narrative as a way of thinking'; 'narrative as self-construction': these phrases are now common currency in the conversations of literary critics, historians, philosophers, social scientists, therapists, legal scholars, and even some scientists and medical professionals, as their disciplines reflect on the ubiquity of storytelling (representing characters and events in a temporal and typically casual sequence) and its power to capture certain truths and experiences in ways that other modes of explanation such as statistics, descriptions, summaries, and abstract analyses cannot. The consensus about the power of narrative invites investigation into its form and into our ways of producing and consuming it: what is it about character, plot, and ways of telling that make narrative such an important way of organizing and explaining experience and knowledge? This seminar will explore the answers to this question provided by a rhetorical theory of narrative and by a range of fictional and nonfictional narratives themselves. The seminar will have two major units: (1) the exploration of rhetorical theory and its conception of the connection between rhetoric and ethics; (2) the placement of rhetorical theory in relation to other branches of narrative theory, including other approaches to ethics, feminist narratology, and cognitive narratology. Throughout both units, we will turn to the narrative texts not only to apply the theories but also to challenge them. Indeed, one of our principles will be that narrative theory should follow the lead of narrative artists not dictate to them. One issue that we will examine from multiple perspectives is the rhetoric and ethics of unreliable narration. Further details are here: http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/Phelan1/neh/index.html.

Olson, Kevin. "Review of Bert van den Brink, et al., eds. RECOGNITION AND POWER." NDPR January 19, 2008.

van den Brink, Bert, and David Owen, eds. Recognition and Power: Axel Honneth and the Tradition of Critical Social Theory. Cambridge: CUP, 2007. In its best moments, academic dialogue brings together the right people at the right time to push a fertile research program to new levels. In this volume we have a carefully focused snapshot of such a moment. The research program in question is Axel Honneth's sustained, increasingly influential attempt to develop a social theory of recognition. The right people are a diverse group of philosophers and social scientists who have contributed to the broader understanding of recognition and its socio-political functions. Here, editors Bert van den Brink and David Owen bring the right people together in a carefully assembled volume focusing on a crucial and underdeveloped aspect of Honneth's theory: its relation to power. This book is made up of carefully worked out papers, but retains the energy of their original conference presentation at Utrecht University. It further captures the dialogical character of this event by including two detailed responses from Axel Honneth. The issue under consideration lies at the heart of Honneth's conception of recognition: the problem of power relations within the very practices of recognition. Honneth's theory is particularly vulnerable to such problems. It is realistic and comprehensive enough to consider recognition in many domains in which power is endemic, from intimate relations and domestic spheres to the institutional realms of law, politics, and the market economy. When we think of these domains as making vital contributions to the full development of individual subjects, we must ask whether power can at the same time exercise a hidden influence. In such circumstances, even normatively positive practices of recognition might produce effects that a critique of power -- a focus of Honneth's earlier work -- would find objectionable. This poses a further challenge for the theory: how can it separate out power-laden forms of recognition from those that are not distorted by power? Absent some such normative means, we may have to conclude that there is a problematic complicity between recognition and power. In this case both would be technologies for producing selves, equally dangerous in their capacity to create docile and useful subjects. . . . Read the rest here: http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=12203.

CFP: "Pragmatism and Naturalism Workshop," Tilburg Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science (TiLPS), May 7-9, 2008.

Many views are gathered under the banner of naturalism. What all of them share is a dismissal of aprioristic, high-brow philosophy, prior to all epistemic practices. This view raises major challenges that must ultimately be dealt with, such as whether naturalism allows for the formulation of norms by which our beliefs about the world can be assessed. One option that may be explored in this context is to ask whether a return to pragmatism offers a viable way out of the problems that confront naturalists more generally. Pragmatists have claimed that although all scientific statements are of a hypothetical character, intended to bring us to a state of thought at rest, they are our best guesses at the entities, processes, and structures of the universe. The aim of this workshop is to seek a better understanding of the core meaning and reach of both naturalism and pragmatism. Papers on naturalism, pragmatism and the relation between naturalism and pragmatism are invited. More information here: http://www.tilburguniversity.nl/faculties/humanities/tilps/DescartesLectures/PragNat/.

CFP: "Philosophy Emerging from Culture," Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, Soongsil University, Seoul, July 27-29, 2008.

Email to: cua-rvp@cua.edu I. Sponsored by: The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP) The International Society for Metaphysics (ISM) The World Union of Catholic Philosophy Societies (WUCPS) Soongsil University, Seoul, Korea Korean Organizing Committee for the World Congress of Philosophy II. Theme (www.crvp.org) The theme of the 2008 World Congress of Philosophy in Seoul, "Rethinking Philosophy Today" is most appropriate. As groundwork for this broad task The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP) -- with the International Society for Metaphysics (ISM), the World Union of Catholic Philosophical Societies (WUCPS) and Soongsil University -- will hold a more focused conference in Seoul during the three days immediately prior the World Congress of Philosophy. Thus this pre-World Congress meeting will have as its theme "Philosophy Emerging from Culture". Its intent will be to examine this new dynamic of philosophy, moving now not only top-down to restrictively apply broad principles, but bottom-up from the full breadth of human experience and creativity to evolve more rich vision which can liberate and guide. Each morning session will consist of three studies of the day's sub-theme, each with a substantive 25 minute introduction, followed by 45 minutes of open discussion. In the afternoon parallel sessions will enable the participants to delve further into the days theme with 20 minute papers followed by equal time for open and substantive reflection upon the perspectives introduced. Submission of papers: All prospective speakers are requested to submit by March 31, 2008 a 500 word summary of their paper. These will be preprinted, along with the full texts of those selected for presentation in the morning sessions. After the conference all speakers will be asked to submit by December 1, 2008 for publication a fully elaborated edition of their paper with no upper page limit, supporting their argument with notes and references and integrating the contributions made during their discussion in Seoul. Draft Program General Sessions: Mornings Parallel sessions in the afternoons will be devoted to the day's subtheme. 1. The Dynamics of Change: What remains of modernity and why is it no longer adequate for philosophy? a. in defense of modernity: its lasting heritage b. the critique of modernity c. the philosophical dynamics of the transition to a global era 2. The Nature of Culture and its Potential as a Philosophical Source a. the subjective turn b. the new awareness of values and virtues, cultures and civilizations c. the emergence of philosophy from culture 3. The Challenges and Opportunities for Philosophy from the Global Interaction of Cultures and Civilizations a. philosophy expanded to global horizons b. philosophy deepened to basic meaning and values c. philosophy and the integration of radical diversity: again, the one and the many III. Accommodations for both the pre-Congress conference and the World Congress of Philosophy (a) Soongsil University Dormitory: Location: This older student dormitory is located within the campus of Soongsil University; one can walk to the location of the pre-Congress conference. Facilities: Multiple room occupancy with a public bathroom and shower on every floor. Cost: No room charge; a one-time administrative charge of about KRW 50,000 ($54.00); bedding to be purchased on site; further necessities reasonably charged reasonably. (b) 7 Residence Seoul University Stn.: Location: About half an hour from Soongsil University by public transportation (subway US$1.20). Full Facilities: Business Lounge, Coin Laundry Room, Fitness center, American breakfast at restaurant on 1 Floor. Daily Cost: Studio Single / Double – KRW 70,000 (approx. US$76.00) Premium Single /Double – KRW 90,000 (approx. US$98.00) IV. Transportation From the airport to Soongsil University (a) At the 4A or 10B bus stops at Incheon Airport take airport limousine bus to Gangnam Express Bus Terminal or Central City (final bus stop). Buses leave every 10 minutes; approximately 60 minutes to destination; bus fare: 13,000 won or approx US$14.00. (b) Then from Gangnam Express Bus Terminal subway station, take the subway line No. 7 bound for Onsu and get off at the Soongsil University Station. Also it is convenient to take a Taxi; average fare approximately KRW10,000 or US$11.00. From Soongsil University to the World Congress of Philosophy at Seoul National University (a) There is direct bus service from the front of Soongsil University to Seoul University. You may reach there within 30 minutes. (b) The organizing committee is planning a shuttle bus service between Soongsil University and Seoul University for which there will be additional fare. V. The Contact Information: 1. Pre-Congress Conference Registration: Email to: cua-rvp@cua.edu Name: Institution: Field of specialization: Contact information: Address: Telephone: Fax: Email: Paper: (1) title and abstract (2) subsection of the program to which your paper relates 2. Accommodations for both dormitory rooms and Residence for both the July 27-29 pre-Congress conference and the World Congress of Philosophy: Meci Tour, (Ms. Samantha Kim) E-mail: wcp2008@mecitour.com Tel: + 82-2-2082-2316 Fax: +82-2-2082-2300 3. General inquires regarding logistics for the Pre-Congress Conference: WCP2008 Secretariat (Ms. Yoon-Hye Kim) E-mail: secretariat@wcp2008.or.kr Phone: +82-2-2082-2310 Fax: +82-2-2082-2314 4. Contact Information for the World Congress of Philosophy: WCP2008 Secretariat E-mail: secretariat@wcp2008.or.kr Phone: +82-2-2082-2310 Fax: +82-2-2082-2314 The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy P.O. Box 261, Cardinal Station Washington, D.C., 20064 Tel./fax: 202/319-6089 Website: http://www.crvp.org/ E-mail: cua-rvp@cua.edu

PUB: Maddox, Brenda. FREUD'S WIZARD: ERNEST JONES AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF PSYCHOANALYSIS. Perseus, 2007.

. . . In her recent book Brenda Maddox makes a persuasive case for the possibility that Freud's ideas might never have achieved global penetration without Ernest Jones. This is a book about the turbulent, incestuous and ever-intriguing world of early psychoanalysis in its formatting (heroic) period. Maddox skillfully plots the events of Jones's domestic and professional life while outlining the competing theories which came to define different branches of psychoanalysis with clarity and perspective. As rich as anything in the book is the insight into the (personal) relationships between Freud, Jung, and Jones, Klein. . . The books also focuses on their (more or less uncritical) fascination with the psychoanalytic theory. So there is a great deal about their relentless habit of interpreting each other's professional or private conduct in terms of the new discipline, of psychoanalysis. . . . Read the rest here: http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=book&id=4021.

PUB: Dufresne, Todd, ed. AGAINST FREUD: CRITICS TALK BACK. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2007.

This work consists of a series of extended interviews with eminent critics of Freud and psychoanalysis in general. Most deal with the minutiae of the development of Freud's ideas, their relationship to his personal motives, and their logical and epistemological status. The question of the extent to which Freud's views were influenced by his biological background is discussed, and they also seek to provide the historical context in which these ideas evolved. A great deal of fascinating material is presented, little known outside the ranks of specialists. For instance, Freud' own accounts of particular cases are compared with those of the patients themselves, bringing out sharp discrepancies. The interviewers were usually skilful in drawing out and challenging the participants, though at times they interrupted the flow of the argument. From this point of view the interview with Frank Sulloway, historian of ideas, seemed to me the most coherent and enlightening one. As one might expect from the title, all are essentially engaged in a demolition job, and one wishes that some voice had been allowed to an attorney for defense. The book evoked in my mind an image of vultures feasting on the corpse of Freud. A particularly tasty morsel was Freud's abandonment of the 'seduction theory', and the question is considered whether Freud was the victim of self-deception or simply a liar. . . . Read the rest here: http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=book&id=4020.

CFP: "Anti-Liberalism and Political Theology," Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society and Sciences Po, Paris, July 9-11, 2008.

The second in a planned series of three events on political theology, this Symposium follows on from the highly successful SCIS Symposium, "The Resurgence of Political Theology," held in September 2007 in Pisa, Italy (parallel to the SCIS-organised political theology section in the General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research) and precedes a workshop, "Political Theology and Failure of Democratization" (title tbc), to be held at the Sixth Annual Conference "Workshops in Political Theory" in September 2009 in Manchester, England. Paper proposals (in English, German or French) are invited on any aspect of the significance of anti-liberalism in the intellectual history and historical actuality of political theology as well as on contemporary expressions of anti-liberal tendencies in political theologies.The twenty-first century has been called "the age of political theology." Political theology can as easily express itself as theology-cum-political thought, theology-cum-politics, or politics or social and political thought using theology for argument's sake. Prominent examples are radical Islam, Latin American "liberation theology," African "black theology," religious Zionism, and the Christian right in the United States. A recent contribution from within the discipline of Political Science, "Comparative Political Theology" (Kofmel, 2007), proposes to gain valuable insights into the theoretical foundations of the interplay between religion and politics by comparing political theologies to each other across religious and cultural boundaries. As a result of such study, it has been suggested that the single most important factor underlying all political theologies is anti-liberalism. The particular expression of anti-liberalism is of course always contextualized. The argument has been extended to imply that political theology's being anti-liberal means that it is at least potentially anti-democratic too. Papers given at the 2008 Symposium in Paris will automatically be considered for inclusion in an edited volume on "Anti-Liberalism and Political Theology," which the editors of a series with Continuum have already expressed an interest in publishing. (Papers on the topic submitted by authors unable to attend the Symposium are also welcome and will be considered for inclusion in the volume on a case by case basis.) Please send proposals for papers to be given at the 2008 SCIS Symposium in Paris and to be considered for inclusion in the edited volume to: e.kofmel@sussex.ac.uk or erich.kofmel@sciences-po.orgby 29 February 2008. Further information will also be available at: http://www.scis-calibrate.org/.

CFP: "Communication Policies and Culture in Europe," 2nd Conference, European Communication Research and Education Association, November 15-18, 2008.

The broad theme of this major international congress, "Communication Policies and Culture in Europe," refers to the confluence that can be established between the media and the different interpretations of culture in Europe nowadays. This confluence refers to the globalization effects on a diversity of spaces (multinational, national, local) with all its political implications. It moreover refers to the different mediations and interactions that configure the current European society with respect to migrations, new forms of political participation, the dialectics of identity and diversity, new cultural consumptions, etc. The broad title aims to emphasize the importance of politics and culture, but also refers to new ways of regulation and de-regulation, the technology and the management of convergence within the cultural industries the new public service remit, and the variety of communication policies that aim to guarantee cultural diversity and development in Europe. The Philosophy of Communication section (http://www.philosophy-of-communication.eu/) invites proposals within the area of philosophy of communication, broadly conceived. The Philosophy of Communication Section in particular sets out to consolidate a European forum for the philosophy of communication. The section is explicitly oriented to reflect the cultural variety and the variety of traditions in the history of thought, scholarship and science. The philosophy of communication encompasses a variety of concerns including reflective, theoretical, analytical, normative and historical questions relating to communication as a phenomenon, a dialectical or hermeneutical process, a central element of social reality, a form of expression, a theoretical construct or last but not at least a paradox. What distinguishes Philosophy of Communication from other approaches is the foundational dimension embodied by the Section. The Philosophy of Communication section welcomes contributions that deal with questions regarding theory formation and methodology in communication scholarship, and with fundamental questions regarding the place of communication in human existence. Further information on the conference is available here: http://www.ecrea2008barcelona.org/eng/home.asp.

CFP: "Italian Thought Today: Biopolitics, Nihilism, Empire," School of European Culture and Languages, University of Kent, April 5-6, 2008.

Against the background of a recent and widespread resurgence of Italian contemporary thought, and Italian leftist political theory in particular, the aim of this conference is twofold. First, the conference intends to explore the notions of biopolitics, Empire, and nihilism as elaborated in the recent works of some of the most important Italian living philosophers. Secondly, and more importantly, this conference aims to assess the impact of these notions on academic fields as diverse as political theory, economics, cognitive science, sociology, and literature. "Italian Thought Today" therefore aspires to promote an interdisciplinary dialogue across the humanities and social sciences that should at the same time also problematise the philosophical notions mentioned above in light of their application to a non-philosophical domain. Is Negri's idea that the globalisation of world markets has led to a progressive decline in the sovereignty of nation-states useful to explain the Realpolitik of today's diplomacy? How can Vattimo's emancipatory concept of "active" nihilism be challenged by the "passive" nihilism that seems to pervade much of contemporary Italian popular culture? Shouldn't Agamben's analyses of the politics of life be expanded in order to include detailed economical considerations? Although the notions investigated in this conference have lately been the object of much attention, the novelty of this conference lies in its intention to contextualise them beyond the boundaries of philosophical discourse. This conference will bring together some of the protagonists of today's Italian philosophical scene, a number of well-established critics of their work, as well as a number of leading scholars from across the humanities and social sciences who, in their recent research, have been confronting themselves with the concepts of biopolitics, Empire, and nihilism. Confirmed speakers:

• Professor Gianni Vattimo (Professor of Theoretical Philosophy, University of Turin, Italy): [title t.b.a.]
• Professor Roberto Esposito (Professor of Theoretical Philosophy, Istituto Scienze Umane, Naples, Italy): Totalitarianism and Biopolitics
• Dr Sergio Benvenuto (Psychoanalyst and Senior Researcher, Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian Council for Scientific Research, Rome, Italy): Return to the Real: Philosophy in the Epoch of Bio-Technologies and Bio-Politics
• Professor Andrea Fumagalli (Associate Professor of Economics, University of Pavia, Italy): Ten Theses on Bioeconomy and Cognitive Capitalism
• Professor Timothy Campbell (Associate Professor, Italian Studies, Cornell University, USA): From the Impolitical to the Impersonal: Roberto Esposito's Politics of Life
• Professor Timothy Murphy (Associate Professor, English, University of Oklahoma, USA): Pedagogy of the Moltitude: Negri on Stage
• Dr Jelica Sumic Riha (Senior Researcher, Institute of Philosophy, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia): Giorgio Agamben's Politics of the Remnant
• Dr Matteo Mandarini (Lecturer in Management in the Cultural Industries, Queen Mary University, University of London): Not Fear But Hope in the Apocalyspse
• Dr Alberto Toscano (Lecturer in Sociology, Goldsmiths College, University of London): Abstract Life: The Biopolitical Logic of Capitalism and Empire
• Dr Ozren Pupovac (Researcher in Sociology, Open University / Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands): Machiavelli, Negri, Althusser: Encounters and Detours
• Dr Shane Weller (Reader in Comparative Literature, University of Kent): The Art and Ethics of Distortion: Heidegger, Derrida, Vattimo
• Dr Lorenzo Chiesa (Lecturer in Critical Theory, University of Kent): Homo Sacer: A Franciscan Ontology

Further details are here: http://www.kent.ac.uk/secl/italian/news/index.html.

CFP: "What is Second Nature? Reason, History, Institutions," 14th Evian Colloquium, July 13-19, 2008.

Human beings have always understood themselves as beings that are not (merely) natural in certain respects. They are faced for this reason with the question of how their way of life should be understood as distinct from their "first nature". As a response to this question, there is widespread agreement that understanding the human way of life involves clarifying how it is essentially shaped through human beings' engagement in practices, an engagement through which they also shape themselves. Familiarly, the concept of culture expresses this basic situation of being human in manifold ways. But insofar as human beings comprehend themselves as beings with a particular first nature, it is also legitimate to account for the human way of life in terms of the workings of this first nature. It is in this theoretical context (among other things) that the invocation of the idea of "second nature" becomes interesting as a possible alternative to that of culture. For what distinguishes the idea of second nature is its insistence that the irreducibly expressive and self-constituting activities of human beings should be understood as broadly natural phenomena, not solely cultural ones. Even if the concept of second nature plays a direct or indirect role in many philosophical traditions, it is far from clear how second nature is to be determined as a broadly natural sphere of human activities. The wide variety of its determinations, ranging in the course of Western thought from Aristotle through Hume and Hegel to Bourdieu and McDowell (to mention only a very small selection of thinkers), can be arguably captured in terms of the three concepts of reason, history, and institutions. But these concepts should not be thought as exhausting all the conceptual possibilities; nor can they be conceived as mutually exclusive alternatives. Is second nature a sphere of living tradition or the lifeworld, as Gadamer has articulated this line of thought by way of his reception of Husserl and Heidegger, one which McDowell has recently appropriated in his own philosophy? Should we rather understand tradition as something essentially informed by reason (which contemporary philosophers like Korsgaard and Davidson have emphasized in their own appropriation of broadly Kantian ideas), or is tradition something fundamentally characterized by institutions as these unfold and develop historically (which philosophers as different from one another as Hegel, Foucault, Bourdieu, and Lukács have each claimed)? Should reason, in the sense that Horkheimer and Adorno emphasize as something instrumental or applying identity logic, be understood as a meta-institution that has achieved, for better or worse, a reified mode of existence? Or should we speak less of the reification of institutions than of the familiarity of practices, as the later Wittgenstein and pragmatists like Peirce and Dewey in different ways suggest? To what extent is the concept of second nature connected with a "naturalization" of the social (and perhaps also with the mental), in a way that feminist thinkers have sought to expose and criticize? Different philosophical traditions and systematic options intersect in multiple ways in the course of reflecting on the idea of second nature. The 14th International Philosophy Colloquium Evian invites philosophers to consider and discuss these intersections in an intensive and collective way. We especially welcome suggestions about possible presentation from (post)structuralist, phenomenological, hermeneutical, and (post)analytical perspectives concerning the idea of second nature, but do not exclude suggestions that come from other philosophical traditions. We seek to discuss and make systematically fruitful the differences and convergences among these approaches in philosophy. The International Philosophy Colloquium Evian aims especially to encourage its participants to transcend the narrow confines of different traditions in philosophy. It is conceived particularly as a place where the divide between continental and analytic philosophy is overcome, or at least where their differences can be rendered philosophically productive. The passive mastery of French, German, and English (the three languages of discussion of the colloquium) is a minimal and indispensable prerequisite for its participants. For details, please visit: http://www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/we01/arbeitsbereiche/ab_bertram/eviancolloquium/.

CFP: "Politics and Metaphysics in Kant," 5th Conference, European Consortium for Political Research, Potsdam, September 10-12, 2009.

The past three decades have witnessed the emergence, at the forefront of political thought, of several Kantian theories. Both the critical reaction to consequentialism inspired by Rawlsian constructivism and the universalism of more recent theories informed by Habermasian discourse ethics trace their main sources of inspiration back to Kant’s writings. Yet, much of what is Kantian in contemporary theory is formulated with more or less strict caveats concerning Kant’s metaphysics. These range from radical claims that theories of justice must be political, not metaphysical, to more cautious calls for replacing Kant’s metaphysics with a more modest ontology, for instance, one informed by the relatively recent linguistic turn in philosophy. Given the current “legitimation crisis” of modern liberal democracies, the purpose of this section is to explore the relationship between politics and metaphysics in Kant and Kantian political philosophy, in order to revisit the question concerning the role of metaphysics in political theory. We welcome papers on these and related issues, whether their primary focus is on Kant’s philosophy or on the relevance of Kant’s philosophy for contemporary political philosophy and theories of justice. After the success of last year’s section on ‘Politics and Metaphysics in Kant’ at the 4th ECPR Conference in Pisa, we are planning to put forward again a section proposal on the same theme for the 5th ECPR Conference in Postdam 10-12 September 2009. We would like to know whether anyone would like to express at this stage an interest in suggesting a panel title, chairing a panel or giving a paper. The section proposal has to be submitted by the15th of April 2008, and the more details we can give on the number and content of potential panels, the better our chances might be to be awarded a high number of panel slots for the conference. The previous section outline is copied below to give you some more information about the problems and questions which this section hopes to address, although at this stage we are also open to further suggestions. Please email Kerstin at BuddeK@Cardiff.ac.uk if you think you might be interested to chair a panel, suggest a panel title or present a paper.

"Dissent in Science: Origins and Outcomes," University of California, San Diego, March 3-4, 2008.

Today society is scrambling to figure out how to manage the uses and abuses of science to minimize harm and maximize public benefit. But we face dramatically opposed attitudes to science. On one hand, it is presumed that the correctness of what science teaches does not come into question. On the other, there is widespread dissent even within the scientific community about results, methods and consequences. This project on contingency and dissent in science aims to develop tools for the scrutiny of the correctness of methods and results in the natural and human sciences based on detailed case studies. The full programme of the workshop may be found here: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CPNSS/projects/ContingencyDissentInScience/Dissentworkshop.htm.

PUB: KRITIKE: AN ONLINE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY (December 2007).

Editorial: In this Issue of KRITIKE: An Online Journal of Philosophy The Editor Featured Essays: 2. Knowledge as Addiction: a Comparative Analysis Hans-Georg Moeller 3. What is Hermeneutics? Romualdo E. Abulad, SVD Articles: 4. Dare to Compare: The Comparative Philosophy of Mou Zongsan Xiaofei Tu 5. Students Feed Monkeys for Education: Using the Zhuangzi to Communicate in a Contemporary System of Education Paul D'Ambrosio 6. The Indirect Perception of Distance: Interpretive Complexities in Berkeley's Theory of Vision Michael James Braund 7. The 'Turn' to Time and the Miscarriage of BeingVirgilio Aquino Rivas 8. The Role of Techne in the Authenticity-Inauthenticity Distinction Kristina Lebedeva 9. The Philippine Church, State, and People on the Problem of Population F. P. A. Demeterio 10.Metaphysics after Aquinas Moses Aaron T. Angeles 11. Symbolism in Religion: Ricoeurian Hermeneutics and Filipino Philosophyof Religion Allan Cacho The journal website: http://www.kritike.org/ Current issue: http://www.kritike.org/Current%20Issue.html Call for papers: http://www.kritike.org/Call%20For%20Papers.html We are also inviting you to submit your work for consideration in the June 2008 issue of the journal. Please click the link for the guidelines: http://www.kritike.org/Call%20For%20Papers.html. We will send an announcement regarding the submission due date shortly.

"Philosophical Poets," Forum for European Philosophy and Centre for Philosophy and Literature, University of Sussex, February 9, 2008.

PHILOSOPHICAL POETS draws inspiration from Three Philosophical Poets, the 1910 volume in which George Santayana discussed Lucretius, Dante and Goethe. Our presentations and panel discussion on modern poets will explore different ways that poets can be philosophical poets, that poetry can be seen as philosophy and that philosophical and poetic analysis can be related in understanding the works of the featured poets. We shall have readings of some of the poems we discuss in English and the original language. Speakers: Professor Angela Livingstone, University of Essex BORIS PASTERNAK: WHAT IS ART IF NOT PHILOSOPHY IN A STATE OF ECSTASY? Taking Pasternak to be, not so much a writer of philosophical poetry, as aphilosophical person who wrote poetry, I shall refer to his poems and hispoetic prose up to about 1930, shall look at his ideas about the origin ofpoetry in life, and shall try to identify his affinities both with thephilosopher Hermann Cohen and with the poet Pasternak admired above all others,Rainer Maria Rilke. Professor Joe Friggieri, University of Malta MONTALE'S METAPHYSICS Poetry resembles philosophy in that both are ways of directing the mind to a better apprehension of some aspect of human experience. The best poets, like the best philosophers, present us with some kind of overall view of the world and of our place in it. In different ways, they call our attention to those features of existence which we tend to lose sight of in our everyday interaction with things. It has been said that a philosophy unaware of mystery would not be a philosophy at all, and that poetry always involves some kind of revelation. This is particularly true of the works of Eugenio Montale, which may be seen as an attempt to deal with the mystery at the heart of existence and at the way the world presents itself to us, expressing a metaphysics in poetic terms. In my talk I will look at the kind of vision emerging from Eugenio Montale's poetic works and the special devices the poet uses to convey it. I will do that through a close reading of three poems, one from each of Montale's main collections: Ossi di seppia, Le Occasioni and La bufera e altro. Hilary Lawson THE POETIC STRATEGY Is poetry capable of approaching a truth which lies beyond the grasp of literal meaning? In the face of the perceived failure of the literal to describe the nature of the world, philosophers, from Heidegger to Rorty, have been tempted by poetry as a possible alternative strategy. What however is the poetic strategy capable of delivering? If poetry avoids saying something in particular how is it capable of saying anything at all? Using TS Eliot's Quartets as a focus I will explore the potential and the limits of such a strategy and outline some consequences for our understanding of language and the world. Professor Simon Critchley, New School for Social Research A FEW POEMS BY FERNANDO PESSOA, ONE BY WALLACE STEVENS AND A BRIEF SKETCH OF A POETIC ONTOLOGY I have two simple, but tricky questions: What does it mean to see poetically? and What might the poet's descriptions of the surfaces of things imply for our relation to things, ourselves and the world? Building on the words of Fernando Pessoa's major heteronym, Alberto Caeiro and a late poem by Wallace Stevens 'Description without Place', I will try and sketch a poetic ontology. APPROACHES TO PHILOSOPHICAL POETRY: PANEL DISCUSSION & QUESTIONS Dr. Nicholas Bunnin University of Oxford, Chair Further information about the Forum for European Philosophy can be found on the website: www.philosophy-forum.org. Further information about the Centre for Literature and Philosophy can be found on the website www.sussex.ac.uk/clp/. Conference details are posted at these websites. To book a place, contact: Katerina Deligiorgi K.Deligiorgi@sussex.ac.uk.

CFP: "Beyond Selfishness: Janaway's Nietzsche," St. Peter's College, University of Oxford, March 8, 2008.

A symposium on Christopher Janaway’s recent Beyond Selfishness: Reading Nietzsche’s Genealogy (Oxford University Press, 2007).

Speakers include:

• Chris Janaway, Southampton
• Ken Gemes, Birkbeck/Southampton
• Stephen Mulhall, Oxfor
• Daniel Came, Oxford
• Peter Kail, Oxford

Supported by the Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University, British Society for the History of Philosophy, the European Journal of Philosophy and St. Peter’s College, Oxford.

Details of programme to follow; enquiries: Peter.Kail@philosophy.ox.ac.uk.

CFP: "Orientations," Inaugural Conference, International Society for Cultural History, Ghent University, August 28-31, 2008.

The study of culture—whether it be from a regional, a national or a more global perspective—has been central to the humanities for at least two decades now. In this period, we have seen the rise of several disciplinary movements within this ever-expanding domain of research. Cultural studies, cultural criticism, cultural analysis and cultural anthropology are some of the more persistent labels to have been put forward in an attempt to describe and reorganise the field. Given the fact that the study of cultural artefacts and practices nowadays often steers a distinct historical course, the label of cultural history could be proposed as a sort of umbrella-term, comprising the previous ones. But is it, really? At this four-day event— the inaugural assembly of the International Society for Cultural History that was founded at a successful conference on cultural history in Aberdeen in July 2007—we want to address a series of fundamental questions about the recent impact and the near future of diverse forms of cultural history. Taking its cue from the fundamental work of, among others, Catherine Belsey, Peter Burke, Lynn Hunt, and Philippe Poirrier, the conference will tackle the vexing question of the precise nature of cultural history:

• Which disciplinary models and/or critical paradigms can be brought together under this label?
• Do we actually need such a unifying label?
• If we do, then what exactly do we understand by it?
• Are there different, national (British, French, German, Italian, Finnish?) forms of cultural history and what distinguishes them from one another?
• How does one teach cultural history and what does one teach when one teaches cultural history?

The organisers of this conference welcome papers (theoretical, practical or a combination of both) that will enable us to formulate answers to the questions listed above, but also to other issues concerning future 'orientations' of the field of cultural history:

• Where does the field stand, and where is it heading to?
• How does it relate to other academic disciplines both within and outside the humanities?

The label of cultural history is a slippery one, consisting of two no less slippery concepts: culture and history. The past few decades have also witnessed fierce methodological debates concerning the latter term, debates about the theory and practice of historiography, about historicism and presentism, about the irretrievable loss of the past and its stubborn presence, about history and memory, about historical traumas and ways of overcoming them. Did these and other historiographical debates in any way alter the domain of cultural history? Is cultural history a specific brand of history, in terms of the topics that it studies or does it, rather, involve a distinct methodology that sets it apart from other historical disciplines? Should we take cultural history as something different from political history, religious history, the history of science, the history of medicine, the history of art and literature, or does it comprise all of the above? If it does, what are the professional expectations with which cultural historians find themselves confronted? Are they supposed be true homines and feminae universales or, rather, amateurs, in the positive sense of that word? And what about the inter- or multidisciplinary nature of cultural history?

Apart from proposals tackling disciplinary issues like the above ones, the organisers also very much welcome papers that bring cultural history into practice. Alain Corbin's book on Louis-François Pinagot e.g. (The Life of an Unknown, Columbia UP, 2001), dealt both with the methodological difficulties of a cultural historian— how to write the history of an unknown craftsman? how to use archives, the findings of the history of science and religion and of political history to portray the inner and external world of a simple man living on the countryside during the nineteenth century? — as it tried to understand how Louis-François oriented his personal and professional life. The sound of the clocks, the rumours on the Parisian political life, the presence of a schoolmaster or a clergyman, the rhythm of nature, the decisions of parliament and the prosperity of his fellow countrymen organized the life of this simple, unknown man. In terms of more traditional disciplinary markers, we welcome contributions by political historians, historians of science and medicine, art historians, historians of literature and music, specialists of the history of philosophy and religion, etc. By opting for the notion of 'Orientations': as the conference's key-word, the organisers also want to suggest that cultural history is actually all about the art of orientating—oneself, one's group, one's region, one's country, one's world.

Keynote speakers include: Moritz Bassler Catherine Belsey Fernand Hallyn Pascal Ory

Paper proposals (400 words max.) should be sent to both jurgen.pieters@ugent.be and alexander.roose@ugent.be. Deadline for submission is January 31st, 2008. Notification of acceptance will be given before March 1st. Those invited to speak at the conference will be expected to become members of the ISCH before July 1st, when the final programme will be posted. Further information on the ISCH can be found at http:// http://www.abdn.ac.uk/isch

CFP: "Antisemitism and the Emergence of Sociological Theory," University of Manchester, October 31-November 2, 2008.

Modern antisemitism and modern sociological theory not only emerged in the same period but, as much as these discourses might have been antagonistic or even hostile to each other, they also overlapped and complemented each other. Both responded to the same set of causes: the limits and crises of modern society, especially the capitalist mode of production, and the desire, or urgency, to limit what their proponents saw as the negative impacts of modernity. Furthermore, many of those who formulated the classic contributions to both discourses shared a general intellectual background in nationalist liberalism. The conference is designed to explore this constellation. Contributions are encouraged that do at least one of the following: - discuss comments by sociologists (or those who helped, especially in the last third of the nineteenth century, constitute the discipline) on antisemitism and 'the Jewish Question'; - explore the antisemites' opinions on sociology, such as the notion of its supposed 'Jewishness'; - examine and compare what antisemites on the one hand, sociologists on the other, had to say about those subjects that were central to the thinking of either group, including money, usury, modernity, labour, individualism, community, society, social reform, socialism, state, culture, religion, the spirit of capitalism, and capitalist development; - investigate the extent to which classical sociology was either influenced by antisemitic ideas or was constructed in opposition to antisemitic ideas. Comparative approaches with respect to persons, texts and national contexts are particularly encouraged. The conference will take place at the University of Manchester, UK, on the weekend 31 October-2 November, 2008. Also those who anticipate they will not be able to attend but would like to contribute to subsequent publications (a relevant scholarly journal and/or an edited volume) are encouraged to get in touch. Keynote speakers to date will include Detlev Claussen (Hannover) and Robert Fine (Warwick). Deadline for paper proposals (up to 500 words plus short CV) is 9 March, 2008, to be submitted to Marcel.Stoetzler@manchester.ac.uk. The conference will be hosted by the Centre for Jewish Studies and the Centrefor Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts, The University of Manchester.

"Grounds for Critique: Realism in the Natural and Human Sciences," IACR, King's College, London, July 11-13, 2008.

The Conference calls for papers from all areas in the arts and humanities, the natural and social sciences. It invites participants from both within and outside critical realism who are interested to explore critical realist philosophy, method and practice, encouraging a broad focus on the nature and grounds of critique. We live in a world of deep conflict, rapid change and flux, in which the problems facing human being and the natural world have never been greater. Challenges posed by techno-scientific fixes to the problems of nature and human nature; by the re-emergence of imperialist conflicts in the name of neo-liberal economics and politics; and by the re-assertion of the division between the secular and the spiritual as the form of modernity and the basis for taking sides in conflict: all provide ample grounds for critique. They also raise the crucial question: what are the grounds of critique at a time when, it is said, critical thinking has lost its way.Questions of critique are central to critical realism. Whether it be immanent critique throughout its development, explanatory and emancipatory critique in its second phase, dialectical and meta-critique in its third, or the most recent assertion of the meta-real, critical realists have sought to be critical about critique. From these different standpoints, they have drawn on or built bridges to theorists as diverse as Plato and Aristotle, Hegel and Marx, Adorno, Habermas and Derrida. So broad a palette requires reflexivity: how do the different forms of critique relate to each other, what are their limits, how are they critically assessed? What is specific to critical realist critiques? How are critiques rooted in the western tradition assessed in the light of those from elsewhere in the world? How does critical realism deal with the ‘end of critique’? How does it shed light on problems of interdisciplinarity? How does it make emancipation possible?Such questions lead us more concretely to ways of doing critique. What are our critical methods? How does critique inform normative theory and argument? How do we ‘do critique’ in relation to both the social and natural sciences and the world? How does it inform political activism and movements for emancipation, or policy formation and outcomes? How is critical realism ‘applied’, i.e., how does it engage with particular fields or objects, or establish research exemplars and examples? How does it approach, negotiate, challenge and overcome disciplinary boundaries? The deadline for receiving abstracts for papers is Friday March 7, 2008. Further information is available here: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/law/events/iacr.

"Derrida's Legacies," London School of Economics, March 1, 2008.

Marking the release of Derrida’s Legacies: Literature and Philosophy by Routledge this conference will present the work of a new generation of Derrida scholars. Bringing together recent thinking across disciplines, it will explore what it means to be thinking with, through, and alongside Derrida’s work today - addressing the questions of Derrida’s legacies and possible futures for his work. The event will explore Derrida’s influence, current trends and debates in Derrida scholarship, and will focus on particular texts. Following the Forum for European Philosophy’s development of innovative presentational formats, the conference will provide an opportunity for young researchers (graduate students and recent PhDs) to present their work beyond the confines of a traditional academic ‘paper’ and to lend their ideas to a more open-ended and informal discussion. A visual artist will also introduce their work, as a ‘provocation’ to Derrida’s legacies of thought. Speakers: Shahidha Bari, Phil Newman, Gerald Moore, Céline Condorelli, Devorah Baum, Sas Mays, Danielle Sands, Oisin Keohane, Nemonie Craven, Richard Fitch, Sarah Dillon Speakers: Shahidha Bari, Phil Newman, Gerald Moore, Céline Condorelli, Devorah Baum, Sas Mays, Danielle Sands, Oisin Keohane, Nemonie Craven, Richard Fitch, Sarah Dillon. The full programme is available here: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/forumForEuropeanPhilosophy/events/conferences/DerridasLegaciesConference.htm.

Kirsch, Adam. "The Taste of Silence [on Heidegger's "The Origin of the Work of Art"]." POETRY (January 2008).

Today, Heidegger's name is most often heard in debates about his collaboration with the Nazis. Though he lived from 1889 to 1976, his life and work must be judged by his behavior during the early thirties, when the Nazi Party came to power with a promise to renew the German spirit. Because this was also Heidegger's goal—in a different, but not unrelated sense—he was happy to add his intellectual prestige to the Nazi cause, serving as rector of his university under the new government. He was soon disillusioned with Hitler, but he never fully came to grips with his catastrophic moral and intellectual failure. It was left to writers in our own time, like Richard Wolin and Charles Bambach, to show the full implications of Heidegger's Nazism for his immensely influential work. Even in "The Origin of the Work of Art," the dark affinities of Heidegger's thought can be traced. (Indeed, the essay began as a lecture that Heidegger delivered in Freiburg in 1935, in the third year of Hitler's regime.) Yet it is not surprising that poets should continue to turn to Heidegger for inspiration and guidance. For Heidegger, more than any other philosopher, looked to poetry as a model of what thinking should be. He used individual poems, especially the hymns of Hölderlin, to help explicate his own ideas about nature, technology, art, and history. He constantly dwelled on the mysteries of language and translation, how the way we name things can reveal and conceal their essence. And he himself approached writing in a poetic spirit. We usually think of philosophy, especially German philosophy, as being written in dry, awkward jargon. But Heidegger's writing, though difficult, is deeply creative: he uses nouns as verbs and verbs as nouns, puns on etymologies, and even plays with spelling, all in an effort to jar the reader out of conventional ways of reading and thinking. . . . Read the rest here: http://www.poetrymagazine.org/magazine/0108/comment_180561.html.

CFP: "Is There a Marxian Philosophy?" Fifth Annual Conference, Marx and Philosophy Society, London, May 24, 2008.

Keynote speaker: Andrew Feenberg (Simon Fraser University) Is there a distinctive Marxian approach to areas of philosophy such as metaphysics, philosophy of mind, ethics or aesthetics? If so, what does it consist in? Or does a Marxian 'approach to philosophy' amount only to explaining philosophical ideas as means of class struggle or as effects of social relations of production? If so, can such an approach avoid making philosophical presuppositions of its own? We invite papers on any of these questions, in relation to Marx's own work or to others in the Marxist tradition. A panel for postgraduate paper givers will also be organised. Please submit abstracts of up to 300 words by 13 February 2008 at thelatest to Andrew Chitty at a.e.chitty@sussex.ac.uk.

Katz, Claire. "Review of Michael L. Morgan's DISCOVERING LEVINAS." NDPR January 12, 2008.

I can no longer count the number of times that I have heard people say that Emmanuel Levinas is one of the most difficult philosophers they have ever encountered -- and this comment is frequently uttered by those trained primarily in "Continental" philosophy. One can only imagine then how Levinas's project might appear to those unequipped with the vocabulary and conceptual frameworks of Husserl and Heidegger, Rosenzweig or Bergson, on whom so much of Levinas's work relies. Michael Morgan's book, Discovering Levinas, is a masterful reading of Levinas. It not only provides a clear account of Levinas's ethical project for those trained in European philosophy, but it also makes Levinas's account of the ethical accessible to those who are not. In so doing, Morgan acknowledges the ways that analytic philosophy and continental philosophy remain different in their methodologies and their concerns. And yet in spite of these differences, Morgan demonstrates what is lost when we maintain the boundaries that divide professional philosophy. Morgan's story for coming to this project is worth repeating here for it not only provides his motivation and his credentials, but also reveals a philosopher at his best. In an all too familiar story where Levinas could be interchanged with any number of thinkers, Morgan tells us in his Preface that he attempted to read Levinas many times but never made it past the first few pages and quickly put Levinas aside, moving on to other projects. He then agreed to team teach a course with Paul Franks on Levinas and Rosenzweig, the latter, though just as impenetrable as Levinas, was a thinker much more familiar to Morgan. (Morgan and Franks had translated and edited a collection of Rosenzweig's writings.) Before the class began, Franks moved from Indiana University to Notre Dame and Morgan was left to teach the class solo. Rather than drop Levinas and limit the course to Rosenzweig, Morgan rose to the challenge. As he worked through the material with his students and watched them become entranced by Levinas's ideas, Morgan continued to find new ways to decipher and explain those ideas. . . . Read the rest here: http://ndpr.nd.edu:80/review.cfm?id=12123.

PUB: JANUS HEAD 10.1 (Summer/Fall 2007).

The new issue of Janus Head: a Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature, Continental Philosophy, Phenomenological Psychology, and the Arts is now available on-line at http://www.janushead.org/. Contents: Editorial: "Celebrating Our 10th Volume" by Brent Dean Robbins http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Editorial.pdf Essays:

• "Technologies--Musics--Embodiments" by Don Ihde http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Ihde.pdf
• "The Noise of the World" by Michael Filimowicz http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Filimowicz.pdf
• "Agency, Identity and Technology: the Concealment of the Contingent in American Culture" by John Pauley http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Pauley.pdf
• "A Heideggerian Reflection on the Prospects of Technology" by Charles J. Sabatino http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Sabatino.pdf
• "Bodies in Transit: the Plastic Subject of Alphonso Lingis" by Tom Sparrow http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Sparrow.pdf
• "Sylvia Plath and White Ignorance: Race and Gender in 'The Arrival of the Bee Box'" by Ellen Miller http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Miller.pdf
• "Standing Unearthed: Construing a Persona Behind Plath's 'I Am Vertical'" by Teresa Calderon Quindos http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Quindos.pdf
• "Friendship Across Differences: Heidegger and Richard Wright's Native Son" by Sharin N. Elkholy http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Elkholy.pdf
• "Recovering Play: On the Relationship Between Leisure and Authenticity in Heidegger's Thought" by Kevin Aho http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Aho.pdf
• "'Is There a Difference?': Iconic Images of Suffering in Buddhism and Christianity" by Alan Pope http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Pope.pdf
• "On the Central Motivation of Dostoevsky's Novels" by Predrag Cicovacki http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Cicovacki.pdf
• "Against Violent Objects: Linguistic Theory and Practice in Novalis" by Kate Terezakis http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Terezakis.pdf
• "The Artist's Study of Nature and its Relationship to Goethean Science" by Daan Hoekstra http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Hoekstra.pdf
• "ART: Heal Thyself" by Kate Sedgwick http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Sedgwick.html

Creative Writing:

• "Heights of Macchu Picchu" (translated by John Felstiner) by Pablo Neruda http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Neruda.pdf
• Fourteen poems from Breathturn (translated by John Felstiner) by Paul Celan http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Celan.pdf
• "A House on the Drim River" by Kalina Maleska-Gegaj http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Maleska-Gegaj.pdf
• Six poems by Katia Kapovich http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Kapovich.pdf
• "The Doom" by Pankaj Kurulka http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Kurulka.pdf
• "Says Who" by Richard Hoffman http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Hoffman.pdf
• Six prose poems by Robert Gibbons http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Gibbons.pdf

Book Reviews:

• One-Hundred Thinkers: Review of Great Thinkers A-Z Edited by Julian Braggini & Jeremy Stangroom (Reviewer: Thomas Hallinan) http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Hallinan.pdf
• A Deleuzian Reading of Bergson: Review of The Challenge of Bergsonism by Leonard Lawlor (Reviewer: Rune Moelbak) http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Moelbak.pdf
• A Translator's Introduction to Levinas: Review of Toward the Outside: Concepts and Themes in Emmanuel Levinas" by Michael B. Smith (Reviewer: Wade Roberts)http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Roberts.pdf
• Stories of Psychologists: Review of Narrative Identities: Psychologists Engaged in Self-Construction by George Yancy & Susan Hadley (Reviewer: Kristen Hennessy) http://www.janushead.org/10-1/Hennessy.pdf

CFP: "Time, Memory and the Self: Remembering Merleau-Ponty at 100," International Merleau-Ponty Circle, Ryerson University, September 18-20, 2008.

Keynote Speakers:

• Edward S. Casey,
• Bernhard Waldenfels,
• Elizabeth Behnke

Call for Papers: In addition to papers on the topics of time, memory and the self, we would be interested in papers, appropriate to this centenary occasion, that critically appraise Merleau-Ponty’s significance or reception in various areas of philosophy or related disciplines. But papers on any area of current research in Merleau-Ponty studies will also be considered for inclusion in the program. We may also consider including one or two panels, appropriate to the centenary occasion, geared to critical appraisal of Merleau-Ponty’s significance or reception. Papers: Submit completed papers (maximum 4,000 words/30 minutes reading time) with 100-150 word abstracts. The conference features the annual M. C. Dillon Memorial Lecture, an honor and monetary award for the best graduate student submission. Graduate students who wish to be considered for the Dillon award should indicate this in their cover letter. Panel proposals: Submit a panel title, a proposal of 500 words for the panel as a whole, and, for each paper in the panel, either a) a complete paper or b) long abstract (minimum 750 words) and CV of the participant. Also include a short (100-150 word) abstract for each paper in the panel. Panels would be scheduled for 90 minute slots, with either two 30 minute papers, three 20 minute papers, or four 15 minute papers. Submit all materials to the address below. Submissions by email attachment (in RTF or PDF) are preferred. Hardcopy must be submitted in triplicate. Kym Maclaren and David Morris Merleau-Ponty Circle Conference Department of Philosophy, Ryerson University 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario CANADA M5B 2K3 mpc2008@trentu.ca Deadline for submissions: March 17th 2008

Further information is available here: http://www.trentu.ca/academic/philosophy/mpc2008/.

PUB: Makkreel, Rudolf. "Wilhelm Dilthey." STANFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHILOSOPHY.

Wilhelm Dilthey was a German philosopher who lived from 1833-1911. He is best known for the way he distinguished between the natural and human sciences. Whereas the primary task of the natural sciences is to arrive at law-based explanations, the core task of the human sciences is the understanding of human and historical life. Dilthey's aim was to expand Kant's primarily cognitive Critique of Pure Reason into a Critique of Historical Reason that can do justice to the full scope of lived experience. Understanding the meaning of history requires both an inner articulation of the temporal structures of our own experience and the interpretation of the external objectifications of others. Dilthey's reflections on history and hermeneutics influenced thinkers in the twentieth century, especially Ortega, Heidegger, Gadamer and Ricoeur. . . .

Read the rest here: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dilthey/.

"Gouverner les vivants: à partir de Michel Foucault," Ecole Normale Superieure-Lyon, February 8-9, 2008.

The programme is available here: http://www.michel-foucault.com/events/afic.pdf.

PUB: FOUCAULT STUDIES 5 (2007).

Articles:

• "Foucault, Experience, Literature" by Timothy OʹLeary PDF;
• "The Groupe d’information sur les prisons: the Voice of Prisoners? Or Foucault’s?" by Cecile Brich PDF;

Review Essays:

• "Michel Foucault, History of Madness, translated by Jonathan Murphy and Jean Khalfa (London/New York: Routledge, 2006)" by Alain Beaulieu, Réal Fillion PDF;
• "Michel Foucault, Security, Territory, Population: Lectures from the Collège de France, 1977‐78 Edited by Michel Senellart. Translated by Graham Burchell. (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)" by Thomas F. Tierney PDF.

There are also two interviews and several reviews.

Downloads here: http://ej.lib.cbs.dk/index.php/foucault-studies/issue/view/229/showToc.

Year-Long Fellowships (Theme: Global Borders), Institute for Historical Studies, University of Texas, Austin, 2008-2009.

The Institute for Historical Studies at University of Texas, Austin invites applications for residential fellows for 2008-09. We will host four external fellows and will aim to replace their full salaries at their home institutions. The fellows will include junior, mid-career, and senior faculty. The closing date for applications for the fellowships is February 15, 2008. Our first two year theme is “Global Borders.” Please note that we conceive of borders very broadly in conceptual (for instance, legal, cultural, aesthetic, gender and so on) as well as political or geographic terms. For full details of the fellowships and the theme as well as other matters, see: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/insts/historicalstudies or contact: Julie Hardwick Associate Professor & Director of the Institute for Historical Studies Department of History 1 Univ Sta B7000 University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78712 (512) 475-7221 http://www.utexas.edu/cola/insts/historicalstudies/

"Belief after Reason: Hegel, Heidegger, Derrida," 33rd Collegium Phaenomenologicum, Umbria, Italy, July 14 - August 1, 2008.

What becomes of belief after its critical accommodation in Kant’s account of reason? The courses, lectures, and seminars of the Collegium will explore some of the ways in which Glauben (belief, faith) continues to haunt post-Kantian European philosophy. They will examine its returns, translations, and implications. They will consider its seeming capacity to frustrate or avoid diagnosis. In addition to the course readings, texts by Kant, Schelling, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Deleuze may also be discussed. The Collegium Phaenomenologicum will convene for its thirty-third annual session in the Umbrian town of Città di Castello. The Collegium is intended for faculty members and advanced graduate and postdoctoral students in philosophy and related disciplines. The core of the program consists in a series of lecture courses, individual lectures, and intensive text-based seminars. A Participants Conference will be held July 12-13, 2008. Courses:

• Robert Bernasconi (University of Memphis), ‘Infinities: Hegel’s “Faith and Knowledge”’
• Daniel Dahlstrom (Boston University), ‘Heidegger after Augustine’
• Michael Naas (De Paul University), ‘Religion, Technology, and Originary Faith in Derrida’

Participants will be comfortably housed at Hotel Le Mura in the historic centre of Città di Castello. The cost for room and board (full pension) will be approximately 40 Euros (double occupancy) and 50 Euros (single room) per day. The program fee for the three-week session will be 275 Euros. The deadline for applications is February 25, 2008. For more information, please contact: Paul Davies, Director Collegium Phaenomenologicum Department of Philosophy University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9QN United Kingdom Tel.: +44(0) 1273 606755 Fax: +44(0) 1273 635972 E-mail: p.davies@sussex.ac.uk Further information is also available here: http://www.collegiumphaenomenologicum.org/.

CFP: "The Third Wittgenstein," First Annual Conference, British Wittgenstein Society, University of Hertfordshire, June 7-8, 2008.

The conference will also be the occasion of the official launch of the British Wittgenstein Society (BWS). Confirmed guest speakers are: John V. Canfield (Toronto) Frank Cioffi (Kent) J.-H. Glock (Zurich) Laurence Goldstein (Kent) P.M.S. Hacker (Oxford) Michel ter Hark (Gronigen) Daniel D. Hutto (Hertfordshire) Nigel Pleasants (Exeter) Avrum Stroll (UCSD) Crispin Wright (St Andrews) Registration and programme details will be made available in February. Contact: Daniele Moyal-Sharrock Lecturer in Philosophy School of Humanities University of Hertfordshire de Havilland Campus Hatfield, Herts AL10 9ABD. Moyal-Sharrock@herts.ac.uk The conference website is: http://www.editor.net/BWS/conference.html.

PUB: "Revision in History," HISTORY AND THEORY 46 (2007).

"Revision in History” is the topic for this year’s Theme Issue of History and Theory, just published in December. The issue contains seven essays by distinguished scholars all of whom address questions about the nature, meaning, function, and importance of revision in the practice of history. As these essays vividly show, answering these questions yields deep insights into the nature of history and casts a revealing light on how it is practiced. The collection provides a strong, up-to-date look at a crucial issue in the theory of history. A glance at the table of contents shows the range with which this question is addressed:

• Gabrielle M. Spiegel, “Revising the Past / Revisiting the Present: How Change Happens in Historiography” (free access to online version available here: http://www.historyandtheory.org/Spiegel.pdf);
• Jonathan Gorman, “The Commonplaces of ‘Revision’ and Their Implications for Historiographical Understanding”;
• J. D. Braw, “Vision as Revision: Ranke and the Beginning of Modern History”;
• Marnie Hughes-Warrington, “The ‘Ins’ and ‘Outs’ of History: Revision as Non-Place”;
• Sheila Fitzpatrick, “Revisionism in Soviet History”;
• Giorgos Antoniou, “The Lost Atlantis of Objectivity: The Revisionist Struggles between the Academic and Public Spheres”;
• Ethan Kleinberg, “Haunting History: Deconstruction and the Spirit of Revision”.

Click here to read abstracts of the articles: http://www.historyandtheory.org/archives/dec07.html

"Backwards and Forward: Questions of Method," Nordic Network for Wittgenstein Research, University of East Anglia, February 15-16, 2008.

Programme Friday 15 February: 14.00-14.15 Welcome coffee 14.15-15.30 Eugen Fischer (UEA): Wittgenstein’s non-cognitivism – explained andvindicated 15.45-17.00 Cato Wittusen (Bergen): Making sense slowly Saturday 16 February 10.00-11.15 Simo Säätelä (Bergen): Wittgenstein, mathematical problems andnonsense 11.30-12.45 Garry Hagberg (UEA): The thinker and the draughtsman: Wittgenstein,perspicuous relations and working on oneself 12.45-13.45 Lunch 13.45-15.00 Gisela Bengtsson (Oslo): Are you serious, Wittgenstein? 15.00-15.15 Coffee 15.15-16.30 Rupert Read (UEA) and Phil Hutchinson (MMU): “When these painfulcontradictions are removed…” Wittgenstein, Hertz and therapy 16.45-18.00 Alois Pichler (Bergen): http://www.hyperwittgenstein.net/ Participation in the workshop is free of charge. For information about accommodation and local arrangements, contact oskari.kuusela@uea.ac.uk. For general information, contact simo.saatela@fof.uib.no. For information about the Norwid Network for Wittgenstein Research (it's activities, how to become a member, etc.), go to http://nnwr.net/.

CFP: "Reason, Activism, and Change," Canadian Society for Women in Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, University of Windsor, October 3-5, 2008.

Keynote speaker: Dr. Val Plumwood, Australian Research Fellow at the Australian National University, Social & Political Theory and the Centre for Resource & Environmental Studies Whether we seek to redress existing social inequities such as sexism, or halt the decay of our natural environments, the concerted operation of reason and activism aids the achievement of changes we want. Reason should inform activism, and activism can affect reasoning. Both may respond to or affect changes in social and physical circumstances. The Canadian Society for Women in Philosophy invites philosophical papers from diverse academic areas, including logic & argumentation, environmental philosophy, epistemology & metaphysics, philosophy of science & technology, legal theory, social & political philosophy, ethics, and moral psychology. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: · Forms of reasoning that encourage or discourage activism · Whether and how activism can be taught, and how it can be involved in other professional practices · How activism affects reasoning and justification · What sort of reasoning entrenches existing views and what encourages change · Whether terrorism can be reasonable, or morally justified · The affects of social activism and change on science and technology · How science and technology impact on the environment and on health · Androcentrism, anthropocentrism, and the environment · The logic of change: in bodies, in the environment, or of the beliefs held by a person or group of people Submissions of long abstracts (1000 words) are invited (for eventual presentations of 20 minutes, or not more than 3000 words). Email your abstract as a double-spaced Word attachment, prepared for anonymous review, as well as your full contact information, to: Dr. Catherine Hundleby at the address below. DEADLINE: March 14, 2008. Early submissions are encouraged, while we regret that late submissions cannot be accepted. Dr. Catherine Hundleby Assistant Professor Department of Philosophy (Cross-appointed to Women's Studies Program) Chrysler Hall North 2185 Mailing address: Department of Philosophy University of Windsor 401 Sunset Avenue Windsor, Ontario Canada N9B 3P4 Phone: 519.253.3000 x3947 E-mail: hundleby@uwindsor.ca

CFP: "Rethinking Philosophy for a Global Age," XXII World Congress of Philosophy, Seoul National University, August 30-July 5, 2008.

The Organizing Committee of the Korean Philosophical Association invites the submission of papers for the XXII World Congress of Philosophy. Online-Submission and Online-Registration through the Congress website (http://www.wcp2008.or.kr) are strongly preferred. Papers in 54 Regular Sections and Student Sessions are received through the website. Important Dates: Late Paper Submission Deadline: Feburary 15, 2008. Early Registration Deadline (Extended): January 31, 2008 WCP 2008 Secretariat The Organizing Committee of the Korean Philosophical Association c/o MECI International Convention Services, Inc. Rm. 1906, 19th floor Daerung Post Tower #1, 212-8 Guro-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul 152-790, Korea Phone: +82-2-2082-2300 Fax: +82-2-2082-2314 E-mail: secretariat@wcp2008.or.kr For more details, please visit the Congress website: http://www.wcp2008.or.kr.

CFP: "'Formulate with the greatest care': Adorno and Performance," Royal Northern College of Music, September 13-14, 2008.

Gnomic, speculative, penetrating, Adorno's major work on music performance occupied him throughout his life. Unfinished at his death, the copious notes and drafts have recently been collated as Towards a Theory of Musical Reproduction (2001, Eng. 2006). This conference will be based around readings of Adorno's text and its contexts, interpretations, and uses. Confirmed speakers include the translator Wieland Hoban (Germany), Robert Hullot-Kentor (US), Lydia Goehr (US), Max Paddison (UK), Andrew Bowie (UK), and John Deathridge (UK).Proposals are invited for papers of 20 mins. Abstracts of 500 words should be emailed by 18 April 2008 to anthony.gritten@rncm.ac.uk. The programme will be available at www.rncm.ac.uk/content/view/134/80/ , with information on registration and accommodation, in May 2008. Organisers: Anthony Gritten and Nicholas Baragwanath.

CFP: "Identities under Construction," University of Liège, October 16–18, 2008.

Identities, collective and otherwise, have been a source of ardent debates all through the last decades of the defunct century. This state of affairs must be seen against the backdrop of a consistent critique of humanism and its universalist vision of ‘man’. The poststructuralist discourse, which articulated this critique, succeeded in obtaining an extremely influential, sometimes even hegemonic position in various disciplines of the humanities at the time. In retrospect, the end of the 20th century now appears as the hour of affirmation of any number of particularisms, differences and ‘positive’ (sexual, ethnic, cultural, postcolonial, . . .) identities. This era then provided a context for an important paradigmatic shift, which also found expression in the creation of the ‘anti-discipline’ of cultural studies. Although the poststructuralist critique of humanism has by now lost a good deal of its urgency and potency, it has left indelible traces in the reflection on who and what ‘we’ are as human beings, and it is far from having exhausted its potential for intellectual stimulation. Its heritage confronts us with a wide range of fascinating questions, which include: How is the concept of identity to be defined? How do identities come into being? What – which discourse(s) – does an individual or group identify with, and on what grounds does he or she do so? Is the subject colonized by the discourses identified with or is he/she capable of maintaining a degree of independence from them? Can one resist the pressures of hegemonic discourses? Has all reference to a universalist vision of man become suspect and/or lost its relevance? What are the political (democratic) conclusions to be drawn from this reflection? This call is issued by a group of researchers working at the University of Liège (Belgium) in various disciplines linked to the humanities – semiotics, literary theory, linguistics, communication studies, sociology, anthropology – and is meant for every intellectual susceptible of feeling interpellated by the subject as outlined above. Since the primary aim of the Identities under Construction Conference is to encourage an interdisciplinary theoretical reflection on the concepts of identity and identification, the scientific committee will privilege contributions focusing on theoretical aspects of the question. Case studies will be taken into consideration as long as they are used to illustrate or buttress a theoretical statement. Authors are invited to submit, by 1 February 2008, a 2500-character abstract including a title and (if necessary) a bibliography. The abstracts will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee. Notifications of acceptance will be delivered to authors by 1 April 2008. Further details are available here: http://www.id2008.ulg.ac.be/en/call.html.

"Derrida and the Classics," Institute of Classical Studies, University of London, May 20, 2008.

Chair: Barbara Goff

• Paul Allen Miller: The Platonic Remainder: Khora and the Corpus Platonicum (Respondent: Efi Spentzou)
• Rachel Bowlby: Derida’s Dying Oedipus (Respondent: Danielle Sands)
• Ahuvia Kahane: Derrida's Death and the Death of Antiquity (Respondent: TBA)

All welcome. For catering purposes, would those intending to attend please notify Richard Alston at r.alston@rhul.ac.uk.

"Aesthetics and Contemporary Art," Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP), Middlesex University, March 13-14, 2008.

An international interdisciplinary conference organized by the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP), Middlesex University, London in collaboration with the Collaborative Research Centre ‘Aesthetic Experience and the Dissolution of Artistic Limits’ (CRC 626), Free University Berlin, and supported by the British Academy. Advance Registration only:

• Two day registration: £48 waged, £25 students (£15 CRMEP students) - includes refreshments, lunches andreception.
• One day registration (subject to availability): £30 waged, £15 students (£10 CRMEP students).

Torn between a revival of the discourse of aesthetics and the persistence of conceptualism, critical writing about contemporary art has once again come to focus on differing views of its aesthetic dimension. The context and character of these debates has, however, shifted markedly from the 1960s, with changes in art practices, institutions, political contexts, and theoretical paradigms – and in particular, with the global extension of the Western artworld since 1989. This conference will reconsider the place of the aesthetic in contemporary art, in the broadest of ways, with reference to the topics of four plenary panels:

• Sensate Thinking: Aesthetics, Art, Ontology
• The Dissolution of Artistic Limits: Objects, Events, Ideas
• Aesthetics of Post-Autonomy: Institution, Collaboration, Participation
• Exhibition-Value: Aesthetics of Curation in a Global Artworld

Keynotes:

• Luis Camnitzer, artist and writer; Professor Emeritus of Art, State University of New York, Old Westbury; author of Conceptualism in Latin American Art (University of Texas Press, 2007).
• Art & Language (Michael Baldwin, Mel Ramsden and Charles Harrison), group of artists and writers, since 1968; see, for example, Art & Language in Practice, Vol.1. (Illustrated Handbook, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, 1999).

Plenary Panel Speakers: International:

• Dr Sebastian Egenhofer – Laurenz (Assistant) Professor for Contemporary Art, University of Basel
• Charles Esche, Director of the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Senior Research Fellow, Central St Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts, London; co-editor of Afterall; co-curator, 9th Istanbul Biennale, 2005
• Brian Holmes – writer and art critic (Paris); author of Hieroglyphs of the Future: Art and Politics in a Networked Era (Zagreb, 2002)
• Dr Pamela Lee – Associate Professor, Department of Art and Art History, Stanford University; author of Object to be Destroyed: the Work of Gordon Matta-Clark (MIT Press, 2000) and Chronophobia: On Time in the Art of the 1960s (MIT Press, 2004)

CRC 626, Free University Berlin:

• Dr Susanne Leeb – Research Associate Project A7, Sub-project: Cartographic Models in Contemporary Art
• Prof. Christoph Menke – Head of Project C1 / Institute for Philosophy, University of Potsdam; author of The Sovereignty of Art: Aesthetic Negativity in Adorno and Derrida (MIT Press, 1998)
• Dr Juliane Rebentisch – Research Associate C1, Sub-project: Democracy and Theatre / Institute for Philosophy, University of Potsdam; author of Aesthetik der Installation (Suhrkamp, 2003)
• Dr Dorethea Von Hantelmann – Research Associate Project A7, Sub-project: Exemplary Experiences: Relations Between Work and Situation in Contemporary Art

CRMEP, London:

• Prof. Eric Alliez –Project: Undoing the Image
• Dr Stewart Martin – Project: Absolute art
• Prof. Peter Osborne –Director, CRMEP; Project: Art Against Aesthetics

CRMEP/CRC 626 liaison:

• Dr Armen Avanessian, Postdoctoral Fellow, CRC 626
• Luke Skrebowski, PhD candidate, CRMEP

For registration contact: Ray Brassier r.brassier@mdx.ac.uk

Further information is available at: http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/crmep/EVENTS/AestheticsandContemporaryArt.htm.

Temporary Free Access to PHENOMENOLOGY AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES 6.1-2 (2007).

The special double issue of Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences (Vol 6, #1-2, 2007) on Dennett's heterophenomenology, edited by Alva Noë, is available for free download until the end of March at http://www.springerlink.com/content/1568-7759. The issue includes papers by Taylor Carman, Roberto Casati and Elena Pasquinelli, Jérome Dokic and Elisabeth Pacherie, John Drummond, Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Kelly, Uriah Kriegel, Eduard Marbach, Alva Noë, Jean-Michel Roy, Eric Schwitzgebel, Charles Siewert, Gianfranco Soldati, Evan Thompson, Max Velmans, and Dan Zahavi; and a response by Dan Dennett. Also the most recent issue (Vol. 7 #1, 2008), a special issue on Moral Phenomenology, edited by Uriah Kriegel, has just been published.

CFP: "Limits of Personhood," Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyvaskyla, June 6-8, 2008.

Although the line between persons and non-persons may seem relatively clear in everyday life, advances in the experimental and theoretical sciences have shed a different light on the issue. There is more and more evidence to suggest that non-human animals, predecessors of the species Homo sapiens, and even some artificial creatures, possess or have possessed many of the features often considered unique to human persons. With regard to the knowledge supplied by neurosciences, biology, developmental psychology etc., it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish persons from non-persons. And even clear cases, paradigmatic persons, have their personal capacities dependently on sub-personal mechanisms, which seem to be governed by the same laws that govern the rest of nature – so perhaps persons are not that unique after all? The criteria applied by modern philosophy, which focus on distinctive forms of rationality and self-consciousness shared by persons, are no longer as evident as they used to be. New scientific findings also compel us to reconsider the moral status of non-human animals. It is the task of philosophers to try to bring conceptual clarity to the field by assessing the principal consequences of the growing knowledge concerning the features that are taken to explain the differences between living persons and non-persons. The aim of the conference is to explore and reconsider the borderline between persons and non-persons. The topics of the conference involvethe following features which are central as regards the borderline: intentionality, self-consciousness, autonomy, emotions, rationality, normative and moral relations, and recognition from others. The general starting point of the conference is the observation that these features seem to allow degrees and therefore provide no easy demarcation between persons and non-persons. Yet most of the contemporary theories of personhood make a simple dichotomy between persons and non-persons by using these features as criteria. We welcome papers that analyse the ways in which the features inquestion allow degrees, and examine where and how the line between personal and sub-personal, and personal and non-personal, should bedrawn. We also encourage papers discussing the history of views concerning the limits of personhood and the graduality of the central features – if possible, there will be special section(s) devoted to historical treatments of the features pertinent to the topic of the conference. Naturally, we also encourage papers (historical and other), which suggest an approach which could avoid the problems related to determining the limits of personhood. The questions to be addressed in the conference include:

• Are there actual non–human persons?
• If the following three claims contradict, which one should we drop or revise: 1) the moral status of persons is based on a certain set of characteristics C, 2) all humans do not in fact have characteristics C, 3) all humans have the moral status of persons.
• What is the relation of sub-personal mechanisms and personhood? How dothe sub-personal layers enable or constitute personal-level phenomena?
• In what ways do the features of personhood allow degrees and in what sense do humans share them with non-humans? To what extent and in what precise form does this overlapping vary from feature to feature?
• In what ways are the features inter-connected? How does a transition within one feature indicate transitions in other features, perhaps inall of them?
• In what ways is the graduality bodily origin? How do the modern theories of personhood (mis)recognise their graduality?
• What consequences regarding moral and legal statuses should be drawn from the fact that the capacities central to personhood come in degrees?
• In what sense do changes in the interplay of actual life forms, articulated scientific knowledge and ontological and epistemic commitments influence the limits of personhood?

Invited Speakers:

• José Luis Bermúdez,
• Michael Quante,
• Ralf Stoecker,
• Tim Thornton,+ TBA.

Deadline for abstracts: February 8

Length of abstracts: ca. 500 words

Send abstracts to jpkaukua@cc.jyu.fi

Notifications of acceptance: February 15

The conference is organized by the “Limits of Personhood" research project run by the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä, and financed by the Academy of Finland. More information about the project can be found at: http://www.jyu.fi/yhtfil/fil/limits/index.htm.

The members of the organizing committee are Jussi Kotkavirta, Mikko Yrjönsuuri, Arto Laitinen, Petteri Niemi, Jari Kaukua, Vili Lähteenmäki, Heikki Ikäheimo, Mimosa Pursiainen, Juhana Toivanen and Pessi Lyyra.

CFP: "Where the Wild Things Are: Inhuman Territories in Classical Antiquity," Department of Classics, University of Reading, September 4-5, 2008.

We are accustomed to seeing the ancient world from its centres – Athens, Rome, and other major cities to and from which ideas, goods, and people circulated. But in many locations in Greek and Roman thought and imagination, past and present, the 'civilised' human was the outsider. These places were often inhabited by part-human or inhuman 'people', whose appearance and behaviour ranged from the peculiar to the horrific. These 'wild places' were often geographically remote, such as the Libyan deserts, the snowy wastes of Scythia, and the gloom of Cimmeria. Monstrous races were the subject of ethnological scrutiny, challenging anatomical definitions of humanity. Other wild places were closer to hand, but untamed: Arcadia; Thessaly; the depths of the sea; even local mountains, forests and other silent places could be haunted by dangerous supernatural beings such as fauns and satyrs. The past, too, could be an inhuman wilderness. Both Roman and Greek cultures ranged between creativity, rationalism and aporia when confronted by traditions and legends that defied understanding, even their own, let alone those of others. Some myths even connect the founding of human societies with the rejection of semi-human beings, such as Hercules' labours, the Argonauts' and Odysseus' fantastical encounters, and above all, the victories of the gods over the Giants and Titans in the earliest age of the cosmos.

This event will bring together researchers from a range of classical disciplines to explore the same fundamental questions:

• In what ways were part-human beings in the ancient imagination defined by their habitat?
• Did environment affect how 'savage' or 'cultured' they were, and should we define this by their anatomies, their familial and social structures, or their relationships with humans, animals, and the gods?
• Finally, how did the exploration of wild places at the boundaries of human civilisation reinforce or challenge those boundaries?

Yulia Ustinova (Ben Gurion University), our keynote speaker, will address the subject of ''Wild Caves': Immortal Dwellers and Mortal Visitors'.

Papers should be 25-30 minutes in length. We welcome research in a wide variety of fields, but the following topics would be especially warmly received:

• the ethnographic element in Herodotus
• later ethnographic writers, both Greek and Latin
• ancient paradoxography
• hybrid and monstrous beings, especially in ancient verse and philosophy.

Titles and abstracts (c. 200 words in length) should be sent to the conference organisers, Dr. Emma Aston (E.M.M.Aston@reading.ac.uk) and Dr. Dunstan Lowe (D.M.Lowe@reading.ac.uk). If regular mail is preferred, the address is:

Department of Classics

University of Reading

Whiteknights

Reading RG6 6AA

The deadline for titles and abstracts is March 15, 2008.