Cfp: "The Place of Psyche: Politics, Art, Nature," Department of Philosophy, Villanova University, April 23-24, 2010.

Keynote Speaker: Jonathan Lear, Department of Philosophy, University of Chicago The Greek concept of “psyche,” often translated as “soul,” “mind,”“ego,” or “unconscious,” has played a central role in philosophical interrogations of the self, nature, community, and creation. We invite submissions that, from either a contemporary or a traditional perspective, address the following metaphilosophical question: What can the concept of “psyche” do for us today, as we think about politics, art, and nature? Professor Lear works primarily on philosophical conceptions of the human psyche from Socrates to the present with an emphasis on health, happiness, and therapeutic action. He is also a trained psychoanalyst and his two most recent books are Freud (2005) and Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation (2006). Submission Guidelines: We encourage submissions from faculty and graduate students of abstracts (300-500 words) and/or papers (3,000 to 5,000 words). Please format these for blind review—personal information, such as name, institutional affiliation, and contact information, should be either in the body of your email or on a page separate from the rest of your paper, and not in the paper itself. Please email your submissions (and any questions you may have) to vuphilconf@gmail.com by February 1, 2009.